Town House Fire Cobourg September 23, 2023

[@justsayingopinion6730]

Great video very clean ,nice job

[@tbo2341]

Whoever runs the electrical system that apartment complex need to be locked up in jail

[@pudster4115]

Yep. WHat the heck did they bypass circuit breakers?

[@hirampriggott1689]

@@pudster4115 I don't think this is in the circuit breakers from inside. This is the connection from the utility line.

[@ronaldkovacs7080]

Usually tenants who hook up their own stuff or try to bypass meter.

[@hirampriggott1689]

@@ronaldkovacs7080 That's a bit of an assumption, doncha think?

[@eldoradoboy]

the is Post meter pre main panel for any apartment.. a fuse blow didnt occur at the pole because this is is an arc situation and wasnt an all out short circuit. the amount of current pull by those sparking lines didnt exceed the max load of the transformer protector.. so you get this... more modern systems could detect the severe arcing and open a disconnect, but this appears to be old building in an old area.. often the power companies are slow to respond.. you can see that these are old school meters that arent remote disconnect capable.. in most areas firefighters dont touch the meters

[@REWYRED]

For those asking "Why dont they shut the power off??" Well simply, the fire department has no means to be able to. That appears to be an old cable that fed the two meters you see and is fed directly from a hydro transformer. No fuses, no breakers protecting this cable, only the high voltage fuse protecting the transformer and that only the utility has the means to pull to cut power, so you are waiting on them. If the arcing is sustained long enough the fuse may blow but depending on what size transformer and fuse are present, "secondary" feeds to houses will completely burn up before the fuse on the high voltage side even thinks of blowing. Yes it sounds stupid and dangerous, as a sparky I think it is.

[@REWYRED]

@@danielbianconi6441 Incorrect.. The fire dept does not turn power off. As I stated above the power is shut off by the utility. During a fire you are waiting for them to appear and shut off power to the affected building(s) They will not shut off an entire block or neighbourhood unless there is imminent danger... This wouldnt be considered imminent danger.

[@REWYRED]

@@danielbianconi6441 Incorrect again. 1. If there is a fire I do not think your kid or dog will be anywhere in the area or near that building. If they are, WTF are they doing there? 2. That is 120/240V service, 120V to ground so, not likely to electrify the entire area, as would a high voltage primary feeder falling to the ground. (Look up touch and step potential) 3. It is priority to turn the power off but again THE FIRE DEPARTMENT IS NOT PERMITTED TO DO SO, OR PULL A METER.. You will be waiting for THE UTILITY TO ARRIVE AND THAT TAKES TIME, Especislly if its after hours. A fire one street behind me had the UTILITY arrive to cut power, at the pole to the affected building after the fire was damn near out.

[@REWYRED]

@@danielbianconi6441 Kids would of been long gone outta there after the fire started And yes I DO know what I am talking about, I am a licensed electrician and have dealt with inspectors and those that work for my local utility.... When YOU understand how electricty works, how the fire dept and local utilities function then MAYBE you will have an argument... Until then what you speak is irrelevant...

[@REWYRED]

@@danielbianconi6441 Oh . And please list the "failsafes" you spoke of..... We are waiting..

[@REWYRED]

@@danielbianconi6441 O daniel, how brown your eyes have turned from being so full of shit you put sn explosive in a transformer to cut power.. Let's get this clear. I am a red seal electrician, I'd say I'm a pretty darn good one. Again, I am waiting to hear what failsafes there are in a situation like this that would cut power... obviously there is nothing here. So here ya go.. The transformer primary fuse? Nope... Not designed to protect secondary conductors. Secondary breaker? Ya, they exist in some transformers but not here. Other fusing or protection? Nope non existant, never is. Fire departments do request for power to be shut off.. but again it's the utility... And again for a piddly ass townhouse fire they are not going to interrupt an entire neighbourhood or better because its quicker. The power will not be interrupted in a mere few minutes. If it were a large building alight, and there was use of ladder trucks etc around primary line OR the feed to the building could not be isolated from the street they will drop the neighborhood, again that may be more than a mere "few minutes" Turning off power to large areas then picking it up later comes with it's own risks.. I'm sure as the first responder you say you are you have been to many a fire after a power outage where the occupant got distracted and left an appliance on, to which when the power was restored has set things alight.

