Another Great Stop By A Great Department

[x635 4,066]

The photo below shows a major structure with two attached exposures. This was a bar on the famous 6th Street nightlife area in Austin. There was heavy fire on arrival. Crews quickly knocked down the fire in the center building (now demolished), and the adjacent businesses opened only a couple of days later with minor damage. (The pub to the left decided to keep the awning as a reminder. The adjacent buildings were shored up, and a new building is currently beeing planned.

I've seen many stops such as this while I've been down here. Austin Fire-Rescue impresses me. They are really bread-and-butter, very into their jobs and they see a lot of fires and other incidents. They train hard, and are seriously into safety. They staf properly, and have plenty of coverage. Every incident seems smoothly run, simple, and efficient, despite the size or scope.

[99subi 121]

Are most of the depts down there career?

[Remember585 815]

Something should be said, too, about the building construction. Knowing your response area gives you a little bit of a pre-plan. You know that older construction, whether it is mill type or ordinary, will hold up a hell of a lot better then the stuff thrown up and occupied nowadays. An example could be the river communities of Westchester. Most of us have turn of the century buildings which could sustain heavy fireloads, and the adjoining exposures may suffer little to no damage. Knowing this information can help an IC determine if an interior attack can be mounted - and if they know a little about the building, time of day, occupancy and renovations - whether an interior attack is even neccessary. The risk vs. the reward has to be carefully weighed, and one of those deciding factors is knowing the building you're responding to.

Thanks for sharing the pics, Seth, too bad you don't have any of the firefight, I would like to see them.

[ny10570 745]

Not to take away from Austin Fire-Rescue, but how much of the survival of the exposures is a result of building construction and how much firefighting? The exposures appear to be protected by 18 to 24" of masonry with no evidence of a common cockloft. Had it been modern construction, lightweight trusses and common spaces how much exposure would be left?

[FIRECHIEF63 55]

The true definition of a Good Stop is summed up in the following;

Good Firefighting + Timing + Good Old Well Built Construction = "A GOOD STOP"

Edited May 4, 2009 by FIRECHIEF63

[x635 4,066]

Not to take away from Austin Fire-Rescue, but how much of the survival of the exposures is a result of building construction and how much firefighting? The exposures appear to be protected by 18 to 24" of masonry with no evidence of a common cockloft. Had it been modern construction, lightweight trusses and common spaces how much exposure would be left?

Most of the departments here in Central Texas are career. Austin FD runs with 4-5 man engine companies, 6 man Quint companies, and 5-6 man truck companies. The first due were an Engine and a Quint from only a few blocks away. I wish I had taken a photo before the demolition begun. I should point out, they use CAFS and/or Class A foam down here aggressively, and both first due apparatus were equipped with such.

I'm trying to find the rest of the photos from this fire, but this was a two story, wood frame garden style apartment, with heavy fire showing from the top quarter of the building. This was from a department just north of Austin, in Round Rock, also a great department.

If you look at the rest of the building, although there is heavy smoke damage throughout and some water damage below, they stopped the fire quickly. In fact, they just removed the debris and rebuilt the apartment recently, and redided the others in the building....you would have never known there was a fire there.

http://www.x635photos.com/displayimage-41-27.html

[ny10570 745]

The true definition of a Good Stop is summed up in the following;

Good Firefighting + Timing + Good Old Well Built Construction = "A GOOD STOP"

Excellent point