Pulled out of a truck-fire

It was Christmas Eve. and just after appetizers my pager went off reporting a truck "fully involved in fire." We raced down to the scene expecting exactly what was reported, but instead we saw no flames, just a truck and a ton of smoke. The Chief met me in front and told me the police had already put the fire out with their extinguishers, as it had been rolling out of both wheel-wells when they arrived. I had my guys stretch a length of hose and charge it to put out whatever fire was left.

There was still heavy smoke coming out of the front hood and under the rear of the SUV. A few of my guys grabbed some tools and I heard yelling "take the f*ing windows." I yelled back NOT to take any windows yet, before I walked around trying the doors. For some reason I had a weird feeling there might be someone still in the back seat or something. Finally, I tried the driver-side door front door, which happened to be unlocked. To my amazement, a big burly guy was sitting in the midst of the blinding smoke IN the truck. I jumped back and said "What the f*ck???"

Just then the Chief walked around and shared my amazement as we pulled him out, saying "This guy was IN the truck the entire time?!?!" He was still conscious (no idea how) and immediately brought to the hospital for smoke inhalation. Must have been drunk enough that the noise outside didn't wake him from his nap.

As for the fire, it was very stubborn, hiding under the truck and we had to put the curved extension onto the nozzle to access it. The arson squad and a detective came down and spoke to me about what we found before we left the scene.

I pulled the newer members aside later and reviewed what just happened. I mainly highlighted the point that on a fire scene, people should NEVER assume that something is done. What I mean is firefighters should NEVER assume a room has been checked for victims unless they're 100% positive it has been. Similarly, FF's should NEVER assume an area of a structure fire (or in this case, an auto-fire) is clear of all life while a fire is going on. One would think that fire would drive a person out of their home or car... but this proves those kinds of assumptions could very well be the ones that kill civilians or other firefighters.

Small kitchen fire at the drug lady's house

We were at the firehouse about to go out on our Boot Drive fundraiser when we got called out to an "oven fire." Upon arrival, I took 3 guys with me and told the rest to stay on the engine since there wasn't any smoke / flame visible from the outside of the house. On the first floor we were met with pretty heavy smoke, a ton of furniture and what will be referred to as the "drug lady." It was the homeowner, a 60-something little old lady, no teeth, nervous as hell.

She guided us around the corner to the area where she put out the fire, it was an electric stove, melted, with much char to the backsplash, cabinets above, wall adjacent and the cieling. To be honest she did a great job putting out the fire but this was just the start of the fun. As she paced behind us, I asked her to "please go outside and wait by the chief." She walked out of the house but as fast as I could turn around she was back behind me looking through paperwork on her cluttered kitchen table. I asked again "lady can you please leave this house?" She replied "yes, but how long will you guys be?" I laughed, her house was just on fire and she was acting like I'm installing a new cable-package for her TV.

Yet a third time, after she had left again, she reappeared behind me asking once again "so you guys will just be a half hour? Will it take any longer than that?? My husband needs his drugs." I laughed and walked her out of the house. The house was a complete disaster anyway, clothes piled up 5 feet high in every corner, a kitchen with barely enough room to shuffle through and rooms that I couldn't imagine sitting down in, let alone sleeping in. Eventually I had the chief baby sit her outside but she definitely made my day haha. The husband she was referring to was already being looked at by EMS outside but she musta been feelin pretty good because she kept insisting he was in the bedroom and needed drugs.

Anyway, we pulled the oven hood off the wall, poked a couple of holes in the walls and backsplash looking for residual smoke or heat, and turned the place over to the fire marshall who i'm sure had his share of fun with the amount of fire hazards and lack of detectors in that place.

Friday afternoon extrication

I work at home on Fridays, which sometimes offers me work I'd otherwise miss while at work. This Friday, we got called to the scene of an MVA (motor vehicle accident) with reports of entrapment. My Captain and I jumped on the Rescue truck while our other, less-experienced guys jumped on the Engine. While on the way to the scene, we discussed our job roles and figured that I'd stabilize the car with cribbing and cut the battery while my Captain gets some of the hydraulic tools out. Of course, he got all excited and jumped in front of me grabbing all the cribbing he could before I could even turn around.

