At 0945 hrs. fire dispatchers received multiple calls of an apartment fire on the second floor of a two story apartment building in the 200 block of East 8th Street in the City Of San Bernardino. The first unit on scene reported heavy smoke and fire coming from two upstairs apartments in a garden style complex.Due to the amount of fire and the number of people inside the apartment complex a second and third alarm was called. Fire units started an aggressive interior fire attack while simultaneously conducting, evacuation and rescue operations. Two truck companies went to the roof and started ventilation operations only to find the fire extended into the common attic and was running both sides of the involved apartments. The truck companies trenched both sides of the involved units containing the progression of the fire to the north side of the complex. Due to the aggressiveness of the fire attack and the strong work of the truck companies the apartment complex was saved.
A total of eight units were damaged due to fire, smoke and water and residents of 16 units were allowed back into their apartments after the Fire Department deemed them safe. SBFD Arson investigators were called to the scene and are calling the fire suspicious in nature and continuing to gather further information in an ongoing investigation. There were no injuries to firefighters or residents. A total of 10 Engine Companies, 3 Trucks, 2 Battalion Chiefs, 1 Deputy Chief, 1 Safety Officer, 1 Public Information Officer and 1 Air light responded to the blaze.
Lessons Learned : Good communications between interior crews and vent group were the key in this fire. The Captain assigned to interior did a great job relaying fire involvement and conditions to in coming crews as well as the vent group. This information allowed the first in truck company to place there first hole right over the seat of the fire in the first involved unit allowing the interior crews to have better visibility to make entry and suppress the fire. The Vent group did the same by communicating to operations and interior that they had a running attack fire on both sides of the involved units alerting firefighters to pull more ceiling so the hose streams good get to the fire. Great Job, great team work!
Written and Submitted by PIO Steve Tracy
3 comments ↓
Well written article. glad to hear no one was hurt. Great communcating skills to between everyone !!! Great job!!! SBFD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sounds like great job and a “fun” fire. Bad communication seems to be a common problem on some fire scenes but it’s a beautiful thing when the belly crawlers and the knuckle draggers communicate well. Also, I always like reading San Berdo stories, they seem to be very aggressive.
VIVA!
That was a fun fire. We were first in and that apartment was ripping. All the residents were running around everywhere, yelling and pointing to the fire (as if we could not see it). There was a common attic over all 8 second floor apartments, fire was ripping through the attic but our truckies made 2 great stops. The floor of the fully involved apartment burned through to the unit below. Other than a hole in the ceiling of each adjoining apartment, no other units or occupants property were damaged by fire or smoke. I love this city.
You must log in to post a comment.