As promised, Here’s another stroll down memory lane……. One that just can’t be made up.
Let me set the stage, I was a Fireman for roughly 10 years in a City of about 10k. Did I mention it was in the heart of Paul Ryan’s district, Walker…... Yeah Redder than Red Folks, That’s another story for another time.
It was during the 4th of July weekend. Lots of Folks away, The City fireworks had already been done, As we are required to be present, Just in case, If we are not there, No Fireworks!! They went off without Incident!!
Because it was a Holiday weekend, We as a Dept figured out who would be around and all was covered, No problems.
I was at home just relaxing when, Yep, The annoying Pager goes off!! Structure Fire in town, On one of the main drags, Sweet, Hydrants!! Close to the Firehouse!! As usual, I yelled, “Going on a Fire, See ya! Little did I know, It was another Life changer, Why Me????
So I ran out the Door, Jumped in my vehicle, Red light in action, Not so much for alerting the general public on this one, But another Fireman lived by me, He damn near hit me one time, So more to warn him than anything. Sure enough as I flew by the next road over, He was at the stop sign and let me go by, Plus, He was a Pump Operator, bearsguy gets to put one out…… I got inside our building first, Opened the Bay door, The other fella came in, Started our lead Engine and we waited for others to arrive. Exact location wasn’t stated as LE hadn’t arrived on scene to verify, But being Dark out, No mistaking the glow of a fire. Btw, Only one Officer checked in that I was aware of, So He came in along with another Fella.
Being that the incident is very close, I was dressed, Masked up and had my SCBA turned on, Ready too go, We rolled out with 4, This Engine carries carries 6 Fireman and 2,500 gallons of the “Wet” stuff until a water supply is established, Then all is usually A Ok, Unless the Hydrant malfunctions. The Fire dept uses them, The Water Dept maintains them.
Our Dept organized what we called seat assignments, So depending on what seat you get, It determines your initial task, As Follows, The Driver, The front passenger is The Officer in charge of the Crew, The seat behind the Officer that is rear facing is the Nozzle Guy, The 2 forward facing are the Fellas that establish the water supply in coordination with the Pump Op, The other Rear facing seat is who would be the 3rd man on the Line had we done an interior attack, Well we rolled out without a full vehicle, How nice!! Normally, You have the Nozzle Guy, Then the Officer and the 3rd fella gets the Breaching tools and helps pull the hose as we go in, I’ll take the nozzle any day as compared to doing that task, Which I have many times. The lead Engine is parked rite next to my Locker in such a way that as soon as I get dressed, I open the door, Hmmm, The Nozzle seat, Yay!! Living close by, I was rarely beat in getting that seat. The Officer checks in, Out the door we roll!!
Sirens blaring, The Que is going, I’m ready, So is the other fella in the back with me.
I sensed the vehicle slowing down and I hear the Driver say, Oh Sh!t look at that. I turned to my right and looked over my shoulder Good effin lord, That is quite the Blaze, But Oh Sh!T is rite.
We rolled up on a 2 story Victorian, Normally when rolling up, You want to observe 3 sides, But because of the Hydrant location and Power lines and Trees in this instance, We stopped short because our next due in vehicle was our ladder truck and we left room for them, Positioning is very Important on any scene, They were told to go down another street, and approach from another direction and basically park in front of us.
As we got out, We grabbed the short LDH for the Hydrant connection along with the Hydrant bag that has some fittings that allow connecting to Multiple vehicles and the wrench used to open the Hydrant to let the water flow, The Officer was calling a MABAS, It’s a Big one alright….. Bigger than I ever thought, That sentence is worth repeating!!!
Here’s what I observed on the structure, Heavy smoke, And fire coming out of every window, Both 1st and 2nd floor on the A and B side which I described last story along with it already Venting out of the Roof, Which half of it was Gone!!!
Oh Yeah, At the time, This house was My then Father in laws rental.
Being 1st on scene, My Officer became the Incident Commander, The Fella in charge. It was obvious with Conditions that no Interior Fire attack was gonna happen, Big Fire, Big hose Folks! I pulled the 2-½ off and started towards the Back of the house where I could spray on the side of the building through the blown out windows along with areas of the back as well. LE helped us pull the hose, All 250ft. I called on the Radio, Send it and I could see the water coming!!