[@jimgriffin9924]

Nice smooth camera work. No jerking it around so it looks like there's an earthquake along with the fire. Good job.

[@Bobby-y9n1z]

Great fire work show

[@lom3ardo]

I always love the recliner chiefs comments lol. Anyway. The hose line getting pinched can happen to anybody. Next time open the nozzle and it should be easier to get out. Great job overall.

[@NMFF415]

agreed not too shabby! good work

[@paulhindenberg6364]

True for clearing a pinched line. But as a retired chief of the department, they need a good training officer. The electric company should have been notified when they saw it was a worker. Just commenting in hopes that they take heed. Not nit picking.

[@northwoodsmanbybobolink336]

I see why that building caught fire! What kind of butcher job electrical wiring is that? Power lines and electrical wires hanging from the façade outside like that!? What kind of building codes or code enforcement do they have there to allow that?

[@jamesrader3329]

That's the way they all are when built like that.

[@kimberlysevastyanenko3798]

Our duplex has lines connected to the house like that.

[@northwoodsmanbybobolink336]

@@kimberlysevastyanenko3798 That’s illegal where I’m at! You see why right?

[@robertpurdy701]

I think it might be Canada.

[@kimberlysevastyanenko3798]

@@northwoodsmanbybobolink336 Oh, of course.

[@cadoo5591]

Fire walls are quite amazing.

[@tomp8871]

excellent video

[@owensweetland342]

Food on the stove?

[@Roree403]

Strong push, nice work

[@janh5199]

Not much of a firewall between those two units, or does each unit have two back doors?

[@madelinewhitley326]

One back door per unit.

[@jimkeappock7558]

At 6:42 you can see very heavy fire condition in the lower floor where is the line.?

[@iananderson8363]

How is it arcing away from the meter? And how does that not trip a breaker at some point?!

[@petefisher2426]

That’s what everyone was wondering

[@irechopshop]

It was probably main incoming feed before the home meter and the cutout would have been on the pole

[@trainmaster0217]

No breaker @@petefisher2426

[@stephenmather8513]

Wow this was hard to watch. Is this there first job?

[@greyman686]

Yes, every single person there has never been on a fire.

[@jasongrisdale3084]

​@@greyman686these clowns r fn useless...I can't believe this is in Canada....the u.s i would expect it,but this is just fn embarrassing

[@stephenmather8513]

It shows.

[@marlenemeinhard8956]

I imagine they ran out of water also. The fire brigade was budting through from front to back. Then with arcing they suddenly stopped from back and front. By the looks of the firemen by 1 truck. Water was done till electric was shut off. Really sad, becauce it will travel and the smoke in other units will wreck them too. Hopefully everyone got out, and pets. So sad.

[@wilsjane]

The video was not showing the full situation. The seat of the fire was in that lower floor rear room. While they were setting up at the front of the building to push the fire back, the exterior crew knocked it down, to reduce the heat and prevent it from spreading upwards and into the roof. They had to then stop when the interior attack took over. This method saved more of the front interior and upper floor. The rear room lighting up again towards the end looked very dramatic, but it had already been destroyed.

[@scottpriddy5904]

You don't always attack an interior fire from the entrance of origin. It is best to attach from the back side of the fire so as not to push it into uninvolved areas of the structure.

[@bindig1]

That electric arcing was making me tense

[@johnclyne6350]

Great video! Especially showing the building service burning. That was one hot fire 🔥! I hope no one was hurt & everyone made it out fine?

[@alanchandler254]

I assume this is Cobourg Canada???

