Folks have often asked me to talk of my experiences as a Fireman, This is one that I have. It was close to dinner time and then (Click the video replay)
That is the Pager we carried that alerts us to an incident and at this time a nearby City had a Structure Fire and our Dept is Auo-Aide, Meaning we get dispatched to respond at the same time the other respective Dept is alerted as well. Type of apparatus can vary depending on the specific structure, This time, It was a Residential fire. They requested a Truck company (Ladder) I grabbed a piece of bread to eat, Looked at my Son and said Gotta go and out the door I went to the station, .3 of a mile away. I was the 1st one there, I opened the Bay door, Started the vehicle and proceeded to my locker to get dressed in my PPE and wait for others. Grab a water, Dry mouth, Adrenaline!! Being close to the Station, I was usually the 1st one arriving on the majority of calls I responded to, That wait for others living farther away, Seems like hours, But you hear the Sirens of others approaching, Welcome sound for us, Annoying for others! There is a Radio set up to monitor the officers coming and get updates or communicate with the Dispatch, Chief or Sr Officer in charge that day. My Chief checked in with dispatch of being enroute directly to the scene, I checked in with him letting him know, Yep Fella’s are on the way, Will be in service shortly. Next person in was strictly a Driver operator, Nice, I don’t have to drive and I get to Play as we say!! Our Officer arrived and others as well. A Full truck of 6.
Get on let’s go!! We did and out the door we rolled, Yeah, Yelling out the windows at others running in Ha ha Didn’t get here quick enough!!
Once inside the vehicle, Pack up with our SCBA-air supply, Grab a radio and check it, Put it on the Fire ground channel for the other Dept, Put in top pocket, Hand up our accountability Tags that have our name on it, Situate and ready your Mask, Put seat belt on, Ready! I’ve seen Fellas excited and put the seat belt on first, Then mess with the SCBA, Too funny!!
On the way which this evening was about 8-10 min ride, Updates are given, Our Chief who had arrived on scene, Is giving what’s called a 1st in report, He’s painting a mental picture for us with what he see’s, So when we arrive we see exactly what he told us and have a good idea what’s going on. Very important, Because in that report, He tells us where the Fire is at, Any Exposures- Houses, Vehicles, Trees, Power lines, Anything next to or nearby the Structure that can be affected or pose a danger. The front of the structure is Labeled the A side and going in a clockwise manner the next side is the B, The C is the Back and the D is the other side for reference.
No exposures of concern, Power lines are on the C side, Heavy smoke and fire is on the second floor, Vented through the roof on the B-C corner. Interior attack being conducted, Be Ready to take over Interior!! Gonna put some Wet stuff on the Red stuff. Hmmm I’m the designated Knob-(nozzle) Guy!! We arrived on scene, Grabbed our designated Tools, Never leave the Vehicle without grabbing one!! And went up to staging and checked in, Well, One heck of an attack was done, Fire was out, Overhaul is our task, We mask up, Go on air and go in and Salvage and Overhaul, Protect belongings and look for any fire extension, Important job as Fire can be inside a wall and without using the Camera to check or by not opening up the walls, a Re-ignition can happen. We knocked in some walls, Covered furniture with Tarps and Air was getting low for some on the Crew, The bottles are rated for an Hour, But if doing work, You suck it up pretty quick, So time to go out and the next Crew came in and took over our job after a quick report. We go out, Accountability is taken, All present, Time for Rehab, Get checked by EMS, BP etc All good, Head over to our vehicle, Exchange Bottles Go back to Rehab, Let Staging know we are in Rehab.
And then it happened. What took place was probably the toughest experience to deal with as a Fireman, Worse than all the Wrecks I’ve been on which was is in the Hundreds, Probably 7-800 over my time.
Here goes Folks, As we were in Rehab a Call came in for the next town over, Another Structure Fire with People trapped.
This City wasn’t at this incident. We got released, Expecting to respond and went back to our vehicle and headed in that general direction, Which was on the way home. Our Chief called the other dept and told them, Hey, I have a Full truck company that can assist and they are on the road and can respond. No. Basically that scene was literally 3-4 miles away from us, On our way is a major intersection, Turn right go 6 -7 miles, Back at our station, Turn Left go roughly 2- 3 miles, Was the location of the Incident. As we approached the intersection we pulled over and sat, Just in case. We haven’t been called, We just can’t invite ourselves, Doesn’t work that way.
Radio traffic was quiet, Though we did hear their Chief was on scene, Request a MABAS, (Mutual Aid Box Alarm System) Visible Fire and smoke.
What happened next haunts me.
The MABAS tones go off, That’s a system in place, Which is different from Mutual Aid where Pre- designated types of vehicles are requested from All the various Depts within the County. Very effective, And no one Dept is drained of assets.
Picture this, On average when a Call goes out, It can take 4-6 minutes for the respective dept to respond as we are all Paid on call, Not full timers, That’s the case County wide.
Dispatch is reading the list of Dept’s and requests, From our Dept, An Engine, Which is roughly 8 -9 miles away, We are still sitting there!! 2-3 miles away and the respective Dept isn’t in service yet!! Our Chief called us, Where are you Guys at? Sitting up by such and such intersection. Stay put was our orders. Chief radios the other Dept and says My Ladder truck is nearby, Let them respond!!!!! At this point, We heard our Engine crew check into the MABAS division, In service!! No response for us. No response as of yet for the respective Dept being in service as well…….. We are yelling Call for us @##$%^^&&!!!! Nothing. Everyone is looking at each other like WTH, There’s reported Entrapment!! A few minutes later, We watched our Engine crew go by and heard the respective dept go in service. We turned Right and went home in disbelief and silence.
The next day I talked with my best Buddy who went on the Engine on that call.
That Chief and another FF that went direct managed to pull 1 person out, That explains not hearing Radio traffic. In the process of doing that so, Smoke Inhalation was experienced by the Chief and other FF, leaving them incapacitated. My Buddy told me that they arrived on scene right behind the other dept and started the Fire attack and for the life of him did not understand why Our truck Company wasn’t told to respond as we would have been the 1st arriving. But NO, Precious minutes went by and we were told NOT to respond. Seconds mean everything.
There was a 2nd person trapped Units were inbound, They didn’t survive. Conditions didn’t allow for a rescue attempt.
There was nothing on scene to assist in the Rescue-Fire attack. The MABAS was issued Before the 1st person was rescued, We sat nearby and couldn’t do anything, But imagine what a Human experienced in their last moments of Life, Yet there we sat.
Replay that scenario daily in your mind, Helpless, Yet capable and willing, But not able to Help when it’s your passion, Along with those with you, To make a difference in a persons worst situation imaginable, And yet, Our calls went unanswered and It was a Fire Call that wasn’t meant to be.
One of my many experiences as a Fireman, Not all were like this, But this one I’ll never forget. The others, One can’t unsee things, But for those incidents, We did what we could with Compassion and Pride for those affected. Some by their own choices, And some, Victims of those who made bad choices.