OGDEN, Utah -- David Hooper lost his parents and brothers to a fire and moved to Utah to get away from those memories.
But on Saturday afternoon, he looked out the front door of his apartment to see smoke and fire across the way. Those memories came back as black smoke and flames came out of the front window of his neighbor's apartment at 668 27th St.
"It was scary," Hooper said.
Dispatchers first got a call about the fire at 1:20 p.m. Within three and a half minutes, firefighters pulled up to the row of brick apartments and went to work.
They first used a relatively new tool called a Fire Interruption Technology Device -- or FIT-5. A firefighter threw the red metal canister into the apartment, where it released a cloud of fire-retardant salt that spread everywhere.
The FIT-5 quickly knocks down the fire, cools the room and gives firefighters more time to pull hose lines from the engine. The was the first time the department has used one since they bought them a few years ago, said Ogden Fire Capt. Corey Barton.
"(This apartment) was very viable for it. It's a center apartment that has an unburnt structure on either side (that all share) a common attic," he said.
After the FIT-5 went off, the firefighters then finished extinguishing the fire with water.
Hooper said he was impressed at the sight of the "fearless" firefighters who quickly put out the blaze before it could spread to any other apartments and do more damage.
"They went right in. They truly earn the name of hero," he said.
The woman who lives in the apartment was taken to a local hospital for smoke inhalation. None of the firefighters were injured.
Damage was estimated at $50,000. Investigators are trying to determine what started the fire.
Both the Ogden and Roy fire departments responded, bringing a total of 25 firefighters on three ladder trucks, two engines, two paramedic rescue trucks and one battalion chief vehicle.
Copyright 2012 - Standard-Examiner, Ogden, Utah
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
