4 houses down this morning I saw this

[Len & Cheri]

I was getting ready for work this morning and heard a fire truck go by the house. I went outside to look and saw this 4 houses down from me. No one was home at the time and no idea what started it. The fire dept. was like watching the 3 stooges. If that had been my house I would have been pissed. 30 minutes later the roof was completely gone. I had to leave for work and it was still on fire. I feel so bad for the owners.

[Steeljag]

Ummmm, if your house was on fire, from something you did, failed to do, or from something you own, .......YOU would be pissed at the folks who responded to fight the fire ??

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by steeljag

Ummmm, if your house was on fire, from something you did, failed to do, or from something you own, .......YOU would be pissed at the folks who responded to fight the fire ??

I think the OP was refering to the manner the fire dept. reacted once they got to the fire. After 30 minutes the roof was still burning. What the heck were they doing that 30 minutes?

[youroo]

Originally Posted by Len & Cheri

I was getting ready for work this morning and heard a fire truck go by the house. I went outside to look and saw this 4 houses down from me. No one was home at the time and no idea what started it. The fire dept. was like watching the 3 stooges. If that had been my house I would have been pissed. 30 minutes later the roof was completely gone. I had to leave for work and it was still on fire. I feel so bad for the owners.

Why dont YOU join the Fire dept. and Help make it better?? The majority of Fire dept.are Volunteer,help them out!! Youroo!!

[cyclepuck]

Atleast no one was home. Unfortunately once the fire gets in the attic it goes quick.

[Len & Cheri]

That's correct dunnnc. The firefighters were fairly inept at working their equipment. The fixed water cannon on top of the fire engine was amazing at how much water it put out, but it worked sporadically and several times (about 5 minutes each time) there was no water at all being sprayed on the house. If the cannon would have worked like it should have the fire would have been out quickly. It was very apparent they needed more training on their equipment. Let me say they are very brave souls and I respect what they do, but in this case their lack of understanding resulted in much more damage than there should have been.

[Len & Cheri]

Here's a video form the fire I took. This was the first attempt to operate the water cannon. The guy was hollering "I can't get it to go down anymore". He did figure it out about 10 minutes later, but then it kept shutting off. Now I wished I had turned the phone sideways for a better shot.

Neighbors house on fire - YouTube

[lindy]

Len $ Cheri; I have to ask first, is there fire hydrants on your street? If not then the issue of the water cannon was not inept operator, but a lack of water because tankers had to haul the water from the nearest hydrant of pond. PLEASE dont' bash someone unless you KNOW FOR SURE what the situation is, not JUST GUESSING!

[Len & Cheri]

lindy, see video and yes we have fire hydrants on our street. I'm not trying to bash anyone. I'm just saying if they had been trained better, the fire would have been out much quicker and how bad I felt for the owners because of this. I only explained myself after steeljag posted his questions and Youroo posted his opinion.

[F and E Damp]

Was this maybe caused by a spent bottle-rocket? I'm so relieved that our city has made posession of fireworks a misdemeanor. Just on the outskirts of town we have a Native tribe reservation which has maybe 20 booths selling fireworks.

Until the law was enacted, July 4th was a zoo. It's much quieter in the neighborhoods now and the city sponsored display on the waterfont is well attended.

Our dog is very pleased!

[Len & Cheri]

Originally Posted by F and E Damp

Was this maybe caused by a spent bottle-rocket? I'm so relieved that our city has made posession of fireworks a misdemeanor. Just on the outskirts of town we have a Native tribe reservation which has maybe 20 booths selling fireworks.

Until the law was enacted, July 4th was a zoo. It's much quieter in the neighborhoods now and the city sponsored display on the waterfont is well attended.

Our dog is very pleased!

I don't think so because this was the morning of the 6th. Ga does allow firecrackers, sparklers, etc., but anything that leaves the ground and explodes is illegal.

[Len & Cheri]

Originally Posted by lindy

Len $ Cheri; I have to ask first, is there fire hydrants on your street? If not then the issue of the water cannon was not inept operator, but a lack of water because tankers had to haul the water from the nearest hydrant of pond. PLEASE dont' bash someone unless you KNOW FOR SURE what the situation is, not JUST GUESSING!

So now that you've seen the video do you think I'm bashing because I DIDN'T KNOW FOR SURE? Seems you went off on me because you were JUST GUESSING No need to apologize since you didn't KNOW FOR SURE.

[lindy]

Len & Cheri; what no video can show is, that with a Vol Fire dept they ROLL once they have the # of men required to roll the equipment. It could very well be, and does sound like it on the video that the personnel avail at the time they rolled did not include ones trained on the roof nozzle. Not everyone in every vol dept is trained on EVERY piece of equip. Is it better to roll with who you have, or to set at the station hoping the ALL the trained personnel show up, knowing very well they some of them could be out of town over the holidays. Vol depts do a GREAT job, and yes once in a while things do happen, but don't call the Keyston Cops. There are too many factors involved to say what went wrong unless you talked to the Chief.

[Chewie]

Before criticizing the FD, what are the other factors?
Do the hydrants supply enough water for the needed fire flow?, are the working properly?
Is this a volunteer Dept? These guys respond from thier other jobs and home to go to the fires, a longer response time is expected and therefore a larger fire.
What was the time the fire started to when the FD was called? Another big factor that the fire has enough time to grow to the size it is.
Equipment failure? Deck gun not operating properly? It happens and then you have to deal with it.
Staffing, how many firefighers are actually there and operating?
Building constructon, many new homes are built fast and cheap, using glue-lam products and flimsy metal gussets. These fail very quickly in fire conditions. maybe it was unsafe to fight the fire inside due to impending collapse. Not to mention the unknown fire load inside.
This is often a similar complaint we hear all around in the fire service. The general public often doesn't know what all is involved in fighting residential structure fires. If you live in a volunteer area and can help, join the FD. Larger towns and cities have full-time staffed departments, but it comes at a cost. Higher taxes and no one likes to hear that. Those funds pay for staffing, training, equipment, maintenance, etc. Most departments are strapped for cash and now making cuts. First to go is staffing, more with less, but that makes it very unsafe to do interior operations. We could go on and on for days or weeks debating this, the volunteer FD's out there do a great job with what they have.

[OldCoot]

Come on folks, all the OP was saying, and it is backed up by the video, is that the ones that responded were either not trained or improperly trained. It is clear on the video that whomever for whatever reason was shooting the water cannon over the house for some time and then shot it to the left of the burning house. Didn't look like in the short video that they ever got water on the actual burning house. It was just an observation, he was not badmouthing all fire departments or what they do. It was not a 6 month study of the whys and wherefors of why the fire dept did this or that. Cut the guy some slack.

[KyDan]

Ya gotta wonder why they parked the truck with the water cannon
so far away from the fire.

We are not here to bash FDs in any way.

The fire was tragic but no injuries as far as we know.

Be nice to the other FD folks who post here as well as those defending
them. I agree, if you live in a small town with volunteer FD you should
join. You don't have to be on the front line. They often need help for
other things even just rummage sales to help buy equipment.

God Bless the FD!

[Chewie]

Depending on how they operate most pumpers park away so the ladder truck has the front of the house. It may have been on the way?

[cyclepuck]

The only thing I wonder is why they used the cannon as the primary and didn't look like any hoses where being pulled. Around here cannons are rarely used and we can have two lines off the truck and charged in 2 min.

[Chewie]

True, those are usually a last resort

[OldCoot]

I think you are all getting the gist of the OP's reference to the Three Stooges.