This is a fire on Sunday at 400 E. 29th Avenue in Lake Station, Indiana. In the middle of this you will see one pooch very happy the nice firefighters opened the door.
Edward Malik, who shot this video, writes in his description:
… on arrival Ambulance 1 advised the homeowner was spraying a garden hose through the window. Car 2 arrived and immediately started searches when advised multiple pets were still inside.
Apparently all pets survived.
Also on STATter911 …
- Must see video: Two on green line get booted at house fire. Cop drags away assault victim & firefighters grab homeowner. Plus, citizen fire critics. In all, a strange story from Sultan, Washington. – July 17, 2011
- Pre-green line arrival video: House fire in Alameda County, California. – November 19, 2011
- Raw video: Fires in Gary and Lake Station, Indiana. – February 5, 2012
- Early video: House fire in St. Mary’s County, Maryland. – March 13, 2011
Comments
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Wonder why the first chief didn’t take the garden hose in with him? Looked like it had pretty good pressure, probably as good as a can.
I am by no means armchair quarterbacking this one. But, however as a Chief, it drives me insane to see fire attacked time and time again from the burning side to the not burning side. Again, I do not know everyhting that took place at this fire, and I am very glad that it seemed to be an everyday mom & pop kitchen fire in which all of the homeowner’s animals escaped. I have seen it too many times though. Small, single engine fires turn into a full box with mutual aid companies because we don’t do what we are taught. Im off the soap box now. Be safe everyone.
I’m thinking one reason the chief didn’t take the garden hose is because he found that the doorway he was looking into didn’t access the fire. (You could hear it later in the video…”That door doesn’t get to the fire”). Another reason probably is that they practice 2 in, 2 out…He didn’t have a partner yet to work with. Looked to me like everyone was working to be safe.
Chief Chris, I am sure you are probably very good at what you do but we get in trouble when we think that attacking a fire quickly from the burning side may not be effective and quicker. It seems like you assume fire is being pushed. I suggest that with proper application of a straight stream at the base of a fire it can quickly reduce your problem to nothing. The opposite can be a 45 second push or more through an unburned area only to find the same fire you could have already put out without endangering yourself or others. I think in this fire they probably knew the only occupants were animals. There is a time for both methods. I do agree that the garden hose may have done some surprising extinguishment. We underestimate the power of a small stream properly applied.
I do have to ask why there are so many times that Malik has NW Indiana departments that put their mask on so early. I realize they are not on air but masks obscure vision, reduce communications ability, and when getting off a rig or gathering equipment it seems that it could be safer to put it on once you get to the door. I see this as a trend lately and not sure that we are not going to see more trips and falls or maybe even someone getting hit while exiting an apparatus. We should really think about how we got here. All comments are good because discussion brings change and thought about why we do what we do. Sometimes we get stuck in tradition without the thought of change or reasoning.
Just to clarify the use of the garden hose. I thought there were some ladders there so I am thinking he could have used it from the outside through the window as the stove was probably right next to the sink but he was doing the public relations thing – save the animals
I still think he could have taken the garden hose in the back door and made a quick knockdown.