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Early coverage of this fire & wall collapse video
There has been a discussion going on since Wednesday in our comments section and on Facebook about video of a wall collapse at a fire Tuesday at the Ozark Treasures Thrift Store, 1026 St. Louis St. in West Plains, Missouri. Much of the discussion centered around two people who appeared to be near or in the collapse zone without PPE. One of them had been using a handline on the fire through the roof in the rear of the store. Other than a link to some good early still pictures that I don’t think everyone saw, the view was quite limited about what else was happening on the fireground.
The last couple years we have run many dash-cam and helmet-cam videos from West Plains and figured some would be coming from this fire. These two clips were posted yesterday and show the arrival of the first engine with smoke showing from the attic, initial fire department actions and the view from the front of the building.
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Also on STATter911 …
- Raw video & early pictures: Fire & wall collapse at West Plains, Missouri thrift store. – May 16, 2012
- Helmet-cam video: More from West Plains, Missouri thrift store fire with collapse. – May 18, 2012
- Dash-cam video: 15 hours after first fire, Missouri’s West Plains FD returns to 3rd street home to find it engulfed in flames. – March 29, 2012
- Helmet-cam & dash-cam: Missouri’s West Plains Fire Department handles a house fire. – March 29, 2012
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That’s Awesome!
I think its secretly a UL study in how to burn a building to the ground using a ventilation only attack.
I believe you are right Yardbird!!! Somebody get the incident commander a new pair of shoes, because he was running around like a crazy man!Probably wore the soles right off.
To all of the PPV lovers out there, this is a great example of how efficient it is…in burning down a building.
Hmm..I think you mistakenly left out the part that during PROPER/EFFECTIVE PPV, a line goes in simultaneously, for extinguishment. So no PPV does not burn buildings down when proper tactics are used.
Chalk another one up to PPA.
That friggan tower operator can run faster than any fire fighter I have ever seen LoL
PPV strikes again!
They did a great job with truck placement, stretching a line, hitting a hydrant, setting up the bucket & venting the roof.
I just don’t understand why so many depts are hell bent on getting the PPV set up & running as soon as they possibly can. PPV has a place. Once the Main Body of fire has been knocked down, you can get some visibility to go after the pockets but when you still have an active, working fire, all PPV is going to do is push it. With “Thrift Store” conditions, the last thing you want to do is push it around to the contents. Sad, it could have gone so well.
Other than the PPV, these guys had great communication & really hustled.
Was I crazy or early on did they say fire in the rear (I don’t know what is the rear) of the building??? As the roof guy’s were plunging the saw into the front side (alpha, bravo) of the roof I am yelling NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!! Another great video of reading smoke definitely not on fire ground strategy. Would like to know what the deal was with the power being shut off..
Engine company,pull 1 3/4″ preconnect to front door, put those air thing on our backs, start fan at front door, allow truck crew to vent the roof. Did we forget something, I remember something about a fire triangle back in training class although can’t remember what it meant. I think the water going through the hose and out the nozzle toward the red stuff may have something to do with the fire going out. Vent guys good effort, waterboys, looking good gathered by the front door, next time try to put the fire out. If it doesn’t work then at least you can say you tried.
It seems this building was doomed from the start.Surround and drown it’s going to be a barbacue.
Part 2 Engine crew at the front door, when you use the nozzle from the outside, use a straight stream.
I liked the use of the fog nozzle at the front door, well into the “fire attack.” As Yardbird says, why put water on it, that would only end the fun sooner.
What a mess, but nice steady video for a change.
Good grief -just woke from my “power nap” -and this -sorry guys -you post this -get ready. Were they trying to blow it out like a birthday cake? OK – for some useful critisim – sell your cameras,ppv fan , and vests and buy some pike poles or maybe (gasp) some New York hooks and at least try to pull some ceiling. My favorite part is the IC? saying “the smoke is getting thick, get ready to fight some fire” -ya think?
I’m just a dumb truckie, but if the 360 showed fire in the rear, wouldn’t you want the roof vent to be….. over the rear of the building? And…. bigger?
If you’re from this dept. and you’re reading this post, take your PPV fan and BURN IT.
Terrible display of tactics with good intentions. If the hustle near the end of the clip when collapse was occurring happened at the beginning, it would have been a little better, eh???
All you PPV haters…it’s not the PPV…it is the way it is being used. Have it ready. Don’t turn it into the bldg until A) Hose line charged, FF’s packed up, and ready to go INSIDE. You can give them visibility and lower heat on INITIAL attack. B) Ventilation, be it pinpointed horizontal, or large vertical, at same time or just before PPV and entry.
This example shows fan just blowing for an unbelievable amount of time and NOTHING being done to use it’s benefit. Of course you’ll burn it to the ground.
Oh, and don’t put water IN a vent hole, thank you.
