Champion Waste Third Alarm Fire

Engine 14 was dispatched for an unknown fire on Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 to the intersection of 26th Avenue and McDowell Road.  While enroute, multiple calls were received reporting a fire at Champion Waste.  Enroute, E14 could see a large column of smoke, and balanced to call to a 3-1 Working Fire response.  Upon Captain Gene McDaniels arrival on E14, they found a working fire in a large stack of baled cardboard and plastics, with fire being fanned by moderate winds, pushing the fire towards the west in heavy fuels.

E14 asked for the balance of a First Alarm Assignment, and layed a supply line into the business, quickly putting their stang gun into operation.  Additional units from the 3-1 assignment began to arrive, and made access to different sides of the fire, using a combination of stang guns and hand lines to begin applying water to the fire.

Crews had a lot of fire showing, with what seemed like unlimited materials to burn.  Two engine companies (E97 and E98) with Recruit Fire Fighters added onto the incident, and were some of the first arrive on scene.  The recruits were on their first vehicular rotation, after spending 10 weeks in the Academy, and this would be their first real test of fire fighting.

Engines 10, 18, 24, 8, 9, and 4 also arrived with Ladders 1,4, 24 and 26 arrived and began to deploy master streams, hand lines and set up for ladder pipe operations.  Engine 97 experienced pump problems, and had to be replaced by Engine 8 to supply Ladder 1's elevated stream on the West side.  Ladder 4 set up on the South Side,  with Ladder 24 on the North Side.

Engine 4 gained access to the business to the East of the fire that was a direct exposure at this time.  After finding a hydrant, E4 hand jacked the majority of their supply line to the hydrant and began operating their stang gun to cut the fire off on the East side.  Hampered by low water pressure in the area, E4 and Engine 8 both required additional engines to pump their hydrants to supply additional pressures for the master stream operations to be effective. Ladder 26 set up on the East side of the fire to complete the surrounding of the fire.

The fire took nearly 2 hours to control, and crews remained on scene well into Wednesday morning operating Foam 44 to overhaul the fire.

The fire is still under investigation, and no injuries were reported.

50 Photos - Use The Arrows to Navigate

.