March 30 -
Shortly after 9 a.m., Rescue Squad 741 Bravo – at the time an old Montgomery County reserve rescue squad – was dispatched for a report of a house fire in the 5100 block of Wissioming Road in Glen Echo. While the squad was en route, E711 (Glen Echo Fire Department) advised communications that it was on the scene with fire showing from the front of a three story house (Side A).
RS741B was the third unit on scene. While E711 was advancing its 250' of cross-lay hose, the squad crew made entry into the house and completed a primary search of the first and basement floors, with no trapped occupants. They also turned off the gas meter – a precaution that firefighters take to eliminate the possibility of natural gas-fed fires.
The crew of three regrouped on the second floor and quickly performed a primary search of the bedrooms. Fire was still active on the second floor so they were met with heavy smoke, zero visibility. They broke out several windows to assist in venting the structure of smoke and heat.
The crew then made its way to the third floor where it again found heat and heavy smoke. With the help of two other companies, the squad crew took down drywall to locate the extension of the fire from the second floor. They took out more windows, which helped reduce the amount of smoke on the third floor.
In addition to the initial alarm, the incident commander requested a rapid intervention dispatch and two task forces. In all, units from Glen Echo, Bethesda, Cabin John Park, National Naval Medical Center, Naval Surface Warfare center, the National Institutes of Health, Kensington, Silver Spring, Rockville, and Fairfax County responded on this incident.
The homeowners were not home at the time of the fire and no firefighters were hurt. The Rescue Squad returned to service after about an hour.
Updated April 11, 2010
Check our "Squad in Action" page periodically for more incidents:
http://www.bccrs.org/Action.html
