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Previous coverage of this fire
On Friday we posted three video clips of the early stages of a two-alarm fire in a large house at 1337 Girard Street in Northwest Washington, DC. The home was owned by activists Dorothy Brizill and Gary Imhoff. For some reason the video was taken down a few hours later. The videos from jroweddc was re-posted to YouTube combined in one clip and some of the sound apparently edited.
Someone has also posted the original Part 2 and Part 3 videos without editing.
Do you want to sell a rig? Click HERE to find out how with SellFireTrucks.com.
Also on STATter911 …
- More raw video: DC two-alarm house fire on Girard Street with collapse. – May 7, 2012
- Arrival video: Two-alarm fire destroys home of well known Washington, DC activists Dorothy Brizill & Gary Imhoff. – May 4, 2012
- Kingston revisted: Missing clips of raw video from house fire now posted. – April 12, 2013
- It’s an old video, but a wild one. Civilians join in on car fire battle. – April 6, 2012
Comments
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Could someone who was on this fire give us a little insight on how the incident went, before all those who weren’t there tell us all about it?
Go to Youyube and watch the Girard St Fire part 3. All the sound is there, including MPD trying to tell people they have to move, and nobody moving.
Good thing you left room for the truck Company!!Engine 4!NOT!!
That is not an accurate statement. From the angle that much of the video is shot it looks like E-4 is parked right in front of the building. Though, in the one part of the video where the person shooting the video stands directly in front of the building you an see where E-4 is only partially in front of the building. There is still plenty of room there for the truck to get decent positioning. E-4 used their front bumper soft sleeve to hook up to a hydrant, thus they may have pulled a little bit in front of the building to give them the option of doing that also.
This fire needed a deck gun more than it needed an aerial ladder.
Is that a 3″ single supply line?
DCFEMS don’t need no LDH….
They got a new PATCH.!!!!
Yes it is. It’s what we got and it’s what we work with. Yawn.
I’ve heard a lot in the news about firefighter whining how bad the patch is, or how they need rain jackets, or how they don’t want to work shorter shifts; I’ve never heard anything from DCFemmes firefighters about how they’d be safer or more effective if the city bought them 5″ hose.
Commenter, how is it safer or more effective with 5″ hose? It’s most difficult to handle, harder to drive over and completely oversupplies a 1251 gpm pump. If you’re so worried, just lay dual 3″ lines and have all the water you would need. 4 and 5″ is for people who don’t know how to put out fires. Not that this fire is a great example of that. Although, I’m fairly certain that the two people riding the front seat of 4 engine that day know more about putting out fires than everyone who has commented on this posting combined.
Ha! over supplies a pump! You sir, are an idiot. Hard to handle? Not for those understaffed county departments that use it. Shouldn’t drive over any hose, but you can drive over 5″ with a fire truck.
Your two front-seaters (first line determines the fire remember!) sure did a bang-up job. Perhaps you need new role-models. But, what should I expect from a bunch of people who think burning down a house is a good job.
The DCFemmes didn’t put out this fire. It burned out. Perhaps, according to your logic, they should switch to 5″?
Safer & more effective because you can have a water supply that is large enough to put out the fire, duh!
Are you referring to the understaffed county departments that can’t put out a single family dwelling fire? As evidenced by the multiple multi-alarm SFD fires that have occurred in those areas in the past few weeks?
They are not my role models. Just take a trip over to 4engine tomorrow and talk to them about it….
They should not switch to 5″. How often do you put your 5″ in the street commenter? Do you lay out on every report of gas leak, fire, smoke in a structure? I bet not. Not with that 5″…
Ironic, seagrave. Commenting on county fds that burn down SFDs, on a thread with a video of DC burning down a SFD.
Put the 5″ in the street for fires & smoke. Not for gas. 2nd due can forward lay just as easily as first due. Don’t neeed a pumper, truck gets in position without being blocked out.
You don’t know much about DC’s ‘geography’. It would be hard to forward lay into another engine as DC has very small streets in many areas, and if the truck company came in from behind the 1st due engine that would make that operation more difficult.
Plus, it’s better to lay a line going in on everything just in case something occurs where you are going to need it as then all you have to do is charge the supply line. By not laying a line that would cause a delay in providing a continuous supply of water if it was needed.
And you keep touting that DC needs 5″ as if that would have made a difference at this fire. THEY DID NOT HAVE A WATER SUPPLY ISSUE AT THIS FIRE. How hard is it for you to figure that out. They effectively supported their hand lines during the initial attack, and then when you see them go defensive in the video you can see a hand line from E-4 flowing thru a front window along with E-4 flowing their wagon pipe (deck gun, master stream device, whatever you prefer to call it) without any problems. Thus, when they went defensive they were able to flow higher volumes of water without any problems.
