Fire and Rescue International Newsletter

The extra guy by Steve Kidd, Florida, USA

There’s a lot of preparation that goes into putting out a fire. Modern Fire and Rescue services spend countless hours training, practicing, maintaining the equipment in preparation for facing multiple types of situations, with the mission of extinguishing fires at their core. Fire hose is tested annually by pumping them to well above normal operating pressures to make sure they don’t burst when they are needed. If even a minimal leak is observed at any time between the annual tests, the hose is taken out of service, repaired and re-tested before being placed back into service. In my experience, I only recall one incident of a hose springing a significant leak during a fire and I’m glad it did.

I was assigned to a Truck company in the Pine Hills neighbourhood in the mid-80s. Some departments following traditional nomenclature would call it a Hook & Ladder company. Many civilians wonder why a huge ladder truck would respond to a small single-story home that was on fire. Simply put, the extra manpower and specialized equipment is needed to perform functions other than spray wet stuff on the flames. Locked doors need to be forced open. The building must be searched to assure anyone still inside is rescued. Holes need to be created to vent deadly heated smoke and gasses from the building. Power and gas services need to be shut off and secured and hidden spaces opened to access unseen fires so they can be snuffed out.

Like I said, a lot goes in to extinguishing a structural fire.

I was assigned to Truck 42, a 110’ ladder truck that ran out of Station 42 near the intersection of Silver Star and Pine Hills Road. It was after midnight when we were dispatched along with two engine companies, a rescue (ambulance staffed with two, not a heavy rescue) and a Battalion Chief. We responded to a fire in a small, mid-century built concrete block home in Lockhart, a long-established, predominantly blue-collar section of Orange County. Heavy fire was showing from the concrete block house when Engine 40 arrived a minute or two ahead of us, and they went straight to work, pulling lines and knocking down enough fire for everyone to make entry.

Because it was a time when most people were sleeping, and because a couple of cars were in the driveway, we assumed someone was trapped inside, so my crew split, with two on the outside controlling the utilities and venting the fire to lift the smoke off everyone inside. Dean Carter was my irons guy and he and I went inside to start the search while Lt. Winston Russel and his crew from Engine 40 snaked a line in ahead of us and continued to knock the fire back.

Thanks to the shrill alarm of a smoke detector, the search for trapped victims revealed that the house was all clear and everyone had escaped prior to our arrival. Dean and I turned our attention to searching for hidden fires, an operation called Overhaul.

There was an unusual amount of fire in and behind the plywood kitchen cabinets, and we found fire in the crawl space above us when we poked an inspection hole in the ceiling. The home spun cabinets didn’t have backs to them and were more like shelves with doors across the front, so the fire had chimneyed up behind them and had a lot of plastic burning in some of the cabinets. The house didn’t have a real attic, and the roof was supported by 2×6 rafters instead of modern lightweight wood trusses, so I wasn’t worried about a sudden collapse. I called for a backup line to be pulled inside for overhaul and told Dean to go tell Lt. Russel from E40 that we had some fire above us and could use a little water our way until the next line could be stretched from outside. The fire wasn’t a big deal, and a small booster line’s flow would be enough to handle it.

When I reached up to open one of the kitchen cabinets, it came crashing down and drug the rest of the lineup with it. They were barely tacked to the wall when they were installed, and we later found out that termites had chewed their way up the supporting wall behind them. When they fell, they raked across the top of the refrigerator, which unfortunately is where the homeowners kept his liquor supply. Dishes, canned goods, and glass bottles of vodka, rum, whisky, you name it, immediately ignited and came raining down on me.

It’s a funny thing, wearing all that protective gear yet being on fire. You don’t really feel it at first and it’s hard to tell exactly what’s burning. In those days we hadn’t been assigned flash hoods to cover our head and neck underneath our helmets, so my exposed skin started to sting and my burning ears were telling me that maybe it would be a good idea to move. My mind said run but my training and preparation told me to work the problem.

Lt Russel and his crew were trying to get back to me, but it was taking time to pull the line back out of the rear bedroom and down the narrow hall, then make a bend to get back over to the kitchen area. Luckily, Dean rounded the corner just in time to see me. I still had my facepiece on and was breathing fresh air off my tank, but it was getting a little hot and I was tangled up in all the debris around my feet.

