Close Calls: Much More Than A Close Call - Part 2

As discussed last month in part one, on Aug. 5, 2014, there was a reported fire in which the New Carlisle Fire Department (in Indiana, near Notre Dame, south of the Michigan border) responded. Their tones went off, the mem­bers turned out – it was another fire call. A fire call initially, not unlike ones that they, you and I have turned out for so many times before. However, in this case, the end result will be tragic with the line-of-duty death of Assistant Fire Chief Jamie Middlebrook and an extreme close call for others.

In part two, we have the opportunity to learn from personal accounts of members who were operating on that scene and who were directly involved with the emergency operation.

This account is from Fire Chief Chris Antonucci of the Warren Township Fire Department, who responded to this fire. Chief Antonucci is also a member of the New Carlisle Fire Department:

On the evening of Aug. 5, I was re­turning home from a Red Knights meeting on my motorcycle when I noticed a large smoke header to the north. I pulled to the side of the road and checked my phone to see if New Carlisle (NC) had a call. I saw that New Carlisle was called to mutual aid Kankakee Township (LaPorte County). By the time I got home, NC had called a box alarm, which included a squad and a box chief from Warren Township. I got into my command vehicle and headed for Warren Township because I knew there would be no coverage there.

A second alarm went out, and I decided to turn around and go help my volunteer department and glad I did! While respond­ing, I heard the chief call a Mayday. I could not believe what I was hearing!

On my arrival, I did a face to face with Chief (Joshua) Schweizer. He told me that Jamie (Assistant Chief Middlebrook) was missing, and that he turned com­mand over to my assistant chief from Warren (Tony Vanoverberghe). I noticed Tony sizing-up. We briefly talked, and I then assumed command. I set up a com­mand post and sector and division officers. There were very few accountability tags accounted for at that point. I called over the radio for all companies not assigned to a task to report to the command post. I then asked (Opera­tions) Chief (Jim) Lopez from South Bend to take over operations.

I met with the crew from Squad 18 (Warren) who was rehabbing after the res­cue. Captain (Sean) Killelea told me his crew was assigned a defensive attack, when Chief Schweizer called them to mask up and prepare for RIT operations.

Captain Killelea, Firefighter (Jay) Pen­dergrass and Firefighter (Aaron) Carsten (all from Warren Squad 18) were to follow the hoseline in to search for Chief Middlebrook and Firefighter Matt O’Donnell. They fol­lowed the hoseline until they ran into the collapsed debris. They heard Firefighter O’Donnell making noise off in the corner of the building. He was off the hoseline. In attempt to reach that firefighter, they ex­perienced another collapse! The crew took shelter under a truck in the barn. They then made it to Firefighter O’Donnell, and with the help from a crew from Engine 191 (NC) pulled that firefighter to the door. The crew was exhausted and emotionally frustrated.

The first collapse happened between Chief Middlebrook and the hoseline entering the struc­ture. The heavy fire condi­tions were knocked down enough to bring in heavy equipment to remove the roof system that had fallen on Chief Middlebrook. His body was recovered and put into an ambulance through a long line of firefighters pay­ing respect to a fallen brother. All mutual aid companies helped put New Carlisle’s rigs back together and sent them home. The companies then returned to putting out the rest of the fire. A long night I will never forget, and hope never happens again.

This account is from Firefighter/EMT Jay Pendergrass of Warren Township Fire, who was on the rapid intervention crew:

I was in quarters at Station 18 (Warren Township) on the evening of Aug. 5. We heard the call come over the radio for New Carlisle and right away, based upon informa­tion, we knew we were going to be going. We heard special traffic saying that there were a lot of explosive fuels inside the build­ing. Then we got the call. I was in Squad 18 as a back step (jumpseat) firefighter along with Firefighter Carsten. Firefighter (David) Beckwith was driving and Captain Killelea riding the right front seat.

