As a volunteer firefighter, I am often asked about how it works, and what is it like. Normally, I can answer with statements like 'it's not so bad', 'we don't get many calls', and 'you are always ready to go, but we're not that busy a company'. However, this past Sunday, I must tell you makes me want to reach out and inform everyone that you must respect and appreciate all emergency service personnel (police, ems, and fire). We do a job that normal people can't understand. Heck, we can't understand.
It was a day that I was planning on spending with my family and friends. We were going to walk down the street and watch the NFL playoffs, but my fire company was called for mutual aid on a house fire.
The original call was an explosion with entrapment. My heart sank after hearing this, and I made my way to the firehouse. My neighbor and I are both members of the same fire company, and I happened to catch him driving out of the driveway. I hopped in his truck, and the first messages from dispatch were given. Two to three people were trapped inside a house after a report of explosion.
After hearing this, my mind raced towards my own day, and if there was an explosion in my house, it would have been my whole family entrapped. I hoped for the best, and started doing size-up in my head. I knew I was going to a single family dwelling. I know the road, and those are not particularly large houses. They are probably built in the 1950's. So, they were possibly a balloon-type construction, but most certainly, they were traditional construction. That meant we had time before the structure was compromised, if we hit the road quickly.
My colleague and I arrived at the firehouse, and our Deputy Chief was there getting dressed, he saw us rush in to don our gear. He saw the rash nature, and told us to take a second to settle down, as there is nothing we can do if we are harried. This was fantastic advice, and I think it set a good tone for our arrival and performance at the scene. We hopped on the ladder truck, and we rolled.
We arrived on location almost immediately after the first engine. We got off the truck and in front of us was a fully involved single family dwelling. The engine crew was flaking out their hose to make access and begin fire suppression. Our Deputy Chief sought out the commanding officer for instructions. Our job was search and rescue.
Our crew consisted of four firefighters plus a chauffeur. We immediately advanced towards the rear of the dwelling, as the front was not passable due to the heavy fire in the front lower room of the home, which turned out to be the living room.
At the rear door of the house, we found a firefighter fighting with the family dog. The dog was trying to get back into the house, and he was trying to talk the dog out of it. I grabbed the dog by the scruff of the neck, and threw him about five feet away.
I made entry with my Deputy and the neighbor who drove to the call. We found the hose team battling the blaze almost immediately inside the door. The room was fully of heat and smoke; visibility was zero. We made our way around the room using a right-hand search pattern. That means we kept in contact with the wall on the right at all times. I had the Thermal Imaging Camera (TIC) and I was scanning the room as we moved. The TIC was picking up heavy heat, but it was difficult to make out anything. We had to search using our hands and tools, because of the intensity of the fire in the room. We made our way past the hose team, and I showed the Deputy the heat indicators on the camera. We knew that no one without proper gear would be able to survive in that room. So, we turned and looked for the stairs. Hopefully, they would be upstairs in hazardous, but better conditions.
As we decided to turn around, someone from the outside vented a window. The loud crash allowed for enough heat to escape that I could identify the stairs in the rear right corner of the kitchen. We made our way to the stairs and up them.
On the second floor, conditions were better than downstairs, but it was still hot with zero visibility. Thick black smoke filled the rooms, and the windows were sooted over, light was not getting through. At the top of the stairs, we found a door which turned out to be a closet. We dumped the contents onto the floor, and then we moved on to the next room on the right.
This room was a large bedroom. We entered the room, as the Deputy stood in the hallway for orientation, and we searched the room. Over and over, I yelled, "Is there anybody here, Fire Department." There was no one. It took us quite sometime to get to the other side of the room during our search, and it was continuing to get hotter. Finally, we found a window that we were able to breakout to alleviate some of the heat and smoke. Once visibility improved, we were able to finish the search. I don't know when my partner left the building after this point, but I know he evacuated once his bottle was ringing.
I was tasked with searching a room across the hall after that search. I tried to enter the room, but I was unable to get the door open. I thought that this is it, there is a person blocking this door from opening. I shoved through and looked behind the door, but no one was there. In fact, the room was disaster. Furniture was everywhere, I struggled in that room, probably for ten minutes, which seemed like forever. My only solace being that I had a small window with a ladder that I knew that I could escape if needed. My bell started to ring, and I would shortly be out of air. I evacuated the building, dejected and dismal.
I reported to the rehab setup to get my blood pressure, O2 saturation, and pulse rate inspected by medical personnel. This is a precaution. After all, firefighters carry close to 70lbs of gear including their personal protective equipment and self-contained breathing apparatus, 20-30 minutes in a house that hot with all that gear makes your body work hard. My BP was elevated as is expected, but my O2 sats and pulse were good. I drank some fluids, and I went back to my truck to change out my bottle. I did not do any further firefighting on the scene, and we were released from the scene before I could view the building in proper lighting. I can honestly say that I never saw that house. I have an image of the rooms that I can only guess would be the equivalent of how blind people deal with spatial placement. I crawled around in a neighbors house frantically looking for children that didn't make it. It was a bad day.
Two children perished in the blaze. Another child was injured mildly, and their mother was injured badly by burns. Having been involved in this incident has been bothering me all week. The first two days I had trouble getting it off my mind, but I find myself really appreciating my life and my children more than I had. I was brought back to the cold reality that life ends, enjoy it while it lasts. Do good things, be good to others. You never know. The reality of our search and the disappointment that I feel is really something with which I am overburdening myself. The reality of that scene, the hot fire, the zero visibility and lack of air in the dwelling meant that we didn't have a chance to save those kids. However, if the next time it happens, I get the chance, I want to do it right and efficiently. After all, saving a parent from burying their children is worth the risk.
This perspective is mine. You must realize that on this scene there were about 40 people doing various tasks. The ambulance folks carried the heaviest burden. They had direct contact with a child who was overcome. They did everything they could to bring her back, but their efforts fell short. She was with God already. They got the mother and another child off to burn units as quickly as humanly possible. And, I can tell you that they may show bravado and say that its just another day at the office, they were shaken up at the events of this call.
A police officer was bitten by one of the family dogs, and he was the first emergency services person on scene. Imagine his dismay to find a house fully involved with entrapment. There was nothing he could do, but wait for a fire truck.
I wish the young mother peace in the future. The burden of losing children in this way is terrible. I am not sure that I could carry it myself.
The thoughts expressed here are opinions and random thoughts. They are not the investigative opinions or the official word of any fire company or government organization. They are mine, and I believe I am entitled to them.
