More video from last night’s fire in a duplex on Wilkes Barre Street in Easton, Pennsylvania. This one is from Dan Clerico at NortheastBravest.com. Make sure you watch closely starting at around 2:00 as a firefighter tries to exit the roof.
Here’s some of what Dan wrote about the fire:
Two minutes into the video a Easton Firefighter fell off the main roof onto onto a 2nd roof after missing the ladder rungs. The firefighter appeared to be uninjured and continued to work. Firefighters were eventually forced to evacuate the building due to conditions quickly deteriorating conditions a loss of water pressure and dead hydrants.
This is one wild pre-arrival video taken Thursday in Luneville in Lorraine, France at an apartment building closed for renovations. The videographer captured five separate explosions (:10, :14, 1:34, 2:29, 2:34) from two different angles. Despite the misinformation provided with the video description, news reports indicate there were no serious injuries.
Three of the six gas cylinders stored there then exploded, projecting elements of the building onto the building next door and parallel, called Mars, however, just 30 meters away! A result which had the effect of causing a second accident burning fifteen m 2 of this roof.
Eighty firefighters on the scene
Upon arrival firefighters led by Lieutenant Caudal, the roof of the first building was fully ablaze. After verifying that all tenants had indeed left the scene, the efforts of 80 men rescue centers Luneville, Blainville-Damelevières, and Nancy Gerbéviller consisted of stop and prevent flame spread to other nearby apartment buildings. A real challenge in light wind gusts. September vans, two large scales, a command vehicle, six ambulances and a support unit completed the breathing device, a material point of view. Commander Sauvageot, head of the column, the colonel sign, site manager and regional director of the SDIS (Service county fire and rescue) Colonel Beaudoux have overseen operations.
Above is a follow-up story by WNBC-TV which answers the questions many of our readers have been asking about the possible backdraft on Sunday that injured five firefighters in Harrison, New Jersey. There has been lots of discussion over a woman seen in the videos handling a hose and a man on a ladder, both without PPE. This story verifies the answers provided by other readers that these were volunteer firefighters who responded directly to the scene. The answer in the news story comes from union officials who talk about the severe cuts the Harrison Fire Department has faced and its possible impact on this fire and explosion.
Video above from Andy T of yesterday’s fire in Harrison, New Jersey that injured five firefighters in an explosion described by fire officials as a backdraft. This view of the explosion (at 6:50) isn’t as dramatic, but the video provides a lot better view of the fireground prior to the explosion. There is more video from Andy T here and here.
Below is some even earlier video shot by a neighbor.
The fire, which started around 11 a.m., is believed to have started in the kitchen area of a restaurant located at 600 Frank E. Rodgers Blvd. in Harrison. According to Fire Director Harold Stahl, the fire heavily damaged two buildings, 600-602 and 604-606 Rodgers Blvd. and an adjacent residence on Davis Avenue.
Stahl said that backdraft, which is caused by a buildup of unvented gasses inside an area, could have been much more dangerous.
“I’m a career firefighter and I’ve been caught in a backdraft,” Stahl said. “I’m very grateful that the injuries weren’t more serious.”
Jersey City Fire Director Armando Roman said that the backdraft could have been prevented had the roof been vented, a process of putting holes in the roof that would allow the trapped gasses to escape.
Five firefighters were hurt in a terrifying explosion and extra-alarm blaze in Harrison, N.J., Sunday afternoon.
.. when the fire was at its height, a dangerous backdraft was caught on video, CBS 2’s Steve Langford reported. Backdrafts are an explosive phenomenon, and they are one of the worst things that can go wrong in a firefight.
One of those badly hurt when the backdraft erupted was a battalion chief.
“When that glass blew out, he got it all in his face and his body,” said Harrison fire Capt. Robert Gillen. “He was bleeding profusely.”
The fire appeared to have started at 600-602 Frank E. Rodgers Blvd., a two-story building at the corner of Frank E. Rodgers Boulevard North and Davis Street. It then spread next door to 604-606 Frank E. Rodgers, a two-story residential building.
Harrison officials still have not commented on the fire.
After the explosion occurred, at least two firefighters stumbled out of the building and one of them collapsed on the ground.
EMS and other firefighters rushed to help them. They were both placed in ambulances.
Two heroic city firefighters pounced on a meat-cleaver-wielding maniac this morning as he hacked his terrified wife, authorities said.
The bloody domestic attack occurred outside Fong’s Trading at 74 Canal St. in Chinatown — and was captured on chilling security video.
