Darien-Woodridge Fire Protection District
Chief Robert J.Tinucci
Personnel: 37 full-time firefighters, 50 part-time firefighters
Apparatus: three engines, one ladder truck, three ambulances, one heavyrescue, one tanker, one brush truck
Population: 29,000
Area: 15 square miles
A long holiday weekend was drawing to a close on Nov. 30, 1996, when the peace and serenity of a quiet residential neighborhood in suburban Downers Grove, IL, was shattered by a natural gas explosion. The blast killed two residents, severely injured another and leveled the house they were occupying. Additionally, many more houses in the neighborhood were damaged, five of them to the point that they were left uninhabitable.
The community was dealt a traumatic blow while the local fire departments were left to deal with a situation that stretched their capabilities to an unprecedented level.
The First Minutes
Midnight was in sight for the communications operators at the Downers Grove Operations Center when the first of the 911 calls began streaming in. Seventy-seven 911 calls flooded the Fire Alarm Office in the first few moments following the blast, marking the start of a long and exhausting night for hundreds of area residents and emergency crews.
Just as the large volume of calls was making the Fire Alarm Office aware of the magnitude of the incident, another issue began to confuse normal response procedures. Although the area of the explosion was within the boundaries of the Village of Downers Grove, fire protection was provided by the Darien-Woodridge Fire Protection District, whose Station 2 is located only a few blocks away from the incident scene. As it would turn out, this confusion would actually be a blessing in disguise.
The Downers Grove Operation Center dispatched a full-still alarm complement to the area. Included in this response was Darien-Wood-ridge's Station 2 engine company as part of an automatic-aid agreement designed to boost responses on the part of several area agencies. When the company was dispatched, Darien-Woodridge Battalion Chief Wayne Messenger, quartered a few miles south-east of the incident, recognized the address being given, contacted his own Fire Alarm Office and ordered a full-still response for Darien-Wood-ridge as well. This dual response resulted in a larger initial response than would otherwise have been sent. At 11:42 P.M., initial companies being dispatched included four engine companies, two truck companies, one heavy rescue squad, three advanced life support (ALS) ambulances and three chief officers.
Two Downers Grove police officers, on patrol in the area, were the first to arrive at 11:45. They were met by a scene of total destruction and mass confusion. Many local residents were wandering the site, dazed and injured. The home in which the blast had occurred had been reduced to burning rubble and adjacent homes showed signs of heavy structural damage as well as imminent exposure to the ensuing fire.
Additional help was forthcoming in the form of off-duty Darien-Woodridge Firefighter Terry Ticknor, who lived less than a block away from the explosion. After the blast, his first actions were to check on the well-being of his family, instruct his wife to call 911, then grab his turnout gear from the trunk of his car and start toward the scene. He quickly conferred with the officers already at the scene, as well as a neighbor from next door to the blast. The neighbor told Ticknor a survivor was still in the rubble and had been talking to him.
With fire companies still responding, Ticknor entered what was left of the structure and began a search. He soon came upon a critically injured young woman who advised him that there had been two other people with her in the house at the time of the blast. Ticknor removed the victim, handing her off to the police officers, then re-entered to continue the search but both of the other victims were beyond help. One had been thrown from the house at the time of the blast and would be found shortly, under debris, while the second victim would be found in the house, having been buried in the building collapse.
At 11:49, Darien-Woodridge Engine 621 arrived on the scene and gave the first fire department size-up. Lieutenant Richard Collins confirmed that a house had indeed exploded and they were faced with multiple victims. He ordered lines to a hydrant while positioning the engine's deck gun to contain the fire.
Even with the inflated response that he knew was on its way, Collins recognized the magnitude of the incident and ordered a box alarm, adding two engines, one truck company and a fourth chief officer to the response. Additionally, he established a staging area for responding companies in the parking lot of a large department store located less than two blocks from the incident. The clogged, narrow side streets would continue to hamper operations throughout the incident and a large, close staging area was critical.
Within a few minutes of the request for the box alarm, nearly all of the still alarm companies had arrived on the scene. During these early stages, many of the first-arriving companies were giving care to injured civilians. Darien-Woodridge Ambulance 614 assumed medical control for the incident. This was the first step in preparing for the orderly triage and removal of victims.
