The SLOWEST Fire Department I've EVER Seen

[@mike_pertz]

Try Firefighter Furnace: geni.us/firefighter-furnace (use code FIREFIGHTERNOW20 to get 20% off for life)

[@LadyDi49Diana2.0]

Your “Pass” beeper used to be called “personal passport system” or PPS system back in my day.

[@roychivers8134]

GO HOME..... TOTALLY USELESS......

[@alexbrunt897]

Maybe you and chief Decker could have a weekly podcast. Check him out.

[@destineywilsonbelcher5042]

1

[@destineywilsonbelcher5042]

0

[@independentliberty9628]

Crew motto " never lost a foundation "

[@RLTtizME]

T R I T E You won the prize. Next time...let's do "Put the wet stuff on the .....".

[@herauthon]

Working on the mascara !

[@ninbendoyt3203]

I knew a department that their motto was never a window left intact.

[@RLTtizME]

@@ninbendoyt3203 Or a toilet.

[@michaelmccarthy4615]

Gophers be gone

[@zyglo9826]

The title of this video should be “how to turn a controllable interior fire into a defensive operation in 15 minutes.” And lose the exposure too.

[@danielebrparish4271]

I don't think there was a safe way to enter the house and I think it was used as a storage building.

[@bigdog4574]

There was not much controllable about this… sure faster response and fester on fire maybe they could’ve cooled it down but either way this building and contents are gone either way… garbage or smoke

[@gamecop2191]

As a thirty year old whos been given a second chance at life, I am working my ass off to become a fire fighter before my time window is up. Working out and eating healthy, applying at all the departments in my state, Studying all of your videos and taking notes. Thank you so much man. PS, as a guy who isnt even a rookie yet, watching this video freaks me out. Its like it didn't even matter that they were there!

[@rhoonah5849]

That's awesome brother. As a 50 year old man, I'm doing the same :)

[@Judy.LoveandLightAlways]

Wishing you Nothing But Goodluck Becoming A Firefighter. Be Safe. I Can Not Believe these Firefighters are Not Paid. Kindest thoughts to you and your family and Furbabies from Australia x

[@Judy.LoveandLightAlways]

@@rhoonah5849 Good luck, You will get there. Be safe. Kindest thoughts to you and your family and Furbabies from Australia x

[@rhoonah5849]

@@Judy.LoveandLightAlways Thank you very much!

[@69iseeyou69]

Good luck bud

[@tireddtd4444]

Some volunteer departments are very professional, they usually have a retired professional as the chief. Some small-town people join volunteer departments because they get a cool badge, cool lights for their pickup, and get to order police stuff from Galls to show off. The feds give the department grants etc. Don't have a fire on the first day of hunting season.

[@owensweetland342]

Lol!

[@trvman1]

Just curious that when someone gives their opinions like this. Have they contacted the fire department and see how many volunteers they have? What is the average age of the volunteers? How much training do they get or is offered? What time of the day was the fire and at that time of day how many volunteers are available? I was in a volunteer dept and we had 60 members at least. During the week days, there were about 10 available. This was a suburban department in a good size town of 22,000. Between all the departments probably had 250 volunteers. Many rural departments these days are just happy to get anyone to volunteer. In many states they have made being a volunteer so difficult because of the time involved for mandatory State training (if they can get it) that people don't want to put in the time. I have a very hard time criticizing volunteer departments because I don't know their situation. However, PAID departments, that's a different story. They are suppose to be well trained.

[@virgilhilts3924]

@@trvman1 No, they don't In fact, most of those commenting on these videos have never even set foot in a firehouse let alone actually worked a fire. Fire service tends to attract a lot of weirdo wanna-be's, and they are ALL former Chiefs, Commanders, Etc. If everyone that claimed to be a firefighter on KZbin actually was a FF in real life, stations would have to be 20 stories high in order to hold everyone.

[@oldtimer2843]

Been a volunteer for over 50 years. We had a kid, with all the cool red lights all over his truck t-bone another driver while on the way to a brush fire. Insurance did not pay because he was using his truck as an emergency vehicle. The other driver sued the kid. The county sheriff came to meetings with all county fire departments explaining this law and the consequences if you are caught. Lots of flashing red lights went in the trash soon after.

[@johnjohnston2489]

I was a deputy sheriff in Iowa. The blue lights mean very little. Just because you have blue lights does not mean you can disobey any traffic laws. You can't speed. You can't run lights or stop signs. You can't pass on a yellow line or any other traffic laws. Too many volunteer firefighters think once the put the blue lights on their truck they can do anything they want. If they do and crash or kill someone because they blew a stop sign they will be held responsible for the damages or the loss of life.

[@Blazefork]

If you have plain clothed volunteers around, put them on engine operations and possibly command if they have the ability, wearing a white hat doesn't exempt you from an SCBA and getting after it. This quickly became a big water fire. If you are volunteer, train, train, train, it will improve your ability and morale. ...it will also weed out the t-shirt and tag guys.

[@hosedragger-204]

Most of the chiefs on my department have a gray or off-white helmet because they like to get in on the fun still

[@Blazefork]

@@hosedragger-204 I've been the chief on our department for 6 years now, been on 27.....my comment when they installed me was "if I can't go into a burning house anymore, I'm not your man". I am surrounded by several talented individuals that do an excellent job of running incidents if the need arises......with volunteers you never know what assortment of manpower you'll have and you must be willing to wear many hats so to speak.

[@hosedragger-204]

@@Blazefork yeah

[@rowiedee]

For the safety of everyone, NOBODY should be on scene unless they are in FULL turnout gear.

[@hosedragger-204]

@@rowiedee or at least in a traffic vest at minimum if doing traffic control a safe distance from the hot zone.

[@corydean540]

We pull past the house to gain a partial 360 as well, but on this scene I don’t recommend pulling past due to downwind conditions. I’ve been a driver/operator stuck downwind in smoke, it’s not necessary to put your driver in those conditions if you can avoid it. It’s just as functional to walk a 360, which should be done on every fire.

[@JigglyPotato]

Another good reason to pull past is to allow the aerial to have the front of the house. That's actually the main reason we pull past. Captain does a 360 while hose is being deployed.

[@happychappers8311]

I was just thinking the same thing. I wouldn't have driven past and put the crew down wind of the fire.

[@jacobboxberger1983]

I would have had my engineer stop short as well, just for that reason, but any other time, the truck gets the driveway

[@happychappers8311]

@@jacobboxberger1983 It's easy for us to play Monday morning quarterback, but from my point of view there was a distinct lack of leadership from the OIC and what appears to be a lack of training.

[@brainfreeze44131]

How far past the building would you have to drive to get out of the smoke? I can bet that that amount of smoke is not good for the engineer operating the truck. He would have to have an air supply. But more importantly it can't be good for the trucks engine ingesting all that smoke.

[@ronaldking2619]

There were a lot of things that went wrong with this. I understand all of it but the one thing I appreciate you addressing is the constant sound of the PASS device going into alarm. I have 19 years as a lead adjunct instructor for a fire academy and I held certifications for MSA and Scott SCBA's. There were many rules associated with the SCBA but one of the things I made clear is that if a student allowed their pack to go into full alert and stay there, we were all doing laps! I referred to it as the "car alarm syndrome". I am old enough to remember when car alarms first came out. At first, everyone would run to the windows or doors to see if their car was okay. After a number of years, those same alarms would go un-noticed because we were used to them activating for many different reasons. If you cry wolf a thousand times, the one time it is a real issue, everyone will ignore it. We have to do better at training not only our new firefighters, but our seasoned members as well to not let this happen! Thank you for your videos!

[@eliasthienpont6330]

Watch some FDNY videos. those PASS devices are going off all over the place, and yes we filter them out. But all members have radios, all members have buddies, A mayday call on the radio will stop all action until it is resolved. The beeping will just tell people where to look.

[@BIGTAYLORNI]

@@eliasthienpont6330 what if they can not use the radio?. The alarm is not only to show where the firefighter went down but to alert others that a firefighter is in distress.

[@kenbrown2808]

the only exception to this is when you're dealing with a FLAG situation in a coordinated effort. in that case, you do not compromise the water shield to silence your PASS device. but in that scenario you are also under the direct observation of other crew who will call mayday if something goes wrong.

[@kenbrown2808]

@@eliasthienpont6330 FDNY is actually a really bad example. they have a much higher rate of firefighter injury per incident than the national average.

