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24 July 2026
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The extra guy by Steve Kidd, Florida, USA
There’s a lot of preparation that goes into putting out a fire. Modern Fire and Rescue services spend countless hours training, practicing, maintaining the equipment in preparation for facing multiple types of situations, with the mission of extinguishing fires at their core. Fire hose is tested annually by pumping them to well above normal operating pressures to make sure they don’t burst when they are needed. If even a minimal leak is observed at any time between the annual tests, the hose is taken out of service, repaired and re-tested before being placed back into service. In my experience, I only recall one incident of a hose springing a significant leak during a fire and I’m glad it did.
I was assigned to a Truck company in the Pine Hills neighbourhood in the mid-80s. Some departments following traditional nomenclature would call it a Hook & Ladder company. Many civilians wonder why a huge ladder truck would respond to a small single-story home that was on fire. Simply put, the extra manpower and specialized equipment is needed to perform functions other than spray wet stuff on the flames. Locked doors need to be forced open. The building must be searched to assure anyone still inside is rescued. Holes need to be created to vent deadly heated smoke and gasses from the building. Power and gas services need to be shut off and secured and hidden spaces opened to access unseen fires so they can be snuffed out.
Like I said, a lot goes in to extinguishing a structural fire.
I was assigned to Truck 42, a 110’ ladder truck that ran out of Station 42 near the intersection of Silver Star and Pine Hills Road. It was after midnight when we were dispatched along with two engine companies, a rescue (ambulance staffed with two, not a heavy rescue) and a Battalion Chief. We responded to a fire in a small, mid-century built concrete block home in Lockhart, a long-established, predominantly blue-collar section of Orange County. Heavy fire was showing from the concrete block house when Engine 40 arrived a minute or two ahead of us, and they went straight to work, pulling lines and knocking down enough fire for everyone to make entry.
Because it was a time when most people were sleeping, and because a couple of cars were in the driveway, we assumed someone was trapped inside, so my crew split, with two on the outside controlling the utilities and venting the fire to lift the smoke off everyone inside. Dean Carter was my irons guy and he and I went inside to start the search while Lt. Winston Russel and his crew from Engine 40 snaked a line in ahead of us and continued to knock the fire back.
Thanks to the shrill alarm of a smoke detector, the search for trapped victims revealed that the house was all clear and everyone had escaped prior to our arrival. Dean and I turned our attention to searching for hidden fires, an operation called Overhaul.
There was an unusual amount of fire in and behind the plywood kitchen cabinets, and we found fire in the crawl space above us when we poked an inspection hole in the ceiling. The home spun cabinets didn’t have backs to them and were more like shelves with doors across the front, so the fire had chimneyed up behind them and had a lot of plastic burning in some of the cabinets. The house didn’t have a real attic, and the roof was supported by 2x6 rafters instead of modern lightweight wood trusses, so I wasn’t worried about a sudden collapse. I called for a backup line to be pulled inside for overhaul and told Dean to go tell Lt. Russel from E40 that we had some fire above us and could use a little water our way until the next line could be stretched from outside. The fire wasn’t a big deal, and a small booster line’s flow would be enough to handle it.
When I reached up to open one of the kitchen cabinets, it came crashing down and drug the rest of the lineup with it. They were barely tacked to the wall when they were installed, and we later found out that termites had chewed their way up the supporting wall behind them. When they fell, they raked across the top of the refrigerator, which unfortunately is where the homeowners kept his liquor supply. Dishes, canned goods, and glass bottles of vodka, rum, whisky, you name it, immediately ignited and came raining down on me.
It’s a funny thing, wearing all that protective gear yet being on fire. You don’t really feel it at first and it’s hard to tell exactly what’s burning. In those days we hadn’t been assigned flash hoods to cover our head and neck underneath our helmets, so my exposed skin started to sting and my burning ears were telling me that maybe it would be a good idea to move. My mind said run but my training and preparation told me to work the problem.
Lt Russel and his crew were trying to get back to me, but it was taking time to pull the line back out of the rear bedroom and down the narrow hall, then make a bend to get back over to the kitchen area. Luckily, Dean rounded the corner just in time to see me. I still had my facepiece on and was breathing fresh air off my tank, but it was getting a little hot and I was tangled up in all the debris around my feet.