Firefighters Jose Ortiz and James Trainor, who work across the street at Engine Company 9, Ladder Company 6, said they first heard the couple screaming at each other and tussling around 10:24 a.m.
This is February 27, 2010 in Chile as a magnitude 8.8 quake hit. It’s pretty self-explanatory. Sorry if you had seen it before, but if it was out there, I sure missed it.
Two firefighters from the Moraga-Orinda Fire District who have non-life threatening injuries were scheduled for surgery and a civilian is in critical condition after a vehicle ran into them on an Orinda, California highway on Sunday (Click here for press release from Moraga-Orinda Fire District).
Fire crews were investigating a series of rain-related crashes on Highway 24 near the Wilder Road exit when a, “A third car hit the side of our fire engine and then actually rolled onto the embankment and hit three of our firefighters and also the person we were taking the report from,” Chief Randy Bradley said.
Fire Captain Michael Rattery, and firefighters Kelly Morris and Stephen Rogness were rushed to John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek with non-life threatening injuries.
The rollover was actually the third crash along Highway 24. Firefighters first responded to a single vehicle accident and parked their fire truck to shield them from traffic. A second vehicle hit the fire truck. Then, as firefighters were talking to that driver, an SUV hit the fire truck, flipping over and skidding into several people standing on the side of the road.
Firefighters from the Westborough Fire Department, Westborough, Massachusetts, pull a victim from a car that was on fire and entangled in live power lines. Around the 1:00 minute mark, the victim is seen being pulled to safety. The incident occurred Friday at West Main Street and West Street.
Six people were injured and hospitalized when an out of control vehicle crashed into a popular bar and restaurant Wednesday afternoon in Little Canada.
The truck was moving with such force that it crashed all the way through a wall, not coming to a rest until it pinned five people against the bar.
The person is dropped at 5:02 in the video. You will see fire equipment arriving before that point and a ladder being brought to the rear after the rescue.
Above is a different view of the fire and rescue we showed you yesterday that had been posted to a Russian video site in December. In the first video you saw two men scaling the building to the third floor with one of them going into a window with smoke pouring out and dropping what we thought was a child to the crowd below. This video is shot from a neighboring apartment looking down at the crowd.
Alexander Keylin is a firefighter in the U.S. who is originally from Russia. Alex was able to track down the details for STATter911.com. The fire occurred in Moscow on September 4, 2009. Here's what Alexander wrote:
The person who was rescued was actually an elderly disabled male. The rescue was performed by civilians; you also can see a police officer in the crowd. From what I heard about the incident, the firefighters positioned apparatus on the other side of the building because the approach was blocked by illegally parked cars (a common problem in Russian cities), and it took them some time to get the extension ladder to the fire side.
Until Alex's email we thought it was a child being dropped and weren't sure who made the rescue. Because of his great work, I am appointing Alex as the Eastern European Bureau Chief for STATter911.com Worldwide.
In addition, I mentioned in my original post that until I watched the initial video on full screen I thought the rescuers might have been using a pompier ladder (which they were not). This prompted the following from Alex:
Russian firefighters do carry pompier ladders on every engine. There were some incredible rescues performed this way; for instance, in 1977 there was a fire in hotel "Moscow" with multiple civilian and firefighter fatalities; 43 people were rescued from as high as 22nd floor using a chain of pompier ladders.
Sorry if you have seen this one before, but I had not and there is not much detail. The information with this video is in Spanish and the best I can tell these are two firefighters (if they aren't, they should be) scaling the outside of the building. One of them goes into the window where smoke is pouring from, appears to grab a child, and drops the kid to the people below (listen to the cheers). At first I thought they had a pompier ladder, but after watching it full screen, they clearly climb the last floor or so Spiderman style. I have no clue whether this video is old or new or where this fire occurred. But it sure is something to watch. Readers please fill me in.
"Hey Mike, I've got a YouTube moment". Those are the words of the person shooting the video of this house fire (I have no clue where or when it occurred) as the two story structure buckled and fell into a pile a rubble (about 2:52 on the video) . He had a YouTube moment but the firefighter who apparently posted this video and wrote the description (fireeater294) claims he and a rookie had a close call when it all came tumbling down. The firefighter wrote they went defensive from the start and protected exposures. The firefighter says when the rookie showed up on the scene he showed the rookie a few things as they fought the fire from the outside.
After assessing the building I knew within a certain time frame the building would eventually collapse on its own weight and thought I can show him a few more things or fight more fire before we would back up and fight the fire from a safe distance. We were positioned between the single story house and the two story apartment/shed. We had about 5 to 6 feet between the structures to work. When the Building came down we fell against the single story house and escaped following the wall to where smoke cleared and we could check each other out.
