Unattended candle ignites house fire on S. 37th Street

Incident Date:  11/4/13
Issuing Officer:  Joe Meinecke
Incident Location:  1201 S. 37th St.
Incident Type: House Fire

Narrative:  At 9:34 p.m., Firefighters from stations 2,4,7,8,9,11 and 17 responded to a reported house fire. The first arriving engine company found smoke and flames showing from the basement of the 1 1/2 story approximately 5,000 square single family home functioning as a group boarding home.

Crews attacked the fire with handlines and conducted a thorough search of the structure to confirm no one was trapped in the blaze. Initial reports were that one occupant had reentered the house and was missing. However, it was eventually determined that all 11 occupants of the residence were able to escape without harm. A working smoke alarm is credited for alerting the occupants to the fire.

Firefighters also removed an unconscious cat from the fire, were able to resuscitate it, and reunite the pet with it's owner.

The Red Cross was requested to provide relocation assistance for those displaced in the incident.

The cause of the fire was an unattended candle igniting combustible materials resulting in an estimated $19,000 to the building and its contents.

 

Spotlight on Training - Mass Causality Incidents

When Firefighters arrive on-scene of an incident that has multiple patients, or more patients than emergency medical service resources, they will declare a Mass Causality Incident (MCI). Once an MCI is declared, the appropriate level of resources are deployed, and a definite and well coordinated flow of events occur: triage, treatment and transport. Triage is the initial process of determining the priority of patients based on the severity of their condition.

Firefighters honed their MCI skills today during a multi-company drill. The scenario: a car explosion rips though several vehicles, killing four people, injuring seven others, and trapping three patients in vehicles requiring specialized stabilization and extrication. Crews practiced all three phases (triage,treatment and transport) of an MCI in this exercise.