PRE-ARRIVAL: Fully involved structure fire in Whitehall, Pennsylvania

[@aaronkershner2685]

Whitehall fire did an outstanding job. First thing protect the exposures then when they got more man power and equipment on scene attack the fire good job guys.

[@nancyrauch2644]

Great video! And, great job to the Whitehall and Catty Fire Depts. Excellent job on saving the exposures ! Thank you !!!! :)

[@gregadomeit4020]

Great job Whitehall F.D. got exposures cooled down then onto the fire. You saved alot of families for having their worst day. Take care and be safe.

[@chucklogan7296]

Great job protecting the houses on both sides of the fire!! Well done in terrible conditions

[@chrisanthony579]

I haven't lived in PA in a long time but I'm pretty sure Whitehall Fire Fighters are still all Volunteers. Thanks guys and girls!

[@moemcgovern7345]

My heart skipped a beat, when the dog ran into the fire scene. Glad I wasn’t the only person who saw him.

[@FireRescue80]

I'm loving the footage Bill. Keep up the awesome work!

[@newsworking]

thanks Jared!

[@FireRescue80]

@@newsworking Yup. No problem.

[@firefighterpk2440]

Great job working the B/D side exposures with limited help and 1 line stretched. Worry about the ( already gone) fire bldg when more help shows up and water supply is established. 👍

[@jrunner5k]

unless there was a video cut at 3:00 it was 57seconds from parking brake to water put on the exposures, thats fantastic

[@stephyc.992]

Cool videos! Enjoying them from Kentucky😊

[@newsworking]

Thank you Stephy

[@robertbrady9597]

amazing video on here tonight great job to all the brother who work on it

[@Tindometari]

It's odd how resistant snow seems to be to radiant heat. I wouldn't have thought the snow on that SUV would have lasted two minutes at that proximity.

[@politedog4959]

snow reflects most of the radiant heat

[@DavidStruveDesigns]

Snow is actually a REALLY good insulator. There's a reason native Inuits (wrongly called "eskimos") use compacted snow to build shelters with ;)

[@Tindometari]

@@politedog4959 True -- as a planetary scientist, I grok albedo. I think I was really expecting more effect from hot air and the heat conduction from exposed metal parts of the truck. But then, thinking back, I've seen fires under metal roofs with snow on them, and there too it seemed to take a surprisingly long time to melt. I wonder if there's some odd insulating effect in which heated water creates a thin steam layer.

[@Tindometari]

@@DavidStruveDesigns Oh, yes -- if you ever get caught out in the teeth of a blizzard, building a snow cave out of compacted snow is *the* way to survive. (I've actually done this -- protip: think about your floor and where meltwater drains to. In winter wilderness, being wet easily ends in being dead.) True facts -- but the main point is wind insulation. It'll be 0-5° C inside, cold but manageable, but what really kills in those situations is wind chill (which can end you, though slowly, at anywhere below 10° C).

[@r.a.hassel8006]

You know the thing is about wood frame buildings like this is, no matter what kind of FD you run, wood frame buildings will be 100% gone no matter what....

[@lindahoff7391]

Not at all true. Room and contents fires are extinguished frequently with out structural extension.

[@r.a.hassel8006]

@@lindahoff7391 Really egg head? Does this type of wood frame "pole" building look like it has "rooms and contents" to you? This building is essentially a barn. And guess what happens to barns when the go up? Yeah, watch the video.

[@lindahoff7391]

@@r.a.hassel8006 Perhaps with a little more training you will figure it out. Keep working toward that goal.

[@Mustang6971]

Whitehall seems to have a lot of fires makes you wonder how many ems and rescue calls they run,and if there is a possibility of them getting the funding for career firefighters to cut response times if they are a super busy department.

[@1982MCI]

Are they all volunteer right now?

