Early Video - Dollar General Fire - Shenandoah, PA - 04/03/2023 

The building and contents were a total loss estimated to be around $37.99. A company spokesperson said, while this location will not be reopened, 2 additional locations approximately 1/4 mile away opened before this fire was declared under control. The community will continue to be served by the fine people at DG.

Great training film on how not to fight a commercial fire. Holy cow!

This is what happens when we aimlessly break out all the windows. Modern fire behavior studies now show that the more windows we open up, the worse the fire gets. We are feeding the fire more oxygen. Ever since we changed our strategies on the fire ground, we've been able to contain fires more easily

Nice to see you getting some great video of that fire it been a while keep them coming when you can thanks

I can’t believe such a modern building doesn’t have sprinklers

I just watched this video and read some of the comments. I have been in the fire industry for a few years now. We don't know the circumstances of the fire because every fire is different. I'm just glad that none of my brothers and sisters were injured in the fire

Love the green fire engine.

Masking up in the smoke, chiefs coughing in the smoke, not the best practice around.

Always helpful when the white hats are coughing in the smoke screaming and yelling at no one in particular.

Have worked a Dollar store fire in a strip mall with a large competent Fire Department with plenty of high flow hydrants, it was ugly lost half the strip mall. First due rolled in fire out the front deck gunned and mercury nozzled it with a water supply No Joy! 10 other units were right behind the first due 3 hours later it was knocked down. The fire load in those places are tremendous even with sprinklers.

Honestly surprised it didn't flash...

Lots of trucks, no water on the fire. Break out all the windows so that it gets plenty of oxygen.

Really good training video!! So many mistakes. We can learn a lot from this one. I will show this at my paid department.

When I walk in the DG by my house, I think of the fact you are not getting 3 feet in the front door. There is so much junk when you first walk in. With zero visibility you are only going in about a foot or 2. I saw another video of this fire yesterday and it looked like the lines that came in the back door was making progress then they lost it again. Not sure if they ran out of water or what happened.

All those pretty fire trucks and gear…meanwhile no one is fighting fire.

It's been said, that when a Dollar gentral burns down, another grows back in it's place like a mushroom overnight.

I was listening to this call on the scanner. Nice communication and overcoming the water issue. The Dollar General by me went straight to the ground. Looked just like this except the building was old and had a few additions.

This was one of the darkest smokiest fires i'd ever seen. Soo much black smoke for so long. Great coverage. Thank you.

I love all of the Chiefs that stand in front of the store in that smoke with no air paks on!!

SHENDO! 462 DA FUCK! Doin’ work!

From the amount of smoke looks like fighting this fire had to be a no go because you'd only be risking the lives of all the firefighters that would have had to go in the building. So, unfortunately for the owner of this store, all that could be done was a controlled burn-down of the building. Still it amazes me how many of these people (from the looks of it all people in charge) did not wear masks this close to that very thick black smoke. In Europe everyone this close to that amount of smoke would have to don masks!

I wouldn’t want these guys as my city Firefighters- took them forever to get water on fire while 10 of them stood around watching the fire grow early on

Good job to get people out . Some angry smoke.

My only critique here is with that amount of fire load, why in the hell are they leading off with 1 3/4" ? Big fire = Big water. Yeah 2 1/2" are a pain for interior ops, but looked to me like they had ample manpower for it.

Excellent coverage including first arrival and attempts at an internal attack. Commendations to the brave firefighters and all their associates. God Bless the SFD and keep them safe. 👍👍👍🚑🚒

It's telling when they have a ground ladder up to the building before anyone has a line deployed, and there's 3 trucks on scene... Maybe if the Chief screamed a little louder, the fire would go out.

Great job on this video and sure brings back memories when I was a volunteer firefighter for St.Helens Oregon.

Thanks for the great video

great video, really enjoyed it!

Nice fireground footage. That fire was really smoky.

Tough one! Lots of fire....thanks guys!

Volunteer Firemen the BEST!!!!

Items to ponder (NOT in order of Priority): LIFE SAFETY / SAR, RIT / Offensive - Defensive; Comms; Building type and construction, layout, contents; access to the bldg (front/rear/sides) and terrain; water supply available and needed; available resources (mutual aid, SCBA Mobile Air unit, volunteer response time; combination departments?); exposures?; time of day / traffic; wx conditions; response times for incoming units; staging area; ICS (Command and Control); fol-da-tanks and tanker dump area. Any "first-in Officer" knows... "I made the "best" decisions I could at the time of arrival based on what I saw, was told and had prior knowledge of".

