Early & late video: House fire with electrical hazards in Wheeling, West Virginia.

A woman who lived in an apartment in a home on South Park Street in the Woodsdale section of Wheeling, West Virginia says her cat woke her when fire broke out yesterday morning (WheelingFire.com reports the fire is in Ohio County). The early video (above) starts just after Engine 10 from the Wheeling Fire Department, with quarters just two blocks way, arrived on the scene. The video is from WheelingFire.com. Here is an excerpt from the website’s report on the fire:

Engines 2 and 5 with Ladder 1 and Rescue 1 arrived on scene moments later and together,  the crews made an aggressive interior attack. Engine 11 came in to supply Engine 2 and Ladder 1. The electric company had a longer than normal response time and the live wires and electricity presented a danger to the firefighters. Since the resident was out safely, firefighters were forced out of the structure until the power could be cut off. The fire extended upwards and crews went on a defensive attack with the bucket of Ladder 1 up and flowing water. 

Below is a report from WTRF-TV that includes video taken later in the operation after the fire became a defensive operation. Here is more from WTRF-TV:

Firefighters said the fire spread throughout the two-story house very fast.

They said the layout of the house and the origin of the fire made it difficult for crews to put out the flame.

“Initial crews found heavy fire in the basement but there was an electric hazard there. We had to wait for AEP to get here and cut power to the structure, so we had to fight the fire from the outside until then,” said Wheeling Assistant Fire Chief Jim Blazier.