[@peteheyde7999]

Here's a little friendly advice. 99.99999999% of the world doesn't even have a clue where Cobourg is. Even if this is absolutely the BEST fire video ever made, if it isn't properly described and given due context, it will be half the quality of those with proper pertinent information even at lower res than you use. Just throwing up a video with no accompanying information doesn't really cut it.

[@greyman686]

99.99999999% could simply use that fancy thing known as google and type in Cobourg. Just sayin.

[@ChristianWagner888]

Yeah, I first thought it was the German town of Coburg misspelled.

[@BNSnews3813]

what model cam was this shot on? let me guess...... an IPHONE PRO something.

[@Ottotherepoman1]

why did no one turn off the hydro??? zoinks. those townhomes have needed re-wiring for 20 years.

[@kingtim41]

Why isn’t it a line on that back window?

[@watchthe1369]

OLD building for that part of the country and probably pre-code and retrofit wiring. those places have chimneys for stove and maybe kitchen cooking.

[@perrycole5290]

Where is the outside signal L to cut the power???

[@ScrappyIgotmoney]

Why didnt swear water on electricity? 🤔

[@CherylCoghill]

Dont know what we'd do without you Pete

[@raypinkerton6961]

Hi, what started the fire

[@ronfreniere8769]

That was a stubborn one to put out ( especially in that room in back of the building) but some of them are. Hopefully there were no injuries to anyone related to this incident. Thank you to all firefighters everywhere for protecting the citizens of your coverage area.

[@projectredhead]

paint pencil check repeat

[@edhamtil5380]

The back was probably the kitchen

[@arjenvanderhauw7351]

Almost had it in a few minutes, stopped for a long time and then lost the battle… unbelievable

[@wilsjane]

The video was not showing the full situation. The seat of the fire was in that lower floor rear room. While they were setting up at the front of the building to push the fire back, the exterior crew knocked it down, to reduce the heat and prevent it from spreading upwards and into the roof. They had to then stop when the interior attack took over. This method saved more of the front interior and upper floor. The rear room lighting up again towards the end looked very dramatic, but it had already been destroyed.

[@jayktee96]

What happened to the circuit breaker? Must be about 20Ka!!

[@victorpedrodasilva6077]

why not 1 hose to protect the houses on the side

[@johngoglia-gh7ql]

Good video popping electric and room and content

[@michaelhoward7153]

I wonder how effective a Cold Cut Unit UHP would be on this type of fire in the initial attack

[@jacobnelsen2786]

What caused the fire?

[@raymondp.kotiiesq.5934]

If infrastructure is not updated, can you imagine how many additional house fires there will be with electrical vehicles charging inside of home garages?

[@alanchandler254]

Why didnt the breaker on the power circuits trip out, seems like some dodgy wiring to me, ( I am not an electrician)

[@KayInMaine]

That white wire that goes from the ac into the eave looks odd. I wonder if that caused this fire?

[@k.s.333]

Have you ever had issues getting this close to fires?

[@SittingWithDogs]

No

[@terrytrunkkingbrocks1483]

No Fuse?? No Breaker?

[@RobertSanders-mp2ef]

So the fire is left to burn, Basement Savers, Unbeliivable!

[@greyman686]

Except the building is still standing, therefore saving more than the basement.

[@AllenPortman]

I thought for a while you guys were actually going to make a positive successful interior attack....but apparently something happen and it fizzled out?

[@thierrywilkes7523]

Bird wood luxury super yacht4 I am glad that the poeple were out safely and they are ok and well done to the fire fighters for comeing with there fire engines and uesing water to put out the fire keep safe you guys and be careful you are doing a brilliant job well done fire fighters

[@johnk7187]

“Guys you have heavy fire in the back as well” “Great, grab a second line of the rig and fuckin get to work”

[@redneckbryon]

I would think a kitchen fire. Hopefully nobody was hurt.

[@matta5160]

What are the rockets flying out of the building about?

[@daveglennie8682]

This is powerful footage, Pete.

