BY JERRY KNAPP
The dispatch we were hearing while en route was one of those radio messages that sends chills up your spine: "PD reports kids trapped by fire." As we rounded the corner, fire was blowing out of several windows, and smoke was pushing hard and black. In the back of the rig, the firehouse banter stopped, faces got their game day looks, and we got ready. The engine stopped for what seemed to be a split second at the hydrant, dropped a line, and proceeded to the scene. As we got off the engine, the state trooper was obviously shocked as he reported that he "saw the girl at the second-floor window"-the one that now had fire belching from it. Fire had complete control of the house-every room, every floor, every door and window.
In 1975, we did not know it, but we made a great transitional attack, quickly knocking down the fire from the outside with a 2½-inch line, shutting it down, then pushing interior attack lines in with a search crew right behind. In a few minutes, the fire was knocked down. A member of the attack team looked out of the second-floor window and shouted to the captain outside, "Cap…I got three."
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