One man was brought back to life, last week, in an apartment fire that required the combined efforts of the city’s three fire services. The cause of the blaze is still under investigation.
According to a report by the City of West Haven – Allingtown, a fire broke out in a residence at 145 Dogburn Road. The initial response included two units from the City of West Haven Fire Department – Allingtown, along with units from the from the West Haven Center Fire District, West Shore Fire District as part of the Automatic Mutual Aid system with in the city. While enroute, one other unit arrived on scene and reported a working fire in a two- story, wood frame multi-family structure.
Engine 25 arrived on scene and further reported fire coming from the C side (rear of the structure), 1st floor window.
“Truck Company 1 arrived and positioned at the A side (front of the structure) and established incident command, and raised its aerial device. Subsequent arriving units established a positive water supply and established a Rapid Intervention Team (RIT),” a press release from the FDWHA office indicated.
One occupant from the fire apartment escaped and reported that two occupants remained inside the burning structure. The firefighters took action to find the residence, including a primary search of the first-floor fire apartment.
“Shortly after initiating the search, crews conducting the primary search and located an unresponsive male victim on the floor in a bedroom,” the report stated. (The) victim was pulled to the outside rear of the structure by firefighters; and received by awaiting fire and EMS personnel. The victim was unresponsive and showing signs of breathing distress, as EMS personnel immediately began successful resuscitation and transported to Emergency Department for further interventions.
While the rescue was in progress, additional alarms brought additional resources to address the report of an additional victim still inside, while others worked on extinquishing the blaze. New Haven and Milford fire departments responded to provide coverage to the city as all city units were committed to this fire.
“Crews conducted additional searches to locate the second victim and quickly discovered that the report was inaccurate. Additional crews continued to work in locating hidden fire to perform a complete extinguishment,” the report stated.
While crews were operating, additional command staff arrived on scene and provided support functions.
Additional personnel from the Allingtown Volunteer Fire Association also responded and assigned additional support operations.
“This fire was a text book example of cooperative team efforts by highly trained and devoted professional personnel, that when summoned to emergencies of all kinds are effective in protecting the public. Responding personnel energies resulted in the locating, removal, and revival of a fire victim, and quick extinguishment and control of a well involved fire, with positive outcomes,” the report stated.