Photos by Christopher A. Mallari
Story by Lon Slepicka
On Feb 4, Stations 5 (Pennsville Fire & Rescue Co.1) and Station 7 (Deepwater FD), Pennsville, NJ, were alerted for a building fire at a typical stand alone McDonalds.
The first arriving chief officer advised of a working fire and requested the
second alarm. First in, Engine 7 (3 blocks from the incident) attempted an
interior attack (heavy thick smoke pouring out the doors) and was shortly
backed up by the second in engine.
Truck 5 crew performed horizontal ventilation and started to perform
vertical ventilation. Rescue 5 crew assisted with horizontal ventilation.
Even after aggressive interior attack and ventilation, in less than 5
minutes conditions deteriorated quickly, and the evacuation was sounded and
defensive operations took place.
Within five minutes of the evacuation, fire was already blowing through the
roof and interior was fully involved. About five minutes later, there was a
partial roof collapse into the structure due to fire/heat damage and a HVAC
unit.
One gravity fed water tower and pumping station was out of service in the
township causing low GPM flows. A tanker shuttle was called to supplement
the hydrant system for defensive operations.
Points:
There were several firefighters who passed McDonalds within 5-10 minutes of
dispatch and saw nothing! The fire was riding between the roof and drop
ceiling for a while prior to FD arrival.
It was incredibly fast moving with no chance of getting it with an interior
attack due to the rapid deterioration inside the structure. Upon realization
of this, we promptly evacuated and went into a defensive mode.
No one was injured in the incident. Looking back it only makes one think about what happened in Houston FD and the LODDs associated with the
McDonalds there.
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