A View from the Street; Remembrance and Paying Respect A brief trip on Friday took me to the City of Buffalo, New York. Following business, I made my way to 1815 Genesee Street. As the morning sun began to burn off the light layer of fog, I came upon my destination which at first glance […]

A fire in a three story multiple family apartment building injured four City of Chicago (IL) firefighters when an interior stairway collapsed during firefighting operations. The building was constructed in 1927 and consisted of 5456 square feet of space with 3-5 apartment units. Built of masonry wall construction with a wood floor joist system, the […]

Eleven Minutes to Mayday: Lessons from 2008 Resonate Today

Recalling the Cugees Fire and Collapse of 1981

“Firefighter Falkenhan was a well-respected and experienced firefighter. He died performing his duties during a very complex incident with severe fire conditions and unique fire behavior coupled with the immediate need to perform multiple rescues of victims in imminent danger. It would be easy if one particular failure of the system could be identified as the cause of this tragedy. We could fix it and move on. Unfortunately it is not that simple. No incident is “routine”. Mark’s death and this report reinforce that fact”. From the Baltimore County (MD) FD LODD Report.

Residential Fire Injures Seven Firefighters: Wind Driven Conditions Suspected. Apparent wind driven condition contributed to rapidly escalating fire conditions resulting in extreme fire behavior during initial fire suppression operations being coordinated at a single family residential dwelling (SFD) fire Friday night February 24th in Riverdale, MD

This incident appeared from the onset to be a routine “room and contents” fire that the SFFD encounters on a regular basis. As the Companies were performing standard fireground operations, the incident rapidly deteriorated due to a hostile fire event. The failure of a window in the fire room allowed fresh oxygen to enter the room, providing a fire that was deprived of one of the key elements of combustion to rapidly intensify.

FDNY Brooklyn Box 4080: 17 Vandalia Avenue 12.18.1998