Editor's Note: Firehouse Magazine will take a closer look at the Stilt Court fire in its August and September issues as part of Chief Billy Goldfeder's Close Calls column.
A routine call to a house fire last year took a turn for the worse for Sacramento firefighters -- and it was all captured on tape.
Kevin Trost, a retired captain with the department, said the department learned many lessons from the incident, and the video; which he shared with attendees at Firehouse Expo in Baltimore last Friday.
Three firefighters and a captain were trapped on the second floor of the single family home while battling the Oct. 7, 2008 blaze.
All four made it out, but the captain would suffer serious burns to his hands and neck and was transported to the University of California Davis Medical Center for treatment. The three firefighters were transported with less severe injuries and were released that day.
Firefighters were alerted that Tuesday morning at approximately 9:29 a.m. for a report of a structure fire located at 17 Stilt Court. Unfortunately, the fire occurred in the only district in the city that didn't have an engine or truck in it. Because of this, it took Engine 15 six minutes and seven seconds to arrive.
After Engine 15 arrived on the scene at approximately 9:35 a.m., the crew began to initiate an aggressive interior attack. Engine 18 soon arrived on the scene and assumed command.
As smoke conditions changed, Trost said firefighters became separated.
"If your response is over four or five minutes, you have to come in with a different mindset to fight the fire," he said, adding that at that point an aggressive interior attack wasn't the right strategy to take.
At approximately 9:46 a.m., the first "Mayday" was transmitted. Four minutes prior to the transmission, a flashover occurred on the first floor. The three firefighters and the captain were still on the second floor and the conditions quickly deteriorated.
The firefighters made it down the stairs and out the front door, but the captain retreated to a corner on the second floor and rolled up into a ball, according to Trost. He eventually made a run for it, down the stairs and out the back sliding glass door.
"At that point he's in survival mode and he doesn't want to suffocate," he said.
Trost noted that every department can learn something from this incident. The dwellings in the neighborhood were new construction and the response was similar to that seen in most cities. The most important thing, he said, is to make sure everyone is on the same page and that the proper plan is put in place.
"It is critical that crew continuity is maintained at all times. Everyone in your department must know what they're doing."
He also said that as much as a department trains, nothing can prepare you completely for responding to a fire. Training and learning from incidents such as this one are important, Trost said, but the only true way to become a better firefighter is through experience.
"The training ground is not where you validate what you've learned. The training ground can't recreate the anxiety firefighters face at a real fire."
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