Dyess, Abilene Firefighters battle Commissary fire

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Richard Ebensberger
  • 7th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
DYESS AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  Dyess Fire Department with a mutual aid response from the City of Abilene Fire Department in Texas teamed up to extinguish a fire that broke out at the base commissary March 25.

The fire was reported at approximately 5:30 p.m. and was under control and extinguished by 6:30 p.m. About 30 Dyess firefighters and eight Abilene firefighters responded to the scene.

Alerted by the fire detection system and a 911 call from the occupants, firefighters were able to arrive on-scene in less than five minutes. All occupants of the building were evacuated safely and no injuries were reported.

Once on scene, Dyess firefighters conducted a preliminary search of the building, and discovered smoke coming from the roof.

"When we got on the roof, we discovered smoke coming from the northwest corner," said Bill Morris, Dyess AFB firefighter. "We started spraying water and vented the roof using a saw to gain access to the fire. The roofing material that we were attempting to cut through was complex; composed of corrugated steel and wood."

An additional crew was then sent inside to try and locate the fire.

"Once we got inside there was a large amount of smoke," said Randall Powell, Dyess AFB firefighter. "If it hadn't been for the quick response of guys on the roof, cutting holes and spraying water, we would have never found the fire. The only way we found the fire was because we saw the water, dripping down from the ceiling. We started popping ceiling tiles and that's when we discovered about 10 feet of fire running along the ceiling."

The Abilene Fire Department arrived within 10 minutes of being called and was part of the interior crew that attacked the fire from within and assisted with ventilating the roof.

Dyess maintains a mutual aid agreement with the Abilene Fire Department which allows them to assist each other during emergencies such as this.

"It was instrumental having assistance from the Abilene Fire Department," said Chief Master Sgt. Robert Stuart, Dyess AFB fire chief. "They responded with an engine company and a ladder truck; the ladder truck increases our safety factor in the event that we needed to get off the roof in a hurry and provides additional extinguishing capability had the fire progressed.

"Dyess and Abilene did an exceptional job, and together we saved a multi-million dollar structure that is integral to our base," Stuart added. "The firefighters went in and aggressively searched for and knocked down the fire and we had the best case scenario for a building that size. I'm very proud of them."

The cause of the fire has been determined to be accidental, due to ongoing construction project on the roof.