Anyhow, the car got whacked by a utility truck, spun around and got t-boned by an SUV then finally pinned between the two. They were able to pull back the utility truck and I realized the driver indeed was pretty badly hurt. There was also a guy in the back seat with a blanket on from the EMT's so he wouldn't get hit by glass or other debris as we worked. Being that both side doors were locked in, I couldn't get through to the hood to cut the battery without cutting the hood, which in my opinion endangered the driver since his steering-wheel airbag was not yet deployed. Looking back now, we should have wrapped the steering wheel to prevent injury but we didn't.

A few guys brought out a spreader and a cutter and we walked to the passenger side to begin popping the doors off to get the backseat guy out. I held the top of the rear door and began bending it down as the Captain from another company inserted the spreaders between the door and the frame in an attempt to pop the pin. We literally bent the whole top half of the door completely down with no pin-breaking success in removing the door. Then my Captain grabbed the spreaders and went to the hinge side, which was more successful. I cut the remaining cables and wires that were holding the door on and we tossed the crumpled piece into the street, and the back-seat guy was free. Although injured, he was able to get out on his own.

Once the SUV was pulled off the driver's door, they were able to pull him out and strap him to a backboard, supporting his head and neck with a brace. He was pretty f'ed up. No blood but my guess is a few broken ribs, maybe a broken back or neck.

Back to Back car fires

On Friday afternoon, about 30 mins before I was supposed to take Kate to the movies, we got paged out to a reported car fire behind a building. While driving down the firehouse, I passed the area and saw a 100ft dark tower of smoke, thick enough that I was skeptical if it was a car or if the building had caught fire. When we got on scene, my captain had me grab the nozzle and walk down the dark alley way as he and the new guy stretched the hoselines. Walking to the back of the building I found a Jeep fully involved in fire, the engine, the cab, the tires, everything.

I told one of our new guys to get on the nozzle as we were masking up and waiting for water. As soon as our lines got charged, I decided to sweep him to the left because another company was about to charge their hoseline on it and we were right in their path. Those guys are new and I just didnt want to take that chance. Anyhow, by the time we started flowing water into the truck, my captain had started the saw and I could hear they were having problems cutting the front hood open. Eventually the gas tank melted and a bunch of gasoline poured under the truck and caught fire as well. I had the new guy open up a few short bursts to finish the truck off as my captain finally got the hood open and water into the engine. The truck was a goner - the license plate completely melted away as well as the steering wheel. The heat was also enough to melt the taillights of a nearby car.

A day later, almost the same time of day, we get called out to a car fire on the other side of town. Another company had already been dispatched there, which made me think that either they weren't doing the right thing or didn't have enough guys. Anyhow, as we were pulling up I saw a car with the engine on fire right in front of a few air pumps at a gas station. I casually got out and told 2 guys to stretch a hoseline as I went to get the saw for the hood. I told Brian to sweep around to the street-side of the car because he was standing on the opposite side as the first hose team, which once again woulda been a nightmare if anyone opened up their hoseline.

As I got the saw started, this ex-chief of ours (who now weighs over 250 pounds) decided that today he wanted to play. He barges in and I watch him grab a hoseline from another one of our guys. I walk around to the front of the car and start the circular saw. As i do that, this ex-chief stumbles back and falls down right next to the saw. Thank god the saw stalled out when i released the throttle because it was damn close to his head. He got up and moved so we could finish cutting the front hood open and getting water on the engine. I then walked around and popped the trunk to make sure there was nothing harmful.

The ex-chief had to get taken away to the hospital where they said he had micro-tears in his heel. He's too big for his own good and I keep highlighting the fact that if he goes down like that in a house fire, it's gonna take about 5 guys to get him out.

Working drill at Bennigan's

The local Bennigan's has been shut down for over a year, but recently our Chief got permission to drill in it. 3 of my guys came with me and another company last night with a bunch of Scott packs, some search rope, a smoke machine and a gameplan.

After smoking the place up pretty thick, we divided the guys into 2 hose teams and a search team. I was the officer to stay with both hose teams. From the get-go, after entry was forced by the search team and they entered, we had troubles with the first line. As both lines were already charged, I figured it'd be tough to maneuver around corners but we should have prepared better by flaking out the lines directly in front of the doors. Instead, about 10 feet to the parking lot, both lines made a quick right turn into the direction of the Engine, so they caught the doorframe about 10 feet in.

