Near Miss

Battalion Chief Tom Cole from Miami Dade Battalion 13 "B" sent us some great photos of a near miss they recently experienced in Miami. They experienced flashover like conditions on the second floor shortly after he was pulling his crews from the structure.

The structure was a two story ordinary construction single family dwelling with light wispy white-grey smoke upon arrival. The crews faced light smoke, high heat, and no visible flames on the second floor. After a period of time, a window on side "C" of the structure was vented, and conditions deteriorated significantly. Battalion Chief Cole promptly ordered an evacuation of the structure. Within thirty seconds of the crews exiting the building, the fire self vented through a window on side "A" and the second floor quickly experienced flashover type conditions.

It has been determined that the fire was hidden in the combustible void space in between the first and second floors.

Click here to check out Safety Zone Article they published a to share the story with the rest of the department.

A special thanks goes out to Battalion Chief Cole, and the brothers and sisters from Miami Dade for sharing this important lesson learned with the rest of us.