How Did That Fire Spread So Quick?

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An excerpt from my local paper regarding a 4th Alarm in Austin on Monday.

I've got to give the Austin-American Statesman props, they do a great job of reporting on both the good...and sometimes the bad. This article is an example of how they went to the correct source, got some great facts, and this is how they presented it to the public....I don't think Austin-ite's would settle for anything less.

Battalion Chief Harry Evans said fire officials are curious as to how the blaze spread so quickly and why the afternoon fire appeared to catch so many residents off guard. Firefighters had to devote their initial efforts to rescuing residents rather than fighting the fire, he said. They also called for many more firefighters, whose numbers eventually totaled 100.

Evans said it's possible that no one immediately called 911 — he said sometimes residents incorrectly assume someone else is calling — or that residents spent too much time trying to fight the fire themselves.

Battalion Chief Don Smith said firefighters, in addition to investigating into how the fire started, are looking into whether certain preventive measures could have kept the fire from spreading as quickly. They also will try to determine how many smoke detectors were functioning.

Smith said the complex passed an inspection in October after firefighters initially found that some units did not have fire extinguishers, as required by code. The complex, which was built in the 1970s, does not have a sprinkler system, which is not required because of the age of the complex. City code did not begin mandating sprinkler systems until the late 1980s.

Louise Joubert, an 11-year veteran of the Austin Fire Department, said that as she left for the scene, she was thinking of what she was going to do to fight the fire. But as soon as she pulled up, her priorities shifted.

"We didn't know when we got there that there would be imminent rescues," Joubert said. "There were people on balconies handing babies down, smoke billowing from the windows and people just running all over the place."

David McCornack, another Austin firefighter, said he is jarred thinking about the scene he saw as crews drove up.

"You just can't believe it at first, but then training kicks in and your adrenaline gets going," McCornack said. "You only work fires like this once during your career, and I am proud that no one died. It was like something out of a movie."

FULL STORY: http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news...6/0506fire.html