Fire Critic An Unadulterated View of the Fire Service
E3 was first in to an apartment fire at Friendship Manor Apartments (assisted living) in Roanoke City, VA on March 20, 2014. Below is the helmet camera video from Engine 3’s driver (me). The video was edited with short clips removed due to a patient/victim being treated right next to the engine (the audio got messed up a little with editing). More information below the video.
The call was received at 6:30pm for a fire alarm. Dispatch relayed a second call for a large fire in the apartment when we were right around the corner from the address. We run this complex often (read: A LOT) for burned food on the stove, especially around breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This call came in at dinner time…We always dress out, even for alarms.
Local coverage of the fire:
One person was rescued from the second floor by FF Parker (E3), FF Miller (E3), and FF Teehan (County Wagon 1). The patient was later flown to the University of Virginia. The fire was extinguished with about 250 gallons of water. We deployed our high rise pack (2 1/2″ smoothbore) attached to 2 1/2″ deadload off the back of the engine. Units on scene included: E3, E5, E2, E13, E14, County Wagon 1, L2, L5, M3, M5, M101, County Medic 51, Salem Medic?, BC1,BC2, Chief 1, Chief 3, FM1, FM2, FM3, INV1 (I probably left some out).
Engine 3 (first in) had 4 on staff which is a rare occurrence. Last week, E3 C-shift had an apartment fire where they rescued 5 and made quick work of the fire as well. That day, they also had 4 riding on the engine (Read about that fire here).
Great job by all.
