The Social Network & Community JUST for Firefighters
Remote Location Of Structure Fire
My name is Mac and im with the Turner Vol Fire Dept.
Last night, my town, along with several others, were toned out to a structure fire in the town over.
Four or so towns responded, trying to find the residence. I drove direct POV with a fellow FireFighter from the town the fire was in, and after getting him his gear we went direct to the scene. Well where was the Scene!? Wheres the fire!? No one knew. We fallowed a bordering towns fire truck, cheif, officer, and drove around town. Searching, in the area, for the structure fire.
We drove down one street, while fire crews, and cheifs, drove the other way searching in there own direction. I started to smell the smoke, but we couldn't locate the source. We finnaly arrived at what was beleived to be the location of the fire. I could smell the smoke more so now, and as I walked to where the fire crews were all standing, I saw nothing. No fire, just the crew on someones back lawn, talking.
The fire, was 1/2- To a mile into the woods. And the only way to access it was by four wheeler. Trucks, Even a 6x or Pick up would have difficulty getting to. The only options were to let it burn out, or lay a 4inch line all that way in and drown it.
Crews found out there was a separate, a little better trail, a few roads over so we moved out to the new location. I exited the tuck i was riding with, with a company of 4 of us, including 2 of another town, and one other Firefighter of my own town. We hitched a ride 1-2 miles up a dirt road on the back of a mule hauling a trailer full of WildFire equipment, while the 2 other from my company road on a small dump trucks dump body bed.
We arrived at the trail opening and taged out. We dropped jackets and proceeded in. It was a 1/4 maybe a 1/2 mile or more into the woods. And we walked it. We got in with indian packs and the mule which had a 65 gallon water tank and foam unit. We did the best we could to contain the fire and keep it from spreading. It did not spread.
The building had roughly 1/2 to a foot wide clearance to the tree line. IT was tight, and narrow. No room for a truck, let alone a 6x. Once it was contained we got a ride back out to the road, got tags, and went home. The fire is currently under investagation, and perseved as possible arson by drunken fools.
What else can you do? The fire is almost unreachable by truck.
It cant be found
The structure is gone
This is just a general discussion of Remote Locations of Structure Fires.
Im including a over head view from google earth of the location of the house.
Enjoy and let the Discussion begin!
Last night, my town, along with several others, were toned out to a structure fire in the town over.
Four or so towns responded, trying to find the residence. I drove direct POV with a fellow FireFighter from the town the fire was in, and after getting him his gear we went direct to the scene. Well where was the Scene!? Wheres the fire!? No one knew. We fallowed a bordering towns fire truck, cheif, officer, and drove around town. Searching, in the area, for the structure fire.
We drove down one street, while fire crews, and cheifs, drove the other way searching in there own direction. I started to smell the smoke, but we couldn't locate the source. We finnaly arrived at what was beleived to be the location of the fire. I could smell the smoke more so now, and as I walked to where the fire crews were all standing, I saw nothing. No fire, just the crew on someones back lawn, talking.
The fire, was 1/2- To a mile into the woods. And the only way to access it was by four wheeler. Trucks, Even a 6x or Pick up would have difficulty getting to. The only options were to let it burn out, or lay a 4inch line all that way in and drown it.
Crews found out there was a separate, a little better trail, a few roads over so we moved out to the new location. I exited the tuck i was riding with, with a company of 4 of us, including 2 of another town, and one other Firefighter of my own town. We hitched a ride 1-2 miles up a dirt road on the back of a mule hauling a trailer full of WildFire equipment, while the 2 other from my company road on a small dump trucks dump body bed.
We arrived at the trail opening and taged out. We dropped jackets and proceeded in. It was a 1/4 maybe a 1/2 mile or more into the woods. And we walked it. We got in with indian packs and the mule which had a 65 gallon water tank and foam unit. We did the best we could to contain the fire and keep it from spreading. It did not spread.
