Here is a summary of Brentwood
Fire and Rescue’s emergency responses for the period of July 2 through July 7,
2012.
We responded to 80 emergency
calls for service.
These calls can be broken down
into the following categories:
Fire: 4
EMS/Rescue: 37
Hazardous Condition: 6
Service Call: 11
Good Intent: 7
False Call: 15
Here is an overview of significant events from this period’s activities:
Tuesday, July 3 at
approximately 9:15 pm:
All BFR units were dispatched on a reported structure fire. E4 was the
first unit on scene and reported no fire showing upon arrival. E4’s officer met
with the homeowner who stated that everyone was out of the home and that they
could hear a strange noise and smell rubber burning. Crew members made entry to
the home but found no evidence of smoke or fire. While investigating the cause
of the odor and noise, the thermal imaging camera revealed the attic HVAC unit
to be very hot but not on fire. The homeowner was advised to contact a repair
tech; all units were placed available and returned to quarters.
Wednesday, July 4 at
approximately 3:45 pm:
E2 was dispatched on a report of a natural gas leak. Upon arrival crew
members were able to find a leaking gas meter. The homeowner was not home. Crew
members shut the gas to the home off and notified the appropriate gas company.
With no other hazards present, E2 cleared the scene and returned to quarters.
Wednesday, July 4 at
approximately 8:26 pm:\
E1 was dispatched to a report of a transformer fire. Upon arrival, crew members found a burning
transformer on top of a utility pole. The
oil in the transformer appeared to be burning.
The entire street was de-energized, so E1 lobbed water at the
transformer via their deck gun from a safe distance and extinguished the fire. E1 remained on-scene until the appropriate
electrical company arrived. With no further
hazards found, E1 returned to service.
Thursday, July 5 at
approximately 12:59 am:
All BFR units were dispatched on a reported structure fire. While
enroute fire units were advised by a BPD officer that the roof of the home was
on fire and that the occupant was attempting to extinguish it with a garden
hose. E2 arrived on scene and reported no smoke or flames visible. Crew members
gained access to the roof and found a heavily damaged section that appeared to
have been extinguished with a combination of a dry chemical fire extinguisher
and a garden hose. The TIC was utilized in conjunction with salvage and
overhaul operations to determine that the fire had not spread and was fully extinguished.
The homeowner stated that personal fireworks had been in use earlier in the
evening despite being banned within the city, and that appeared to have been
the cause of the fire.
Thursday, July 5 at
approximately 11:55 am:
E3 and R1 were dispatched on a reported single vehicle accident, vehicle
VS utility pole. Upon arrival, E3 found the occupant out of the vehicle and
walking around. The driver decided to be transported by EMS to an area hospital
for further evaluation. The impact of the vehicle snapped the pole. The
appropriate utility company was notified to respond to the scene to replace the
pole. Once the scene was under control, all units were placed available and
returned to quarters.
Thursday, July 5 at
approximately 4:32 pm:
E1 was dispatched on a reported brush fire. Squad 1a (a special hazard unit set up
especially for grass fires during this high hazard time) responded as well as Brush
1. E1 arrived to find a small area of
grass near a retaining wall that had burned, but was out. Crew members checked for hot spots and found
none. Some firework debris was noted,
but E1’s officer was unable to determine if they were the cause of the
fire. The initial caller had indicated the
presence of teenagers in the area prior to the fire, but crew members did not
make contact with anyone on scene.
Determining that no further hazards existed, all units cleared the scene
and returned to service.
Thursday, July 5 at
approximately 6:35 pm:
E1 was dispatched on a report of a possible exterior natural gas
leak. The engine arrived on scene to
find a significant gas leak from the meter on the side of the residence. E1’s firefighter secured the leak after
donning full PPE. Since no one was home, the appropriate gas utility company
was notified. Once the gas company
technician arrived on scene and secured the gas meter, E1 returned to service.
Thursday, July 5 at
approximately 7:36 pm:
E1 and R1 were dispatched on a report of two elderly persons stuck in an
elevator. R1 arrived first on scene and
found the building’s staff members attempting to open the doors. R1 ensured that an elevator technician was
responding, but was unable to ascertain an ETA for their arrival. E1 arrived on scene and made contact with the
trapped persons, who were both elderly and in poor health. Based on this, E1’s officer decided it was in
the victim’s best interests to forgo waiting on the repair tech and open the
elevator doors to remove the occupants. After
ensuring that the power to the elevator had been turned off, crew members safely
removed the occupants without further incident.
With no further hazards present, all units returned to service.
Thursday, July 5 at
approximately 8:31 pm:
E1 responded to a report of live electrical wires down which had caused
a grass fire. Crew members arrived on
scene to find BPD and electrical company personnel on-scene of lines down with
small fire burning in the grass. Per the
electric company personnel, E1 were to assume the lines were live. E1 waited until the fire had burned a safe
distance away from the wires & fence before extinguishing it using a flapper. The cause of the fire was due to the pole
breaking, resulting in power lines arcing.
This was the pole that had been damaged earlier in the day at the above
listed single vehicle crash (this occurred in District 3, but as E3 was on
another call, E1 responded in their place).
The scene was turned over to BPD, who remained on-scene to assist with
traffic control. With no further hazards
present, E1 went available and returned to quarters.
Friday, July 6 at
approximately 4:24 pm:
E3 was dispatched on a report of a child locked in a vehicle that was
not running. E3 responded emergency
traffic. Upon arriving on scene, E3 found
the vehicle’s owner out with BPD directing us to the vehicle. Crew members utilized E3’s lock out kit to
force entry into the vehicle. There
appeared to be no heat related injuries to the child due to the lock out. E3 marked available and left the scene.
Friday, July 6 over a period of
approximately 3 hours:
BFR crews ran
numerous calls related to the storm that passed through the area. The calls
were mainly related to downed trees and power lines. Due to the excessively
high call volume, crews were dispatched based on the severity of the incident
and often would be immediately dispatched on another call as soon as they
cleared the previous call. Members of BFR did their utmost to keep roadways
open and mitigate any hazards due to downed lines.
