On June 7th while doing some p.t. Eng. 282 (the Hahn) and Tk 28 were hit out to the 5400 block of 85th ave for the apartment fire. Now before I continue I must say that apartment fires on 85th ave are legendary. When they burn they burn big. We were right down the street at a local school and we could see the column as soon as we hit the street.
On arrival we had heavy fire on 2 floors on side Charlie which was facing toward the street. Side A of the garden style apartment, facing the back of the complex, was pushing thick black smoke. After laying out, the lineman (me) pulled a 250' 1.5" line and went to the first landing (or 2nd floor) and encountered heavy fire pushing from the apartment. The Truck forced entry and began a primary search. Another fireman from our wagon, after snaking out my line, stretched the 250' 2" line with a smooth bore to the 3rd floor where there was heavy fire in multiple apartments and fire through the roof which had spread through the cockloft. The 2nd floor was knocked in a few minutes. The next in companies, upon arrival, assisted in battling the inferno on the 3rd floor. Meanwhile, on the exterior, several occupants were rescued via ground ladders. During the initial push there were also several small explosions on exterior side C from the gas lines and meters which were later secured. Could've been bad.
All in all, some 8+ people were rescued, 5+ apartments burned and over 6 hours of work was put in by the boys. Video and the story can be found on statter911.com. Copy and paste the link.
http://statter911.com/2011/06/08/chopper-video-prince-georges-county-apartment-fire-with-rescues-on-85th-avenue-in-new-carrollton/
A youtube video uploaded by a local. It shows the gas explosions towards the end.
