FOX: A fire and explosion at a hash oil manufacturer in the Toy District of downtown Los Angeles on Saturday evening left at least 11 firefighters injured, according to the city’s Fire Department.
The firefighters had gone inside a building and climbed onto the roof, trying to knock down the blaze — but had to run for their lives when a ball of flames shot out and scorched a fire truck parked across the street.
All 11 responders suffered burn injuries and were taken to a hospital, three of them in critical condition, according to Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. Erik Scott. All of the firefighters are expected to survive, he added.
Some of the fleeing firefighters were on fire and tore off their protective equipment and left it on the sidewalk, along with melted helmets, Scott said. more
I got chased out of a house by a flashover before, it isn’t pretty even on the residental level. It’s like the whole front of your body being violently shoved by the huge hand of satan himself. Even a glancing blow hurts for days just from the muscle strain, let alone the burns if you turnouts and Nomex didn’t catch it all.
It’s not just the searing heat, its the overpressure that’s involved, both of these things can kill, not to mention the destruction that it drags down on you from the ancillary damage it does.
In a factory, with the loads and chemcials that may be involved in things like injection molding, it was likely much, much WORSE.
You see, you get a buildup of flammable gases inside a structure if you don’t have it ventilated quickly enough, but such things ONLY fire, or “Flash”, in certain quantities and at certain temperatures, and then ONLY if sufficient oxygen is availabe. They’re just hanging around there, being flammible,over a raging inferno, just waiting for whatever part of that equasion is missing…then they getcha.
The crew on the roof was likely a vetilation crew for just that purpose. I was a skinny little drink of water when I was in, and so I was picked for roof rat a lot of times. This involves, on a smaller scale, taking a large, gasoline powered circular saw, known as a K-saw in your turnouts and SCBA, and walking on a bubbling roof to the REALLY wobbly part of it just over the fire, FOR THE PURPOSES OF CUTTING A HOLE DIRECTLY OVER THE FIRE. Some agencies use a chain saw, but it comes to the same thing. This is not fun, but if you put it anywhere else, you’re going to lead the fire to follow the ventilation into OTHER parts of the structure and make things way, way WORSE, so that’s where it goes. You have a couple of buddies standing by with some roof rakes and pike poles, to both manage the part your cutting out and to try to hook you back if you misjudge the damaged area, but you’re ALL standing ON TOP OF A FIRE, with smoke finding its way all around you and the tar melting and making your feet stick to the roof in places. It’s also a bit like walking across the floor of a bounce house where the structure is fire-weakened, except you take a wrong step on that wobbly, bubbly structure you DEFINITELY are NOT going to BOUNCE.
If you get the first hole cut, you’ll get a pretty good billow of whatever’s in the trapped space, maybe fire, maybe not. Depends on the secondary ceiling inside, which is where the pike poles come in. If you’re on a pike pole, YOU get to walk across this stickly, flame-shot smoky mess to the EDGE of the newly cut hole and poke your pole DOWN INTO IT, for the purposes of busting the ceiling out so MORE fire and smoke can leap into your face like a vengeful god of hellfire.
If you do this properly, you save TONS of risk to the rest of the structure by venting these dangerous, flammable gases out before they can become explosive, VASTLY improve visibilty INSIDE the structure for interior operations including search and rescue, AND direct the fire UPWARDS towards the vent hole, reducing its spread and making it easier to contain. It’s a powerful plus, but not without risks.
Like THESE men have shown.
They deserve our prayers.
Dear Lord, please help these firefighter in their hour of need. Please salve their burns, numb their bodies, preserve the physical and mental abilities that You gave them even as You, as their Ultimate Physician, guide the hands of their healers to bind their wounds with the knowledge that You provide them to give these firefighters full and complete healing. They have much that is bad before them, with long suffering, drawing up of burnt flesh, and very painful debrieding, but You can limit their pain and direct their healing even as You protect them from the VERY high risk of infection in our sin-stained world where infection entered with death because of the actions of Man, and will not leave until Jesus comes back, and so it is a present danger, particuarly with the skin barrier that You gave us damaged.