As I was trying to keep communication with both hose teams, I ended up following the hoselines back to the front door to feed more line at the same time I was trying to aid in their searches for the "fire", which was 2 orange cones in the rear of the building. All the crawling and stretching lines took its toll on me, as the heat in the building really built up (it was a very humid August day btw.) The first hoseteam went too far and ended up stretching the line all the way to the kitchen. Good thing the second hoseteam made a left to search a room the first had passed by, so they found the fire first and "put it out." Had this been a real world scenerio, the first hose team would have went past the fire and possibly been trapped by it, so this highlights the fact of how necessary it is to have no less than 2 hoselines in any working fire.

The second evolution involved a long search line (about 75 feet of rope) and hoods over our facemasks. We tied the rope off to a stop sign in the parking lot and I worked with 2 other guys going into search for a victim that had been placed behind some tables somewhere in the restaurant. As we pushed into the building, we encountered a few rooms to the left of us. I, being the first searcher, positioned myself to the far side of the entrance, let out a 20 foot section of rope I had with me, and guided both searchers hands onto it before sending them into the room to search for victims. Everything ran very smooth.

Eventually we made our way to a room on the right where the guys finally found their victim. They reported to me, and I got on the radio and called for 2 fresh guys to follow the rope to us. When the fresh guys finally got to us, I guided their hands to the 20foot section of rope which led them to the victim and my 2 original guys they were to replace. The 2 original guys came back and followed the rope out, while the 2 fresh guys secured and carried their victim using the rope as a guide. I let them go first, with the victim in the middle, and myself at the rear as we made our way to the exit of the building. This evolution went flawlessly.

The last evolution we did was to put an activated PASS alarm in a glove and hide it in the building somewhere, to simulate a downed fireman. Teams were sent in and quickly found it. We should have muffled it more. Great drill, they guys came out tired and with a bit more experience.

First day as Lieutenant

The former Lieutenant, John, couldn't wait to give up his red helmet and LT shield. The position caused him a tremendous amount of stress this year, along with his financial problems and love-issues. To be honest, I don't think he fully thought the position through. I think he was more intent on wearing a red helmet than he was in managing a fire company.

Last night, he finally took the helmet and handed it over to me, making my officer status official. Within 6 hours of receiving the helmet we had 3 firecalls in town, allowing me about 4 hours sleep before work the next morning. Oh well. This should be an interesting year, looking at our increased working-fire count lately...

House fire on Avenue B

After working the chemical plant fire all night, I took off work and went to sleep at about 7:30 AM. About noon I woke up for some food and to make a few phonecalls. About 3 PM, the pager goes off for smoke coming from the 2nd floor of a house on Avenue B. While driving down to the firehouse, dispatch comes again and says as per the Chief on scene, it's a confirmed working house fire.

I took the officer's seat and upon approach of the fire, the Chief routed us to the block behind to try an attack from the rear. I took the guys off the engine, leaving the driver and one guy to drive to the end of the block, wrap a hydrant, and come back. I ran to a few backyards, looking for our best attack position, before finding one with a nice wide walkway and a clear shot to the heavy fire blowing out of the second floor rear window. One of our juniors already had a garden hose on the eaves, which looked funny but actually helped keep the fire from spreading until we stretched 2 lines to the rear of the house.

I hadn't heard about any interior attacks, and since we had a clear shot, I let the guys open up the line into the window and to start hitting the eaves and the roof. The second line next to me was directed at the house next door to keep it wet and cool. We shut down the line a few seconds later and then heard there were interior crews making headway so we put the lines down.

A call came across the radios stating that a 14 year old girl was possibly inside. A few minutes later, she was accounted for by her parents and an aggressive attack finally put that fire to rest.
We set up a few ladders and pulled the eaves as the fire darkened down and the crews inside began to fog-vent.

Later I learned that while our guys in the back were putting water into the window from the outside, there actually were guys in the fire-room. They told me the outside line screwed up the thermal balance in the room and they had to bail out down the stairs that they originally came up. I felt horrible. There were about 15 of us in that backyard, and no one had that line shut down for a good minute nor did anyone know there were crews up there until apparently it was too late.

