By David Bracken
The News & Observer
Copyright 2007 The News and Observer
RALEIGH, N.C. — It was about 3 p.m. when Fire Station No. 19 got the call.
When the station’s six-person crew reached the intersection of Capital Boulevard and Spring Forest Road they knew this was no grass fire. Black smoke billowed into the air.
Capt. Cindi Rubens, 49, called for backup. Lots of it.
No. 19, which is on Spring Forest Road, had the second truck on the scene. Firefighters parked in the middle of a firestorm being fueled by natural gas leaks and howling winds, and went to work.
“You were fighting an uphill battle from the start because of the wind,” said Senior Firefighter Ryan Kilmer, 36. “It had such a head start on us.”
With only three radios, the team split into pairs to prevent anyone from getting lost in the clouds of black smoke. Armed with 2-inch hoses, the teams began looking for places to attack the fire.
The plan was to blast water into the top floor of a townhome not yet engulfed, and see whether it would stop the fire from eating its way to the lower floor. Early attempts proved fruitless.
Kilmer and his partner, Lt. Anthony Tant, 37, entered one home. As Kilmer reached the top of the stairwell, his visibility went from daylight to black to flames in seconds.
“And I said, ‘We’re outta here,’ ” Kilmer said.
Rubens and firefighter Lindsay “The Pup” Putman, 23, approached the front door of another home that appeared only partially ablaze. Before Rubens could open the door, a pet crate blew past her from the garage, then the roof caved in.
When Rubens collected herself and turned to the townhouses across the street, she spotted little flames shooting from ridge vents that run just under the structures’ roofs.
The fire was leapfrogging along the rooflines.
Over the next three hours, the No. 19 crews would enter more than a dozen homes as they attempted to outflank the fire.
“It was so hot, it was burning hoses,” Rubens said.
Kilmer used three oxygen tanks in 45 minutes. A tank typically lasts 30 minutes. “I was sucking them down,” he said.
As they entered the townhomes, they worked in the pitch black, listening for the crackling of the fire as it approached. Eventually their hoses, pounding the flames with 250 gallons a minute, began to have some effect.
The heat inside the townhousesbegan to drop, and the No. 19 teams began attacking rather than defending against the flames.
“This is a once-in-a-career fire for Raleigh firefighters,” Kilmer said.