Meadowood Video

On May 25, 2008 a significant fire occurred in a single family home at 43238 Meadowood Court in Leesburg, Virginia. Over the course of the incident, seven Loudoun County Fire and Rescue System personnel were injured, with four receiving serious burns. The entire Loudoun County Fire and Rescue System has been affected by this incident and resulting personnel injuries.

[@FrankFleming-pw9du]

Thank you for your service

[@samgerman2883]

For some context, this video was from 2008, and lessons have been learned since. One of my family members was part of command on scene, and he still can’t talk about it to this day. One of the biggest pieces of failures that he acknowledged was the lack of communication, which has since been fixed. As well as crappy dispatching, which had redirected himself, and units, responding to other fires, to this fire. Which they had little- no information on. Lastly, they had actually ordered the team not to go around back, where the injury occurred, and attempt to make entry, but confusing and contradictory radio messages caused the team to precede. Luckily, no one was killed. The brave firefighter who was seriously injured holds no grudges, and is friends with my family member. Accidents and failures occur, which we must learn from, and we did.

[@mirja822]

My husband was on this call and he's still an active fireman for Loudoun County. We still talk about this call and how it affected us then and still. From a fireman's wife perspective, we just want our men to come back home to us.

[@hvfd5956]

Critical Information from the 911 call at about 3:45 in this video - that the fire was visible in the 1st floor sun room was never relayed to responding companies. As it turned out, this failure led to the Engine 6 team heading upstairs, followed by the fire from the Sun Room burning through their hose and leaving them defenseless. At the time of the flash over, if they had a working hose line, they would have had an out to recover with. Instead it became a May Day and fire fighters were critically injured. My Opinion only, but others may join if they wish.

[@the_once-and-future_king.]

So they forgot the process of checking the floor they're on before heading to the floor above? Never assume the fire is above you until you check.

[@fa3556]

Last I knew Firefighters on scene should determine thr course of action needed. Yes the dispatcher can relay thst information but information from a caller relayed to units is not always accurate. The FFs on scene needed to determine location before going upstairs. Cant blame dispatch for their shortcomings as firefighters.

[@douglasstewart8474]

If you look upon entry you can see smoke coming from the top of the front door. This should have been observed by the firefighters prior to entering as a part of size up. Upon observing this the first floor and basement should have been thoroughly searched for fire prior to advancing a line to the second floor. I was taught this very early in my career when I started to the second floor on a basement fire. An extremely experienced senior member corrected me immediately and guided me to the correct location of the fire. After extinguishment school was in session for me with a good bust in the ass to go along with it. A lesson I never forgot and applied religiously throughout my 30 year career

[@rkj4107]

What a crazy video.

[@hvfd5956]

As a former volunteer firefighter, I have seen like fires many times, most long after I stopped riding. Firefighters, especially chiefs, have to learn to read the smoke. If this chief had a firefighter nearby reading the smoke, he would have called for the evacuation much sooner, such as when Engine 6 called to report "no visibility". At this point, the fire was already showing that it was about to go critical with the dark, dark black smoke and the extremely high heat that it indicates. When you have extended run time like they did in this case, you have to factor that into your decisions. You may have to go defensive sooner than you might want to if you are seeing signs of high heat. In this case, the fire had not only entered the attic, but had self-vented out the roof. Obviously, this was many years ago and unlike other house fires, I have not had the chance to de-brief the Engine 6 crew and find out for certain why they went upstairs. Would knowing about the 1st floor sun room fire reported in the 911 call have changed their mind? It would be nice to have that information.

[@BW12149]

FF on ladder without full gear on breaking windows when he should’ve been assisting hose lines, setting up tower, catching a hydrant or something other than breaking windows. Nice way to help fire spread. Don’t know how many structure fires I’ve been on caused by smoking, on decks, bedrooms, living room chairs and couches. Amazing how much damage one little cigarette can cause.

[@watchthe1369]

I never saw a 360. Venting a fire that is already thru the roof is useless. Report of a fire in the 1st floor that is already thru the roof on the phone. Yeah, the smoke was rapidly energizing and a single hose was not getting a knockdown. I know some departments will not go inside until a water source is located and being connected. The burning smoke off the back just before the mayday is what would have had me calling a mayday and get the horns blowing.

