DAYTON — Update at 10:15 a.m. ET, Nov. 30,
One firefighter was confirmed injured and subsequently transported to the hospital after battling a house fire Wednesday morning.
>> PHOTOS: Firefighter injured after overnight house fire in Dayton
News Center 7 initially reported that crews were called to a structure fire in the 100 block of Shoop Avenue around 4:45 a.m., according to emergency scanners.
Crews were initially told that there was someone trapped inside the burning two-story building by Montgomery County dispatch and a neighbor, District Chief Chris Kinzeler told News Center 7 Reporter Xavier Hershovitz.
When crews arrived, they could see heavy fire coming out of the right side of the house with a vehicle parked in the driveway, Kinzeler said.
Firefighters attacked via the front door by forcing entry and conducted a preliminary search, Kinzeler said. However, responders were impeded in their search when they discovered a first floor bedroom completely collapsed.
Crews made a secondary entry through the back to continue their search, but found a collapsed stairwell, Kinzeler said. Then, the second floor stairwell fell down to the basement and trapped three firefighters working the bottom floor.
A “Mayday” alert was made and efforts to extricate the firefighters were underway.
One of the three firefighters suffered injuries to his extremities and was transported to a local hospital after extrication. “He remains stable and will be fine,” Kinzeler stated.
After searching through the entire residence, crews determined no one was inside the building during the incident and began to take a defensive position. They were later able to locate the house’s owner who was confirmed to be away from home.
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The fire burned for at least five hours and Kinzeler said it was partially because of the wind.
“The wind has been a terrible factor and pushing the fire,” Kinzeler stated. He informed News Center 7 that there were concerns the fire could spread to the neighboring homes. Crews had to wet the neighboring houses to prevent the fire from catching.
All surrounding residents were confirmed to be safe.
Another factor that caused the hours-long battle was the structural damage that prevented responders from entering the residence to put out hotspots.
“It is not safe structurally to go inside to find these hotspots,” Kinzeler said. Although the air from the windows helped to amplify the hotspots to make them more noticeable between the walls, the roof remained in tact and prevented a safer top-down fire attack.
As a result, Kinzeler enacted a “tactical burn” to let the fire burn longer and eventually collapse the roof. Once collapsed, crews doused the fire from above and extinguished it.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation, according to Kinzeler.
Initial Report:
One firefighter has been injured after a house fire in Dayton early Wednesday morning.
>> MORE: 13 people displaced by fire at Springfield apartment building
Crews were called to a structure fire in the 100 block of Shoop Avenue around 4:45 a.m. according to emergency scanner traffic.
News Center 7′s Xavier Hershovitz reported seeing firefighters ripping windows out of the house to help extinguish this fire.
Firefighters on the scene tell us one firefighter was taken to an area hospital after a piece of the house fell on him.
Video from the scene shows heavy plumes of smoke shooting from the roof of the house.
Further details have not been given at this time.
We will update this story once we learn more.
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