First Fire Fatality

When the pager went off I was sound asleep. Within seconds I was out of bed, pulling pants on, which were precisely laid out on the floor the night before, and running for the car. The midnight roads were mostly deserted, until I got close to the scene of the fire. My route to the fire house would lead me right past the fire, in fact it seemed a little too close to the fire at the time.

I turned the last corner and headed up the hill past what used to be the Glen Riddle train station. As my car began to cross the bridge over the railroad tracks, a blast of heat smacked me in the side of the face. Flames were pouring from the windows of the old brick train station, and instinctively, my right foot leaned into the accelerator just a little bit more.

A block later I could see the flashing red lights of the first engine cresting the hill, and the siren slowly winding down. I never slowed down. I was heading straight into the firehouse at full speed, and fortunately, other volunteers were arriving with me. Once at the firehouse I could hear the radio crackling with action from our first engine talking to other responding apparatus.

An assisting company’s fire chief had stopped at the scene and reported a building well involved with possible entrapment. For a moment I thought about what he had reported. Why would there be anyone at the train station at this hour of the night, why would there be entrapment?

My thoughts were fleeting as we threw our gear on and leaped on to the next responding apparatus. We were given orders to assist with an additional hose line off to the rear of the building. With the amount of fire in the building, we were not about to go inside and we had to plan for an outside fire attack.

As we approached the scene, again I could feel the heat protruding from the billowing flames and smoke. Voices of the officers were heard shouting over approaching sirens and roaring engines. We quickly found out there was an apartment above the train station, and the old postmaster’s wife still lived there. I stared up into the windows of the old building and saw nothing but red, orange, yellow and black from the blaze. Someone was up there…I kept thinking. My thoughts were quickly interrupted by someone shouting orders.

Soon I was humping hose from the engines parked in the street, down the driveway and into the parking lot behind the historic building. As we pulled the heavy hose closer to the burning building, I had to turn my face away from the searing heat. We were to set up a hose line in position to flow water into one of the second floor windows. Two of us were back there pulling line, yelling for more line, looping the line into position. We readied ourselves for water and gave the signal to charge the line. Soon, the long, flat, fire hose rose up off the pavement and I could see the water rushing toward the nozzle I had a tight grip on. I waited until I could feel the weight of the water before I pulled back on the lever that opened the nozzle. With a loud rush of air, I pulled back and suddenly water poured out of the large nozzle I had supported between my arms. I leaned to one side so I could see where the water stream was flowing. I pulled the nozzle to the right and watched as the heavy stream of water arched right into the second floor window. Soon what was bright with yellow and orange and reds, was darkened down to grayish smoke, but the flames didn’t stop. Behind the smoke, I could still see flames rolling across the ceiling.

Behind me, my partner leaned into me, helping support the weight of the pressurized hoseline. After a while, the hose line was shut down, repositioned and my partner and I switched positions. After several hose lines were placed in service, the flames began to die down. It was a definite sign that we were making progress.

The Captain walked around the corner of the building waving to us.

“Shut down! We’re moving inside!” he shouted to us.

The flames had been knocked down enough now that it was possible to make it inside and start fighting the interior flames. I pushed hard on the bale and the hose jerked to a sudden stop. Again we drug the heavy, now water-filled hose, close to the smoking building. Just in front of us was a large opening which used to be sliding glass doors. The glass from the doors had been shattered from the intense heat and I was now stepping on the pieces all over the blacktop, trying to keep my footing.

“Take it up here and start flowing inside this room.” the Captain shouted pointing to the gaping hole in the side of the building.

My partner and I regained our balance and hold on the line and again I opened up. Water rushed out and began darkening the glowing blaze inside the first floor. We continued this operation for a while, occasionally moving the nozzle back and forth trying to cover everything that was burning inside. We edged closer and closer, trying get as near to the flames ass possible without actually going inside where there was the danger of collapse from the burning second floor.

Suddenly, with little warning, a loud crack, and a whoosh of debris, air, smoke, and debris showered just a few feet in front of me. The second floor had suddenly dropped into the first floor right in front of my face. Debris actually struck my helmet on the way down, but fortunately we never got all the way into the building.

With a gaping hole above us now, the oxygen fed flames erupted stronger once again. And once again, we flowed water right back at it. Other hose lines joined us from the front of the building and we could see through the smoke that there was also a ladder truck up in the air flowing down from above. If nothing else, we knew the meaning of surround and drown, and we did it well…for hours.

Once again, the flames eventually darkened down, and the smoke started to lighten. Soon we had lights set up and we could see what was inside burning.

I pointed a light in through the smoking debris trying to recognize what things were. I could see a chair, pieces of bed, a shattered mirror, clothes…

Suddenly my eyes fixed upon a sight I will never forget. Among the pieces of bed I could see the charred remains of a person lying in the debris. The flames caused so much damage it was difficult to distinguish between trash and the person. I could see how the fire charred the skin, and in many places it was charred to the bone. I immediately thought I was looking at a large amount of barbecued chicken. I took a step back and motioned to the Captain nearby.

Apparently, the body I found, fell from the second floor apartment when the floor gave way. The bed all around her meant she was probably sleeping when the fire started. The Captain came over to us and peered through the smoke at what we had found. Within seconds, he had walked away from us and was last seen bending over in a wooded area adjacent to the driveway. I was glad to see the feelings I was experiencing at the time, may have been okay and possibly normal. I thought to myself, “If the Captain was getting sick over what we saw after all these years he had in the fire service, then I certainly can!”

Unfortunately for me, I will never forget the sight of the charred body lying just feet away from me. The fact that it so closely resembled barbecued chicken has resulted in me never eating chicken again...ever.