Then something that only happened once in my entire career occurred. The hose that E40 was using, which was stretched right next to the kitchen opening, sprung a leak at Dean’s feet. The water sprayed out of the small hole with force in a perfect fan pattern. Dean picked up the line, pointed the spray at me and knocked the fire out within seconds.
We finished our work inside about 10-minutes later, and when we went out to take a blow I fully expected to have blisters and to smell burned hair but miraculously my skin wasn’t even reddened by the heat. My ears were fine and not one hair on my head was singed.
I fully believe to this day that there was a third person in that little kitchen in Lockhart that day, the One who stood beside us, provided His protection, and gave us the unorthodox source of water when we needed it the most. He had more experience in those situations than we did. He had done it before for three guys named Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
Like I said, a lot goes into preparing to fight a fire. Training… testing… maintaining…. I always added another step each morning when I put my gear on the rig and checked the air supply in my breathing apparatus. I stopped and had a quick conversation with the extra guy on our crew. My prayer to Him each morning was just that, a conversation and not a canned speech like we did as kids at bedtime. But the closing in my morning conversation was consistent.
“Please be with us today, Lord. I know with your help we will get through whatever comes our way. And most of all, please don’t let me get in Your way in the process.”
"They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor a hair of their heads singed. Their bodies were not scorched and there was no smell of fire on them." Daniel 3:27.
The image is totally AI, thanks to ChatGPT. The story is from Steve Kidd, not AI.
Quotes of the week
“ If you can’t figure out your purpose, figure out your passion. For passion will lead you right into your purpose.” ~ TD Jakes
Fire and Rescue International is your magazine.
Read it, use it and share it!
Read the latest FRI magazine: https://www.frimedia.org/fri-vol-8-no-6.html
Read the latest Disaster Management Journal: https://www.frimedia.org/dmj-vol-7-no-1.html
FRI magazine archive: https://www.frimedia.org/fri-archives.html
DMJ magazine archive: https://www.frimedia.org/dmj-magazine.html
Enjoy the read!
Lee Raath-Brownie
Managing director
Cell: 082 371 0190
Contact us
Tel: 011 452 3135 or Email: [email protected]
Websites
www.frimedia.org
www.fireandrescue.co
Facebook
www.facebook.com/FireandRescueInternational
Twitter
www.twitter.com/FRI_magazine
LinkedIn
http://www.linkedin.com/in/lee-raath-brownie-16668065/
I was assigned to a Truck company in the Pine Hills neighbourhood in the mid-80s. Some departments following traditional nomenclature would call it a Hook & Ladder company. Many civilians wonder why a huge ladder truck would respond to a small single-story home that was on fire. Simply put, the extra manpower and specialized equipment is needed to perform functions other than spray wet stuff on the flames. Locked doors need to be forced open. The building must be searched to assure anyone still inside is rescued. Holes need to be created to vent deadly heated smoke and gasses from the building. Power and gas services need to be shut off and secured and hidden spaces opened to access unseen fires so they can be snuffed out.
Like I said, a lot goes in to extinguishing a structural fire.
I was assigned to Truck 42, a 110’ ladder truck that ran out of Station 42 near the intersection of Silver Star and Pine Hills Road. It was after midnight when we were dispatched along with two engine companies, a rescue (ambulance staffed with two, not a heavy rescue) and a Battalion Chief. We responded to a fire in a small, mid-century built concrete block home in Lockhart, a long-established, predominantly blue-collar section of Orange County. Heavy fire was showing from the concrete block house when Engine 40 arrived a minute or two ahead of us, and they went straight to work, pulling lines and knocking down enough fire for everyone to make entry.
Because it was a time when most people were sleeping, and because a couple of cars were in the driveway, we assumed someone was trapped inside, so my crew split, with two on the outside controlling the utilities and venting the fire to lift the smoke off everyone inside. Dean Carter was my irons guy and he and I went inside to start the search while Lt. Winston Russel and his crew from Engine 40 snaked a line in ahead of us and continued to knock the fire back.
Thanks to the shrill alarm of a smoke detector, the search for trapped victims revealed that the house was all clear and everyone had escaped prior to our arrival. Dean and I turned our attention to searching for hidden fires, an operation called Overhaul.
