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Waldo Fire Update from Fireman Rob

We had our friends Rob and Jessi over for dinner recently and we were captivated by Rob’s story about the February 16th fire in Waldo, MO.

One of the buildings that was destroyed was built in the 1920s, and I guess was once home to vaudeville shows. Waldo is an eclectic area and has some great hangouts, including bars, coffee shops, bookstores, and even a custard shop (Foo’s Fabulous, for us frequent visitors).

Rob has been a fireman for over 10 years and was part of the team that helped put the blazes in Waldo. In fact, he was on top of one of the buildings when they got the call to evacuate the area.

There were several channels that covered it, including KMBC.

There were 5 fireman that were injured, so I was relieved to hear that most of the fireman have since gotten out of the hospital and Eric is hoping to go home within a few weeks after some more skin grafts.

Its amazing how quickly a small fire can turn into a 2500 degree blaze.

I posted Rob’s story below from his myspace page, or check out his myspace page for updates, including a couple pictures from the fire.

For Eric and everyone else affected by the event, our thoughts and prayers are with you.

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It’s been a crazy few weeks all starting with a fire at 75th and Washington (one block from Wornall in Waldo).

We were at the grocery store picking out food for lunch and teasing our youngest crew member Eric about his dislike for anything ‘Chili’. Of course we had decided to have chili dogs for lunch in his honor. He had called his mother and had her yell at our Captain Ryan about it on the phone. Which was as hilarious as it sounds. I was off in the spices aisle picking up some Lawry’s chili fixin’s when the alarm came in.

We bolted to the door and ran to the truck. The grocery store is on the west side of town, only 12 blocks from the address we were dispatched to. We jumped on the rig, Joe our driver in the lead and we began tossing our gear on as Joe hurtled the truck towards the scene. “Pumper 37 on the scene, we have light smoke showing, we will be out investigating” chirped out through our radios. We started to relax as we got closer to the scene. Probably just a dumpster in the back of the building or something small like that. As our Truck (Truck 11) arrived on the scene we did a quick size up and parked on the east side of the building. We could see some light smoke from the roof of the building and Ryan and Eric grabbed forceable entry tools and Joe and I began setting up our 100′ aerial ladder on the roof between the bar Kennedy’s and the bakery next door.

As Joe and I climbed onto the roof chainsaw and axes in hand, Ryan and Eric forced the door and noted a light haze through the lower level of Kennedy’s. They and the crew of Pumper 37 entered the building looking for stairs to the second floor. The room was cool and the haze was just enough for them to put their SCBA’s on but they were still able to see each other and to see around the room.

As Joe and I climbed onto the roof we discovered heavy black/brown smoke pouring out of every vent on the bakery side. Every hood, every toilet vent, every single pipe sticking out was puffing smoke. I began to make my first cut with the chainsaw. Joe radioed down to Ryan, “Truck 11 A this is Truck 11 B. Do you guys need a hole?” , Ryan responded “Cut It!”. As I moved to make the next 3 cuts to form a large 4′ X 4′ hole in the center of the roof I noticed smoke from down below pouring out of the building. Huge clouds of smoke rolling right up and onto the roof. We knew at that moment that this wasn’t some little dumpster fire. Joe and I finished our hole, breaking 2 axes to get it open. By that time smoke was covering the roof of the building and a fire truck below was blowing it’s airhorn in 3 rapid bursts. 3 blows on the airhorn means “evacuate” so we scrambled down the ladder trying not to inhale too much smoke.

Meanwhile the guys inside had been looking for the stairs to the second floor when they heard crackling over their heads. Ryan and Eric began pulling ceiling above them with our long lathe hooks. They spotted some fire in the ceiling and informed Ron the pumper captain that they would need to charge the lines and hit the fire above them before proceeding. That was the moment that we radioed asking for permission to cut our hole above them. 15 seconds after Ryan yelled “Cut it!” all hell broke loose.

It started as a puff of fire from the back corner of the building and rushed at them. 2 fire tornadoes screamed down from the ceiling and instantly the entire 1st floor of Kennedy’s was on fire. From ceiling to floor there was nothing but orange and blistering heat. 900 degrees on the floor and 2500 degrees at the ceiling all of the firefighters caught in the blaze dropped to the floor. Instantly their face pieces were blackened and burnt, effectively blinding them. Scrambling towards the door several of the crew members outside risked life and limb crawling in under the flames to pull the burnt firemen out. The captain of pumper 37, Ron missed the entrance and found a plate glass window that he began attempting to break through with his hands and body. Members of Truck 15 heard him from the outside and broke him out with their axes. Ryan was one of the first of our crew to come out. Josh on pumper 30 helped drag him to safety and he noticed that there were several guys still inside. Ryan and Josh and several others began climbing back in to get the rest of the guys. Bruce and Jeremiah from Pumper 29 were still inside and had gotten seperated from the rest. They pulled Eric out who had gotten caught up in all of the bar room furniture and who had to stand up to get untangled. His gear was on fire and badly burnt to pieces. Finally they found Bruce and Jeremiah who were both burnt on their necks, shoulders and hands and pulled them to safety.

As Joe and I descended the ladder we saw our crew being pulled out of the building. Their gear smoking and still on fire. I rushed to Eric’s side and helped load him and Ron into an ambulance. I went with Eric and Ron to KU med while Joe and Ryan (who amazingly only had minor burns) continued to fight the blaze. They upgraded the alarm to get more companies and began defensive operations. Pouring water on the building from above and from the outside, protecting the buildings nearby.

It has been a few weeks since the fire and everyone has been released from KU med except for Eric. All of the burnt firemen will be off work for several months as they heal but are expected to recover. Please keep Eric in your prayers as they finish up the skin grafts on him hopefully this week and get him home within the next few weeks to recover with his family.

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