Everyday brings a new adventure for the GlobalFire team. While conducting hands on training this afternoon during the daily afternoon storm a fire dispatch came through. It was a reported house fire in San Sebastian, which is a neighbouring town. What was unusual about it was that all the Bomberos were in the station. They had a full response available and not enough apparatus to take them all.
Two GlobalFire members attended the incident with the Company 11 "Oficial II". The response time was approximately 15 minutes and they were one of the first fire vehicles on scene. The address added some difficulties as it was not on a street but down a lane between two houses. The house was not even visible from the street.
Upon arrival at the house the fire had been mostly extinguished by the resident and it was contained in one room on the first floor. The house was concrete with no roof on the second floor. The walls were approximately one foot thick and that contained the fire. The room was still very hot as the windows were small and offered very little ventilation. If this house was made of wood like most of the neighbour's houses, this very well could have been a full structure fire.
The Bomberos removed all the debris and overhauled as best they could. They have only one ventilation fan and it was in for repairs. The GlobalFire team had paid for the fan to be sent out for a complete overhaul as it had not worked in sometime.
Before clearing, a few minutes were taken to review the incident with the Bomberos. The previous days training was discussed and how it might have been utilized in the event this was a full structure fire.
The crowd that had gathered was large. When asked the "Oficial II" stated this is a usual occurrence. When asked if he could back up the crowd he said it might be dangerous to do without Police.
The Bomberos doing their job!
The crowd watching the Bomberos doing their job!
The debrief afterwards- proving they are great learners and thirsty for more and more info.
Returning to quarters!