[@aportman58]

What is powerful about this footage? Fire ground operations started failing whenever interior firefighters could finish the job making the push and knock of this fire. Poor fire ground command and tactical operations.

[@rickvaiBBB]

Two seconds of the hose would have stopped the wire from running the video.

[@yettimannettii2039]

where is this?

[@kingtim41]

The power is still live!!!!! Where is the truck crew and the utility people? Accident waiting to happen

[@jamesrader3329]

That looks like it was nice hot fire. But a pain in the butt to put out.

[@stevecooney3743]

DId they not secure the power to the building?

[@jaykirschenman]

I'd keep that spark cool too.

[@BENNI12687]

Oh das ist gefährlich mit dem Strom. Bestimmt schwierig zu löschen

[@KAnyeDAWay]

It’s electric ⚡️ 🥁

[@gunillarasmusson5636]

Why dont they turn off the electrical ??

[@molliesdad4702]

Should have titled this as a townhouse electrical fire. Would have been more exciting watching the two firefighters trying to get the hose from between the fence and concrete steps.

[@mattsedgwick3082]

What caused it ?

[@firejam78]

COVID-19 😂

[@Maguire-om9zd]

Fireman says to the other fireman... "I'M SHOCKED!!" Other fireman says .. "yeah I know, that was quite a weird and stubborn fire!" First fireman says.. "no literally, I'm shocked! , that was full street voltage and I was soaking wet!!" 😢

[@Mr.JerziiE]

Everyone is going to get a high electric bill in December and January I hope the family are well and Fire Personal Always Always Needed.💯💯💯💯👏👏👏👏

[@MrUnknown-wf1xf]

Hey sparky how are ya ? I haven't seen you in a while ? Or im just sparkling around you know 😁😁

[@judis.1810]

Where is Coburg?

[@greyman686]

Ontario

[@chevytahoe_6634]

The powerline is obviously causing the fire

[@gusbailey68]

Interesting sequence. Kinda missed the firefighting.

[@johngoglia-gh7ql]

Like napalm. I.miss the smell of smoke in the morning retired military and firefighter and heavy rescue technicians

[@edhamtil5380]

If firewall doesn't go up through roof it's not worth it

[@lappilappland3708]

A House build on the Cheapest Style would be a complete burn down. The whole Apartment Block. Here you see here, that a bit more Solid Building safed the others. The burned Apartment can be restored, that is also takes several Month work, but at least not a complete Lost.

[@peterturner6069]

Great job Pete!

[@Matt-mo8sl]

Nice bug zapper

[@chriswaring5565]

JEES DID YOU SEE THAT ELECTRIC CAPLE SPARKING?

[@jimkeappock7558]

How about a second line!

[@davidclark3603]

Was there no water? This house suffered 100% damage before any water went on!!!!

[@gerryquinn5224]

Try getting some water on the actual fire/ flames. It may well extinguish the fire ripping up the back of the house.

[@collectioneur]

8 minutes to extinguish a small house fire. Did they want to let it burn out in a controlled manner or something?

[@vfdchauffer3606]

Why are you shooting water in the back?? You had a hose line in place from the front, push the fire out the back and put it out.

[@jamessimmonds3773]

So much for dropping a supply line on your way in.

[@fcriii]

No doubt those firefighters took a beating inside, Bet those helmets werent yellow when they came out, Lots of heat.

[@thierrywilkes7523]

How a to see so many fires and I am so sorry to here about your pets how sad they p in the fire but I am glad the p are ok so sorry for your loss the pets were nice pets my c to the family so sad that you guys s h to see it I think the fire fighters over t did a good job putting out the fire like they do over here well guys over t and here From bird wood luxury super yacht4 and speed boat 1

[@stinthum]

Pulling th electric meters would have solved the arcing

[@wvhappykatz]

Not all departments are authorized to pull meters. It sucks but ......

