If they put some of the money they spent on that shiny new fire truck into training and worked on being just a LITTLE aggressive this may have turned out differently. I wasn't there but damn...
Capt Tom - No "armchair" here....If you have friends and relatives in firefighting, they'll surely let you know that this was the WRONG way to go about it!
Why is it on most of the fire video's these guys wait till the last second to fasten their lap belts, adjust their shoulder straps and more on their air packs? It's not like they aren't sitting in a seat on there way to the fire and can be ready when they arrive at the fire. I see this in at least 70% of the fire video's.
Yeh now all of those people must call SAMSA and tell them thay are susidel or having an serious emotional destubance so thay can get checked into a state ran mental hospital
Sometimes not only the firemen and firewoman are the heros. You may not think you are, but you checked everyone's doors even for dogs to make sure everyone was out and didn't even think about your wallet. That is a hero to me. Kudos to you. And great job. You may had have saved someones life.
Wow. Thank you so much.. the fucked up part is i saw the fire walked back inside and quietly said "get the dogs and anything important and get out".. like we were going to the store..
@@jerseyforlife I would have been frantic I think. I probably would have been running around grabbing TVs and Computers lol. But one never knows what they will do until it happens to them. You did it perfect. Everyone was safe. Things can be replaced but lives can't. And even with mom on the phone you did great lol.
...I'm no expert, but how do you properly attack a fire that is in between floors and possibly within the walls without opening windows or breaking down exterior doors and risking a backdraft explosion? Which evidently happened anyway...
Probably the best approach would be to get into the floor 2 units and star pulling ceiling. Working above a floor system that had been exposed to fire is a bad idea, but in any cast this was going to be a difficult fire.
This is a view of the rear of the building. I'm assuming the rest of the Jollyville fire fighters {combination of paid and volunteer) are in the front. This is what happens if you don't or are unable to make an aggressive interior attack while the fire is small. However, this again is only a view from the rear. If it is was an electrical fire that started inside the walls that will explain it's rapid undetected spread. Impossible to extinguish unless you arrive early and start opening up walls and ceilings to find and get to the fire before it gets into the cockloft.
For all the keyboard know it alls, this department is a combination that was light staffed and unfortunately had a few newer personnel. Some background on the apartments they were built in the 80s with no sprinklers and no fire stops. You clearly hear in the video he smelt smoke two hours before calling 911, TWO HOURS. either case if the fire was in the walls it was already gone because you can see the smoke was already puffing out the eaves and had the chimney effect...do some research and contact the department before being loud mouths and thinking you got. If you are a firefighter its only a matter of time before your department makes the media for a mistake. If you are a civilian and inputing your insults...just go to a fire academy and learn something before barking
Rolling up light staffed with newer personnel to a building like this should have have been an immediate second alarm. There is no defending Jollyville for this one. They shit the bed.
First of all I understand what you're saying about the 2 hour gap but if those 2 guys would have at least kept the water going on it from the stairs it would have not gotten that outta hand! It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out common sense. 😁😷😲😕🚒🔥
I am a retired firefighter officer who retired from a department who was always lite minimum staffed and never would this type of firefighting operational strategy and tactics be tolerated, or excused. Sprinklered or not sprinkled does't alter the fact that once you do a rapid assessment (abcd), firefighters quickly don their gear, have their irons, advanced with "charged" hand-lines to pull ceilings, walls, over-hangs...to access for locating fire. Bottom line, this fire should have been checked before becoming fully involved at multiple points-levels. Please don't get defensive, but learn from mistakes made. If not they will be repeated or excused forever!
The response from the initial engine was subpar at best. I believe if they were more aggressive with the initial attack and had water more quickly, this wouldn’t have been so bad. Once you see the fire is in the floor, it will travel quickly throughout the rest of the structure fast. Call in additional units for search and thermal image to see where the fire is going to aggressively knock it down.
As I never bash my fellow brothers in fire, but some remediation in that department is needed. I was appalled to see that first due was not on air when he was poking at that fire with the Halligan tool, then two minutes later a Backdraft. That could have been worse for that possbile probie or crew member. But makes a great training video for my department.
