Dave's Place!  Emergency Services Videos, Pictures and more...
[ Pictures - Home ]    [ Videos ]    [ Fire Stations ]    [ Feature Sections ]

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

N. Smithfield House Fire

North Smithfield Green Leaf Heights Fire Department

UPDATE:
I drove over to North Smithfield today and managed to find one of the firefighters who was at the fire. We spoke at his home for several minutes and he gave me the phone number for the department's President of the Board.

Just a few minutes ago, I spoke with the President of the Board, another extremely friendly person. We talked about their department, what they're trying to do and what they need.

Communications:   Their greatest need, right now, is communications. When someone's house catches on fire in the District, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office calls one of the Volunteers at his home and he has to call the other members. They have no way to page or call their members over the radio.

One of the firefighters told me that he and another member of the department were on the way home, not knowing that there was a fire, when they saw smoke in the area. They drove until they found what was burning... the house. They had no idea that their department was on a call. Had they had pagers, they would have known about the fire.

To complicate matters, neither the department's station nor their engine are equipped with a radio. So, as you can see, they are in desperate need of some way to communicate.

Turnout gear:   They have 5 sets for the entire department. Not all of the members can fit in them.

SCBA:   They have 2 SCBA's for the entire department. They could use some help with SCBA equipment, including extra air bottles.

Hose:   The engine doesn't have enough hose for a long lay. They could use more hand lines, too. The department uses 2 1/2" and 1 1/2" hose.

At this time, these are the main areas of need.

I want to thank the department who has already offered to help. I received an email from Georgia offering equipment for these gentlemen. If your department has some good surplus that can still be used as front-line equipment, please consider giving what you feel is appropriate. For questions and to arrange for a donation, please email me.


#######


This morning, the North Smithfield Green Leaf Heights Volunteer Fire Department responded to a house fire on Pope Lane. Upon arrival, the house was well involved.

The Volunteer Firefighters worked hard to fight the blaze but the house was too far gone to save.

Many may not know but there is a volunteer fire department in North Smithfield that covers the Green Leaf Heights area. It is located near I-65 and 41st Avenue North and is almost completely surrounded by Birmingham. You can view a map with a picture of the station on the Fire Station Mapping page.









Alabama Power disconnecting the line...










Partial wall collapse...




The rest of the wall is leaning and ready to collapse...







One of the automobiles caught fire, too...
















Engine 1...







4 Comments:

At 11/07/2006 10:09:00 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

surely their is some fire dept that has some extra gear and such to donate to these fine gentlemen, before one of them gets hurt or killed, not sure if they are certified or not, but they do need protection.

my hats off to this guys for giving their time

 
At 11/07/2006 10:37:00 PM , Blogger EMS Action said...

They were the nicest bunch of guys you could hope to meet. Seeing them with no gear or SCBA made me really worry about their health and safety.

 
At 11/08/2006 06:33:00 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

I was going to leave the same message last night, but gezzzz. If they need gear let us know and we can start a used gear drive or something.

 
At 11/08/2006 10:22:00 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

they need gear from what i understand and other equipment

 

Post a Comment

<< Home