ONE ON ITS SIDE ON NOKESVILLE ROAD

April 29, 2007 – At 2110 hours Engine, Tower, and Chief 501 were alerted for a personal injury accident with one reported overturned in front of 10217 Nokesville Road. They arrived to find exactly that, deployed a line, and stabilized the vehicle in preparation for a full extrication. The Tower crew was only able to cut out the windshield before the ranking EMS provider on the scene had the patient climb out of the vehicle. The Engine and Tower picked up and left the scene at 2139 hours.

CREWS PARTICIPATE IN AFTERNOON VEHICLE X DRILL

April 28, 2007 – The Firefighters of Company 1 pride themselves on their abilities to quickly and proficiently extricate victims from automobiles. In an ongoing effort to remain efficient at vehicle extrication, crews took advantage of a quiet Saturday to get in a little practice. 

MULTIPLE CREWS RECEIVE FIREHOUSE MAGAZINE HEROISM AWARDS

April 26, 2007 – Today the members of the Manassas Volunteer Fire Company are pleased to announce that six of our members have been recognized by Firehouse Magazine and were presented the Heroism Award for their actions on two separate incidents. First to be honored were Master Fire Technician Kevin Franzello and Fireman Mike Frezza for removing a 400 lbs patient who had been overcome by smoke from a first due house fire. Next was a unit citation issued to Lt. James Rose, Fireman Jeff Lenard and Mike Lesnick, and Wagon Master James McCommack for maintaining their position in a room that was consumed by a flashover, directing a hose line between the fire and a PWC truck company, allowing them to escape the building. The company is very proud of these men and their actions, actions which are consistent with the aggressiveness, pride, and history of Fire Company 1.

CREWS ASSIST THE COPS IN DECON DRILL

April 25, 2007 – Today the Engine, Hazmat, and Decon units joined the Manassas City Police Department Dive Team for a drill at a local pool. The cops were practicing recovering weapons from a pond or lake. After the search was complete, the divers needed to be deconed due to a hypothetical biohazard in the water. Routinely after diving in drainage ponds, lakes, or other bodies of water, the divers need to be deconed because of the unknown contaminates.

ENGINE, TOWER, AND CHIEF SEE WORK IN THE 11 BOX

April 24, 2007 – At 1856 hours, mutual box 11-12 was transmitted for a building fire in the area of the Splashdown Water Park, bringing Engine 501 second due, Tower 501 as the first due truck, and the Chief with 10 volunteers. A good column could be seen in the sky as the Engine approached the scene. They arrived at the hydrant and quickly made their way to 11's Wagon with a decent amount of fire showing from a 20x20 bathroom facility. They pulled a second line and made entry, encountering a heavy volume of fire which they knocked down. The Tower arrived and went to work opening up both inside and outside while the Engine continued to knock down the hotspots. Companies remained on scene briefly for overhaul. Units from the City went ready at 2020 hours.

SMALL FIRST DUE TRAILER FIRE

April 21, 2007 – At 1718 hours, as a large number of City Firefighters and the majority of the County were honoring the loss of Technician I Kyle Robert Wilson in a memorial ceremony at Nissan Pavilion, box alarm 81-03 was transmitted for a fire in a trailer at 9011 Centreville Road, Lot #50, in the Manassas Mobile Home Park. Battalion 581 arrived and reported a small amount of fire showing. The fire, which started on the outside and involved a small portion of the living area was quickly extinguished and the box assignment was quickly scaled back. A decent amount of extension was found in the wall keeping crews on scene for the remainder of the hour to overhaul. Battalion 581 (Ellis) had the command.