DR In your firefighting experience, have you ever arrived at a structure fire after it went undetected for a long time had spread inside the walls and ceiling? Remember having to pit holes in the walls and ceiling everywhere to find pockets of fire and it was the only way to extinguish them. Well they never got the chance here because by the time they were called and arrived, it was too late.
They basically had no clue what to do. If they did an interior on the right 2nd floor apartment, it would have been knocked down with minimum damage. When the whole building went up they looked like deer in headlights.
in 26+ years i never seen a building get burn down like this and to watch it n see no one put any effort into putting out this fire it was hard and painful to watch to say the lease
Did the fire chief or lieutenant take the day off? Seriously folks, deprive a fire of oxygen, it goes out. I think they were toasting marshmallows on this thing!! I hope those people sued the city for negligence.
I don't understand how this went from relatively minor smoke and the fire dept already on scene to this huge fire and damage. It almost looked like they just waited on it to get bad
Ican only hope you have started to get things sorted out AND looking to move to place with better fire fighters Ihope a full investigation has taken place by the fire service. PS is there an update.!!!!
Actually the worst offender in this was the tenant who smelled smoke and failed to call the FD and report it. Another fire different country Johnson st fire Victoria BC Canada there was a fire in a couch and it was not reported. Then in the early hours it rekindled and the rooming house went up starting on the open air porch. I am related to the first emergency responder to arrive. Cst Brewster V.C.P. Dept. he is responsible for saving the lives of all but three of the occupants. the lesson here is if you smell smoke call 911 and report the smoke smell even if you don't see visible smoke.
8:49 *WHAT WAS GOING ON BETWEEN THE 2 FF's??* The FF upstairs was yelling, then asked the other to come up, they start whispering between each other, then #2 starts grabbing something from #1's backside, tugs on it, then throws something down to the street. #1 readjust himself then looks to be reconnecting the waist buckle on his scba.....well any thought?? maybe the exile of smoke from the building caused him to shit himself?? IDK.....just curious to others thoughts on what occurred??
To all the armchair fire suppression experts how many of you are firefighters? How many of you were at this fire? Anyone notice one guy that was below the fire floor pulling down ceiling to ventilate and not long after had a stream ? There is no one way to attack a fire as they are all different and a RU-vid video isn't really the platform to see all of the operations and conditions.
jerseyforlife I always forget that RU-vid university teaches everyone everything and they become the leading experts in all dynamics’s of world. Apologies for a late reply, all day yesterday starting at 0700 to this morning at 0700 I was doing something crazy. Like being on duty, we had a chimney fire call and several medical calls. I was sure I needed to consult the experts of RU-vid in the correct procedures
" Anyone notice one guy that was below the fire floor pulling down ceiling to ventilate and not long after had a stream ? There is no one way to attack a fire as they are all different and a RU-vid video isn't really the platform to see all of the operations and conditions." You have a confirmed structure fire and you think it's ok to only have ONE guy attempting to locate and extinguish it? Their second in company looks to be Austin Fire, which means they should have plenty of crews to throw at this fire in an attempt to locate the source of the smoke. This is absolutely terrible. 15 minutes in and everyone still has their thumbs up their ass.
As a CAREER officer I will armchair quarterback this because everyone is thinking what I’m about to say. That fire should have NEVER gotten that far out of hand. You’re exactly right, me nor my crew weren’t there. I promise you if we were we would have actually made a push, fought fire with a purpose and not walk around like we are trying to figure our lives out. The incompetence of the operating companies is pathetic, I can’t emphasize that enough. That was a 1 3/4” and a hook job all day, but you assholes decided very early on to protect exposures and because the video cut off when it did, we’ll never know if you even did that. Do your community a favor and better yourself, train. If this is your first due you owe that to the public to which you “serve”. Everybody wants to be a fireman until its time to do fireman shit.
awe poor Volly who thinks he wrote the book on firefighting get triggered? Many posting ARE FIREFIGHTERS dumbass. How bout go work at Burger Barn & leave firefighting to the pros?
Blame your government for not seeing the need for staffing in the fire service. The money is being cut each year and it isn’t going to stop until people get off of You Tube and FB and call your government officials. They typically do not see the need for staffing because firefighters don’t do anything according to them.
Assuming the station commander decided to have only rookies on call he should be fired. Period. Here in Holland there's usually only 1 rookie (already qualified fire fighter) or 1 trainee per engine. Professional stations are fully staffed 24/7. You don't like working on Christmas Day? Tough, but you're off next year.The same goes for the volunteer stations.
