Well, here goes my first
website post ever,but when my friends said my 15 minutes was happening, I had
to look.
I'm the guy in the video, and against my better judgement, I feel the need to
set this thing straight.
First off, I'm a captain in Indianapolis, and have 23 years in the busiest
companies in the city. I've been to a couple of fires.
Because you weren't there, I would tell you to watch the video again after I
explain things, and maybe you'll think differently.
This was a 4:00 am fire dispatched as entrapment, with excitement in the
dispatchers voice. We were the first ladder company on the scene, and we were
met with cars in the driveway, and neighbors screaming that there was a woman
in that room.
Because of the involvement in the rest of the house, VES was going to be the
only option on this one.
When we vent the window with the ladder, it looks like the room is burning, but
the flames you see are coming from the hallway, and entering through the top of
the bedroom doorway. Watch it again and you'll see the fire keeps rolling in
and across the ceiling.
When I get to the window sill, the queen-sized bed is directly against the
window wall, so there is no way to “check the floor” like the textbook geeks
gigged me for not doing. Notice that you continue to see my feet going in,
because I'm on the bed.
Believe me, in the beginning, this was a tenable room both for me and for any
victim that would have been in there. How else could I have been on the bed, 3
feet above the floor, calmly entering. Trust me when I say that I know what hot
is, and this was no hotter than any other fire I've been in.
My goal was to get to the door and close it, just like VES is supposed to be
done. We do it successfully all the time.
When I reached the other side of the bed, I dropped to the floor and began
trying to close the door. Unfortunately, due to debris on the floor, the door
would not close.
Conditions were still quite tenable at this point, but I knew with the amount
of fire entering at the upper level, and smoke conditions changing, things were
going to go south fast. As stated earlier, I've been doing this for 23 years,
and I know fire behavior.
I kept my eyes on my exit point, and finished my search, including the closet,
which had no doors on it. Just as I was a few feet from the window, the room
lit off, and the rest is history, and fodder for all the self-proclaimed
experts.
It’s hard for me to imagine that firefighters who weren't there can find so
much fault with a firefighter who did exactly what we're supposed to do. For
you textbook geeks, that means risking a lot to save a savable life. Like I
said earlier, when I first made this room, it was NOT on fire like the video
makes it look. I'll give you this much; once the flashover occurred, no
civilian could have survived, but if she would have been in there, maybe, just
maybe I could have gotten her out before it happened.
I have to wonder what you would be saying if the video showed me just staying
at the top of the ladder, never entering like many of you suggested, and later
we found her corpse lying on the other side of the bed. Instead of calling me
an idiot, you'd call me a coward. I'll take idiot any time!
To “Dave” from my department who said he'd guess that I would probably look
back now and say it wasn't the smartest thing to do, you're absolutely right.
It was the ONLY thing to do. And if I'm faced with that exact same situation a
hundred more times, I'll be in that window every time, because I'm a fireman.
And if anyone wonders why I was aware of my surroundings at all times, why I
was able to recognize when flashover was imminent, and why I pulled off a
head-first ladder slide without a hitch….TRAINING!
To the guy who said I had no facepiece on..you're freakin’ joking right? What
you see dangling is my hand-lantern. Do you carry one?
And to the guy who says I have no tool, look at the axe handle sticking out of
my SCBA belt. It’s not in my hand, because when I do a search, I know when I'm
touching a body with my hand. When I hit it with a tool, it’s anyone’s guess
what I'm touching. But I ALWAYS have a tool.
In closing, I would only suggest that when you watch a video from now on,
remember that you weren't there.
And if you were faced with the same situation, with the exact same conditions I
was faced with, if you wouldn't have done the same thing, then I'm glad you're
not on my job.
stay safe brothers
