We had a house fire last week, fully involved on arrival and turned out to be a drug house, residents evicted a few days before by the bank who foreclosed on it, so they moved out and someone decided to torch it also. Was at the end of a dead end street for us, hydrant at the top of the hill on the main street, so we hand jacked a five inch supply line to the hydrant from the pumper, inadvertently trapped our police officers in doing so, and attempted to knock down the fire once we established a good water supply. Too bad our new pumper wouldnt cooperate and provide stability as well…never seen a truck so undependable and difficult to operate in all my years on the department…guess computers arent so great in all applications…
this is what greeted us on arrival, closest I could get to the front as there were power lines down across the street to my immediate left. I stayed at this corner until Joe Thurmond arrived to take care of the electric and was able to remove the hazards. Next one is the front corner, where we started our attack.
From here, I walked thru the bushes and photographed our attack crew, Capt Dave Konys and Jimmy Smythe, as they assessed their point of entry and masked up, waiting for water from the pump operator, Capt Gary Midgett. Two junior firefighters were on scene assisting with supply hose and retrieving tools for the guys as they prepared for entry.
Here Capt Dave waits for water and for Jimmy to return with a pike pole, as a column of fire grows from the side door of the residence. Another view with a little help from the flash this time….
and this one without flash at all, silhouetting Dave against the flames somewhat….
Jimmy got back with some tools and decided to mask up as they are still waiting for Gary to send water to them…
and still waiting for water as the fire coming out the doorway increases in size and intensity….
Finally the hoseline is charged and the guys prepare to enter the residence…all during this time we have been hearing muffled explosions inside but on the other side of the home where all you can see if a wall of fire that has extended through the roof of the house…
Finally the line charges and Capt Dave opens the nozzle and knocks down the heavy column of flame as they start to enter the doorway…
Jimmy motions to Gary at the pump, for more water pressure on the line as they enter the doorway, meeting up with tremendous fire and heat as evidenced above the roofline and doorway….
this next photo shows the entire house silhouetted against the flames with Jimmy and Dave inside the doorway fighting fire, and EMT Danny is feeding hose at the doorway as well.
After a few minutes inside, they both back out and Dave goes to get a ceiling hook and pike pole, to see if they can get to more fire via the ceiling above the doorway.
Dave gets back and heads to the front of the house with the pike pole while Jimmy sprays water inside the doorway. EMT Danny keeps an eye on them.
Capt Dave comes back and takes out the window to the right of the doorway, Jimmy is still spraying water inside.
Jimmy is still inside, kneeling down and spraying water now when Dave enters the doorway again, this time armed with a ceiling hook…..
These guys make a great team fighting fire together often.
Dave hooks the ceiling to pull it down so Jimmy can get to more fire above them….
Dave and Jimmy appear to be conferring about the fire above them just inside the doorway….
Dave hooks more ceiling with the hook…
and what they couldnt see from inside the doorway, we were able to see from just outside the doorway…heavy fire rolling across the roof toward them…
Upon seeing this, EMT Danny went up to the door and told them to get out of there…
and so they did, they backed out safely, still fighting fire as they came out the door…
Backed out completely away from the house safe and sound, better safe than sorry guys…
Shortly after backing out, assistance arrived in the form of the second in crew, which was Bourbon Engine 60 with a few guys and Bourbon Chief Daniel Whatley…Daniel had his crew assess the back wall of the house and prepare to attack flames here…
Sullivan firefighter Casey Bridgeman got the chainsaw and made trench cuts on either side of the chimney on the backwall to give greater access to flames inside….
As flames ate through the wood on the back walls, Bourbon firefighters manning the second hoseline attacked the fire from the back yard….
In the meantime, I wandered up and photographed crews around the pumper, including EMT Jesse trying his best to get wet….
He stayed behind Gary and avoided getting wet here…but did move a little hoseline around later on…
wet streets and emergency lights can make for great reflection photos as well as night time fire photos. St Clair and Bourbon firefighters assisted with overhaul and final extinguishment…
These guys did a great job and had things well in hand by this point, so I left shortly afterwards. The fire investigation determined the house was indeed set on fire and Sullivan Police Department apprehended the suspect later this week, suspected of setting another house on fire up near Cuba, Missouri as well. Kudos to the Police Department as well.