Also, since E-4 did end up using their front bumper soft sleeve (that is a 4″ hose), they did end up using LDH. That is probably why they were able to effectively support their wagon pipe and the hand lines at the same time.
You mean that 1251gpm pump that pumps 1251gpm at a draft (that’s 0psi intake pressure incase you weren’t sure) through 20 feet of hard sleeve at 10 feet of lift. You mean the one that pumps 100% of it’s capacity at 150psi net pump pressure? And the same one that can probably pump double it’s rated capacity with a good supply?
Yeah, apparently you do mean that “over spupplied” pump. Good defense Seagraveleverpuller.
I find it interesting how in this video, DCFD did many of the things their members give everyone else crap for. Engine blocking the truck out, standing in the front yard spraying water into the house, etc. Apparently DCFD isn’t any better than anyone else. Imagine that.
The engine didn’t block out the truck. The engine was only partially in front of the building, and that appeared to be so they could use their front bumper soft sleeve to attach to a hydrant in front of the building. But there was still plenty of room for the truck to move forward and be more in front of the building. Maybe the truck driver purposely positioned the truck where he did too, especially since the direction the truck came from they were able to park in front of the exposure also. So, maybe that position gave them a good location to access both the fire building and the exposure building with their aerial ladder.
As for standing in the front yard spraying water into the house, that was only AFTER an interior attack was attempted. So, if you are trying to imply that is a regular way of doing things by the DCFD you are incorrect.
I ask you this. How many other FD’s do you know would have pulled up on that fire and attempted an interior attack?
Did anybody else catch the pack guy riding on the back of the engine during the lay in or am I just seeing things? (around the 40 second mark)
That would be the lay out man. He gets out at the hydrant to pull the humat valve off and wrap the hydrant. He then gets on the back step and rides the engine in to the fire so he can assist in running the attack line. This works because the next engine is most often right behind and will connect to the hydrant. It also allows us to get to the fire quicker and put it out.
So sorry you guys couldn’t ever become city firemen. I just couldn’t feel like a man telling people I’m a county “firefighter”, but that’s why you work there and we work in DC. Some of you haters on here are quite ignorant. “Lay 5in supply line in the city” (yea!, that’s going to really work out) or “Bring a 2.5 inside” (obviously you’ve never tried that). So just keep telling yourself you’re a hero while discussing blitzfires, CAFS,and telling each other how awesome the ems run was.
Shouldn’t your name be DCFEMS? DC goes to less than 1 fire a day. You’ve got 33 fire engines, and four shifts. That’s 2.5 to 3 first due fires per year per shift. You spend less than half your time on the engine – most of your workload is EMS and ambulance rotations, unless you’ve been promoted. You take vacation and sick days. You’re lucky if you’re first in on 2 fires a year.
Out in the wealthier suburban counties you like to feel superior to, we go to twice that. Each station covers a much larger area, we only have 3 shifts, and the firefighters on the ambulances have air packs and are expected to fight fire. Keep on rationalizing your undeserved pride in a Fire & EMS department that is a documented failure as both a fire department and an EMS department.
Enjoy your new schedule. I heard you’re going to 8h shifts so you con operate public health clinics out of the engine bay.
Commenter, too bad you’re applying stats over an incredible diverse district. Engines on the East side of DC are going to way more that 2 to 3 first due fires a year.
And you could go to 20 first-due fires a year and you would still burn down 19.5 houses!
AWWWWWWWW…….So sensitive. Try Pamprin for the bloating. I see you can dish it but you can’t take it.
DCFD… You make me laugh…. It is great to have pride in your Department but it is completely ridiculous to think that by the very virtue of where you happened to get hired that you are in any way a better firefighter than your “County” counterparts. By the way… The DCFD is but a shadow of the proud department it used to be. You got hired too late hoss. I would bet that the firemen of the old DCFD would be ashamed of the way you idiots act on these forums, as would be the real firemen of the current DCFEMS…. as for the the fire… The guys did a great job of keeping it from spreading and keeping everyone safe. I have no hate for you all. I just wish everyone would stop with the Monday morning quarterbacking and respect each other.
Commenter, you’re letting your hate get the better of you. I thought you were the great enlightener. Are you really the Science of Fire guy who says PPV is the be all end all for all firefighting operations? We’ll call him fan guy and you can be 5 inch guy.
Whatever happened to Science of Fire guy? Guess he did get a new screen name.
According to Engine 27′s website, they’ve been to 8 first due fires this year. 2 per shift. Firefighters split time on ambulance, catch 1 fire per shift in 4 months. 3 per year. Enjoy.
E-27 has also been 2nd or 3rd due on numerous working fires, and if it was a basement fire or a larger fire they would have gotten just as much quality work in as if they were the 1st due engine.
