You Win Some

Often in firefighter circles, we discuss a "good" fire. This term is used to describe one of those ripping fires where we get to use a lot of our tools, fight a lot of fire, and in general, revel in the more exciting aspects of the job.

Now, it is important to point out that we have sometimes made the mistake of discussing this so-called "good" fire and high-fiving each other within earshot of the poor family that have just lost all of their possessions. This is considered poor form, so usually this type of camaraderie is reserved for when we get back in the station.

Last week, I had the occasion to be a significant part of a truly good fire. We were dispatched to a house fire at about 2:30 AM on a cul-de-sac. We arrived to blazing fire that was rapidly burning the wooden chimney enclosure and had obviously gotten into the attic. In light generated from the fire we sawthe whole family; 3 year old girl, 5 year old boy, mom, and dad. All were wearing the barest minimum of pajamas, standing in the rain on the front lawn, and watching their house go up in flames.

Once the fire reaches the attic, it is very typical that the damage to the house is so significant that the roof will collapse and bring the fire into the interior of the house with the resulting fire and destruction. With that in mind, I knew we had no time to spare. We quickly attacked the fire from the outside and managed to squirt a bit of water up into the eaves. I moved the family into the warm firetruck to get them out of the rain so that they had ring-sided seats as we took chainsaws and cut into the attic space looking for fire.

Here is where things took a good turn. The little bit of water into the eaves had done a perfect steam conversion that spread throughout the attic and snuffed the fire. Even though there was a significant amount of charred lumber, the fire was out. We tore the wall away from the entire area behind the stone fireplace, but left the stone and the fireplace insert intact. With a little stapling and plastic covering, we repaired the roof.

Within about an hour of our arrival, mom and dad were tucking the young ones back in bed. In this whole operation, there was only one palm-sized area of the living room ceiling that showed ANY damage in the interior of the house. No smoke, no odor, no water, no wall in the living room behind the stone - no problem...

So, in this case, it truly was a GOOD fire for all.