Apparatus Destroyed After Blaze Hits Illinois Firehouse
Source Herald & Review, Decatur, Ill.
MOUNT ZION, Ill. -- Fire Chief Don Wright was in bed at 4:20 a.m. Saturday when he was notified of a structure fire at a familiar address -- the town's firehouse.
He rushed out the door to drive the two blocks to the station, where he found the recently acquired ladder truck ablaze and the station filled with smoke.
He tried to open a side door to get inside and rescue some equipment.
"If I had my gear, I could have gone in," said Wright, who has served on the volunteer Mount Zion Fire Department since 1964, as chief for the past 37 years. "But we didn't have our gear because it was in the building."
Firefighters from nearby departments arrived quickly and put out the fire, but the department lost two expensive firefighting vehicles and its entire new addition, built in 2007, which housed its training center, kitchen, dining area and bunkhouse.
Wright estimates the loss at $3 million, including the 2000 American LaFrance ladder truck, which was purchased for $285,000 six months ago, and an engine valued at $500,000.
It is believed that the fire started in the cab of the ladder truck, "where there's a lot of wiring," Wright said, adding that he believes it was caused by a short circuit. The interior of the cab caught fire, the aluminum cab started melting and "that opened it up to starting the rest of the building on fire."
About the time Wright was trying to enter the station, a firefighter ran inside, jumped into the cab of the engine next to the burning truck and tried to rescue it. When the garage door failed to open, the firefighter quickly exited the vehicle and escaped from the building.
That was the engine that was later destroyed.
A neighbor who reported the fire a few minutes earlier said he saw garage doors opening and closing, opening and closing, a common result of a short circuit.
Nobody was injured at the fire scene. Two firefighters received oxygen from paramedics but did not require additional treatment.
"That's what I'm thankful for," Wright said. "We can get new buildings and new trucks, but we can't get new people. There were very toxic fumes. That smoke will get you down in a minute, and you'll be dead in five minutes."
Long Creek firefighters were the first on the scene. They immediately flooded the bay with water through the broken windows and an open door.
Wright pulled a hose off a Long Creek truck and joined the fight, but he was excused from duty because of his lack of safety equipment.
"One of the Long Creek guys who saw me working without gear took the hose away from me so I could get away from the danger of it," Wright said.
As Long Creek firefighters entered the building -- wearing their air packs, masks and other protective gear -- they grabbed some of the Mount Zion firefighters' gear and threw it outside to them. Then they helped to rescue their own equipment.
Crews from eight area departments and the Mid-Illinois Chapter of the American Red Cross were on the scene to assist with the effort. Responding were firefighters from Decatur, Argenta, Oreana, South Wheatland, South Macon, Cerro Gordo, Dora Township and Harristown.
"They did a great job," Wright said. "We couldn't ask for a better job."
The older portion of the building, built in 1979, sustained smoke damage, but Wright believes it will remain functional.
Saturday morning and afternoon, dozens of volunteers scrubbed down the bays in the older section, while a 13-member crew from Peerless Cleaning and Restoration Services worked diligently to remove soot and grime from every available surface beneath the drop ceiling in the front office area.
The cleanup efforts were geared toward preparing to fight the next fire in the community.
Within hours of losing two essential pieces of equipment, Mount Zion firefighters were back at full strength, as a result of the generosity of their neighbors. The Decatur Fire Department lent them a 75-foot tall ladder truck, and Warrensburg Fire Protection District lent them an engine.
Wright said this fire has helped him to understand how families must feel when they lose their homes and have to deal with the mess left behind.
"It's heartbreaking," Wright said. "A lot of blood, sweat and tears went into this, and it's gone in several minutes. Hopes and dreams down the drain. But we will move on. I see families go through it. It is really bad when we have to face the same thing."
Fire Capt. Mike Burkham, a 15-year department veteran, said firefighters installed a bunkroom, kitchen and TV dayroom into the new addition this past year.
"We've got to do it all over again," Burkham said, adding that the important thing is that the department is fully operational. "We can work out of a hole in the ground, if we have to."
Although Mount Zion firefighters teach fire prevention, not every fire is preventable.
"This goes to show that you can be as safe as you can and things still happen," Wright said. "There was nothing wrong with the ladder truck. Nothing was malfunctioning."
Copyright 2012 - Herald & Review, Decatur, Ill.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