Then something that only happened once in my entire career occurred. The hose that E40 was using, which was stretched right next to the kitchen opening, sprung a leak at Dean’s feet. The water sprayed out of the small hole with force in a perfect fan pattern. Dean picked up the line, pointed the spray at me and knocked the fire out within seconds.

We finished our work inside about 10-minutes later, and when we went out to take a blow I fully expected to have blisters and to smell burned hair but miraculously my skin wasn’t even reddened by the heat. My ears were fine and not one hair on my head was singed.

I fully believe to this day that there was a third person in that little kitchen in Lockhart that day, the One who stood beside us, provided His protection, and gave us the unorthodox source of water when we needed it the most. He had more experience in those situations than we did. He had done it before for three guys named Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

Like I said, a lot goes into preparing to fight a fire. Training… testing… maintaining…. I always added another step each morning when I put my gear on the rig and checked the air supply in my breathing apparatus. I stopped and had a quick conversation with the extra guy on our crew. My prayer to Him each morning was just that, a conversation and not a canned speech like we did as kids at bedtime. But the closing in my morning conversation was consistent.

“Please be with us today, Lord. I know with your help we will get through whatever comes our way. And most of all, please don’t let me get in Your way in the process.”

“They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor a hair of their heads singed. Their bodies were not scorched and there was no smell of fire on them.” Daniel 3:27.

The image is totally AI, thanks to ChatGPT. The story is from Steve Kidd, not AI.

Quote of the week
“If you can’t figure out your purpose, figure out your passion. For passion will lead you right into your purpose.” ~ TD Jakes

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Some people leave behind memories. Others leave behind a legacy that continues quietly in the lives they shaped, the people they mentored and the work they helped build. In South Africa’s Search and Rescue community, Lieutenant Jack Haskins is remembered as one of those people. Jack joined the South African Police Service in 1977 and went on to dedicate almost four decades of his life to serving others. Search and Rescue became more than his profession. It became his calling. Over the years, he would help shape what many recognise today as modern K9 Search and Rescue in South Africa.

Two firefighters have died while battling a huge blaze near Bordeaux’s airport in south-west France, officials said. Reports in French media say the fire, near one of the parking lots at the airport, originated from a brush fire and then spread to a building. Pictures shared on social media show passengers getting off a plane as a massive plume of smoke rises nearby. A number of flights scheduled to arrive at Bordeaux–Mérignac airport have been delayed. Some 100 firefighters, backed by specialist aircraft, were trying to extinguish the fire.

Witzenberg Municipality’s Fire Services and Disaster Management Department has received a welcome boost following the handover of firefighting and emergency response equipment valued at R1 million by the Western Cape Government’s Fire and Rescue Services. This significant investment reinforces the Province’s continued commitment to strengthening local emergency response capabilities and ensuring that municipal fire services are equipped to protect lives, property and the environment.

A powerful magnitude 7.1 (revised to 6.8 by USGS) earthquake struck Japan’s southwestern island of Kyushu on Tuesday, 28 July 2026, leaving at least 34 people dead, dozens injured, and thousands displaced. The tremor struck at 4:27 p.m. local time at a shallow depth of 10 kilometres, with its epicentre located in the Kumamoto prefecture. Emergency responders and military personnel are currently in a “race against time” to rescue survivors trapped under collapsed buildings, navigating intense aftershocks and extreme summer heat.

The City of Tshwane Emergency Services Department responded to a shack fire at an informal settlement in Centurion during the early hours of Sunday morning, 26 July 2026. The Emergency Communication Centre received the emergency call in the early hours of the morning, prompting the immediate dispatch of firefighting resources from nearby fire stations.

Six people have been killed in wildfires sweeping across northern Algeria as a prolonged heat wave continues to fuel forest and vegetation fires in several provinces, the Algerian Ministry of the Interior, Local Authorities and Transports said. Nassim Bernaoui, spokesperson for Algeria’s Civil Protection Department, said 1 460 wildfires have been recorded nationwide since the beginning of July.

