Car fire on 10/06/06

Responded to a huge cargo van fire (contractors painting van) yesterday. I normally would not write about something like this but this one was one of the biggest I've ever seen in my career - and of course I was on the line with the "rookie" backing me up.

As we arrived the painters van was fully involved as the dispatchers said - what they didn’t say is that the van was sitting right next to a condo unit. Well as we got off the truck my rookie partner did everything he was supposed to and followed me up to it textbook style. As the line charged and I started to get some water I knew my first priority was to save the house so my first target was there. It really surprised me that the brick and garage door went out very fast and looked as if I got it with one hit. Now I could concentrate on the van. Here is where it got very interesting.........

As I started to put some water on it, it got worse - very worse, very fast...............

What I didn’t know was that the van had tons of painting supplies that the owner just fully stocked today. Also in the back was approx. 5 gallons of gasoline in a gas can for his pressure washer. Now try fighting a fire with items that all react with water - but wait now it gets worse.........

Also in the van was tons of "magnesium", which will not only react with water but burns hotter with water and started a chain reaction which looks like a giant sparkler. Now as I'm putting water on this thing and trying to show the rookie "how its done" the magnesium blows and knocks us both back approx. 6 feet. I did not get injured or anything it just freaked the shit out of me. My partner had the same feeling as I did - we both just shit our pants - the feeling was that wet stuff that runs down your leg...............

For my rookie partner it was his first car fire. For me it was the biggest car fire I've ever see in 13 years in the service. It proves one thing only. Every call I go on is and will be different till I retire. Best part of it was nobody got hurt and now we have a great story for the rest of the department on how the rookie did on his first car fire.

This is a picture of the drivers seat area- taken from my cell phone - Can you see the engine block from inside the cab?. Oh wait did I forget to mention that the frame of the van "melted" to the driveway and will have to be repaved.

Copes