Len Paradise You are aware that this is the Charlie side of the fire, right? There is a full compliment of crew who are on the Alpha and Bravo sides as well as interior who are actively firefighting while this specific video is being filmed. There are other videos of this fire on RU-vid that show a much different set of activities in the Alpha, and Alpha/Bravo sides.
How long does it take for a second unit to arrive? I see only one firefighter with protective clothing for several minutes. This person isn’t going to put themselves in danger and they are correct to do this. Today’s construction methods make firefighting even more dangerous. Fire will be in voids between apartment units. With staffing issues it very rare to have enough personnel on the scene when the first unit arrives.
This looks bad. But what it doesn't show, which I found in another video, is there are more trucks working this from other angles around the corner. Also note that this is a small department on the edge of Austin, that Austin keeps grabbing territory from. As a result, they don't get many fire calls. It's mostly medical and traffic accidents. In this case, we have a fire running horizontally in the between floor space. There is only so much you can do. Eventually the floor will get spongy on you. Then it is time to leave. I always wished there was someway to turn the alarm off - except they are designed to continue working when the power fails..... I haven't watched this one in a while, but they probably lose the third floor. I do feel sorry for the folks living in this building. This is a good reason for having good renters insurance. Now toward the end of the video, the air horns are a signal to the firefighters to get out now! Dark, black smoke = bad and very hot. My guess is someone, not realizing the horizontal spread opened up ventilation on the other side and it pushed the fire this way. Notice how the fire is sending out little balls of flaming stuff. Austin Fire responded on either the second or third alarm and the master stream at the end is the right and only answer. You have to have enough water to lower the fuel temperature.
in the other videos theres other trucks but in the beginning they were only on this side. Im pretty sure if there was some urgency they could have contained the fire and not lost the entire building.
Ok so people saying this isn’t how you do it I looked into the fire and when the fire department arrived the fire was already fully involved and had hit the main structure beams meaning for firefighters to go in would risk lives for a BUILDING which can be replaced when you saw the smoke coming down the building was about to flash over meaning the whole building and what was inside would catch fire this is why they ran down the stairs. They didn’t put water on also as the steam from the fire would make it worse heating the inside of the building to stupidly high temps which would stop the fire fighters going in as the steam would go straight through the protective gear.
WoW man....I'm glad you got out...I'm tripping on the sorry actions of this dept...I have been one in a busy large Mid Atlantic city dept for over 20 + yrs.Sad...looking at this again I guess it was the driver was on his damn cell phone.
Just curious .. at 15:45, what exactly am I seeing, ... is that a coffee break?? Or are they actually celebrating their victory over this fire?? LMAO!!!
I'm glad everyone got out alrite.so I will start my rant.lives are the most important thing and concern of every FF there.no one was injured or killed.I've worked together with JVFD for 15yrs when a member of a mutual aid dept. I agree with what citizens are seeing.but rest assure the JVFD is top notch.you won't find a more dedicated group.a very highly respected FD in the Wilco.so they had a bad day in your eyes.but let me tell you.everybody went back to the station at the end and that's all that matters
Steven Bozoudes well didnt you know that everyone on the internet knows everything about everything? They got their PHD from youtube university.. But I agree, nobody died and its o,ly material possessions ( it still sucks though)..
When he first got there could hardly see any smoke , but the saw some why not getup to the room and see if what you got. Could even take a small line or extinguisher. Now it's a little late. Right what do you Fire fighters think. They took to long to get to the fire?
Like Fr like the fuck… and the fact that at 2:59 some random ass L series or P2Rs (I’m not the best at horn strobes) on code 3 just randomly kick in like wtf is this system 😭😭😊
Composite and according to their website, 18 career and 10 volunteer. So I'd say more like "career guys anyone"? Oh, and Austin who you also see on scene. Yea, totally career.