The DCFD fire stats also don’t show all of the smaller fires which are put out very quickly by our crews which thus don’t get classified as a Working Fire Dispatch (WFD). Thus, that makes our fire stats look less than what they actually are. Although you can say those are very small fires and they shouldn’t count, I disagree because the reason they were limited to being just a very small fire is because of the quick, aggressive, and skilled job by the DCFD companies/personnel.
Don’t feed the trolls.
Fat lot of good the interior attack did.
DCFemmes had a water supply issue – they failed to put enough water on the fire.
DCFemmes always does a good job in their own eyes, whether or not they put the fire out.
Feeding the trolls is entertaining. You can’t say 5 inch guy hasn’t been fun.
I’ll probably regret trying to explain this, but here it goes… Its an acurate/truthful account of what took place and unfolded, not speculation.. Take it or leave it.
At this incident I was the first due/arriving Wagon Driver. We were dispatched to 1312 Girard Street, NW for the “house”. This would be a three-story row home across from the actual fire building. This area is approx. six blocks from the quarters of Engine Company No. 4. Due to this being a tight city block with three and four-story buildings very close to each other, actual fire conditions couldn’t be seen until a building or two away (while laying in). As a side bar to this, to become a good Wagon Driver in the District of Columbia, you must study maps, hydrants and a very large district for months (I did for nearly a year straight, eight hours a day, to get my spot). In-fact, we don’t have map books in the apparatus, the driver must know everything by memory. We have a CAD computer with maps if needed, but it’s not practical for use when your arriving on the scene within 45 to 60 seconds (1st due) usually. With that being said, I most certainly knew that there was a hydrant in-front of 1335 Girard Street, NW and at the intersection of 13th and Girard Street, NW. I also have personally spoken to the occupant of the actual fire building and had walked the area numerous times in my eight years assigned to Engine 4. All of this lead me to the very real probability that she was home at the time of the initial dispatch.
We arrived in under a minute, laid a 3″ supply line in from 13th Street and Girard Street, NW and positioned short of the address, hugging the curb. This left roof for the first due ladder company, which was anticipated and did “nose-up” to Engine 4. The crew of the engine stretched a handline through the front door after forcing it and encountered “colliers mansion” conditions on the first/second floors. The crew made a push into the second floor and was successful in extinguishing at least five rooms of fire before being pulled from the building.
At the point when all crews were accounted for, I had already stretched two-additional 3″ lines to the engine company supplying us from the hydrant. I switched from pressure to volume (two-stage pump), began flowing two 2 1/2″ attack lines and my wagon pipe (deck gun) with a 500 gpm tip. As this was being done, I also secured the middle of the block hydrant and began supplying Truck Company 6′s ladder pipe with two 3″ supply lines. At the peak of the incident (15 minutes from the initial dispatch) I was bringing in 2125 gpm and flowing nearly all of that from a 1250 gpm pump. If your a pump guy, you can figure all of this out.
It is absolutely insane that we are acting the way that has been demonstrated in this comment section. The public/politicians read this and we look like children. The fact is, one of my men was burned on this incident. Not from lack of “GPM” or carelessness, but in an attempt to find the homeowner if possible and while performing the job he was sworn in to complete. BTW, he is doing well. Thanks for the concern.
Were there mistakes made? Of course there were. Did the companies, men and women do their best? Yes and that’s what really counts. The DCFD has their individuals with ego problems like every other fire department in the world. If the entire department comes off as “we are the best” and cocky, it’s because you are mistaking it for expectation. It is expected that everyone strive to be “the best”. Perfection will never be accomplished. But, if you don’t set goals and expectations to be the best how can you expect your people to go above and beyond.
In closing, let’s learn something from every run and try to be “the best”. Let’s get off of here and teach someone something or learn something ourselves. Of your above either one of these, you should probably retire or stop volunteering.
Tony Kelleher
Wagon Driver
Engine Company No. 4
4th Battalion
Platoon No. 3
Good job Kellcher! Doin it 4Engine style.
Nicely done Tony.
Bill Carey
And after all that…a fireman has spoken.
Very Well Put Tony…….
Tony- That was maybe the best reply to a bunch of idiotic comments that I have ever seen. Well done!
Tony, excellent reply. Obviously I think you should have laid dual lines — but you give a valid reason for not doing so. Obviously I think you should be equipped with 5″, but that is a decision made at the top. If more of your fellow firefighters were as lucid and coherent as you, I wouldn’t come on here to bust your chops — it wouldn’t be any fun.
The rest of you, yes, I am SOF. Logged in from another computer. No surprise there.
Tony — a few questions:
#1 The street appears wide enough that companies behind you could approach without driving on your hose, regardless of size. Would using 5″ have hindered your operations? Would it have freed you from stretching other 3″ lines?
