Rescue51

3rd alarm structure: 1/22 in San Diego

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Yesterday at 68th and Amhurst, in the Rolando area of San Diego, two structures still in framing phase, went up in flames as a roofer's torch set off the fire.  The roofer tried to put out the fire the manual method (no water, no extinguisher) but was not successful, having to jump from the second story to ground to escape the flames.  A 3rd structure in framing stage, was saved by the firefighters. 

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I was wondering if San Diego has an automatic aid agreement with La Mesa or Heartland fire as La Mesa Station 11 was nearer to the fire then  the second and third engine companies from the San Diego fire department or was it strictly San Diego city fire units that were dispatched to the scene of the fire? I know that San Diego station 10 would normally be the first in station but this in regards to the second due companies.

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There were multiple heartland units on the fire and i'm pretty sure it was all auto aid. Truck 6 and Engine 6 from El Cajon were placed on the fire as part of the 3rd alarm along with many of the La Mesa units, even SMG E21 was placed on it.

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San Diego utilizes a "boundary drop" type automatic aid agreement to dispatch the closest resources regardless of jurisdiction. As stated above there were many auto aid units on this incident based on its close proximity to the eastern edge of the City.

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Yes, Heartland T11 (La Mesa) I saw performing aerial operations, and was the only "platform" I saw there.

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Thanks for the information. I'm glad to see that San Diego does have a border drop automatic aid agreement.. I know that fire departments in the Phoenix Arizona metro area operate like that.

 It's also interesting to know that there still is at least one fire department in the San DIego area that is using an elevating plaform. At one time San Diego did have 4 "Tower Ladders" that were built on LTI Aerial Ladders however they had gotten rid ot them I know that in the late 1990's around 1998/99 Truck 10 and Truck 28 were operating with Tower Ladders and Station's 41 and 43 each had a Tower Ladder that were "jump companies" which meant that if called for the Engine company crew would "jump" to the Tower Ladder and become the Tower Ladder crew. Before they were relocated to Station 41 and 43 one of them had been assigned to Truck 1 downtown and the 4th one had also been assigned as a regular Truck company.

  The last elevating platform that I know of on the San Diego fire deparment was Truck 14 which was using a red over white Pierce Snorkel which was in the old San DIego fire departrment color scheme. I understand that it was replaced by one of the newer Pierce rearmounted Aerials in the mid  2000's.

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Escondido, Vista, La Mesa, El Cajon, and Federal Fire all utilize aerial platforms.

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 It's  good to see that  at least some fire departments near San Diego still use Aerial Platforms. 

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Yes, I just posed in this fine forum a few weeks ago that I am surprised San Diego Fire-Rescue does not have in its fleet, at least a few aerial platforms.  Many years ago, Santee Fire Dept., had a platform built on an E-One Hurricane.  But now, that is dating me a bit.  Today Santee is running a recently purchased Pierce TDA (beautiful rig).  School bus colors out, traditional red back in. 

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