Fairview (Dutchess) Garage Fire 10/18/07

[JetPhoto 626]

Date:10-18-07

Time:17:34 Hours

Location: 112 E Dorsey Lane

I arrived 30 seconds prior to 1 st due.

[JetPhoto 626]

[JetPhoto 626]

[JetPhoto 626]

[JetPhoto 626]

[Danger 160]

Great shots. Rumors are that this was a storage garage for classic hot rods, and that the owner managed to rescue most of them. Was this 41-11's first fire?

[FFD941 20]

Great shots. Rumors are that this was a storage garage for classic hot rods, and that the owner managed to rescue most of them. Was this 41-11's first fire?

41-11's first official 11 was the Fairview Mens Club on Lake Street

[Guest partyrock]

Nice job Fairview. Using the gun to achieve quick knockdown then getting in there with a 2 1/2"(?) after you were done messing around with that first handline. Way to be aggressive while not putting yourselves in an unnecessarily risky situation. Anyone from the incident have some good and bad to share?

[xfirefighter484x 234]

41-11's first official 11 was the Fairview Mens Club on Lake Street

So how's your right eye doin'?

Isn't that why they made SCOTT masks or goggles??

Edited October 19, 2007 by xfirefighter484x

[Guest]

aggressive?!

[Guest Photounit]

Jim,

Things a little slow down south so you had to buff a job up north? Nice job....... And thanks for sharing.......Bill

[xfirefighter484x 234]

Jim,

Things a little slow down south so you had to buff a job up north? Nice job....... And thanks for sharing.......Bill

HAHA! Yea, seriously, to be on scene 30 seconds before first due? A little prior knowledge?!?!?!?!?

[Guest Photounit]

If he was there during the incipient stage that would be a problem......

[WCDES-FTA 6]

Nice work with the deck gun and the ground gun to achive knockdown.

Did anyone notice the empty CO2 FX on the ground just inside the garage door?

[lad41der 0]

It was an awesome job done by all parties involved. It could have turned out alot worse than it did considering the location that the fire was in. That part of our district does not have hydrants and we are only rolling with 1000 gallons on the first due equipment. Some other things to take into consideration was the road is under heavy construction, very narrow and lots of turns in it. I must say the duty officer did a good job using the deck gun to knock it down. If you could have seen the property your eyes would have lit up. Just to give you one example there was an open 55 gallon drum of some really really high test fuel sitting right next to the A-B corner. So yeah just think of what we experienced around the whole structure.

[JetPhoto 626]

Thanks Guys. Yea I have been in a drought regarding incident photo's. I worked late last night and when I walked out the back door of the 911 center all I saw was thick black smoke. Sometimes timing works out that way.

[moggie6 54]

Not to mention the small propane tank that was impinged by fire on the A-D corner of the structure. I have to say a job well done by all parties involved. Everyone went right to work when they got there.

[Guest partyrock]

Too often I see photos of crews just dumping water on whats left of the roof and walls of a structure when repositioning and getting up close would have brought things under control faster. Any of you guys that were there have anything that should have gone differently? Help us learn something here.

[FFD941 20]

Too often I see photos of crews just dumping water on whats left of the roof and walls of a structure when repositioning and getting up close would have brought things under control faster. Any of you guys that were there have anything that should have gone differently? Help us learn something here.

While you do have a valid point....This was a garage fire with no Life Safety Issues. Why risk personnel by getting closer for a known vacant structure??

[Guest partyrock]

You have to temper your response for the conditions at hand, but do you see anything in those photos that was particularly risky? They saved the garage that was 5 feet away and its contents. Structures are easily replaced, but the contents are often irreplaceable. At what point do you step back outside the collapse zone and watch it burn? If you had gotten on scene at it was just a garage fire? How about if a car inside was on fire but the structure was not yet involved? What if it was a one full wall? How about if it was contents but it had yet to go structural? The same questions apply to people's homes. Everyone is out, the bedroom has flashed, but the fire has yet to spread to the rest of the house. Are you going to let the rest of the house go? Its a whole lot of what ifs and supposeds. This crew stayed outside the structure and used the reach of the stream to attack the fire. If you're going to stop a fire thats the way to do it. Now can we please get someone who was there to critique their own incident.

