My Day Off

[2gigch1]

It was a pretty normal day for me, got up, made breakfast & packed a lunch for the little ones, saw them to the bus. Went back and took a nap 'cause I stayed up too late last night.

Around noon I was off to Brunswick to fill a small list from Superfresh then for a trim from John at my favorite barber shop.

From there I ran back past my house to the Jefferson Market for some munchies to tie me over for the weekend. On the way back I ran into this:

http://www.wusa9.com/news/columnist/blogs/davestatter.aspx

(See my raw video of the Jefferson House Fire (Horine Road))

Later I checked my dash cam recording - I was turning onto Horine at Valley Elementary when dispatch gave the address. I was on scene 43 seconds later.

THIS is why I keep my camera close and scanners on...

 

[bwhite]

Excellent video, PM'ed you. Thanx for sharing.

 

[SmallBrownBass]

great video.
not to say it only happens in this dept. because it happens in every dept.

I hate seeing firefighters taking off their gloves to mask up. you should be able to do that with gloves with ease.

 

[bwhite]

great video.
not to say it only happens in this dept. because it happens in every dept.

I hate seeing firefighters taking off their gloves to mask up. you should be able to do that with gloves with ease.

just curious why that is a problem if they're sure to put 'em right back on. Some of those tightening tabs can be hard to locate with thick gloves.

 

[Mark]

Was curious,no hydrants in area? I noticed tanker truck in part 2 dumping water
into portable draw tanks?
Seems a snorkel type boom truck or ladder truck would have been used once fire broke thru roof but
I'm no firefighter so don't know.
Great raw video though!

Mark

 

[bwhite]

Water supply difficulties are a major obstacle to those of us that do ff in rural areas, supplying a monitor nozzle/master stream off of a snorkle/ladder truck takes a lot of water. (If you live rural this is reflected in your homeowners premium). I was a bit surprised that they sounded the evacuation alert when they did, it appeared as though they were getting a pretty good knock on the fire at that time; what we couldn't tell at that point is if they were out of water and waiting for more. (You don't want to be inside waiting on water)

 

[Dank]

Great video. I was surprised that they didn't rip off the storm door once they got it open. It also seemed to take a long time before any of the windows were taken out. I guess I'm used to the convenience of living in the suburbs instead of the country when it comes to fire protection.

 

[ocguard]

I hate seeing firefighters taking off their gloves to mask up. you should be able to do that with gloves with ease.

Are you serious? With what kind of gloves? Medical gloves, maybe. Firefighter I curriculum specifically instructs students to take off structural firefighting gloves in order to properly don and tighten SCBA face piece - this is necessary to achieve an adequate seal, and should be done outside the IDLH environment.

 

[Mark]

I know nothing about firefighting but had volunteer firefighter friend of mine
check out videos and this was his observations...

A. "Why did the driver of the first truck in have to get out and pull the humat valve and hose off the truck himself when there are firefighters in the back? They should have done that."

B. "That front storm door has to go or at least prop it open. It tough to advance a hose line inside when the door keep closing on it."

I didn't notice that myself....

Mark

 

[SmallBrownBass]

During my training I was told you should always be comfortable doing ALL your work with your gloves on.
I'm not trying to single any dept out cause i ride with people who do it and most people do it as well.
But, when you come out of a hot fire your not going to start taking your equipment off with your bare hands.

It's nice and all to quote what a book says but when your really in that stuff, things tend to happen, and when they do it might not be the situation in which you should be taking your gloves off.

Yes, I can mask up with my gloves on. Was it easy at first? No, but I practice for hours and hours everyday until I can get it right. It's a serious job and I want to be able to do everything and prepare for everything. I'm not great at it yet but maybe by the time I'm old and broken down I can call myself a damn firefighter!

 

[bwhite]

Mark,
Noticed the same 2 things.
Regarding the driver dropping the line, I thought that was a tad odd, but, if the 2 ff's were fully masked in the back and it appears they were it can be tough to get down and then back up on the truck. Not sure what the proper protocal is everywhere, but, the driver wasn't weighted down by anything at that point.

