The Greenfield Fire Department responded to a house fire late Friday evening at a residence on Garfield Street. Eight people in the home were able to get out safely before fire crews arrived on scene.
Greenfield Fire Chief Cory Hudson says that he is very proud of his crew for how they handled a tough fire in some pretty difficult conditions.
“We received our dispatch about twenty til eleven Friday night. We had pretty good response time, and as we were pulling up I could see the second story was actually glowing through a couple of windows, so we had a good idea of where the fire was at. It was pouring down rain, there was ice on the sidewalks, ice on the roof, it was one of the more difficult fires that we have had with the ice.
When we got there, we vented the second floor and then put the guys in, and they made a really good stop to the fire. It was already in the attic, the room where the fire originated had an attic access, so it darn near vented itself before we got there. But the guys did a fantastic job of putting a stop on that. There were really heavy fire fire conditions on that second floor.”
Nate Aldhoffer, a Greenfield Police Officer assisted the family, that included six children, in getting out of the house as soon as he arrived as the first one on scene. Hudson says the residence is one of, if not the, largest residences in Greenfield, so the crews had their work cut out for them as they fought to contain the blaze.
Hudson said he and four other members of the deportment were close by when the call came in.
“the timing could not have been better for us, we happened to be a half mile from the firehouse when we got that call, so that helped out. Just overall, we don’t have a lot of structure fires every year, but we train and train on them all year long so when we do have them, we are prepared. That in combination with the county, Carrollton, White Hall, Roodhouse all showed up along with Scottville-Modesto, so it was another team effort. It was a good stop and a success in my book. The end result was exactly what we work for.”
Hudson says one of the older children in the home was woke by a loud pop that alerted them to the danger. Hudson says that it appears the fire was started in an older electrical box that was still in use in the second floor room.
Hudson says he is thankful for the county mutual aid effort as well as past upgrades to the 911 system that aided the Greenfield Fire Department in being able to get the fire under control quickly.
“we switched to the enhanced 911 system two years ago now and it’s been in my book a very good thing for the communities and the fire districts, and with the weather that we had, all the guys just did an awesome job. That roof was just covered in a sheet of ice, and the Carrollton Fire Department was gracious enough to bring their ladder truck over and we got that roof opened up with their help with the ladder truck so that made a huge difference being able to get that residence opened up.”
Hudson says that being able to call for assistance from other departments can be a big relief during fire calls.
“It might have been a little overkill with five departments there, but I talked to the white Hall fire Chief this morning because they are dealing with a water main break, but I told him that, it’s great to have people there and not need them, than to need them and they still be 30 minutes out from the scene. So, I have no problem calling for mutual aid, and if we do not need them, they are more than happy to go back home.”
Hudson says that the Greenfield Fire Department averages about 120 total calls per year, and Friday’s fire was already call number 35 for this year.