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Saturday, January 29, 2011

Fire Rescue





At a little after 4am on the 27th Truck Co. 28 was alerted to a house fire with entrapment in the Glenndale section of PG County. Engine 18 was first due and reported heavy fire. Rescue 6, first arriving special service, gained entry and began a search. As Truck 28 pulled up Rescue 6 reported a female screaming out of a rear window and requested ladders to the rear. Before the truck could even stop I hopped out, ate a pile of snow, grabbed a ground ladder and took off running (the guys had a good laugh about that later). While the rest of my Truck crew went inside to searched the bedrooms I ran into the backyard, which was smoked out but enlightened by the flames, I came across a lone firefighter from R-6 on a ladder attempting to rescue the elderly woman. I immediately ran over and pulled the woman out of the smoked out window with him. We drug her to the back of the yard and ems was alerted. I went back to join the rest of my truck company in finishing the primary of the house. After the primary was done we began opening up, and there was a lot of that to do. The house was well off. Fire in every crack and crevice of the walls and attic. It was a good learning experience for me as is every run we go on. Most of the fires I catch on the Truck Co. are just "smoke jobs" since alot of them are mutual aid fires which can be a pretty far ride away. All crews went to work. All crews did a good job.
How the woman survived I don't know. The only thought on that is that our quick responses and even quicker thinking saved her. Proof that aggressiveness puts out fire and saves lives, but that's a story for another day.