[@LCCFRS]

Retired Loudoun County Combined Fire and Rescue System Chief Keith Brower recently spoke about the Meadowood Fire and lessons learned from it on The Firehouse Logbook Podcast. You can listen to his episode about the history of LC-CFRS and the impact of the Meadowood Fire at player.captivate.fm/episode/72a53ef3-7dfc-4943-94d6-011b6c9f2995

[@CWM030]

What was the cause of the fire?

[@morningpride78]

I too watched, however i try not to arm chair some other departments actions. If i had been there, i agree knocking out the window without a handline was not a good decision. I could see if a handline was in place manned, and VES was goingb to be performed. At that tome not enough people were on scene to safely do so. (1) 1.5 or 1.75 handline was way undergunned. 2 n 2 out comes to mind. Water supply for first due. Aerial setup for bravo exposure protection, and defensive operation switch over. Would have been an asset when the charlie roof collapsed to slow the fire. Rit team established with all tools and oeiple to do rit intial effectively. A better LUNAR by the mayday crew to assist rescue rit and command. Command, better attention to crew assignments, and changing smoke warnings, fire conditions. Needs to assign incoming crews tasks while they were enroute. Its sad that firefighters got burned, but entering with pitch black smoke pushing us not a wise decision, pre flashover. All that unburned fuel is gonna light off. I also heard no par from the companys or even ackknowledged entering or task. I hope these guys learned from this incident. Its ok to make mistakes as long as every goes hone as they came, and you do not make the same mistake twice. Just a few thoughts.

[@moctezuma_2]

hard to follow what you're trying to get at. I would suggest condensing this down to 4 or 5 bullet points for clarity.

[@hvfd5956]

My Opinion, having a hand line when breaking the window in the front (ladder 6 driver) would not have made a difference. At that point, the fire was not in that room. After everything flashed and the second firefighter in full turnout gear went up to finish taking the windows - that was, well not advisable. That firefighter should never have gone up that ladder without a good size hose. Given the dark smoke pouring out that window at that time - that was no longer a usable evacuation route as shown shortly after when that room flashed and became fully involved.

[@jasonwolfe6266]

Incompetence to the truck engineer for busting those second floor windows

[@JRTCB]

Is there a video with interviews with the firefighters in this fire ?

[@LCCFRS]

Hello J.R Cottles. We do not currently have video with interviews with the firefighters involved with this fire. Please email us at [e-mail], if you would like more information about the fire.

[@alabamared2568]

Now I'm no professor but I've seen a few fires in my time I've yet to see a house fire with smoke this black ..its also called black fire we were taught to read smoke upon arrival and during cause conditions change so rapidly..now I just recently found this video. My question why did the chief or anyone for that matter see the color of that smoke before entering..im not anyone special here but we always read smoke it can matter with life and death..id say alot of mistakes were made here lucky no one died!!!

[@kenjenks9448]

Thank you Loudoun Fire for making this available. Things happen and this video will help them not happen again. A lot of Fire videos have comments blocked. People get excited and that is part of almost all real scenarios. I would suggest asking questions instead of observations for comments.

[@TheSuperStarCarWash]

I've studied the film. So many things were done incorrectly. My blood was boiling. From the dispatcher to the f.f who smashed the upper right window caused a lot more damage.

[@TheSuperStarCarWash]

Breaking that glass fed the fire fresh oxygen. See how the smoke patern changed immediately after?

[@herbkreutel3872]

Like you, I have studied this video almost minute by minute for training purposes. There are so many errors made it would be impossible to list them all. It is surprising there were no LODD's involved in the way this incident was handled from the beginning. This entire department, at least in my opinion, needs retraining, from command staff on down to the dispatch system.

[@herbkreutel3872]

Since this fire actually took place in 2008, I would hope by now that they have review procedures, perhaps done retraining, and are a much better trained department. It is always sad to see firefighters, from any department, injured the way these brothers were, very needlessly.

[@carsonzick3784]

Herb Kreutel the department uses this video as a training tool, and so do many other departments around the country. Here in Fairfax we have used this video as a training tool. As of now Loudoun County is a more progressive department.

[@stephen9958]

My department done a training tonight over that for sow and asking us what was wrong on the scene and what we can do

[@ffandrewd2986]

Dude, I’m not criticizing, but personally, I would never EVER send firefighters into an attic. I’d rather cut a hole in the roof, or the side of the house, and drown the hell out of it. Thank god everyone survived

[@TheSuperStarCarWash]

Such a Mindless comment. Are you really that desperate for attention? I can't believe someone exist as pathetic as you!

[@justsayingopinion6730]

Still hiding the real video