Run Sheet
99/11/13
Man, some mornings aren’t worth getting up for, and some are just the best.
This morning was one of the latter.
This morning my fire pager beeped at 0515 and I rolled out. “Structure fire, in the attached garage 21245 Clancy Road”
As I stumbled through the dark to my truck a thousand things ran through my addled brain. This one was mine; my chief was out of town so I’d be fire command. It was a garage fire, so there was lots to consider.
The dispatcher said “attached garage" right?
Shit, the house could be going too
There could be literally anything in the garage
22100 block Clancy, hydranted area
High density detached houses, so there are exposures if the fire is rocking
Often garages have open rafters so quick extension to the attic, Christ, this could be a bad one.
It’s 0515 so there could be people inside; a neighbor might have called this in.
It was dark and foggy as I drove there; I looked for a telltale orange glow in the sky. I didn’t see one as I approached, so that’s one bit of good news.
When I rolled up I found a house with an attached 2-car garage with smoke puffing around two of the roll-up doors. There was light smoke coming from the open front door of the house.
These signs were good and bad.
Obviously by the pressure of the smoke coming from the garage door we had a working fire inside (bad).
The front door of the house was open, so occupants might be out, or at least awake (good).
There was smoke in the main house so it might have extended to the dwelling (bad).
A teenage kid came running out the door, grabbed the garden hose and kinda ran in circles. I got the story from him
The house was empty, Mom and dad were in the back yard.
Near as they could tell the car in the garage was on fire.
No one was hurt.
Okay, now its just a fire, I could hear the siren of my lead pump, and I saw there was a hydrant right across the street.
It was what we call “Swing Time”
It was poetry, sheer poetry to watch. Professionals who are good at what they do, and love doing it. As soon as the big red roller dipped its big nose as the brakes were applied my guys hit the ground running. There was no confusion or panic, they snapped on their airpacks and grabbed hoses as I told them what I wanted.
There’s something really thrilling, scary and delightful about looking at the smile some of them get when they look at a fire they’re gonna take, Some grin, some sneer, some just get a predatory gleam. The good ones do, and mine are all good ones.
The first handline was stung out and ready as they rolled into the house, I sent them in and to the right, to enter through the door that attaches the house to the garage. If the inside of the garage was lit up, this would act as a barrier to the fire, it would buy us time till we could deploy more. You always fight a fire from good to bad, from the unburned to the burned. You blow it back on itself.
The second crew backed up the first as they made entry to the garage. Inside was a car well alight.
I’ve told you about car fires before, but this was a bit different, In this case they had very little room to maneuver, and it was hotter than hell.
But my crew is the best bar none. It took very little time to get the fire knocked down.
“Command 2, from 2-21”
“Command here, go ahead” I replied to my blitz team.
“Fire’s out, no extension to the structure”
The big roll-up garage doors opened and smoke rose like a curtain from them. After that, it was a bit of investigation. There are few things better than being able to walk to the family, in this case mom, dad, and son, who are looking at a column of smoke burst from their garage and say…
“We got it”
“But the smoke…”
“It’s just trapped smoke, unfortunately your car is a write-off, but the house is safe”
“Oh thank god..”
Once the trucks were pulling away I went inside to fill out my paperwork. The wife was sitting on her couch. The house was now cold from all the open windows, there were muddy tracks in the door and down the stairs. I went to her to ask some questions. She sat with a photo album in her hands and flipped the pages. There were pictures of birthdays and Christmases, anniversaries and vacations. She sat there and looked at every one with tears in her eyes.
Her husband came in and answered my questions while his wife gazed at the pictures. As I got up to leave she looked up at me and said “These can never be replaced, and I thought they were gone for sure. You will never know how much it means to me.”
To more minutes before we got water on it, and it wouldn't have been such a happy story.
I headed back to the firehall and finished up.
Some days this job looks, smells, and tastes like shit
Some days it ain’t so bad :)