Firefighters struggle to battle blaze after water pipes freeze in US
- 9 years ago
A dramatic video has emerged of firefighters trying to battle a house fire without access to water in Jackson Township, US.
The footage, shot with a helmet cam by one of the crew on Thursday 8th Jan, shows the men trying to pull layers of highly flammable insulation away from the flames to stop the propagation of the fire.
According to the filmer it was five degrees celsius with a windchill of -10 outside when the fire brigade arrived. The area had no hydrant and they found their water tank pipes had frozen solid.
"Not only were lines freezing, but us brothers who could barely move in gear that was frozen solid as well" the filmer later wrote online.
"Between tankers trying to bring water from a mile and a half away, as well as everything freezing, it was extremely hard to keep a constant water flow going".
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Filmer's description:
Short clip from my helmet cam this morning (3rd working fire in 7 days). We arrived on scene with 5 on the Tower. First of all the weather outside was 5 degrees at the time of dispatch with a windchill of negative 10 degrees. This is a mutual aid area for us outside of the city, with this exact location being down a one lane road (no hydrants). Because of this tanker operations were set up to begin a water supply. Well for those of you who know how the weather works, freezing temperatures usually lead to freezing water. Which was the case. Not only were lines freezing, but us brothers who could barely move in gear that was frozen solid as well. As far as the exact portion of this video that you are seeing, this is the front porch (alpha side) of a house that is gutted. The attached garage had already collapsed on the delta side. We also had a major collapse on the charlie/delta corner of the house itself. At this point we were opening up the porch roof, with 1 hand line behind us. However between tankers trying to bring water from a mile and a half away, as well as everything freezing, it was extremely hard to keep a constant water
The footage, shot with a helmet cam by one of the crew on Thursday 8th Jan, shows the men trying to pull layers of highly flammable insulation away from the flames to stop the propagation of the fire.
According to the filmer it was five degrees celsius with a windchill of -10 outside when the fire brigade arrived. The area had no hydrant and they found their water tank pipes had frozen solid.
"Not only were lines freezing, but us brothers who could barely move in gear that was frozen solid as well" the filmer later wrote online.
"Between tankers trying to bring water from a mile and a half away, as well as everything freezing, it was extremely hard to keep a constant water flow going".
---
Filmer's description:
Short clip from my helmet cam this morning (3rd working fire in 7 days). We arrived on scene with 5 on the Tower. First of all the weather outside was 5 degrees at the time of dispatch with a windchill of negative 10 degrees. This is a mutual aid area for us outside of the city, with this exact location being down a one lane road (no hydrants). Because of this tanker operations were set up to begin a water supply. Well for those of you who know how the weather works, freezing temperatures usually lead to freezing water. Which was the case. Not only were lines freezing, but us brothers who could barely move in gear that was frozen solid as well. As far as the exact portion of this video that you are seeing, this is the front porch (alpha side) of a house that is gutted. The attached garage had already collapsed on the delta side. We also had a major collapse on the charlie/delta corner of the house itself. At this point we were opening up the porch roof, with 1 hand line behind us. However between tankers trying to bring water from a mile and a half away, as well as everything freezing, it was extremely hard to keep a constant water