Brotherhood of Firemen

[Powerstroke Cowboy]

You are both right about that. Lots of fuels and low rh this past week. We’re praying for rain and not dry lightning! Where are y’all at?

I hear you there!! We have been in a drought the last two years. Fires start easy in dry grass with low humidity. The sad part is we had a lot of dry lighting storms.

I am located in North East Montana. Sheridan County. Pop is around 4000.
Right now our ground is white. If we keep getting moisture, fire season will not be bad this year.

 

[Headhunter1111]

I hear you there!! We have been in a drought the last two years. Fires start easy in dry grass with low humidity. The sad part is we had a lot of dry lighting storms.

I am located in North East Montana. Sheridan County. Pop is around 4000.
Right now our ground is white. If we keep getting moisture, fire season will not be bad this year.

Glad to hear somebody is getting some moisture! That’s beautiful country up there. If the wind didn’t blow so bad I’d love to live there.

 

[Powerstroke Cowboy]

Glad to hear somebody is getting some moisture! That’s beautiful country up there. If the wind didn’t blow so bad I’d love to live there.

Yes, it has a beauty of it's own. But, as you mentioned, the wind is far from pleasant.

 

[Powerstroke Cowboy]

Picture from a fire from early this morning. 106 year old church. By the time we got dispatched the church was fully a-blaze. By the time we got there it was on the ground. The second structure attatched to it had the fire in the attic, main floor and basement. We packed up, went in and had to retreat due to the ceiling falling in. So we set up outside to keep it from spreading. Not a good way to start the day. We were dispatched at 1:38AM.
Afterwards.

 

[Loony661]

Thanks for sharing. Sad to see such an old, prominent structure go like that.. Looks like the wind was blowing a bit there taking your water away.

 

[Powerstroke Cowboy]

Thanks for sharing. Sad to see such an old, prominent structure go like that.. Looks like the wind was blowing a bit there taking your water away.

Yes, there was a breeze. We had some small grass fire pop up about 150 yards from the structure.

That picture, for some reason is very deceptive. It looks like I'm not getting good reach with the water. But, I was able to place water where I wanted on the far side of the structure. Wind is a joy to work with. It can take a nice tight stream, and blow it apart! This was a 2 inch hose.

 

[FederalQ]

It is what it is sometimes. At least no one was hurt. In fire training classes here they would state that the old churches electrical wiring were a significant cause of fire because of the thermal expansion/contraction issues. Most buildings weren’t heated during the week then the heating systems cranked up for Sunday morning and then left to go below freezing again if there wasn’t any plumbing. Hopefully foul play is ruled out given time of day.

 

[Loony661]

It is what it is sometimes. At least no one was hurt. In fire training classes here they would state that the old churches electrical wiring were a significant cause of fire because of the thermal expansion/contraction issues. Most buildings weren’t heated during the week then the heating systems cranked up for Sunday morning and then left to go below freezing again if there wasn’t any plumbing. Hopefully foul play is ruled out given time of day.

I have not heard that about the old churches before - that’s interesting and makes sense.

 

[Paul Fithian]

I was a member of our Long Beach Volunteer Fire Department for many years and enjoyed helping Task Force Tips with some of their developments like the Res-Q- Rench when I worked for DuPont

 

[Powerstroke Cowboy]

It is what it is sometimes. At least no one was hurt. In fire training classes here they would state that the old churches electrical wiring were a significant cause of fire because of the thermal expansion/contraction issues. Most buildings weren’t heated during the week then the heating systems cranked up for Sunday morning and then left to go below freezing again if there wasn’t any plumbing. Hopefully foul play is ruled out given time of day.

I hear you. We turn ours back to 55 during the week, then turn it up for Sunday.

This church had running water. But, The side where the furnace was burnt out first.

I hope there was no foul play.

 

[Headhunter1111]

Picture from a fire from early this morning. 106 year old church. By the time we got dispatched the church was fully a-blaze. By the time we got there it was on the ground. The second structure attatched to it had the fire in the attic, main floor and basement. We packed up, went in and had to retreat due to the ceiling falling in. So we set up outside to keep it from spreading. Not a good way to start the day. We were dispatched at
1:38AM.