 

[Dispatcher308]

In most companies it is an SOG/SOP that the driver does that so that the driver knows its done and knows that he is the only one that is getting back in the rig, kinda of a safety issue.

 

[bwhite]

Good sog.
Every incident has it's plusses and minuses, there are a few of each here.
Even the early discussion about dropping the line has been educational.
For seasoned and new ff's it is good to see video like this, especially a daylight incident where there is visibility so that, for training purposes we can go thru the video and discuss the whats/whys and "this is OK but we do it differently" type things.
Other than a some very minor things like sounding the evac-from-the-building fairly early which may have been due to lack of water or other factors now apparent from the video, most of this looks text book. Especially for someone new to ff it is good to see how "it is supposed to work/look" so you can try to emulate that when it is your turn.

 

[WA3CSX]

great video and my cents

nice video always nice to roll up on a job.Life up there is interesting to say the least.
As far as the driver laying out,if it is in the first due,sure why not,it gives the guys in the back more time to get ready.Or at least that's how we do it here.As far as truck company ops,didn't really notice anyone trying to open up the roof area,might have had better access to knock the fire.Well that's my arm chair opinion,and yes I am a volunteer ff/emt from PG.

 

[Dank]

Not knowing the staffing of the incominig units does leave alot of these questions unanswered. If your first engine arrives well beforre everyone else then opnly so much can be done. The driver would stay witht eh engine and the other 2 would advance the line inside. I didn't have sound when I watched it so I didn't know when the evacuation tone was sounded. Perhaps they water supply was gone. Later video die show a tanker drop but you don't know how long it took to set up the portable tank.

I agree with the lack of venting, especially breaking out the front and side windows. He should have used a longer hook.

I don't want to second guess the crews on the fireground because I wan;t there but if that fire had occiurred in a more populated area the damage would not have nearly as high. Overpriced city water is worth something.
I'm sure each jurisdication varies but here is a link to a PG County SOP to provide basic knowledge of what untis does what for those new to fireground ops.

http://www.kentland33.com/sop/ralorder3-1_firegroundsop'sforstructuralfires_2004_11_22.doc

 

[fd2119]

I watched/showed that video (both parts) at my station, and it was met with some...well, I guess criticism would be the right term.

No hooks were taken in. None. Had someone taken in a hook or two, perhaps the fire wouldn't have gone through the roof.

It was obvious that the fire was not only in the kitchen, but in the attic, as well. it was also obvious it had run the length of the house (notice the volume of smoke showing from the A/D (front right) corner?

As for the driver laying out, I guess it depends on the company, as well as maybe even the crew. A friend of mine, a career firefighter, has his driver lay out. I don't honestly know the logic behind it, but it seems to work.

The truck company positioning was absolutely awful. Not only did they just stop in the middle of the road, but they occluded that artery for rural water supply.

However, I have absolutely no issue with your video work; you did quite well. Check your PMs for more.

 

[OldsDoug]

Nice catch!

Why do people leave candles unattended? (Rhetorical question...)

 

[ScanManQSL]

Cool video, Thanx for sharing.

 

[ScanManQSL]

This Horine Rd house fire is becoming a hot topic on The Watch Desk.

http://www.thewatchdesk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=38158

 

[TruckFireman]

There are definatley issues that have come to light with this fire, on both sides, career and volunteer. This fire was the exception though. I can assure you not all fires in Frederick County run this way. I'm not gonna monday morning QB this thing because I wasn't there, but the video does show basic training and tactical errors that are hard to deny or explain away.

The one thing that is lacking (In General) with the Frederick is a critique of major incidents to correct these issues. The requirement of an written operational report from the incident commander explaining conditions, strategies, tactics, outcomes and what could have been improved or changed. This would go far in mitigating future incidents and learning from our mistakes. Unfortunately in Frederick County, the political "air" and "old school" mentality doesn't allow for much progress.