Hey I know this is a long shot but here goes. The 2nd and 3rd story all the way to the right was mine and my roommates apartment, unit 911(how ironic), both out of town visiting family as this was Christmas morning when it happened. We still haven't heard any news of how this happened from the fire department or the apartment complex. Does anyone know WHAT THE FUCK MADE MY APARTMENT BURN DOWN? **Also that's my red Camaro at the bottom, parked there because I ubered to the airport days before
oh shit dude. you had a dog right? I knocked on your door this day, I knew you werent there but I at least wanted to make sure there wasnt a dog still in there ( I was fully prepared to kick in your door just in case the dog was in there) so i was in contact with the fire chief for a bit after this and they still hadnt any idea how it started. Ive also been contacted by multiple firefighter training places to use this video for training (probably so they can see what NOT to do). This was a shitty day, We had only been in austin a week then lost everything. They tried blaming us for the fire and tried to sue us for 1.5 mil, eventually it got dropped due to lack of evidence. Thank god i had this video because you can see that the fire started inside the walls.
@@jerseyforlife Our dog was in Houston with my roommate. thankfully. That really sucks that they tried to sue you for this. I really wish we could just get some answers and some real closure on this part of our lives. This was my first home away from my parents and I was only in it for like 6 months before this happened.
Ryan Babcock: Were you there and listening to all the orders issued by the Incident Commander. If not then you don't know exactly what was going on now do you.
I know nobody should stand around with their hose up there ass for 30 minutes while somebodies apartment is burning to the ground. That much is obvious to anyone.
The scene size up was horrible the first due goes in without SCBA. then takes his halligan tool, then he realized oh shit I need to pack up. As you can hear in the background that firefighter was getting yelled at. Lots of unsafe practices going on here. My chief would never allow us to go in without SCBA and Helmet on. Also there were no 2 firefighter's in or 2 out. This would make a great training video. That was a nice backdraft though. Not to bash any firefighter's but I was there too when I was on my first call. But I think some retraining is needed in this crew.
Austin Fire Department said crews were initially called to Building 9 of the International Residence apartments - currently called The Hendrix - around 9:30 a.m. Dec. 25, and that it was upgraded to a two-alarm fire around 10 a.m. "Once it started what we called vented through the roof and the attic was involved, you know, and it vents through the roof, then we have to get water up high to spray down on there," said Jollyville Fire Dept. Chief John Kiracofe. The fire was brought under control around 10:45 a.m., AFD said.
you are aware that the is the Charlie side of the fire, right? There is a full compliment of crew who are on the Alpha and Bravo sides as well as interior who are actively firefighting while this specific video is being filmed. There are other videos of this fire on RU-vid that show a much different set of activities in the Alpha, and Alpha/Bravo sides.
From PA - I can tell you that your video has been used for numerous training classes. Especially at the 25 minute mark as the smoke starts to change. Shows what stages of burning and what to really watch for in regards to keeping firefighters safe.
Dude thats so awesome.. my video actually got featured in firefighter magazine too. I think that's really fucking cool my misfortune could help other people. The funniest part was, when I was recording, the cops wouldn't let ANYONE get close but they never said a word to me. They just let me stand there and record.
This is without a doubt, probably the worst firefighting I have ever seen in my career. Having been a fireman, I think what I saw in this video is a complete joke, when it comes to firefighting. This is without a doubt one of the most incompetent fire companies I have ever seen. I know I don't see all of the inside information, however I saw a little or no activity in trying to search out the fire and attack it. There was no sense of urgency to extinguish this fire.
tom olson once it consumed 2 whole apartments it looks like they go, “OK, well I guess we will put it out now!” Most units I see would have vented the roof and windows, and even a second alarm earlier when it started going south. And an arial ladder not ready for action after 30 minutes?? The renters should have been livid
Yes Tom I agree with 4 years behind my back being in fire service, that first due firefighter almost got killed being in the middle of that backdraft. I was amazed that the scene size up took so long. And no other mutual aid assistance was called out. I only see one truck here. Also he breaches the ceiling with his tool without air. I would think their SOP would be to be on SCBA first hand.. Then he realized that he needed to be on air. But still stands close to the fire. Usually when you step off of the truck that is the first thing. Hose attack is another thing water pressure was poor. I would adventure a guess some firefighters were in the Cheif's office the next day. But where is the IC I don't see any as well.
