UPDATE - June 24, 2025 at 2:04 PM: 7-Eleven has reopened.
Montgomery County police and Fire and Rescue Services personnel responded in great numbers to the 7-Eleven store at 7820 Wisconsin Avenue in downtown Bethesda shortly before 10:30 PM tonight. Firefighters put ladders up to the roof of the convenience store, and unrolled a hose at the rear service door. They also carried a ladder into the rear of the store.
Police officers directed traffic on Wisconsin Avenue, where fire equipment blocked travel lanes. After about twenty minutes inside the building, personnel packed up and began leaving the scene. MCFRS has not yet made a public comment on the incident. This story will be updated as additional information becomes available.
Minor HVAC issue. Scene turned over to building maintenance contractor.
ReplyDeleteI swear to God it's always something in this unincorporated town.
ReplyDeletePearl clutcher.
Delete"responded in great numbers to the 7-Eleven store" That's an understatement!
ReplyDeleteFalse alarm. Shucks.
ReplyDeleteTrue enough, @9:03. If you parse things finely enough, you'll find an infinitely of events taking place every moment of the day and night. It's called "life," and really nothing that requires swearing to God about.
ReplyDeleteCan you get an Amen for that? Not from 9:03.
DeleteWhat does Bethesda's incorporation status have to do the the county-dispatched fire and rescue services alerting a standard first-alarm contingent of apparatus --five engines, (the "smaller" rectangular things that carry hose and water); two aerial ladders or "towers"; a rescue squad, the giant toolbox on wheels; an ambulance, and chiefs-- for what was called in to 911 as a reported building fire, 9:03? I don't see the problem. Would you prefer only a couple of first-responders be sent, to possibly discover --"Oh! There's a real fire, with flames and everything. We're gonna need a bigger response," which would take additional time to get there, obviously.
ReplyDeleteBy having the same, standard, response to *every* reported building fire, firefighters know exactly what is expected of them. It may look like chaos amidst the discotheque of flashing lights and seemingly haphazardly parked apparatus, but it's actually choreographed, and done so with the above five engine, two truck, squad response.
First-due engine lays out hose from a hydrant and drives to the fire bldg, ideally to the front, leaving room for the first aerial to get in, too.
Second-due engine connects to the hydrant, drawing water into its system, then increases the pressure and discharges it down that hose it has connected from the first arriving engine.
Third-due does the same as first, on the opposite side of the bldg; fourth mimics 2nd, but supplying the third engine.
Last-arriving engine plays backup for the water supplies, making sure there are no problems.
For the ladder/aerial devices, first-arriving truck goes to the front of the building and deals with forcible entry, (cutting security bars, prying open doors, etc if needed), getting ladders in place preemptively, in case firefighters need to get out. They also deal with ventilation, and assist w/engine crews in search; the second truck/aerial does the same thing from the opposite side of the bldg. Rescue squad crews conduct systematic interior searches, independent of the engine hose-line teams. they control utilities --making sure gas and electric are cut off, so a bad situation doesn't get even worse, and they make themselves available for any additional tasks required by the incident commander.
Oh - how does anyone know who's first, who's second? Every such call is in a planned [alarm] "box area," which has all this tuff pre-planned. Each vehicle's officer reads the information from the computer screen as they're en route, so they know, "Okay, I'm third-due, that means I've got to do 'X'" They also talk to each other via radio, so if one apparatus is unable to get there, or has arrived earlier than others, they can juggle the running order of who does what. Inside baseball, I know. But rather than poo-poo all the men & women who were sent for the reported building fire, know they were *all* sent for a reason; efficiency of operation in case it *had* been an actual, flames-from-the-roof conflagration. It's a lot better to show up with too many hands and send some home than it is to arrive with too few, and have a scene deteriorate while you're waiting for adequate resources to join you.
Did they send out the whole station equipment?
DeleteThanks for all that info, 12:01
ReplyDelete