[@Mustang6971]

@@1982MCI yes they are 100% volunteer

[@joeburros4878]

Yea the Republicans don't want pension for firefighter

[@karenshagawat9210]

Great coverage Bill.Thank you to the firefighters and first responders.🚒🚒🚒🚒🚒🚒🚒🚒🚒

[@johnbratley6926]

(From the UK) Great job with limited resources in dire conditions. Trouble is so many buildings in the US are of timber construction. Many new builds are of shoddy timber framing with little fire separation, fire fighters have a hopeless task when they go on fire the best they can do is prevent spread to neighbouring properties. Stay safe and keep up the good work.

[@engineer5213]

Great save on the exposures

[@Cthippo1]

Good job Whitehall, that was the right tactic at the right time!

[@46fd04]

Overall, it was a good job. I did like the one Chief having his gloves strapped to his helmet. He looks "cool" LOL. If that was me, I'd be looking for my gloves wondering where the hell I put them. This is why they are always in my bunker pants pocket, left side with my flash hood. I ALWAYS know where they are.

[@r.a.hassel8006]

Funny, about 25 years ago, I started strapping my gloves to the top of my helmet to dry them, because putting them in the fire station dryer would just destroy them.....so yeah.....like this chief it would be not hard to find my gloves.....

[@46fd04]

@@r.a.hassel8006 Great idea about the gloves. Thank you

[@tomp8871]

That's amazing. The vehicle out front with the ice/snow never melted off?

[@notthatdonald1385]

Big fire, good training for the more complex, dangerous ones.

[@franceinegelven677]

Thank u fr good info on circumstances Thankfully no family or pets here

[@skiqsr]

Cold weather fires suck, support your crews

[@pauludulutch4353]

Just relax people and enjoy watching something burn down and listening to the stupid comments of the onlookers.

[@dfgiuy22]

That's pretty harsh dude. They got a oxy/acetylene tank out and finally managed to get the car out. Did more than most people on many of the jobs I've been to. It's easy to criticise when sitting at home eating chips, watching KZbin.

[@jimmccabe801]

@@dfgiuy22 but what would all the know nothing youtube firefighters do with their time. Lol.

[@dfgiuy22]

@@jimmccabe801 To true Jim, to true :)

[@coleman4840]

@@jimmccabe801 Don’t worry, that JB 90 whatever his name is will preach about his deck guns and booster lines. I hope to God you never had the misfortune of seeing that guy. He incites arguments with other people for no reason

[@MoXSaNdMaN]

Awesome Video Bill!!

[@newsworking]

Thanks Ron!

[@littlehuey5679]

Good job with the conditions you were handed , heavy fire and snow never mix !

[@jerseyshorefireresponse]

wow amazing catch this was cooking for a while

[@tyrese3745]

"Burning down the house" - Talking Heads, 1983

[@1982MCI]

Good song right there Brother! Back to my high school days

[@jurgenkuhlmann9194]

@@1982MCI There's another song by the Bloodhound Gang that could fit the situation: "Fire Water Burn" (2002): "Da roof, da roof, da roof is on fire..."

[@Arfshesaid457]

The camera work... showing everything but what’s interesting.

[@BilateralChatter]

damn, in3 minutes this structure went from smoke signals to fullblown campfire. i keep forgetting how fast a fire can spread.

[@elizabethshaw734]

Very nice work and quick as well! Was this a house or a garage that worked on cars or what? The people were smart to get their car out of there and what could have been acetylene or oxygen tank and everything else they could grab in the time they had.

[@ItsTheCostanza]

Always first on the scene

[@BGBG-dq2rd]

🤔🤔🤔🤔hmmmm

[@robertyoung3992]

The road conditions were horrendous

[@tmilesffl]

Those fires burn really hot, but the snow on the car out front hasn't melted.

[@semproniodensso3353]

The best exposures protection it´s to put the fire out ASAP!!!

