A structure fire was reported at approximately 0900. Initial interior attack was attempted but halted due to extensive fire in the basement and a balloon construction dwelling. Two ladder master streams and various deck and deluge guns were put into service. After approximately three hours of defensive master stream operations, a crew of three firefighters (including me) was told to re-enter the building in an attempt to locate fire and check for extension. We entered the structure from a side door and I was on the handline with two other firefighters behind me. We crawled into the structure and after crawling about 6 feet into the kitchen, we noticed that a wall had collapsed in the kitchen. We kept moving forward and after crawling approximately 2 more feet, the kitchen floor collapsed sending me into the basement. I fell approximately 6 feet before hitting the water. The other two firefighters managed to avoid falling into the basement. The basement was filled with approximately 8 feet of water. I was submerged completely under the water but was able to breathe the air in my SCBA. My SCBA mask quickly filled with water! I was unable to touch the bottom so I held onto the handline and pulled my head above the water. I used the radio to call for a FAST team.The other fire fighter in the building with me noticed I had fallen so he grabbed the handline and was able to pull me up. He then grabbed my turnout coat and managed to pull me out of the hole. At this point, I most likely lost consciousness as I do not recall anything else until I woke up in the back of an ambulance. The paramedics and EMTs were attending to me. I was transported to the trauma center and admitted. They treated me for hypothermia. The other two firefighters were transported to the local hospital, evaluated, and released.

LESSONS LEARNED:

The lesson learned in this event is that after pouring water through various master streams on a structure that is actively burning for well over 3 hours, do not send any personnel into the structure. The structure will be deemed a total loss at this point and it is not worth risking the lives of other firefighters to attempt to more rapidly extinguishment of the fire. Also learned from this incident, evaluate all orders given to you by incident command. If you do not feel safe, advise incident command and the safety officer of the situation.

Dillon County, S.C. Recently Dillon County Station Nine and Dillon County Station Two responded to a barn fire. Fire was easily extinguished, during overhaul the firefighters found a LP Gas Cylinder under the tin roof that had started to deform. Now mind you that the incident commander had completed a 360 degree walk around and did not see the LP Cylinder because it was hidden under the metal roofing that had fallen. The incident commander had done his job as far looking for potential hazards that could pose additional dangers to his crew, a water supply had been established, firefighters in full gear. Everything needed to be safe at this fire. Had the cylinder exploded it could have possibly killed a number of firefighters. This just goes to show that Firefighters can do everything right and still end up DEAD.

LESSONS LEARNED:

Do not take things for granted. Our Safety is something we have to put ahead of everything else. "Make Safety First and Make it Last"

On Wed. Oct. 14 at 1818 hours, our department received a residential fire alarm in our city. Response is an Automatic mutual Aid area with three cities. This area is very large residences and this one is approximately 10000 sq. ft. three story brick veneer wood frame structure. The first unit arrived in approximately 3 minutes and made a size up. No smoke was visible; the occupants were waiting in the front yard saying they could smell smoke. Upon entering the structure no smoke was visible but the odor of smoke was present. Upon reaching the second level the Captain observed smoke coming from the AC vents. The captain ordered two attack lines and two crews to begin pulling the ceiling in the second level. A RIT team was set up and a third line pulled. Before the first ceiling could be pulled smoke and heat levels began to rise rapidly. The Captain had set up IC and was doing observations around the structure when heavy smoke began coming from the roof above the area. Within three minutes fire broke through the roof. Interior crews advised heavy heat bean being felt. The IC ordered all crews out of the residence. An evacuation signal was sounded and crews began pulling back. As the last crew was exiting the building a collapse occurred in the area they had been working. Ceiling and attic structure collapse onto the second floor and caused a collapse of the second floor onto the first. Additional mutual aid was requested and defensive operations were begun and after a 6 hour defensive firefight the fire was put under control. The two exposures nearest the structure were saved with only minor damage. Two minor injuries were reported one fall and one heat exhaustion. The total loss will be in excess of 1.5 million dollars.
Lessons Learned
Following good IC and command and control saved us from a tragic end to this fire. We very possibly could have lost 5-6 firefighters in the collapse. Large structures can have very advanced fires burning in them with very little outward signs. Large open spaces with large amounts of combustible materials can cause very rapid fire development. Wood truss construction can lead to rapid collapse. And number one, would be the need for sprinkler systems in these very large residential buildings.

Thomas Meyer was sitting outside his Lehman Street apartment building a little after 10 a.m. Thursday when he heard a huge bang.

"I heard a big explosion and there was smoke. Everything was flying," said Meyer, who lives on the first floor of the two-story building. "I never seen anything like this except in movies."

What he saw and heard was an explosion caused by vapors from as many as 31 cans of aerosol bug bombs that are believed to have ignited from a pilot light of a gas stove in a second-floor apartment, authorities said.

Seventeen cans of bug bombs were found on the second floor, 12 cans on the first floor and two in the basement, said David Eggert, a deputy fire commissioner.