The building had roughly 1/2 to a foot wide clearance to the tree line. IT was tight, and narrow. No room for a truck, let alone a 6x. Once it was contained we got a ride back out to the road, got tags, and went home. The fire is currently under investagation, and perseved as possible arson by drunken fools.
What else can you do? The fire is almost unreachable by truck.
It cant be found
The structure is gone
This is just a general discussion of Remote Locations of Structure Fires.
Im including a over head view from google earth of the location of the house.
Enjoy and let the Discussion begin!
- Attachments:
-
-
00001.JPG, 107 KB
-
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Joe Stoltz on
-
Sometimes, people take great pains to build a hideaway in the woods. This can be a crude shack to a million dollar state-of-the-art house. Privacy and seclusion, with minimal impact to the surrounding land (by not properly clearing driveways) are the prime goals.
Many times, I have seen cases where such people never, EVER give a thought to access by emergency services. "Snowstorm? It will melt, eventually. Power outage? no problem, we'll just light candles. Fire? This place will never burn. Medical emergencies? We're not sick, we've never been sick so we'll never need an ambulance. Putting the house number on the mailbox in large letters? Nope, I get my mail at the post office, no need for a mailbox or house numbers."
Yeah.
Then, when trouble develops, they expect help right NOW. They act surprised when their house catches fire, or someone takes sick, and the a-hole firemen drive up and down the road trying to find their house.
Sorry for ranting. You asked a question - "What else can you do?" Answer - very little. I try to be familiar with all of the various driveways and hidden houses in my district, but there are many that can be viewed only from the sky. We try to give out standard reflective address signs but not everyone wants them.
So, I believe in some cases we can only go so far in helping people out. If their property is poorly marked or has limited access to emergency vehicles, there's very little we can do.
I commend you and your department for putting forth the massive effort to track down that fire.
-
Permalink Reply by Oldman on
-
I think you did everything you could do except maybe bring marshmallows and wieners. We too have a few places like that. On a quiet night one can even hear duelin' banjos, so I'm with ya brother.
-
Permalink Reply by Wes Anders on
-
You did all you can do. We have a lot of secluded hunting lodges and cabins some are mansions some are shacks but the people who build them want them as a get away spot so they dont let anyone know where they are. There has been many times weve been called out on wildland fires and found houses in danger that we didnt know were there.
-
Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
-
Joe,
Do you know the difference between an environmentalist and a developer?
The environmentalist already HAS a house in the woods.
And...the developer wants better roads to HIS house when he builds it.
"Some structures are meant to burn." attributed to Al Brunacini
-
Permalink Reply by Bull on
-
We have several like that here in the Northwoods of Wi. Not to sound unprofessional, but...oh well. Thats there problem. Im sure the insurance company would like to know all this. Its not our fault that they dont provide proper access. We will do what we can, but were not going to get our feathers ruffled.
-
Permalink Reply by anne potter on
-
where we live lots of camps down by the water.. When one goes it goes.. Not much to do except watch nobody's fault.. Most owners understand...
-
Permalink Reply by Moose on
-
I have the same problem here too, lots of hunting cabins and get-a-ways in the woods that have no access to them but trails and paths. We get one of those fires once a year it seems.
-
Permalink Reply by Michael Farrar on
-
In this case I think you guys did the right thing. No point in really bustin your ass over something you can't do anything about. Try to save an evidence you find and keep it from going anywhere and watch in burn.
-
Permalink Reply by Capt.Alex Arnold on
-
Oh yea those are called Pend Oreille Condos here. We have those all over the place up here in N.E. Washington. BTW FYI Pend Oreille is prounced Ponderay.
-
Permalink Reply by Justin Cloutier on
-
Wasn't this house deemed abandoned? I beleieve Ross said it was, maybe i was mistaken.
-
Permalink Reply by Mac Conant on
-
It was. But Building is a building. It was specially dangerous with the close proximity of the woodline. Good thing the trees were all green.
© 2024 Created by Firefighter Nation WebChief.
Powered by
