It took less than 30 minutes for the Seattle Fire Department to knock down a fire at 9034 13th Ave NW this afternoon.
The call came in at 2 p.m. and 16 units were dispatched. Kiro 7 also dispatched their helicopter. Fire crews on the scene cut holes in the roof and some smoke was showing when we arrived. By 2:30, the fire had been declared out. Neighbors don’t believe anyone was home.
Seattle Fire responds to Crown Hill house fire
sixteen units?
news helicopter?
slow news day apparently? firefighters short on overtime?
hey yawnie, complain much?
House fires get the largest response feasible because they pose such a huge risk to neighbors, life and property. So yes, 16 units.
And for the record there was no overtime involved because of this response- those were firefighters already working the day’s shift. Sheesh.
Also note that 5 of those units are battalion chief/safety/investigators who are “administrative” and not actually holding hoses. And every live fire (and walkthrough after) is a training opportunity. There’s nothing like the real thing…
What a chuckle-head Yawnie. Let’s hope you NEVER have to dial 911 for anything, ever. Ever ride the karma train there sport? Some peoples kids. I am thankful for these folks who want to at times risk their lives to make a $ and be there during our times of need, despair, tragedy, etc. We really don’t want 1 guy with a helper dude fighting fires, do we? Well, maybe @ Yawnies!
Good response, and good job – firefighters!
When I think about the possibilities, it is a relief to read the outcome.
I, too, am grateful to the firefighters for their hard and dangerous work!
Well I *was* going to post some sarcastic jab at busting the firemen’s union (do they have a union?) and bloated public services, and maybe add a heaping helping of deficit drivel. But it’s just not funny any more.
I would have laughed.
so the ‘administrative’ people have to go out and watch?
my boss doesn’t watch everything I do. aren’t these people competent?
so you’re positive, NOT ONE of these firefighters worked past their shift?
I really doubt it. Firefighters milk more overtime than any other city workers.
OFCS, you just don’t get it.
In that particular incident, SFD probably had about 50-60 people on site because it’s possible for house fires to get out of hand and threaten the neighbors houses. If there’s a fully-involved fire next door, do you want the minimum possible response? Do you want each crew to be rolling their own response or do you want a corrdinated effort?
Let’s compare and contrast. When my company has a project with 15 people on site, they have one or two managers there. They have a safety guy there. That’s for routine operations. It’s not that we don’t trust people to do their jobs, it’s that you need certain expertise and coordination when you have a lot of people on a site. Even more so for a fire.
BTW, the overtime you mention is not for an incident running over time. It’s because the department has minimum staffing standards and someone has to be on duty to meet those standards at all times. Every so often, someone is sick or on vacation and they need to bring someone else in on overtime. If we had a few more employees, we wouldn’t need overtime, but then you’d be whining about overstaffing.
I’m 99.9% sure that none of these firefighters were working overtime as an extension of their scheduled shift. As a general rule, SFD firefighters are only allowed to work 4 hours past shift change (officially at 8:00 AM) waiting for their relief to arrive. At noon, they are generally sent home even if it leaves a unit short-handed for a brief period. The fire came in around 2 PM.
The “administrative” people are there, in part, to provide a command presence and awareness of the “big picture.” If you’re up on the roof with a chainsaw, searching inside a house that’s on fire or dragging a charged fire hose towards the fire, you’re focused on the task at hand and may not be aware of some change that might have a direct impact on your safety.
Also – about 1/3 of the units are held in reserve to be able to give the first arriving units an opportunity to come out of the building and change out air cylinders that become depleted after about 15-20 minutes of work.
I’ve seen a unit left short-handed in that situation twice in twenty years. It almost never happens.