Fire and Fighters
At approximately 9:40 am, the Madisonville Fire Department received a tone to respond to a structure fire at Harrah’s Hose and Hydraulics, located at 4430 Hanson Road. Truck crews housed at Station 4, approximately 1 mile north of the business, weren’t even on HWY 41 before they saw the smoke and radioed back to dispatch notifying them that this was a working structure fire. Fire crews pulled up, positioned their apparatus, dropped the hose, and made an interior attack to the building. It wasn’t long before the decision was made to retreat and setup a defensive stance due to the hazardous materials that are stored inside the building and the lack of control the interior crews were able to sustain. It was also noted that the roof fell in shortly after the interior team was pulled out
While positioning for a defensive attack, the ladder truck was called for because of it’s ability to provide large quantities of water from outside the building. Hose streams were setup to “surround and drown” the structure in an event to extinguish the fire as quickly as possible. In the end, even with the ladder truck there, it still took approximately 6 hours for the department to fully extinguish the fire.
The problem lies in the lack of understanding that the building occupants had with fire department operations. Their position was that it was taking entirely too long to get water on the fire. This may have seemed the case, but one must realize that while fire crews are inside the building, you simply can not spray water from the outside. This creates an enormous amount of steam that endangers the crews inside. In addition, there is a strong possibility that applying water from the outside may actually push the fire on the crew inside. The possibility of having burned firefighters is extremely high in this case. We do our best to control and extinguish hazardous and out of control situations, however there is only an acceptable level of risk that any firefighter is willing to take. We will do the best job we can, but we also plan on making it home to our wives and children afterwards.
Because of the occupants lack of understanding, there was quite a bit of tension that developed between them and the firefighters. Attempts were made to bring the tension under control, but this was impossible due to the escalating anxiety shared by everyone. It can be a painful time when your business, workplace, and the home of your second family burns around you while you are unable to do anything about it; Tension is understandable. With people not knowing when their next paycheck will come or if their business will survive; Fear is understandable.
However, heckling the firefighters while they are trying to do their job, throwing around racial slurs directed toward various fire crews, and attempting to start fistfights is simply unacceptable. I am appalled that the business owner let his people express themselves in such a negative manner like that. To be doing your best to help someone out of a painful situation while receiving the brunt of their anger is humiliating. To be criticized, verbally abused, and assaulted while trying to help those attacking you is simply degrading.
I pray for those whose only wish is to help others, yet received one of the most painful attacks yesterday.
God be with you guys.
