PUERTO RICO FIRE SERVICE
- Thread starter mack
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Wow Mack , great post. That fire station is on Avenida Fernandez Junco by Calle 3. It be out back great memories. On December 31, 1986 three employees of the then DuPont Plaza Hotel set fire to new furniture being stored in a hallway. They did it to protest poor working conditions. The resultant fire which was drawn to the casino via strong ventilation fans resulted in the deaths of 96 people. Although I was on the job then, I did work part time for a company that did fire service training and consulting. I was told to grab video equipment and head to San Juan. By 2 pm on New Year’s Day I landed in San Juan. No hotel reservations or anything. I rented a car and headed to the Condado Beach area where the fire occurred. I made a left turn instead of a right turn and found this firehouse. The firemen there were great. They allowed me to bunk in with them. Most of them were there at the fire less than 24 hours earlier. We interviewed them and many others including hospital personnel, police, emergency management etc. I was dumbfounded to learn that the City of San Juan with a population of 250,000 had only four fire stations. They had older commercial cab fire apparatus and a 15 year old ford cab Seagrave ladder. At the height of this high rise fire with 96 fatalities, 140 injuries, and a massive rooftop helicopter rescue operation of victims, there were only 13 fire apparatus on scene and about 100 firefighters which included mutual aid from Carolina, Hato Rey, and Bayamon. There were only 4 SCBA for use during the initial first half hour. Despite these shortcomings of manpower, equipment and SCBA these men pushed forward and knocked down a tremendous amount of fire on what amounted to three levels within the building. Other firemen used roof ladders, much as one would use a scaling ladder to climb from balcony to balcony to rescue victims, and assess conditions above the fire as well as ventilate above the fire to save even more lives. These guys as Bob Galione likes to say had “ heart and balls”. Many took significant feeds during the push down the halls and up the stairs to the casino where the majority of the victims (over 80 in the casino alone) were burned to death. These firemen were the real deal. Blood and guts firemen who pushed themselves to physical exhaustion that day. They were humble and gracious. I look at the video you posted and many of the conditions have not improved greatly looking at their apparatus and listening to their salaries. I truly hope they get parity with the police. Thanks for sharing. Although this invoked sad memories and horrific images in my mind, it also brought back fond memories of our brothers at the Cuerpos de Bomberos de Ciudad San Juan who treated me so well and truly defined bravery and being into the job.
great videos Mack.
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@mack thanks for posting Puerto Rico from what I understand from when I was there the fire department is really like the States Fire Department they have some town / city departments a couple are volunteer but I believe total of non state departments is like under 10. The Ladders are cross staffed at the Special Ops stations besides the one in San Juan I don’t think they are Special Ops. Total Ladders I believe is 5 or 6 and they have a Heavy Rescue and a Bronco 135’ ? I believe it is but has been out of service.
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My wife went to high school on the island and we still have many friends on the island. Her father worked for union carbide and spent several years there. Fire Service is not a priority to the people of the island and neither is EMS.Like Tom mentioned the service capability at the time of the Dupont Plaza fire was woefully inadequate for a city of that size. The understaffed and underpaid crews certainly have heat and balls. $2500 a month is what they are hoping for in 2023! Jeez!