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September
28, 2004
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As the
remnants of Hurricane Jeanne rolled through the area,
Manassas Fire Company units were preparing for a long
night of chasing fire alarms and downed power lines.
It all started at 1711 hrs when a fire alarm came in,
then at 1746, a call for wires down, at 1755 a reported
house fire at the trailer park on Centreville Road.
This turned out to be some more downed electrical wires.
Things were looking bleak. As units were clearing
from the trailer park around 1810 hrs, Manassas
dispatched the commercial box assignment for a fire at
Guapos restaurant on Sudley Road across from the
hospital. Ambulance 501A arrived on the scene with
heavy fire through the roof. With many units already in
the area from the last box it was a scramble to make our
first due position. Engine 508 and Engine 501A
arrived on the scene together and crews began an
interior attack as the fire burned in the ceiling and on
the roof. Wagon 501 and the HazMat Support which came
in place of
Tower 501
because it was out of service,
arrived shortly thereafter. As crews made their way
deeper into the building they encountered heavy fire
that involved several rooms. The lines from 501 and 508
were not making much progress and conditions began
deteriorating rapidly. The roof started coming
down on top of the crews just as the decision was made
to pull all crews out due to the questionable stability
of the roof structure. Companies started rigging for
heavy duty operations. Truck 511 and Quint 504 set
up their ladder pipes while Wagon 501, which had laid
out to the rear of the building, setup its wagon pipe.
With the bulk of the fire knocked down, crews were able
to safely get back to work inside and finished
extinguishing the fire. The City Fire Marshals were on
the scene to investigate the cause of the fire. The
MVFC Auxiliary was also on the scene providing food and
drinks to the crews. Do to many companies being on
their second calls when the initial dispatch came out,
companies normally not due on the box were sent and as
other companies cleared from the first box they
responded without other units being placed in service so
the assignment was for like a second alarm.
Box Alarm :E501A, W501, FE 501, MP501, HMS501, Utility
501, C501, C501A, R501, A501A,
Command/Light/Air/Abortion501, E508, W508, W511, W516,
W506, E505, T511, Q504, B501, C508, AC516.
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