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December 6, 1988
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At 1531 hrs, a
box alarm was transmitted for a reported fire at
9293 Byrd Drive, in Georgetown South. The report
came from City Police Officer
Carl Barnes, who notified communications from a neighborhood call box. Before
crews were even on the street, Manassas City Fire
Marshal Don Fullem, already in the area, requested a second alarm be
transmitted over the box. He reported
that the fire was
higher than the trees in the neighborhood and flames
could be seen from blocks away.
On arrival, Wagon 1,
Engine 1-2, and
Tower 1 found heavy smoke and fire coming from
several of the row houses. With the threat of a gas
explosion, the crews first priority was to evacuate
the
residents from 10 of the exposed houses however, some of the neighborhood
inhabitants hindered their efforts.
Several residents angrily voiced to firefighters
that they took too long to arrive at the scene and
they were angered with the fireman because they
stayed in front of the buildings to battle the blaze
while flames shot up in the rear of the row. The Fire Marshal had one
resident arrested, charging him
with hindering the fire rescue effort, public
intoxication and failure to leave a fire scene after
the man repeatedly shouted he "could have got burnt
up in that house ... they just stand out there
looking. " Fullem was quoted in the Manassas
Journal Messenger as saying, "while
some residents of the townhouse row had complained
firefighters stayed in front of the buildings, it is
a common procedure to "push" a fire in one
direction, rather than send firefighters in from different
directions to fight the blaze."
As more companies arrived and with the row of homes
evacuated, crews began to extinguish the fire which
roared across the backs and in the cocklofts of
9287-9297 Byrd Drive.
The construction of the homes in Georgetown South
was the main reason that the fire spread so quickly.
There are several gas appliances located in sheds
attached to the rear of each home. Unprotected, a
fire in one of theses sheds will build quickly, fed
by gas, and run up the back of the house to the roof
line. At the roof, there is no barrier between the
outside and the open roof area of the entire row of
homes except for a wire mesh screen to keep birds
and other animals out.
The fire that was
currently raging had been started by
a
five‑year‑old who had been playing with matches in
the shed behind 9291 Byrd Drive.
The flames were
fed by gas meters which caught fire at the
residences. Three workers and a supervisor from
Columbia Gas Co. arrived at the scene and directed
firefighter Jim Stokely, who was doused with a hose
line
to protect himself from the radiant heat and flames, to reach under flames and turn
the two major gas lines to the row off. While this
was happening, crews were operating inside some of
the outlying exposures while Tower 1 and Truck 11,
and several large diameter lines and ground monitors
flooded the main fire buildings.
Seven fire companies operated on the box, which
eventually reached three alarms.
Crews operated for
nearly an hour before the bulk of the fire was
knocked down. Manassas Fire Chief Tommy Dickens had
command.
The fire, which
gutted seven row houses and damaged two others, left
nine families homeless and caused an estimated
$750,000 damage.
The
last Manassas unit cleared the scene at 1932 hrs.
There were three injured fireman on this box:
Captain Scott Davis twisted his right ankle, knee
and wrist; Fireman Dan Holman had a nail stick in
his left foot and; Fireman Jim Stokely twisted his
wrist. As crews were picking up from this fire,
another first due box came out for a fire at 9905
Godwin Drive at the
Glen‑Gery Brick
Company. Crews from Engine 1-1 and Tower 1 operated
for nearly two and a half hours at this blaze which
was caused by a malfunction of the brickyard's kiln,
and caused extensive damage to the company's
building. Bricks stored in the building became
extremely hot, and the heat was transferred to the
roof, igniting insulation throughout the entire
roof. |