The bug bombs were being used because landlord John Light had been issued code-violation notices for roach and bedbug infestation, Eggert said.

Tim Balsbaugh, a second-floor tenant, said he was getting ready to set off the bug bombs when another tenant, Dennis Morgan, grabbed some and took them into his apartment.

"He was not supposed to be setting them off yet," Balsbaugh said "I told him, 'Don't do anything' -- I hadn't gotten up there yet."

When the explosion occurred, Balsbaugh said, "I came flying out the side, getting hit with stuff."

He was released after treatment for breathing difficulties at Good Samaritan Hospital.

Karen Light, a second-floor tenant, was on the ground, Balsbaugh said. She was listed in good condition in Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center on Thursday, and Morgan was in fair condition, a hospital spokeswoman said.

"We're all lucky," Balsbaugh said.

Zuleyka Torres, who lives next door, said she was awakened by the house shaking from the explosion.

"They took us all out because of the smoke," which she said was coming into her house from the attic.

Residents of adjacent buildings were allowed back in their homes Thursday afternoon after the air was tested.

Barry Fisher, Lebanon's fire commissioner, said one person had fallen from the balcony and one was on the balcony when firefighters arrived.

The aerosol vapors in bug bombs are flammable, Fisher said, and instructions on the cans tell users to make sure there are no open flames.

Units were dispatched to a report of a pool house fire, next to a residence. It was mid-afternoon on a weekday. The two-man on-duty engine crew arrived from about four miles away, just ahead of a single-man engine crew from a paid-on-call station less than a mile away. The dispatcher had warned that the pool house contained chlorine and LP gas tanks. While in full PPE, one FF from the first-arriving engine had just begun the stretch of the 1-3/4-inch pre-connect to the rear of the home (a distance of 60-75 feet), when a VERY loud "pop" was heard by the operators of the two engines on the street. The operators went to check on the FF stretching the line and found him on his hands and knees in the driveway at the front of the home. The FF said he had gotten hit in the leg with debris from a flying/burning LP tank. He later related that he had seen the tank burning and had just turned around to advise the Deputy Chief, who was the operator of the second-arriving engine, when the tank exploded. The exploded tank had violently ruptured into a sort of warped, stainless "Ninja-Star" shape and landed in some brush about 35 feet southwest from the burned shed. The top of the tank was found with the pop-off valve intact, lying about 25 feet due west from the pool house. It is unclear at this point whether the pop-off valve ever functioned. An additional piece of shrapnel was found in the grass about 15 feet to the southwest of the pool house. The firefighter was taken to the local trauma center and, fortunately, suffered only a painful bruise and some temporary loss of mobility due to muscle spasms. He lost about two days of work for recovery. His turnout pants received heat damage in the affected leg. The third-arriving three-man engine crew (automatic aid from the adjacent township) took over the extinguishment of the fire and the overhaul of the scene.

LESSONS LEARNED:

Full PPE protects firefighters. Even though were advised and aware of chemical and gas hazards in the fire building, it still doesn't mean they won't go ahead and explode on us anyway. The fire keeps burning when FFs are injured and the remaining crew needs to attend to them Automatic Aid on structure fires (especially during limited manning in the daytime)is exactly the back-up planned-for and needed in such situations. Sometimes God smiles on us.

"LAFD gets EXTREMELY lucky here - A 2 story commercial in downtown with an add-on wood frame second floor comes crashing down on firefighters after about 20 minutes of active fire. Multiple firefighters were pinned/injured with one receiving serious injuries. That no one was killed made this a good day.

At the time of collapse, I was shooting fire thru a window...A hose line darkened the fire down and I slowly pulled out and hit my pause button JUST as the building came down... I've slo-mo'd it at the end of the clip so you can see it coming. A shame I didn't roll just a tad longer."

...

On July 4th, 2009 our Fire Department responded to a report of a working garage fire. I was the first officer (Senior Captain)to arrive on the scene. On arrival the attached two car garage was fully involved, as were both vehicles inside the garage. At the time of my arrival the garage doors had burnt away and both vehicles rear ends were facing the street. As I walked past the driveway, parallel to the house, something shot out of the garage towards me about two feet off the ground. It traveled the length of the driveway (approx. 50 feet) and continued past my legs and across the thirty foot wide cul-de-sac, almost striking a police officer on scene. Later on, after the fire was extinguished, we located the object. It was the piston that the bumper used to be attached to. Since both bumpers were completely burnt away this piston became a missile. As it turned out we later found out that all four pistons (two from each bumper of the BMW's ) had done the same thing.

Lessons Learned: Lesson learned is that you should approach a fully involved garage fire (with vehicles inside) with the same due caution you approach a vehicle fire, on an angle when possible.