That was painful to watch.
Other than the PPE problems we already discussed, let’s mention a few other things.
Yeah, that tower operator is quick; probably aided by that stylish vest over street clothes responding to a structure fire. Nice.
Have to admit, that early application of positive pressure almost directly under the vent hole was going did a very impressive job of getting a forceful chimney flow going, which, of course, did a remarkable but predictable performance of drawing the fire right down the length of the building.
I see they’re very proficient with getting that PPV fan going quickly. You can do that when you aren’t hampered by other things … like maybe getting some water flowing.
In the second video, they improved on the PPV fan by replacing it with an impressive piece of hydraulic ventilation INTO the building with that fog stream in the front door. Very nice.
That was brought to you by the same folks who advised the “guys in the bucket” to open up their fog stream a bit. Yeah, the straight stream was doing too well getting into the seat of the fire. We can’t have that. Gotta love the sexy fog nozzles on towers, too.
At one point during the gathering crowd out front they actually seemed to have more guys in PPE than in just cool vests. Point given.
One thing in their defense – In the first video, at least they slowed down, and presumably checked for crossing traffic, at the red light and stop signs. Otherwise, we could have been viewing a terrible accident.
Good point David. Credit where it’s due.
Correct me if I am wrong but did it not come across the radio fire is in the rear of the building? So vent in the front… fire follows the vent hole. Could have thrown a ground ladder and vented the roof a lot quicker than using the tower ladder. Strike Da Box! K Quite slow running the line K
I’ll log this as todays training on how to properly burn down a perfectly good building. Obviously this department has no training in tactics. Very poor ventilation both vert & horiz, no knowledge of heavy duty handlines or ground ladders. Come on a 95′ tower to gain access to a 12′ roof omg. Big handlines w/smooth bore nozzels to go with all that 5″ hose on the ground would have been a good start. Would have gone much different without the ppv fan and the vent hole being cut on the opposite end of the building. Gezzz way to make that fire travel guys come on and then post a video like this. Good lord man.
It was interesting to see the tower driver telling the others what to do and the others standing around doing NOTHING. Does this company have any training at all?
Now that the video of the front of the fire scene has been viewed, I’m comfortable saying that there is no surprise that the building was completely destroyed. I am just as amazed that no fire department members or bystanders were injured or killed by the collapses. Even after there’s a collapse in the rear followed a few minutes later by the collapse of the wall on side B and after the IC advises everyone to report to “their fall zones”, personnel continually re-enter the collapse zone to retrieve hose. 1) A few lengths of hose are not worth anyone’s life, 2) if you really want to save the hose, stay outside the collapse zone and pull the line back. This building was failing right before their eyes and they were not reacting. The folks who operated at this scene are in extreme need of instruction in basic, bread and butter fire fighting. I suggest that they form a committee of concerned, open minded members of the department for the express purpose of locating a good, solid training firm staffed by folks who have a tremendous amount of real firefighting experience (don’t bring in folks who got all of their knowledge from a book.)
I think we need more fog…. NOT. Next time your in the firehouse take a monent to read up on straight streams Vs. fog then apply them to your next fire.
Did IC say he needed electric off before applying water, if so they have a long ways too go tobe an effective fire unit
Where’s the ppe on the Incident Commander? The first thing I
learned as a proby is to wear your PPE when in the hot zone. I
guess the do things different in Missouri than Pennsylvania.
This FD needs to start all over and learn the job. Bad, Bad, Bad from the start. Although, they did have some awesome safety vests.
NO!!! What this fire needed was MORE COWBELL!!! MORE COWBELL!!! BWAHAHAHAAA!!!!! Might as well tell a joke right?
Did anyone else hear radio traffic concerning childern and smoke banking down ? I could be wrong but, I thought I heard this close to the time of the towers arrival.
The conversation contained comments on geetting the childern out of a building. Please tell me that children were no where near this operation.
This occurs at the 10;30 TIMEFRAME AND CONCLUDES AT 10:30.45. PLEASE TELL ME THIS IS A SEPERATE ADDRESS/BUILDING.
Sounds like there was a daycare nearby with concerns about the smoke from the fustercluck.
I believe there is a daycare or school across the street
NFPA—This incident goes much farther than the wearing of PPE. In all actuality this fire could have been fault from the parking lot of the building with smooth bore master streams in shorts & flipflops. The I/C said early in the building has a flat roof with trusses over it. No access to the main body of fire due to construction of the building. Master streams (smooth bore) from front & rear in both division 1 & cockloft would have been my approach. This incident shows me this department really lacks training in the worst way. If they handle every fire like this I feel for the property owners. Where’s the mutual aid company’s? 1 engine, 1 truck, 1 little tanker looks like. Where’s all the help not that it would’ve made a difference.