Listen to radio traffic | See Legeros photos

Two alarms were struck in Durham on Thursday, April 29, 2021, at a major outside fire at 1915 Riddle Road. Dispatched 3:38 p.m. as a vehicle fire for Engine 4, located two blocks away, and Tanker 18. Structure fire assignment also dispatched, while first units were en route. Arriving units found heavy fire in a scrap pile containing various materials, including automobiles and large appliances.

Several hundred feet of five-inch supply line was laid from a hydrant about a block from the business entrance. Ladder 12 was positioned beside Engine 4, and supplied/boosted by the engine. Engine 1, on Riddle Road, boosted the pressure on the hydrant.

Mike Legeros photo

With addition water pressure/capacity needed, tankers were utilized, with Tanker 18 serving as the dump tank at the business entrance. Two other tankers shuttled water from a fill point in rear of Station, backing down Riddle Road to the connection point to Tanker 18.

Tanker 18 provided relay pumping to Engine 12, which deployed it’s deck gun. Battalion 1 was the incident command location. Haz-Mat units brought foam containers to the scene. Portable monitor(s) and hand lines were also used.

Mike Legeros photo

Second alarm later called for manpower, to relieve first-alarm companies. As Durham FD on Facebook noted, that brought 27 more firefighters to the scene, for a total of 64 working the incident.

The Durham FD drone team was also operating, with thermal imaging used to assist with suppression and assessing threat to nearby homes, on the other side of a wooded area.

Mike Legeros photo

Quint 19 deployed to Homewood Avenue, and flow water for a number of hours to mitigate any embers, and reduced the amount of thick smoke that was spreading through the neighborhood and across Alston Avenue.

The fire was brought under control in approximately six hours. Crews remained on scene through the night, dousing hot spots. Riddle Road, between Highway 55 and Alston Avenue also remained closed through the night.

Mike Legeros photo

Durham County EMS also had units on scene and provided scene support.

Legeros arrived some two hours into the incident. 

Mike Legeros photo

Run card included: Sq1, Sq4, B1, B2, B3, B4, E1, E2, E3, E4, E5, E6, E12, E13, E14, E18, L2, l3, L12, Q19, R1, HM13, HM16, MS1 (mobile support unit), Safety Officer, Division Chief, Special Operations Chief, Fire Chief, plus many tankers (including a tanker task force): DFD T11, T17, T18 and county units T316 (cleared after dispatched), T325, T335, T515 (all three cleared before arriving), Redwood T715.

Dispatch: E4, T18
First alarm: R1, FD20, SAF1, Sq4, L12, E1, E3, L3, T11, T17, B1, B3
Added: HM13, HM16, MS1, other chiefs
Tanker task force: T316 (cleared after dispatched), T325, T335, T515 (all three cleared before arriving), Redwood T715.
Second alarm: [goes here]

See aftermath photos (forthcoming) | Listen to radio traffic

Two alarms were struck in Raleigh on Monday morning, March 22, 2021. Dispatched 9:24 a.m. for 2110 Thesis Circle in south Raleigh, near Lake Wheeler Road and I-40. Three-story, wood-frame, garden-style apartment building with 16,128 square-feet. Built 2014 say tax records.

Engine 2 first-arriving with heavy fire showing on the second and third floors, in the front of the structure. Second-arriving Engine 13 with water supply. Lines pulled, and exterior and interior fire attack started, along with searches of the building.

______ photo via Twitter

Battalion 3 arrived, gave secondary size-up, assumed command, and requested a second alarm about 9:35 a.m. By that time, fire was showing through the roof. Staging for second-alarm companies designated as Lake Wheeler Road.

Crews were withdrawn about 9:45 a.m., with evacuation tones sounded. Aerial operations were started, with Ladder 1 in the A/D corner, and Ladder 12 in the A/B corner. Once the bulk of the fire was knocked down, aerial operations were halted and crews returned inside the structure, to complete extinguishment.

WRAL image, screen grab from video footage

Controlled at 11:00 a.m., with crews remaining on scene through the next morning performing overhaul, extinguishing hot spots, and assisting residents with removing personal property. Cause determined as accidental, with twelve units rendered uninhabitable, and 95 people displaced, from news reports. No residents were injured. 

Run card: E10, E13, E2, E20, L1, L12, R16, B3, B5 (first alarm), A28, B1, DC1, INV1 (working fire), E12, E8, E6, L14, L20 (second alarm), E5, Sq7, E11, B2 (special call), plus C1, C2, C3, C5, C14 (Safety Officer), plus EMS 11, 29, 50, 14, Truck 1, Medic 91, D1, D7. Chief 200, Chief 102.

Relief: L6, L15, E16, E21 (1300-1500); E4, E22, L23, L25 (1500-1700); E8, E27, B4 (1700-1900); E24, E26 (1900-2100); E17 (2100-0000); E25 (0000-0300); L4 (0300-0600). 

Mike Legeros photo

Timeline

• 09:24 – First alarm – E10, E13, E2, E20, L1, L12, R16, B3, B5
• ~09:30 – Working fire – A28, B1, DC1, INV1
• ~09:34 – Special call – C401
• ~09:37 – Second Alarm – E12, E8, E6, L14, L20
• ~09:45 – Evacuation tones
• ~09:46 – Special call – B2
• ~09:51 – Move-up – E25 to Sta 3
• ~09:56 – Move-up – L4 to Sta 1
• ~09:56 – Special call – E5, Sq7
• ~09:57 – Move-up – E18 to Sta 1
• ~09:58 – Special call – E11
• ~09:59? – Move-up – New Hope engine to Sta 11
• 11:00 – Under control