[@jacobkeppler1984]

Nice work guys keep it up 🚒🧑‍🚒🇺🇸

[@thysenb]

Keyboard warriors are back at it. lol

[@ph11p3540]

Yay keyboard warrior. They make the world colorful. You should be so thankful.

[@MusicLoverPearson]

STFU

[@thysenb]

@@MusicLoverPearson You.

[@dfgiuy22]

I can't stand people who have never done anything like this, telling those that do it daily how it should be done and they can do it better. Love to take em to my brigade and get the 2 1/2" line and crank it to 1200kpa :) get them to try and hold that for 5 minutes!

[@schmegle1]

@@dfgiuy22 nobody should do it the way pennsyltucky does it

[@moemcgovern7345]

In the future when we have snow, you may want to clean the windshields of the cars. Of course only if it's safe.

[@moemcgovern7345]

My brother and I had to move our cars, or we would have lost both of them.

[@juliecasey5196]

Awesome footage

[@sallykershaw4837]

May be a dumb question but why do they sit on the hose? Never saw that before,

[@r.a.hassel8006]

Good question! And it deserves a good answer. There are two main types of hose that firefighters used to attack fires. The standard 1 3/4" hose which is used to put most fires out. But this firefighter was using a larger 2 1/2" hose which produces a larger volume of water flow, and is extremely heavy. Being that this hose is larger and extremely heavy it would normally take two to three firefighters to control. Now being that only one firefighter was on this line, he wrapped it in to a small circle and "sat" on it to keep good control of this heavy line, which is standard procedure for such a large hose.

[@sallykershaw4837]

@@r.a.hassel8006 Thank you!

[@michaelcollins4236]

@@r.a.hassel8006 sure beats wrestling an anaconda!

[@mongolikechewchew2475]

Yep,if he were to try and stand with the 2 1/2 fully opened up,without at least 1 backup, he would be going for a wild ride! Amazing how hard it is using a 2 1/2, especially advancing, while on 1 knee,with a shitty backup team! Lol

[@tombauer7715]

Good job Bill.

[@newsworking]

Thanks Mike!

[@tammytrevino265]

That guy said " hell this is gonna take a while so im just gonna sit down " and the other guy had to hold him down to keep him from flying up.

[@1982MCI]

He was being held so the pressure from the hose didn’t blow him backwards, not to keep him from flying up. If he would have opened that hose all the way it would have blown them both back to the fence

[@riedansie9601]

Someone asked earlier why the fireman sit on the hose..? I want to say its to keep those big lines under control. All that high pressured water and a hose on the lose could be a recipe for disaster I'm guessing.

[@r.a.hassel8006]

Yes!! There are two types of hose firefighters use as "attack" lines 1 3/4" and 2 1/2", now this firefighter was using a 2 1/2" hose which under normal circumstances would require two to three firefighters to control, being that this firefighter was by himself running the hose into a small circle and "sitting" on it was the best way to keep control of such a large hose.

[@riedansie9601]

@@r.a.hassel8006 Thankyou for the reply.

[@davidjames3777]

Very good work on the video Bill.That dog running toward the fire was not good.I have 2 chimneys,one a fireplace and, the other a wood stove and, I don't use any, because of concerns like this.I want a wood stove with the long pipe that goes through the roof.The chimneys are my main concern and, I wish I had a house built out of metal and brick.

[@michaeld8443]

When seconds count, the FD is only hours away lol

[@zzthumper72]

Next time they might want to stay a bit farther away from a compromised wood structure that could collapse. No need risking your life for a gutted building.

[@InstrumentPilotBartram]

was that puppy found that went into the fire?

[@launderedcotton8070]

Yes, I saw it running in the opposite direction a few minutes later; don't think it actually went into the building at all, thankfully.

[@InstrumentPilotBartram]

@@launderedcotton8070 Good

[@abbottcooper3243]

Very good coverage. Excellent video.

