Wednesday, May 26, 2010 A volunteer firefighter/Lt. woke up early to a smoke alarm sounding upstairs. When he went downstairs to investigate, he was met by heavy black smoke pushing up the steps. He went to awaken the other occupants: another volunteer firefighter and his wife. They had to use basic firefighting techniques by feeling the walls on their hands and knees to find their way around the downstairs to evacuate the house. While doing this, a fan was found on the carpet burning. The fan was tossed outside and the windows/doors opened. Cross wind ventilation quickly cleared the house. And since both firefighters took only seconds to realize the situation had been mitigated, and alarm was not transmitted. EVEN THOUGH, their fire station was literally across the street, and had this alarm been transmitted to dispatch, they would have laid out from the front apron. There were no injuries, very small spot on carpet was singed and very little smoke damage.
LESSONS LEARNED: Smoke detectors save lives!!! This is an example of 3 lives being saved because of working smoke detectors. Firefighters should be no exception. This is a perfect example of practicing what we preach. And by using their training and remaining calm, averted the possibility of certain tragedy.