Holy electrical fire, batman!

Early on Saturday we got called for a light-fixture on fire in a church meeting room. It was a ballast, and my heat-gun registered about 300 degrees on it. It was surely burnt up, so we took most of the fixture down and cut the electricity to the ballast. We did not, however, take the ballast down as the Chief felt it was cool enough to ignore since the power was cut.

Well, about 2 hours later, we got called back to the scene where the residents reported the ceiling to be on fire. I got there late and went right to the scene, where I was met by a yelling Chief, an engine that couldn't get into pump, and a hoseline stretched into the building. I threw on a Scott pack and followed the line in.

I looked up once I entered the room and was met with a 15 foot cross-shaped exposed area of the ceiling that our guys took down with their pike poles, with some fire in the middle. I can't express how creepy it was to see this in a church. I said "did it have to be a crucifix?" and everyone laughed once they realized what they'd done.

In any case, the electricity was cut and ceilings were pulled into a pile of smoking debris on the floor. A member of another company ordered the nozzle-man to drench the debris before I cut in and said there's no need to create more of a mess, and that we were better off just carrying the debris outside and wetting it down there. I'm proud of that call as a few mins of manpower saved a lot of face - we had done enough damage already in checking for fire extension.