Holy Crap!!!! That's my house!!!!!!!

[PuffyNPFD]

About 22:00 on Saturday night, I was just getting ready to go to bed, on the phone telling my girlfriend goodnight when 3 tones hit. "Engines 1,3,2, Ladder 1, Rescue 1 and Battalion 1." Since fire alarm put the rescue (ambulance) on it, it tells me that they got multiple calls on this one. So I say my goodbye, and head for the rig when I hear the address "Respond to 528 Smithfield Rd. , reports of a fire on the second floor." My reaction is "Oh $#!t!!!" That's my apartment building and my floor. As I am speeding towards the scene, my ear is to the radio expecting the worst, but hoping for the best. Engine 1 and Ladder 1 called on scene with no initial report. We got on scene 30 seconds later with nothing showing. We then proceeded to report to command and he told us to begin looking for the source of an odor of smoke. We then proceeded to search 23 of the 24 apts. in the building. (We didn't search mine because my roommate was home, and being on the job they took his word for it) It turns out that the apt. just below mine they burnt cooking pretty bad and didn't say anything to us even though we were looking for a half hour. Everything turned out fine, but I was still on edge afterwards.

[reeveo]

Run, don't walk, run to the nearest church and give 3 Hail Mary's!!! I can't imagine hearing that. Glad all is OK.

[sbfdco1]

Yea, glad to hear that all was OK. I was at the FH as well when we got toned out for ambulance run, Luckly the presetation gets repeated, I was like "THAT'S MY HOUSE!" I knew my wife was home so instead of jumping on the rig I got on the phone, NO ANSWER!!!

Luckly it turned out to be a mistake by the alarm company!

[HM604OH]

When I was a rookie firefighter, one of the first pieces of advice my captain gave me was "You're only allowed to get excited if the fire is at your house. Otherwise, your job is to be calm and professional even when everyone else is going nuts." Whenever one of our crew started to become excitable on a scene, Cap would remind us that it wasn't our house and they would settle down. I have carried that advice throughout my career and fortunately, I have never been dispatched to my own home.

[ffjhicks]

HM604OH
That is some great advice your CAP gave you. I was given similar advice by an LT a while back and have also followed it. It seems to help me out.

[Weruj1]

http://cms.firehouse.com/forums2/showthread.php?s=&threadid=48764&highlight=weruj1

glad it all turned out ok for you......... I can relate to your feelings.

[engineeremtp]

One of the stories around our firehouse was back in the late 70's the department got a call for a house fire and the Captain up front looked back at one of the firefighters seated in the back who was known to be real layed back anyway and asked him in a excited manner "do you know where we're going"!! I guess he just calmly shook his head in the "affirmative", it was his address they were responding to. I guess if you don't get excited about that, not much will. LOL ( I don't remember the outcome from the story)

[hwoods]

Originally posted by Weruj1
http://cms.firehouse.com/forums2/showthread.php?s=&threadid=48764&highlight=weruj1

glad it all turned out ok for you......... I can relate to your feelings.


You got a lot more than the shirt, you got the shaft! Has the insurance ever gotten straightened out?

[Weruj1]

we go to trial in a year or so with depositions in July I believe.