Some quite dramatic video from a fire in Bedford, Virginia on February 10 of this year. The fire was at the home of a firefighter from Huddleston. A Bedford firefighter who was in the attic was given another assignment. As he attempted to leave via the fold-down attic ladder it broke, sending the firefighter into the basement. He was wearing a helmet-cam. Thanks to our loyal reader Taylor Goodman of VirginiaFirePix.com for sending this along. Here’s the description from the Bedford Fire Department website:
Bedford Communications alerted Companies 7 (Huddleston-1st due), 8 (Moneta-2nd due), and 1 (Bedford-RIT) to 2548 Bethesda Drive for a report of smoke coming from the eves of a private dwelling. Ladder 1 (with six) responded to fill the RIT assignment but once on scene quickly went to work as the Search Group and Vent Group because of a lack of manpower. Division 1 located and extinguished fire in the walls on the first floor and requested that command assign an attic division to check for extension above. A ”Mayday” signal was declared early on into the incident when a Company 1 firefighter fell approximately 20 feet when the fold-down attic ladder he was using to access the attic broke sending him down a flight of stairs into the basement. Fellow firefighters assisted him to the exterior where he was treated and transported for non-life threatening injuries. The attic division did locate extension in the attic and once extinguished the fire was marked under control. Units operating: P-7, L-1, T-7, W-8, W-83, T-8, T-10, W-1, R-1, County 10, County 3, County 1, Medic 14-8, and Medic 8. Total Company 1 personnel: 14. The home belongs to Company 7 firefighter Hayden Nichols. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Haden and his family.
Commercial fire – roof operations: This is a fire Sunday in Ontario’s Niagara on the Lake. The building where the firefighter is on the roof is believed to be an old fire hall. It was most recently a garden store. News reports indicate the fire started in the basement of this building and spread to another building. Four businesses were destroyed. The firefighter is forced to make a quick retreat from the roof at about 5:50 on the video.
One of those must see videos: I have no idea if this recovery of a tanker truck at the scene of a wreck is old or new, or where it was taken. There is no fire department on the scene and that may be one of the big problems. One hazmat expert, pointing to the lack of smoke, believes the product could be ethanol or something similar. If you know anything about this incident, please fill us in. Click here to watch it.
Banned in Houston: Helmet-cams: The Houston Fire Department has outlawed the used of helmet-cams by its firefighters. It is now a firing offense. This is an issue we have discussed on the blog many times. It is being addressed in various ways by fire departments across the country. Click here for the HFD story.
Citizen firefighter gives it her all: This video is well worth watching. A restaurant worker decides to battle the flames. It looks like they both get knocked down. Click here.
Engine 236 & Ladder 107: Click here for our coverage of the collision of these two FDNY rigs in Brooklyn on Saturday.
Great series of pictures from Canada: A restaurant fire and gas leak on Saturday morning lights up the pages of CodeRouge.com. Click here.
Bomb or no bomb: Is it bomb making materials or is the guy a model rocket enthusiast? Depends on who you talk to about an explosion that injured a man in Rhode Island. Firegeezer tries to sort if out.
Close-up tours in Puerto Rico: We have two videos that show you the firefighting operations at the tank farm fire in Puerto Rico. Click here. The earlier coverage is here.
Virginia firefighter & two others killed in suspicious fire in West Virginia home: VAFireNews.com has the details on the death of Rockingham County’s Dennis Taylor.
Inmate/firefighter rescued: This rescue at a wildfire in California was of an inmate/firefighter. Read his story.
Arbitrator’s ruling on minimum staffing has city going to court: In Lockport, New York the firefighters won the first round on minimum staffing for each shift. But city officials say they won’t hire the nine firefighters needed to comply with the ruling, or pay out the OT to fill the slots. Instead the city plans to go to court. Here’s the story.
Journalistically this is unsound in every way. But it is a good story that happens to be the truth about one of the good guys: The woman who wrote the article has anything but an arm’s length relationship with her subject. The blog that posted the article employs the person it is written about. As a reporter, I shouldn’t be touching this one at all. But I have to tell you it is one of the more interesting fire service articles I have read in a while about a guy who retired from PGFD, regretted his move and did something about it. Check out the story of Charlie Flinn. (Just in case there aren’t enough conflicts of interest for you, the article’s author once nominated the editor of this blog for an award.)
Garage fire in Gary: This is from Saturday in the 3100 block of Gerry. According to the description with the video there were no hydrants in the area and the Gary crews were assisted by a tanker from Lake Ridge.
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