MEMBERS JOIN THOUSANDS TO HONOR THE LIFE OF TECH. I KYLE R. WILSON

April 21, 2007 – Today nearly 25 members from the Manassas Volunteer Fire Company boarded Engine 501A, Foam Engine 501, Wagon 501, and Chief 501 and headed out to the Nissan Pavilion to honor the life of fallen firefighter Kyle R Wilson. In addition, 10 members remained back at the firehouse to staff the Engine, Tower, and Battalion and also maintained a crew for the Hazmat Unit, which was the only Hazmat/Containment unit available in the County. As the procession left the funeral home in Dale City, the Engine, Tower, and Battalion met up with Quint and Medic 509 from Manassas Park along the travel route to pay respect as the body of Technician I Kyle Robert Wilson, the men from his station, and his family and friends made their way to the Pavilion for the memorial service. At Nissan Pavilion, nearly 3,000 firefighters from across the region and surrounding states and citizens of the county joined Kyle’s family to mourn the first career firefighter to die in the line of duty in the 41-year history of the Prince William County Department of Fire and Rescue. Prince William Fire and Rescue Chief Mary Beth Michos reflected the mood in the pavilion by saying "Our hearts are heavy. Our eyes are filled with tears. Our faces are sad. We have lost a son, a brother, a fiancé, a friend, and a firefighter." Honor guards and pipe and drum corps came from five jurisdictions in Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Maryland to honor the hero. To read the details of the events leading up to Kyle’s death, please see the story below on April 16^th, 2007.

Casket photo courtesy of the Manassas Journal Messenger.

FIRE SHOWING AGAIN.....THIS TIME FIRST DUE!!

April 20, 2007 – At 0324 hours, box alarm 81-13 was transmitted for a building fire at 9344 Taney Road, in the Georgetown South section of the City. Engine, Tower, and Battalion 581 responded with nine men. Once on the scene, the Engine reported fire showing from the roof of a three story brick row. The Engine ran a line threw the front door, making their way to the third floor. Once there, they encountered thick smoke conditions. The Tower started opening up the ceilings and a large amount of fire dropped down on the two companies. The building was ventilated and through continuing heavy fire conditions, crews continued to open up and extinguish all visible fire. A rapid primary search yielded no victims. A check of the exposures found smoke conditions only. Companies continued to open up and extinguish all hot spots, finding that the fire was contained to the cockloft and the fire room. FM 582 was on scene to investigate, and Battalion 581 had the Taney Road command. Units cleared the fire ground at 0544 hours. An hour later, both companies were back on the street for a personal injury accident with reported entrapment at Center Street and Main Street. The Tower removed the driver's door and went ready an few minutes later.

TOWER REMOVES ONE AFTER HEAD ON CRASH

April 18, 2007 – At 1339 hours, as the crew from the Engine and Tower were winding their afternoon down, a unit from Prince William County came across the air reporting a head on collision at Liberia Avenue and Prince William Parkway. Both units were out the door before the County unit could finish their transmission. While on the way, the County unit advised they had one trapped and requested a helicopter. The Engine and Tower arrived shortly after that and quickly went to work. Within 5 minutes, the Tower and the Rescue, who showed up shortly after the Tower, had the vehicle cut and the patient out. The victim was suffering from injuries consistent with a high speed head on crash, including a compound bilateral ti-fib fracture. Wagon 516 handled the LZ. Units went ready at 1406 hours.

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY FIREFIGHTER KILLED IN THE LINE OF DUTY

April 16, 2007 – The members of the Manassas Volunteer Fire Company wish to offer our most sincere condolences to the family and friends of Technician I Kyle Wilson and his fellow members of the Prince William County Department of Fire and Rescue while they struggle with their loss. Brother Wilson was killed this morning in the line of duty. This is the first line of duty fatality in the 41-year history of the Prince William County Department of Fire and Rescue. Technician Wilson joined the department in January 2006 and had recently graduated from the academy. He is survived by his parents, brother, sister, and girlfriend. It cannot be said any better than this: “Kyle will be sorely missed, and his supreme sacrifice will not be forgotten. His heroic actions, and those of the firefighters who attempted to rescue him, are an inspiration to us all.” The services for Technician Wilson are scheduled for Saturday, April 21, 2007, beginning at 4 p.m. at Nissan Pavilion. For more information regarding the events of this fire, see the official Prince William County Press release. The link is below.

FOUR CREWS...FOURTH DUE.....FIRE SHOWING!!