Also Lord, bless those that treated them for it is very traumatic to the mind to have wounded comarades that one has supped with, joked with, maybe even made plans with for that evening. to see them in pain and suffering and in the shadow of Death, and put all that aside so you can treat them effectively with the skills the Lord gave you, and deal with the full knowledge that they may be you on the stretcher next time. These people also need your touch, for they too are suffering this day in the mind, if not in the body. This is why fire departments have chaplains, but also why firefighers and their chaplains have You Lord.
And too, comfort their families in thier hour of need, espeically in this Democrat corrupted world we live in today where they likely can do no more than sit in a parking lot and await news of their critically injured loved one, not even able to see them or touch them or pray with them or comfort them, or maybe even hear their last words. We pray that this is not the last time they will see their loved ones, but please Lord help those families deal with they mental, emotional, and finanical burdens that having their lives turned upside-down in a flash of fire as their loved ones served others have imparted.
And we ask it all in the precious name of Jesus,
Amen
Psalms 107:20
“He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.”
God Bless,
SNS
I wonder if the shutdown, and subsequent lack of activities in the business, had anything to do with this?
(i.e. was there something that would normally have been noticed by workers and taken care of that was not because there were no workers to notice it that led to this?)
“A Hash Oil Factory in the Toy District”
Just gonna leave that right there….
Reporters witnessed firefighters being swarmed by mobs of “juveniles” who defied Gov Newsome’s mandatory lock down, in search of a contact high.
Nancy Pelosi invited the future voters to her house, where she served them scoops of gourmet ice cream.
Reporters witnessed firefighters being swarmed by mobs of “juveniles” who defied Gov Newsome’s mandatory lock down, in search of a contact high.
Failing to mention the injured firefighters, Nancy Pelosi invited the future voters to her house, where she served them scoops of gourmet ice cream.
SNS, that is a lovely prayer offered up for those fire fighters. Well spoken.
“You can imagine the amount of emotional stress,” he said.”
…no, you kind of CAN’T, unless you’ve been in a situation like that, on a fireground, in a LEO standoff, or perhaps in the military, where brothers have been shot and it’s YOUR turn to step into the breach they were shot in.
LA’s a HUGE department, but not so huge they don’t know each other. You NEED to, to develop level of trust, to have each other’s backs, to be able to live to the end of your shift. They’ve shared meals, been to each other’s houses, picniced with each other’s families, and know each other in a way that typically doesn’t exist outside of military or paramilitary organizations. They’ve traded gripes and fears, hopes and dreams, and shared stories with each other that may not even be understood by their nearest and dearest, not even their spouses, because it’s not possible to understand some of the dangers and the horrors unless you’ve lived them.
My wife knows me better than anyone. When we were dating, she used to listen to my voice on the County band scanner on my Squad shifts. I’ve told her all my GOOD “top level” stories so many times she can recite them.
But there are SOME she’s never heard. Sometimes because they wouldn’t make sense to her because she’s never lived that life. Sometimes because she wouldn’t understand the way hard choices have to be made in a big hurry to save lives, “The Greatest Good for the Greatest Number” sort of thing. Sometimes because she couldn’t grasp the bonds of brotherhood shared dangers impart, or that those bonds are nonsexual even when an opposite sex partner is involved.
And sometimes, just because there are things I’ve had to deal with that I’m unwilling to drag into the light of day because they are just that awful.
And in the LA situation, these people just discovered how hot, how explosive, how flammable and how clinging hashish oil can be. Perhaps it has napalm characteristics because the oil soaks into standard TOGS and burns and burns. Turnouts obviously have a certain resistance but it’s not infinite, and believe me that satan’s fingers will find every flaw in that garment and every fastener you missed, and can even melt your SCBA mask staps into your face in the right circumstances.
