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Epic Firefighter Fail – Watch What Happens When Water Is Flowed on a Transformer Fire.

Posted On 21 Jul 2013
By : David J Soler
Comments: 4
Tag: Electrical fire, Firefighter Epic Fail, firefighterToolbox.com, Transformer Fire

Epic Firefighter Fail. Let’s learn from this and/or be reminded.

What happens when you set-up a hose line and flow water onto a transformer/electrical pole fire?

This is obviously something we should never do. Since, someone has done it (amazing) and through the power of Youtube,
we get to actually “see” why we should never flow water on an electrical transformer/wires fire and
what would happen if we did.

See the video at 00:27 seconds.

What should we do?

1- Radio to dispatch to call the utilities company and set the proper priority level and request any additional resources needed.
(additional resources: police for crowd control and closing streets, additional fire personnel and equipment, etc.)

2- Clear the area of any bystanders and set-up a safe perimeter

3- The perimeter needs to be in a circle around the incident and large enough that if the wires detached or the pole falls
it will not endanger anyone.

4- Be prepared with dry chemical extinguishers and maybe a special unit that has the proper amount needed.

5- Await the utilities company to shut off the electricity to that pole/wires/transformer.

6- Once all electric power is off and if the fire is still burning, you can extinguish it as normal procedures
based on the class of fire determined at that time.
-Is it just wires burning?
-Is it the pole? tress? exposures? fuel?

7- Once the incident is mitigated and the area is safe, the scene can be turned over to the utility company for proper repair.

Did I miss anything? Can you add some additional insights? Please share with us in the comments below.

About the Author
David is the founder of Firefighter Toolbox, the author of Firefighter Preplan - The Ulitmate Guidebook for Thriving as a Firefighter and the Host of the iTunes Top Rated Firefighter Toolbox Podcast. He has over 23 years of fire service experience and is known for training and encouraging up and coming firefighters and officers.
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4 Comments

  1. Tree July 21, 2013 at 2:54 pm

    Saw a transformer fire in the midwest quite a few years ago. After the utility killed the power, a firefighter took a booster line up in a utility truck bucket for the purpose of cooling the transformer – not putting the fire out. The oil was so hot that it would self ignite even after the it was extinguished with dry chem. Important note: Do not get water into the transformer…

  2. David J Soler July 21, 2013 at 3:06 pm

    Thanks Larry for commenting.

  3. Brian M. Wilson May 25, 2014 at 12:14 am

    Make sure all lives stay out from under all power lines feeding buildings from transformer, if they break the weight of the line can seriously hurt or kill you!

  4. Pete Wilkinson November 24, 2014 at 5:26 pm

    Used 2-10′ pcs of 3/4 pvc pipe and an ABC extinguisher and put them out before

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