Found this outside of You-Tube: A fire in a northwest Austin apartment building damaged at least 12 units and no injuries were reported. This is a statement about the fire. It is this fire and was showing the same building. Also the tenant posting the video stated he smelled smoke about 2 hours prior to raising the alarm so the fire had a 2 hour head start and that means the structure was already lost before the alarm was even sounded. Can't blame it all on the fire department (Austin Fire).
doug robinson thank you brother, I will never bash firefighter as I'm not one and personally they are the real heroes.. But maybe things could have been handled with a little more urgency..
Your welcome. And your right they are heroes everyday. But next time a little more urgency would be appreciated. Sucks it happend. Especially on Christmas.
As a firefighter I agree this could have been handled much better, I see lot of freelancing going on. In the fire world it means a firefighter going in without his partner. That is a big NO NO. This is a good way to look and see what could this department do better on fire suppression and scene size up.
Thanks for filming this for as long as you did. Having 30 minutes of uninterrupted footage that captures a smoke explosion and some unique smoke behavior makes this a great tool for teaching new firefighters about fire behavior! This is a helpful video to have shared! Thanks again!
Look,im former fd and not afraid to say it, this was a done deal as soon as they pulled up and the LT wasnt even in turnout, i pray to god this wasnt a paid dept,there was no one to give guidance, simple firefighting 101 for god sakes. Im sorry but this was bad bad bad
I'm only 7 minutes in, but at this point, you should re-title this video "how NOT to extinguish a fire." Seriously, that was bad. I'm so sorry you lost your home on Christmas!!!
Charlie, you are dead on. WAY too slow to get water on the fire. I get that they're a small dept., but they should've had a full assignment on the way on a report of a fire, be it mutual aid, or an all call for their dept. They clearly were oblivious to the smoke coming from the chimney area, and the fact that that is a BAD, BAD sign being nowhere near the point were fire is showing. That and the backdraft should've clued them in that they have deep seated, well established fire that is spreading well ahead of them. Anyone with basic knowledge of building construction would've known that this lightweight construction obviously wasn't fire stopped properly. 30 minutes in, when fire breaks out on 2 floors, they still aren't ready to respond with a master stream.
Small department, volunteer, Christmas, or any other excuse shouldn't matter. The fact is, the OIC pulls up with no gear on, it takes them forever to stretch & charge a line, there is ZERO sense of urgency. There's smoke pouring out of every imperfection in the building. That fire was breathing! You won't find me Monday morning quarterbacking very often, but this is a good example of being "lucky to have survived." A second suppression unit didn't arrive (visibly) until over 25 minutes into this thing. This town should be planning a LODD funeral for one of these smoke eaters!!! I mean Jesus, it was just an apartment building but if there's a God, He was there that day protecting this scene. Rookies take note here: this is complacency and maybe even a bit of tunnel vision right before that backdraft. This could have easily (and probably should have) ended with the death of a firefighter. There's no two ways about it. I'm sorry to be so critical here, but criticism is necessary if it's truly important for everybody to go home after the fact.
The only thing I disagree on is the OIC having gear on, there's just not enough info to find fault there. Maybe they were on an EMS run and responded from there. Typically the IC around here only wears a helmet for easy ID, depending on the weather, but they typically aren't in the hot zone either.
ffjsb he was the Lt. First arriving officer should be bunked out so when the Battalion Chief gets there he can get into the action. They got caught with their pants down. This is a paid department. These are paid career firefighters. They have automatic aide with Austin and Cedar Park.
From England. Oh dear oh dear oh dear. I can see someone's insurance company watching this and smiling, knowing they won't be paying out due to the shit show that is this fire department. Shocking.
The first priority is search. How can you fight fire and search with the limited staffing that was initially on the scene? Blame your government officials who don’t think it is beneficial to have a paid department. They are also the ones who are cutting staffing in the paid departments.
Fire alarm was called in at 09:30 fire extinguished 10:45. The first in crews were faced with a well advanced fire already in the walls and possibly the attic. About an hour to extinguish it is not like fighting a house fire this is a multi-storey multiple family commercial residential built using stick framing. So the fire attack is delayed due to the need for primary search and limited manpower. There is much which cannot be determined by just looking at a video and one should never disrespect any fire department based on a single point of view video.
What I love is the Chief saying in the news interview they attempted to make an interior attack. You don't see that once... NOT ONCE! It took your first arriving company officer TWENTY ONE MINUTES to even put on his turnout gear!!! He should be fired for incompetence and complacency. That should've been a simple room and contents job.
