Fire Incident #287 (10/28/10 ~04:30)
906 O'Brian Street, City of Millvale, PA - Residential Structure Fire. Dispatched Millvale (191), Cherry City (260), Bauerstown (259), Etna (149), & Aspinwall (102) for RIT. Police on scene report visible fire above the electric meter, on a two story residential structure and advise narrow street with access for one engine. Crews put two 1 3/4" lines into service in the fire building and attempted to access the fire in the attic space. Fire spread, through a common wall, into Exposure Bravo (908 O'Brian) and proceeded to run the walls into the attic space of the exposure. O'Brian Street Command called for a second alarm for manpower bringing in Mt Troy, Sharpsburg and Blawnox. An 1 3/4" from the building of origin was pulled and put into service on Division 2 of the exposure. When fire exposed itself on Division on of the exposure a 2 1/2" line was stretched into the exposure building to address the fire on division 1 and protect the crews on division 2 if required. The roof of both structures were ventilated to relieve heat and smoke from the second division and ease firefighting activities. Middle Road FD and Seville FC were called in to augment the RIT assignment as two structures were now heavily involved. Two Aspinwall RIT team members were put into service on the line to the division 2 of the exposure to assist with suppression. Aspinwall RIT was activated when a firefighter PASS device sounded on division 2 of the building of origin and escorted a firefighter out of the building with a faulty SCBA PASS. RIT was released at ~08:15. Allegheny County Fire Marshal's Office is investigating.
908 O'Brian Street was occupied by four local furs here in Pittsburgh. While the house they're renting isn't a total loss, it sustained heavy smoke, water and other damage necessary for fire suppression (Windows removed, ceilings pulled, walls opened up, ventilation holes in the roof.) Their housing is being looked after and Sil and I have extended an offer of temporary lodging. THEY HAVE LOST NEARLY EVERYTHING THEY OWN; Food, clothes, furnishings, electronics, etc. The furs affected are: thrashbear, fire_lupine, firefoxbc and landis_mclovin.
If you wish to make a donation, lildobe has set up a PayPal site in his journal. http://lildobe.livejournal.com/199892.html
Dobe, I and others will likely share information on where you can take/send physical donations of clothes, dishes, glasses, small appliances, electronics, what-have-you, as things settle down and we know where everyone is staying. Right now they're probably still picking through personal effects to see what they can salvage.
It sucks to see this happen to anyone. It's doubly hard when it happens to someone you know. The fire ran the attic space, assisted by the light wind, and entered the exposure through a common wall. I wouldn't dismiss balloon frame building construction to be a factor in the rapid extension of the fire into the attic space of the exposure.
Arm chair quarterbacking this fire, the only thing I'd have done differently is vent the roof of the structure of origin sooner to maybe relieve the smoke, fire and heat load that forced it's way into the exposure. Hind-sight is 20/20. I arrived just as the first line was calling for water and from what I saw, I think the Chief felt this could have been a quick knock down. I can't say I disagree with his ascertainment of the situation.
Local Media Coverage:
http://www.wpxi.com/news/25561712/detail.html
http://kdka.com/local/Millvale.fire.OBrien.2.1986410.html
http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/slideshow/news/25561263/detail.html
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/breaking/archive/s_706714.html
Swift
908 O'Brian Street was occupied by four local furs here in Pittsburgh. While the house they're renting isn't a total loss, it sustained heavy smoke, water and other damage necessary for fire suppression (Windows removed, ceilings pulled, walls opened up, ventilation holes in the roof.) Their housing is being looked after and Sil and I have extended an offer of temporary lodging. THEY HAVE LOST NEARLY EVERYTHING THEY OWN; Food, clothes, furnishings, electronics, etc. The furs affected are: thrashbear, fire_lupine, firefoxbc and landis_mclovin.
If you wish to make a donation, lildobe has set up a PayPal site in his journal. http://lildobe.livejournal.com/199892.html
Dobe, I and others will likely share information on where you can take/send physical donations of clothes, dishes, glasses, small appliances, electronics, what-have-you, as things settle down and we know where everyone is staying. Right now they're probably still picking through personal effects to see what they can salvage.
It sucks to see this happen to anyone. It's doubly hard when it happens to someone you know. The fire ran the attic space, assisted by the light wind, and entered the exposure through a common wall. I wouldn't dismiss balloon frame building construction to be a factor in the rapid extension of the fire into the attic space of the exposure.
Arm chair quarterbacking this fire, the only thing I'd have done differently is vent the roof of the structure of origin sooner to maybe relieve the smoke, fire and heat load that forced it's way into the exposure. Hind-sight is 20/20. I arrived just as the first line was calling for water and from what I saw, I think the Chief felt this could have been a quick knock down. I can't say I disagree with his ascertainment of the situation.
Local Media Coverage:
http://www.wpxi.com/news/25561712/detail.html
http://kdka.com/local/Millvale.fire.OBrien.2.1986410.html
http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/slideshow/news/25561263/detail.html
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/breaking/archive/s_706714.html
Swift