FIRE

He he he.

The call came in a little after 8 in the evening. "Medic Engine 461, mutual aid response for a vehicle fire at highway 62 and Indian, highway 62 and Indian." We very quickly got dressed and jumped in the rig. We were dispatched to help out Riverside County Engine 37 and they had a 3 minute head start on us. Pulling up to the intersection we noticed flames on Indian just west of highway 62 and also we noticed that Engine 37 was going to get there before us. We contacted dispatch and let them know what we had and they let us know that there were reports of a 55 gallon drum on fire. As we approached we noticed that it was not a car fire but just a 55 gallon drum that was fully engulfed. Engine 37 pulled just passed the drum and we stopped just short of the drum. Mongo, one of the firefighters I work with, and I quickly jumped out and grabbed the bumper line. I grabbed the nozzle and approached the fire. It took all of 5 seconds to get the fire out but it was still a fire! Eric talked to the Captain from Engine 37 and we released them from the call. Later, Eric told us that the guys from Engine 37 were really bent out of shape that we got their fire for them. We mopped up and CHP called CalTrans to come pick up the fuel drum. We left the CHP in charge of the seen and went back to the station.