What really happens when the fire is out?
What started on Swan’s Island with the emergency pager rousting fire fighters out of bed at 3:30 a.m. on July 24 to fight the library fire did not end until 7:30 p.m., 16 long hours later. That would be a long day on any job, but especially long for volunteer fire fighters, who know there is no second shift coming to relieve them.
Once the flames are out, the fire fighters begin another very important part of the job-waiting. Waiting for the state fire marshal to arrive, complete the investigation, and clear the site.
In the case of the Swan’s Island Library fire, partial walls remained standing and needed to be knocked down to make the site safe. The fire site had to be overhauled-the process of carefully going through the remains of the structure looking for any hot spots, or areas that might flare up once the fire fighters leave the scene.
Flare-ups are very common at a fire scene and can occur long after the active fire is put out, even days later. The process of overhauling a site can be tedious, especially a fire site like the library with piles and piles of books, a ready-made source of fuel for a fire. Any smoldering area could quickly ignite again, so much time is spent combing through the site before declaring it safe.
On an island, the wait time for the fire marshal to arrive is much longer than a mainland fire. In the case of the library fire, the marshal arrived on the island by way of the marine patrol boat. He could not make it in time to catch the first morning ferry, and after that the ferry stopped running due to a power outage.
In a volunteer fire department, many of the fire fighters must leave the fire scene to go back to their paying jobs, leaving a smaller compliment of fire fighters to complete the remaining work. This leaves a few, very tired men, to complete the clean up work.
At the library fire, heavy equipment was brought in to knock down the remaining walls of the library building. Afterwards, the few remaining fire fighters used a thermal imaging camera to comb through the rubble to make sure all sources of fire were out.
Once the site is declared safe, the fire fighters return all of the trucks and equipment to the fire station. Despite exhaustion, they must clean all of their equipment, do maintenance, and ready everything for the next time they are called out to protect the community. Hours are spent washing hoses, laying them out to dry, placing clean dry hose back on the trucks, making them ready for service again. The trucks themselves must be washed to remove the debris from the day’s fire. Each vehicle is filled with water, fueled up, and fluids are checked before parking it in the station.
The work continues with cleaning and maintenance of individual protective gear. First, the SCBA tanks, (self contained breathing apparatus), must be filled, the exterior of the tanks and harnesses cleaned, masked sanitized, and all equipment put back into service.
Next comes the turnout gear, the protective suit the fire fighters wear. Depending on how soiled the gear is, you must scrub your jacket, pants, hood, gloves and boots, getting all the black soot off, or at least as much as you can.
The final element is the incident debriefing, which usually takes place at a meeting held sometime after the fire. The fire chief will discuss with department members what went right, what went wrong, any equipment issues they may have experienced, and how they might improve.
All of this work, done behind the scenes, takes many additional hours. Remember, nearly all of the men and women working for island fire and rescue departments are volunteers. They deserve a big thanks from all of us whose property, lives, and communities they protect!