Thursday, September 23rd
A call went out for a house fire in the city next to ours.
Sidenote: Something to note is that just because someone calls in reporting a house on fire, doesn't actually mean that it is. In fact, usually it isn't. Our Engine went on the call, myself and two other coworkers were back at the firehouse manning the Medic. A second alarm was struck as the units dispatched were responding to the house, apparently the chief responding could see a plume of smoke from where he was.
The boys and I walked outside to see if we could see it from our place and sure enough - we could see a tower of smoke billowing in the distance. The city called over and asked if we could staff our Quint (ladder truck). We told the Deputy Chief and showed him the tower of smoke, he though about it, and thought about it, and then told us to take our stuff off the Medic and take the Quint.
As we arrived on scene there were clogged streets everywhere. We had to park further away than we should have and hike into the scene. It was
so hot that day. As we walked towards the scene, I decided to snap some pictures with the iPhone 4 and hope they turned out. Apparently they did.
Once we passed the apparatus it looked like ghost town. The street was empty except for a few firefighters and large wall of smoke. Time seemed to move slowly as I tried to look through the smoke to the unknown behind it. It was really eerie, and while it was nothing like 9/11, I for a second I could only imagine what those rescuers walking the empty streets towards the wall of smoke towards the unknown felt like.
Then a gust of wind came and revealed the burning structures behind the wall of smoke. There was fire everywhere. We knew that several houses were on fire and everyone was ordered to stay out of the houses and just fight the fire defensively. "Surround and drown" is the saying. We protected the neighboring houses and put out the burning ones from the outside.
This meant that three ladder trucks were up flowing water from their towers. And hoses were on the ground surrounding the houses. We were assigned to a hose. It was boring. Basically you sit there holding the hose and dumping copious amounts of water on the structure. Yes, while we were doing that I pulled out the phone again and snapped this picture (right side) of my co-worker holding the line. Also note how wet he is. It was like being in a torrential downpour over there.
As we headed to rehab after our assignment was done, our boots squished with all the water that had run down into them. And did I mention how hot it was? We had our vitals checked, drank a bunch of Gatorade and told the man in-charge we were ready to go back in. Luckily the fire was out soon thereafter and we just helped with cleanup.
two pictures merged - click to enlarge
At the end, this was the final damage. Three houses destroyed: two burnt to the ground and one completely gutted. Five houses damaged: the heat from the houses melted the plastic siding of neighboring houses to reveal the particle board underneath. If the fire department hadn't gotten there in time to protect them, those five houses would have held to the same fate as the two neighboring houses of the initial fire house.
The heat melted the stop off of the sign.
For video go here:
Statter911.com
1- Houses are constructed with light-weight combustible material. The outside of the house is covered with plastic siding (easily melts and turns into gas to feed the fire). Under that is chip board or particle board which is large sawdust held together by glue, both of which melt and create more fuel for the fire. Note that glues and plastics make hotter fires than wood.
2- New houses are being built too close together. These were only 10 feet apart at places, 16 feet apart maximum. It was easy for the heat to reach the combustible outer layer of the neighboring houses. Also note it warped and in some cases melted the plastic siding of the houses across the street.
3- High winds helped fuel the fire, contributed to spread and made it harder for us to get under control. Q: Would residential sprinkler systems have prevented this? A: No, in my opinion. The research that I have read residential sprinkler systems only help control the fire if it starts inside the home, not in the attic. The fire started on the outside deck, spread up the siding where the smoke and heat trapped in the attic and made a nice little home there. By the time it would have banked down and caused the residential sprinklers to go off, it would have been too late for this houses. Residential sprinklers don't put out the fire, they just suppress it. More on that here.
Q: Is it important for me to teach my kids fire safety like having a plan to get out of the house? And have a meeting spot outside away from the house? And get a firebox for important documents?
A: Yes, yes and yes. Because fire is no respecter of persons. It can happen to any neighborhood, any type of housing, any race, religion, age, it doesn't care. You never think it could happen to you, but it can. Be safe. Fire safety week 2010 stuff here. Family fire safety stuff here.
It piled up super fast and then the calls started coming in. (I was at work, probably should have mentioned that.) Ususally it's a slow day to be assigned on the Engine. But when things freeze all bets are off. We started by running a million calls for "wires down". The older side of our city has all their cable/phone/electricity wires up on poles instead of underground like most of us are used to.
When the wet snow caked on the wires they sagged over the roadways. And the cable lines, which were held to the houses by staples and thin wire, separated from the houses. So people called 911. Because we are the power and cable company? Sure. Why not. We tied them up around whatever was near, threw a piece of caution tape on them and moved on. Luckily I found the above moment of Zen.
THE FIRE DEPARTMENT CAN ONLY FIX FIRES AND MEDICAL EMERGENCIES. That should be a PSA.
We got dispatched for a fire in a neighboring jurisdiction. The "fire" was no fire at all. One engine and a battalion chief SUV slid down the hill and got stuck in a ditch trying to get there. We made our way back to the station through this. Traffic. Cars were everywhere. That's a another thing people called 911 for "my car is stuck". Yeah. Call a tow company. People's commutes took 5-9 hours. It made me thankful to know I had a 72 hour kit with food and water in the car. Remind me to add TP to the kit.
With all the calls in the perilous weather I never felt worried about our being out on the road. Mike was driving; he is a good chauffeur. Did I mention that we were so busy that we didn't get dinner until 10pm. Around 9pm I was hypoglycemic and grumpy and there was no end in sight. So when we did get to the station for two minutes I ran to a) the bathroom and b) grabbed the bag of dried mangoes out of my work 72 hour kit. They saved us. It was a long night but we got to bed around 1am. And so the season of blizzards begins...