[@eliasthienpont6330]

@@kenbrown2808 Interesting. I did not know that. My information comes from ooooTooob and friends in NYC. I used to live there but now live in North Dakota. I miss NYC, but as a monk, there is no going back.

[@JawTooth]

When I first joined the volunteer fire dept in 1975 as a cadet we only had one training a month. I joined and less than a week later we had a working structure fire in a mobile home park. No training at all and rode the first truck out. One time we had 2 fire runs within minutes and the oldest fire fighter had just turned 18. lol

[@brrrt7623]

Wow!! I am a paid wildland firefighter and also volunteer on my local fire/rescue and EMS department. We get $10 per call response (they also have career guys though) I honestly don't understand how there is like no funding for FF development and training. For a role that Is so critical to sustaining the community; it baffles me.

[@jakecole7447]

Things are better here in Germany due to the outmost fact that we have basically no single 10x10 mile strip without atleast a small town and a lot of voluntary fire departments. the Age of the Trucks though.. oh boy back in my old hometown they still have cars from the 80s.

[@kirkcoatsccc594]

Hi jaw tooth👋

[@JawTooth]

@@kirkcoatsccc594 Hello there lol

[@kirkcoatsccc594]

@@JawTooth lol

[@TheMarkemmy]

Training and a good mutual aid system is vital in rural firefighting. When I joined my department back in the mid 80's Ours was the one in the area that went to the surrounding towns and put their fires out for them pretty much. Our Chief at the time began a program of combined Mutual Aid training for all the departments in our Mutual Aid Pact. Within 3 years, we were not putting fires out for anyone, we would show up for mop up unless it was something like a sawmill fire or large multi-story job. These small departments learned to do quick knockdowns. It can be done. Edit: Our department banned members including officers from going to a incident without first going to the station for gear and a truck assignment so that there were less vehicles to deal with at the scene.

[@studboyspark]

A dept. near me began to require members to all go to the station first after all responders went direct to a fire POV, no one brought an engine.

[@baileyferrari7059]

My service South AUSTRALIAN Country fire service (state wide service except the city) all members are required to go to station regardless of the type of job (this is the same for all volunteer emergency services in aus (tho I’m sure some still don’t follow the rules) the only exception is that you are a farmer with a farm firefighting unit at a grass fire but you are not a CFS resource but can still work with fire crews to get the job done (and they do a great job). As you mentioned, training, training, training, volunteers along with professional counter parts need to train in order to be professional and provide the best service, this is something we take pride of In the cfs, while we have good funding for a state service just because you have low funding doesn’t mean you can’t train, it’s not hard to do horse drills and simulate house fires and talk about incident command. I noticed with the first hose out it certainly didn’t look suitable and not enough length, a a standard offensive line for structural jobs for us is x1 length 64mm and x2 length 32mm per line. Size up and giving a first arrival message to comms is the best way to decide if you need more resources. To me seeing that house id be upgrading to 2nd alarm for more appliances right away if it hasn’t been done by comms alright for multiple calls on the job. I lost sight of the first ba crew member on scene not sure if he went inside but for us there should always be two minimum inside as a team with ideally two on standby. I’d seen another comment on this post about incident command and people not knowing what to do. All officers should have the capability to give tasking to appropriate crews as soon as possible, no one should be standing around doing nothing unless you are taking a break in the rehab area. As a volunteer service their is always the chance your officers may all be away at once so we try to give every one of all ranks basic training in running jobs so that way if they find them selfs in the front seat they can run a job until hopefully a officer or more experienced member rocks up. For me if I was running this job, first thing would be appropriate appliance position on arrive (most of our trucks are a rear mount pump so ideally the pump facing the structure and out of the collapse zone) and giving the first arrival sitrep, size up and upgrading Alarm for more trucks, Id be having crew looking for/ setting up a water source on arrival and having 2 crew don BA (max crew standard for us is 6 with 4 ba on urban and rural urban trucks and 2 on rural) a for attack or asset protection depending on the situation. Hopefully by this the second appliance has arrived to assist with water supply if a hydrant is a bit down the road and setting up additional lines, I’d be having more ba crews go in and min 2 on standby for rescue or relief, I’d also have a entry control officer (role is to ensure safety of ba crews while operating) set up where they can see the entry and and exits of the building, ensuring crews go in with appropriate tools such as thermal imaging and ceiling hooks. Having your recommissioning area up wind of the incident is also important, using tools such as your multi ray gas detectors if you have one are a good way to determine a clean area.

[@Cherokee51774]

Well that makes sense. Sounds like a smart guy. Still won't ever get me to feel safe with a vol dept. I don't like the time spent arriving to the station. There should always be a crew there.

[@Yodie208]

@@studboyspark 🤣🤣🤣🤣👍

[@swt2296]

@@Cherokee51774 it just doesn’t make sense in areas that have a very low number of calls. It’s economically not viable. People won’t pay slightly more for the service then that’s how it has to be. In the uk we run a retained system which is paid but the station is not 24/7 crewed. And we’re usually out the door in 3-5 minutes.

[@wurstsalatplays523]

In germany we have the highest ranking person on the scene leaving the vehicle before everyone else and doing recon. He then positions the vehicles and coordinates rescue/water attacks/water supply and stuff. Normaly we also have a very good idea of what we will be doing when we are in the engine on the way to the scene. We typicly have buddy teams tasked with various stuff. We also rarely leave if we can not man all important positions on a vehicle. Sure it happens that 1-2 ppl arrive late but thats another scale here. Gear is put on inside the engine. When you dismount you already should have directions and a plan from the recon. In this case the first vehicle (i assume no one was confirmed to be inside) would have 2 guys under oxygen and gettin rdy to set up the water attack immeadietly (most engines here have a water supply for ~2mins). The next team would be setting up water supply. All additional steps mostly will vary on the situation.

[@antoniobranderas]

Angriffs-, Wasser- und Schlauchtrupp

[@markbenelli7569]

@Thomas Herzenskrieger In Hesse we don't have the "Melder" anymore. We have 3 man in the "Angriffstrupp"

[@danielebrparish4271]

Germany is a lot bigger and has a much better tax base than the village of Napoleonville, La. that sits in the middle of the Atchafalaya Basin.

[@peterm.2385]

​@@danielebrparish4271Germany is bigger - but we have rural areas with small fire departments as well. Just to give you an idea: We have 103 professional fire brigades and 22500 volunteer brigades. I'm deputy chief of a fire brigade in a municipality of 3500ppl in 3 villages with 2 fire stations and around 40 active volunteers. I'm confident that my team would be able to handle a fire of this size easily without external support. But of course in a situation like this, a ladder from a neighboring city would be automatically sent as well to ensure the possibility or aerial attack or support like removing tiles.

[@sammitchell7310]

Imagine seeing your entire volunteer fire department get roasted on KZbin 😂

[@ekevanderzee9538]

And rightly so.

[@TheKira699]

They wouldn't last 5 minutes in Australia. The pager or mobile goes, you get to the scene, meet the truck...gear on, Captain assesses and usually we get backup by 3 or 4 other local tanker trucks, if we are lucky we'll also have a pumper to add a water resource if needed. Otherwise, standpipes into ground hydrants or in town hydrants. Bush fires are a little different in our use of trucks and slip ons. (a flat bed pick up with a water tank, pump and fire hose.).

[@zxzxJoKeRThEiFzxzx]

Hopefully they look at themselves, and learn and grow from this. Develop new training programs, learn new tactics. But you never know

[@Rvns556]

@@TheKira699Australia 😂😂

[@gordonrichardson3056]

As a professional firefighter of nearly 40 years in England I wish to comment on one thing that always astounds me with USA fire fighting and that is the lack of BA procedures.

[@oscarosullivan4513]

As an Irish layman I agree it is madness there is no entry control board and entry control officer

[@itsyaboimat2393]

So some departments have what we call an Accountability Officer I'm the Accountability Officer for my on call department (entry control officer for you guys) and there job is to tell the IC where everyone is and their assignment on the fire ground. We have a board that firefighters name tapes go on and they are placed on what floor the firefighters are going to be working

[@stevecorcoran9869]

The first time I went to civilian fire school in the US, all the instructors were senior firefighters from around the NOLA area and even back then (think 25 years ago) they were all talking about how the days of walking around without your BA on to prove how tough you are needed to stop since all it leads to is basically every firefighter dying early from respiratory issues. Big changes in some parts of the country but not so much in many of the small rural volunteer departments.

[@jwpayzant]

I was a volunteer firefighter in Canada for nearly 25 years. Your critique of this fire was spot on! This is a great training video of how not to put out a fire.

