New Rochelle 2/14/2011 Church Fire Discussion

[61MACKBR1 222]

Other than New Rochelle FD's entire fleet (Engine 21, 22, 23, 24, & 25, Ladder 11, 12, 13 and Rescue 4) does anyone know what other neighboring fire departments were brought in to assist in this 5 Alarm Fire? (Mount Vernon? Yonkers? Pelham? Eastchester? Mamaroneck?, etc, etc)

[HFD201 0]

Other than New Rochelle FD's entire fleet (Engine 21, 22, 23, 24, & 25, Ladder 11, 12, 13 and Rescue 4) does anyone know what other neighboring fire departments were brought in to assist in this 5 Alarm Fire? (Mount Vernon? Yonkers? Pelham? Eastchester? Mamaroneck?, etc, etc)

Pelham, Pelham Manor, Greenville, Fairview, Hartsdale, Mamaroneck

[StOpGoBlUE 11]

Larchmont , all of new rochelles spare engines, and ladders were manned and brought to the scene as well as utility 91

[DR104 141]

Pelham, Pelham Manor, Greenville, Fairview, Hartsdale, Mamaroneck

White Plains

[Alpinerunner 61]

Wow! With 5 alarms can I assume that the church is gone?

[R1SmokeEater 359]

[WHFD318 17]

Larchmont , all of new rochelles spare engines, and ladders were manned and brought to the scene as well as utility 91

I saw this morning on the way to work all the mess. Ladder 14 (Spare/Former L12) was set up on Locust and Clinton and looked like master stream from Eng 22 was hitting the front of the building at 7 this morning.

Tough fire and a lot of hose stretched.

[efermann 28]

That video shows a lot of fire from that one side. I would love to see which apparatus (or at least what types - eng, ladder, tower ladder) were placed where. It's probably not going to happen with anything other than a sketch, but I think it would be a great learning tool to see where the different trucks were placed.

EDIT: I attached 2 different views from Bing maps in case anyone could use them to add some of this information. It looks like it was really tight on the two (B and C) exposures.

Edited February 14, 2011 by efermann

[27east 19]

Was the mutual aid covering and operating at the fire?

[R1SmokeEater 359]

Bill Tompkins photos:

http://www.btfirephotos.com/2011/New-Rochelle-NY-2-14-11/15835046_Ci84e#1187383389_qjbsy

[JohnnyOV 2]

Bill Tompkins photos:

http://www.btfirepho...187383389_qjbsy

Looks like solid truck placement with all the wires around.... props to all the chauffeurs

[TheBuff376 8]

And yet another memorible Valentine's Day in New Rochelle....RIP P.O. McLeod......

In another, even more tragic event, on the morning of Valentines Day 1977, a disgruntled employee at the Neptune Movers on Weyman Avenue returned to work after a two week suspension and went on a shooting rampage. Within seconds he had killed four and wounded two fellow employees, Heavily armed, Frederick Cowan, then took up a position to await responding police units. Police Officer Allen McLeod was shot and killed as he exited his police vehicle in the company parking lot, and three officers were wounded as they attempted to assist him. A standoff that lasted into the late afternoon concluded when an assault team located Cowan's body in an office where he had apparently committed suicide.

[61MACKBR1 222]

I see from the reports and photos that both Larchmont and White Plains each had a Ladder/Tower Truck at this site working.

Question regarding Mutual Aide? I can understand Larchmont, Pelham, Pelham Manor, Mamaroneck, all being a close neighboring locations being requested to send in Engine and Ladder/Tower trucks and that makes sense and Mount Vernon, with their current limited resources, not being called into NewRo for this job, but why not bring in a Ladder Company and Engine Company from Yonkers FD to work this job, say vs. having White Plains come in with their Ladder Truck and Greenville FD with their Engine Company? Wouldn't the response time to this job from Yonkers be faster than say White Plains and Greenville? (or possibly Yonkers had a job or jobs going on at the same time that prevented any mutual aid request?)

White Plains

Edited February 14, 2011 by 61MACKBR1

[batt2 145]

I see from the reports and photos that both Larchmont and White Plains each had a Ladder/Tower Truck at this site working.

Question regarding Mutual Aide? I can understand Larchmont, Pelham, Pelham Manor, Mamaroneck, all being a close neighboring locations being requested to send in Engine and Ladder/Tower trucks and that makes sense and Mount Vernon, with their current limited resources, not being called into NewRo for this job, but why not bring in a Ladder Company and Engine Company from Yonkers FD to work this job, say vs. having White Plains come in with their Ladder Truck and Greenville FD with their Engine Company? Wouldn't the response time to this job from Yonkers be faster than say White Plains and Greenville? (or possibly Yonkers had a job or jobs going on at the same time that prevented any mutual aid request?)

I was working last night. Yonkers didn't have any jobs. We're low on NR's Mutual Aid list.

[NJMedic 96]

I've been to six church fires in my career in once it gets into the main body of the building its time to break out the hot dog winies because that is pretty much all you can do, plus some exposure protection. All of them ended looking like that You Tube video.

[Remember585 815]

In that video - am I hearing correctly that a woman keeps saying "this is a sign?" LOL

[efermann 28]

Bill Tompkins photos:

http://www.btfirepho...187383389_qjbsy

Thank you for the link to the pictures. The streets look like they were packed pretty tight, and I can start make out most of the apparatus placement from these pictures. I can imagine there must have been at least a little bit of a logistical headache that came with trying to direct incoming units to get to and set up in particular locations.