These people in reserve, then, just saw 11 brothers carried out in pain and agony from a situation their training and equipping was insufficient to the hazard, and would be very concerened for them from plain empathy, if nothing else. “There but for the Grace of God go I” kind of stuff.
Meanwhile, the fire’s STILL THERE. Oh BOY, is it still there. Bigger and badder than EVER.
…but now, it’s YOUR turn.
Put DOWN your worries for your brothers.
Put DOWN your fears for yourself.
Put DOWN the knowledge of what you’ve just seen.
Into the breach you go.
Someone’s got to.
And it’s YOUR turn…
…It seems like a defensive stance, “Surround and Drown” would have been approprate and probaly was until they could organize another aggressive interior, but it would be tough to justify even under the circumstances leaving high-hazard intoxicants to burn and possibly explode some more if it’s at all within your power to stop it. That’s a judgement call by the Incident Commander and we don’t know enough to second guess him here. That fellow probably will have nightmares and inquests and nightmare inquest for a long time to come, so pray for him, too.
And God Bless those that put down their self-preservation instinct and went back in, while their friends were still in transit to the hospital.
Someone had to.
And they did.
“Many of those who remained at the scene — unaware of the seriousness of their colleagues’ injuries — were traumatized by what had transpired, Los Angeles Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas said.
“You can imagine the amount of emotional stress,” he said”
…perhaps HE can, if he came through the ranks, but most OTHER readers would NOT.
…I know I’m not finding the words here to convey what this is like. Me trying to describe the stakes I lived and you didn’t to you is giving me empathy towards other readers here like @Bad_Brad or @An ol ex jarhead who have tried to impart things they lived in THEIR brotherhood to ME. I didn’t live that life, they DID, and it’s very hard to understand even a GOOD description of the different roots of that same fear we all have to swallow for different reasons for the greater good.
But we can try.
As humans, all we can do us try our best. Someone may understand, perhaps even be inspired to take those risks themselves.
For the sake of us ALL, someone NEEDS to be the one.
God Bless those people in their hour of need.
SNS
The LA Mayor tweeted that he has the firefighters in his “thoughts.” What a dick bag! 🖕💩🖕
Jerry Manderin MAY 17, 2020 AT 9:26 AM
“The LA Mayor tweeted that he has the firefighters in his “thoughts.” What a dick bag!”
…prayers would be pointless for him because I doubt that God would hear him…not out of spite, just doing unto the Mayor as the Mayor has done unto Him…
SNS,
I think it is very brave of you to share what you have in this thread. But, I believe that bravery is part of who you are. This isn’t just meant as a compliment, but as an observation from your writing in general, whether about this topic or your deep faith. You know what really matters in this life.
As a personal aside, many decades ago, when I was in my 20’s I did some first aid training with a friend who also trained and worked with the fire department. He had times he needed victims for testing, and I was privileged to be invited to those events as a victim, where I learned more than the actual first aid classes. “Well, you just paralyzed her for life when you pulled her from under the car without checking to see if her back was broken.” I can remember my friend chastising a fireman one time. As the recap of the training sessions was a group sharing event, I heard a few stories, one which I have never repeated, which you articulated so well. Some things are just too horrific to even think of sharing.
I have forever been grateful that there are brave people in this world who do what I could never do, go where I could never go, and then do it all again.
My deep prayers are with these firefighters this morning.
I hope as much as possible that they all get as healthy as can be.
Of all the pain I have ever had, a significant burn was the worst.
Sounds like a bleve. Boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion.
Some refiners use butane to extract oils from cannabis. An overheated butane storage tank could be the cause of the explosion.
Saw something like that at the Sofa Super store in Charleston SC. The store was an old grocery store & the front of it was glass, someone decided to vent the smoke by knocking the giant windows out.In seconds the whole place exploded, lifted the roof up & dropped it on 9 firemen killing all of them. There was plenty of miscommunication that night.
