STRUCTURE FIRE WITH BURN VICTIM
Incident #: 2011018498 Date of Incident: 5/13/2011 Issuing Officer: AC Schaeffer
Narrative:
On Friday May 13, 2011 at 2:32 PM, 8 Companies of Spokane Firefighters, 2 Senior Ladders, 5 Engines, 1 Heavy Rescue under the direction of Battalion Chiefs Cornelius and Jones, responded to a building fire at 229 West Second Avenue in downtown Spokane. While enroute to the incident, companies were notified that civilians may be trapped and one victim was reportedly ".on fire in the hallway of the first floor..." The first companies arrived within three-minutes and confirmed that smoke was showing from the front and rear of the three-story apartment building. The first due Engine and Ladder went to work immediately on arrival and secured water supply and stretched a hoseline in attempt to control the fire's progress and protect the egress of civilians from the upper floors. Simultaneously the Ladder Company searched the area of the fire unit for savable civilians. A male victim was located and removed from the hallway of floor 1 to the exterior where he was immediately treated by awaiting SFD Paramedics. All companies assigned on the alarm were immediately dedicated to searching the building while trying to suppress the fire's progress when they arrived. Decisive action by first arriving company officers allowed a successful search of the entire building which resulted in a confirmation that all 25 occupants were evacuated and accounted for. The fire was declared under control in less than 30-minutes and no other injuries were reported.
Cause:
The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Fire Department's Special Investigation Unit.
Damage:
Damage was limited to the first-floor unit of the fire's origin. The building was protected with a fire alarm system AND a sprinkler system. Both systems worked appropriately. The smoke detectors and fire alarm alerted all of the building's residents of the emergency and allowed for an early and controlled egress. The closest sprinkler head to the fire was activated and successfully kept the fire confined to the area of origin until firefighters could stretch hoselines to the seat of the fire and extinguish it completely. The building's safety systems have been restored and Fire Marshal Lisa Jones has allowed occupancy for the building with exception of the unit that received damage from fire. The victim is an adult male suffering from critical 3rd degree burns over 60% of his body plus significant airway burns. He was initially transported to Sacred Heart and has just been transferred to Harborview in Seattle.
# Firefighters Repsonding: 31
Dollar Loss: $10,000
End Of Release For more information on this release please call (509) 625-7002
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