Category Archives: Saint Clair Fire Department

Suspicious House Fire on Church Street

Posted on by

Around 9:30 pm, I was getting ready to go to bed, when I heard chatter on my scanner about a house on fire on Church Street near Elm Street, so I grabbed my camera and headed that way. As soon as I turned out of my driveway on to the street, I could see the glow in the sky. I pulled up and parked near the intersection, careful not to block the hydrant, and made my way up Church Street along the sidewalk shooting video of the heavy fire shooting thru the roof on the north side of the house. Some gal came out of the shadows and was asking me questions…you`ll hear me answering them on the video…

Fires 2021-0802 AVI 027 First Alarm Residential Church & Elm Streets

The house was completely dark except for the light from the flames, which was mostly illuminating the north side wall and rear corner of the house and yard…being as I was out in front of the home and across the street, there was no light in front to illuminate the home from the street view, until the Fire Department arrived, then the initial illumination was the glow of the red and blue strobe lights…

…the blue glow is easier on the eyes than the hideous red glow…the natural color of the walls of the home are a beautiful honey brown…those two photos I shot with my phone camera and I switched to my Nikon with my flashgun next, as the flames disappeared due to the firefighters making entry through the back door and knocking down the flames…

Bourbon and St Clair firefighters arrived soon after and helped Sullivan with overhaul work…I left soon after to get a few hours of sleep for work the next day….

Fires 2021-0802 AVI 33 First Alarm Residential Elm & Church Streets

I do know a State Fire Marshal was summoned to the scene and the investigation turned up strong evidence of arson.

Storage Shed Fire on Alice Street April 23rd, 2021

Posted on by

Early morning on April 23rd, I happened to wake up a few minutes before Sullivan Fire Department was dispatched to a First Alarm Commercial Structure Fire at Elmont Storage Yard, which is just four blocks north of my house. The call came in at 12:30 am, so I got dressed quickly and drove down there, arriving just as Sullivan PD shut down Elmont Road at Alice Street, so I parked near the corner and activated my flashers, then walked down to the entrance of the Storage Yard that faces Alice Street…to find one building well involved…..

Elmont Storage Yard Structure Fire AVI 43

Pumper 854 was parked there and the crew were handjacking the 5 inch supply line to the nearest hydrant, located on the west side of Elmont Road…so they were pulling the hoseline by hand up the incline, crossing over Elmont Road and then down into that deep ditchline on the west side of Elmont, up the other side into the residential yard there, to the hydrant.

Why there was no hydrant located right in front of that Storage Yard years ago when those buildings were built, is beyond me…five large storage buildings there inside a high fenced in yard, and no one thought to install a hydrant there in case there might be a building fire there ????? Seriously ????

Firefighters pointed out to me later, that the next nearest hydrant was at the rear of the storage yard and…get this…located on the other side of the rear fence of the yard…right behind the Mobil Station…so firefighters, if they wanted to use that hydrant, they would have had to cut a hole in the fence in order to get to that hydrant. Keep in mind, firefighters do not install hydrants and likely had no say in where this hydrant should have been placed, years ago when this Storage Yard was built…had they been included in the planning, I am sure that hydrant would have been at the entrance to the Storage Yard.

A First Alarm was struck, they knew Bourbon and St Clair Fire Departments were dispatched and would be enroute soon…what they did not know, was that St Clair Fire Department was assisting Union Fire Department on a trailer fire at the time of Sullivan`s call, so St Clair`s Station 2 Pumper, which is located at the Lonedell Station, responded first…then St Clair`s Super Tanker, was returning from Union and responded from Hwy 47 near Union…St Clair`s main Pumper, 8315, responded from the trailer fire at Union shortly afterward, but there was a little delay on the arrival of St Clair`s units…I found this out from St Clair Firefighter Kirby Banderman on his arrival. If I recall correctly, Kirby said this was their third structure fire in 24 hours. I know Sullivan`s firefighters were relieved when St Clair firefighters arrived to assist them though, because only 3 volunteer firefighters showed up to assist the paid crew, and that was well after the five inch supply line was hand jacked and put into operation….no easy feat for only three guys to accomplish, either.

By the time they got the five inch supply line in operation, the building on fire was fully involved from one end to the other….

Elmont Storage Yard Structure Fire AVI 47

Elmont Storage Yard Structure Fire AVI 53

…heavy fire blowing out every opening in that building…so Chief Eric had firefighters hit the building with the deck gun on Pumper 854…Firefighter Jacob Dace climbed up and manned the Deck Gun as firefighter John Wayne Strothcamp operated the pump and Captain Damon Sumpter supervised the operation….

Elmont Storage Yard Structure Fire Deck Gun Used on 854 AVI 55

As the next video shows, the Deck Gun operation was a huge success, knocking down the heavy fire very well…during this knockdown operation, St Clair Firefighters arrived with the Lonedell Pumper 8325 and the Super Tanker, and Cuba Fire Department arrived shortly after with a Tanker Pumper as well….

Elmont Storage Yard Structure Fire After Knockdown AVI 66

Sullivan and St Clair Firefighters began dismantling the walls of the Storage Building on Fire with their pike poles to enable a closer attack with hoselines…while shooting this last video, I heard Chief Eric requesting a backhoe located to respond and assist with the dismantling so that firefighters could gain better access to the building to fully extinguish the fire. I left the scene shortly after to get some sleep before going to work a few hours later….

Elmont Storage Yard Structure Fire AVI 67

Jack knifed Semi at St Clair on EB I-44 October 2020

Posted on by

I was on my way home from work on October 26th around 2 pm when I came upon St Clair Fire Department on the scene of a semi jack knifed and blocking the eastbound lanes of 44 just east of the Hwy 47 Overpass, it was wet and rainy conditions, which may have contributed to the cause of the accident….the entire rear of the trailer was elevated up in the air due to the angle and steep embankment….