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Close Calls
I just wanted everyone to share the close calls that they have had on fire, mva and medical calls. I want to have everyone share these stories to help each other learn from then and maybe help save someone's life from it.
My close call that sticks out most in my mind happened back in Jan. 08, we were working a 2-story motel fire, I was A side of the building on the ground floor with an 1 1/2 inch hand line, a rookie from my dept had busted out a window to allow me access to a locked room, we had a crew of about 4 ff on the second floor making the same style of attack as me, the Capt. on A side told me to hit the fire in the ceiling of the ground floor from below so ff on the second floor could make an aggressive attack above on the fire on the second floor. I had been on this operation for about 2 min. when the floor, ceiling collapsed and landed within inched of where I was standing, surrounding me with hot ash and embers. Luckily the ff above had not made entry yet and no one was injury, this operation could of "gone south" real quick.
My close call that sticks out most in my mind happened back in Jan. 08, we were working a 2-story motel fire, I was A side of the building on the ground floor with an 1 1/2 inch hand line, a rookie from my dept had busted out a window to allow me access to a locked room, we had a crew of about 4 ff on the second floor making the same style of attack as me, the Capt. on A side told me to hit the fire in the ceiling of the ground floor from below so ff on the second floor could make an aggressive attack above on the fire on the second floor. I had been on this operation for about 2 min. when the floor, ceiling collapsed and landed within inched of where I was standing, surrounding me with hot ash and embers. Luckily the ff above had not made entry yet and no one was injury, this operation could of "gone south" real quick.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Brian Dumser on
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This happened before the advent of "Scott's Law" here in Chicagoland. I was at the scene of an MVA, and had gone back to the engine to fetch a halligan bar to help force the hood of a vehicle to get at the battery cables. When I stepped out from between the engine and the ambulance, a motorist had gone around the apparatus and missed hitting me by one footstep. Needless to say, when I jumped back, I "accidently" smashed out the side window of the car. The motorist just kept on driving! If I had been one footstep faster, I would have ended up riding the hood of that car down the road! Whew!
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Permalink Reply by ERCVFD 842 C. Warren on
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I know the feeling brother citizens don't understand that we stage our trucks in a certain way for reason, and they don't care we have the road closed for safety they just care about getting to work on time or making it home in time to catch their favorite show, this happens all to offend and I've heard of several cases lately that this has lead to tragedy. Stay safe out.
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Permalink Reply by FETC on
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Chris,
There has been allot of studies about the choice of attack lines. Now, a 2 story motel, is pretty much a commercial occupancy. You had fire on two different floors and you were using an 1-1/2" attack line? There have been alot of studies about GPM vs BTU's with the new furnishings of today. Surprisingly, 1-1/2" attack lines are NOT producing enough GPM to extinguish modern fires until you catch the BTU's on the down side of the fire curve. Around here, a 1-1/2" line is being considered as the booster line of yesteryear. When you by a new truck, you have to custom spec, 1-1/2" lines, that should say something about the fire service... 1- 3/4" minimum but the use of 2" or 2-1/2" attack line on an occupancy like this should be a definate consideration. Stay safe bro, don't commit to born losers (no win interior operations) ...
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Hey bro I was using a 1 1/2 from another dept, I was more or less at first was suppose to try to just keep hot stuff from falling on the guys upstairs or spraying them when it did. We were the first called dept mutual aid but had 7 dept there all together. My dept uses nothing less than 1 3/4 on everything. Guess I should have noted that in there too. Also another note the fire was on the second floor at this point and only starting to burn through the floor.
At first I was actually fighting the fire but more or less just back-up.
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