[@grahammaguire404]

Anyone fancy a ice cold beer🍺🍺 👍🍺🍺

[@elainelily56]

Cobourg's town crier, Mandy Robinson, was responsible for getting people out. She collapsed and was taken to hospital. No follow up from town mayor or Council. Shame.

[@brianrobinson9602]

somebody needs to learn how to take the meter.

[@Firemedic76]

It’s Canada. Only the local hydro service can pull meters. I would want this one pulled at the pole anyways.

[@brianrobinson9602]

@@Firemedic76 got it. Agreed to taking the power at the pole to fully ensure safety. Here in the US, we can take the meter as we have a lot of underground power.

[@savagebp]

Why is the hydro on

[@greyman686]

Because the power company wasn't there yet?

[@ziree22]

Couldn't they find the main electric switch, water and electricity still don't mix.

[@JAMESRS58]

looks like an unfused circuit running on the outside of that unit ..

[@virgiltaylor6055]

AMATEURS

[@user-Orkb186-3]

looks suspiciously like a Lithiun-ion Battery fire

[@อ่าวลึก-ศ5ศ]

ขอโทษและอื่นๆ.....คุณเพ็ญนภาพรรณ องศ์อาจ.....ทุนพนักงานและอื่นๆ....คุณสุพจน์ จันทร์บัว/คุณสุริยา จันทร์บัว.....และอื่นๆ❤❤❤❤❤😂,

[@549BR]

Talk about a lousy electrical system; that's really pathetic. Fire fighters did a pretty good job, considering.

[@A.D-s2l]

Toujours 1 probleme lorsque l'électricité n'est pas coupée😢

[@toddayres7298]

It is unfortunate that the department is not allowed to pull the meter. Our Department in Ohio it is common practice, especially if the utility company has a longer ETA. Good attack from the front.

[@mikefargo4339]

Real Fire Departments do shut down utilities up arriving, including electrical. Our Truck Co.'s are able to control electrical service by several means upon arrival, including pulling meters, hot sticks and cutting wires. It's all dependent upon your level of training and experience.

[@joeysingletary2943]

Pulling meter should not helped with arching the cut out at pole needed to be pulled open

[@mikefargo4339]

@@joeysingletary2943 I didn't say to pull the meter. I said.... well trained & experienced Truck Co's are capable of controlling electrical & utility control/shut off.

[@MNIATNYK]

@@mikefargo4339 uhm actually you did say just that. "by several means upon arrival, including pulling meters."

[@terrenceanderson7966]

That was really had to watch.. I never seen anything like this.. they were not in any hurry to put water on the fire

[@deneenpowers3615]

great interior and exterior attack avoiding the arcing wires, someone mentioned they just let it burn thats coming from someone who knows nothing about fire fighting, electricity an water dont mix lady safty first,

[@ВасилийТрубачов-д5пээ]

Какой бардак везде! Какой беспорядок! Электросети нет! Дикари.

[@PeterMackett]

Why do they take so long to start putting water on the fire?, they had it out once then just stood around while it reignited, this would never happen in the UK, as soon as they arrive the hoses are out and straight on to the fire, by the time they started here the house was gutted!

[@petefisher2426]

Was gutted anyway. Any ff should know that

[@jeromependeliau3998]

chez nous en france engie gaz et électrique aurais coupéé l'électricité depuis bien longtemps

[@OllyO-gt8pg]

a ...shocking fire.

[@normmcentee3947]

What a joke these Firewatchers are. Is this the normal way they fight a house fire in the USA? Glad I live in a country where our Firefighters know what they are doing. Water= fire out, not standing around talking whilst the house burns.

[@greyman686]

What does the USA have to do with a video that isn't in the USA?

[@jimkeappock7558]

Stretch the line past the car, and get water on the fire

[@roguejeff1]

A wood-handled firefighting axe would've chopped the electrical supply wires at the meter and eliminated the fire expansion threat without shock danger to the firefighter. Just sayin. God bless the selfless firefighters, however.

[@stefenosthepom2649]

You try it...

[@nighthawk784]

No words