Last Updated on March 2, 2017 by CCAR Staff
The fire commanders at the scene of the airplane crash Monday in Riverside had to make a decision: Did rescuers have a realistic chance of safely entering the home the plane hit and saving anyone as the flames burned fiercely?
Fire Chief Michael Moore said the flames initially were burning on the exterior of the house, so after a quick assessment, the answer was yes.
Two firefighters entered a front bedroom where there was “zero visibility,” Capt. Tyler Reynolds said. They used a thermal imaging system to detect body heat, but it was the moaning of a woman who was buried under debris that attracted firefighters’ attention, Reynolds said.
Two firefighters dug the woman out and handed her off through a window to colleagues.
A second woman who’d been thrown from the plane survived after bystanders helped her crawl out of the damaged home.
“We put our firefighters at risk and we put them in place because of saveable lives,” Reynolds said at a news conference Tuesday, Feb. 28. “They went in, they did what they were taught to do. … That is what you get from a fire department that is locked and loaded and ready to go.”
Firefighters received praise for saving lives and preventing the flames from wiping out the neighborhood.
“They helped minimize the property loss and more importantly than that, the loss of life … under very horrific circumstances,” City Councilman Mike Soubirous said at the news conference.
A statement from Riverside Municipal Airport, which first reported the crash, said: “We express our appreciation to the city of Riverside emergency response crews. Fire and police departments and also immense gratitude to neighborhood residents who volunteered assistance.”
Firefighters were well short of the amount of foam they needed to battle the fuel-fed fire – a situation Moore said he expects to be remedied next year.
He said each fire engine typically carries 10 gallons of foam to put out vehicle fires. Foam forms a blanket to seal off combustible vapors.
Firefighters had to run 5-gallon barrels of foam to the engine that was spreading the substance, Moore said. He estimated that firefighters had 40 gallons of foam when they needed 100.
But the Fire Department is purchasing a foam tender that can hold 2,000 gallons and is expected to arrive in 2018, Moore said. The approximate $500,000 cost will be covered by a grant. The city has to match 10 percent, Moore said.