With the arrival of Messenger, a more extensive size-up was conducted and the battalion chief took command of the incident. At 11:53, he requested that utility companies be sent to the scene. This was deemed especially important at the time, because nobody could identify any kind of specific problem with the affected house, and there were fears that a system-wide failure could have occurred within the natural gas delivery system.
Although no systemic failure was ever found, damage to the delivery system had taken place, evidenced by the loss of a diaphragm in a meter, two houses away. On the safety-first recommendations of these two agencies, gas would be shut down for a three-block radius and power shut down on the most affected block.
With steps underway to secure the safety of the site, the second order of business was the flood of minor injury victims on the scene. At 11:59, Messenger ordered a mass casualty box alarm that would bring in an additional four ambulances and a second heavy rescue squad. Most of those sustaining injuries did not require transport to the hospital, though it took some time and sorting to determine that.
From this point, further tasks were started. They included primary and secondary searches of all the affected houses in a square block. Companies were also assigned to securing the shutoff of gas meters on each of the houses. With the amount of destruction to the primary house and the vast amount of rubble which had to be sifted through for victims, it was decided that a request for the area's Fire Agency Specialty Team (FAST) units would be made. (These teams are a cooperative venture on the part of several local agencies to combine resources for the more expensive and less commonly used specialties.)
The incident management system had been placed in effect early on and all of the needed sector assignments were filled. These assignments included operations, safety, plans, public information, rescue, EMS, rehab, staging and various other positions.
To bring needed additional resources to the scene, second alarms were raised on each of the two box alarms. Many firefighters had to be given rehab on the scene. Weather conditions were severe. Cold had been a problem from the start and that was quickly compounded by rain, sleet and finally snow.
Each component at the incident was utilized as intended. Final on-scene tasks were beginning as the box alarms were struck. The mass casualty box was struck at 1:43 A.M. and the initial fire box was struck out at 2:21.
Nineteen departments responded to the incident. In total, the multiple fire agency response included 104 firefighters and officers which manned nine engine companies, four truck companies, six heavy rescue squads, 10 ambulances and 16 assorted specialty vehicles. Many other agencies contributed to the mitigation of the incident and its aftermath. These included the Downers Grove Police Department and Building Department, DuPage County Sheriff's Office, DuPage County Office of Emergency Management, Northern Illinois Gas Co., Commonwealth Edison, Office of the State Fire Marshal, DuPage County Coroner's Office, U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), Red Cross, Northern Illinois Critical Incident Stress Debriefing Team and various local groups.
The Aftermath
Under the direction of Darien-Woodridge Fire Chief Robert Tinucci, multiple efforts were undertaken to lessen the effect of this disaster, both to the emergency responders and the area residents. Many people living in the neighborhood feared that a similar event could occur again.
Added to those fears were the common grief and anxiety one would expect after the sudden and tragic loss of a neighbor. Many firefighters were affected by the large volume of devastation that accompanied the explosion. For the sake of the firefighters, a defusing was conducted immediately following the incident by Father Ray Clennon, the department chaplain and an active member of the Northern Illinois Critical Incident Stress Debriefing Team. Several days later, a full debriefing was held.
Tinucci made department facilities available to the public on several occasions. On the night of the incident, Station 2 became a temporary shelter for many of the displaced local residents until other accommodations could be made. Later, the same station was used as a public meeting place for area residents.
Various agencies, along with the Darien-Woodridge Fire Investigation Unit, investigated the exact cause of the explosion. All appliances and natural gas piping have been removed from the house for analysis.
The department conducted an extensive review of the incident with input from each agency involved. Several problems were identified and brought out earlier in this article. In all, valuable lessons were learned and a new appreciation of our capabilities was gained from this tragedy:
- The incident management system works. Each sector was promptly filled and there was no question as to the sector officer's responsibilities.
- Because they had participated in inter-agency training and drills, officers and firefighters were familiar with each other's standard operating procedures and were able to mesh into a cohesive team in the face of disaster. Even the varied fire alarm offices functioned together to provide support to field operations.
- The importance of diverse groups of emergency personnel, public and private agencies and community groups, acting together, was seen as the catalyst for the final resolution to a community crisis.
Wayne Messenger is a career fire service officer with over 20 years with the Darien-Woodridge Fire Protection District in Darien, IL. He holds the rank of battalion chief and is assigned as a shift commander. Messenger was incident commander for this emergency. Peter Novy is a 22-year fire service veteran with 18 years on Darien-Woodridge. He holds the rank of captain and is assigned to Truck Company 619.
