Yesterdays Fire Calls

It was a busy day for many fire departments in Hancock County yesterday. Around 6:00pm Lamoine was toned out for mutual aid on a working fire in a large industrial building just outside of the Ellsworth city center. A half dozen Lamoine personnel and our rescue truck went directly to the scene and myself and a few others along with the tanker went to the Ellsworth station on stand-by. A few minutes after I arrived at the Ellsworth station another neighboring town (Trenton) was toned for a working fire. Also in an industrial building. Lamoine's reserve crews and our tanker at the Ellsworth station were re-tasked to assist Trenton.

















I was on scene in Trenton from 7:15pm to about 12:15am. Initially I worked an attack line on a crew of three from the front of the building but during this time the fire had fully involved the attic space. Smoke was pouring out all along the eves and half of the interior floor space was burning.

Our crew pulled out to swap bottles and I was asked to assist moving some hose lines to an engine that had just arrived. The driver of Mount Desert Engine 6 wasn't comfortable running the truck so for the next two and a half hours I ran that engine supplying a 2.5" and 1.5" line. Engine 6 pumped somewhere between 12,000 and 14,000 gals of water while I ran it.















Also on scene was Trenton's primary Engine and a ladder truck from Bar Harbor (Possible from Mount Desert). Lamoine Engine 401 was setup at a water source filling tankers for the water shuttle (no hydrants in the area of the fire). Stu (the person running 401) estimated over 100,000 gals of water was used throughout the night.

At some point Lamoine crews and equipment at the Ellsworth fire were released and came to Trenton to work that fire. All mutual aid departments were released from the Trenton scene about 12:30am. After clean up and restocking of the trucks we left the Lamoine station around 2:00.

The Ellsworth fire caused a lot of damage, but the building is still standing. The Trenton fire was a complete loss. The building fell in on itself and an excavator was called in to open up the debris pile to get at hot spots. Both places lost an enormous amount of machine tools, welding equipment and specialty machinery.

Here is a link to a local papers coverage of the fires:
http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/106085.html

BBQ/Rescue call/Boating

Patty, the kids and myself made a trip out to Northeast Harbor this afternoon for a thank you BBQ hosted by the N.E. Harbor Fire Dept. A few weeks ago they had a large fire that destroyed three buildings in the Center of town. Calls for additional man power were made and Fire Fighters from every department on the Island and many from the mainland responded. It was one of the largest fires this area has seen in a long time. The BBQ was great (really good pulled pork) and so was the weather for a change.

On the way home Patty and the kids wanted to take the boat out so we picked it up and headed to the Lamoine State park to launch it. Just as we got the trailer in the water the Lamoine Vol. Fire Dept. was toned out for report of some kids who had capsized their canoe in Raccoon Cove. I radioed dispatch that I was in the water in my personal boat and I was waiting for additional rescue personel before I would be underway. A few minutes later Stu Markoon arrived in 403 and grabbed some rescue equipment and we were off.

There was some confusion regarding location and while we were waiting for better directions we were informed that the kids had made it out of the water on thier own. So back to the dock we go.

After dropping off Stu and Bill, Patty and the kids jumped on and we headed out for the Skillings River because the kids wanted to see our house from the water. They were less than impressed once we got there (it is pretty obscurred by the trees), so we slowly made our way back to the mouth of the river looking at all the other fancy homes, then back to the launch and home.

It was a busy day, but nice to be outside in the great weather (we've had a ton of rain lately).

Weekend Fire Call

There are not a lot of structure fires in my part of the world, but this last Saturday we were toned out for a mutual aid call by Ellsworth.

The tone came in around 10:50pm with a call for station coverage that was moments later changed to a call for interior attack qualified personnel. Lamoine Rescue 403 and Engine 401 rolled to the scene as did a number of people in personal vehicles.

I got there about 11:15 and by that time the roof above the rear portion of the building had collapsed. A Lamoine crew lead by Kevin Kane (Capt. Ellsworth FD) entered into the forward section of the building in an effort to limit the spread of fire. I was part of that team. The entire forward portion of the building was smoke filled, but no fire was showing. We advanced a 1.75" line to the back wall of the forward section, breached a solid core door and found the room behind it completely involved. I was number two on the hose line with Mike Jordan (LT, Lamoine vol. FD) on the nozzle. We opened the hose up on the ceiling, taking down the drop ceiling tiles and discovered the fire was above us and advancing towards the front of the building in the attic space. On Kevin's orders we closed the door and withdrew to our point of entry.

At this point we did some recovery of musical equipment, speakers and amplifiers before the fire and water destroyed them. Next Mike and I assisted Kevin while he pulled the ceiling down so we could slow/stop the fires advance through the attic. While we were putting water into the ceiling a crew outside using a 2.5" hose line was doing the same. They had cut an access hole through the gable end of the building. A 2.5" will move a lot of water so it didn't take long for them to pump enough water into the attic space above us to cause the Sheetrock above us to fail. When the ceiling came down on us we got pounded by all that stored water all at once, then a continuous down pour from the stream. It was a tremendous impact when it let go.

At this point I was in need of a fresh bottle of air so I left the building to swap it out. By the time I returned to my area, Incident Command had pulled everyone out of the building and we were working the fire in a defensive mode. A few minutes later I went to rehab. At this point we stood by as other crews and the ladder truck worked the fire.