Concerned neighbors Angela Clinton and Nate Bixby.
DAVID SEPULVEDA PHOTOS
Giant hoses snake across intersection.
Westvilleans who called in a fire on Alden Avenue Wednesday and tried to start putting it out now intend to hold a fundraiser to help neighbors who are now displaced from their home.
The one-alarm fire occurred at an owner-occupied multifamily home at 308 – 310 Alden Ave. It began between 4 and 4:30 p.m.
Nate Bixby lives behind the house. He said he smelled smoke and went to check on his own stove before realizing that the smoke was coming from the third floor of an adjacent house.
Bixby called 911 to report the fire. He then rang doorbells to warn neighbors about the fire.
Front view of the house with little visible damage.
Then he grabbed a long garden hose connected to the house where the fire was taking place. Bixby said when he arrived on the scene, he saw that a mop, leaning against the house on a third floor porch, was on fire along with melting vinyl siding surrounding the mop.
The jet of water from the garden hose was not strong enough to reach the third floor fire. He kept spraying the surrounding area until police and emergency personnel arrived on the scene. “That’s not going to do much,” noted an arriving firefighter, as giant fire hoses and a tall extension ladder reaching up and over the three-story roof were soon pressed into action, Bixby recalled.
Angela Clinton (pictured above), who lives next door to the fire’s location, later compared notes with Bixby to discover that they had placed 911 calls within a minute of each other. Clinton said that she and Bixby will organize neighbors to get a fund raising effort underway.
West Battalion Chief Bruce Galaski.
Streets in the vicinity of the fire were blocked with police cars as fire units from two battalions began fighting the fire. West Battalion (Ellsworth Avenue) Chief Bruce H. Galaski said that the nearby Fountain Street fire station’s crew was already on a different fire call at the time of the Alden Avenue blaze.
Galaski said the fire probably started on the third floor. Investigators were still working to determine the cause of the fire. All three floors of the house (a legal four-family structure built in 1920, according to land records) sustained water damage; all occupants have been temporarily displaced. Galaski said that the Red Cross was on the scene but tenants and residents did not avail themselves of Red Cross assistance. (The precise number of displaced tenants was not available.)
Firefighters take a breather after extinguishing fire.
The fire, which made its way to the attic, required that firefighters open the ceiling. After the fire had been extinguished, the sky was visible from inside the structure’s roof. Galaski said that fast-acting firefighters used up to 15 tarps throughout the building, gathering belongings in a central location and then covering items to protect from water damage on each floor.
Hanifa Washington Photo
Scene during the fire, from across the street.
Fire damage to roof and third floor.
The fire, which was brought under control and soon extinguished, drew onlookers and concerned neighbors onto neighboring lawns, including the homeowner, who said he was glad that everyone had made it out of the house and all were safe. (He asked that his name not be published.)
Chief Galaski noted that it had been a busy Fourth of July weekend with several fireworks-related calls keeping fire units busy. For civilian firefighter Nate Bixby, whose call and quick thinking may have prevented more fire damage, it would also be a busy day of snuffing out fires, including the candles encircling his July 5th birthday cake.