BY JEFF SHUPE
It's 2:45 p.m. on a bright summer day. Your engine company has been dispatched with a full box alarm assignment for a reported fire in a building. You and your crew are now responding through the streets of your district. Fire Dispatch Center notifies you en route that you are first due. As you get within a couple of blocks of the reported location, you see a column of grayish smoke in the distance over the rooftops of the buildings. As your engine turns the corner into a block of commercial buildings, you see a medium to heavy smoke condition that is starting to bank down in the street. It's a working fire in a one-story taxpayer. The smell of the smoke indicates involvement of contents and other things.
The fire building is on a main thoroughfare—there is plenty of room to maneuver fire apparatus into position. Water supply isn't a problem either; hydrants are nearby and water mains along this street are large and will deliver more than enough.
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