No Fatalities From Wednesday Night Fire
By Gordon Hopkins
The Fairbury Rural Fire Department reported that all occupants of a house on the intersection of 14th and G Streets were safe after fire destroyed the residence.
It was approximately 7:10 p.m., Wednesday, November 10, when emergency crews were dispatched to the scene of the blaze. The house was quickly engulfed and high winds could have caused the fire to get out of control quickly. Glowing embers were visible in the air as winds blew them around the street, threatening other homes.
No serious injuries were reported, although an ambulance did give aid at the scene.
A final count of firefighters responding to the blaze was not available as of press time but Assistant Fire Chief Barry Schwab estimated about 20 personnel from Fairbury Rural Fire were on hand to battle the fire, along with an additional seven or eight personnel from Jansen. Fairbury and Jansen have an automatic mutual aid agreement.
In addition, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office provided support and directed traffic. The intersection had to be closed for several hours.
As always, a priority for firefighters is keeping the fire from spreading, a difficult task with high winds. Schwab told FJN, “I was concerned about the exposures. I think we were really lucky on one hand, because there was a pretty stiff wind, but the direction of the wind helped us in terms of not having to deal with any exposures that were in the immediate vicinity of the structure on fire.”
There was just an estimated 12 feet between the house that burned and another. Schwab said, “And if we’d had a south wind, as opposed to a northwest wind, that could have been a very different story. We could have been fighting two house fires.”
Schwab said, “There were plenty of big embers throwing off the house and flying across the street.”
Arriving on scene quickly is always paramount.
“We got called out at 7:10. I was on scene by 7:13 as were several other firefighters.” Schwab pointed out. “So, you know, half the house was gone in the three minutes that it took for us, for our initial units and personnel, to get on scene.”
Schwab had nothing but praise for the job his fellow firefighters did, “It’s hard to have the right perspective when you’re in the moment, but in reviewing some of the videos, I’m blown away that we were able to get the kind of knockdown that we did as quickly as we did.”
“It was a huge blaze that we were attacking,” said Schwab. “I called dispatch and informed them that we had it knocked down within 15 to 20 minutes.”
Heavy smoke continued to fill the street, at times reducing visibility to near zero. After the flames were extinguished, firefighters still had to search for ‘hot spots’ and ensure there was no chance for rekindling.
Schwab explained, “Our initial actions, obviously, are our suppression operations. And then we, once we got things under control, move into salvage and overhaul operations. We overhaul the structure to make sure there’s no extension behind the walls, in the ceilings, because obviously, we don’t want to get called back in three hours, and have to do it all over again.”
It was a long night for emergency crews, Schwab noted, “The majority of our personnel and apparatus were cleared from seeing before midnight, but we had to hold the scene while the Fire Marshal was doing that investigation, meaning that somebody had to be there the whole time until he was done. And he had to leave the site at times to conduct interviews and whatnot. So it was 2:45 (a.m.) before the last of us were able to leave there.”
Schwab added, “In the final analysis, it was just good work all around from the crew. I was so proud of them.”
The cause of the fire has not been released. An investigation by the State Fire Marshal is ongoing. As of press time, the State Fire Marshals office noted the case is still under investigation.
