Firefighters Escape Roof Collapse During Maryland House Fire

MANNY FANTIS
WUSA9
Reprinted with Permission

BELTSVILLE, Md. (WUSA) - Montgomery County firefighters survived a close call, when a roof collapsed while they were battling a blaze in Beltsville Monday morning.

(Mark Brady, PGFEMS PIO photo)


Related
PGFEMS: Beltsville House Fire


It happened at the 4100 block of Ulster

Road. Firefighters arrived to a burning 2-story, single family home at around 10 a.m., officials said.

Heavy flames and smoke were coming out of the home, when they were heading in to fight the fire, officials said.

That's when part of the roof fell into the burning home. The firefighters had to be evacuated and fight the fire from the outside, officials said.

The cause of the fire will be under investigation and fire loss is still being estimated. No injuries have been reported at this point, officials said.

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Impressive fire but not sure I would have made entry with the extreme fire already through the roof.......of course it was going to collapse in a matter of minutes. Glad no one was hurt.
I hate to be a arm chair quarter back. but, this video is crying for comments.
I will keep mine to myself...
A picture is worth a thousand words

Stay SAFE !!
No disrespect intended, but have you blokes heard of 'Occupational Health and Safety'?
The house was a write-off before entry was made. Why place yourself in a dangerous situation to achieve nothing?
I'm not quarterbacking either but I noticed it took six minutes before water was seen..and i agree with previous posts that there is no need for entry from the get go..surround and drown at this point.
leaving this one alone....
I see a whole lot more than that.
But, yeah its usually a solid tactic to put some of the wet stuff on the red stuff as quickly as possible.
I'm going their. Being that I have several houses like this in my area, and have done the same thing, a better outcome, but every fire is different. I'm opting in. There is no fire on the 1st or 2nd floor of the house. (That we can see) It's around 10am, and the fire started in the garage. Could it be a car fire that started in the garage? No one is around to offer if anyone could be home or not. Quick thought, a car may be in the garage and someone might be in the house. They are not fighting this like it's no big deal, they are in their with a 2.5" line with a second set as a backup. Go in and get a search done while the fire is in the garage and attic. Ya the fire is gonna drop to the 2nd floor, but if you can catch it and knock it down, you might just get the knock down. The fire may have taken the attic but the #3,4 and 1 side look good. Hit the fire from the first floor or stairway if you can. Get your search done and then determine if you need to pull back or go all in. Just my 2 cents.
I can understand a quick search with a handline, but this hous is too far gone for an extended interior attack. It's obviously a newer house, which makes me even more concerned because of lightweigh construction, collapse is inevitable. Another thing that concerns me is it looks like that engine has no LDH hose. That's one of the things that got guys killed in Charleston. You can't have that many lines off and no supply established especially if you have interior operations going on. And when the alarm was given to go defensive, some of the guys had tunnel vision and kept on working. After the evacuation, guys seemed to be confused and didn't work as teams to move hoses or reestablish an exterior attack. They weren't going to save much, but I hope they can do a critique and train more so they won't repeat this fire.
They do have a 3" line in place waiting to be charged. The feed engine should have dropped their tank as they were hooking the hydrant. In my neck of the woods we still use 1 2.5 & 1 3" feed for residential and 5" for commercial. Right or wrong? It depends on how you look at it. A line blows, you still have water. I know that a lot of firefighters think that when the evac order is given, everyone out. Not everyone out and away, regroup and deploy. NIMS was not in place, thats obvious. BUT Command did not effectively convey in a timely manor that a collapse was in progress either. The guys inside probably didn't even know. This is a great example of communication breakdown. If you say it to a firefighter outside, get it over the air. And reinforce when the air horns go off get out AND away. But if the search is in progress, the engine has to go "all in" or that truck co is dead. And everyone knows we don't like to admit defeat. I don't think anyone can deny that one.
Every time I watch this I have the same question in my mind. after the evacuation of the interior crew.... I see a long period with no water. But, The thing I just can't figure out is.... Why have a million dollar plus Ladder truck there if your not going to utilize it when the fire becomes defensive? What was the deal with that?
I am just curious if anyone knows...Was there a major water issue on this fire. too much of what went on just seems like it had to be a lack of water or something else that was totally going wrong.

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