It's structure fire season right now. We've had 6 fires in 2 weeks, it's been keeping us on our toes. My most recent adventure began at 1:30 in the morning and went on until 7:00.
Sunday night after the superbowl after I picked up my parents from the airport and was headed home, we got a page to send some tankers to a fellow fire service area and help fight a fire. By god, this house was built like a tank. In the ceiling where one would normally find sheetrock, was 3/4" plywood. Have you ever tried to go through plywood with a pike pole?!? It was ridiculous! By the time we got there, the fire had gutted the entire house, but it was still structurally sound. After a while we got sick of trying with the poles and just got out the stihl. This house was classic "Alaskan Construction" which means it was very custom, and in this case, overbuilt. From a homeowner's standpoint, the house was a dream, there was insulation in every crack and crevice and in an earthquake, the thing wouldn't even shutter. From a firefighter's point of view IT WAS A NIGHTMARE!!
Well, that's all for now, just thought I'd share the news to you fellow firefighters out there... Just be grateful you don't live up here. Alaska: The land where your tools don't work.
-Jess
What is the prognosis
5 days ago
1 comments:
I have never seen 3/4 in place of drywall, but we do get plywood screwed to the floor of crawl spaces and attics. As you can imagine it makes venting, or hitting the fire from below a true exercise in manpower. Stay low, stay safe.
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