Tuesday, April 11, 2000
'Flames rolling over my head'
Firefighter recalls 'freak accident'
By Kristina Goetz
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS — The four firefighters descended the stairs of the vacant ranch home Sunday afternoon expecting to tackle one of the toughest kinds of fires — a basement blaze.
Their task during this exercise was to put out a fire set in some old furniture in the abandoned home, at 550 Johns Hill Road.
But this time, on the second day of practice, they could feel that the house was getting too hot. As they moved down the steps, they walked right into what firefighters call a rollover — a point when hot gases rise to the ceiling and ignite.
Frightening 30 seconds
As the four recovered Monday from burns, one spoke from his hospital bed about those frightening 30 seconds. Firefighter Brian Teismann said he remembers only parts of it.
“We went down the stairs to put out the fire, but something happened. Something ignited,” he said.
The firefighters headed back up the stairwell which, much like a chimney, was siphoning up the heat, smoke and flames.
As they crawled through the thick, dark smoke, Mr. Teismann's boot got stuck.
“On the scramble up the steps it got caught,” he said. “It all happened so fast.”
He pulled his foot out and kept going. That action meant he suffered second-degree burns on his left foot.
Mr. Teismann said it's tough to see in any fire.
“You don't see anything. You feel the heat,” he said.
For a moment, though, he did.
“I could see flames rolling over my head,” he said.
Observers said three of them escaped through a window and one rushed out the front door.
Recovering at hospital
All four firefighters are being treated at University Hospital.
Dan Thomas, 24, a firefighter with the Wilder Fire Department, suffered hand and arm burns. He was listed in good condition Monday.
Jim McCulley, 24, a volunteer firefighter with the Highland Heights station of Central Campbell, suffered severe burns to his back, arms and hands. He was listed in fair condition.
Gavin Ellis, 24, a volunteer with the Highland Heights station, suffered burns to his hands and arms. He was listed in good condition.
Mr. Teismann, 22, a firefighter with the Cold Spring station of the Central Campbell Fire Department, suffered severe burns to his left foot. He was listed in fair condition.
Mr. Teismann said no one is to blame for the accident.
Training becomes real
Fire officials are calling the training exercise an accident. The training exercises are realistic situations and necessary to simulate the heat of a real fire.
“We actually use stuff that's really in a house, so a training fire becomes a real fire rapidly,” said Ron Schneider, assistant chief for the Central Campbell County Fire Department.
“There's nothing these people did wrong,” Mr. Schneider said. “It was a freak accident.”
Temperatures in a rollover can reach 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The temperature in the house, next to the Northern Kentucky University campus, hit at least 400 degrees, Mr. Schneider said.
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