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I had to re-visit my Fire Dept days as neighbors shed went on fire during the night

D

dmcowen674

No Lifer
Took the Fire Dept at least 20 minutes to get here while I kept the fire knocked down as much as I could.

Everybody left and went across the street to leave me alone battling the fire.

Edit: Uploaded pics

No pics of battling the fire but you can see it burnt to the ground.

I'll have more pics come daylight.

6-27-2005 Shed Fire

Was in Fire Dept in New York from 1980 to Aug 1988.
 
Originally posted by: PowerMac4Ever
see, this is exactly why I don't trust fire departments in red states!
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I posted pics.

You can bet I will be discussing with local Officials of what took so long.

There is no reason for them to have taken even longer than 10 minutes.


 
You're in NO, aren't you? What's a fire department doing taking over 5 minutes to respond in a metropolitan area?
 
Originally posted by: ViRGE
You're in NO, aren't you? What's a fire department doing taking over 5 minutes to respond in a metropolitan area?
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That's a dam good question that needs to be answered.

Yes, I am in New Orleans North Shore, the Fire House is less than a Mile away and supposedly staffed 24/7.

Neighbors are telling me now that it was closer to a full half hour before the first engine arrived. The first vehicle to arrive was an ambulance with a woman wearing turnout gear.

I had already been putting as much water on it as I can but I was pretty far away because I did not have turn out gear. She yells at me over the fence to get back as they will be putting water on it (the first truck had not even arrived yet).

First time I felt at a disadvantage fighting a fire.

We are very lucky we did not lose our deck and even the house, the ash load all over the place is quite heavy.

 
How did the thing start on fire in the first place? Spontaneous combustion or maybe some illegal fireworks being lit? heh.
 
Originally posted by: FrankyJunior
How did the thing start on fire in the first place? Spontaneous combustion or maybe some illegal fireworks being lit? heh.
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It was 11:30 at night, everyone was in bed.

He said he used the lawnmower 12 hrs earlier at 11 am.

There was also power to the shed and squirrels have been very active in it so maybe an electrical short and fumes catching?

There was two explosions.

Gas cans, paint cans??

 
Almost 30 minutes to arrive?!?! You better get to the bottom of that response time. If that was a house the loss would have been huge.

Just curious why did you stop fighting fires?
 
wtf? it was the neighbor's shed, yet he made you take care of it?!

did these guys know that you served in FDNY in the past?

that was NOT cool to have left you alone dealing with someone else's mess. at the minimum, he should have helped.
 
Originally posted by: MisterJackson
glad your house and family are okay. It's cool to know how to handle situations like these.
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No offense meant to the OP, his skills, or firefighters in general..

But I'm pretty sure most peoples first reaction would be to either grab the hose, or call 911 and then grab the hose. 😛
 
Originally posted by: Eli
Originally posted by: MisterJackson
glad your house and family are okay. It's cool to know how to handle situations like these.
Click to expand...
No offense meant to the OP, his skills, or firefighters in general..

But I'm pretty sure most peoples first reaction would be to either grab the hose, or call 911 and then grab the hose. 😛
Click to expand...

Obviously not as the whole neighborhood just kicked back eating popcorn and watching him try to put out the fire all by himself.
 
Originally posted by: Armitage
Originally posted by: FrankyJunior
How did the thing start on fire in the first place? Spontaneous combustion or maybe some illegal fireworks being lit? heh.
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Meth Lab?
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well, the OP did allude to the fact that it possibly had to do with the neighbor's lawnmower being used about 12 hours before.
 
Originally posted by: tami
Originally posted by: Armitage
Originally posted by: FrankyJunior
How did the thing start on fire in the first place? Spontaneous combustion or maybe some illegal fireworks being lit? heh.
Click to expand...

Meth Lab?
Click to expand...

well, the OP did allude to the fact that it possibly had to do with the neighbor's lawnmower being used about 12 hours before.
Click to expand...

Lawn mower should be stone cold 12 hours later. Squirrels in the wires I might believe.
Just recalling something I read recently about a large upsurge in residential fires attributable to meth labs.
 
Originally posted by: Eli
Originally posted by: MisterJackson
glad your house and family are okay. It's cool to know how to handle situations like these.
Click to expand...
No offense meant to the OP, his skills, or firefighters in general..

But I'm pretty sure most peoples first reaction would be to either grab the hose, or call 911 and then grab the hose. 😛
Click to expand...

Turns out we were sleeping for at least 10 minutes after the first calls to 911 were placed by a passing motorist on the main hwy.

My neighbor did roll out one hose and when I saw him do that I ran around the the other side of the house to bring the other hose. I passed it through the fence and then went back to the fire side. He and one other guy was then running away and out of the yard because the flames shot up the pole towards the transformer and electrical lines.

Here is where I wound up by myself back there.

That is when I went for the hose he dropped but it has no pressure because he left the other hose on the ground flowing freely, I then had to run and shut down that hose. Then I had enough pressure to reach near the top of the pole and knock down the flames licking at the bottom of the transformer and then keep coming down. The pole was then out and I had to aim the hose on the fence as the fence was burning towards the house.

I knocked it down and then the fire raced back up the pole again. I did this back and forth at least 4 times each while waiting for the Fire truck.
 
Originally posted by: mcvickj
Almost 30 minutes to arrive?!?! You better get to the bottom of that response time. If that was a house the loss would have been huge.

Just curious why did you stop fighting fires?
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It is being looked into.

There has been an inquiry made to the first call time and arrival of Engine.

An ambulance arrived first after at least 20 minutes with a woman in turnout gear.

She was hysterical. She yelled at me to get back as they (Fire Dept) will be putting water on it. I said with what truck??? 😕

When the truck finally arrived there was a while before water. Finally I heard one of the guys say "line charging" and I yelled out "about fing time!!!"

To be fair they opted for regular hand line (larger hose and nozzle normally use fighting inside of structural fires) which takes longer to deploy than unrolling booster (oversized garden hose) hose reel.

That's a tough call. A lot of heat but volume was diminishing because the structure had completely imploded by the time they got there. Could have just gotten by with the booster at that point.

Why did I stop fighting fires? Well they say once a firefighter always a firefighter, this certainly showed it is still instinct.

I actually left New York in 1988 after my family had moved to Florida the year before. I was married to my High School sweetheart. When she mis-carried with what was now my only opportunity for a child, after that she went guy crazy (she didn't sow the wild oats after High School) and wanted a divorce to play around. I then had enough of New York and joined the rest of my family in Florida.
 
Glad to hear that you were able to contain the fire and keep it from involving your house.

I can't believe how pathetic the other neighbors were in not helping. Around here everyone capable of helping out when there's a forest fire threatening someone's property always does. We live in a rural area with narrow valleys. The forest comes up to everyone's property lines. Makes sense to help out because the next time could be your house in jeopardy.

We actually have a pretty good volunteer fire department, but the new 911 system has ruined it. Instead of calling the local department directly you now have to call 911 in a town almost 30 miles away and it causes all kinds of delays and addressing problems.

A forest fire was threatening our neighbor's house and our natural gas well around Halloween a couple of years ago. After calling 911 and not being too sure about the results, my brother and I and 4 other neighbors had to climb to almost the top of the ridge to fight it. We finally got it put out after a lot of very hard work and the fire department never showed up.
 
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