[@johnarat9618]

May I ask, which province did you do your time as a Volunteer Firefighter? I'm not a Firefighter, but one of my classmates is. I'm in Saskatchewan.

[@jwpayzant]

@@johnarat9618 I’m in Nova Scotia

[@johnarat9618]

@jwpayzant cool. My dad was a former Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP). The BFP is a nationwide government fire department for the Philippines. All other fire departments are volunteers. He joined the BFP in the 1990s, and retires in 2002 as a Fire Officer 2, or FO2.

[@mattdougherty3322]

Great review! I’m a volly myself and this reminded me of a few things my instructor would stress during essentials; fast water wins the fight every time, gpm’s beat btu’s, and most importantly take this job seriously. John Public wants professionals coming to their emergency not a bunch of yahoos in a pickup truck.

[@PremiumFuelOnly]

John Public has to pay more for full time staff.

[@adamhenry5791]

When all you wanted was flashy lights on your pickem up truck…

[@matthewcarl6079]

YEP

[@williammahaffy4642]

This is what you get when you treat a serious job like a hobby. I'm sure they all had big stories to tell that weekend.

[@WilliamCarver-yx1nr]

Every fire fighter is to respond with professionalism to the level of training not all departments have the resources to train to the top level in the fire service, become involved or keep quiet.

[@angnoop2]

@@WilliamCarver-yx1nr my department doesn't really train. We get some few hour classes when other bigger departments sponsor the training for local departments but out of 25 we get like 2-5 show up. It honestly pisses me off. Ive taken all the free National Fire association classes and stuff and watch videos like this to learn. We arent this bad we are a little more organized but shit Im just now trying to teach people what a mayday call is and how that works. Most just show up and freestyle their own shit

[@WilliamCarver-yx1nr]

Good for you what you learn may save your life or someone elses, take all of classes you can.@@angnoop2

[@wumao_gang1020]

I’m sure most volunteers fire department are bobby people

[@lovecheese45]

@@WilliamCarver-yx1nr the problem is that many of these people refuse to actually get training. I was on a volunteer department before I went career and they pushed training like crazy. After I retired and moved home, I joined another volunteer department where I was the only one with FF1, FF2, Officer 1, Pump Ops, HMO... it was just insane how people dont care.

[@helpthehurtlondon]

One thing I’m not sure if anyone noticed, at 15:51, the entire intersection is completely blocked with vehicles, so if they wanted to get any additional apparatus in from that way, it’d be impossible without having to move the vehicles first

[@mrwonderful2142]

More firefighters need to learn to use the massive size, weight and power of the truck to push cars out of their way 🚒

[@rickjobs638]

After 30 years as a full time FF My hats off to volunteer departments but, remember you get what you pay for.

[@brucelacillade868]

Being retired from a career department, this video drive me crazy! I have to agree with everything you said.

[@jefferymatthew2776]

Brother this operation was a SHIT SHOW!

[@Jimmythefish577]

Easy to sit back and criticize after the fact, based on a 20 minute video. I’m not saying there are things I find bad in the video, but without knowing all the facts I’d reserve judgment, rather than immediately throwing them under the bus.

[@jefferymatthew2776]

@@Jimmythefish577 son I'm 25 yrs on the job I know a shit show when I see one.

[@ericpl7227]

@@jefferymatthew2776 I don't think it's fair to call this a "shit show"! I mean, why do you have to insult a shit show like that?!

[@jimknox6139]

@@ericpl7227 🤣😂🤣😂

[@saleenX02]

This fire was in Napoleonville, LA. It's a small town about halfway between Lafayatte and New Orleans. I really think this video needs to be sent to the Chief for review at weekly drill.

[@Tacos888]

You can send it to him as well 😅

[@derrickharvey295]

are you kidding......the chief ( maybe ) is the dude with the white hat that seems to have lost his cat.....really......after this....a new chief is needed and a new training officer.....debacle

[@noahmocettini9809]

This volunteer department appears to lack training, leadership, time management, and readiness. You would think every single one of these guys are on their 1st fire ever

[@carriebaker5161]

Our half Amish Volunteer Fire Department is much faster than this Department.

[@junenriquez6601]

absolutely right!

[@johndavies7180]

@@carriebaker5161 buggies with blue lights. Awsome. No offense just funny

[@TBVGAMING34]

🤣🤣

[@user-none1313]

Depends on the state in nj they have to go the fire academy an they do routine drills

[@SandCrabNews]

FYI- I was in Navy Aviation Maintenance, 3 shipboard firefighting classes, 2 WESTPAC cruises and many deployments. - The 1st 60 seconds is the most critical time to extinguish an aircraft fire. - Approach a fire from upwind.

[@machinistmikethetinkerer4827]

Izzat right? Did you learn that in one of your 3 classes Airedale? Lol

[@WikedYahoo]

No one cares 😂

[@jolson3x]

God I hope this department receives an audit, this is insane.

[@archangel6666]

Lmaoooo yeah audit them, hit ‘em where it hurts 😂😂😂😅😅

[@amandahudson431]

This video needs to be shown to upper officials

[@JoeyPinter]

I used to live in a town with these volunteer fire dept. what I saw was a bunch of local guys having a social club where once in a while you went to a fire or MVA. if you pay really close attention to the fire dept. that I knew, a few of the guys have been hanging out at the firehouse drinking all day so when they arrive they're half in the bag. doesn't inspire confidence.

[@rowiedee]

Judging by the smoke alone, it was quite clear to see that the seat of the fire was on the opposite side of the house.

[@jacobhess2866]

Speaking from experience with a volunteer department, there is a glaring lack of training and accountability present at this scene and that starts at the top. They need a leader who is willing to spend the time and resources available to adequately train them.

[@brianrance]

Rule#1 of PASS Alarms: If you're in a group of firefighters wearing BA's and you hear a PASS starting to trigger, it's always (ALWAYS) yours.

[@panampace]

The worst part is the sound always seems to be coming from anywhere else but you

[@lornemarmet5898]

My late father was a retired fire chief. We lived on opposite coasts. I wish he and I could have watched some of these videos together.

[@saltywater236]

Sorry for your loss

[@supremecommander5229]

Spot on review. This department totally lost this structure. As I am sure that you are aware, unfortunately many volunteer departments are notorious for their unwillingness to enter a burning structure and fight the fire from the inside. In many cases, as in this particular situation, they opt to try to fight the fire from the outside by drowning it. What a shame.

[@BiblePrayerASMR]

I’m starting Fire Academy next Monday! 18 week program, I will get my Fire I, Fire II, and EMT in just 4 months. January I plan to begin paramedic school. Your videos have been incredibly helpful in helping make this career switch!

[@MisterPlanePilot]

Good luck dude! Watch out for your dispatchers (yours truly). Learn to work together and cohesively. I wish you nothing but the best in your time with the department!

[@sociallyawkwardblackkidfro1016]

Zero to hero

[@Fireman1stClass]

Slow down on the rush to start medic school... Get some basic skills under your belt.

[@jimknox6139]

Congrats. 2 things to remember. 1: keep your mouth closed and your ears open. No one wants to hear your stories or opinions. Especially at the beginning. 2: always hustle. If you get labeled as a slacker, it's hard to shake that reputation. Good luck, stay safe!

[@Jay-bh2sk]

@@sociallyawkwardblackkidfro1016 I've worked with zero to hero and they are the worst....

[@slcncr]

I appreciate the fact that people are volunteering for this dangerous work, but these guys clearly have no clue what they are doing there, no plan. They need proper training. Time is key when fighting fires.

[@chadjespersen8780]

I agree with much of what you are saying. Here is my differences of opinion: Pulling past - I agree that when practical it should be done, like you said of size up and leaving room for an aerial or other apparatus. My statement on this one is the wind and smoke. It is better to not have your apparatus in the smoke or your engineer needs to be in SCBA. Hand lines - Only one line was pulled in the first 5 minutes. Now at this point there is only one person wearing SCBA. That means no entry, but they could be on charlie side performing exterior attack. Meanwhile the other guys seen "sauntering" could have a second line pulled to delta and a back up for the entry on bravo. I also don't like where they have the entry line and where you see them working. They are directly under the electric entrance line. Never good. SCBA - Many volunteer departments have several members that are not able / qualified to wear SCBA. this may help explain some of the outside personnel, but they should be performing some task. One of the people standing around a lot has an orange hat. Here, that would signify safety officer. That person should be going nuts over the PASS alarms. Seeing what happened, I can only imagine that having mutual aid early would have helped. It is obvious that the home department did not have enough SCBA qualified personnel for initial attack and control. As you said, without people able to get water on the fire, things will not get better.

