Video of the day: Whose job is it to put out the fire? Guns and hoses.

You can still see this video at its source, BainbridgeGA.com, but not on YouTube

Maybe this is SOP in Bainbridge, Georgia, but it is a little odd looking. After a fire engine pulls up to a truck fire on Route 27 last Tuesday, a Georgia State Patrol officer and a Decatur County sheriff’s deputy grab a line, flake it out and start attacking the fire. Another officer mans a second line.  Their only PPE: ballistic vests and guns. Eventually the people in fire gear take over.

While I know many firefighters who would threaten to take the officers’ weapons and start shooting criminal, this may not a big deal in this part of Georgia. The City of Bainbridge uses the public safety officer model where all public safety officers double as police officers and firefighters (according to the article below, the two cops on the line are not PSOs from Bainbridge).

Here’s more on the fire from BainbridgeGeorgia.com Community News:

Georgia State Patrol and Sheriff’s Deputies kept the fire at bay with hand held extinguishers until Bainbridge Public Safety arrived.  Then, as Public Safety Officers donned their gear, GSP and Deputies quickly pulled the hoses off the fire truck and began extinguishing  the fire.

Asst Fire Chief Doyle Welch arrived with the first truck.  As arriving Public Safety Officers donned their gear, Troopers Walt Landrum and Brian Palmer and Deputy Steve Singleton pulled hoses from the truck and quickly began pouring water onto the fire.  Public Safety Officers took over the hoses and completed the task.

The quick action stopped the fire from spreading into the semi trailer which contained rolled paper.  No doubt if that had happened, the 30 minutes of a blocked west bound Bypass would easily have turned into several hours.

Here’s more on Bainbridge’s fire suppression from the city website:

All Public Safety Officers are certified in both Law Enforcement and Fire Suppression. The cars driven by Public Safety Officers are equipped with breathing apparatus, fire extinguishers, turn out gear, and other fire equipment for the officers responding to fires. The Fire Department is staffed by one Fire Chief and four Assistant Chiefs, one for each shift and has rotating officers to drive and pump the fire trucks when an alarm is given. the overall average response time to a fire is under two minutes.