We arrived on scene of a large commercial structure with heavy fire showing. We were instructed to connect our apparatus into Engine 191 for relay pumping. After we had that set up Captain Killelea, Firefighter Carsten and myself were in SCBA (self-con­tained breathing apparatus). We grabbed our tools, walked up the drive where we were instructed from command to get an attack line from Engine 91 and defensively attack the fire. While on the attack line (1¾ inches) from Engine 91 the pressure dropped, and we were unable to use the line. (The suction line from Engine 91 failed. It was later found that the gasket was faulty.)

We were then instructed to take another attack line off Engine 23, once it made its way up the drive. We put our tools down and masked up. Captain Killelea noticed a lot of commotion in front of us where the loading dock was, which is the location where As­sistant Chief Middlebrook and Firefighter O’Donnell had entered the building. (The Squad 18 crew knew they were going in to search for them at the time the chief asked them to be a rapid intervention team.) Then we heard the Mayday called by command.

At this time, Captain Killelea, Fire­fighter Carsten and myself, along with an unknown firefighter from another depart­ment were paired together. We entered and followed the hoseline into the building, and at this time, the unknown firefighter had left.

At the collapse area

While following the hose, we came up to the collapse area, where we started digging in the insulation. At this point, Captain Killelea noticed someone to the right of him. Upon further investigation, we determined it to be Firefighter O’Donnell who was trapped and disoriented under debris against the wall. We made our way to him and got the debris off and started dragging him out.

With Firefighter Carsten on his right and myself on his left and Captain Killelea in front of us, we started working our way out of the building. As we were making our way, Captain Killelea noticed the roof was getting ready to come down due to cracking sounds. The heat was also getting to extreme levels. Captain Killelea informed us that we needed to get out now.

At this time, as we pushed Firefighter O’Donnell to the door, things got bad and I covered myself up against a truck that was inside the building and everything went dark. It became extremely hot inside the building. Then I noticed some sort of light and I went toward it. I ended up falling out the door we entered in. The crew remained together and we then made a face to face to make sure all members of Squad 18 were out of the building.

The Mayday was cleared because command thought everyone was out and accounted for. The confusion was that NC had two Jamies and two Middlebrooks. We went to rehab. After rehabbing, we were instructed to get a K12 saw off the truck and cut into the rollup door, but informed command that it was unsafe to do so. We went to rehab again and after that we as­sisted with overhauling the fire until they were able to find Assistant Chief Middle­brook’s body. After the removal of him, we continued to overhaul the fire until it was under control.

This account is from Warren Township Fire Captain Sean Killelea, who led the rapid intervention crew:

On Aug. 5, the Warren Township Fire Department was dispatched for mutual aid to assist the New Carlisle Fire Department with a Squad 18 and a chief on a commercial fire. I responded with Squad 18 as captain with along David Beckwith as engineer and Jay Pendergrass and Aaron Carsten as fire­fighters. While on the way, dispatch made several attempts to inform New Carlisle command of large amounts of fuel being stored within fire building before command answered that message was received.

As we were responding along US 20, ap­proaching the scene, heavy black smoke and flames could be scene from the roof of the fire building (about a quarter-mile north of the incident). Upon arrival, Squad 18 was given the assignment to relay pump from the street to Engine 191 by command. Squad 18 Engi­neer Beckwith stayed with Squad 18 to begin the relay pump and drafting operation while Squad 18 crew (Captain Killelea, Firefighter Carsten and Firefighter Pendergrass) went to the command post for our assignment.

Squad 18’s crew was given the assign­ment to staff a 1¾-inch attack line off of Engine 91 and go to the southeast side of the building and continue defensive opera­tions. Once Squad 18’s crew got to the attack line of Engine 91, attempts were made to charge the line without success. Engine 91 was unable to pump at that time. I informed command of this issue with Engine 91 and we were reassigned. Command advised us to pull an attack line off Engine 23 that was arriving on scene, and at that time driving up the driveway on the north side of the building, and to continue to our assignment.