[@MB87659]

Thank you for doing this. You was very respectful to the volunteers. They need to use this video at all inservice. Great job

[@Cand0002]

That was Painful to watch, a lot of people running around doing nothing while two houses burned to the Ground.

[@davekilby4515]

I agree a hundred percent & housefires are to me are very tragic and traumatic. Perhaps the worst of fires.

[@californiafiredepartmentvideos]

By the time they started attack it went from like a 1st Alarm to a 2nd Almost 3rd alarm if not 3rd Alarm... Slow operation. Crazy.

[@joeloveland6283]

As a fellow Californian who has worked with CALFIRE, you know as well as I...this is what happens when the state doesn't give a crap about its residents. If in CA, they could have had a CALFIRE unit assigned to the community with others coming in as mutual aid. Or even a county specific agency with mutual aid coming in. At least there would be equipment ran by people who know what the F to do.

[@the32712]

In some areas it take 30 minutes for mutual aid to roll onto your fire scene IF you're lucky, and often times that's just a single engine or tanker with 1, maybe 2 guys. Both of which on average are 50 years old.

[@123boat]

Here in the UK we have high pressure hose reels both sides of the fire truck. Easy and very quick to get to work. Normally less the 30 seconds. Then following crews get the larger hose to work. I’ve watched quite a lot of US fires on KZbin and I’ve been amazed at how many firefighters just seem to walk round doing sod all. Much better training is certainly required

[@stevecorcoran9869]

Started out on the main engineering space fire teams in the US Navy & was always on the fire teams on every vessel I sailed on as a merchant seaman & I have always been amazed how long it takes some of our residential firefighters to start putting water on a fire. I know it is a whole different ballgame, but I have also been amazed at how there will be 20 guys on scene and 10 of them are standing around leaning on a Haligan bar before the 1st hose is pressured up. Lots of KZbin videos where there was no good reason for a fire to have turned into a defensive position because the fire was absolutely controllable when the trucks first arrived but after 10 minutes of wanking around before water ever hit the fire a quick knockdown was no longer possible.

[@CanDeeMarie]

Lol watch Stockton fire history Channel, we definitely have professionals. These volunteers just don't seem to care for training. There's career, then there's volunteers.

[@iwasnamedafterbatman6208]

I’m fortunate to be a farmer. Almost any call I can go to because I’m technically home. I have a turn out bag in my farm truck so I’m always ready to go.

[@oscarosullivan4513]

Interesting

[@xxkillerkane420xx8]

I also always carry my gear. There’s no excuse for not having it with you. If you’re gonna be a volunteer you should be ready at any moment. Heck I’ve rushed out of church dozens of times, left my shopping cart in the middle of a store, left family events. You signed up for it and you need to drop everything and head out with no hesitation from anywhere you are.

[@rogerr1296]

We had a grass/woods fire in a neighbor's yard a few years ago and it took over 30 minutes for the fire dept to arrive and, when they did the pump truck didn't work so they spend another 20 minutes working on it. Several of us had brought our garden hoses, rakes, shovels... to do what we could before they got there and had it under pretty much under control before they got water flowing. I know it's just a volunteer dept but, there really does need to be better training and equipment maintenance.

[@Cherokee51774]

Very often volunteers have better apparatus than paid depts. Their whole budget goes into the equipment, maybe training. Half hr arrival is unacceptable. I'd go all kinds of crazy on them.

[@brianlacroix822]

this is a great idea. so you will support higher taxes right?

[@swt2296]

@@Cherokee51774 how can you be mad at them for response times. It takes however long it takes. If the truck is 30 mins away then it’s 30 mins away. I’m assuming in some bigass American counties fire stations and people are fairly spread out. Seems obvious that they aren’t going to get a decent turnout time. And I mean they probably do actually train just with their own job family kids commitments and then volunteering, not even being paid for in responding to emergency calls. Like a little appreciation?

[@joeloveland6283]

@@brianlacroix822 taxes pay for civilization..your attitude explains why we can't have better things (fire departments just to name one.) In your mind, this was totally acceptable so you could horde a few more dollars. Imagine if it was your house...oh yeah, people like you don't have empathy or community spirit, just pure greed.

[@the32712]

@@Cherokee51774 My department's two 1976 K30 Brush trucks, and 1987 GMC Tanker parked in a tiny metal shed that we call "substation 3", with a response time of 30 minutes on 1 lane dirt Appalachian mountain roads would like a word with you.

[@chrisanthony579]

As an older guy that has developed some wisdom over time....I know next to nothing about fire other than if it's hot don't touch it, but want to add a comment for maybe the younger folks regardless of career path they may choose. It doesn't matter if you are fighting fires, selling burgers and fries, building a house, coaching a sports team. LEADERSHIP is required for success of the team. A group of people can have all the Training and Sense of Urgency in the world but without a quality leader who is organizing skill sets and having a plan and executing the plan. The end goal just looks like 10 clowns and a tiny car at a circus . Some may choose to use the saying "a bunch or monkey's try to have relations with a football" Something that young people lack is Leadership Skills, often times not taught in public schools or even college.

[@ericlunneborg907]

Very true Chris

[@moemcgovern7345]

We have Volunteer Firefighters in my area. I’ve never seen Firefighters so slow and don’t seem to know what they are doing. Glad they aren’t our department.

[@craigw.miller9820]

The Department's apparatus appears to be ample for an initial attack, and a water supply was within reach so why did it take so long to actually attack the fire? Was this a department that has an insufficient training structure or can't get members to come to training?

[@jreese46]

Or the training officer is the only one with a different last name.

[@nebraskaninkansas347]

One thing I see as odd as well is it appears they laid in to the hydrant. It was so close, why not get on scene get water flowing and reverse lay for supply.

[@JS-zb1vv]

Probably doesn’t have a training officer or anyone really qualified to teach the right tactics! This may be a very very poor department! With no leadership!! And might not get anyone to an actual training! People complain but they don’t know what it costs to run a career department!! This area im sure doesn’t want to pay higher taxes to get a career department! But I bet they have a police department!! Since they make a profit!!

[@TheMarkemmy]

I could see a slow response getting water on the fire if they were waiting for the portable pond and tanker support. They were using a hydrant that was right there. 4 guys with a couple of lines early on would have made a world of difference there.

[@eliasthienpont6330]

@@TheMarkemmy Nice hydrant. Who says it has adequate water. In NYC there are some water mains with only a three inch pipe.

[@ericweiler6571]

When that firefighter told the guy to “back up-this is not safe” the guy should have said, “well, maybe if you took that line and start putting water on it this would be safer..”

[@fierfighter8902]

I think slow volunteer fire departments give us volunteers a bad wrap

[@WitchidWitchid]

I have seen some volunteer fire departments that do excellent work.

[@fierfighter8902]

@@WitchidWitchid same in my volunteer department we try to act professional and we may be a small department in Alabama we do every thing we can by the book and train weekly

[@WitchidWitchid]

@@fierfighter8902 Sounds like your department has a good recipe for developing and maintaining a quality volunteer department. Regular training and striving for professionalism works. It reminds me of what a coach I had in high school used to say. "Whatever you do in life always strive to be the best you can be.".

[@fierfighter8902]

@@WitchidWitchid yeah but then we lost a lot of volunteers because of something that my town police did and destroyed my towns reputation

[@potterwoodlawncare2680]

Most of our guys in our local department are paid in another jurisdiction. There have been many times where we have run mutual aid to a paid jurisdiction and wound up basically running the show in the end.

[@johnwashburn7423]

I agree with every observation. I would be embarrassed were I an officer in this department. My "diagnosis" is that that this department has very little activity. One exception: volunteers without POE can operate pumps, take hydrants, unkink and stretch hose and change out air bottles.

[@NJDRONEMAN]

Got to give shout out to @ghetto945 for taking this video . I seen it and told him turn on comments cause as a firefighter this needed to be seen by all of us !!! Ridiculous

[@fireman7875]

17:43 in the video, when you're about to mark 15 minutes with no water, there is a line just inside the front door. The video is cut before that line enters so we don't know when they made entry.

[@maxsmith695]

Those volunteers wasted no time or money outfitting their private vehicles with code 3 lights.

[@coldandaloof7166]

I have seen volunteers drive past the station lights and sirens to get to the scene before a single truck and have no gear with them. Drives me nuts.

