| On March 25, 2009 at 2017 hours, the volunteers from Bay District, Valley Lee and Lexington Park VRS were dispatched to the area of Great Mills Road and Jay Dee Court for the Working Trailer Fire. As Emergency Communications was dispatching units were already on the road and with the second dispatch they were getting numerous calls and reports of subjects trapped inside. Chief 3 (Johnson) arrived on the scene as the dispatched finished reporting heavy fire showing and confirmed two subjects trapped. Engine 32 (Sgt. Wahrenbrock), Engine 91 (FF. Campbell), Squad 3 (Sgt. Allen), Tower 9 (Chief 9B) along with Chief 3A all responded seconds after dispatch with a total of 25 volunteers. Within a minute after dispatch Engine 33 (FF. Haugh), Engine 61, Engine 63 and Water Supply 5 were all responding with an additional 15 firefighters.
At 2019 hours, Engine 32 arrived on the scene taking their own hydrant in front of the house. The crew from the wagon advanced a 1.75" attack line into the front door and split into crews. Under the direction of Sgt. Wahrenbrock, the crews started knocking the fire and performing a primary search of the believed areas that the victims were trapped in. Squad 3's crew did the same thing and met up with the engine teams to complete the searches and fire extinguishment. Engine 91 arrived and took the hydrant across the street and ran a 3" supply line to Engine 32 as a Back up and the crew pulled a Back Up line off the wagon. Sgt. Wahrenbrock and FF. Tiscon located both subjects in the back bedroom and started to remove the female subject. As soon as they made it down the hallway to the living room she was handed off to crewmembers from Squad 3 and Engine 91 and then removed from the house. The second subject was handed out the bedroom window to Deputy Chief Downs, FF. Blazer, FF. Jones and numerous others. Both subjects had been removed within 8 minutes of Engine 32's arrival and the bulk of the fire was knocked. Engine 91's crew using the back up line continued to extinguish the remaining fire inside the structure. Crews initiated patient care on both patients establishing airway's, providing Oxygen and assessing the burns and when the EMS units arrived they were both breathing on their own.
Command advised communications to start two helicopters and that Engine 61 would handle the landing zone at Great Mills High School and that they were both high priority patients but breathing on their own. After both patients were in the ambulances and crews were working inside the residence Chief 3A (Gould) called for the evacuation of all personnel due to most of the floor being compromised and the amount of firefighters that were falling through the floors and being injured. Once all crews were accounted for, the crews regrouped then crews started rotating in and out extinguishing the rest of the fire and overhauling the residence.
A total of two firefighters were injured on the scene, were transported by ambulance to St. Mary's Hospital with minor injuries, and were later released. Once the Fire Marshall's arrived on the scene crews assisted them with their investigation and then a final wet down of the residence.
Crews operated on the scene from Bay District for 3 1/2 hours before returning quarters and Engine 74 responded for the Fill In at Station 3 were they handled a Dumpster Fire while they were at the station. At the time of this story, it was learned that both patients that were rescued from the house are expected to make a full recovery from their injuries, it was the fast response, and quick actions from all the fire departments involved that helped save the lives of the persons involved.
Command of Incident
Chief Wayne Johnson
Operations of Incident
Assistant Chief Joe Gould
Deputy Chief 9 Shawn Downs
Engine 32's Crew
Driver: Chief 3B Evans
Officer: Sgt. Robert Wahrenbrock
FF. Doug Sprouse
FF. Tiscon
FF. Robert Crane
Squad 3's Crew
Driver: Darrell Battle
Officer: Sgt. Anthony Allen
FF. Wade Mahaffey
FF. Chris Ickes
FF. Ken Spaulding
FF. Sabrina Wood
Engine 91's Crew
Driver: Mike George
Officer: Gerard Campbell
FF. Dan Whiteman
FF. Peter Marshall
Tower 9's Crew
Driver: Les Hansen
Officer: Chief 9B Downs
FF. Marvin Jones
FF. Jim Foster
POV
Lt. Steve Stockwell, Tommy Eno, Tommy Blazer, Safety Officer Joe Zienda, PIO Doug Medley, FF. Tim Gunther |
