Sunday night (3/31/19), the Chicago’s MFAO sent companies to a working fire @ 3104 W. Monroe Street. Upon arrival, Battalion 18 had a 3-sty brick, with heavy fire on the first, second, and third floors plus an exposure problem. A Still and Box was requested shortly after. Companies lead out 6+ hand lines and had two truck companies working the roof. For a short time, they had heavy fire venting through the roof and top floor. While working, multiple members fell through a hole in the floor which activated the Mayday Alert and 2-11. I believe the RIT team did remove one of the injured firefighters from the rear of building. Tough fire and a lot of work. Thankfully the injuries sustained were not life threatening. These photos began about 10 minutes into the fire.
Kitchener Ontario fire dispatch received a call for a basement fire at 603 Mill Park Drive at 1:40 February 15, 2019. P6, P1, A1, R1, and Car 23 were dispatched to the call. P6 arrived on scene and reported they had smoke showing and a 360 showed they had a fire in the basement. Command reported all five students in the basement were out of the house and that the owner of the house was out of town.
Station 7 was added to the call, they were running in the tanker for the shift. Multiple lines were pulled into the building. Crews encountered a very cluttered house, full of furniture on every floor and even the garage was full of furniture which prevented access as it was so full. There were three pianos in the bedrooms on the second floor and an organ in the living room which was not accessible due to all of the furniture.
Firefighters were pulled from the basement due to untenable conditions, and the first floor became well involved minutes later. It was not long before the entire building was alight. Two hydrants were picked up to feed the pumper and aerial. Small and large lines as well as an aerial master stream were used to fight the fire.
Gary Dinkel photo
Due to the tremendous amount of furniture in the house, it took hours to knock the bulk of the fire down. The day shift replaced the tired crews, and worked till 12:30 to fully extinguish all the spot fires. Due to the severe damage in the house, all overhaul had to be done from outside. Crews even pulled a cellar piercing applicator to use on hot spots. That is the first time I have seen this tool used in 31 years on the canteen. Damage has been set at $800,000, cause has not been determined yet. Box 690 provided breakfast and lunch at the fire. Photos and videos shot 35 minutes into the fire.
This bunch of photos is from a fire in the 4th Battalion @ Mansfield X Kendall on 3/11/19 in Detroit. Crews had a tough time bringing the fire under control at this one. Big joint, about 50’x75′ with a gambrel roof.
Took this in around 2230 Tuesday night at 2258 S. Blue Island Avenue in Chicago. It sounded promising. A metal clad warehouse butted up against another building. Interesting that the size-up was no exposure problem yet it seemed obvious that there was a high potential, in fact they reported some fire in the adjoining building on fireground. TL 5 with the new rig as well as 28 with a new pumper and I guess what must be a spare command van. More photos at Chicagoareafire.com
Cambridge (ON) fire dispatch received a 9-1-1 call for fire in a large industrial complex February 22, 2019 at 19:25. A3, P1, A6, P2, R1, and Car 6 were dispatched on the first alarm. A3 arrived on scene reporting light smoke showing from a middle unit of a 225 x 60’ industrial building. The fire had a good hold of the roof. The roof was steel on top and bottom and had multiple layers of asphalt from repairs and new roofs added to the building over the years.
Both aerials and multiple hand lines were pulled to attack the fire as firefighters did what they could to peel the roofing off to get at the fire. The roof was buckling, so no firefighters were allowed near the seat of the fire. Trench cuts were made to stop the fire from spreading to adjacent units. This was a very stubborn fire. Overtime crews were called in to staff spare apparatus. All six stations and the overtime crews were rotated to the scene to fight the fire. The fire was not declared out until 8:25 the following morning after a lot of hard word. Box 690 provided rehab at the fire. Photos and video taken two hours into the fire.
The McCook Fire Department (IL) had a fire come in about 4:00 am Saturday (1/26) morning. The building was a 100×100 semi repair shop. The area has very limited access as well as available hydrants. Temperatures were about -2 degrees making conditions even more difficult.
Eric Haak photoEric Haak photoEric Haak photoEric Haak photo
STRATFORD, CT – Shortly before 1:00am on January 13, 2019, the Stratford Fire Department began receiving multiple calls for a fire at the historic Shakespeare Theatre at 320 Shore Rd. First units on scene found the unoccupied, vacant structure heavily involved and immediately started calling for more resources. Mutual aid responded to the scene from Bridgeport and Milford.