[@AStrangeTree]

Ito always awesome to see a fire review. The bad ones teach you whatnot to do and what an incident can look like if we as firefighters are not on top of our game. The good ones give you an ideal to strive for in your career.

[@Mitchelloperates]

I feel like the guy with the blue Ford joined specifically for the reasons of putting emergency equipment on his personal truck.

[@woodwerkman1]

I was a LT. with my vol. Dept for over an 15 years. I have commanded many fire scenes. This is the most inept useless fire be dept. I have ever seen in my life.

[@jville533]

Our SOG for direct response is, (was, since I left the department over a year ago) we could go direct in our P.O.V. only if there was no apparatus left on station. Trucks are no good to us when they're left sitting in the station and there's 1/2 of the personnel going direct to the scene. We are a rural department with little to no fire hydrants, so if an engine and tanker is sitting in the station, there's almost 3000 gallons of water and 8 SCBA's and 4 spare SCBA bottles and assorted hand and power tools not able to be utilized.

[@jason1440]

Listening to pass devices going off all over the place is one of those traditions that seem to never die. Once we started identifying who were the offenders, yea it was 99% of the time older officers who frankly should just plain know better and care enough to lead by example. Please make this habit die 4 ever! Your family and friends would really like you to return in one piece.

[@andrewwietgrefe6500]

I did 6 years in the Navy and 3 on a volunteer department, and nothing prepared me for my first horder house fire.

[@ofcv1238]

I am not hoarder. Not married, dog & 3 male housemates. You could not walk through my front door to back door with lights and not get stuck…WITHOUT GEAR AND FIRE! Remember that

[@benobro5831]

I saw this video earlier this week and knew right away you’d do a breakdown. Crazy stuff!

[@eliasthienpont6330]

I saw it too, with many of the same comments that you expected. I did defend the department, slow and disorganized as they were because rushing in to THIS fire will get members killed. The litter in the yard mitigates against moving heavy hoses, and you know that the same conditions will obtain inside. That first truck in should have gone beyond the fire building. I do not know where they were getting their water from, this neighborhood (using that term generously) does not look like it has good water service. No water on the fire could mean no water period. (That even happens to FDNY) Sure they sent out the fire trucks, but not the water trucks. Even here in our little town the water tank will be the last vehicle out, (If someone shows up to drive it) and these frequently are ad hoc vehicles without a strong baffle system inside the tank. First curve at speed will tip it over. So you need a proper tank truck made for the fire service, and still it needs to operate more slowly. American fire trucks have very limited on-board water supply--tons of hoses but little water. Russian fire trucks on the other hand has limited hose and no pre connected hose, but they have plenty of water. They also use it more frugally. Of course this service was being very frugal with water. only that one small line disappeared out to the back and has not been seen since.

[@donaldmorrison3857]

Did anyone notice the the hot spot was on the far right side of the video.

[@abipey]

Great video for new and upcoming firefighters. The only thing I would add, that they don't teach an officer1 or officer 2 School. I went to the academy in the '80s. I'm not sure if they teach it there either. This is a great video to look at it. When you're pulling up on the scene especially in an older house like this. Look at the color of the smoke. For several reasons. Majority of this smoke is that light brown, yellowish, lazy type. That can tell you a lot of what you're about to find or the behavior of the fire. -How much 02 is interacting with the heat or flame -What types of materials are inside -Has this house been added on to. There's a lot more if you pick through the weeds. *Think about the lazy type smoke. -If all of it's lazy it could be because of the weather. -But this house has more updraft dark smoke in the back. -Has there been an addition to the house where the O2 has been cut off from the fire. -Is there a cellar where the floor might have been compromised giving you two types of smoke appearance. Due to more oxygen getting to the back of the house from the cellar. Books in school make you smart. Smart experience plus common Sense will only keep you alive on the fire scene

[@eliasthienpont6330]

Each member (we call them members in NYC) should have a radio, The chief should be giving instructions via the radio. I see it even in professional departments that the first trucks in will block further arrivals from getting to their positions. I saw one video (NOT FDNY) where the chief forced a tower ladder to break down and move so the next truck could get in.

[@almerindaromeira8352]

Our SOP in Germany is to travel in convoys if possible with the lead car being Command, followed by the first engine, then ladder. When they arrive at the scene the ladder is directly in front of the structure, while the engine is 20 meters past. Later there will be a second engine, usually from elsewhere, which is going to park behind the ladder. Our command structure, methodology, equipment and procedures are very different to American ones, but they do work and we have at least 1 radio per team (we work in a buddy system)

[@the_once-and-future_king.]

Here in the UK the first pump appliance never parks directly in front of the fire. For building fires they go beyond the fire, especially in roads with only one direction of travel.

[@ajdinsmore9280]

@@the_once-and-future_king. that’s standard here in the U.S. as well and 2nd engine usually goes to a hydrant if there’s one nearby if not behind first engine and then ladder

[@danbailey8182]

Our fire services do the same thing. Everyone has a radio and all mask up. We have a semi volunteer department. In other words we have 6 fire fighters in the hall from 8 - 1630. Then it is full volunteer. Monday and Wednesday night is full house training. We are lucky to have a damn good fire service. But it seems like communication is the key here in knocking down the fires.

[@oscarosullivan4513]

Here in Ireland they use an an entry control board

[@danielebrparish4271]

Napoleonville is a village of 660 people so I'm surprised they have as many firefighters as they do. I didn't see a tanker so there must've been a hydrant nearby which is another big surprise. I know St Gabriel, La has very few hydrants and literally 1/2 of them do not work. The main water line for the town is a 2 inch line. The craziest thing is that their homeowners insurance would be lower than the tax increase needed to install the proper water lines and in spite of that fact the people voted down a tax to do the job. They have a large percentage of people living below the poverty line, a high drop out rate in their schools and a higher than average drug problem.

[@alexkitner5356]

I'm a long time third generation volunteer so I'm not saying this as an anti-volunteer thing but thats horrible. Minutes in and one guy has a pack on, nobody has water flowing anywhere, guys in personal vehicles rolling in all over but nobody is grabbing packs, they're walking around aimlessly, its an embarrassing mess. From the smoke and the conditions the first structure was probably a loss anyway but that doesn't mean you do nothing and worse yet let an exposure burn. They had manpower and apparatus there, no excuse for this at all.

[@businessaccount3820]

Yea, I think it boils down to training. They simply did not know what to do.

[@Fireman1stClass]

Alot of people just want to have the flashy lights in their POVs and wear their fire t-shirts while the public puts them up on pedestals...

[@oscarosullivan4513]

We don’t have those for the shirt people here in Ireland

[@phishlady79]

I saw this previously and was baffled at how long it took them to get any water going...and at all the people in street cloths who seemed to be the only ones trying to do anything.

[@cynthiastyner163]

Same here...I just got frustrated all over again watching this

[@2Fast4Mellow]

About 25 years ago I worked at a warehouse in Rotterdam and one of the warehouse managers was part of the Rotterdam harbor chemical fire department unit. He 'owned' two sets of fire gear, one was always in his car, so that once he gets the call, he is ready to deploy. After a fire the gear needs to be decontaminated, so he dropped the used fire gear off at the station and swapped to the 2nd set and kept that one in his car. They usually got 1 to 3 calls a month... I'm not sure why nobody took command here. Maybe it is a liability issue, I don't know. Maybe nobody took charge of the situation because they wouldn't be accountable...

[@zyglo9826]

2Fast4Mellow A fire officer who’s not willing to assume command and take control of the situation needs to turn in his white hat and coat.

[@calvinlivengood5717]

Instead, they all became accountable for being part of a poor performance to say the least, so if liability was their concernn it was the wrong one.

[@pandi8109]

I'm a member of my local fire departments youth program, and I can confidently say, we have more of a hustle than these guys, even when we have no idea what we're doing.

[@JP-st2mk]

I've always made the distinction between the different types fire departments as either "volunteer" or "paid". Mainly because there are some firefighters where is just a job, not necessarily a "career".

[@mtnride4930]

And these are volunteers. There are some career firefighters I have worked with that think it is just a job. I noticed this for about the last few years before I retired in 06. I could not stand them.

[@huntermcdoogle4271]

What is that supposed to mean?

[@javorisscott4288]

Nah. My department is volunteer but we’re pretty much career guys. We are equipped pretty well, we live at the station, we train we’ll, we have career progression, and most of all, we have a career firefighter mentality.

