Fire Critic An Unadulterated View of the Fire Service
I am working again today, we have had a busy “middle day” and our first day (Wednesday) was busier. Maybe Sunday will be quieter.
Today, we missed getting toned out for a large fire in a neighboring department by a couple of minutes…Instead, we were on an EMS call. We did listen to some of the traffic on the radio.
Photo via WDBJ7
The fire was in Salem, VA at Salem Commons Apartments. The Salem FD has 3 firehouses – 3 engines, several medic units, and a ladder truck that is staffed by one of the medic units when they aren’t on a call. Needless to say, when they have a boomer, barn burner, 3 banger, it’s in the air, she’s walkin the dog kinda fire…they call us for help. We sent a bunch of engines, 2 ladders, and some other apparatus. I couldn’t keep up with all of the units dispatched, I just know that we weren’t one of them.
One of our guys did get hurt in the fire, and it was captured in the video below. A firefighter took a piece of wood to the chest. The piece of wood came off the top of the 3rd floor (the roof was already burned off). You can see the piece fall at :23 into the video. Notice the first piece fall towards the group on the left. They were spared. The group on the right wasn’t so lucky and you can see the piece fall through the trees. We heard the radio traffic of “man down” and later learned what had happened. He was transported to the hospital and I understand is resting comfortably at home now. That was great to hear.
The Firefighter gets hurt at :23 in the video below
According to news reports, 3 other firefighters were injured at the fire. I do not have details on any of the other injuries.
More news coverage from the fire:
- Fire at Salem Commons leaves 42 people homeless
- Salem fire displaces residents, injures 4 firefighters
- UPDATE: Four firefighters hurt while putting out flames in Salem apartment building
- WEB EXTRA: Viewer submitted video of flames at Salem Commons Apartments
We did catch a car fire on I-581 later in the evening. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any helmet cam video of the great job we did…the memory card was full. Parker on the pipe and Curry on the pump…we had fun and no one got hurt.
Stay safe out there!
Rhett Fleitz – The Fire Critic
