Detroit Fire Battalion chief talks about 2-alarm fire response

Jeffrey, J-E-F-F-R-E-Y, URBAS, U-R-B-A-S, Battalion Chief 5. You're all right. Original alarm came in about 8-11, 8-12. 12, uh, uh, Fire alarms are going off. Off. 911 was dispatched. Two companies to start, 35s and Ladder 7 came. Found smoke, found active fire, called immediately for a commercial assignment. Within five, six minutes, we had all companies here. I arrived too, called the immediate second alarm because they had an occupied 12-story apartment building. How are you feeling? Companies went up, found active fire in a dirty hallway on 12, I'm sorry, on 9, originated 9-13. Team. We pumped into the standpipes, took a little bit to find the actual apartment that was on fire. In the meantime, we were rescuing many tenants, smoke inhalation from 8 to 11, getting many calls through 911 that people were calling. Somebody was trapped in this apartment, that apartment. Two children were transported. Along with their mother, one female for smoke inhalation, one male was transported at this time. Many others had smoke, were treated on scene by EMS and refused to go. We did perform one rescue operation on the Bravo side of the building, the west side. One man was hanging out, window on 9, he was a 9-12. We were able to get our ladder 7, our platform up to him, bring him down from the outside, he was trapped. His apartment was not tenable. He could not come through the dirty hallway, so we could not do an interior rescue. I had to bring him down from the outside. So one apartment unit is where it originated and stayed. The rest of them are going to have water and smoke damage. What do we know about how the fire started? We don't know right now. We have arson on the scene. We have fire marshals on the scene. They'll do their investigation. It appears the apartment was occupied, but at the time nobody home. So mostly contents that burn, you know, your furniture and whatnot, but we do not know what started it. How do you feed your kids to the fire? I believe they're on the same floor. I don't have an apartment number, but they're with their mother. They were able to bring them out through the building, so they took a little more smoke, but they didn't have to come down the ladders. They were able to come through the building, but there was more smoke for them, not only in their apartment, but in the hallways and the stairwell that they had to come down. How are people feeling? I mean, this fire on the ninth floor, that's pretty intimidating. It's intimidating for everybody, intimidating especially for the residents because they don't know where it is. If they're in their apartment, whether it's 12 or 6, and they're smelling smoke, they're scared. I'm tired. Sometimes shelter-in-place is proper because the apartment's tenable and there's just a little bit of smoke on the exterior of it, so you're safe to be in your apartment, and a lot of times we've got to do rescues. What's next for support and relief for these residents waiting to get back inside? We have fire marshals clearing the building as far as getting the alarms back up and running. We have a warming bus. We have Salvation Army on the way, Red Cross. Don't know how many will be displaced at this time because, once again, it's mostly water and smoke for the other apartments. The one apartment that burned, it's toast. So we heard something about an electric scooter. Do you know if there's an electric scooter? First, I've heard of that. I have no clue. But those are dangerous. Very dangerous. Those batteries are very dangerous. When they burn, they burn hot. They should not be in there. Especially the non-UL listed ones are really bad. So when people buy the cheaper stuff off Temu, it's garbage. Don't do it. But I have no knowledge of that. The cause is still under investigation. You guys still working to figure it out. But I mean, at this point, it's getting cold and, you know, and we see these fires pop up. What's your message to residents and residents, you know, as they, you know, conduct and try to stay warm this winter? Well, I believe our fire marshal did something on that. Obviously, you know, if you're using alternative forms of heating, you got to be careful. Careful if you're having, you know, using a... A space heater. Don't use too many, don't use an extension cord. Don't keep it near combustibles, near your bed, near your curtains, things like that. Don't have your stove on or your oven on. I know people have to do what they have to do, but that starts a lot of fires. We find a lot of fires that way. So it's just about being smart. Not much more we can do. Our men and women today did a fantastic job, by the way. Fantastic. You know, there was a short response early. They called for... Help, commercial box, which led to a second alarm. Many more companies, everybody went to work. As of right now, we have no fire injuries that I know of. I don't know what you're talking about. Everybody did a great job and did what they were supposed to do on all angles of this building. It can be complex, a 12-story building. So they did a great job. Pardon me? I don't have that. Did you have age of children? I don't have exact age. They look pretty young, maybe six years old. I just got a brief look at them, but I don't know. When it comes to the damage, the smoke damage and the water damage, how many floors is that impacting? Is it just the ones near the 9th floor? Is it everything? Well, the smoke can rise. You have smoke lift depending on how the building's built and their HVAC systems. But smoke did lift up to even 11 because we were getting calls through 911, people calling, hey, I'm trapped in this one, that one. We'd send our members up to clear the floors, check, bring them down safely through the stairwells. So the smoke can rise up. Water's definitely coming down. And that's what we're doing right now, trying to clear and see how much damage there is for other apartments, especially on that Bravo side of the building is where it started. Most of the water is there, but we had to charge the standpipes, so it charges all the way up. It charges everything. So water could leak anywhere. Can you speak on the complexity of dealing with the building like this when it comes to rescuing and putting out the fire? Well, like I said before, there's complexity because of 12 floors, complexity because of the size of the building. All four sides, it's hard to see all four sides. Our initial company saw a fire, active fire, when they got here with a small response. So they immediately called for a bigger response. That way we have more members to help, whether it's through ground ladders, through platform trucks like the one that just passed. Thank you. Your typical aerial stick, whatever it takes, you know, we're going to go find you. We're going to go get you. This kind of stems from the same question, but we've all covered apartment fires where it ends tragically. What do you think was the difference maker in this situation? Well, the alarms were working. That was good. They do not have sprinklers, so there was no active water to put on a fire until we got to it. That takes time. It takes sometimes a lot of time. When you're getting up to the 9th floor, which our members did, it's called a dirty hallway, which means they could not see. There was tons of smoke, no visibility, a little bit of heat as they got closer to the apartment on fire. All right, now they know they're close. The door was closed, but they could feel the heat. So then they knew. You're almost guessing when you go up there or going by what dispatch notes say. They could hear people screaming, so they went the right direction. But when you go up the middle of a building, you know, they knew it was on that side. But sometimes you get disoriented up there. But they did a fantastic job. They did exactly the way it's supposed to go with our high-rise equipment. Stand pipes work well. We have good pressure out of our hydrant. So best-case scenario, nobody seriously injured. A little bit of smoke.