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Not to do a "can you top this" on phone company Fires however i would like to relate a story about another Telephone Company Fire ....We had a Multiple at BKLYN Box 827.. 0330 hrs on 2-20-87 in a BKLYN Telephone Switching Center at 1070 Bushwick Ave bet Palmetto St & Gates Ave a FP 4 sty 80 x 180 ( with a traditional tightly closed convoluted phone company layout)..... it was not of the magnitude or duration of the 1975 one but it was also serious . ...i responded with R*2 & we were ordered to conduct a search along with 112 & 124 to locate the seat of the Fire...heavy toxic smelling smoke was coming right out the front door onto the sidewalk ...you had to mask up in the street & deploy a search rope ...ventilation was very limited (& non existent in some areas ) with only keyed access panels on the upper floors on the exp 2 side & wire glass windows covered with louvers on the exp 4 side .....the main Fire area was in a large windowless enclosed area with no ventilation containing large floor to cieling frame racks packed with burning plastic covered wires & banks of batteries it was located on the exp 2 side of the first floor towards the front ....to access it you had to go quite aways back through the hallway ( distance travelled to get to the starting point there measured afterwards was about 125 ft) then go left & sort of double back in another hallway going back towards the front ...when we got to the portal (not really a doorway) entering the main Fire area it was somewhat free burning but not venting anywhere other than over our heads towards the rear (but venting where originally ? = thru out the interior of the bldg & socked down inside ) .....luckily it was a very high cieling in the Fire area later determined to be 19 ft high (convoluted type of bldg) so the heat was bad but not "that bad " at floor level as if it had been a lower ceiling but a constant shower of hot spalling plaster was falling & melting plastic was dripping on us in near blackout conditions ...i remember looking up & seeing (at times) the flames that were sometimes visible as they rolled overhead out of the smoke were several different colors (maybe green/blue ?) not the normal red / orange & there were wooden ladders attached to a horizontal rail at the upper level with rollers on the top & bottom of the ladders to roll them back & forth sideways to work on the equipment (like in a library to access books on high shelves )....some of the ladders had already collapsed as the upper portions attached to the higher rollers had burned away & the remaining lower rung section was blocking the aisles ... one of the ladders as we were advancing fell over & struck me in the back (more of a quick scare than an injury HA)....ENG*222 had the first Line & commenced to hit the Fire.....it was not going out easily & the smoke/steam condition along with the limited ventilation made for a lengthy operation & at some point we had to go outside to change bottles....in R*2 back then we still had both old & new Scott Masks .....i usually preferred & used the old Scott with a Wilson Face Piece however the old steel cylinders were only good for 20 to 30 minutes & anticipating the inside distance & anticipated duration i took a newer Scott 4.5 (which could also be changed & outfitted with a 1 hr bottle)..... after the initial entry & search & accessing the Fire area when it was time to go outside to change to a 1 hr bottle i did not take into consideration that the wet "fabric" 4.5 straps would freeze somewhat right away in the frigid February air that night .....my usual old Wilson Face Piece had rubber straps & never had froze or got to the point of not being able to get a good seal (even if one of the old rubber tabs broke there were several more straps than the newer 4.5 fabric straps).......going back in i could not pull the frozen 4.5 straps tight enough so i had to press the face piece to my face to get a seal (yes normal smoke may not have caught my attention back then but it was a phone company ? ) with the same hand holding my Halligan Tool & using my other hand to run along the search rope ( & bumping into other Members going out) ....i was silently cursing the newer 4.5 straps for encumbering me ....by the time i made it back to the Fire area the straps thawed enough to allow me to tighten them up & get a free handed seal.... after traversing the route in & out more than once to change bottles we realized that the unvented forward part of the Fire area was almost at the exp 1 wall so we breached a hole somewhat in from the lobby that allowed a 2nd Line to be advanced to augment the original Line in the forward part for the large original Fire area for final extinguishment (saving a long trek to the back & then forward again) ...... afterwards we noticed that the Brass rivets & the small loop on the rear brim of our Leather Helmets had turned white.....after returning to Qtrs CPT Ray D. noticed his large R*2 Metal Belt Buckle had discolored....when i changed my wet clothes after returning to Qtrs i saw that coins that had been in my back pocket had discolered (no Bunker Pants back then ...unkown if they would have prevented that or what it meant ? ) .... as in the 1975 Telephone Company Fire our Medical Folders from the Bushwick Telephone Fire were marked on the front concerning the Fire ... i never knew that until i was being Retired & actually saw my folder.. .
The Seven R*2 BROTHERS working that night 2-20-87 .... were CPT Ray D. .....FF Terry H. ..FF Pete M. .. FF Lee I. .....FF Al S. .... FF Mike P. .... & myself ........On 9-11 we lost CPT Ray D. then Rescue Ops Chief .. FF Terry H. then CPT R*1 ...& FF Pete M. then LT R*2 (so who knows what may have happened to them today sickness wise ? ) CONTINUED REST IN PEACE BROTHERS.
The Seven R*2 BROTHERS working that night 2-20-87 .... were CPT Ray D. .....FF Terry H. ..FF Pete M. .. FF Lee I. .....FF Al S. .... FF Mike P. .... & myself ........On 9-11 we lost CPT Ray D. then Rescue Ops Chief .. FF Terry H. then CPT R*1 ...& FF Pete M. then LT R*2 (so who knows what may have happened to them today sickness wise ? ) CONTINUED REST IN PEACE BROTHERS.