For those who don’t know, A 2-½ with 250ft of hose and whatever the Pressure formula is depending on the amount of hose being used, It’s no easy task employing it, All 5’10” 160lbs of me!! I’m no Goliath, But one can loop the hose and literally sit on it while spraying, And can handle it alone, Which I did, Because the other Fella with me pulled a 1-¾ line and was spraying in the front of the house.
So our other Dept units arrived, Plus one could hear the Incoming Units from surrounding Cities coming in as well. So as they did, They were given Orders, And another Fella was sent too help me, My Best Buddy, Hooks, Yeah we all get nicknames, As for myself, It was… Gomer. I was a Marine so, Yep, You’re a Gomer Pyle, Like it or not!! So my Buddy comes by me and He looks at me and says, Hey Mo, Isn’t this your In-laws Rental? Yeah, Don’t remind me, Take over, I need a break!! So I went and grabbed a water to drink and went back by my Buddy. We sprayed on the Inferno, It was roaring as we say!
Being in a small city, Word travels fast!! So when we were relieved get, I went and was checked out in Rehab, All good! I noticed my then FIL was there. I went by just to hear WTF are you doing, Oh Boy..
After Rehab, I was assigned to another Vehicle as it needed a Pump Op and because it was a New apparatus, I had more training on how to operate it, That was a welcome relief, So I went over there and sure enough, My other Buddy says Hey Mo, It’s a Big one, Here’s our task. We wound up having to go a Block over and secure a different Water supply. The issue is depending on the Pressure coming out of the Hydrant, You can only employ so many Hoses or other types of streams used, So in a nutshell, The Higher the Pressure that registers on a gauge on the Pump Panel, Will dictate what is used and when. The Higher the better. Other factors as well affect water output, But just to give Folks an idea of what is taken into account when battling a blaze. So we had too get on a separate water line.
Upon arriving on scene, The house was a total loss, Here’s why, We never stood a chance because as I mentioned, It was a Holiday weekend, None of the occupants were home, Well, I’ll get too that part later…… So no one nearby was home either so when the fire broke out, It burned for roughly 20 min-½ hour before it was noticed and reported. Think about that for awhile. There’s a PSA there.
Ultimately, Nothing was saved. So what was Life changing?
As Paul Harvey would say, “And now for the rest of the story!!
This house was a 2 flat rental of my then FIL. The home was lost when we got there. What started it? Ok Folks, The Girl that lived in the lower Unit was away, But her EX Boyfriend broke in and had a small party. He fell asleep on the couch with a lit smoke and woke up to fire tingling his neck and the alarms going off, And Fled the scene without doing anything as far as calling 911 because he had a Restraining Order against him for Domestic issues and he wasn’t allowed there. Turns out he went to a Bar downtown.
Oh It gets better Folks!! I mentioned the FIL came to the scene, Because of interior collapse, We did a Defensive attack and in his eyes, We didn’t do anything. Yeah OK. Can’t go in, It was tried, The floor was gone and we basically had the Pancake effect, Roof and floor collapse with Fire between the layers.
For 6 months after the fact, I was Blamed for not saving it, My Fault!! No joke, I was banned from Family events, Or If I did go, I’d drive separate because a pissing match was bound to happen over the Fire, And because they were GOPERS and I marched in Madison, So I had that against me. A no win depressing situation!!
My Chief knew my FIL real well, Yet it was his Fault as well, (Chief was out of town for this one). The Chief even set up a meeting to show him pictures from LE showing the house was a loss upon arriving, Nope, Didn’t matter, My fault. My EX even chose her Dad’s side and railed against me. WTH!! No one was hurt, Yet the fella that caused it, Was always left out of the conversation. After that, It never was normal again. Mentally, I wrote them off, My marriage was ruined, Constant verbal attacks, Zero support there, Ultimately, It led to a Divorce and a New Life down the road.
Unreal Huh? That’s life in a small town, Yet, Afterwards there was another Life changing story, Which will be covered in the next Installment!!
Until then, Good day!!