A summary of operations in Florida at press time: Almost 7,000 firefighters and 3,000 support staff responded from 45 states and Puerto Rico. Equipment used included 193 bulldozers, 382 engines, 60 water tankers, 150 aircraft, 75 fixed-wing aircraft and 75 helicopters. Since June 1, there have been 2,126 fires in all 67 of Florida's counties that have burned a total of 485,133 acres. A full update will appear in an upcoming issue of Firehouse®.
Mutual aid has become international. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue in Florida, for example, has responded for years to the aftermath of earthquakes and other disasters in Mexico, Central America and elsewhere. A large group of departments traveled to Russia to help in their time of need several years ago. About 23 years ago, I was in the quarters of FDNY Rescue 3, now the citywide collapse rescue company. At that time, a century-old building on Broadway collapsed. Rescue 1 from midtown, Rescue 2 from Brooklyn and several manpower squads were dispatched to the incident. I said to a firefighter from Rescue 3, "Maybe you'll be next." The firefighter replied, "We wouldn't go to that incident on a postcard!"
Seconds later, when another major collapse occurred, the division chief requested the remainder of the city's four rescue companies. The fire alarm dispatcher said, "Rescue 3 goes." Anybody have postage stamps?
Since joining a second mutual aid group, my department responded to a fire involving an 800-foot-long pier. I relieved a neighboring chief during a third rotation at the operation. I worked for a time with a lieutenant from an FDNY marine company until the tide went out and the water level was insufficient for operations. We also responded to a large fire in a chemical warehouse several mutual aid groups away. One minute I'm watching the fire on TV, the next we're on the way to assist.
While I was at the Firehouse® Magazine offices recently, my department received a call for volunteers to respond to Florida. That 900-mile run would certainly beat the FDNY responding to Baltimore in 1904 for a downtown conflagration. However, the weather in Florida changed, bringing much-needed rain and another call was received fairly quickly canceling the request for manpower to respond to the Sunshine State.
"It can't happen here" are words that should be stricken from the fire service vocabulary. With the right conditions, anything is possible. You never know what the next run may bring. Given the right conditions, a recent wave of fires such as just occurred in Florida can happen in many places across the country. Years ago, there wouldn't have been so many structures in the woods. But today, it's a different ball game.
