The Northgap Fire, My First Time

by Eric Dopp

"Windcrest you have a structure fire with entrapment at 6003 Northgap. Your time out is twenty-one thirty-two. For Windcrest, you have a structure fire with entrapment at 6003 Northgap."

I officially began my career as a firefighter at age eighteen, but I really began while in middle school. Everyday I walked home from school, I would stop at the Windcrest Volunteer Fire Department (WVFD) to visit the firemen. I'm sure I was a pest, but they always took the time to answer my questions and tell me stories.

At age 17, a sophomore in high school, I began attending the regular Wednesday night training sessions at the station. After I turned 18, the WVFD elected me as a member. WVFD is a first responder department, so the first six months I went on a lot of medical calls. We had a few fire calls, mostly false alarms or little fires. It was fun and exciting, but not until the Northgap Fire did I understand what it means to be a firefighter.

The first call was about nine-thirty. It was reported as a house fire with people trapped inside. (Fortunately, no one was injured.) I was at a party at a friend's house outside the city and didn't hear the first call.

The first truck didn't roll until nine minutes after the call due to the fact that the crew had to wait for a driver. It took two minutes to get to the house and when they arrived they found a fiery inferno. The flames were rolling under the garage door.

The firefighters on the truck, both rookies and veterans, told me they felt their stomachs in their throat as they saw the orange glow of the flames from six blocks away. They knew this would be a big one when they saw the flames peeking over the trees from two blocks away. And when they arrived on the scene it sounded like the Chinese New Year. The firefighters thought they were hearing fireworks so they didn't mind them. (Later, it turned out, the popping was ammunition that the people who lived there were storing.)

The fire had moved into the attic by the time the five inch-hose was laid. Twelve minutes into the call the first crew finally started putting water on the fire. By then, the fire had dramatically spread through the house, especially when it hit the attic. My fellow firefighter, Mario, was assigned to the west side of the house, which was the garage area, to prevent the fire from spreading to the shed and over the fence and to the other houses. He did a darn good job of it.

At ten o'clock a second call came over the pager requesting assistance. I was able to hear this one. The address was next door to the house of one of my friends at the party. We jumped into my van and headed for the scene.

I will never forget the feeling I had when I saw the flames leaping into the sky from three blocks away. The flames looked like Sky Dancers and I remember thinking "how can destruction come from such beauty."

When I arrived on scene I jumped out of my van and walked to the police barricade. I told them who I was and they let me in. As I approached the fire I saw a two cars burning in the driveway. The heat was indescribably intense.

I suited up in full bunker gear and air pack. Another firefighter and I went to the front of the house and waited as a refreshed back-up crew of two. We were instructed to enter the building and I remember looking up and seeing fire angels, or the fire that is fueled off the gasses.

It was my first time in a major structure fire but my training took hold and I didn't have time to be scared. I recall looking into the living room and seeing part of the roof fall in. I was handed a pike pole and instructed to pull down sheet rock with it. I pulled one sheet down that blew out fire. Fortunately, I was not hurt but it sure was hot!

I fought my way to the back bedroom where the hose was. I noticed two groups of firefighters leaving due to low air packs. I wondered why mine hadn't run out because it only lasts about ten to fifteen minutes and I KNOW I had been in there for at least an hour!

When I arrived at the back bedroom I was assigned as the hoseman's partner. We fought the fire in that room and won so we left to return to the front door.

I was instructed to go to the rest area. When I took off my pack, I saw that I had a nearly a half bottle of air left. It felt like I had been in the fire for an hour but it couldnt have been more than ten minutes! I rested about two or three minutes and wanted to go back in. Instead, the site commander assigned me to put water on a homemade gun safe.

By this time we knew there was ammunition stored in the house and garage. The gun safe was smoking badly when Mario, another friend and firefighter, and I started watering it. Every once in a while we heard popping come from it, so we decided to move to the side of the cars and water at an angle!

About one in the morning I went to the back of the house and helped put out "hot spots". The house was still on fire but we had to make sure that the fire in our area wouldn't recur, trapping the firefighters inside. Shortly thereafter, I began to feel weak and had to go rest.

About two that morning we had the fire under control and many firefighters started to go home. I volunteered to stay on night watch. The night watch crews look for and put out "hot spots."

There were two crews that had this duty. Crew One had from 2:00 to 4:00 a.m. and Crew Two had from 4:00 a.m. to daylight. I was assigned to Crew Two with Mario, my friend, and Tom Winn, the fire chief.

I went home to clean up and arrived back on the scene a little after 3:00 a.m. Crew One decided to do another check of the house and I joined them. We found a fairly large fire in the kitchen that was a rolling flame. We put it out then left the house to wait for the rest of Crew Two.

They arrived around twenty minutes to four and relived Crew One. Tom set up his fire chief's car and went to sleep and Mario and I sat and talked for a while. We checked on the house every fifteen minutes: Tom went through the front door, Mario took the back door, and I the side door and we all met in the family room. Sometimes we would find fire and sometimes we wouldn't.

This action continued until about six in the morning. The neighbors were very wonderful. They brought out coffee and juice to us at 6:00 a.m. After drinking our coffee and juice, we took another round and found nothing. We sat back for a while and then the neighbors came back with breakfast tacos. It was greatly appreciated!

At about seven forty-five we did a last pass and had permission to open the safe. The fire was so hot that it had melted the padlock but left the clasp hook. We finally pried it open and found old guns, military rifles, coins, and ammunition in it; all welded together due to the heat and "cooking" all night.

My first major fire was exhilarating, confusing and down right scary! It convinced me, however, that I had picked the right career. I only regret that we were not able to save this house.

The unofficial report stated three volunteer fire departments responded to this fire. Windcrest V.F.D provided three trucks; Engine One, Engine Three and Tower One. Montgomery Drive V.F.D provided two trucks; their Engine Two and Rescue One. Camelot V.F.D. provided their Engine Two. More than fifty volunteers responded and we put twenty-eight thousand gallons of water on the fire. The fire originated in a water heater in the garage and spread so fast because the attic door was open. There was two hundred and fifty thousand dollars damage to the house.