A vehicle fire in a driveway, causes a town home to catch on fire in West Hanover township. West Hanover Twp. Fire department 36 West Hanover Fire 36 .
I see people bashing the fire departments response time and not running to put the fire out... First off look at the roads. Winter snowy and possibly icy. Just because you or other people drive your cars at unsafe speeds in these conditions doesn't mean the fire departments do. We have other people on the trucks with the driver that deserve to go home to their families at night. Unsafe driving on bad road conditions don't help anyone. Second off, firefighters don't run. We learn from day one that we can't help anyone if we go down from an accident. Finally running and rushing with the streets and parking lots the way the are, is just plain stupid. Try walking fast or even running with all that gear and equipment on next winter. So please think about your posts before you talk crap on whether they are volunteer or career and if they didn't do things to your standards. If it was an easy job, career or volunteer everyone would do it.
This guy said at 8:45, "I fell asleep in my car and the engine overheated". I am a diesel technician and find this statement very unlikely. First of all, nearly every car is liquid cooled by ether glycol and water (antifreeze), meaning water and coolant flow through ducts in the motor and are cooled by a radiator and fan. In normal operating conditions, a liquid cooled motor will never overheat. It is unlikely it overheated, but even if it did, which is possible, it wouldn't catch on fire. When any internal combustion engine overheats, eventually it will either snap a connecting rod and destroy the crankshaft, or what happens most of the time is the motor gets so hot, the pistons have expanded so much (metal molecules expand with increased thermal energy), that they have a hard time stroking up and down the cylinder wall, and when this happens, all it does is slow down and eventually stall. The only way this motor could catch on fire solely by mechanical fault, would be a fuel leak in the engine compartment being ignited by a source of spark (electrical wiring, static friction, intense heat), which is the most logical scenario in this situation. PS. A regular household fire extinguisher will extinguish a fuel fire very poorly, regardless of capacity.
Sure, the owner couldn't put the fire out. He's not trained the way a team of firefighters are to handle this problem. The FF's did a very good job. From their arrival (setting the air brake on the Engine) until they put water on the fire ... 2 minutes. If you look at conditions (snow, ice), that's impressive in anyone's book. And for all of the armchair, RU-vid, quarterbacks out there, if you think you can do better, fill out an application. 3/4 of the nation's fire service is volunteer. Step up and give it a try. That means a 3-5 year commitment. After all, the department is going to train you (over 300 hours in some states), provide you with over $1500 of personal protective clothing, and all of the safety equipment you need. You might be able to help, instead of being one of the finger pointers.
Oh, maybe they did try to move the car. The camera did go dark for about a minute or so. And shoveling snow on the fire wouldn't work. The fire is in the engine compartment. They don't have access. Give these folks a break. They were dealing with this fire as it happened, not from their living room while watching RU-vid. This is a very traumatic event for most people.
No. Unless you can open the hood, which would be hard to do without fire gear. It will help a bit and slow the spread, but it won't put it out. But it would be better than nothing.
Justin Mozee... It will do nothing. Fire extinguishes/garden hoses also do nothing once car fire gets hold. Even fire hoses take a while to put car fire out. Note: Vehicles are strong inflammable objects.
+scof94 That would have meant that at least one of the dozen neighbors standing their doing nothing, would have had to have even the slightest bit of common sense.
this video makes me mad in so many ways... 1. Get the hell away from the car you aren't going to do anything about it. 2. don't le ANYONE walk up to the car like that. 3. don't rush the fire department... they can only move so fast. 4. the car will not explode.... the odds of that happening are slim to none 5. yes it did spread to house, but lets take the house out for a second. its a car fire its not a big deal.. the car is screwed anyway. don't rush it. 6. they are in a hurry to put the fire out... it takes them a bit to to get everything ready. 7. to people wondering why firefighters aren't running. because running is dangerous and the firefighters can maybe slip and get hurt.. if that happens who's going to put out the fire then? okay I'm done now.
