3 Engine Companies, 1 Truck Company, 1 Medic Unit, and 1 Battalion (Battalion Chief and Safety Officer) were dispatched to a reported structure fire in a house early Sunday afternoon.
A large column of smoke was seen by crews leaving the station and it was upgraded to a Working Fire-additional Engine and Medic dispatched to the scene.
The crew on the first arriving engine found a well involved fire on side C with an exposure already starting to catch due to zero lot line and many items between the involved structure and exposure. A 2 inch cross lay was deployed and while waiting on water at the back of the house a propane tank and two gasoline containers went off. Shortly thereafter water was to the nozzle and the fire was knocked down and access into the structure was made. The Fire Fighter that was on the nozzle commented that he couldn’t see very well and another fire fighter looked and thought his mask just had water on it. When their air was low the firefighter from the first in engine and a fire fighter from the first medic unit exited the building and it was noticed that the fire fighter who had been on the nozzle was still having a hard time seeing through his mask. The fire firefighter with him then noticed that the face mask was bubbled up, the goggles were bubbled up as well as a few burn spots on the bunker gear.
The fire fighter was walked to the medic unit to be examined. 1st and 2nd degree burns were found on the fire fighter’s shoulder, knuckles, and thigh. The fire fighter went to the hospital for treatment and will be off duty for a couple of weeks while healing up.
During fire fighting operations a 2nd Alarm was requested due to the exposure problem. An Engine Company and Battalion Chief from Addison assisted.
Lessons Learned-
• The Fire Fighter was wearing all of his PPE- with his mask on when the fire event occurred- this truly protected his face from being burned
• Hose stream training earlier in the day caused the fire fighter’s gear to be soaking wet. This probably contributed to the fire fighter being burned through his gear.
