Raleigh Fire Sparks More Urgency to Hire Firefighters in Winston-Salem

Crane collapse in Raleigh, NC during massive fire

Winston Salem Hiring At Least 20 Firefighters

Benjamin Powell, WFMY 7:47 PM. EDT March 17, 2017

The Winston-Salem FireDepartment wants to hire at least 20 more firefighters in the next month. (Photo: WFMY, WFMY)

WINSTON-SALEM, NC The Winston-Salem Fire Department is urgently looking to hire more firefighters.

Battalion Chief Darryl Sawyer says they want to make sure theyre prepared in case they face a situation like the Raleigh Fire Department faced on Thursday night when an apartment building still under construction caught fire.

It was the largest fire the city"s seen in 100 years.

RFD says the five-alarm fire damaged 10 buildings.

Sawyer says each fire department has its own guidelines for classifying fires.

in winston-salem, any time there is a a residential fire -- 28 personnel arrive on scene along with five engine companies, two truck companies, two battalion chiefs, a rescue unit, a safety officer, and EMS.

For a second alarm fire, two more engines are called in which gives them eight additional people.

But Sawyer says a five-alarm fire usually means one thing for all departments.

The five alarm fire pretty much means all hands on deck, as many people as we can get to rectify the situation, said Sawyer. That"s a pretty big fire.

It took more than 130 Raleigh firefighters to put the fire out on Thursday night.

To put that into perspective, at any given time, Greensboro has 151 firefighters on the clock.

Winston-Salem has 88 but now the city wants to hire more.

"We want to always make sure that we hire according to the population and the needs for our city, said Sabrina Stowe with the Winston-Salem Fire Department. We want to have them on staff and ready to go before anything happens."

The Winston-Salem Fire Department says the shortage is due to a lot of firefighters retiring or being promoted recently.

As a result, the department wants to hire at least 20 more firefighters in the next month!

But first, new employees have to undergo at least 6 months of training before they can officially suit up.

So if we face a situation like what happened in Raleigh -- fire officials say they"ll have to rely on our neighbors for help.

"In the event that we had a multiple alarm fire, we have mutual aid agreements with surrounding departments in the county, said Sawyer. They would backfill stations to respond to other calls while our units are on the scene extinguishing the fire."

175 people have already applied for those open positions.

If you are interested in being firefighter in Winston-Salem, you have until April 9th to apply.

To fill out an application, click here.

2017 WFMY-TV

Source: http://www.wfmynews2.com/news/local/raleigh-fire-sparks-more-urgency-to-hire-firefighters-in-winston-salem/423441752

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How did the Raleigh fire spread so quickly?

3/16/2017 Downtown Raleigh, NC Skyscraper engulfed in flames

Raleigh, N.C. Raleigh Fire Battalion Chief Kevin Coppage said all fires present a unique set of dangers. The main danger Thursday night during the historic fire in downtown Raleigh was how quickly it spread and progressed to a five-alarm.

The structure wasn"t complete, and the construction material appeared to be mostly wood. Coppage said that can be especially dangerous.

"It creates a challenge for us as firefighters," Coppage said. "It would add to the fire load in many aspects. Depending on if it"s under construction and if it"s covered with a sprinkler system. There"s a lot of different elements that contribute to how intense the flame would be."

Raleigh Fire Chief John McGrath said while the use of wood to build facilities has become a controversial topic, the structure was being built to code.

"That building itself, while it was under construction, had been inspected 50 times. They met all code, safety and building code requirements," he said.

when firefighters run into a burning structure, the unknown can be unnerving.

"A lot of time with buildings under construction, you don"t know what phase they are in," Coppage said. "A lot of it is unknown for us."

While McGrath said the building was to code, the fact that the building was wood made a significant difference in how fast the fire spread. Because sprinklers were not installed, it added a challenging element to the situation.

Source: http://www.wral.com/candace/16591027/

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Glenwood South open, but some restaurants forced to close in aftermath of Raleigh fire

Large fire damages buildings in Downtown Raleigh

Friday was St. Patricks Day and the second day of the NCAA Mens Basketball Tournament. UNC played its opening game at 4 p.m.

For many Triangle bars and restaurants, it was a high point of the year for business.

Glenwood South was expected to be booming as usual. But around the corner on Jones Street, just a block from the fire that forced restaurants to evacuate Thursday night, owners and managers struggled Friday with the decision of whether they could open.

Jones and West streets, which give drivers access to the restaurants, were closed most of Friday. And while pedestrians could park and walk around the yellow tape and barricades, owners and managers knew it might keep customers away. Plus, when a crane fell in the midst of the fire, it landed on phone and cable lines that left some places without a working phone.

People dont know were open, Brian Amra, one of the owners of Tobacco Road Sports Cafe at the corner of Jones and West street, said Friday afternoon. They cant call to see if were open. Theyre calling our other locations, thank G*d.

Thursday night, the restaurant evacuated about 200 people, closing abruptly. It opened an hour later than normal Friday to clean up from the night before.

Amra said that the bar area was beginning to fill up Friday afternoon but that it wasnt as packed as it normally would be.

Normally by 2:30, we stop seating, were packed, he said, referring to NCAA tournament time.

Across the street, the management team at 42nd Street Oyster Bar decided midday that it would open Friday night.

Today, weve been going back and forth, said Ryan Tyson, a manager at the restaurant. Can we open? Can people come and get to us? Parking is going to be a challenge.

There is parking in front of the restaurant, but another lot across the street is being used by police and firefighters.

Clouds Brewing, whose Jones Street building was the closest to the flames, was closed for lunch and hoped to open late afternoon.

If they open it up, well try to give it a run and see what happens, said general manager Andy Tetterton.

By 4:30 p.m., the restaurants Facebook page reported that it was open for business.

Tetterton described Thursday night as intense. He said he walked outside, saw the early stages of the fire, which he called an inferno, turned around and told customers and employees to go home.

All it took was one shift of wind, and we would have been right in the mess, he said.

More, a restaurant across the parking lot, joined with Clouds to feed first-responders but decided to close Friday night and expected to be closed Saturday.

Scott Phillips, executive chef for JMR Kitchens, which owns More, said he was going to shut down the kitchen for the weekend to be on the safe side. The restaurant is closed Sundays anyway.

If were closed for two days, its a weekend, he said. Everyone relies on Friday and Saturday to pay for the week.

But like others, Phillips and Tetterton said it was fortunate that no one was hurt and that their buildings were secure.

In the grand scheme of things, nobody got hurt. Everybody got out of here safe, Tetterton said. Thats more important than a few dollars. I think we got really lucky.

Source: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/wake-county/article139246788.html

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