I am a volunteer firefighter from Long Island New York for 5 years now and i have a case you guys might be interested in and it may bring some light to this issue. on July 24 around 0500 hours we were activated for a working structure fire in a occupied dwelling upon arrival the first due engine activated the working fire and stretched a 1 3/4 line to start fire suppression, the members on the nozzle team did a great job and knocked down the fire quickly but not before the nozzle man received 2nd and 3rd degree burns to his legs and calves. We were interested in how he was burned wearing his proper PPE (full bunker gear) so we inspected his gear and found no burn holes. we later found out that earlier in the morning the firefighter had responded to 2 electrical hazard calls in a severe ran storm and had to walk through 3 feet of water which mad his gear soaked. now when the structure fine came in his pants where still wet, now the only conclusion we came across into how he got burned was due to his pants being wet he received steam burns.

In June, 2009, our fire department responded to a reported fire on the second floor of a senior high rise. Dispatch reported an explosion and fire out the window. Upon arrival, firefighters noted visible fire from 2 windows of the involved unit. As an entry crew made their way up the stairway, the pump operator reported another explosion and an oxygen tank flying through the window and out to the parking lot. As the entry crew approached the involved unit, another explosion occurred. The force of the explosion blew the steel door out of the casing, broke it in half, and slammed the top of the door into the hallway wall. Firefighters were low in front of the door, which meant the majority of the force went above their heads.

Lessons Learned: Several lessons can be learned from this experience. First, remember to stay low when approaching an area involved in heavy fire. Keep in mind that although oxygen tanks can be anywhere, a senior center certainly increases the odds, and must be considered when heavy fire conditions exist. Stay out of the way of doors until they are opened and any sudden fire condition change has had a chance to do with it's going to do. Finally, proper PPE is a must, every time.

While fighting fire second in a floor four-plex I fell down flight of stairs in heavy smoke conditions and tore the left cartilage from shoulder and fractured a bone in my shoulder. There was no railing around stairwell

Lessons Learned: Take more time to check out surroundings when operating in zero visibility condition especially on upper floors.

TWO COMPANIES OF FIREFIGHTERS CAN CONSIDER THEMSELVES LUCKY today following this close call in West Jordan, Utah.  Early Thursday morning the alarm came in for a fire in one of the town’s more popular restaurants. 

KSL-TV reported:

Crews arrived just after midnight to find smoke billowing from the eaves of Jim’s Family Restaurant at 7609 S. Redwood Rd., but the blaze quickly escalated to a second alarm, then a third.

West Jordan Fire Department Battalion Chief Reed Scharman says two groups of firefighters were inside when part of the roof collapsed. Big beams and other debris fell on six of the firefighters.

“A couple of them were knocked down,” Scharman said. “They were able to, with the assistance of the others who were inside that didn’t get hit by any of the ceiling coming down, get oriented as to the direction they needed to go.”

18:17 hours, 06/21/09, Pearland VFD dispatched for a structure fire at 5001 W. Plum. EMS Supervisor first on scene, confirmed a working attic fire with exposures. Brookside Village and Houston requested for mutual aid. An exterior attack was conducted for about ten minutes before another crew arrived. Fire was knocked down in the attic, then a PPV set up at the front door. Command noticed the roof in the D-sector was beginning to sag, and then conditions deteriorated rapidly. The fan was shut off, but the fire began blowing out the D-sector gable and through the roof were it had been sagging. After a couple minutes of hitting the fire both from the interior and exterior, Command called for Interior to back out and go defensive. Interior advised they were making good headway on the fire and stayed in the attic. The deck gun on Engine 11 was put into operation to help knock the fire down. Fortunately nobody was injured.
 
Things to remember:
1) PPV does not always produce the desired effect.
2) COMMAND is in charge. Don't let Interior tell you what to do. As the IC, YOU tell them what to do. They can't see the big picture like you can from the outside.
3) Think carefully before deciding to mix offensive and defensive operations.

The hood was worn by a Lt during a recent house fire in which there was a backdraft in the ceiling/duct work. Due to proper PPE the Lt. sustained a minor burn to his ear.

Photos Courtesy of Vinnie Costa

On Sunday February 15 at around 1700 (units from the Riverdale area, E813, E807, E830, E809, TK828, TK801, TK855, BC804) Truck 1 was dispatched as 2nd due truck to a report of a house fire in the area of Beacon Pl and 67th Av (Co13's area)  units arrives on scene @ 5805 67th Av with fire showing from the rear of a 2 story SFD.  Truck 1 w/ 7 personnel split crews providing ground ladders, roof operations and primary searches of the 2nd floor, while on the 2nd floor a water supply problem was encountered causing the 2nd floor to rapidly become engulfed in flames which resulted in 2 F/F exiting via the stairs and 2 F/F exiting via a 2nd story window to the roof.  One F/F from Truck 1 received minor burns to his shoulders and back, he was taken to MedStar where he was treated and released, the injured F/F is doing well and will return to duty by week’s end.  The F/F was wearing Globe Extreme Gear which held up well and prevented serious injuries. Truck 1 also assisted Fire Investigations and completed overhaul returning to service around 2030.