1 and 2 - Watch again in the start and listen during the blackout, there was someone in the car, he can be seen later when they talk to him and he is disoriented still. Everything else pointed out I agree with, not worth running when there is snow or likely ice on the ground, can easily slow you down and worst yet seriously injure yourself out of commission a while. Yeah it does take time to get equipment set up and deployed, even towing work takes time to set up before the vehicle can be moved, no one is pure true magic or superhuman
Once the fire suvs pull up which the first one is a volunteer just by the light setup, your wrong in the distance is a volunteer fire siren alerting the volunteers to a an emergency, they drop everything get in their vehicles get to the fire station wait for 6 guys minimum then go to the scene. Ive been doing it for 5 years, don't' judge us. We come as fast as we can
GreaterThanADeer Well of you want to pay to have career FF's sit around 24/7 that works too, unless they are on an EMS call, or another fire. But there are combination FD's that have some paid FF's to get rigs to the fire and volunteers to come and help
I suspect the guy in the car was in medical crisis of some sort. Perhaps diabetic and hypoglycemic at the time. The neighbors should have stopped gawking and made the ambulance on scene aware so they could check him out.
Pretty sad the person taking the video thought it was more important to stand there taking the video than to go help save his neighbor from the fire. Shoveling snow onto the car would of kept the fire in check and would of prevented it from going to the house but then again the video was more important.
Thank you for making the video. There may have been a short period of time the car would have started and could have been moved back minutes before the video. But hindsight being 20/20, it's easy to see the options available and be an armchair expert. Everybody out there, keep one or more fire extinguishers in your car. Most of the time you can stop the fire when it is small, unless a high current electrical short. Disconnect the battery as that will stop the electrical fire (if you have access to the battery). The fire in this vehicle, something was fueling it because it did not go out; either electrical short or fuel. My 3 pennies. Cars do not explode like in the movies and you do have sufficient time to save your valuables etc from the burning vehicle.
People really shouldn't be so critical of these people!! These men ran without hesitation to get that man out of the car! Anything could've happened but they risked their lives to save someone elses. It's easy to blast your opinion when you're sitting behind a screen watching this unfold! Until that's you in a situation like this keep your negative mouths shut and show some respect when respect is earned! Ps Your wife is the best! Her response to he's fighting us " just knock him out" is epic!
You two replying how DJHazzard is dumb are in fact the idiots yourselves, "Car Fire Extinguished by Snow Plow" from August '12 shows how snow does work and help control a fire.
for the people complaining about the response time it's actually not that bad at all especially if they are a volunteer department people expect for a fire truck to magically appear a minute after they call 911 it doesn't work that way at all
the guy that was filming only realized it was on fire when he seen the other guy at the car, what a jerk he should have called right away, like he was watching the car burning for a couple of minutes
Why did no one Throw a chain/Strap thru the rear wheel and drag/tow it back from the house while the fire was small? Evan with park breaks on theres enough snow/ice on the ground for a small car/4x4 to pull it back.
+haywood jeblome The car is on fire. Taking the shifter and putting it into N is not possible once everything is burning. +jizza mapants would you have thought to pull it from the house, and have tow straps readily available?
gvstaylor As a truck driver for a job and the crap i encounter on the roads daily i have learnt alot. i have in my truck&personal 4x4 a full first aid kit and fire extinguisher tow strap&winch I hope i dont need any of them But its all there just incase.
+JIZZA MAPANTS How many people here have what you have? I have a BLS bag, extinguisher and straps in my SUV... Not everyone has that... It's easy to sit behind a computer well after the fact and critique simple crap... But the ambulance and police should have had extinguishers.
This fire department did a good job of setting up and getting the fire knocked down. The only criticism is the use of a straight stream rather than a fog pattern. This is such a classic mistake that too many fire departments make.