[FFD941 20]

You have to temper your response for the conditions at hand, but do you see anything in those photos that was particularly risky? They saved the garage that was 5 feet away and its contents. Structures are easily replaced, but the contents are often irreplaceable. At what point do you step back outside the collapse zone and watch it burn? If you had gotten on scene at it was just a garage fire? How about if a car inside was on fire but the structure was not yet involved? What if it was a one full wall? How about if it was contents but it had yet to go structural? The same questions apply to people's homes. Everyone is out, the bedroom has flashed, but the fire has yet to spread to the rest of the house. Are you going to let the rest of the house go? Its a whole lot of what ifs and supposeds. This crew stayed outside the structure and used the reach of the stream to attack the fire. If you're going to stop a fire thats the way to do it. Now can we please get someone who was there to critique their own incident.

As I stated before you have a very valid point...I do not disagree with you whatsoever, the fire service is all about what if's.. However upon my arrival to the scene of the fire (Just after the initial attack with the deck gun) the garage was fully invovled, vehicle and structure, upstairs and downstairs. As seen in the above photos. The operation of the deckgun was the decision of the Lt. on duty to hit the fire hard and quick while lines were being streached.

As Lad41der stated a good job was done by all at the scene.

[xfirefighter484x 234]

Now can we please get someone who was there to critique their own incident.

Partyrock, just FYI, FFD941 WAS there.

[PVFD233 68]

Nice Photos, and it sounded like it was a job well done, and of course could have been worse, I.E. exposures.

[firefighter35 0]

Just as a little to add, the engine was placed approx. 75-100 feet from the building and there was radiant heat at that distance. The deck gun was used to knock down the heavy fire at the start, with a 2 1/2" handline and 3" with blitzfire being streched at the same time. As stated earlier there is no water supply in that area, water had to be used approperiatly at the same time. I feel all in all the scene went very well.

[moggie6 54]

Dear Partyrock,

Having just read your post I would like to take the opportunity to answer your questions. First thing’s first, in the fire service at any incident is our risk analysis and risk vs. benefit system. We will risk a lot to save a lot, we will risk some to save some, and we will risk nothing for what is already lost or cannot be saved. We also have our incident priorities: Life Safety, Property Conservation, and Incident Stabilization.

Now, when we first arrived on the scene as shown in the photos we had a garage that was fully involved in fire. So a decision was made by our on duty lieutenant to initiate a quick blitz attack with the deck gun above the engine. As this was happening I was stretching a 2 1/2 inch pre-connected crosslay. While stretching this pre-connect I noticed several dry chemical and CO2 extinguishers as well as a garden hose stretched to the front of the garage. So I took an educated guess that the fire had a head start on us and that the occupants had to tried to fight the fire themselves before dialing 911. After that initial blitz the 2 1/2 inch line was charged and I started to operate in front of the building. I noticed a small propane tank impinged by fire to the A-D corner and applied water to it as a member of Roosevelt made a quick grab and pulled it away from the building. As I started in towards the garage again with the line I noticed the ceiling was sagging. There were exposed beams that had no protection and I could see that the structural supports had been weakened by the fire. With this information we then all stayed out of the structure and continued to operate in a defensive manor. I believe that the right decisions’ were made by the powers that be.

As members of the fire service we will always temper our response to every alarm that we go to by utilizing risk vs. benefit. With this particular incident we did just that. We arrived to find a fully involved first floor with a heavy fire load, exposures and fire extending to the second floor of the structure. The building was not occupied upon our arrival per the owners. We followed incident priorities in regards to life safety, property conservation and incident stabilization.

At the end of the day the fire was out. All parties involved did an excellent job at getting the task at hand completed. I was one of the career firefighters and was riding as a passenger on 41-45. After the fire was knocked down the building dept had declared the garage unsafe and it should be knocked down by a large excavator in the near future. If you have any other questions please feel free to stop by our firehouse at 258 Violet Ave. in the Town of Poughkeepsie. We are a friendly group and there is always a cup of coffee for our guest. For now I hope this answers your questions and I thank you for the opportunity for the discussion.

[Guest partyrock]

FFD, there was apparently a misunderstanding. I though you guys did a good job getting in there and attacking the fire as opposed to some who prefer to sit back with a deck gun and wait for the fire to come to the water.

When I asked if someone has a critique of the incident I was looking for the aspects of the operation that didn't go so well, were unusual, should have been done differently. If you could do it all over again would you have gone to the bltz first or still pulled the 2 1/2? These are what helps. The atta boys are great and need to be heard, but they don't help us do our job better.

Moggie, thanks for bringing such a detailed explanation of the incident.