A Highland Park house fire that broke out just after midnight on Jan. 1 involved a mayday call and the assistance of local volunteers before being stifled.
Dispatches for emergency workers were sent at 12:04 a.m. for a 1-or-2 family dwelling in the 4500 block of Livingston Ave., and help arrived by 12:08 a.m.
According to an incident report, a structure fire that originated in a first floor chimney and spread through the walls and attic of the home prompted at least two Park Cities Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) members to help emergency personnel. CERT volunteers are trained by the University Park Fire Department and Highland Park DPS to safely and appropriately respond to emergencies.
David Hines of University Park and Tyler Good of Highland Park (who founded CERT) responded to the disaster New Years Day, volunteering to help first responders.
“David knew he could be of assistance,” Hines' wife, Anne, said. “[He] put his training to use voluntarily on New Year’s Eve because he was listening to his personal police scanner," she said of her husband, who has been volunteering with CERT for about a year and a half.
Hines, Good and the other 33 members of CERT are ready to aid in any incident, after going through a seven-week training course, skills tests and FEMA-sponsored certification.
Just looking for a good way to give back to the community through volunteering, Hines, who is an artist and sculptor by day, said he was interested in police and fire work because his grandfather was a volunteer fireman.
He was called by authorities in the past to assist with emergencies, the last time being "Icemaggeddon" that hit Dallas-Fort Worth in early December.
"This time, I just showed up and was there if need be," the 12-year Park Cities resident said. Turns out, he was indeed needed.
Once they arrived on the scene, both Hines and Good were asked to deliver water and Gatorade to the firefighters working to eliminate the flames, as well as “look for signs of firefighter dehydration and fatigue,” HP spokesman Sgt. Lance Koppa said.
Additionally, the two men were asked to block off a roadway with cones and flares in order to protect the public.
During the course of fighting the fire, a mayday call was issued by two firefighters within the structure. Koppa explained the situation in detail:
“In trying to exit the third floor, they became disoriented due to the dense, heavy smoke. Unable to orient themselves on the third floor they radioed a “mayday,” a procedure consistent with our firefighter training (A Mayday will alert the Incident Commander and all firefighters on scene of a “lost” or “trapped” firefighter). Upon hearing the mayday, two firefighters on the second floor responded to the third floor to assist. The firefighters who originated the Mayday were able to orient themselves after hearing a fellow firefighter call out to them from the third floor landing,” he said.
The two firefighters involved were successfully rescued without injury, the report said. The town’s last emergency unit left the scene at 5:39 a.m. on Jan. 1.
Koppa expressed the value of community emergency responders, calling them a “tremendous asset on any emergency where we ask for CERT assistance to the first responders on scene,” he said.
For more information about Park Cities CERT, click here.