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The clip above is the earliest video I’ve seen from yesterday’s three-alarm fire at the Canadian Tire store’s garden center at Eglinton Avenue and Laird Drive in Toronto’s RioCan Leaside Centre. It begins about four minutes before the first water is applied around 5:30 PM. Below are a few more of the many videos shot at the fire.
CBC:
Firefighters and two dozen vehicles were sent to the Canadian Tire in the RioCan Leaside Centre on the southeast corner of Eglinton Avenue and Laird Drive.
It damaged the exterior of the building and largely destroyed the garden centre, which housed an entrance into the main building.
David Gollom, manager of corporate communications for Canadian Tire, said no one was hurt and all customers and staff got out of the building safely.
Andrew Livingstone & Alex Nino Gheciu, TheStar.com:
One man who was down the road at Wicksteed Ave. said he saw a small cloud of black smoke. Within minutes, he said, the garden centre was in flames.
“It started really small, I thought it was a barbecue thing,” he said.
Fire crews using an aerial unit truck sprayed streams of water onto the roof to put the flames out or to prevent the fire’s spread.
Also on STATter911 …
- Raw video & fireground audio: Transition to defensive operations at commercial fire in Buffalo, New York. – October 10, 2012
- Raw video: Third alarm in Englewood, New Jersey. – March 25, 2012
- Raw video: Vacant apartment building is one of two overnight fires in Rochester, New York. – August 18, 2012
- UPDATED: Suspicious fire in Prince George’s County, MD leaves two dead. One jumped to death. Other dead in apartment. – January 13, 2013
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Looked like first line off was small. Fire was perfect for a deck gun operation from exposure flank. Pump 134 . . . let PD do traffic . . . get a hydrant!!!
I agree…the first appliance to stream water at that fire should have had no less than a 1 3/4 inch orifice. When you go with big streams at a large fire like that you are going to need a couple of water supplies. It didn’t seem like they were preparing for that.
Big fire, questionable aerial ops though. Aerial ladder seemed pretty close to the power lines.
OK, so I thought they were worried about the runoff of the chemicals so they didn’t want to use much water. But they eventually opened the ladder pipe, so thats not it. Do they have deck guns on the engines? The first line looked a little small from the view we have. I’m just guessing here, but wouldn’t a quick hit from a monitor knock the thing down and make it more managable?
Couple quick comments based on video #2.
Apparently the same vocabulary curriculum is used in Canada as the US.
Also, it appears that the same training curriculum is used to teach cops how best to park in the way of responding apparatus.
Now using my KIC certification to the fullest (only having watched the second video with words limited to the four letter variety) this really seems like a great place for one man on a deck gun while a line is being stretched inside to prevent further fire spread.
What the heck, on video #3 at aboot (that’s Canadian for about) the 4 minute mark, what were those idiots thinking they were going to accomplish with that handline?
Still based on video 3, wouldn’t the truck have been better used in the parking lot to prevent fire spread into the building instead of getting close to the power lines and keeping the pavement cool?
I’ll stop there with KIC’ing, if I have time later, I’ll try my hand with the first video.
Love the stoner’s “Dumb and Dumber” spin on the 2nd video’s commentary. Totally eloquent dude.
More BTU’s than GPM with the initial attack. Think TPM (Tons Per Minute) when it looks like someone has set off a small nuke in your first in.
It’s hard to see what all is going on with the camera views being the way they were but seems like the initial couple of streams were being aimed above the fire instead of into the seat of the fire. I’ve been noticing that a lot lately in videos, it seems that everyone aims for the tips of the flames instead of into the actual fire? Not sure what’s up with that but that’s just what I saw from the angle we got.
The streams didn’t seem to be doing anything (perhaps because of what I mentioned above?) until the master stream started hitting it from the above and actually hitting the seat of the fire. Just my opinions from what I could see.
They must not train. All these videos with the engines showing up and no one hits a hydrant. A complex like this there are hydrants all over. It takes way to long to get any water on it. Very sad
Why would every pumper coming in catch a hydrant? One pumper has the ability to run 5 or 6 two and 1/2 inch hand lines… One or two pumpers can handle this without a problems. You just need additional manpower to man those handlines. It would be inefficient to have every crew provide their own water supply and handlines from their own apparatus…
Commercial fire? There should be a minimum of 2 hydrants being used. More likely 3 IMO.
1 for the first due (not like the header wasn’t visible)
1 for the truck
1 for the engine in the parking lot that hopefully went inside to prevent extension.
Not to mention an engine hooking to the FDC to supplement the suppression system.
Because hydrants never go bad. Everything always goes according to plan. Plan for the worst, hope for the best.
No deck guns on TFS pumpers… Three man Aerial without a pump on it. Had to wait for an additional pumper to feed the aerial. TFS doesn’t carry inch and 3/4 just inch and 1/2 lines and 2 and 1/2 lines. There is a good chance the lines that appear to be going over the fire were washing down the exterior of the actual store wall which is almost twice the height of the garden centre….
I’d almost agree they were trying that but after re-watching the 3rd video which shows the lines in use better seems it was aimed at trying to get the main fire out as it seems to me from what I can make out in the video they were putting their stream in about half way through the flames and work their way down some and just go back up again, not hitting the seat at all.
Pretty sure if they had a 2 1/2″ line out and attacking the seat of that fire they could have knocked it a little bit quicker and thus saving the main building and leaving the smaller lines to be able to do exposure protection and mop up. Just my 2 cents anyways from what I can tell without actually being there of course, as always being there and just seeing a few videos is a whole different world.
It has been a long time since I stopped eating smoke, so I ask Has training change over the years, Interior fog high to dissipate heat, then work the base of the fire. Exterior, Work the base of the fire, spraying at the top or over the fire does not accomplish anything. Have tactics changed over the years?
Tactics have… fire chemistry hasent