Buddy, you've got plenty of firefighters on here saying the exact same kinda stuff I am. There needs to be some changes in that department. Have you shown your video to the news?
The Inevitable Channel I recorded basically the whole thing (I didnt upload part 2 yet which shows more of the later parts of the fire) and my little sister works for good day Austin so I gave my videos to them which they used when they did the story about the fire. The arson investigator also needed my video so they can try and figure out how it started. When the fire really started blazing they made everyone except emergency responders leave the scene but for some reason they never told me to leave. The video I got nobody else had so they said it could really help the investigation.
This was NOT "a room and contents fire". There was no fire in the rooms of the building at the time of arrival, nor for a significant time post arrival. The first visible flame came from a burn through of the 2nd floor walkway ceiling; with smoke, under visible pressure, coming from the seam between the 3rd floor and the supporting wall. These buildings are generally constructed with floor trusses, and the fire had to be well advanced from its point of origin somewhere in the void spaces of the walls or floor. These trusses are very prone to sudden failure, plus they enable flame spread both transversely as well as along the length direction of the truss. Some trusses exhibit catastrophic failure at 500 degrees F. Current best practice contraindicates any attempt at an interior attack under the conditions this fire presented. The construction of these places makes stopping a fire anywhere other than at a firewall almost impossible without extreme risk to firefighter personnel.
Richard Olsen: I appreciate the sentiment and the defence put up about this not being a simple room and contents. You are correct in stating that this fire was well advanced in the voids within the structure and that the origin of the fire was somewhere within those same voids. You are also correct about the travel of the fire within the attic space. Where you are incorrect is the use of temperature to determine where the truss will fail. Trusses are wooden and the determination of the failure point of all wood structural supports is based on burn through rather than temperature. Metal on the other hand is a temperature based failure point of % of strength loss vs temperature, Steel is essentially a non-combustible material in a structural fire This is because the boiling point of steel cannot be reached in a structural fire. Steel begins to lose strength at about 600 F. the hottest temperature in structural fires is about 1500 F. Please note this is not a put down simply a correction of facts given the circumstances of the fire and available personnel. The fact it is a holiday means most of the population is gone to relatives for the holiday and many of this Departments Fire Fighters are doing the same is most unfortunate.
8:35 *SHOULDN'T THE OIC BE INVOLVED 1st HAND W/HIS CREW OR AT LEAST IN TURNOUTS??* When the 1st exile of blk smk occurred, only the engines 2 FF's were hands on/inside the apt w/the hose, the OIC was outside in street clothes, he yelled for his 2 FF's to come out & asked them "what was all the smoke about"....so the 2 FF's were inside, the driver/engineer was at the engine(he had the blue long sleeve shirt) & the OIC was next to the engine(short sleeve blue shirt)...…CRAZY!!
These are tough to fight though I'm a bit surprised that they didn't gain access to nearby apartments to check for extension. This thing was growing the whole time- the fact that it was probably wood framed (less than 3 stories) and not sprinklered (from what I can see in the photos on their website) certainly didn't help. It looks like some unfortunately timed ventilation with either an open door or just poorly done fireproofing between the deck space and the walls. I can't really tell if doors are opened or if at some point a window got knocked out- it didn't look like the latter but I'm not sure about the doors. Sometimes, if the space is vacant and judging by the way everyone is moving around it seems that occupants weren't a concern, it's good to just keep everything closed and let the fire snuff itself out a bit before pulling the trigger on your own terms. Manage the fire on the deck, isolate utilities, secure water supply, get attack and backup lines ready, get your RIT oriented, resolve any access challenges, position your aerial apparatus... And then kickoff and start opening things up.
I can only give you my heart felt condolences on your loss. You acted right in contacting all the tenets getting you dogs out and calling 911. You must have been in a panic knowing how little time you had. Remember “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28 God be with you in this trying time. Brian in British Columbia Canada
Brian Fochler the weird part is that the fiance and I didn't panic at all. She knows im a calm person so she understands if I tell her to do something there's a good reason and she just does it.. But ive also been through some shit (hurricane Andrew in the mid 90s, hurricane sandy in 2012) where we lost everything so its was more of a "damnit not again" reaction.