April 13, 2007 – After spending the majority of the morning out at the county fairgrounds on a public education detail, Manassas firefighters, making up a total of 4 crews, settled in for what was becoming a peaceful Friday afternoon.  That ended shortly after 1400 hours when mutual box 04-09 was transmitted for the report of a fire at the Nissan Pavilion. The assignment brought Engine 501 (Master Tech Nary) as the fourth due Engine Company and Chief 501 on the box. Wagon 504 arrived on the scene and reported a working fire involving several attached modular trailers used to house the dressing rooms and kitchen facilities for the pavilion. Chief 504 established the command and within minutes units were reporting heavy fire through the roofs. To complicate matters even more, poor water pressure at the rear of the pavilion hampered the firefighting effort. With those issues in mind, command advised Engine 501 to lay another line from Wagon 504 to another hydrant on the outside of the pavilion, as well as establish the RIT duties. In the meantime, Manassas Volunteers were making the most out of having multiple crews so the Foam Engine took the transfer to fill Station 511, our second due. As they were backing into 11’s quarters, command specialed two tankers to the fire ground, quickly followed up with an additional special call for two extra engine companies. The Foam Engine (Lt. Rose) arrived with a good amount of smoke still showing and was quickly put to work relieving the initial attack crew from Wagon 504. The Foam Engine spent a good amount of time opening up and hitting hot spots. Manassas units operated for nearly two hours before returning to service, all the while maintaining two additional crews in the firehouse. As a side note, Lt. Rose, an up and coming American Honky-Tonk Idol can now brag to all the girls he meets that he’s been on stage at Nissan.

COMPANIES FIND ONE OVERTURNED ON GRANT AVE

April 12, 2007 – At 0812, companies were sent out for a personal injury accident with one overturned in the intersection of Center Street and Grant Ave. Engine, Tower, and Chief 501 arrived to find one on its side with two people still in the vehicle. As the Tower stabilized the van and the engine deployed a line, it was learned that both occupants were completely uninjured and, in fact, one was a pedestrian who climbed into the car after the wreck to help the driver get out. Once the vehicle was stabilized, both civilians crawled out of the van. The Engine handled a few small hazards and the scene was left with the cops.

WEBSITE FEATURED IN WASHINGTON POST STORY

April 08, 2007 – Today the Washington Post featured a story on the front page of the Sunday Metro section about the Manassas Vol. Fire Co.'s website and videos section. A writer from the Post came across one of our videos on youtube.com, visited our website, and called us about doing a story. The interest was in the way our site reports on the daily goings on in the City, the statistics for the site, and the style that we film and produce our videos. The Manassas Vol. Fire Co. wishes to thank the Washington Post for featuring us.

• Successful Hits For Entire Site For The Week: 462,497

• Average Hits Per Day For The Week: 66,071

• Home Page Hits For The Week: 4,936

• Total Visits To The Site For The Week: 11,272

• Average Visits Per Day For The Week: 1,610

• Unique Visitors To The Site For The Week: 3,713

• Average Visit Length  00:10:06

NEW HIGH RISE BAGS PLACED IN SERVICE

April 06, 2007 – The Manassas Vol. Fire Co. has placed a set of new high rise bags in service on each of our four wagons. The new bags replace the old single bag which contained 150 of 1 3/4 hose, a reducer, and a wheel. The new bags were custom designed in house and were manufactured by Browning's Custom Upholstery located at 8451 Maplewood Drive in Manassas, who donated all of the materials and provided the labor at a discounted rate. Each company has been given two bags, one called the "Lineman's Bag" and the other called the "Layout Bag". Both contain 100 feet of 1 3/4 hose, a 150 GPM at 75 PSI fog nozzle with a 7/8” stream straightener built into the break-away bail, a medium size Vise-grip wrench to replace the wheel, and tow flat spanner wrenches. The Lineman's Bag includes a pinning 2 ½” to 1 ½” reducer which is attached to the hose. The Layout bag includes a TFT gated wye and has a red "Y" sewn onto the bag for easy identification. In addition, each bag has a red cap on one end to further help identify which end the nozzle is in. The addition of these lighter and more properly equipped bags to our wagons will enable our firefighters to operate more efficiently in the mid and high rise buildings which are becoming more frequent in our box alarm area. These bags will also enable our crews to rapidly extend hand lines if needed. We would like to thank Browning's Custom Upholstery for their donation and time spent manufacturing these bags.

