Technology aids Dover fire crews
First arriving crews knock down Gulf Road garage blaze
![A fire at a single family residence off Gulf Road in Dover damaged a finished second floor of a garage and caused smoke damage to the second floor of the house Monday evening. Firefighters used technology showing hydrant locations to quickly determine their water source needs. [John Huff/Fosters.com]](/gcdn/authoring/2019/04/23/NFDD/ghows-FD-87374195-d467-0a78-e053-0100007f5aab-83b63483.jpeg?width=660&height=440&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
DOVER — As firefighters left the station racing toward a Gulf Road residential garage fire Monday, they made their attack plan with the help of computer tablets inside the engines.
Dover firefighters had already been using the tablets for basic call information that includes a map of where they are heading. Within the past year, fire officials have been adding information into the tablets that let them know the location of every fire hydrant the city and which hydrants are 2,500 feet or less from a particular property, said Assistant Chief Paul Haas.
The tablet also shows, as in the case of the fire in the finished garage at 262 Gulf Road owned by Charles Reed and Deborah Dube Reed, when a home is out of the water district and out of range of fire hydrants. The crews in the engines verified on radio en-route to ensure they were all on the same page.
The first arriving firefighters drove right up to the house and started attacking the fire with the water from their engine, along with a ladder truck. The third company set-up at the bottom of the long driveway and stretched their water supply lines to the house, which was done to plan for “the worst-case scenario,” Haas said. They set up at the bottom of the driveway for easier deployment of a drop tank, a container filled by water tanker trucks that was used as a portable hydrant. If the fire had spread, tankers would take turns filling up at a hydrant and adding the water into the tank, creating a tanker shuttle.
But the worst-case scenario didn’t happen, and the first crews substantially knocked down the fire that was reported at 4:11 p.m. Monday afternoon. By 4:47, the first alarm fire that brought in off duty firefighters and crews from surrounding towns was declared under control. By about 6 p.m., all crews had left.
Haas said there was no one injured in the fire that was contained to the finished garage. He said the door on the second floor of the garage was closed and was “instrumental in limiting smoke and fire damage to the rest of the house,” Haas said.
The fire investigation report was still being finished. As of Tuesday afternoon, the cause of the fire was listed as “undetermined” and not suspicious, Haas said.
