Videos from my first due that I missed. A good look at a townhouse fire in Virginia. Early collapse of floors in lightweight construction.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJmwHCb0lHQ&hl=en&fs=1]

The day after a December 7 townhouse fire just up the street from the World Headquarters of STATter911.com I ran some video of the fire from 9NEWS NOW multi-media-journalist (MMJ) Greg Guise. It happened at 124 Rolling Trace in the City of Falls Church, Virginia.

Greg is a STATter911.com neighbor, but it turns out as close as he was, Greg wasn’t the first MMJ on the scene (I should talk … I was likely sound asleep). Some good early videos were posted on YouTube.com.

You can access Greg’s video here. Part 1 of the early video is above and Part 2 is below.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuRPZn1t-e8&hl=en&fs=1]

Here is an account of the fire posted on ACFD3.com from Arlington County Fire:

December 7, 2008 – At 1234 hours communications dispatched units to 124 Rolling Trace, in the City of Falls Church, for a structure fire. Truck 106 arrived first on the scene to find a garage unit three-story above grade, middle-of-the-row townhouse of lightweight construction with heavy fire showing from the front door on the first floor. Heavy smoke was pushing from the the second and third floors. Truck 106’s officer met with the occupant that advised everyone was evacuated and accounted for and that there was ammunition in the garage that was detonating. Shortly after their initial report, Truck 106 advised that the interior stairs had collapsed and requested a second alarm. Fire was now through the roof and the operation was declared defensive. Five minutes after the arrival of the first units the entire third floor collapsed to the second floor. Numerous exterior handlines, a RAM monitor and the ladder pipes from Truck 106 and 410 were used to bring the fire under control. Units were immediately deployed into the B and D exposures and aggressively opened up to check for fire extension. The fire separation walls between the units performed very well resulting in only minor fire extension. The blaze was brought under control within 30 minutes. Crews utilized ground ladders and handlines to extinguish remaining hot-spots. Battalion 112 (Blankenship) had the command. The only injuries were sustained by the occupant of the home.