Do they do anything other than scream and holler at each other?

shouldn't water be flowing to put out a fire ? things changed since I was a firefighter apparently .... we used to attack the fire when we broke windows instead of backing away and letting it turn into a surround and drown after letting it get out of control

I will have to say that flowing those aerials off of a shuttled water source is tough. Unless someone is trapped inside, the open bar trusses inside collapse too quickly to make an aggressive interior attack, especially with no water or with an uncertain supply.

This is like about the 20th fire I’ve seen or heard about in some sort of dollar store this month just kinda odd 3just in my hood in s.Diego

Another example that volunteer Fire Departments do not know how to fight a commercial structure fire. They send new firefighters to training centers on a Saturday morning and have them straight stream the ceiling above some wood crats burning and turn them loose and then when they get to a "REAL" burner they have no clue what to do. I would take this film down, its embarrassing ! And the Fire instructors have no clue themselves !

Guess they don't need the hiring banner anymore? Good footage!

All the armchair firefighters just have to make a commitment about something they know nothing about. They have no idea what it’s like fighting a fire.

That's a Pennsylvania fire for you! So much apparatus. SO MUCH APPARATUS. Wanna flow two more sticks? Okay call 30 tankers and make it happen. Overall it seems like the fire was relatively small in the beginning and/or located to the back of the store. Seems like a search crew with TIC's could have located the seat while it was still possible to knock it down. Once the piles of cheap chinese plastic started burning, it was a done deal.

Whether a paid professional department or vollie, when encountering an occupancy like this - large open box construction - it's imperative to take those parade vehicles with the ladders on them and put at least one, maybe two members with power saws on the roof and effect vertical ventilation ASAP, This prevents the possibility of backdrafts, increases visibility on the inside for members advancing lines and diminishes the possibility of fire and heat mushrooming across the ceiling and contributing to fire spread. It's obvious by watching this - it was never considered, and definitely made a difference, negatively.

"Like the wind" another great job!

Thanks for the post man. Haven't seen any in a while. Hope you been OK.

Fires only go out two ways, either they are out out or they burn out. These guys were trying the latter. I would like to know how long the camera cut off in between those two splice points. Fellas, fire doubles in size every two min. The only way to stop that is to get water on it. We get paid to protect life and property in that order. Standing outside on a commercial fire will get you nowhere. This is why I hate departments that do not train for aggressive interior attacks and practice that in the residential fires. You can’t window wash this one.

Interesting approach using the ladder gun at ground level...

Defensive operations from the initial arrival would have been my call…

Why make an interior attack no need no employees inside and no cars in the lot it will be rebuilt in a few weeks

Um, why does it take sooooo long to charge the lines?

Layman here. I’ve never seen tankers filling pools of water before. What’s the purpose in hat?

I don’t have all the answers but two things that really could have helped with this fire…. 1) maybe put water on the fire faster 2) home skillet at 6:49 should leave his phone in his pocket and pay attention to what’s going on instead of sending a “sweet Snapchat” to his story 🤷🏼‍♂️

Brought it all to the front didn’t they !!

I ain’t no expert but always thought they were supposed to put some sort of water on the fire

All that smoke must have been so poisonous...I hope everyone is okay after all that. No matter the department, all these guys are putting their health and life at risk. Full respect and many prayers for America's firemen👍🚒🇺🇸

When firefighter commenters say, "In my department, we are ready to go inside the moment we get off the truck.", I think of the hundreds of videos I have seen just like this. That's why it is mandatory to find the fire room windows from the exterior, break them out and apply tank water to the burning material within the first minute of arrival. In this case they obviously couldn't but this is a reality check on how long it takes to Get Inside while the fire extends and threatens victims and entering firefighters! 1:40 See that smoke? Everyone without a mask is breathing that whether they are fighting the fire or not. There is only ONE type of fire where Vertical Venting could be helpful to clear out interior conditions and this was it. Didn't see that happening so they just let it burn out due to a lack of access to the burning material. A big hole dead center would have allowed the smoke and heat to go out the roof while having all the doors open, especially on the upwind sides, would have reversed the flow of smoke so the firefighters could go in to find and extinguish the fire. Like I said, this is the only structure where that will work where you won't be causing more damage or taking unnecessary risks. A word to the videographer. Record the fire from the point of following the fight so we can see how they did it. I saw hardly any water application at all.

Meh, it's a DG. The company will have another built in 24 hours to take its' place....

