A busy day in Providence, Rhode Island yesterday (Thursday) afternoon with two multi-alarm fires. The video on this page is from the Eaton Street fire in Providence, Rhode Island that left Captain Joseph Fontaine injured. A second firefighter suffered cardiac problems. The early video above and below is from scorpio.
Whipped by fierce winds, two fires in separate parts of the city quickly intensified and spread to nearby buildings Thursday afternoon, sending as many as 12 firefighters to several hospitals suffering from heat exhaustion.
A three-alarm fire on Eaton Street near Providence College spread to three houses, all of them triple-deckers. The fire was reported at 2:06 p.m. and took about an hour to get under control, said Public Safety Commissioner Steven M. Paré.
A four-alarm fire, reported at 4:39 p.m., burned a boat and two cars behind 115 Laurel Hill Ave., catching that house on fire and spreading to 117 Laurel Hill Ave. in the city’s Hartford neighborhood.
Fire Union President Paul Doughty confirmed to Eyewitness News that Fontaine is in his late 50s and has been with the department for 31 years. He is also a military veteran.
Fontaine was responding to the fire Thursday afternoon when he tripped down a flight of stairs and twisted his ankle – a non-life threatening injury.
When he arrived at Roger Williams, Doughty said his blood pressure dropped and he was taken into the Intensive Care Unit.
“During his treatment here, he was treated for cyanide overdose which is often one of the issues that can cause his symptoms although we are not sure what his cause of injury is other than obviously he was exposed to smoke that day,” Doughty said. “The treatment protocol for cyanide doesn’t conflict with anything else, so out of an abundance of caution, the doctors at Roger Williams, we think correctly recommended that he be given that treatment and then wait for him to stabilize.”
“One of the firefighters is being treated for cardiac problems at Miriam, he’s not being released [Thursday night],” said Doughty. “I’m not releasing his name as I haven’t spoken with his family. I don’t have an update on him, he’s still being held The cardiac work up had not been returned, but the blood test didn’t look good. They were both at Eaton Street.
“Eaton was 5 alarm, and Laban was 4 alarm. Every single on duty firefighter was deployed,” said Doughty. “We’ve had times with multiple fires on one day — but never like this today.”
Doughty had harsh words for (Mayor Jorge Elorza) on Thursday, who came to the Eaton Street fire — wearing a chief’s coat.
“He had a chief’s coat — his he playing chief today?” asked Doughty. “It’s absolutely political — he shows up at the high profile fires. And we’re on the gravy train? We haven’t seen him since the Textron fire.”
