Yesterday we had a large structure fire. It was a double wide mobile home that had been donated to the Dept for a training burn. We were the first crew in, with me on the hose as the "nozzle man". As we entered the structure, the smoke was at about shoulder height. By the time we made it to the back room, the smoke was knee high. By the time I was in position, the smoke hit the floor. Visibility was ZERO. Span of time, maybe 30 seconds. We had lights and everything, but you could not see crap! Then, from about 10 feet away, I see this faint orange glow. It starts as just a flicker, kind of like, "Did I just see something?" Then it grows, and grows, til you realize the fire has completely engulfed the bathroom, and is moving to you. We knocked out the windows to clear the smoke, and started knocking the fire back. Just a little bit at a time, (don't want a steam bath!) finally advancing into the bathroom to finish it off. When we came out, the plastic from the ceiling had melted all over us. Figure it had to be a couple HUNDRED degrees in there.... Thank Goodness for our gear! One thing I have learned in the last year, it's NOTHING like "Back Draft." It's much better.
Pics will follow in a day or two.....
In the meantime, go check out Firehouse, all the cool firefighters hang out there!
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I must admit, I've always had this *thing for firemen. It goes back to a very dear friend I knew when I was stationed in SC. He was cool as hell, but just a little "off." Someone would say "fire" and he would remark: "Oooh, my nipples just got hard."
Yeah, he was hardcore.
I think my infatuation is due to the fact that - man, you guys are running IN when everyone with sense that God gave a goose are running OUT. And I love that.
I agree with your other commenteer. Rock on!
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