Better communication would have prevented this but still no water should have entered that building from the outside regardless. There was plenty of fire blowing out that back window, so the vent was already doing its job. Hitting the eaves and exposure building should have been the extent of the rear operations. I consider that a horrible call and very preventable with a little forethought.

All Night Chemical Plant Fire

Out of all the days to stay late at work, my boss asked me Tuesday to stay until 8PM for a late meeting. Around 4:30 PM my phone starts ringing off the hook with my guys calling me to tell me there's a huge factory fire on Garibaldi Ave. I checked with a few sources to make sure it would still be burning when I got home (being that my commute is over an hour) and they reassured me it would be burning for a long time. I left work with apologies to my boss and let's just say that was the longest commute of my life.

Coming into my town I could smell and see the smoke. I grabbed a few granola bars, got dressed, went to headquarters and grabbed my gear and drove to the scene. The smoke engulfed a few city blocks and when I got close, police moved the barricades to let my car in.

When I met up with my crew, they were standing and watching as all the tower ladders were in full operation, and I was told this was a 100% defensive operation as the plant had unknown chemical and plastic contents and was vacant. As everyone was unsure of the quality of the air, we were all issued filter-masks similar to the ones surgeons wear, and some agency was already on scene doing air-quality testing.

I found my Captain and as I'm stepping up as Lieutenant in a month, I felt this was a great opportunity to work side by side and get some things done. Even though Engine Companies don't have much function at a defensive fire besides pumping water to the master streams, we found a metal staircase to a lower-set rooftop that had a door that led to one of the attached buildings that was not yet involved in fire.

After giving a heads up to the Chief and all operating ladder streams, we took a 3 man team up the attached metal stairs to set up a 2 1/2 inch line up hanging up and over the parapet next to an attached roof-access ladder. Next to us was a door to the building, which we cut off the hinges with a circular saw. We stretched the 2 1/2 up the stairs, made a big U into the room and back out of the room, 3 feet up the wall and hung it over the parapet.

I was standing a foot into the room when they charged it, unaware that I was standing right in the center of the U the line made. Water rushed throught he lines and the weight pulled the 2 1/2 tight and I quickly realized it would sweep my legs right out from under me. I only had about a second between hearing water rushing and seeing the line whipping towards my legs. I jumped as high as I could as it swept under my feet like lightning and it just caught my heel, tripping me slightly, before flying out the door and almost down the stairs. That was an extremely close call as it nearly brought me down the stairs with it. Crisis averted and let this be a lesson to me and anyone reading this to stay the hell away from a 2 1/2 as it's charging, even if your pump-operator is more gentle on the throttle than mine.

Our strategy was to set up one firefighter sitting on the 2 1/2" hoseline on the parapet, one firefighter on the landing beside him for support, one firefighter a foot into the room with a thermal camera to watch for encroaching fire, and an officer on the landing to coordinate it all.

100 feet across the roof from the nozzle-man was a set of windows which at this point all had massive amounts of fire rolling and blowing out of them. The idea was to hit the right-most window to keep the fire from moving right and entering the attached building. Every 7 minutes we rotated positions and sent 1 man down to be replaced with someone fresh from the ground below.

The attached room was hot and had a haze of smoke that got denser as time went by. At the far end of the room was a hallway which had fire that could be seen with the thermal camera, but not yet with the naked eye as the smoke was too thick down the hallway. An interior attack was out of the question as master streams operated above us, even though they were aware of our crew. As we rotated guys more and more, we noticed the fire was making its way down that hallway towards us, and we debated whether to wait for it to enter the room and make a final stand with the 2 1/2 from the landing at the doorway.

After about 45 minutes of fire attack, no improvement was seen in the windows we were hitting and the fire was getting even closer down the hallway. Too many towers were in operation flowing water, and we decided our attempts were futile and we backed down the metal stairs. 15 minutes later that entire building was overcome by heavy fire, creating furnace-like conditions.