That fire alarm is really sad by the sound of it. Also, everyone needs to stop being so overly critical about the firefighters. They probably can't fight the fire since it is on the floor and they can't walk on it or be under it. The firefighters have to look after themselves and be aware of their own safety when dealing with a building fire. People need to take that into consideration before attacking the ones putting out fires.
The dialogue is an effective narrative. l am glad you lived to tell the tale. If its any consolation / co incidence Jimi Hendrix burned a Stratocaster a most famous performance at Monterey in 1967.
Maybe they should change the name of the complex.. if there have been fires before and since .. Cursed by the Hendrix Stratocaster Spirit of RENEVGE .. erm RENVEGR!! uh REVENGE!! Dweezil Zappa has the guitar now its only the body though. He has had it fixed up and stuff. Jimi gave it toFrank after the show at Monterey.. Had been with Jimi .. years later Dweezil found the guitar under the stairs in the house and his dad told him he could have it. i have to stop smoking on th emorning.
OMG! That's ridiculous. Those fire fighters just seemed to stand around, doing nothing, and barely acted as your apartment went up in flames. I hope this is shown in the "Don't I ever catch you guys doing this" teaching videos at the Fire Academy. I honestly hope that all is well with you. Now, if we can get through this pandemic in one piece, that'll be icing on the cake. Stay Safe, Stay Healthy
imagine watching everything you own burn to the ground while firefighters just kinda stand around. This video is actually being shown in multiple fire academies across the world and was featured in fire engineering magazine. So this video is being put to good use, im glad my video could possibly be used to save a life one day. We were never told how it started unfortunately. In the beginning of the video theres a black streak on the outside wall of the vertical part that connects the 2nd and 3rd floor balcony, thats where it actually started. So it started inside the walls but we dont know how. and thank you..
Ok I know it’s been 2 years but I wanna tell u why they were standing around. 1 a lot of those crews were probably on the RIT team witch is a rescue crew. The fire was also in the walls and it most likely was a volunteer crew who weren’t really trained as much for these types of fires. But with like normal fires from cooking and shit like that they know how to fight that. That’s basically the definition of firefighters.
I hope you guys are doing all right, in this day and age the technology fire departments have this should not have gotten this bad. I know hind sight is 20/20 but I am a firm believer that anything can happen and thia is why I sleep with my IDs and the things I need are close by, even my cat I keep an eye on her, Everyone should have a plan just in case this happens
Yourw totally right, luckily my gf has had instances in the past where keeping her ID's and important stuff in her car which really helped in this situation. I on the other hand lost my license, birth certificate, ss card..
Fire departments may have gotten technology advances but if you don’t have funds for staffing how are you to use the technology? Further more the advances in technology have not been as much as people think. In the late 1800’s 100’ Aerial Ladders were on the street. Today you may see one that is 110’. Not a lot of difference.
As terrible as this sounds that fire was not reported immediately the videographer himself states he smelled smoke two hours before calling and was the only one home at the time. What you see here is a fire that has had ample time to become well advanced in the voids of the building and the attic spaces. The building was most likely a loss before the alarm was even raised.
I am most interested in your viewpoint after all you were there I was not. Again I say this fire was most unfortunate and I do hope you are recovering most of what you have lost, The issue I have with most people commenting negatively towards firefighters is they see a camera POV and miss a very large amount of what is happening outside of that POV but know everything there is to know.
Before everyone gets their panties in a bunch about the response of the crew in this specific video, You are aware that this is the Charlie side of the fire, right? There is a full compliment of crew who are on the Alpha and Bravo sides as well as interior who are actively firefighting while this specific video is being filmed. There are other videos of this fire on RU-vid that show a much different set of activities in the Alpha, and Alpha/Bravo sides.
for the most part i agree with you but, what youre seeeing is the very beginning of the fire. The firetruck you see in the video is the very first truck to arrive on scene. The other side of the building wasnt on fire yet.
Wow….watched for 30 minutes and they basically did nothing. First Arriving engine crew was in t shirts and pants….no turnout gear at all. Very poor response.
Are those side doors off the balcony's the access to the furnace rooms? I see a/c condensers on those sides on the ground which makes me think there is a furnace with a coil in those rooms or straight air handler! My guess could be there is breaker panels in there that caught! Other possibility is the flue pipe from a gas furnace or water heater could have been in contact with combustibles igniting the framing! Other possibility is a faulty balcony light fixture! That looked like a light fixture there!