ITS BAD WHEN DUMPSTERS ARE THE HIGHLIGHT OF YOUR EVENING

April 05, 2007 – Well it was pretty quite after the mid day cut job, dinner was uninterrupted too, which is a nice change of pace, and we even got the chance to get in an evening street drill. Hopes for a good night sleep were squashed at 2003 hours which is when the runs picked back up. The first was for a dumpster in the 8900 block of Wood Drift Circle. There the Engine found a dumpster and the surrounding fence burning. About a half an hour later, they were sent out on the local in the same area for another dumpster, this time at 10102 Dumfries Road. That one too was quickly extinguished and the Fire Marshall was notified. Just after midnight the Foam Engine was sent out for a malfunctioning helicopter on the pad at Prince William Hospital which took nearly an hour. Throw in three AFA's to break up the sleep and it was time for the shift change. The day crew would go on to answer a number of runs, including being assigned the RIT on small house fire in Co. 11's area, a chimney fire in Co. 7's area, and the Tower released one from a stalled elevator on West Court House Road.

ONE TRAPPED AND TWO FLOWN ON NOKESVILLE ROAD

April 05, 2007 – At 1511 hours today, immediately after the Engine was placed on a box alarm in Co. 11's area, City Fire Communications put out the local for a personal injury accident in the intersection of Nokesville Road and Godwin Drive. Tower 501 arrived with one of the Medic Units to find one seriously trapped after a head on crash. They quickly went to work stabilizing the vehicle and cutting the car. Engine and Rescue 501 cleared the needless box a few minuets later and added on to the run along with the Hazmat Unit and the Fire Chief. Crews from the Tower and Rescue worked to remove both driver side doors, the roof, and pushed the dash to release the patient. The extricated patient and another victim were flown from the airport, which is nearby and is the base of operations for Aircare in this area, to a local trauma center. The Hazmat Unit put down 125 lbs of absorbent to contain a very large spill. Company 1 went ready at 1606 hours.

FIRST ALERT SYSTEM ADDED IN THE FIREHOUSE

April 04, 2007 – The Manassas Vol. Fire Co. has started an initiative to equip our apparatus with “old person” friendly contraptions to prevent workplace injuries. Some of the gadgets include a lift that will be mounted on the Hazmat Unit in order to eliminate having to climb the stairs to get into the back of the cab. Each Engine will have a hydraulic attachment to accommodate a Hoveround chair. The mode buttons on the transmission have been replaced with larger buttons and special plugs have been added to our portable radios so they can be plugged directly into hearing aids. Each special provision has been marked with a unique sticker. In addition, Frezza has been equipped with a wireless remote so next time he falls and can't get up, we'll be able to rescue him.

ENGINE RUNS SMALL FIRE IN THE COUNTY

April 03, 2007 – At 1916 hours, Engine 501 was sent third due on mutual box 25-10 for a house fire at 10016 Boreland Court. Wagon 525 arrived and reported heavy smoke showing. Reports from communications indicated that the fire was in the rear of the home so, Wagon 525's crew pulled a line to the rear and extinguished the visible fire. Engine 501 arrived third, laid out from a secondary hydrant, and prepared to run a line and check the exposures. Engine 501 was redirected by the incident commander to take a line to the second floor and back up Wagon 525, who were in the process of checking the attic for extension without a line. Once there, they were immediately asked to stand down by Wagon 525's officer. The Engine repositioned their line to the rear where they extinguished a few small hot spots. The fire had involved the rear stairs, siding, and plywood from the ground to the roof line. Engine 501 began opening up and checking for extension. They were assisted by Wagons 504 and 511, and Tower 525. Engine 501 went ready at 2011 hours.