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.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Thursday, August 6, 2009
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.
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.