[@huntermcdoogle4271]

Honestly, from my experience, we (a large, well funded volunteer department) get stuff done more efficiently, faster, and speedily then the career boys (smaller career department) neighboring us. I don't know what you mean by "volly mentality." Have decent command structure, training, and more training and you will get the inverse of this video. The volunteer departments I have experience with have the mindset of saving lives and property.

[@ffjsb]

Volunteer and Paid don't really mean anything. I've seen both that act like morons, and both that are highly trained and motivated. I work on a full time FD that takes around 600 runs a day, and a rural volunteer FD that takes around 200 runs a YEAR. I get 3 times the training on the rural FD than I do on my full time dept. And it's quality training too.

[@ashwilliams999]

I’m not a firefighter but I know that for something like this in the UK, they would have sought out and linked to a hydrant immediately . Perception is everything - the public see their heroes stood around with little urgency. I wonder if that had been one of the crew’s house whether things would have been different. I don’t accept the unpaid volunteer thing - I was an unpaid police officer over here for 24 years and was told day one - the public don’t see volunteers, they see police officers. I worked on average 16-24 hours a week on top of my day job and made sure I knew what I was doing because (a) the law won’t give me a break for being a volunteer and (b) this isn’t play acting - you screw up and not only do you put yourself at risk, but you’re no use to the public or your colleagues either.

[@maureenmcmahon7045]

I just happened on this site. I watched this video and was shocked at what I saw. I watch FDNY fire videos all the time and they are the best of the best. These guys could use some of their training, even just the basic things. Even I know that you have to make a 360 of the property to see what has to be done and you never ignore the exposures. I do realize that they are volunteers and don't have a lot of money, but this was bad. They just need better training. I thank all the volunteers for what they do.

[@316lvmnoneofyourbusiness7]

I have lived in a lot of towns and cities in the United States - big and small. Currently, I live in a small rural in southern Minnesota - population around 1,700 including the corn, soybeans and some livestock. Next town over is 7 miles away with a population of 703. The next town going in the opposite direction is 6.9 miles; population around 959. These 3 towns have volunteer fire departments. Money for equipment and such is usually raised through some type of funding and donations. I cannot fault the response times to emergencies nor the knowledge that they have. These people have jobs and families out side of fire fighting and do their best. I am grateful to them and their families for the sacrifices that they make each and every day when they are called out to an emergency. The same for our police department. It's not "such and such" address, it's the address and "The Smith's house down buy the feed store.........it's Thelma May... or it's so and so's grandchild...." It makes a huge difference.

[@erichhitchcock3368]

I saw this video when it came out. Napoleonville, LA is a 109 acre village. They're lucky to have ANY fire protection. Those guys without gear may not own any, or are town workers who go to everything. IDK. I agree with everything, but we don't know anything about this dept. The village in 2010 census showed 660 persons. I was on two departments in my life (there's a river between the two), one has an awesome training program, the other tries to, but their budget is less, and it is more of a "farm town." The difference between the two is huge. I'm still close to the busier dept. since moving away, and they are one of CT's best. I love your channel, I just found it recently...it's nice to see these broken down and criticized. I love the way this videographer talks in this video...with that accent I had to investigate where this is, thank God apparatus usually tells us where an incident is.

[@amlvlogs8152]

I'm not 100% sure but isn't napolenville near thidbouax I'm not too sure not familiar with napolenville more with vacherie and thidbouax

[@phatboizbackyardkustomz9006]

Seems they have some nice equipment and there was plenty of bodies on scene. But they were lacking tactics...

[@oscarosullivan4513]

America needs to cut down on the number of police forces and fire brigades just do what the UK and ROI did and merge fire brigades

[@itsyaboimat2393]

@@madeinusa5201 FEMA grants usually

[@Cherokee51774]

If they can't afford training why are they there at all? Does no one know how to be creative? Partner with a neighboring town to train? Continuing education should always be done with jobs pertaining to public safety. Especially if they don't see a lot of action. Muscle memory is vital in certain jobs.

[@mightymystery9204]

I noted that the smoke was gray, when you mentioned it was only in the attic. Around 5 minutes, the smoke darkened, as I noticed smoke from the air conditioner, indicating new fuel sources. Around the 7 minute mark, I saw the lighter smoke, rising vertically, drafting air between the buildings and increasing the general air flow, which did inadvertently accelerate the initial fire, drafting through breakouts. The firenado after the roof self-ventilated was avoidable, obviously, but once it happened, these people were behind the curve. I saw other appliances that coyld have helped supply. I cannot understand why the deluge pipe, and portable deck pipe did not come into play. Obviously, these people either missed or forgot the Incident Command System, under which the first firefighter on scene, even if in cits, would have done the quick assessment, locating the hydrant, spotting exposures, and determining general situation. When the first unit with an officer arrived, he should announce that he was incident commander, give a quick brief and instruct where he thought they might best go, and ask if the officer wanted to relieve him or leave him in play. Typically, a unit commander will not relieve. As soon as an actual independent officer arrived, the IC should brief him. This actually instills a sense of organized urgency, and it kick starts the chief. Likely, the first engine would have been told to drop two supply lines, one for itself, and one for the second arrival. Engine would have hit the exposure, and truck would have overheaded the main fire. Failure to employ the IC system is a big reason for a disaster like this one. IC makes everyone think like a leader, and automatically makes the first arrival take charge. Subsequent arrivals get sucked into brain mode, and all goes better. Without that, people stand around waiting for the chief, who, human nature, will regard with the same urgency as the people on scene, unless he is strong. Volunteers, more than regulars, need to be taught this. I have run up on multiple site street accidents while off duty, and wound up IC for responding units until a command vehicle arrived. It's just good practice to know the IC system. Great for morale, no question of what to do or who has jurisdiction, but just gets the team formed from the jump.

[@cplcabs]

When he mentioned it was in the attic at about 06:30 it was noticeably coming from the AC

[@Conan-ny1um]

I can only assume the family the owned this home was not liked in the community! And this is why they intentionally stalled until it was to late!

[@richarddragin2262]

I must disagree with you, this is rural Louisiana. Nobody down there is in a hurry to do anything. There is no sense of urgency in their brains. And you can tell by the way they walk around whether they have any real training whatsoever. Always makes me sad for the victims of these fires. Especially seeing something that could be saved and losing it completely, as well as the exposures. Civic pride no longer exists, it's all about the Dead Presidents that you make. " Be it big or be it small,do it right or not at all".

[@chrismartin1500]

As a volunteer probie even i can see right off the bat that the fastest smoke is in the charlie delta corner (for those that don't know fast smoke means very hot)

[@dadtype2339]

Ret. Firefighter here, I saw this video a few days ago on another channel, I have done both Career and had ended in Volunteer, my comments were pretty much on par with yours, you did point out some super important things I missed so right, especially with the P.A.S.S alarms going off, I thought to myself man there's a lot of FF just standing around, but I had missed the very important reason which you pointed out on not becoming complacent and use to that sound, definitely no disrespect in my comments the only thing that this video serves now is a good hard look at how important training is. Sorry that these homes had to pay that price but as history shows that's how we learn from our mistakes. The Dept I was with had great training and you are right not all Vol Depts have the same budget also great idea about going to a career dept if you are Vol to get in more time, I'd suggest a good way to do that, now again every Dept is different, but my dept along with multi counties held station monthly meet/greet/dinners wherein the Fire Marshal would attend and it was a great opportunity to see other Dept. and meet your Brothers and Sisters, ours would include Career dept as well, But more importantly if your Dept does this ask your Chief if you can attend, and meet the fire marshal great way to put that foot in the door and ask can I get an appointment in with X Dept for a ride along he or she can def get you into contact with who you need to talk to and set that up, two things if you are Vol and want to visit a Career Dept, be respectful, and understand that career is more military organized. When I started in CA my first ride along was of course set up in a Career Dept while I was doing my academy and training and fire science and so on, first hour there and a BC shows up and someone called out immediately and loud, "Attention Battalion Chief on station!" It's very different and not as relaxed as a Volunteer Dept. Funny story when I moved and joined the local Volunteer Dept I stood attention to the Chief when I first met him and he entered the station, others looked at me like I was crazy, the Marine guys thought it was cool, and the Chief, who lol was definitely not use to seeing this, he laughed and said you definitely came from career, and he himself was career too at one time. I ended with the rank of Captain. I was injured off duty and forced to medically retire and my wife and kids are happy, I miss it, but I served my time for my community as long as God saw fit. And I'm always looking and watching, retired but never off duty as the saying goes. Be safe and well to all my Brothers and Sisters Ret. Active, Career or Volunteer.