[@andrewdaley3081]

Yes its okay apparently its name is Oscar.. Andy England 🇬🇧👍

[@binky8501]

Oooh momma..ya ain't saving that one..dont matter if they're all out at this point they aint coming put

[@ph11p3540]

Let the boys in turnout gear do their jobs. They are the experts with the right gear.

[@miamifan7525]

That dog was like I buried a bone over here was going to risk its life to get it

[@jamesfraser4173]

One of those Whitehall firies sounded like Andy Devine! Kinda looks like Andy, too!

[@MusicLoverPearson]

DAMN IS THAT THE ONLY FIRE TRUCK IN THAT TOWN?

[@matt89108]

When you live in a class 9 town, think fire sprinklers.

[@andrewdaley3081]

What is a class nine town is it something to to with response times or voluntary fire fighters. Andy England 🇬🇧👍❓

[@matt89108]

@@andrewdaley3081 It's an ISO fire class rating. It's used by insurance companies to price fire insurance.

[@andrewdaley3081]

@@matt89108 thanks for the information. Andy England🇬🇧 👍

[@fireaxeco1]

Good video, you put water on what's burning and the exposure problem goes away...

[@NIGHTOWL-jf9zt]

Terrible for these people but it looks cool as hell, Fire and Ice!

[@springbucks]

☹️ Glad no one was hurt

[@MONARCH4ME]

Nice catch F/F

[@robertyoung3992]

This looked like it was out of control right from the start

[@deborahsoucy2884]

Great video -- that must have been very very hot filming this fire --- Debbie

[@chrispuckett84]

They should use a fog pattern instead of straight streams.

[@sinjon]

Agreed. The ladder truck had the right idea

[@markmullin4246]

Geez us getting dizzy trying keep up with that camera flipping all over damn place!

[@newsworking]

When you’re filming in the middle of a fire scene, I need to constantly move with the firefighters and other dangers that are within the fire grounds.

[@hillievangenderen5231]

Heel cool

[@TransDerwinOverdrive]

Camera work inspired by the movie "Cloverfield"

[@GrCent]

That thing was a tinder box just waiting for a fire.

[@Utubin]

Question When structures are total loss why waste resources and most importantly safety of the firefighters. Why not just provide water of nearby structures just as needed and let the structure that's on fire burn itself out.

[@coleman4840]

firefighters will do both. It’s important to spray down the exposures which are the nearby buildings but you need to tackle the root of the problem which is a big fire. Embers can be spread by the wind And it can affect even more buildings. I hope that answered your question

[@Utubin]

@@coleman4840 Yes. Thank you.

[@garrythompson4132]

"What time in the morning do you want the bulldozer there?"

[@buggiesmama11]

So sad!! Someone's whole life, just gone 😕😰😱💔

[@danwetzel4021]

y is apparatus parked so far back that squirt could have put a better hit on fire if it wasn't so far back hit it with the big guns let hoses worry about exposure

[@Brian13549]

Well power lines and the heat from the fire can damage the truck

[@areaone3813]

Wow that is a goner huh. Dam.

[@JeepDude_1]

I pray that dog 🐕 didn’t become a frankfurter and came out safe

[@bobvidoni5898]

That was one hotdog, indeed.

[@AshAshiLOL]

She is okay. She was so scared. That's one of my aunts dogs

[@JeepDude_1]

@@AshAshiLOL oh thank god sorry about the fire 🔥 though hope everyone else was ok also

[@jimjonrs3932]

His name is Oscar.

[@AshAshiLOL]

@@jimjonrs3932 her name is kayla but alright then

[@derrickw3021]

That building is GONE !

[@moontecker]

Yea because its all wood.

[@solmaris1]

So sad 😭

[@Mrquartermile]

Kind of a circus at first but things worked out in the end.

[@MrHarryhere69]

Snow Sucks, Just get the marshmallows.

[@april-spring]

I guess that car didn't catch fire, because of the snow load on it.

