There would be no 'holiday routine' on Labor Day in the Salt City. Units were dispatched shortly after 8 a,m. for a structure fire.
Members were met with a well involved second floor bedroom. Additionally, the second floor porch on side one was now rapidly becoming involved. Crews with engine companies 3, 6 and 8, trucks 1 and 8, the rescue company and went to work on this working fire.
All occupants were reported out,. So the focus was on saving property. The two-and-a-half wood frame dwelling was a single family house, although its' size tempted one to believe it was cut up into apartments.
A unique floor layout had both a front and rear stair terminating on a common landing, five steps below the second floor.
This convergence created a bottleneck for the three hand lines and three search teams as they advanced upstairs. With zero visibility and high heat conditions, the fiirst crews started in a right hand direction in hopes of making their way to side one. Unfortunately, they ended in a bedroom in the 3/4 corner.
The third sneaked by them and went left, requiring a full 180 degree change in direction to head down the narrow hallway. Operations allowed units to operate a full seven minutes before he decided to go defensive.
The now fully involved attic was free burning and the roof team abandoned their position the same time that air horns signaled that it was time to abandon interior operations. Four elevated stream devices were put into play, and the fire went down quickly as it was no match for the 4000+gpm flow.
No firefighters were injured although the damage to the structure was severe. It was learned later that two children playing with a lighter caused the blaze. They delayed notifying their parents, which gave the fire additional time to grow before the fire department was alerted.