#2 You knew the location of the hydrant, but did not have solid dispatch information. How early could you have put the deck gun in service if the actual fire location, vehicles, etc. prevented you from sleeving the hydrant at the fire building? What if your supply engine was delayed? I know you don’t have a policy for performing a “transitional” attack, and it’s probably against your rules to do so. Much like the 5″, it’s above your paygrade. I contend that you could have supported the deck gun and 1 or more heavy hand lines with 5″, without a pumper, without having to hand stretch additional supply lines.
#3 Just what were conditions upon arrival? As early as the video shows, fire on the 2nd and 3rd floor, post flashover, heavy smoke from the 3rd floor.
I’m sorry your coworker got hurt. That’s the #1 one reason I don’t think ya’ll did a good job. I can’t see how your coworkers can insist you did a great job when you wound up with a hurt firefighter and a smoldering foundation. That is not to say you weren’t brave, and that you didn’t put forth heroic effort. It’s just that your efforts were for nothing.
Thanks Tony, Chief 33, Kentland VFD (County Fire Department)
Good reply Tony, I think the Commenter sells 5″ hose, so if you want you can meet me and tony wednesday morning and try to sell us some. Good luck on that.
You were silly to validate the fools by taking the time to respond to them. I have decided that people who posts on blogs are generally idiots. It is probably better that they remain nameless and faceless. Putting a face on these bloggers would likely result is volumes of my gastric juices engaging in an unwanted retrograde flow. For you pump guys out there that should be easy. WHO GIVES A RAT’S TAIL WHAT THEY DO IN THE DCFD/FEMS/ OR WHATEVER????
Ladies and Gentlemen there’s your idiot.
I hope Commenter isn’t trying to imply that his department, or any other, would have been able to save that place.
tony,
thanks for giving us a firsthand look at a tough working fire. it takes guts to put your name on the line like that but thats what accountability is all about. stay safe out there brother.
ryan nicoletta
rochester, ny
@commenter…Their actions were for nothing? Obviously, you have NO idea if the house contains occupants on arrival so I hope you are not implying that you would not enter and complete a search in this situation? Realizing a concern for firefighter safety is seperate issue and I am certain the guys would not have entered if they felt it was unsafe to do so. Thankfully the injured FF will be fine and thankfully no one was home.
Whoa! Can everyone just calm down please. I know Commenter personally and he’s just trying to do his job. He works part-time for Overstock.com doing online sales from his mothers basement and they’re just trying to get rid of a bunch of extra 5 inch. I told him that DC probably wouldn’t buy any but that I’d let you guys know that he makes 2% commision on all sales and hopefully you’ll check with your rural vollie house to see if they need any. He appreciates the extra weed money.
Yes in case you didn’t get it the first couple times:
A transitional attack where a heavy (600gpm+) stream was placed in service immediately upon arrival and used to darken the fire on the second floor, prior to quickly (60 to 90 sec.) switching to an offensive interior attack using a 1.75″ line flowing 180+ gpm in order to support a thorough search for occupants would have been far more effective than DCFemmes well executed SOG of performing a very rapid interior attack using 125 gpm nozzles.
The exterior offensive attack would be even more effective with more water, and the addition of class A foam. The hydrant tony laid in from was apparently awesome, and may have been able to support a 1500 gpm stream through 300 ft of 5″ LDH.
The interior attack would have benefitted from a larger handline. 1.75″ hose is the most common attack hose in the US. It’s easily advanced by 2 firefighters. When pumped aggressively, it can flow over 240 gpm, with twice the fire-killing power than DCs 125 gpm 1.5″ lines. Add class A foam and you’ve got at least 4x the suppressive power. Use 125 gpm and add 50 cfm air in a CAFS system and you have 8-12x the suppressive power in a 30% lighter line. Finally, placing a fan in the front door and observing the effects prior to entry would give a clear atmosphere on the first floor in which to search for the occupants.
CAFS? Where did that get Montgomery County? Didn’t they stop using for a period of time?
Tony,
I guess the only question left is – why was the firefighter (presumably the layout man) riding the rear step?
Is that DC FEMS SOP?
..
Wow, the silence is deafening…
The silence is deafening because we’ve moved on, distracted by far more important issues such as why the young man in the Statter911 5th anniversary drawing is wearing the outlawed DCFD t-shirt. For the record, DCFD is the ONLY department in the country where it is mandated and required that layout men ride the backstep. They ride there all day long just waiting to layout, it’s in our rules and regs and our order book. Being the federal city we don’t have to follow the same rules as everyone else, we just sort of do our own thing. Plus we’ve received variances from NFPA, NIOSH, OSHA and Congress that allow us to continue riding the backstep. They figure if the garbage men can do it, we can do it. We’re kind of like garbage men anyway, no disrespect to garbage men, much love and mad props to you guys, you got a tough job, God bless ya. Or is it mad love and much props?
The kid’s father has already ordered him to write a special report. BTW, it’s his shirt, not mine and I didn’t give it to him.