Y? Because we loathe you.

One of the things I love about this job, since my very first calls as a work experience student, is getting a glimpse into situations, places, and lives I would otherwise never have any occasion or business being privy too. There is never a shortage of things to shock, amaze, wonder, admire, and/or shake your head at. I know that had I gone any other sheltered/suburban route with my life I would have no clue as to what goes on around me and its prevalence in even the most serene looking places.

I was a pretty new firefighter when I got this call and was 'riding backwards' because I wasn't signed off to drive yet. The house we were going to was on a corner in one of the nicer areas of town and our route took us in so that the house was on the drivers' side of the street. I didn't get to see the house or the fire until I actually stepped off the rig to get to work, but the engineer and captain both had some colorful exclamations as we rounded the corner.

I jumped off the rig and ran around to the back to pull the live-line when the engineer went running past me stretching the cross-lay. OK, I guess we're using that line. I got my first look at the house now. The garage was fully involved and just cranking out fire. Either the garage door had been open or it had completely burned through.

I grabbed the nozzle and my captain told me to take the driveway and start hitting the garage. I was kind of disappointed that we weren't going in the front door to make an interior attack but it was still a lot of fire and we were the only rig there at the time. I knelt down in the middle of the driveway next to a parked car and started hitting the flames while the engineer hooked up to the hydrant on the corner behind us. Through the flames I could just make out two motorcycles amongst the mass of stuff burning in the garage. It was pretty hot but I didn't think it was that bad until I noticed that the car I was kneeling next to was starting to catch fire. The next due engine had arrived and that crew was preparing to go interior but somebody from another company stopped and popped the hood of the car and put some water on it for me.

I had the fire pretty well darkened down in the garage but of course the motorcycle tires and rafters kept wanting to reignite so I kept having to come back and train the hose stream on them for awhile and then move it around. The other crew went in the front door and made sure there was no extension into the house. There was some minimal damage to the kitchen but it was pretty much contained to the garage. It took just a few minutes more with both hoses on the fire
to knock it all down.

With the fire out now and no extension, we ditched our bottles, fired up a couple of blowers, and got ready for what looked like a lot of overhaul. That's when I got a chance to look around some.

The door from the garage to the kitchen (open now) gave a clear view into the living room of the house, now clear of any smoke. And there, proudly and prominently displayed on the wall (and visible now from the street) was a large nazi flag. It was in perfect condition thanks to the great stop we made on the fire.

Yaaay fire department, protecting life and property.

Your welcome.

As we were checking the rest of the house I came across a curio cabinet with a couple of Disneyland license plates (awww), figurines (cute), a bayonet (huh?), and two SS Officer knives with swastikas on the handles (umm?).


The video cabinet next to the TV contained a bunch of Disney animated movies on the first shelf and a collection of Jerry Springer: Too Hot For TV and COPS videos on the second shelf. All in all, a pretty odd juxtaposition of collectibles.

The rest of the place was a marvel of whiskey-tango engineering. There was no power to the house but at least a dozen or more extension cords ran daisy-chained all through the place powered by (what else?) a string of car batteries bolted to a 2x6 laying on the garage floor. Coleman lanterns and camp stoves rounded out the decor.

How this place possibly caught fire we may never know.

I spent the next hour helping shovel out the debris from the garage and hosing it down. As I worked, I marveled at the amount of small auto parts, beer cans, and porn we were scooping up.

Within a month we were called back there again. This time it was to shut down an illegal backyard burn. These folks had set up a tent in the backyard and just moved the whole operation outside. They were having a little bonfire which we politely put out for them.

The occupants are gone now, the place leveled, and that address is now home to one of the largest and by far the nicest house in the neighborhood.

Neighborhood beautification, one structure fire at a time.