First Fire!

[tecster]

Well I went to my first fire! Was a mutual aid call down town, call started off as a signal 50 (Structure Fire) fully engoulfed in flames, we arrived scene after almost getting into an accident on the road. When we got there the whole A (Alpha) and D (Delta) side of the building was completely charred and black, while on scene I mainly worked Rehab inorder to make sure our firefighters were fully hydrated. As I listened in on the radios they called "Mayday! Mayday! Mayday - We've got a man down!" everything went silent and the commander ordered radio silence. Turns out that on the 3rd story of the building a firefighter from my department was using a pipepull in order to check for holes in the floor, when he found one another member from another department came up and the firefighter from my department who had just found the hole said that he found a hole, when the other guy from another department said he was going around, our firefighter said it was a terrible idea, just as he finished that the man fell down to a piece of the framing on the house in which saved him from dropping onto the 2nd floor, the squad quickly pulled him up. I was extremely nervous as this was my first call, butterflys were running in my stomach and so many things were running through my mind, first thoughts when getting out of the truck was "Holy **** I'm INSANE!" After that it was all good news from there on out, we suppresed the fire in about 30 minutes after locating that the fire was traveling up the walls. We knocked it down and was back to the station in about 1 hour!

[backsteprescue123]

[QUOTE=tecster]that on the 3rd story of the building a firefighter from my department was using a pipepull in order to check for holes in the floor,QUOTE]


I'm assuming you mean pike pole unless it is a different tool you are talking about.

[MrYuk]

we arrived scene after almost getting into an accident on the road.

Were you riding in a fire apparatus or your own vehicle?

[doughesson]

Now you know why one of the few TV quotes that I use regularly is"Let's be careful out there!".
This is one job where you only get one really big mistake and when you make it,you will most likely endanger a whole bunch of other people as well as yourself.
My advice is to take it easy,listen to your officers,do what your orders say,and above all,stay aware of your situation and where you are.
Good luck with it and remember to ask questions,even if you aren't sure of the correct time.I'm sure that your teammates would rather you bother them with questions as opposed to carrying you out of a building because you thought that you had this thing knocked.
I'm always bothering officers and longer service members of my volunteer department even though some folks are starting to refer questions to me.This job is all about continuing your education,okay?

[Moose2028]

congrats!!!!




i remember my first fire like it was yesterday. tones dropped for a working chimeny fire, one of our sergeants drove past the hous to pull a truck and told dispatch we had 10 to 15 foot flame out of the stack. we get in the engine and go barrling down the road, we get there and i start streching lines to the door, then i get told to set up a bottle exchange aera. as i look up i notice about twenty foot flames out of the stack. we soon find out its a baloon construction house and the flame are in the walls. in about four hours we are back at the station. no one was hurt.

[mdoddsjffhnfc]

always be careful no matter what, safety is key.

congrats on ur first fire, that will be something that u never forget (just like when u catch ur first job certified)

Nothin like your first junior job bein a 2 banger at 2am in the middle of the summer. Can get ur blood flowin.


STAY SAFE!

[FiftyOnePride]

Congrats on the first fire.

Yeah, FF down is def. a scary thing. Glad I have never been on a scene where a mayday alert needed to be activated.

Where are you from? I just recognize the signal 50 from Litchfield County, CT; our neighboring county. I know many a county probably uses the same codes, but it just made me curious.

[tecster]

Enfield, Connecticut exactly. Yep, Signal 50 is our Structure Fire alarm, Signal 62 is Town-Wide Mutual Aid, and I'm still trying to get the others!

[firefighter7160]

My first fire... Man that was like in 1996..... Im not goig to say it was a 10 story building with people yelling for help. I think it was like a grass fire, our a pot on the stove. Dam am i that old. I must be, I started on an explorer post in Nor-Cal. That was like 10 years ago. Now im a paid F F. I think it was something like that. Took at least four months to get a good one, and it was. Most of the county was at that one... OOOO those Nor-Cal winerys....

[FiftyOnePride]

Enfield, Connecticut exactly. Yep, Signal 50 is our Structure Fire alarm, Signal 62 is Town-Wide Mutual Aid, and I'm still trying to get the others!

Isn't that north of Hartford?

[tecster]

Yep, just north of hartford.