Reading and Northern 425 - that was not even close to full speed. She could glide along at 60, but on this branch, there arent enough straight stretches to do it!
I have to tell you that as cool as this is, that's not even CLOSE to full throttle... Smoke/steam has nothing to do with it, and that was relatively slow for a 4-6-2 with such a high wheelbase.
Note the black smoke, first warning of flashover about to happen, also heavy fire on top floor indicates high possibility of structural collapse. NO one goes in and until a supply from the hydrant has been established, a hand line has been stretched and charged. This is the main reason why they attack defensive, hitting it only from the outside with deck gun and hand lines.
The hoses you see that are deflated are hydrant lines. E4 was the first engine on scene, so it is their job to start attacking from the inside via handlines, using the engine's 500 gallon or so tank. It is the job of secondary responders to hook them up to a hydrant. The water in the tank will last them up until then. Just because you don't see water shooting into the building or see it flowing doesn't mean they aren't properly doing their job.
you can see them stretching a line into the house at 0:50... At 6:05 they went to an EXTERIOR attack from OUTSIDE the building. At this point, ALL firefighters should be outside of the building because at that point, the fire has spread too much and its no longer "safe" inside the building. Also, you could potentially "push" the fire onto a company still inside. At this point the FD is just trying to dump as much water as possible onto the fire (from outside) to put it out.