Glad you guys got out ok. Bad way to start the day for sure.

 

[Powerstroke Cowboy]

Glad you guys got out ok. Bad way to start the day for sure.

Yes it is. Sometimes trying to save a structure is not worth the risk.

 

[Loony661]

Got paged out to a farm on the outskirts of our district for a hay bale on fire. Owner had pulled put a garden hose and knocked it down. We got a line pulled and had the farmer take the bales (only 6) apart and separate them while I hosed them down good. After that he took them into his plowed field and shook them apart. All went well and was done in less than an hour. No damage to property which was great.

 

[Headhunter1111]

Yes it is. Sometimes trying to save a structure is not worth the risk.

Where we are it’s rare to save a structure. Takes to long to get to the station and then to the scene (as someone else mentioned before) and by the time you get there you just try to keep it from spreading. It’s always sad to see someone lose property, but things can be replaced. People can’t.

 

[Headhunter1111]

One year ago today our whole district was on fire. We got some snow yesterday. Should delay fire season a couple weeks.
Had a 1700 acre fire in the next district to the north of us yesterday. I sure am glad for some moisture here.

 

[Headhunter1111]

 

[Powerstroke Cowboy]

Got paged out to a farm on the outskirts of our district for a hay bale on fire. Owner had pulled put a garden hose and knocked it down. We got a line pulled and had the farmer take the bales (only 6) apart and separate them while I hosed them down good. After that he took them into his plowed field and shook them apart. All went well and was done in less than an hour. No damage to property which was great.

That (imho) is the only way to deal with a bale fire. Roll it out! Get it over with! Why let it burn for hour?

Last year we went to a hay fire. It was a hay stack on fire. They lost well over a hundred bales. It was sad. The farmer pulled out what they could. But by the time the loaders got there it was spread so bad in the stack it was a mess! Stacked three high about six deep and forty long.

 

[Powerstroke Cowboy]

Where we are it’s rare to save a structure. Takes to long to get to the station and then to the scene (as someone else mentioned before) and by the time you get there you just try to keep it from spreading. It’s always sad to see someone lose property, but things can be replaced. People can’t.

Thats a problem we run into as well out here.

 

[Sierra_rider]

Yes it is. Sometimes trying to save a structure is not worth the risk.

Where we are it’s rare to save a structure. Takes to long to get to the station and then to the scene (as someone else mentioned before) and by the time you get there you just try to keep it from spreading. It’s always sad to see someone lose property, but things can be replaced. People can’t.

Early in my career, I was involved in series-accident structure fire. I escaped without injury, but one of my partners suffered serious burns...without going into too much detail, it was a structure that we shouldn't have made entry on and it flashed on him.

This is a lesson that I've carried on now as a company officer. I'm pretty cautious nowadays when it comes to structure fires...even if you get knockdown on a fire, it's still usually a total loss on the structure. I am known as a pretty aggressive wildland guy, but even there, I have a purpose for every action that I take. Everything is deliberate for me, some of the "agro" guys seem to just throw everything they got at a fire without really thinking about it.

 

[Headhunter1111]

Early in my career, I was involved in series-accident structure fire. I escaped without injury, but one of my partners suffered serious burns...without going into too much detail, it was a structure that we shouldn't have made entry on and it flashed on him.

This is a lesson that I've carried on now as a company officer. I'm pretty cautious nowadays when it comes to structure fires...even if you get knockdown on a fire, it's still usually a total loss on the structure. I am known as a pretty aggressive wildland guy, but even there, I have a purpose for every action that I take. Everything is deliberate for me, some of the "agro" guys seem to just throw everything they got at a fire without really thinking about it.

Respecting what your fighting goes a long ways. Like Sun Tsu said, know yourself and know your enemy. When you lose respect, you become complacent, complacency kills. Or at least leaves a mark.
Had another start today. 800+ acres, sounds like the other depts in the county got a hold on it but we’re on standby. Winds starting to get up.