A few hours later, I took a walk around the front of the building, which now had heavy flame blowing out of 3 or 4 windows, catching a nearby tree on fire as well. Rehab was set up in a deli across the street, and everyone operating with me earlier on the stairs went inside for some pizza and O2.


We set up our deck gun later on the same building we were trying to protect earlier and stayed for another 10 hours pumping water to all the master streams in operation. About 7 AM, my crew was relieved by one of the 16 towns helping out through the night. I went home, called my boss to take off work, and fell asleep until the pager went off a few hours later for a house fire on Avenue B...

I made Lieutenant

While on vacation, my company held elections and, although most of the guys said they'd nominate me for LT., I wasn't so sure. Although the old timers don't have much input on the fireground anymore, they still make a lot of the decisions around the firehouse and especially if the person involved isn't there to defend himself. Anyway, I got a text message while I was rushing back from the aiport that they unanimously voted me in as their next LT. I found out afterwards that the town also changed our terms for officers from 12 months to 18 months, so looks like I'm in it for the long-haul.

Fire while getting a haircut

My company was at a wetdown in another town, but I stayed back since I had a mother's day dinner that night. While under the apron getting a haircut, my pager went off for a house fire on Union Street. I jumped up, threw a 20 on the table and ran out. Another engine was already flying down the hill, they were apparently all in the firehouse waiting for their turn to go to the wetdown so they got out fast.

I ran to the firehouse, grabbed my gear and jumped in a buddy's car. As we got on scene, we saw light smoke coming from the attic window of the house. We ran to another engine and grabbed some Scott Pack's and tools. As we entered the house, there were already about 5 or 6 guys at the top of the stairs. We helped hump a charged line around the winding staircases to the 3rd floor. After that, we investigated the other rooms but so no fire or smoke. It started getting very crowded up there with other firefighters, so the Safety officer made his way up and kicked most of us out.

When I walked out of the front door and looked up, the light haze had turned to thick black smoke that was pushing out of the attic window - not a good thing. I went with a few others to the basement and first floors to investigate to make sure the fire hadn't started in the basement - something that has happened before, especially in Balloon Frame Construction. We poked a few holes and found nothing, then made our way back up to the 3rd floor.


The attack team was rotated out and we missed our chance to replace them as another team went up when we were in the basement. Walking around on the floor below the fire floor, the ceilings were gushing with water. I was afraid that the water weight combined with whatever fire-load was in the attic, plus the firemen, would be too much for the ceiling to hold, so my team and I began extensively taking down the sheetrock on the ceiling to let the water drain. Hundreds of gallons of water quickly flowed from hundreds of holes in the ceiling, covering all of us in char, soot and muck. After that, we heard on the radio the fire was finally knocked down and we just turned over the overhaul operations to a neighboring town's crew.

Auto Yard Haz-Mat / Trailer Fire

It was about 3:40 AM on a work night when dispatch said there was a trash fire behind Shop Rite. I almost rolled over on the call, but I'm currently running for Lieutenant so I figured it'd be good to show my face for a B.S. call so close to the time I'd have to wake for work. Sleep's overrated anyway right?

Anyway, as I'm driving down, dispatch came through and changed the story 3 times, finally saying it was a trailer fire in the local Junk Yard. No drivers showed for our engine so we jumped on the ladder truck and pulled into the lot to see a huge plume of dark smoke above a heavy fire load at the base of a building. The main problem was a huge metal gate w/ a chain and padlock. We tried jamming a halligan through the padlock and beating on that with the flathead axe, but I got fed up and got the circular saw and cut through the chain in a matter of seconds.

My crew and I ran forward and the truck followed us, sneaking past the fire to get better positioning to put the ladder up behind the building. We stretched lines off the ladder truck as no engines had arrived yet, and just as we're about to throw it into pump, the Chief yelled to us to forget the line and to put the ladder up, as the fire was now climbing the side of the building. I saw how close we were to putting a fire-attack team into play so I ran and argued with the Truck chauffeur until he quickly threw the ladder into pump before going back to the ladder operations.


I oversaw two of our guys as they alternated keeping a 50 gallon metal drum of god-knows-what cool and attacking the actual fire on the building and rooftop. When they had it under control, I ran and grabbed 2 other guys and some tools and began working on the door to gain entry into the building. As I'm putzing around getting a halligan, one of my guys gave a swift mule kick to the door and it flew open. Not too smart if there was built up pressure and heat behind that door, but he swears to me that he checked it first.

