On Oct. 7, members of the general public stood back as they watched firefighters perform a daring rescue in a building at Santa Clara Fire Station 2 (1900 Walsh Ave.). This event was part of a fire engine crew operation demonstration for this year’s Santa Clara Fire Station Open House where citizens could visit a number of the City’s fire stations.
“This is an event that allows our firefighters to meet our public and showcase our fire stations and our firefighting tools and equipment,” said Bill Kelly, Santa Clara Fire Chief. “At the same time, we get to teach our citizens how to be fire safe in our homes and businesses. Our open house is our annual event that kicks off Fire Prevention Week. This is our biggest fire safety campaign of the year.”
“We were dispatched to a fire on the third floor,” said Captain Jameson Amato, retracing the demonstration. “We came on scene and made a report on the conditions, which was that we had smoke on the third floor. I took Incident Commander (IC) because I was first on scene. That made me in charge of the scene, or IC. I told my firefighter to pull a live line, which is a 200 foot long hose and throw a ladder to the third floor for rescue. Then I did a 360 of the building and I simulated that a resident had come out and told me there was a victim on the third floor. I advised incoming units that we were going into rescue mode and making entry into the building. We went up to the third floor. We made entry, found the victim and carried him downstairs out of the building. Then we administered medical attention.”
Amato also introduced open house attendees to the thermal imaging camera, a device that helps to locate fire and “shows the temperature gradient within the room.”
