That's a first.
I fought a house fire. Of course not alone... with a fire team.... here are my notes from an hour after the ordeal was over.
well I'm still unsure if we're allowed to say anything so... PLEASE don't broadcast this, but for your own peace of mind.
March 25, 2010
Well, where do I start.
today around 8:30 the voltage from our power supplier jumped to 300volts instead of 240v.
MOV's inside of the various electronics started popping and smoking, so we threw the main power out at the department. Then we threw it out all over the centre.
And while we (the computer techs) are running around, the thought hits me 'house fires'. I call home have my wife switch off the main breakers. A co-worker runs down to the generator room to get them to turn off mains power and get onto generator.
So I radio a buddy and say 'keep an eye on the emergency fire phone'. He says 'it just rang' so I hop on my ATV hearing there is a house fire...
I'm a big guy so I have no fire gear that fits because the donated stuff we have is all too small, which means I don't go INTO the fire, I stay with the truck, pumps and hoses. I'm a member of our volunteer fire department with no gear except mythick heavy denim coat and helmet.
I'm the 2nd or 3rd responder mostly because I raced down the road to the house which was 2 doors down from mine.
I run behind the 2 story house which is ablaze, a huge plume of smoke coming from it... I know the truck is coming soon, but
I'm still trying to disable the gas and get people out. I see the family, most of them outside, the husband, a real go getter friend of mine, is standing in his underwear... stunned.. not moving, I instantly recognize he's in shock.
I get to him, see he's got bad burns on his hand and legs and feet.. I'll spare you the gory details... from getting his family out of the house. I get a buddy to use his radio and call the clinic, get the burn victim to the side, and continue my search for the gas cannister.
I run into a fellow fire crewman... he's already disabled the gas, so we're good on that front.
The truck arrives.
Before I know what hit me, I'm at the house second man on the hose, hosing down fire. Its all in front of us, hot, above us, thick black smoke. Our training helps us recognize what is safe and what isn't and I'm very aware we are at a safe distance from the fire and from breathing in smoke. I keep my partner from doing anything unsafe. No sooner do we get the flames down in one corner, then it starts up in another. I'm facing a hot and huge fire, keeping my mind on my training, keeping my eye on my partner.
I'm being sure we're following our training and safety protocols, not letting the adrenaline go to anyone's head.... and suddenly the water runs out.
Our truck was empty, and the fire began building up again.
The truck tech (showed up in shorts and a t-shirt because his/our (we're both same size) gear was still at his house being
washed.... headed off to refill the truck from our local water tanks.
We take axes to the water tanks, poke holes, put in a pump and start pumping water, using garden hoses, but the fire starts up again.
The pump eventually dies...but here comes the truck.
It seemed like a long time but it wasn't, we got the fire out. Now comes the process of:
-putting out smoulders, checking floor integrity, crowd control, warding off looters, keeping an eye out for everyone.
The fire team did a really good job, and although in training we're told we have 5 minutes before the house is unsavable, we
salvaged the entire bottom story... even though it's soaked through and has water damage now, there is no fire damage.
A lot of property was saved...
This particular family was heading out on finish and had already shipped much of their personal affects home.
The dad was a hero, getting all the kids out. At one point I heard yelling 'my son is still in there'.... but he was safe after all.
No neighbors houses were burned down.
At one point there was such pandemonium with all the onlookers that I raised my arms and shouted 'yupela olgeta must go long ROT!!!" 'go to the road all of you NOW!!!" and 30 men moved away.
There is of course a TON of aftermath for something like this, after I felt it safe, I cleaned up in a hurry and headed back to work.
Because of the injured dad, there was a medivac, but because I had left my office, I didn't realize that 2 network switches had lost power. There was no co-worker to fill my spot, so we didnt' know until someone from our finance department came knocking .... my absence from my post at the network room, slowed down the medivac a little.
But my presence at the fire was obviously crucial.
This illustrates the delicate balance that is each and every job here. Most men have multiple jobs.
WE have never had a house fire, it was our first. Our mantra is always to keep ourselves safe first, we know we can't save houses, but we can try to save lives and limit the damage done. None of us were trying to be heroes or risk our lives or anything like that. We were sensible, trained, and reacting according to plan during a crisis.
I have NEVER fought a fire that intense before. I've fought smaller kitchen fires, but a whole house went up in smoke....
I'm still rather... surprised at how fast it all happened. I was very thankful that our fire team performed well together, a year ago we didn't have the training we have now, nor the donated gear. Still being a big guy, I don't go INTO the fires because I dont' have fighting gear that fits. WE couldn't enter the house because we had no breathing apparatus, but still, it was a small enough house we could reach most areas from the outside.
The whole community went into action, as it often does... so much so that I had to do some crowd control to let them know the fire was still going.
It was definitely a first for me.
I headed back to work and we repaired the things we needed to.
Later I found out my wife was on the phone the whole time calling people telling them to check their outlets for signs of fire.
During the firefight I had the idea that other houses may be on fire. So I hopped on my ATV and drove around looking for smoke. A bank in a nearby town burned down... they were calling us for help but we were busy. Gladly, praise God, no fires.
a Lot of people reported powerguards had caught fire or blown or appliances...
ALL of this because the local power company spiked all three phases of their power up past 300volts.
Today our emergency response was tested.
We had a centre wide electrical emergency resulting in many electronics totally frying...
and this also started a house fire.
Our worst case scenario has always been a house fire where we couldn't save the surrounding houses.
Ironically much of our fire team was doing morning devotions at the time of the break out.
Praises:
-The family all survived.
-No one on the fire team was hurt, and the family's dad only suffered some burns. They looked bad, but he'll survive them.
-The fire team did well, considering our limitations.
My manager of course wishes to talk about emergency protocol, as during a crisis he lost 3 of his men. But the reality is,
when you have strong capable men, doing more than 1 thing, in a crisis situation, his other roles will suffer. We're understaffed as a missions centre... And that's what happens. The electrical knocked out only a small portion of our network, so they were able to communicate to get the medivac going.... and now I've gotten it up and running again.
I'm still processing this whole thing... if anyone snapped a photo of it, I'll send it your way.
Please keep the family in prayer who lost their house. Our community will provide for them, but it is simply a very horrible way to end a 22 year stay here.
Please keep OUR family in prayer.
It has been the toughest few months of our lives here. There have been security concerns, tensions in the valley, and now, a house fire. We're very much looking forward to furlough... days like today with multiple emergencies make me realize exactly how important our presence here is.
It affects the community on such a deep level, hoards of people turned out to respond and help... and pray and comfort and carry belongings, arrange a medivac flight, save belongings, etc. etc. etc.
Pray for their healing, for our safety...
Just cover us in prayer.
thank you
-chad
We'll be dealing with the aftermath of this for weeks.... but God has protected us this day from lasting physical harm. You
can pray for the emotional harm that has been done.
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it's been several days since I wrote that.
I responded to another house fire alert on the weekend but it turned out to be a kid playing with gas.. no fire was ignited.
I have a healthy new respect (always had one) for firefighters and police men. Thank you for what you do.
