On Monday evening, around 5:30 pm, I was at Central Market getting a sandwich for work the next day, when I noticed a huge cloud of obnoxiously black smoke rising high in the air about two blocks south of the grocery store. Smoke like that is usually a good indicator of a structure fire, so I drove in that direction to see what was on fire…as I did so, I noticed alot of vehicles in front and behind me, other drivers with the same idea as I had. I drove south on Church Street to the Elementary School complex, and turned left on to Washington Street…. and as I did so, the smoke cloud banked down to ground level from the high wind driving it out of the south, and all I could see was the playground on fire. I turned around in a nearby driveway, returned to park next to the Sullivan Elementary School and then walked down the sidewalk to get a better idea of what was on fire…I shot a few videos with my phone camera and then shortly afterward, Brush Truck 828 arrived with Firefighters Devin Baker and Quinton Hildebrandt…Quinton had been training Devin on the operation of the brush truck and they spotted the smoke from Stanton and came to investigate. Devin put the pump into operation quickly and Quinton manned the brush hoseline…Pumper 854 was also responding to the call from Station 5….

As Quinton was preparing to attack the fire, I wondered if water alone would have any effect on this type of fire, figuring at some point that foam might be required to control and extinguish the fire…Quinton told me that he was thinking the same thing, but thought maybe he could at least cool it down til 854 and their crew arrived with the foam….

I think all of us watching, were mildly surprised that Quinton`s attack was having a good effect on the extremely hot burning fire….

…and as Pumper 854 arrived, Quinton and Devin had the fire knocked down and under control, requiring no larger lines to be deployed or operated…I left the scene as firefighters were mopping the scene up. A week later, Sullivan Police Officers completed their investigation and had three juveniles in custody for the crime of Arson….