Quick Knockdown Saves Structure In Hamilton County
HAMILTON COUNTY, TN- Submitted by: Amy Maxwell. This morning, 12/1/09, a gentleman escapes a fire without injuries at 7316 Cline Road (Dallas Bay area). At 1:00 am, the homeowner, Mark Potter, awoke to smoke and his bedroom door on fire. He immediately opened the bedroom window and jumped outside into the front yard. He ran to his father’s house, which was next door, to call 9-1-1.
Chief Marcus Fritts, Dallas Bay Volunteer Fire Department (VFD), reported the first engine was on the scene in 6 minutes and confirmed smoke and fire coming out the front window of the house. When the firefighters was clear that everyone was accounted for, they immediately conducted an interior attack in the house and contained the fire to the living room area. Chief Fritts said, “firefighters had one heck of a knockdown and were able to extinguish the fire within 6 minutes and save the house without any water damage by using CAFS, a compressed foam system”. CAFS works quickly by smothering the fire without using water. Two years ago, Dallas Bay VFD purchased a new engine which included CAFS on this particular engine. Chief Fritts mentioned, “the response and arrival time was so quick due to having the stations “housed” 24 hours a day with volunteer firefighters. We have four firefighters that live at Station Two. Those four firemen were the first ones to arrive on the scene and started fighting fire without hooking a hose line to a fire hydrant. CAFS can be used with the water on the fire engine. This particular engine holds 1,000 gallons of water and we only used 200 gallons. In these rural areas, such as Falling Water and parts of Dallas Bay where fire hydrants can be up to two miles apart from each other, this CAFS system helped extinguish the blaze faster and save Mr. Potter’s house ”, said Chief Fritts.
No injuries were reported but Hamilton County EMS was on the scene for any potential injuries. According to Chief Fritts, damages are estimated at $10,000. The cause of the fire is undetermined but Chief Fritts reported the fire did start in the living room area near the fire place. Mr. Potter was insured and will temporarily be staying with his father. The cause of the fire will be under investigation by the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office.
