Wednesday, January 20, 1999
Fire departments face dilemma
Send crews into empty dwellings?
BY TOM O'NEILL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
ANDERSON TOWNSHIP — Sizing up an unoccupied structure through which fire rages, the decision by commanders to send in firefighters is a balance of risk and benefit.
It is a decision often made within seconds, involving unforeseen factors.
Send a firefighter into a burning home and you might save the owner some irreplaceable family photos, or the house itself. Send a firefighter in and he or she might not come out alive, all in a battle in which no lives can be saved.
A run of six house fires in a recent five-week period — unusual and increasingly dangerous because four originated in the garage — highlighted the dilemma for field commanders who make those on-site decisions.
Several of the families remain homeless, still staying with friends or at hotels.
“The main consider ation,” Anderson Township Fire Chief Dan Esslinger said, “is we're going to try to save the structure and contents whenever possible, but you always have to weigh that against the danger. The price of the house doesn't matter. To the people in every home, there are things that are invaluable.”
Other departments have similar criteria and concerns.
“There's not five factors or 10, but dozens that need to be evaluated, and in a split-second,” Reading Fire Chief Steve Ashbrock said.
None of the Anderson fires is considered suspicious, nor do they appear related. Everyone got out before firefighters arrived.
Father of three Kevin Cheney lived at 48 Hamilton Parkway for 15 years. He said he understands officials' crucial dilemma, but had firefighters arrived at his home Jan. 9 before fire overtook it, he said he would have wanted them to enter his home to save it.
“Yes, I would have wanted them to go in,” said Mr. Cheney, who lost everything and has no homeowner's insurance. “All my photos over the years. Photos are priceless. I can buy a new TV, refrigerator.”
Anderson Assistant Fire Chief Craig Best said the decision not to enter Mr. Cheney's home was a sad but easy one. However, in two other recent fires, the decision was different — and each time it nearly had a very high price.
When firefighters arrived at 312 Bishopsbridge Drive at 4:35 a.m. Dec. 29, ammunition in the garage ignited, riddling the back of a car with bullet holes and causing a gas tank to explode. Mo ments later, as firefighters prepared to enter the garage, a second “flash over” explosion occurred on the second floor of the house, knocking out a porch near the front door.
In one instance, firefighters were sent inside a burning house at 7680 Athenia Drive on Jan. 8, Lt. Richard Farr was crawling when his knee went through the floor. He was uninjured.
He escaped injury again seconds later when the nearby kitchen floor collapsed.
He serves as a reminder of the potential peril.
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