SEE MORE >>

By Mike Ciampo

All Photos Courtesy of Wyckoff and Oakland (NJ) Fire Departments

With snow starting to drop in the early morning hours of Christmas Day, the Oakland (NJ) Fire Department was dispatched to a dwelling fire on Skyline Drive.

Units are familiar with this stretch of roadway, which has had its share of severe traffic accidents on its steep slopes and bends. Also, the last hydrant is towards the bottom of the roadway and often requires a tanker response or relay pumping for dwelling fires that occur at this location.

Arriving on-scene units encountered a chimney fire that had spread to the roof shingles and sheathing, exterior siding and was burning interior structural elements. A second alarm was sounded and Norcon (Northwest Bergen Mutual Aid Association’s radio communications) went into service. Neighboring towns of Franklin Lakes, Wyckoff, and Mahwah responded into the scene and a third alarm had units respond to cover empty firehouses.

With the fire extending to roof sheathing and around the chimney, units opened up the areas and extinguished the fire. Interior truck company operations required eight and 10-foot hooks to open up and expose the fire’s extension in the room’s cathedral ceiling. In addition, salvage operations were performed to reduce damage while multiple handlines were stretched to quickly extinguish the pockets of fires in multiple locations.

MICHAEL N. CIAMPO is a 32-year veteran of the fire service and a lieutenant in the Fire Department of New York. Previously, he served with the District of Columbia Fire Department. He has a bachelor’s degree in fire science from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. He is the lead instructor for the FDIC Truck Essentials H.O.T. program. He wrote the Ladders and Ventilation chapters for Fire Engineering’s Handbook for Firefighter I and II (Fire Engineering, 2009) and the Bread and Butter Portable Ladders DVD and is featured in “Training Minutes” truck company videos on www.FireEngineering.com.