[@P4hs]

Exposures? . . . Just throw snowballs !

[@P4hs]

4:32 - Someone loses it.

[@littlemizredhead]

Poor dog is traumatized 🥺 I hope it didn't have any humans in that building.

[@KRiiB78]

“Hey Siri... Show me clusterf*ck”....

[@rd4660]

The dog....lol.

[@earlking4299]

Look never melted snow off car. Wow

[@abbottshaull9831]

Partially melted.

[@Unknownrobloxdude]

Why do they keep turning off the hoses!

[@robertyoung3992]

not sure this looks like it was O2 fed

[@tinabutkus4619]

I hope that dog is ok ? I hope it didn’t run into that fire

[@rescue12guy]

Wow

[@JenSwarbrick1966]

THE DOG! What happened to the dog?

[@AshAshiLOL]

She is safe!!

[@JenSwarbrick1966]

@@AshAshiLOL Glad to hear it!

[@ivtones]

Jesus Loves You

[@abdule924]

I bet the hydrants were frozen

[@freeman2399]

Doggy didn't want to live no more.

[@bobterrana6554]

Why is the aerial letter a 1/2 a mile away

[@lakeraves1]

Fire 🔥

[@areaone3813]

You guys have a ton of snow. Shit

[@jvolstad]

Break out the marshmallows.

[@joeburros4878]

I love all those ff not wearing scba

[@bobby_D]

I really can’t stand people. Like someone can’t control their fucking dog during a structure fire?? Jesus Christ get your goddamn dog and put it somewhere!!!!

[@billseka4141]

I see to many firefighters standing around watching it burn to the ground before they even attempt to put water on it, west catasauqua fire station is just a block away and yet they let it burn to the ground.

[@larrythomas7079]

@thomas breton exactly! William Alardice one of 2 things. If you don’t like what’s being done, get your butt out there and volunteer. If you already do volunteer, stop it with the keyboard criticism.

[@davemarshall706]

Its a lost cause right from the start.

[@kentcarter835]

That is because you don't have one single clue, William, but you still have to make a silly comment.

[@jimjamess8633]

I’m not a fire, person, nor do I pretend to be! Anyone can see the building was a loss upon the first arriving truck. They protected the other exposures first to keep them from going up. Once more manpower became available they attacked the main source. Great job people, especially in that weather!

[@notthatdonald1385]

It was a write off from go. The building was a total loss.

[@travisrscott75]

Water water can somebody turn on the water we need water turn on the freaking water

[@BGBG-dq2rd]

I cant stand "micro management"!!!!! "Do this, do that"...whatever!!!!

[@jvandyke8079]

Was I the only one thinking clusterf***? A master stream setup early, but then a 2-1/2 here, a 1.75 there and there, a loose propane tank rolling around the alley, and a loose dog running into the fire! What a mess! Can anyone tell me why the master stream was shut down? a couple of 1.75 to protect exposures and let the master do it's job... Party over quick...

[@brunner2136]

It’s a volunteer department chill out brotha

[@poppiarlin5612]

You wasn’t there! Maybe something called available water supply. Master streams are not always able to reach the intended target such as an exposure.

[@jvandyke8079]

@@poppiarlin5612 I know I wasn't there, but I DID see the video... WHAT A MESS!! If YOU were paying attention, you would notice that the master shot a goodly amount of water, hence, it had a water supply... Then if you had noticed, the ladder was not extended... It could have reached right over the top of the burning building.... I don't have to be there to notice these things...

[@notthatdonald1385]

@@brunner2136 Never mattered to us volunteers on Long Island. We trained like the paid guys, and took pride in our work. It was a 2'nd full time job. "Volunteer" or not.

[@brunner2136]

@@notthatdonald1385 Not for ever department tho, the company right down the street from me is not as trained as I wish they would be.

[@teremok_209]

Ай вонт ю мазафакер иймана гунтеза дингаля дингиль