Attach Truck 51 To The Call

While on a medical call for a man with runny nose we heard Engine 52 get dispatched to a smoke investigation. Almost always a BS call....almost. No specific address but there was an address for the RP (reporting party). We listened in as Engine 52 arrived on scene and reported the smell of smoke in the area. Now our ears perked up both for the next radio report from the Engine and for the sound of our ambulance.

Both showed up at once.

Engine 52 announced that they had smoke coming from the eves of a house mid block and asked dispatch for a first alarm assignment and a tactical channel. They had a working structure fire.

As our ambulance crew exited their vehicle I gave a short but sweet pass along (thankfully my patient wasn't critical). 62 year old male, runny nose times 12 hours. The crew, having also been listening to Engine 52 said, "We got it, GO!"

"Dispatch, Truck 51, attach Truck 51 to the call with Engine 52."

Now 1 minute out we let Engine 52 know that we are approaching the scene with Engine 53 right behind us. We get assigned to vertically ventilate the house while Engine 53 is assigned to tag a hydrant.

As we were throwing a ladder to the roof we received word from Engine 53 stating that a neighbor reported that the homeowner was still inside the burning house. We immediately switched from vent group to search group.

My crew and I entered the house and I made contact with the Captain from Engine 52. He said that they had found several different fires inside the residence. He said that he would search the left side of the house if we searched the right. 

Inside the first bedroom I looked through the thermal imager and saw a man laying on the the bed. I stepped back out of the way next to the door and directed my firefighter and engineer to the victim. They grabbed him by the arms and legs and carried him outside.

Outside in the grass, we started a quick assessment of the patient. He was not breathing and he had no pulse. I directed my crew to grab the EMS gear while I started CPR, still masked up and breathing through my SCBA.

After 3 minutes of excellent EMS care the patient's heart started beating again. Fortunately the ambulance was just arriving on scene. It seems just as soon as we arrived on scene we were leaving again, this time in the back of the ambulance taking out patient to the ER.

After the call we found out the the victim had intended suicide. He had also set some booby traps for us. Behind each bedroom door, he had set a 5 gallon bucket full of gasoline with sheets tacked to the ceiling leading to the bucket. He had also poured gasoline all over the house and started several fires. Fortunately for us, the house was well insulated. There was so much smoke in the house that it smothered the fire. If we had been able to ventilate the house the outcome may have been totally different.