Iron Firemen Wooden Ladders & Iron Firemen
From Roanoke.com, credit to Jeff Loope
I should have seen it coming.
I’m riding as the “acting” Battalion this cycle. For some reason, it seems I’m always riding on the July 4th cycle and it never turns out to be a good thing.
Just after lunch time today, I took in a fire on the South Battalion. I’m riding the North side but whenever a “working fire” is signaled, the other Battalion (the City is split into just a North and South Battalion) responds in to assist the first due.
The Brothers and Sisters on scene had their hands full with this one and put in some very solid work.
No civilians were injured but 3 firefighters sustained minor injuries. The fire caused an estimated $225,000.00 in damages. The cause is under investigation but local sources are reporting the cause to be related to a lightening strike.
Photo by Jeff Loope
Crews were on scene very quickly and found smoke showing from the roof.
The construction (and lay out) of the house, accompanied with weather conditions presented several challenges to the 1st in companies (Despite the blue skies in the picture, severe storms had just passed with more on the way).
The fire was mainly contained to the “attic” area. Crews were met with high heat stretching in to the seat. The house had a slate roof on a steep pitch which made ventilating a little interesting.
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Photo credit Jeff Loope
The responding crews were Engines 1, 6, 8, 4 and 5. Ladders 1 and 7. Medic units 1, 8, 101, 2 and 6. Again I’ll say that everyone on scene did a GREAT job of cutting off the fire and bringing the incident under control.
You can find more info, pictures and video of the fire from local news coverage in the links below…..
Click HERE for more from WDBJ 7
I mentioned that the fire started following severe weather. Actually, I guess we were spared the full force / affects of hurricane Arthur as it moves up the East coast. Thunder storms and heavy rains are really all we experienced.
Two years ago, about this same time of the year (June 29th) we weren’t as lucky.
I was the acting Battalion that cycle as well when our City was struck by what we now know was a “Derecho”. I had never experienced ANYTHING like it in my life. I made several mistakes and learned a lot of lessons that night. You can read about my experience in the link below….
“A Vision of Calm in the Midst of Hell”
We work a 24 hour tour so the lunch time fire was just the start to a long and interesting day. At one point, we had more apparatus responding into the County than we had left within the City limits!
Around 4am this morning, I took in a vehicle fire that was reported to be into a house. Thankfully, it wasn’t and the boys from Engine #5 were able to handle it alone and made quick work of it. Here’s a short video of the brothers at work…
OK, so HAPPY 4th of JULY to everyone. I hope you all have a safe one and can spend it with friends and family. I’m off for the day and will spend the most of it in the hay fields before returning to duty on Saturday. Thanks for following……
Stay SAFE and in House!
Captain Wines