Great pictures and thanks.

[LTNRFD 266]

I see from the reports and photos that both Larchmont and White Plains each had a Ladder/Tower Truck at this site working.

Question regarding Mutual Aide? I can understand Larchmont, Pelham, Pelham Manor, Mamaroneck, all being a close neighboring locations being requested to send in Engine and Ladder/Tower trucks and that makes sense and Mount Vernon, with their current limited resources, not being called into NewRo for this job, but why not bring in a Ladder Company and Engine Company from Yonkers FD to work this job, say vs. having White Plains come in with their Ladder Truck and Greenville FD with their Engine Company? Wouldn't the response time to this job from Yonkers be faster than say White Plains and Greenville? (or possibly Yonkers had a job or jobs going on at the same time that prevented any mutual aid request?)

Did White Plains send TL 6 & L-33???

[TR54 239]

Did White Plains send TL 6 & L-33???

Ladder 33 on scene. Original dispatch was re-locate to NR Sta3 , sent to fire while enrt.

L33 (old 32) is a spare but it was in service last night covering as TL 6.

[M' Ave 1,466]

From the looks of that video, they had heavy fire from the get go. I'm just guessing because the second stick was still going up. Tough deal when you're met with such advanced fire on arrival.

[LTNRFD 266]

Ladder 33 on scene. Original dispatch was re-locate to NR Sta3 , sent to fire while enrt.

L33 (old 32) is a spare but it was in service last night covering as TL 6.

Thanks....the initial report I heard was for the TL-6 to respond to the scene. This was on the first request for MA to the fire for 1 engine and 1 TL. The company was dispatched, but not with the tower ladder.

[Chief21 8]

It is always great to see the pictures Bill produce from these devistating times. As had been said, the logistics of placing all those ariels and supply lines must have been a nightmare. My only question is looking at the photos, why was the power still on to the building? I would assume with the magnitude of the incident and apparatus in use, they woud have atleast cut the power. There are a few pictures of the side entrance to the building, with the flood light still on?

[Bnechis 3,961]

My only question is looking at the photos, why was the power still on to the building? I would assume with the magnitude of the incident and apparatus in use, they woud have atleast cut the power. There are a few pictures of the side entrance to the building, with the flood light still on?

Because it took time for conEd underground crews to arrive and shut off the power.

Edited February 14, 2011 by Bnechis

[X2321 133]

Some more photos from the New Rochelle 5 alarm church fire. http://jukebox.lohud.com/photos/refers/index.php?gallery=Union%20Baptist%20Church%20fire%202-14-11

[FirNaTine 370]

What Depts. were covering the City and how many copmanies?

[FirNaTine 370]

I see from the reports and photos that both Larchmont and White Plains each had a Ladder/Tower Truck at this site working.

Question regarding Mutual Aide? I can understand Larchmont, Pelham, Pelham Manor, Mamaroneck, all being a close neighboring locations being requested to send in Engine and Ladder/Tower trucks and that makes sense and Mount Vernon, with their current limited resources, not being called into NewRo for this job, but why not bring in a Ladder Company and Engine Company from Yonkers FD to work this job, say vs. having White Plains come in with their Ladder Truck and Greenville FD with their Engine Company? Wouldn't the response time to this job from Yonkers be faster than say White Plains and Greenville? (or possibly Yonkers had a job or jobs going on at the same time that prevented any mutual aid request?)

And these other Depts. that responded don't have resource and manning issues?

[bigrig77 95]

We all have staffing issues. Did any other dept. respond to the scene other then WP and Larchmont? I can't really tell from the pics and video. I would assume you needed a number of engines to lay line to all the elevated water towers as well as to protect exposures. Great stop to the guys of NRFD. Could have lost the whole block on that one.

[HFD23 37]

We all have staffing issues. Did any other dept. respond to the scene other then WP and Larchmont? I can't really tell from the pics and video. I would assume you needed a number of engines to lay line to all the elevated water towers as well as to protect exposures. Great stop to the guys of NRFD. Could have lost the whole block on that one.

Those photos show all NRFD plus NRFD Spare apparatus, LFD tower 7 WPFD L-33, Greenville E-150, TMFD E-36.

[PFDRes47cue 653]

Just out of curiosity, what was done in terms of rehab? Any rehab units assigned to the job?

[efdcapt115 1,511]

Can a New Rochelle Brother explain the alarm order....The I.A. states 2nd alarm on arrival, and 5th alarm with fire showing through the roof. Was this a progressive alarm increase, or were all NRFD units committed upon the 2nd, and as M.A. Companies began arriving in the city, were they special called to the scene; did this constitute technically a 3rd and 4th alarm? As NRFD spare units activated were they treated as an alarm increase?

Just curious.

Looks like a tough night, the fire commanders and firefighters had their hands full from the beginning; keep in mind NRFD rolls with only two firefighters and an officer, or three firefighters (or has that changed) and from the company officers, chauffers, firefighters to 2302 to 2301 I'm sure their full professional experience was called into play in making some very important choices to prevent this fire from becoming a conflagration in the 2-3 exposures. Is it true there was a water company issue on the other side of the city? And you guys managed to get big water on a big fire, let's here it for straight tip streams...ALL of Westchester should take a look....

Congratulations to the FD's involved, with an apparent lack of serious injuries....sorry to the Church members, I'm sure there are many broken faith-tested souls out there today. May they find Peace with the Lord after this test.