There is something deeply moving about the retirement of a working dog. Unlike people, they have no understanding of careers, promotions or retirement plans. They don’t count the years they have served or look ahead to a quieter life. They simply wake up each day ready to do the work they love, trusting that the person beside them will lead them wherever they are needed. For almost a decade, that was Chazz’s life. Working alongside Warrant Officer Karl Gous of the SAPS Search and Rescue Unit, Chazz became one of South Africa’s most respected Search and Rescue dogs.

74 firefighters from services across the UK took leave from their own watches to do something extraordinary. Over six days they drove 1 500 miles across five borders so the keys could pass from their hands into the hands of Ukrainian crews. Because Ukrainian firefighters do the same job as their UK counterparts, except they do theirs under missile and drone attack. 480 fire stations destroyed or damaged. 106 in occupied territory. 1 780 pieces of equipment lost. “Being a firefighter, I know what use these are and I know how much they need them over there,” said Michael Gumeniuk, West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, Convoy 9 volunteer driver.

The City of Cape Town’s Fire and Rescue Service has officially welcomed 35 new junior firefighters into the fold. They completed the Fire Cadet training programme and were successful in applying for available vacancies. The group will be deployed to fire stations around the metropole. The new recruits join the ranks at a time when the Fire and Rescue Service is facing increasing demands on its resources. In 2018/19, Cape Town’s firefighters responded to 22 497 incidents in a year, including fires and special service calls (motor vehicle accidents, hazmat incidents, rescues etc.). In this most recent financial year (2025/26), the number of incidents was 30 513.

Health Minister Dr Esperance Luvindao announced that the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS) is planning to establish Namibia’s first dedicated national air ambulance service as part of an ambitious drive to overhaul emergency medical care and improve access to life-saving treatment for patients in remote communities. The announcement comes as the ministry prepares to procure 30 additional ambulances during the 2026/27 financial year to strengthen a fleet that has struggled to meet the demands of a country where long distances often mean the difference between life and death.

This week’s featured Fire and Rescue International magazine article is: Abandoned buildings: Fires in vacant and abandoned buildings – taking the risk when it’s needed written by Colin Deiner, Chief Director, Disaster Management and Fire Brigade Services, Western Cape Government (FRI Vol 4 no 1). We will be sharing more technical/research/tactical articles from Fire and Rescue International magazine on a weekly basis with our readers to assist in technology transfer. This will hopefully create an increased awareness, providing you with hands-on advice and guidance. All our magazines are available free of charge in PDF format on our website and online at ISSUU. We also provide all technical articles as a free download in our article archive on our website.

Yachats Fire Station 82 is strategically positioned on Highway 101, the primary transportation corridor along the Oregon Coast. Yachats lives up to its motto of being a “gem of the Oregon Coast.” While the area is known for its rugged beauty, the Pacific Ocean also poses a potential threat to the charming little town. With its old station located well within the tsunami inundation zone, Yachats Rural Protection District acquired land out of the danger area and turned to Pivot Architecture to lead them through a bond process to build a new station. After developing a strategy for the successful bond measure and facilitating public meetings, Pivot led the design of the new station capable of withstanding a major tsunami. Station 82 is strategically positioned on Highway 101, the primary transportation corridor along the Oregon Coast.

In parts of Venezuela devastated by last month’s earthquake, destruction is so severe that navigating and finding survivors can be a challenge. Emergency workers have been searching through the rubble of collapsed homes and workplaces after the 24 June earthquake, which killed more than 2,000 people. Helping them navigate the destruction is MapAction, a charity founded in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, in 1994 and now based in Chinnor, Oxfordshire.

The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Kettlebells for Firefighters starts here. In this video, I’ll show you the foundational kettlebell movements every firefighter should master, common mistakes to avoid, how to choose the right weight and how to safely progress from beginner to advanced. Kettlebells completely changed the way I train for the fire service. They helped me build strength, mobility, conditioning and durability without spending hours in the gym.

Source: Mitch Gourley

Rapid intervention training.

Source: Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Training Division

On the night of 22 February 1994, one of South Africa’s worst mining related disasters occurred when the No. 4A tailings dam at Harmony Gold Mine near Virginia in the Free State failed. The collapse released approximately 600 000 cubic metres of water and mine tailings, which swept through the nearby suburb of Merriespruit.