We masked up and went in, surprised the visibility was great and there was only a light haze of smoke, and no visible fire. I was pulling a chain to open the huge garage door to vent when a captain from another company came over and started screaming "NO DON'T SHUT IT, OPEN IT." He was obviously confused on which way I was pulling the chain, and I yelled back for him to "calm the fuck down." ...Let's just say he didn't like that very much. He began yelling "what do you mean calm down? I AM CALM!!!!" Whatever. It was a misunderstanding and we both apologized to eachother later and it was squashed.

It was a smooth fire, we got outta there around 7 AM, I ran home, showered and went to work.

Creepy graveyard fire

We trained at the fire academy for hours doing RIT Training (read about it here) and got back into Lodi about 11:30 PM - exhausted. I fell asleep when the pager went off about 1 AM for a "Fire in St. Nick's Cemetary." I thought to myself "what the hell is there to burn in a cemetary" as I walked out of my house and immediately smelt smoke.

As we're driving on the engine to the cemetary we can see the smoke plume and thought a building was on fire, but pulling in gave us a clear view to about 15 or 20 separate brush fires all throughout the cemetary. It looked like a scene from a movie where people are holdling a seance in a graveyard with rings of fire. As I'm pulling our hoseline off the reels on the side of the engine, I was laughing with our chauffer about how creepy this all was.

Anyway, laughter turned to labor as we stretched and charged all 250 feet of our attack line (inch and 3/4 diameter) and began putting out the fires. They were spaced out enough that after hitting one fire, we had to lift and move the entire length of charged hoseline over and around tombstones and corners to reach the next fire. We did this about 5 times in total until the reach of the stream was far enough to hit the last, and furthest fire. Let's just say my shoulders got a good workout this night.

My guess is some punk was walking around with a box of matches and just went to town, since we saw a lot of tombstones knocked over as well (along side the few that our hoseline happened to shift or push.)

Pinto Garbage Truck Fire

We're moving apartments, and I was exhausted and fell asleep around 9:30 PM. When the call came through, dispatch said a caller reported a "fire inside the complex of Pinto's on Route 46." I woke up and was in a daze, confused on which apartment I was even in. At the firehouse, only 4 of us showed up in total.

We came down Rt. 46 and I didn't see smoke or anything yet. AJ called back to us from the front officer's seat and told Brian to get the hydrant, wrapping both of our rear 3 inch lines around the hydrant as we slowly rolled forward. I jumped out and pulled both line's off our rear reels so he'd have enough length. I went to grab tools when AJ said "forget the tools, we'll work off their truck, lets just go."

When we got close enough, I saw it was a garbage truck fully involved, and the Chief ran up screaming for us to hurry and get up there. Once again, I hate when people get hyper at car-fires if there's no exposures to concern us. The truck is already a loss, why should we run in 15 degree weather when there's black ice everywhere just to gain 10 seconds on a fire that's already totalled the truck or car.

Anyway, the safety officer yelled at 2 guys from Engine 614 to mask-up, so I dropped to a knee, masked up and walked over to back up the former Lieutenant of another company on his 1 3/4 inch line. Fire was ripping through the front cab of the truck, but after a few seconds of straight-stream, the fire quickly darkened down. We hit it again in the wheel wells before walking around to the front to see if it was completely out. It was, for the most part, so we continued just hitting hot spots before quickly putting up a ladder to view down into the truck for any other extension.

Going back to pack up at the engine, I learned that Brian didn't wrap one of the 3-inch lines tight enough around the hydrant and as the engine drove forward, the line got loose and was pulled down the street. Left with just one line, he hooked it to the hydrant but opened the hydrant too early when a Chief called for water, when he should have waited for his Driver/Pumper to call for water instead. The water flow caught the driver off guard but he got it under control in time.

Things like stretching lines, wrapping hydrants, and pulling hose off our reels are the essential things at every fire, but it seems our guys have gotten so cocky with their knowledge of our engine that they don't want to drill on those things anymore. Then we get stupid little mistakes like these that could really cause havoc if it had been a structure fire instead of a truck fire.

