JGallagher
02-18-2005, 05:57 PM
Here is a letter that a friend sent me. Names changed.
General alarm sounded at about 0230 for station 1 fire at the wellness centre (Summerside's new rink/pool, complex)construction area. The pool building is about 75% complete. Ladder 1 is the first truck out of the hall as usual, myself in the senior mans position (on the right side of the truck here for some reason???) Lt John Doe and Doe John. Enroute approx 10 blocks, we could see the fire approx 20-30 feet off the roof. On arrival we set up for a defensive attack with the ladder, as the old rink is still attached, so we were in a postion between the construction site and the old rink. I grabbed the jack pads for the outriggers on the ladder and set one down on the ground and there was a flash that turned day to night and the loudest explosion I've ever heard. The windows in the rink rattled the dishes in cupboars rattled blocks away, the guys riding in the jumpseat of engine 4 (station 2) heard it over the noise of the engine over 2 kms away. I just happened to glance up and the chief came flying out of the doors head first, the concussion of the blast (which was a floor above him) threw him out the doors, the explosion occurred where he had been standing 10 seconds age. A 100 pound propane cylinder had bleved on the roof sending it down through a reinforced steel fire rated roof and loding it in a concrete floor, blew out a cinder block wall and bent a 3 foot thick reinforced steel I-Beam floor joist. Seeing the chief come out the doors and being only ten to fifteen feet away, I ran for the fence and tried to jump over, getting the waist belt of my scba caught on the top of the fence, so when my weight shifted off of the fence it sprang back into regular position and cartwheeled me over top, by the time I picked myself up the chief was startiing to shake the cob webs out so we left through a hole that John had cut in the fence for us. Captain Chruch (ladder company) grabbed us to ladder the older building on the C side (east) when a second 100 pound cylinder touched off on the roof causing a mushroom cloud!
We laddered the building I started to climb with an 1.75 foam line from the ladder truck. I got to the top and started to haul slack while I waited for John. When he got up to the top we started our attack and when the foam ran out we were actually making headway. The captain soon joined us on the roof and gave us our orders, up a piece of scaffolding onto the pool's roof knock the fire down, John got up and I held the staging, then I started to climb. When I got to the top the staging started to tip so I had to jump off About 8 feet. To make the rest of the story short we were had the fire under control after about 20 more minutes and began to rip the roof apart to expose hot spots.
General alarm sounded at about 0230 for station 1 fire at the wellness centre (Summerside's new rink/pool, complex)construction area. The pool building is about 75% complete. Ladder 1 is the first truck out of the hall as usual, myself in the senior mans position (on the right side of the truck here for some reason???) Lt John Doe and Doe John. Enroute approx 10 blocks, we could see the fire approx 20-30 feet off the roof. On arrival we set up for a defensive attack with the ladder, as the old rink is still attached, so we were in a postion between the construction site and the old rink. I grabbed the jack pads for the outriggers on the ladder and set one down on the ground and there was a flash that turned day to night and the loudest explosion I've ever heard. The windows in the rink rattled the dishes in cupboars rattled blocks away, the guys riding in the jumpseat of engine 4 (station 2) heard it over the noise of the engine over 2 kms away. I just happened to glance up and the chief came flying out of the doors head first, the concussion of the blast (which was a floor above him) threw him out the doors, the explosion occurred where he had been standing 10 seconds age. A 100 pound propane cylinder had bleved on the roof sending it down through a reinforced steel fire rated roof and loding it in a concrete floor, blew out a cinder block wall and bent a 3 foot thick reinforced steel I-Beam floor joist. Seeing the chief come out the doors and being only ten to fifteen feet away, I ran for the fence and tried to jump over, getting the waist belt of my scba caught on the top of the fence, so when my weight shifted off of the fence it sprang back into regular position and cartwheeled me over top, by the time I picked myself up the chief was startiing to shake the cob webs out so we left through a hole that John had cut in the fence for us. Captain Chruch (ladder company) grabbed us to ladder the older building on the C side (east) when a second 100 pound cylinder touched off on the roof causing a mushroom cloud!
We laddered the building I started to climb with an 1.75 foam line from the ladder truck. I got to the top and started to haul slack while I waited for John. When he got up to the top we started our attack and when the foam ran out we were actually making headway. The captain soon joined us on the roof and gave us our orders, up a piece of scaffolding onto the pool's roof knock the fire down, John got up and I held the staging, then I started to climb. When I got to the top the staging started to tip so I had to jump off About 8 feet. To make the rest of the story short we were had the fire under control after about 20 more minutes and began to rip the roof apart to expose hot spots.