John Street Fire

We got a call about 9am on a sunday morning for a basement fire - everyone's out. I got to the firehouse a little bit late and they were just about to roll out without me. I opened the door and threw my gear on then jumped on. I took off my shoes and threw them behind the jumpseats and geared up on the way. I just got finished when we arrived and everyone jumped off. I was a little slow getting off cause i was still putting a pack on.

When i got to the rear of the house, AJ yelled to me and John P to start venting the basement windows. Without gloves, i grabbed a halligan and started uppercuttingi the low windows. Little did i know that i was smashing my bare right thumb between the halligan and the cement window sill on every swing - i was too hyper to notice. In the rear of the house, I showed John my thumb which was now gushing blood and had a purple, swollen nail. Louie R asked if i was still okay to go in - of course i was, and painfully put my fire glove on.

After the (new) chief masked up and went to go in with John P, he decided to have John and I go in to back up the basement crew, which consisted of AJ, John K (nozzle) and my uncle. We followed the hoseline till we came into voice proximity of the crew - thick smoke. I had a short sheetrock pull and john had a short hook. As per AJ's request we started pulling down walls looking for extension. I hit some wires and backed off from that spot. When we rounded the corner we looked up and saw ceiling tiles that were kinda off track - and i could see dancing orange flames behind them.

Some bright soul pulled the tile right above my head and a big fireball engulfed me and John P's helmets. We pulled a way and backed off a bit till they put water on it. John K fog vented and the smoke cleared a bit. I assisted him in pointing out hot spots as he put the rest of it out. When his air ran out, I grabbed the nozzle and soaked the rest of the smouldering wood and fuel down. Holes were ripped in the cieling above our heads big enough that we could watch the truck company working.

As usual, i kept my mask on the entire time till it ran out, even though everyone else unmasked early. I just don't trust that shit.

Pete was there and got good video footage.