There was an unusual amount of fire in and behind the plywood kitchen cabinets, and we found fire in the crawl space above us when we poked an inspection hole in the ceiling. The home spun cabinets didn’t have backs to them and were more like shelves with doors across the front, so the fire had chimneyed up behind them and had a lot of plastic burning in some of the cabinets. The house didn’t have a real attic, and the roof was supported by 2x6 rafters instead of modern lightweight wood trusses, so I wasn’t worried about a sudden collapse. I called for a backup line to be pulled inside for overhaul and told Dean to go tell Lt. Russel from E40 that we had some fire above us and could use a little water our way until the next line could be stretched from outside. The fire wasn’t a big deal, and a small booster line’s flow would be enough to handle it.
When I reached up to open one of the kitchen cabinets, it came crashing down and drug the rest of the lineup with it. They were barely tacked to the wall when they were installed, and we later found out that termites had chewed their way up the supporting wall behind them. When they fell, they raked across the top of the refrigerator, which unfortunately is where the homeowners kept his liquor supply. Dishes, canned goods, and glass bottles of vodka, rum, whisky, you name it, immediately ignited and came raining down on me.
It’s a funny thing, wearing all that protective gear yet being on fire. You don’t really feel it at first and it’s hard to tell exactly what’s burning. In those days we hadn’t been assigned flash hoods to cover our head and neck underneath our helmets, so my exposed skin started to sting and my burning ears were telling me that maybe it would be a good idea to move. My mind said run but my training and preparation told me to work the problem.
Lt Russel and his crew were trying to get back to me, but it was taking time to pull the line back out of the rear bedroom and down the narrow hall, then make a bend to get back over to the kitchen area. Luckily, Dean rounded the corner just in time to see me. I still had my facepiece on and was breathing fresh air off my tank, but it was getting a little hot and I was tangled up in all the debris around my feet.
Then something that only happened once in my entire career occurred. The hose that E40 was using, which was stretched right next to the kitchen opening, sprung a leak at Dean’s feet. The water sprayed out of the small hole with force in a perfect fan pattern. Dean picked up the line, pointed the spray at me and knocked the fire out within seconds.
We finished our work inside about 10-minutes later, and when we went out to take a blow I fully expected to have blisters and to smell burned hair but miraculously my skin wasn’t even reddened by the heat. My ears were fine and not one hair on my head was singed.
I fully believe to this day that there was a third person in that little kitchen in Lockhart that day, the One who stood beside us, provided His protection, and gave us the unorthodox source of water when we needed it the most. He had more experience in those situations than we did. He had done it before for three guys named Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
Like I said, a lot goes into preparing to fight a fire. Training… testing… maintaining…. I always added another step each morning when I put my gear on the rig and checked the air supply in my breathing apparatus. I stopped and had a quick conversation with the extra guy on our crew. My prayer to Him each morning was just that, a conversation and not a canned speech like we did as kids at bedtime. But the closing in my morning conversation was consistent.
“Please be with us today, Lord. I know with your help we will get through whatever comes our way. And most of all, please don’t let me get in Your way in the process.”
"They saw that the fire had not harmed their bodies, nor a hair of their heads singed. Their bodies were not scorched and there was no smell of fire on them." Daniel 3:27.
The image is totally AI, thanks to ChatGPT. The story is from Steve Kidd, not AI.
Quotes of the week
“ If you can’t figure out your purpose, figure out your passion. For passion will lead you right into your purpose.” ~ TD Jakes
Fire and Rescue International is your magazine.
Read it, use it and share it!
Read the latest FRI magazine: https://www.frimedia.org/fri-vol-8-no-6.html
Read the latest Disaster Management Journal: https://www.frimedia.org/dmj-vol-7-no-1.html
FRI magazine archive: https://www.frimedia.org/fri-archives.html
DMJ magazine archive: https://www.frimedia.org/dmj-magazine.html
Enjoy the read!
Lee Raath-Brownie
Managing director
Cell: 082 371 0190
Contact us
Tel: 011 452 3135 or Email: [email protected]
Websites
www.frimedia.org
www.fireandrescue.co
www.facebook.com/FireandRescueInternational
www.twitter.com/FRI_magazine
http://www.linkedin.com/in/lee-raath-brownie-16668065/