Norwalk fire chief: Injured firefighters are home, recovering and eager to get back to work
The cause of the fire is still under investigation by the fire marshal.
More Stories
The five Norwalk firefighters who went to the hospital after battling an escalating fire over the holiday weekend are home, recovering and eager to get back to work, according to Fire Chief Edward McCabe.
Crews responded to a three-story home on Golden Hill Street between Bayfield and Elmwood avenues just before 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
“It was quite the commotion,” said neighbor Jim Clark. “I think all the fire trucks were here.”
McCabe confirmed every fire company ended up being brought to the scene.
“I saw massive amounts of smoke. In fact, my wife said to me, ‘I understand now why people are so worried about smoke inhalation injuries’ because the amount of smoke coming from the building was incredible,” Clark recalled.
The first arriving crews encountered severe conditions when they entered the home with the initial hose line, McCabe said.
“What occurred is called a rollover where you have superheated smoke and gases at the ceiling which rapidly ignite and turn to fire. That causes a severe heat condition which is what pushed the firefighters back to the front door,” explained McCabe.
He said five firefighters suffered burns and went to the hospital. Two were released quickly after being checked out while the other three sustained second-degree burns to their upper backs and shoulders, according to McCabe.
“They were burned by the radiant heat through their protective equipment,” he stated, adding those firefighters were later released from the hospital.
McCabe said other crews on the scene were able to put out the flames quickly after the initial push.
“Between our procedures, our tactics, our protective equipment, generally we're able to go into fires like this without any issues, but fire behavior is unpredictable,” McCabe told News 12. “We'll be conducting an internal after-action review to see what lessons we can learn from this and to see if there's a way that we could prevent it from happening in the future.”
The cause of the fire is under investigation by the fire marshal, but McCabe said it’s believed to have begun on the first floor.
No one living there was hurt, but the home has been deemed uninhabitable. Twelve people are being helped by the Red Cross, according to officials.