At this time, I advised Firefighter Carsten and Firefighter Pendergrass to go ahead and don our masks and get ready to go on air, when command yelled for Squad 18, stating he needed our assistance right away. Command stated that there had been a collapse of the structure and that there were two firefighters trapped inside. We were instructed to follow the hoseline al­ready advanced into the building.

The Squad 18 crew went on air and en­tered the structure through a cutout from a garage door on the north side. As we made entry, I saw an unknown firefighter in tan gear exiting the structure. Also upon enter­ing, we had good visibility and moderate to low heat. Additionally, upon entering, it was immediately noticed that nothing could be heard due to loud noises coming from the collapse area. We listened for any PASS devices or yelling, but could not hear anything else.

Downed firefighter found

We followed the hoseline up to the edge of the collapse where visibility decreased and heat increased. At this time, I noted that the east wall area of the collapse was fully in­volved in fire. Also at this time, I made note that myself, Firefighter Pendergrass and Fire­fighter Carsten had entered the structure, and no other firefighters were among our crew. I then noticed the shine of a flashlight slightly to the right of my point of view and instructed my crew to focus search toward the light.

After a rapid visual and physical search in that area of the collapse, I continued to search to the right following the collapse to­wards the west wall where I found a downed firefighter. The downed firefighter appeared to have his legs trapped beneath part of the collapse and was attempting to crawl for­ward; however, something was keeping the firefighter from advancing (it appeared to be either a desk or a large wooden shelf). I called for my crew to assist with rescue. The downed firefighter appeared to be confused and disoriented. Myself and Firefighter Pen­dergrass instructed the firefighter to back up several times without success. The downed firefighter appeared to behave as if we were not there. I then instructed Firefighter Pen­dergrass and Firefighter Carsten to attempt to extricate the firefighter by pulling him backwards while I lifted part of the collapse to free his legs. Firefighter Pendergrass and Firefighter Carsten were able to free the down firefighter at this time.

I then returned my focus to where the firefighter was removed from and performed a rapid visual search for other firefighters. Myself with the Squad 18 crew then began to start helping the downed firefighter. Squad 18’s crew yelled to the firefighter to “Get up!” while attempting to assist the downed firefighter to a standing position. This was at­tempted three to four times without success.

As the Squad 18 crew continued to re­move the downed firefighter, I heard loud cracking and believed the remaining roof structure was starting to collapse on to us. I yelled “Get out!” of the structure and saw Firefighter Pendergrass grab the downed fire­fighter, who began moving toward the exit.

During this time, visibility is still good and low heat is felt. Quickly after I com­manded my crew to exit, visibility was to­tally lost and extreme heat was immediately felt. I began to feel debris striking my helmet and back. It was at this time that I believe the secondary collapse occurred.

During these moments, I saw my flash­light reflect from a piece of metal to the right of my point of view. I believe this was a fuel tank from a truck we had passed when enter­ing the structure. I dove toward this to protect my head and upper body. After the moment of collapse had completed, I rapidly moved toward what I believed to be the exit, where my facemask struck an unknown material. I then lowered my head and exited the struc­ture to see Firefighter Pendergrass falling to the ground.

I immediately checked Firefighter Pendergrass to see if he was safe and unin­jured and saw the downed firefighter being pulled to the right of my point of view. I then looked for Firefighter Carsten. After finding and checking Firefighter Carsten to see if he was safe and uninjured, I met with command for a “face to face.”

Me: “Is everyone out of the structure?”

Command: “Yes.”

Me: “Are you sure?”

Command: “Yes.”

I then returned to my crew to doff our masks and collect ourselves. It was during this time that we heard that a firefighter had not been found and was still inside the fire building. After a quick exam, it was noted that the building was now fully involved by fire and command would not/could not allow anyone back into the building.

We then met with Chief 1802 (Vanover­berghe), who at that time was sector chief, and were given our next assignment.

Next: Further review and comments