Maybe I'm Amazed

We fought a fire recently in Brookhaven that had a real head start on us. Before we got there, the two-level deck on the back of the house was completely engulfed. By the homeowner's account, when her neighbor woke her up to tell her about the fire, all she could see out of the back of her house was fire. That glow you can see in between the houses? Yep, that's the massive fire on the backside. From there the fire climbed up the outside wall and got into the roof.  It then breaks through the peak of the roof before we get there (notice no trucks in this neighbor's photo.)

Because of the way newer houses are constructed, we don't have as much time for interior firefighting before we have to start worrying about the house falling down on us. I don't want to get too far into firefighting tactics, but the shorthand is you don't ever want to be above the fire. Buildings have a tendency to weaken and then drop you into the fire.

On this fire we couldn't see into the basement from the outside. The only windows and doors were on the same side as the burning deck, and it was such a large fire we couldn't tell what was deck and what might be basement burning. Because it was the middle of the night and there was a high probability that there could be sleeping people inside, I asked a crew to do a search of the house knowing full well that I didn't know if there was fire under them. Very risky, but a calculated risk. That crew didn't find anyone on the first floor after a quick search, but found conditions inside deteriorating rapidly. As they were coming out, crews outside located the homeowner who confirmed that no one was inside.

That brought my stress level down considerably. Knowing that all of the occupants were out, I and the other battalion chief on scene made the decision to fight this one from the outside because of just how much of the house was burning. And considering how close the houses are together, we did a really good job keeping it from spreading to the house on the left and right. If it had, we might still be there fighting fire.

So the news shows up, and I have to go on camera as the department's representative. I give them the details of the fire; short, sweet and to the point, because if I talk too long I'm bound to say something stupid.

What I can't figure out is how the news gets it so screwed up when they report what I told them on tape. It's not like they can't rewind it and make sure they got the facts right. But after watching the news coverage the next day, they took the more juicy elements of the fire and mixed them up a little for the sake of sensationalism. Maybe I'm amazed at that, but not really. (Incidentally, I never saw my interview although co-workers said they did.)

Which leads me to the comments on an article posted on the local news website for that city. They quoted me talking to the news about our concerns about the houses to the left and right. What followed in the comments section on their website was an exceptionally heated back and forth between readers about building codes, the supposed privilege of the wealthy, and even a inference that building inspectors were bought off.

Whatever. I just want to let anyone reading this know that our firefighters did a great job. Yes, it is a horrible tragedy for the family who lost all of their possessions. I truly felt sorry for the homeowner as I talked to her while we both looked at the smoldering husk of her home. But her kids were away on vacation, and a neighbor woke her up in time to get out. Her family lived. And it's really easy for me to say, "it's just stuff" since it isn't my cherished stuff, but really it is just stuff. She got out safely. We operated safely and stopped the fire from becoming a conflagration.