Who detonated the explosion ?
Who ignited Notre Dame de Paris ?
What was the religious affiliation ?
The USA msm will never tell you.
Neither will the EU media.
flip
MAY 17, 2020 AT 10:52 AM
“Sounds like a bleve. Boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion.”
…that’s not an unreasonable explaination, except for what the Chief reports he saw.
“Los Angeles Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas said one of the firefighters inside the building thought things didn’t seem right — the pressure from the smoke and heat coming from the rear of the building were increasing.”
…that’s why I’m thinking it flashed, with the flame front pushing gases and rapidly increasing pressure behind it. A BLEVE is fully contained until it isn’t all at once, and would probably be a bit more explosive and not as likely to produce a humanly observable increase in ejection from the structure and give time to recall interior attack teams as he did before the incident.
Here’s a shaky cam of one,
https://youtu.be/BUJPvoped2M
And a professionaly shot one.
https://youtu.be/HcBXRj1gXFw
As you can see, there’s no reaction time, no one looks alarmed, it just blows up and there you are.
When I’ve been flashed, you have an “Oh, Shit” moment when you feel the storm gathering, generally some suction from below and rapid heat changes above. You get burned ears this way, but I leaned to leave some ear out of my Nomex hood so I could feel the envrionment with no real risk other than an unsightly blister, because in a fire getting ready to flash, you can’t see ANYTHING.
…a cute little BLEVE I saw that nonetheless shows the power of it was a call we got to a stove explosion. No one was cooking anything, just BAM and a corona of burn marks around a metal disk and a bunch of oil.
What happened was answered by the neat round hole in the ceiling.
Seems someone put a can of PAM or some such on the stove, thinking since the stove was OFF, it’s all good. Well, it was a GAS stove and the pilot light was NOT off, and the can was unknowingly centered on it.
As you noted, because of an earlier Demipanic about Freon, propane became a popular propellant.
…so it sat, and boiled, and sat, and boiled, and sat and boiled some more until it BLEVEd, unseaming the can neatly along the bottom seam and launching it like a missile into the attic, much to the surprise of everyone in the house.
Now put that in a steel tank with thousands of gallons of flammable liquid, and you can take out a neighborhood.
…so that’s a BLEVE, and I don’t think THIS was one, but I could be wrong. Well informed guess on your part either way, not too many folks even know that term.
Boiling butane to extract canabis oil could result in an explosion? Who knew? So, turning the left’s “logic” back on them, “if it saves just one life”…we must ban marijuana. OK with me.
Bob
MAY 17, 2020 AT 10:52 AM
“Saw something like that at the Sofa Super store in Charleston SC. The store was an old grocery store & the front of it was glass, someone decided to vent the smoke by knocking the giant windows out.”
…that’s a backdraft, and why they tell you to feel doors and NOT open them, and also why we cut the hole ABOVE it for ventilation. Fire didn’t have enough air to burn, then someone gives it air and it bursts into flame. Very dangerous too, but since they had fire showing the whole time in LA, probably not the same mechanism.
Graceia
MAY 17, 2020 AT 10:42 AM
…thank you, but you are too kind. Back in the day I was just a dork who thought flashing lights on his car looked cool, that chicks dig uniforms, and was too dumb to run so the Lord I didn’t even know stepped in, sighed, and saved me time and again from situations that were probably hotter than I should have been in.
Now, I just do as He says to honor His salvation in this, and in all things. Anything good is Him, not me. It took me a long time to recognize His hand, but now all I can say is to Him be the glory.
And thank you for praying for these firefighters. The Lord will honor that.
Bravery is a gift of the Lord too, and He metes it out so some may do the service of others. You see it even more in LEOs and in military, at least the fire isn’t specifically TRYING to kill me.
…although that DID happen a time or two as well, criminals don’t always differentiate between uniforms and crazy people just don’t care, but that’s a different story for another day…
God Bless,
SNS