The neighbors don't seem to want to run out and help.....they have company that's weird, falling asleep in the car outside the house....were they waiting on a heroin connection? Clearly the neighbor came out and ignored them totally.....Normal neighbors run over and help....Even shovel snow on the fire.....These are acting like drug addicts that the neighbors avoid. I've seen that plenty walking around the city....guy's not invited inside, unwanted extra people, all waiting on a connection to happen but the dealer, he's got to deal with obstacles on the way....The heroin addict has to wait patiently. If a meth addict, they can't wake up, can't move about....they wait for energy to get up and go....they can get the energy from cops forcing them around, or sniff up some shit and they can move again. All the street addicts KNOW....these other people, still having houses and cars... often younger are just gonna wind up like they are but they don't get it yet. It could be psyche med and alcohol related and looking more legal....still, I"ve seen too many slow brains on the psyche meds....this is WHY the street addicts prefer meth over the dumb down drugs doctor's are passing out. They just want relax (heroin) or energy (meth).....not to be a zombie. Occasionally someone was drugged by accident or without their knowledge.
okay folks, just swinging in to say there many forms of shock in the world! NOW with that firmly in your mind...your brain would twist up a bit waking to an inferno and having people hollering to get out of what was your paradise just moments earlier...hell, you can hear the guy say he was after his keys...he was obviously not on the same page as the rest of the world!
I've put a couple car fire's out and I would have seen the potential for the house to catch and would have rolled it back. Also the guy was trying to commit suicide am I the only one that sees that!
He claims to have fallen asleep. That is a weird place to take a nap. :( . Yet if he was trying to commit suicide he would have been inside the garage with the door closed or at a minimum, be piping the exhaust fumes inside the car.
Watching the time, your response time was great. With that incipient fire, panic sets in...that pile of snow would have been an excellent retardant. Closing the garage door would have been wise to limit exposure, don't give the fire a path into your house. Did you notice the vinyl siding made excellent fuel? I had an adrenaline rush, craving that preconnect, waiting for the engineer to pull the valve! Old habits die hard. Nice take down, gents!
I think the guy in the car was trying to commit suicide. He was fighting the guys trying to rescue him. So they couldn't get a chance to roll the car back. I could be wrong.
So...did anyone advise FD that this had become a structure fire? They seem to be caught unaware. SCBAs not ready, etc.. Did a second FD suppression unit ever arrive? The response time was really dismal, though road conditions need to be considered.
Can you add some tags into the description for searching i.e. West Hanover Twp. Fire Department Satation 35 etc.? Please don't take video down this is an excellent learning / discussion tool for first responders to critique.
Wow, a simple garden hose and the use of a shovel with snow could have done wonders in that situation I would like to think. And no, gasoline tanks don't explode. They solved that one in the 1980's.
I have a great idea. You should of put the shit box in neutral and pushed it back. There was a least 3 people to help do it. Sleeping beauty in the Car, the guy who woke her up and the amateur camera person. You Just can’t fix stupid people.
I heard them screaming "hurry please"....... I've never been urged to do that, but about three weeks about my place burned down and I yelled at cops and firefighters alike at the top of my lungs to hurry but they took their fucking time and i lost that townhouse.
To all of you who thought you had bright ideas about what to do, think again. Who is going to climb under a car to attach a chain when there is fire under the car and the gas tank above your head? Also, snow would be absolutely useless since the fire is under the hood. In case you were watching the timer, it only took about five minutes for the fire department to arrive. The entire house part of the fire took less than 3 minutes. I don't know what was wrong with the driver, but he appeared to be very out of it. At first I thought it was something like Down's but then he was so unsteady on his feet I thought it might be Alzheimer's but that might have been the result of the smoke affecting him. I could simply be that he was drunk. If you listen you can hear him say he is trying to go back to get the key out which is why he wouldn't come out in the first place. As far as other people helping, there was no indication at first that he was going to refuse to come out and once the guy started pulling on him is was less than 2 1/2 minutes before he was dragged out. Before you criticize someone else's actions, think.
"the cars going to explode" Cars don't just explode when they are on fire. The fire would need to be a lot bigger before things start popping, and those are usually small. Even if the fire got to the fuel tank, it might erupt in flames, but I doubt it will explode.
Actually never witnessed a bumper explode, ever if anything the shocks blow out like firecrackers/fireworks. and the tires pop from the pressure of the heat.
