SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. – Doireann Chesbrough, a civilian firefighter for the Vermont Air National Guard Fire Department, was sitting next to the radio in the dayroom of the station as the sun began to set over the Green Mountains on May 2.
Her colleague, Nathaniel Swasey, also a civilian firefighter for the Vermont Air National Guard Fire Department, was doing his nightly routine, preparing for bed on the second floor of the firehouse.
As the hands on the clock passed 10 p.m., a voice from the radio crackling, “VTANG Engine 7,” broke the silence of the evening.
Without a beat, Chesbrough stood up and ran to the fire truck, she said. As she made her way through the hallway, the voice echoed again through the halls, informing those on shift that the call was for a structure fire.
Swasey hustled downstairs to meet Chesbrough and Capt. Timothy Francis, the civilian shift captain, at the truck, he said.
After having been briefed about their roles earlier in the day, Chesbrough got into the driver’s seat of Engine 7 without hesitation, followed by Francis in the passenger seat and Swasey in the back.
Francis looked at his iPad and saw a note from the South Burlington Fire Department that the call was a confirmed fire.
While Engine 7 made its way down National Guard Avenue, the crew of three, still unsure of the scale of the fire, began building a brief plan on how they wanted to tackle the incident.
As the team crested the hill, past the Army National Guard armory, Chesbrough said they could see a glow in the distance. “It was a big fire and at that point, we knew we had our work cut out for us.”
The firefighters from the Vermont Air National Guard fire department provided the first fire truck on the scene, ensuring fast and effective control of the fire.
Once the crew arrived on the scene at 327 Lime Kiln Road, they parked the truck next to the nearest fire hydrant, Francis said. They saw an exterior fire on the corner of the building on floors three and four, and the fire was beginning to reach the roof.
After the crew exited the fire truck, they saw that residents of the building were evacuating, but not everyone was accounted for at that point.
“Since the apartments were [occupied by] primarily elderly individuals, I had a lot of families coming up to me asking where their loved ones were because we were the only ones on scene,” Chesbrough said.
She knew that she had to get water to the lines to help put out the fire, she said. The crew deployed their 2.5-inch handline, which is one of their larger lines. Swasey hauled the hose to the corner of the building while Chesbrough got the hydrant ready to connect to the hose.
Chesbrough pulled out her hydrant bag, which was full of multiple adapters to fit the hose onto the hydrant properly. Once connected, she flushed out the muddy and rusty water to ensure the hose would not clog up. Within a minute, she had the hydrant dressed and sent water to Swasey so quickly that they did not need to use the water on the truck.
Meanwhile, Francis went inside the building to look for anyone trapped.
“From what I could see through the windows, the apartments were still a livable space,” Francis said. “We relayed that information to the other stations, and I headed upstairs to do a quick search.”
Soon after Francis’ search, he met a South Burlington fire crew and did a more in-depth search of the building. As they headed to the third floor, Francis’ low air alarm went off because he had been in the building longer. He returned to the ground to swap out air tanks.
The crew learned that everyone in the building was accounted for when they completed the search.
When the Winooski Fire Department arrived, Chesbrough began supplying them with water. Once the Winooski tower truck began putting water on the fire, the Vermont Air National Guard fire crew began moving back.
The crew was then assigned to serve as the scene’s rapid intervention team, a safety team in case any firefighters became trapped or injured while inside the building.
The crew returned to the station about 3 a.m. The crew then cleaned and broke down their gear and hoses to prevent contaminants from entering the living quarters.
“We’re here to do our job,” Francis said. “It feels good to be able to do your job, and I am really proud of the guys and gals on the crew.”