[@Infamoustwin213]

Very good read. I’ve been volunteering since December of last year and despite it being volunteer I still take it very seriously. I despise a firefighter that knows nothing on the fire ground. Completely useless, and not only that but a big safety issue if you’re not properly trained.I could never live with myself if I’m the reason someone gets injured or worse, lose their life on the fire ground. I take pride in what I do and it’s sad that a lot of people get comfortable with the bare minimum just because they’re volleys and not career.

[@dadtype2339]

@@Infamoustwin213 I completely understand, which is why I helped out guys around me, granted you can't exactly hold their hand, but you may find like I had, you going in with one of these guys. It was a year ago so I don't recall if I mentioned it, but I started career, and ended volunteer. So, yes it is serious, and I hope what department you are at does academy training or college program sharing, mine did which really helped the Regs (Regular Guys is what I called them lol) they'd build up to at least the NFPA 1403. I moved from one state to another and instead of retaking all the academy again, I was able to just do what's called Challenge the final Exams, and was able to transfer all my certs over to the new state, it took time as it depended on the instructors time and schedule, and it was still a lot of work. As I'm thinking about it I laugh, as I remember all that work and I got an official letter from the state and the tiniest medal pin you ever saw that reads State Firefighter, lol I remember thinking, that's it!? I came from a big city and moved to small town USA so it was a change. Not sure from the name but going by tone of the writing I'm staking a stab at it. I'm retired but always on duty, be Safe and be well Brother. Or Sister, as I have seen and fought along side some Kick A** Ladies. Had one I swear was like going in with Vasquez from the movie 'Aliens'. Check that out if you have no idea what I'm talking about lol. Oh and thanks for the response, yeah this video they're a mess.

[@skyfire888]

When you said that the first truck should have pulled past the fire building I was at first expecting you to say it was so that other trucks can pull in behind the first one, and I think that is another good reason as we see when the ladder truck pulls up halfway through the video.

[@testbetrieb]

I myself am in Germany in a voluntary fire brigade. but these firefighters way too slow. no system, no tactics. sometimes they walk around with respiratory protection, sometimes without! this is a great danger. also no quick reconnaissance and it takes far too long until water is on the pipe. there are also too many civilians walking around at the scene. why are they in the deployment site without respiratory protection? that is life-threatening maybe I'll get into conversation with American firefighters, I'd be happy

[@oscarosullivan4513]

This wouldn’t happen with even the most rural Irish Fire Brigade

[@swt2296]

Fairly sure the ppl in civies are volunteers who haven’t brought their fire kit…..

[@joeloveland6283]

I have family in Germany who are volunteers as well and they know what they are doing on a scene. Unfortunately there is a major disparity between level of professionalism and training throughout the United States. It is hard to believe, but most of the local fire departments in much of the rural area of the United States are volunteers, which, unlike many other countries (European or Australia for example) are not funded by a government (national or state level). They rely on donations from the community to exist, even to the point of getting personal equipment. This is because of our out dated, everyone for themselves-I got mine I don't care about you attitude fostered by certain political parties intent on keeping wealth and power among certain individuals and corporations. The money is there, the tax base is there is spread out among the entire state/community but the political will is not. Some States foster coordination and cooperation among agencies and cities (California for one) so that all communities have a chance to get basic, trained, equipped fire services. Other states not so much. I am sure you will see this comment be attacked by traditionalists and others saying that "this voluntary system has always worked for 100's of years"...but they said the same thing about horse drawn steamers and going in without SCBAs. Things will change when people create enough political will to change it. When politicians feed crap to the citizens, crap is what they believe and they accept crap as "it is what it is".

[@joelstanhope7231]

All that smoke coming from eves tells me its super heated and as soon as it gets air its gonna intensify quickly , maybe backdraft

[@CajunFirefirefighter]

I’m actually familiar with this department as they are from Louisiana. I have a few questions 1. Did anyone notice the red helmet walking around I’m not sure if he’s an officer or not but what was he doing not packed and masked up? 2. Why didn’t the first in engine pull past the house? 3. Who pulls a car fire line on a structure fire? 4. An aerial ladder deployed On a single story residence? 5. Why are the volunteers parking in the way? 6. Where was the sense of urgency? From what I seen and heard this department is getting ripped locally. Much needed training needs to be the focus here.

[@MrRozzi20]

One thing I will say, the ladder truck can be used on a single story. Does it normally happen no but I have seen it used correctly in many situations. Other then that spot on.

[@dragonace119]

I have personally seen ladders being used on single stories but that was mainly to get on the roof to start cutting from what I could tell.

[@bkane573]

Tossing a ground ladder and going up to do the cutting would be much faster.

[@oscarosullivan4513]

B Kane good point

[@itsyaboimat2393]

So Mike that guy with the red helmet could have been their safety/ accountability officer, I know on my department our safety wears a blue helmet, different departments have different colors that are connected to positions.

[@MiniTaleTerritory]

Legend has it that the fire is still burning.

[@scottwilliams3701]

Good example of what NOT to do on a working fire!

[@mrdayyumyum3712]

Dave Dotson's "Reading Smoke class" Look at the color, the intensity and volume . I see a white helmet, a blue and a red.All officers.

[@perryfire1]

I'm not going to pick on these guys too much as I'm pretty sure they understand there is room for improvement. But their response is fairly typical in some degree or another for volunteer departments. And some career departments too! Communities are asking guys and gals to train and potentially risk their lives for free after they've worked a full time job somewhere else. They are not going to have the time or motivation to train to the standards of career departments that have mandatory training, standards, and a strict chain of command that is always in place. Volunteer departments are handicapped and it's unfair to compare them to career departments. Kudos to the volunteer departments that overcome the obstacles in their way and retain their members that are working out of the goodness of their hearts. I could write a book on what is wrong with the volunteer world but really it comes down to unrealistic expectations from people who could easily just stay home. If these communities want a professional fire department then they will have to pay for one. Otherwise they should keep their mouths shut and be thankful that anyone shows up when they have an emergency. I'm not condoning poor firemanship, but we have to be aware of reality.

[@mike_pertz]

Couldn't agree more, thank you for saying this. This video was in no way meant to disrespect volunteers or the work they do. They're in an unbelievably tough position with little to no pay, training, resources, or funding. Hopefully, they took some lessons from after the fire and were able to learn from them/work on them.

[@perryfire1]

@@mike_pertz I think your assessment was spot-on and I don't want to give the impression the volunteers are above scrutiny just because their job is harder. I didn't sense any disrespect from you and all firefighters should be able to handle some advice. However, if you were to break down that scene it would behoove everyone to know why those guys didn't do a stellar job. Do they even follow the ICS? Were the officers even present? They could have been at work. Why was almost nobody packed up? How many on scene were even qualified to make entry? Where were the radio's? Does every member even have one? Why did they pull the short bumper line after they pulled up short? Maybe that was the only line that firefighter had ever pulled before. And on and on and on. When you ask those questions and get the unfortunate answers, then you can kind of understand why the fire got worse.

[@cdodge2996]

I would just like to say thank you for this comment. In our county there is ZERO pay for being a volunteer. Our governor has stripped ANY protection from "First Responders" in response to the anti law enforcement movement. I was just on a fire where the property owner wanted to fight any one of us for not doing what we're paid to do... We were on that scene for 12+ hours. Completely ruined my whole weekend...

[@perryfire1]

@@cdodge2996 And people wonder why nobody wants to volunteer anymore. It's rare to retain anybody for any length of time. All of the problems witnessed in that video happen for a reason. You get what you pay for ( even though there are some great volunteer people and dept's out there) for the most part. Fundamentally the system is broken in my opinion. Hang in there though as each fire makes you a little bit better. At the end of the day you are still doing good which is admirable.

[@techman205]

Thank you for saying that but not all are handi-capped as I am a Fire Chief of a rural fire department that is 100% volunteer. We train every week and last year dropped our ISO district wide to a class 4 both in the 6 mile hydrated and non- hydrated areas. 60/40 split respectively. There is no-excuse for the lack luster performance of this department but don't group all departments in that range who are volunteer. We serve about a pop. of 4000 within our line and we have automatic mutual aid with multiple agencies both paid and volunteer. I have approx. 38 memebrs of which I am probably third from the oldest there (53 years old), yet we get it done on a limited budget from our Fire tax 7.5% on $100.00 of property value. It can be done you just have to be motivated and lead by example!

