OH YOU GOTTA CHECK THIS ONE OUT

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jeff Schwering on January 15, 2009 at 12:55pm

I agree Mike the KFB was something to see, as for the Brother that was in there, I think he may have used one of his 9 lives.

I'd be curious like Marques, if this place had a basement, it blew the house off the foundation. The structure definately looks sufficiently vented, but, I'd be curious to get more of the story. I had the pleasure once of popping a ceiling tile in a basement and getting met with alot of fire, due to all the cr@p build up in the dropped ceiling, but it didn't blow the house up. I'll try to find out more.

Jeff

Permalink Reply by Mike Walker on January 15, 2009 at 1:05pm

If you go to Statter911.com is also has an interview of the firefighter who was inside. After watching a few more times and listening to his interview, I'm changing my guess to the backdraft or other type of explosion started in the crawl space under the house.

Jeff Schwering said:

I agree Mike the KFB was something to see, as for the Brother that was in there, I think he may have used one of his 9 lives.

I'd be curious like Marques, if this place had a basement, it blew the house off the foundation. The structure definately looks sufficiently vented, but, I'd be curious to get more of the story. I had the pleasure once of popping a ceiling tile in a basement and getting met with alot of fire, due to all the cr@p build up in the dropped ceiling, but it didn't blow the house up. I'll try to find out more.

Jeff

Permalink Reply by Mike Walker on January 15, 2009 at 10:05pm

I can't help but doubt the backdraft theory on this too. The more I watch it, the more I wonder about a gas line under the house too. So I've changed my mind 3 times so far.... it's just part of the wonderfulness of me?

Permalink Reply by Adam on January 15, 2009 at 11:03pm

yea, my initial reaction was it had to be some sort of gas findin an ignition source........propane or nat gas. It would be interesting to find out more.

Permalink Reply by Rob Cannon on January 16, 2009 at 2:18am

Gauging by how it blew off the foundation, looks indicative of Natural Gas... remember Natural Gas has a specific gravity less than "1" so there could have been leak that had risen up from the basement. Than the rest is history... I went to an incident couple years ago where the was shifted off foundation from a leak being fixed at the street. WILD!

Pucker Factor, anyone?

Permalink Reply by Jim Mason on January 16, 2009 at 5:31pm

I'd be interested in finding out what the conditions were closer than the perspective of the police car. Normally a gas explosion will blow out the top of the highest floor that the gas can readily get to. If it's a sibgle family with the open staors the top floor will be blow out at the top of the wall studs and the roof will be knocked crooked. Prpoane would make it blow from the basement because it's heavier than air. I'm wondering if this area of the country uses propane as a heating gas.
The biggest learning would be to find the actual fatcors that could have been present to prevent this. It can;t be seen from the video angle. I've talked to Dave Sttater before and I;ll give him a call over the weekend and report back if I can find anything out. I'm glad the FF's weren;t hurt too bad. By the Way , I almost forgot. WOW!!! THAT WAS CLOSE!!!

Permalink Reply by Michael Bricault (ret) on January 18, 2009 at 1:27am

-Mike, I saw this on CNN a couple of days ago while we were making breakfast at the firehouse. The general consensus from all fourteen Brothers was WTF!!
-I'll bet it scared the hell out of the guys on scene.
-After the story aired I lost track of it and never heard an official cause or injury report. From the video it appears the FD was just arriving.
-Did someone pop a window or door or were they just lucky enough to be in the wrong place at the right time?
Complacency kills. Stay aware and Stay safe.

Permalink Reply by Mark Langston on February 6, 2009 at 11:01am

Jim,

So did you find out anything about the actual cause of the explosion? I think that you are right about the propane and it appears it is a rural dept. But it would be good to get a definitive answer.

Jim Mason said:

I'd be interested in finding out what the conditions were closer than the perspective of the police car. Normally a gas explosion will blow out the top of the highest floor that the gas can readily get to. If it's a sibgle family with the open staors the top floor will be blow out at the top of the wall studs and the roof will be knocked crooked. Prpoane would make it blow from the basement because it's heavier than air. I'm wondering if this area of the country uses propane as a heating gas.
The biggest learning would be to find the actual fatcors that could have been present to prevent this. It can;t be seen from the video angle. I've talked to Dave Sttater before and I;ll give him a call over the weekend and report back if I can find anything out. I'm glad the FF's weren;t hurt too bad. By the Way , I almost forgot. WOW!!! THAT WAS CLOSE!!!

Permalink Reply by Marty Mayes on February 10, 2009 at 4:02am

Wow!

Anyway, if you look close at the fire ball after the explosion, you will see a large object come up. It looks like a cylinder of some kind, venting fire. The sound it makes just prior to the explosion, mimics cylinder "pop" offs sounds. I learned this sound first hand at length. A gas refill station near my house went up one morning. For hours I heard that sound over and over as cylinders, numbering in the thousands blew. Anyway just my two cents worth. I look forward to hearing the established cause.

Marty