Pre-arrival video: Structure fire in Ventura, California.

Not impressed at all, dam sad. I was thinking that Pa. firefighter were bad, have to change my mind after seeing this clip.

I've been involved in the Fire Service for 17 yrs and watch the video's posted on here all the time and sometimes I just can't believe what I see most of the time. Now like all these vid's, Im not there are wasn't there so I'll give a bit of a break as not knowing 100% whats going on. (only see so much from the vids. Issue's Im having 1) A small/med shed/garage with moderate fire, easily a 1 line fire (poss a second line for backup or protect the house, etc). 2) Why does it take 5 minutes after arriving to start flowing water? If water was flowing right after the line was flaked out, the firee would of been held to the shed/garage, not the camper, fence and tree's with seconds away from the house going up also. 3) Improper 360 & poor desision on fire attach, Walked 10 feet and look down the side, the decide to go through the fence instead of going thru the openning 5 feet away. Then waste 2 minutes trying to break through the fence with an axe..again oppening 5 ft away. 4)  near the end of the video a firefighter is seen pulling a second line while breathing air, Wasting a good 2 minutes of air. 5) the crew of the third line, good idea to knock the fire on the fence and tree, but then standing on their toes trying to put out the fire on the roof of the trailer…Ever heard of a ladder? a 12ft or an little giant would of given you a lot better angle and reach. 6) Where is the back-up/second person on the initial line? the guy was by himself the hole vid.  Poor tactics, poor desisions all around poor job..I give these guys a D on effort. These guys should go back to the station and run this over and over again until they get it right. The only thing that I can give credit for is a somewhat good knock on the fire..But again with 3 lines it should be. The wind was a issue but proper tactics and size-up would of taken care of that.
 

The exposure was the downwind neighborhood. Wind gusts in the region that day reached 70 mph, and as most Southern California Firefighters know, when Santa Ana Winds are blowing you default to wildland mode; be ready to write-off the primary fire structure while protecting the exposure(s). In this case their was also a burning palm tree, and embers were already spreading fire to additional properties. Of course, in the video, you can only see a small slice of the 'big picture'.
From the vcstar.com site:   
In Ventura, a fire fanned by the winds damaged a converted apartment, a trailer and a carport, officials said.
Reported about 2 p.m. in the 100 block of South Ann Street, the fire began on the outside of a granny flat behind a home and spread to the trailer and carport, said Fire Marshal Brian Clark of the Ventura City Fire Department. Heavy winds blew around the embers and caused several spot fires, Clark said. Among the items found burning early on was a 30-foot palm tree.
About 30 firefighters responded and knocked down the flames.
The spot fires caused damage to trees and landscaping in the backyards of three houses along the 1000 block of Meta Street and moderate fire damage to the subfloor of a duplex on Laurel Street, firefighters said.
No injuries were reported, but the combined structure damage was valued at $125,000 and combined damage to contents was valued at $15,000. One adult was displaced from a home and was assisted by the Red Cross in finding temporary housing, firefighters said.
The cause of the fire remained under investigation.
 

I guess Fire Trucks in California don't have water tanks! Stretch the line through the open gate, charge it, open side door to small structure involved in fire, apply 500 gallons of tank water and extinguish fire before hydrant connection is even made. Put the fire out and all the other problems will go away! Stay Safe Brothers!

I hate watching these video's and then trying to Monday morning quarter back on them, But that RV could/should have been saved.

Wow they need to watch and lean urgency from the DCFD video posted on here earlier.  Lets see worried about embers. small fire in shed little embers.  Fire goes out embers go away.  Bigger fire shed and camper a lot more embers fly.  Looks like that was a foam foresry line pulled first and at that it may have darkened down the fire if he would have taken it right to the door on the shed and opened the door, instead of sitting it down and going to work with the axe.  Come on man Strike the Box! K

Well here we go!!!  Here comes all the folks that said "You weren't there" at their call.  Kinda makes me laugh at this site. And no I am not from the state of California, or no where near there for that fact.

They need some east coast boys to show them some basic firefighting.

those guys should not accept their pay checks this week.

As I said it appears they were waiting on the second unit.  Probably to comply with the 2 in 2 out mandates.  That being said I'm not sure they couldn't have begun lobbing water onto the fire from a "safe distance" and not exposing themselves to IDLH atmosphere.
 
I'm not necessarily a fan of these rules but what this should speak to is the fact that you need more manpower on each rig.  Doubt it will sell though.  Bean counters will say it's an acceptable loss.  Until that loss is their's or their family's.