A Commercial Structure Fire
Eastbound Neighborhood Grill
The Pulsepoint notification on my phone woke me at 4:08 a.m. I had it set for fires, rescues, and CPRs. Somehow the Pulsepoint App pushed the notification before our station alerting went off (by about 20 seconds). I was out of my bunk quickly walking toward the apparatus bay when the familiar voice from our station alerting sounded for a full house response: “Battalion, Engine, Medic, Commercial Structure Fire.”
As the crew of Engine 2 (E2) gathered, got dressed, and got ready to roll, I clicked “Respond” on our dispatch computer (CAD) and confirmed the location of the incident. The CAD Incident Page identified the address, cross street, and the occupancy. It was the Eastbound Neighborhood Grill on Maine Avenue. We were the first due engine.
As a popular local establishment, we knew Eastbound well. For the last few years, they had built a solid clientele in the 100+ year old building on the north end of the historic Lakeside business district. Our union frequently had functions there.
Engine 2 was out of the fire station fast. With less than a mile to the scene, we were there in under two minutes! As we turned onto Maine Avenue from Mapleview Street, I was able to see the building. As we made the intersection at Laurel Street, I transmitted my size-up to dispatch: “Heartland and responding units, Engine 2 is on scene at the dispatched location, single story commercial restaurant with moderate smoke showing from the roof. Engine 2 is on a water supply and stretching a line for offensive fire attack.” Division 4103, who was right behind us, assumed “Maine IC.”
I instructed my firefighter to stretch an 1-3/4” attack line to the front door. I got out and quickly put on my SCBA. My engineer (driver/operator) immediately got us plugged-in to the hydrant on the corner. I grabbed the forcible entry irons and made my way to the entrance. Inexplicably, not only was the front door unlocked, it was wide open!
The open door definitely saved us valuable time. As we made our way inside the dark interior of the restaurant, we encountered a moderate smoke condition throughout with little heat in the front section. As we made our way toward the kitchen, the heat increased, and as we turned a corner, we found a well-established fire. In the relatively small area, we were able to rapidly darken down the visible fire with our hoseline. Outside, Maine IC had assigned Truck 4 to the roof to extinguish fire that had extended there through the kitchen ventilation system. As we worked to locate the fire, my crew from Medic 2 performed a primary search to confirm we had no occupants inside. It only took us a few minutes to get this fire under control.
With just a handful more minutes of delay in reporting or responding to this incident, we would likely have had a much different outcome. The building was well over 100 years old with a metal truss roof system. With a more advanced fire, we would not have committed firefighters to the interior. It would have been a defensive attack and we would have probably burned it to the ground. We were really stoked to have saved this business!
A fire in a bar/restaurant is a big deal. The owners have many hoops to jump through to get back up-and-running. The Lakeside community came together and helped them. Our union helped out too. It was several months before they had the doors open again.
A couple of notes:
The front door was unlocked/open because their normal beer delivery guy was at 7-11 nearby and came down and opened the door just before we arrived.
This was my (new) engineer’s very first structure fire AND he did a great job! In our After Action Review, we agreed that it would have been better to secure a hydrant supply further away from the building. If a defensive strategy were initiated, the hydrant literally in front of the building would have been a poor choice.
A first alarm assignment for a commercial structure fire in our operational area brought a total of 21 firefighters to the scene. Our agency was assisted by our automatic aid partners from Santee and Heartland (El Cajon) fire departments on this incident. Units attending this incident were: E1, E2, E3, E4, E8, T4, M2, and Div 4103.
When the business opened back up, they invited us to attend the Grand Re-Opening. The owners had commissioned a local artist to create a mural of the night of the fire. The mural remains in the restaurant.