Screaming at a car fire

As I'm driving down Rt. 46 to Home Depot we get paged out to a car fire on Kipp Ave. We're busy Scotting up when we pull up behind the house where the car is. The car happens to be next to a white fence in someone's back yard. I hear screaming on the radio really loud as the Captain of another engine company is yelling "I NEEEED WATER NOWWW." It so happens their engine was nearly out of water when they pulled up but instead of waiting, they still stretched a line and tried to do what they could.

It still amazes me at how excited even some of these seasoned men can get at a car fire. Unless a car is against a building or other exposure, and unless there's someone trapped inside, there is NEVER a time for excitement in a car fire. By the time we get there and start putting water on it, it will always be past the point of being totalled anyway. There is no saving a car in a fire and no point to get people hurt trying.

Hearing a Captain screaming at the top of his lungs like that, seeing the panic in his face, and watching him yell at someone later to get a saw to cut the hood is disheartening to see. We're supposed to look at these older guys for guidance and to keep us new guys calm, not to get us ralled up for no reason.

...and to think, this guy wants to run for chief next year...

Mutual Aid - Woodridge House Fire

Saturday night I went snowboarding, got home late and fell asleep around 1 AM. About 5 Am, dispatch requested our engine to Woodridge to stand by at their firehouse for a working house fire. As I'm running down the stairs without my car keys, I stop short and run back up to grab them when dispatch states Woodridge now wants us to the scene to go to work.

Running into headquarters, 3 guys were there ahead of me so the Chief told them to go ahead in the Rescue Truck since Woodridge "needed" manpower asap, so I waited a few more minutes for a couple of guys, then we started off.

When we got to the scene, we staged around the block but it was still dark out and I could see flames blowing out a window and a plume of smoke. I helped the Chief gear up and we walked to the scene with our SCBA, axes and halligans and flashlights.

We were told to stand by as a F.A.S.T. Team, and we basically watched them fight the fire for an hour. Woodridge has 60 minute air bottles, and they must have did a solid interior attack for 3/4 of that limited time, I was impressed. I know how exhausting it is and 45 minutes of solid firefighting is enough to knock anyone on his / her ass.

Basically all we were useful for that night was to pack up their hose, which was rough since in the 9 degree weather, everything that had even gotten misted was now a sheet of ice. We helped pack up 5-inch line that, with the solid, frozen contents, probably weighed 200lbs per length. I've never seen inch 3/4 line freeze SOLID before, making rolling and folding impossible. The sub-pumps we were using to pump out the basement after a long fire attack were hosing down nearby trucks, people and EMS gurneys, turning them almost instantly into ice sculptures.

This reminds me of the fire on December 9, 2006 where my wet jacket froze solid and I had icy water in my boots after the water-main in the basement fire broke.

Car vs Pole - Car wins!!

Just walked in the door and the pager goes off (around 2:50 AM) for a "motor vehicle accident with entrapment." I didn't even notice the address given, which was right down the street from my house on First Street, nor did I hear the accident when it occurred. There were enough of us that responded to the firehouse that most of our guys went with the Rescue truck, yet me and 2 other guys rode with the Engine.

When we got there, the guy's car was on its side, a wooden utility pole was slightly tilted, and the Rescue-Jacks were already in place stabilizing the car from rolling or pitching. I stretched a hoseline off the Engine to the front of the car before a Chief brought my attention to the leaning utility pole right above my head. I then restretched the line in a safer direction and stayed there with one of our new guys.

Turns out the driver was very drunk, and comical. He wasn't hurt at all and was able to climb out the sunroof once two of our guys ripped it off. Then he said "I hope no one else was hurt," to which we said "Sir, you were the only one in the car" to which he replied "I was???" Also, while sitting in the ambulance he made us promise to let him know when the ambulance got there. We got quite a kick out of that.

The odd part of the accident was that there was quite a bit of split wood sitting next to the wooden utility pole that he hit, yet the pole was pretty straight on the ground with no visible damage. The car ended up taking a 3 foot section right off the bottom of the pole, and the pole simply dropped down 3 ft into its original hole. Pretty cool once I realized what I was looking at.