Apartment Fire on January 12, 2010
The Disaster Action Team was called out to an apartment fire in Ohio City on January 12, 2010 at about 7:30 PM. 4 members of the team responded initially, arriving at the scene just after 8:00 PM, with 2 more arriving a few hours later, and more members coming in to take over early the next morning.
The fire turned out to be a large one, with 5 area departments contributing men and equipment. The Ohio City Fire Department was in charge of the scene, with mutual aid being provided by the Wren, Van Wert, Rockford, and Mendon Union Fire Departments. There were 71 firefighters on scene, with traffic and crowd control being handled by the Ohio City Police Department and the Van Wert County Sheriff.
The team provided aid to the family that lost their apartment, and started making arrangements for the delivery of food and other supplies to give support to the firefighters. The Ohio City Village Hall was opened up to give the firefighters a warm place to take a break and eat before heading back out to the fire.
The firefighters were hampered by the cold temperatures and lack of water due to work that is being done on Ohio City’s water system, but they managed to save one of the buildings on the block. A house that was downwind of the fire was threatened by the burning embers, but they also managed to keep it from suffering any fire damage, although it did suffer some water damage from the amount of water they needed to use.
The various assisting departments were finally released to head home starting about 2:30 AM. By about 4:30 AM, the Ohio City Fire Department was on their own, keeping what fire was still going under control until daylight and the arrival of equipment to tear down walls and allow them to get at the remaining fire. They were finally able to finish up early in the afternoon of the 13th, with many of the firefighters having been up well over 24 hours.
The DAT continued to provide support for the firefighters until they were finished, finally returning to the office at about 1:30 PM. The Red Cross would like to thank the many area merchants and restaurants the generously donated to support the efforts of the firefighters.
- Marathon Pak-A-Sak
- Chuffers
- Pizza Hut
- McDonald’s
- Burger King
- Taco Bell
- Wendy’s
- Walmart
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- At 8:15, the ladder truck from Van Wert is spraying the roof, things don’t look too bad from a distance.
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- Less than 10 minutes later, it is obvious first impressions are not to be trusted.
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- The flames rolling out the side of the building make it clear this will be a long night.
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- At 20 minutes after 9, at unit at the back of the building has things looking better in the alley.
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- A Mendon Union tanker with water for the artificial ponds.
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- Even after more than 2 hours on the job, the firefighters could still smile.
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- At what looked like the high point of the fire, it was burning fiercely across all three roofs.
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- Firefighters checking for signs the fire is spreading to neighboring houses.
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- They start spraying water on the neighboring home and garage.
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- Some floating embers can be seen in the picture, even more were in the air too faint to see.
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- Another hose is turned on the front of the house.
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- Looking at the main fire scene from beyond the endangered home.
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- The hoses in the background can be seen watering down the house, while tankers are unloading in front.
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- The ERV was parked closer, first to make it easier for the firefighters, then to unload it when things were moved into the Village Hall.
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- A DAT member talks to a firefighter in front of the food donations, while another suits back up to head outside again.
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- Two firefighters take a short break to get warm.
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- A smaller hose shoots water in the front while the ladder truck waits for water supplies to rebuild.
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- Two fire chiefs discuss things while watching some Rockford firefighters on the hose.
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- Despite the huge amount of water that has been thrown on it, things look just as hot as ever in the building.
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- Some Rockford firefighters prepare to go back into the northern building, where they and others have been fighting to save it.
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- A tanker makes yet another trip to bring water to fight the blaze.
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- In the 12 minutes between the last picture and this one, the front of the south building has collapsed.
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- The partial shell of the south building shows the probable fate of the middle one.
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- Even with the huge amount of water and the collapse of the front, the fire still burns in the south building.
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- The ladder hose can reach into the upper floor of the middle building more easily now.
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- At 1:20 AM, some firefighters have rotated in to warm up. And the food supply has been severely depleted.
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- At 1:45 AM, the ladder truck has water again and it looks like more steam than smoke coming from the buildings.
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- But there is still plenty of life left in the fire, so more water is needed.
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- Not exciting or fun duty, but rather cold, wet, and boring. And very necessary.
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- At 2 AM, the tankers have been at it for almost 7 hours. More cold, wet, and boring work, that everyone depends on.
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- At 3:15 AM, Ohio City firefighters are still awake and joking with each other, while finishing off the tacos.
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- Still trying to put out the south building at 3:30 AM.
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- At 10:30 AM, there are still hot spots and fires that refuse to cool off.
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- At 4:00 PM on the 14th, almost 2 days after the fire started, there is still steam rising from the rubble.
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- With the problems they faced, all of the departments did a great job saving this building and the house behind it.
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