Pull up, engage pump, pull tank to pump valve, open speedlay1, throttle up and hit that thing running up to it. 1000 gallons and Class A foam. Should take 15-20 seconds to get water going on that fire for a quick attack. Let the 2nd engine deal with water supply. It's doubling in size every minute!!
+NeilLB7 And it took them how long to get there and then 2 mins to start hitting it with water. This fire company should be ashamed of themselves... as well as the people in that neighborhood who could even helped avoid the houses catching fire.
Not to be nitpicky, but the initial 1:47 could have used some editing. We don't need to see anything with just a black image. You do have an editing program, right?
you know, its probably been said already given the 450+ comments but the first thing i would have done is put the vehicle in neutral and pushed it back away from the house and anything else, it probably would have just rolled on its own anyway given the incline of the driveway - what really irkes me the most is how everyone believes the vehicle is going to explode, especially when the fire is originating from the front of the vehicle under the hood
Poor guy....idiots yelling and filming could have helped...a few people throwing snow on it would have probably put it out...or roll it back away from house.....
What the hell has happened to people with common sense? Doesn't neighbors help each other out anymore? 3 people with shovels could have ended that fire in less than 5 minutes. What a shame!
When I was a little boy our house caught fire. I remember my father waking me up and carrying me through the smoke and out the door. And I sat there shivering in my pajamas and watched the whole world go up in flames. And when it was all over... I said..."Is that all there is to a fire?"
Heck I was 12 when I witnessed my neighbour's car on fire, the wheel jammed and I managed to pull it away from the house using 110cc ATV and help from some people. We even used garden hoses to put out the fire, no fire extinguishers.
its why alot of people in my area ave things for that, half my neighbours have a rack that can be lifted into the bed of the truck, has a fibreglass tank, pump and reel, can draft,
another thing too, the car being close to the house allowed the fire to spread AWAY from the car allowing then to extract the person from the car... had the fire spread rearward the car, the car would have been fully involved in a matter of seconds, possibly not giving time to extract the man from the car... and structure fire was minor at most... mainly exterior cosmetic damage... garden hose would not work as the spigot would be frozen... and snow would not work as the heat from the fire would evaporate what LITTLE water the snow contained... I come from a family history of firefighters so I am well versed in fires and firefighting...
I dunno man we got dispatched to a decent sized fire that was put out by the owner with snow. it wasn't much but flames were on the ceiling at one point
I almost lost my house in november ( 2014) becuz the house 6 ft from mine burned down.. I told the cops and firemen I wanted to stay and burn up with my house and belongings.. and still will. too damn ill to have much else in life.
📞...... hello, mrs. Burns? This is the homeowners association and we just got a report that you're barbecuing within 60 ft of a building? I'm afraid that's not allowed. We're going to have to ask you to stop immediately or we're going to issue you a fine.
would it have been possible to put the car in neutral and push it back away from the building from the rear passenger doors? I know hind sight is always 20/20 but it may have been an option or even put the car in reverse while it was still running?
It's a good thing the glass on those two outer windows held, because had they failed, that fire would've easily worked it's way to the interior of the house without any problem. Another few moments later, and you would've had a whole different set of issues to deal with. I think that glass was well on the verge of failing by the time they got there.
It is obviously winter. Garden hoses should have been drained and put away. And water spigots should have been winterized so not much chance of anyone using that to put out fire early on. Too bad idiot didn't move the car back away from the dwelling. Hope he got charged for all this mess!
The guy fought the people trying to get him out. This wasn't a "Normal" situation. Later on he came up with the story he told others. Claimed he was just trying to get the key out of the ignition. Yeah, right!
Okay Okay am I the only one that was laughing about the fact that this fuckin guy was sitting in the car while is buddy was trying to put it out. oh man, idiots keep my employed. THANK YOU!!!
Brad Acquilin Not enough crew to reach safety standards for firefighting. Don't give the pennypinchers any stupid ideas for saving money at the risk of workers lives.