[@chrisredvelski2862]

The ladder is the homeowners. The man in the lite colored shirt is an engineer, w/ one of the pumpers. The person w/ the white hat, arrived in the truck you mentioned in the beginning of video. The man in dark blue shirt @ 8;45 is another chief. One line flowing, maybe, @ 10-min. after arrival. Blue hats are usually EMS. No hydrants & no tankers on scene yet. 19:45- No water supply, no big handlines can be used. That one engine is providing all the water for handlines & the ladder truck. I agree with all your lessons.

[@calebbaker8937]

Always love seeing your channel notification on a day off

[@LadyDi49Diana2.0]

I was a fireman back in 1994. Except for the vehicle, this looks like it is being allowed to burn….. ie controlled burn They need to move that vehicle and what are they waiting for? Where is the water?? I NEVER showed up not in full turn out gear including SCBA!

[@stevemockoviak8384]

This was very painful to watch even the first time I saw it. Unfortunately this is what many viewers of KZbin will remember about fire departments in general instead of specifically. There is no leadership and no pride in this department!

[@Matty12787]

I was taught that it takes about 3 minutes to consume a room and an additional to 2 minutes to involve the house..? (I'm talking single story, unsure if it also meant a 2 story building but as heat rises, I'd assume both) Edit: Also the fire triangle is heat, fuel and oxygen. If they suddenly break a window or open a door in a hurry it will suddenly introduce the oxygen it needs and yes there is a potential of a flashover/backdraft. Your correct about the smoke and it is what you need to look at as a firefighter to tell what your dealing with, the smoke tells all...

[@michaelpatanella]

As a retired firefighter from central nj bordering trenton and Princeton I just can't wrap my head around departments like these where 20 personal vehicles come flying in with illegal lights and sirens. Here in nj. Majority of the time ONLY CHIEF officers go directly to scene. Only time a captain or lieutenant would go to scenes is if they have to pass the fire, in order to get to firehouse. Guys in these not so normal states driving 80 mph, personal vehicles with way too many lights, and some even with q2 sirens is just disorganized confusing clutter. Nothing but free lancing.

[@jeremys5904]

Finally i find a channel that analyzes firefighting. My neighbors house burned about 3 weeks ago. Single story two bedroom small home..fast response time...TWENTY THREE firefighters standing around and not a single hose spraying..they waited to use the LADDER truck to put out the fire and even then it took over an hour as they were not even spraying on the fire.

[@brianjacobi]

Great video Sir. Very productive observations and teaching, certainly only constructive criticism. Thank you. Brian New Zealand

[@jordanvangundy975]

3:31 absolutely no firefighting experience here but I lived in rural Alabama for 18 years and I guarantee there’s at least one and probably multiple gas cans in that building.

[@jessesands3030]

It took me a little while to realize that this was not taking place where i live in canada. There was a house that burnt down to the point that there was only a foundation left. This house was located next door to the Fire Department. From then on Fire fighters here are known as Foundation savers. I belonged to this crew for about 4 years. its also a vounteer department, except for the Chief and his #2.

[@williamrutherford9283]

Yup in our area we used to call them the foundation savers. Has gotten a bit better over the years but not much.

[@West-PAC]

Did the fire dept buy that land and expand?

[@jessebott1879]

@@West-PAC lol nope the people rebuilt. Still the same Asbestos filled Fire Hall that was there then is still there now.

[@rhoonah5849]

My department is all volunteer and first, our chief does NOT want anyone showing up at the fire ground with their personal vehicle because he doesn't want to clutter up the area with personal vehicles and he wants people to go to the station to get apparatus. The only exception MAY be if you are driving directly by the fire and if you show up without your turnout gear, you're toast and will get a MASSIVE arse chewing. There is simply no excuse for it since we all have 2 sets of gear... one for our vehicles and the second for the main station (we have 2 stations and some guys go direct to the second station hence having gear in your personal vehicle). There is virtually nothing you can do to help without your gear.

[@freezinweasle1]

As an engineer on a very rural VFD, this was painful to watch. I wanted to tell them what to do. Was there no water on that pumper? Let the second truck in lay from the hydrant. I will be quiet now.

[@jaymesbatten6483]

As much as all the acronyms in my department in Aus pain me, hell they come in handy in these situations. RECEO is an order of priorities = Rescue - Exposures - Containment - Extinguishment - Overhaul. As an officer, I can’t count how many times I’ve used that acronym and it has seriously helped me take command and get some order going amidst the chaos. Knowing what tasking is required next helps make sure there’s prompt action and crews are allocated as best they can be and at any point all parts of that acronym can be applied at the same time. Other acronyms such as SPADRA = Safe Persons Approach Dynamic Risk Assessment are also a great tool. They might sound silly but those prompts help you remember to complete 360s, have a plan in place, adjust the plan if it’s not effective or as safe as it can be and most importantly it’s DYNAMIC, it’s an ever changing environment so be prepared to go over the plan again and again and adjust.

[@oscarosullivan4513]

Do you have an ECO

[@rosejohnson9957]

Thank you so much! I saw the original video when it first came out and I was furious. I thought to myself well I'm not a firefighter so maybe there's a reason they're just letting this House burn down. But the lack of urgency it's unbelievable. Do they pull up and see that it's probably going to be a loss so they don't rush? I think volunteer fire department should have the same training as paid ones. How do they know there wasn't anything explosive in there. Anyways thank you for validating how I felt when I watched it the first time.

[@Cherokee51774]

They should have more training. They have the budget for it.

[@SIX6SIXer]

these guys jam the Benny Hill music on their way to every fire to get their adrenaline going.

[@FirefighterNeek]

You had like 2 guys total wearing packs so I’m not sure what their training requirements are but my guess is most of these guys have never or aren’t trained in interior firefighting

[@the32712]

In most departments in my county only 10% of a given department has interior-rated firefighters. The rest of us have patchy training in different blocks of FF1. On a daytime call in my district you're going to get a 70 year old fire captain and pump operator, another 65 year old lieutenant, and my Mid/late twenty year old self with no certifications other than EMR, plus patchy training in exterior firefighting, and venting through windows.

[@randybrown9706]

We call ours basement savers. Really our fire dept has left fires they started to burn grass and not left anyone watching and just about burnt 4 homes downs but did manage to burn down 3 garages

[@VangoghsDoggo]

I have lived in rural areas most of my life. You mention turn out gear and volunteers not having it on. Some of these departments just don't have the money. They also know that they are there to save people if people are in the building, the guys with the gear do that. Most of the equipment is used, doesn't always work right or is inefficient because it is all the department can afford. Taxes do no support these departments. They raise money through donations. If a guy wants turn out equipment, he probably has to buy it himself. They do what they can. More importantly, almost all of them are EMT's because there isn't a rescue squad within 20 minutes and they deem that more important for heart attacks and injuries. Every place I lived in the country we called them "basement savers". Because that is usually what was left after the fire. If you or your livestock is in danger, they will save that first. Buildings can be replaced.

[@justjoe811]

Yeah, that's the reality of some rural depts. Unless there is a life inside, they dont do interior attack and are just there to put out the fire, not save the property. It's not nice, but it's probably more cost effective to pay out the insurance on the 1 house fire they get annually than it is to have top notch equipment, and certainly more than having a paid dept. But, even then this dept did poor operations because if your core tactic is to surround and drown, than there's no good excuse for you to have allowed an exposure to also get fully involved.

[@phatboizbackyardkustomz9006]

Looks like the apparatus is quite sporty and the guys that are wearing gear doesn't look bad...

[@RustyZipper]

One thing that we always save are swimming pools. Especially in ground ones we have a 💯 success rate

[@Cherokee51774]

@K Bar That sounds awful and beyond dangerous in every way. Good luck.

[@Cherokee51774]

@@justjoe811 Real fire depts go inside NO MATTER WHAT. Even if they believe no one to be inside. They have to check anyway. They don't take anyone's word for it. Not even the residents. Volunteer are pretty much useless.

[@grumpyiwegianpodcast3505]

That fire dept reminds me of one in Ill that the locals all called the Foundation Savers cause by the time they showed up and got water flowing that is all that was ever left the foundation.

[@fdMT_EnGy]

Where you talked about rehab and that one guy being in rehab....when i watched the original fire I figured the same. Then I thought why is he in rehab, they haven't done anything yet. This is definitely tied with one other for the worst fire ground operations i have ever seen. I watched the original the day before you posted this. When i saw you did i thought definitely up your alley for teaching what not to do. Great video as always.

[@michaelpawlowski8325]

I thought the same thing about the guy in rehab. I was like "arrived on scene, didnt flow water for 15 minutes later and THEN two minutes into a guy is taking a break?"