Jerseyforlife, I'm very sorry you and your girlfriend as well as the other people and families who reside in building #9 in your complex who lost their homes and their your possessions due to this fire. I have no explanation on the actions the fire fighters took once they arrived on scene. A professional fire department with career fire fighters may have been able to stop the fire well before half the apartments in your building became total losses. It's truly a shame this happened to you and your neighbors on Christmas day. Please take care and i wish you the best of luck moving on with you life from this tragic incident.
Given Jollyville is composite, the first people on scene are likely the career people. Austin, who's ladder you see on scene towards the end, is 100% career. Just sayin.
I have one question for the man whose apartment burned, and his wife; do you still wake up hearing fire alarms going off? I didnt hardly sleep for 8 months after my apartment fire. The PTSD was, and can still be, BAD!!!
for about or so anytime we heard beeping we got a little freaked out. But honestly we had both been through so much shit in our lives not too much affected us any more..
Uh... my firefighting is limited to using an ABC extinguisher 5 times in my life, but something seems mighty off about the firefighting in this video. Is there some other firefighting going on from the other side, practice fire, flash paper blinds, mass sick day, bomb squad the can explain what this video shows?
As a retired firefighter I must say this is the worse example of fire attack I've ever seen. One attack line the entire video. I'm yelling at the video "do something people" this was as bad as it gets.
It will be interesting to see what the cause was. My first guess would be electrical, but if you have fire places it could be a chimney fire that got into the walls. As I said, it’s a hard fire to fight. There was very little visible fire when they got there so in order to fight something like that you need lots of hands to start opening walls and ceilings and it looked like it had spread through most of the building before they even got there. I think I heard you say you smelled it a couple hours before this happened. So this thing had a head start on them. I just question why they didn’t call for more manpower when they first got there. Call for more towns, get people there. You need manpower and they didn’t have it. I am glad no one got hurt and I am sorry this happened on Christmas and only a couple weeks before starting a new life. I wish you the best as you rebuild.
I'm so sorry that you lost everything, I wish you the best for the future, The red cross should help you get back on your feet, at least your both safe, you can replace clothes and other items, you can't replace humans, if i lived near by i would put you up, xx
Complete failure by a highly untrained fire freelancers ,not a fire crew. But hey, they have a beautiful fire truck. Search RU-vid for worst fire department in america, I think this department just stole that title. No excuse for poor training, that IS what kills firefighters. There IS a reason why we keep civilians back away from emergency scenes because they are not TRAINED. Therefore we MUST do the same with our own people who we see lack skills. If I see poor skills or judgement from any of my personnel or other crews at my scene I immediately pull them off the scene. No discipline against them at all. They will be trained until I am 100% satisfied they are competent with all skills they lacked prior no matter how much time is reasonably needed. I'm not going to another firefighters funeral. Getting your personnel and department up to a standard is easy through NFPA codes. They are written in part due to prior injuries and deaths of firefighting and the loss suffered of those we serve.
If you notice, in the very beginning of the video, to the right of the second floor balcony, you can see bubbling paint going up from the wall at about a height of where an outdoor outlet would be! I bet a fire started in the outlet and traveled up to in the third floor balcony!
If you mean that streaky part that's a little darker than the rest, that's exactly where it started.. inside the walls. I walked out my door and saw the outside walls smoldering and said "well, get the dogs out the goddamn building is on fire"
I'm sorry, but this performance is totally incompetent of firefighters. It seems that for more than 25 minutes they are waiting to see how the fire evolves. Incredible!!
So sorry this happened to you two. Was it electrical? that's the only thing I can think of that would cause fire inside the walls. Scary, but glad you're okay. Losing a your stuff is hard tho. Hope you've both recovered from this.
25 minutes into the video; smoke color changes and no ventilation....wow! 28 minutes in and the beast breaks through and the FD finally puts the stick up!
Sad situation this must be a volunteer community. When fire 🔥 gets in to walls or frames of structure it can go from good to bad quickly! Which it traveled the voids from balcony to your apartment sad situation! Folks should volunteer at their volunteer fire departments. At least one per street!