Watch the West End firefighter at 2:41 he just gives the f-it wave as he walks by….he wants none of that shit. 😂😂😂😂

Was the fire department there to burn this store down? Mission accomplished.

hmm "Conditions intensified at a rapid pace leading to a 2nd alarm" I WONDER WHY.

Dang that only leaves about 49,999 stores left !

The green engine is pretty. Here in Scotland the service in Aberdeen have white engines and other than them, I’ve never seen one other than red.

That DG won’t be hiring anytime soon

Listening to this on the scanner, it sounded like a DC ( warehouse) was going up, not just a store.

As a 20+ year firefighter, I hate Monday morning quarterbacks. But this video was frustrating to watch. When are we going to learn to STOP breaking all the windows? It was moments after the storefront windows were broken that the smoke quickly changed from white to gray and then black. We have to control the air flow. Once they broke the windows...this structure was gone. Even if they had a good water source, they weren't going to save it. The open windows and the wind fed this fire more than enough oxygen for it to flash. Please guys...learn from this mistake...STOP BREAKING WINDOWS...and control the flow path.

Well, they were hiring...

Our local dollar general also burned 🤔

Guess no safety officer? No SCBA......looks like mass confusion on scene:(

The chiefs either need to mask up and join the fight or step back away from the smoke and command the scene!! When I first started in incident command for a disaster response team, I always wanted to get direct reports, but it will overwhelm you! It's why you have divisions. The other problem is here is 2 chiefs directing stuff when you have tohave one as incident commander and the other handling ops maybe on the Charlie side. Plus, you got the radios and you're trying to yell for charging the hose line. Use the radios or save the money for other stuff!!!

Wait till the place burns down, then put the fire out! WTH!!

It looks like a lost,why not take the aerial ladder and stick it right in the front door and aim tip to ceiling. Spray water and fight as a sprinkler system

Good job everyone. I can't imagine the fire load inside that store. No saving something like that.

So if a Dollar General burns down, does it sprout more Dollar Generals?

Funny how the firemen who broke the windows, could not get in the building until they threw merchandise out of the building to make room.

Dollar General ad next week Fire sale all items are 50% off

What an absolute cluster of a response. Virtually zero safety. Little to no SCBA use. Little to no use of the millions worth of equipment. Command and control? What’s that? Opening the flow path to consume the structure. The list goes on. I hope those guys don’t end up with breathing issues after being in that environment for so long unprotected.

Flow path……..

Noooooo! Hundreds of dollars inventory lost!

I can only imagine how toxic that crap is burning.

I've heard dollar general has some smoking hot deals, but this is ridiculous. Lol

"Now Hiring...turned into "Now Firing!"

I wonder if anyone was roasting Kowalonek's Kielbasy"s in the fire??????????

We just had a fire at our Dollar General about six months ago🧐

I don’t Monday quarterback on these short videos, but can someone from this Fire Department, please why they withdrew right away? The smoke didn’t appear to be turbulent and maybe a quick knockdown would have worked? Also Why isn’t any water flowing from the Alpha Side, even thought there are charged hand lines ? Even at the 4 plus minute point still no water flowing.

What's Shenadoah going to do now that they're down to just 3 dollar generals?

Uh…Water anyone? Wet stuff on the red stuff always helps.

Was confused as to why they were tankering water and then I remembered it was Pennsylvania so no standpipe required.

Shame 😭 that town use to be a nice place when I was growing up in the early 80s.

Oh this is hard to watch with all those unprotected people standing around in toxic smoke

Honestly… there was no saving that store during the size up and the stack of members at the front door closed. Break windows, vent the roof if possible but go defensive should’ve been the only option before entry

Was the goal to burn this place down? Horrible tactics. I've seen better work with the GREEN line!😂

Its a dollar general let the damn thing burn... they started smashing those front windows before everyone was out (where we could see them I dont think they were very far in) and all I could think about was the charleston sofa super store fire. U really think DG cares if that place burns? hell no! long as its been evacuated just let it burn

Anyone ever hear of door/ventilation control and flow paths?!? Ha apparently not. Wow.

This was tough to watch. I wonder why the fire grew and grew? No attack at all, pretty good guess where the fire was when the video started but instead of going after it we break all the windows and give it more air...... Where is this taught in today's fire fighting tactics??

Do you think they still hiring?

Open door without a charged line good job

Take way too much time transitioning from interior to exterior defensive attack!!!

And that’s what happens when you back out…

It going flash.

What's that gas can with out front of the building all by itself out of parking lot

Everything in that store is Cinese made zero safety standard plastics and composites. Let's just stand in the smoke with no SCBAs. So when the insurance company denies your cancer claim, this will be the video they show in court.