CHAMPAIGN — Champaign fire Chief Gary Ludwig couldn’t believe what he saw when he walked into the main station Thursday morning.
Firefighters who had helped put out blazes that destroyed two homes Wednesday were washing the equipment.
“I said, ‘Guys, go rest,’” said Ludwig, who heard them say in response, “We’re almost done.”
That scene buoyed Ludwig’s mood.
He had just come from Carle Foundation Hospital’s intensive-care unit, where he visited the firefighter who inhaled superheated air and smoke inside a house in the 300 block of Flora Drive on Wednesday afternoon after his protective oxygen mask got knocked off by a strong stream of water from a hose line.
“His prognosis is very good,” said Ludwig, who said he did not have the firefighter’s family’s permission to identify him.
What happened?
Ludwig said the injured firefighter, an approximately 20-year veteran who was acting as a lieutenant, was able to get out of the burning home.
While Ludwig and another firefighter accompanied him to the hospital, about two dozen firefighters swooped in to try to save the house.
It was about 2:25 p.m. when the firefighter who wound up getting injured moved in first, followed by his crew member, said the chief.
“I would suspect they were still on their knees. It was thick, black, chunky, gunky smoke. It’s not only noxious but toxic,” he said. “There are superheated gases and cyanide inside the smoke. All that is just a concern.”
He said there will be an investigation into how the firefighter’s mask became dislodged, but heavy smoke and low visibility may have played a role. And luckily, it happened before he got too far inside the structure.
“Sometimes we get zero visibility, so we open the hose to knock the gases and the heat,” said Ludwig, who was there watching the offensive attack.
The amount of smoke billowing from the small single-story house signaled to firefighters they had a massive fire.
“There was tremendous push (from the smoke), which tells you there is high heat,” he said. “A tremendous amount of fire is generated. The more fire, the more smoke, the more push behind it.”
Firefighters went through the front door into a living room headed for the kitchen, where the fire began.
Ludwig said sadly, the occupant’s dog, which perished in the fire, was likely the cause of the accidental tragedy.
“We believe the dog was trying to get to food on the stove while the occupant was gone and turned on one of the burners on the stove. It was a big dog,” Ludwig said.
Fire investigators reached that conclusion after seeing the burner in the on position and examining burn patterns and the depth of char in the kitchen, he said.
Investigators made a similar finding in April 2021 in a house fire on West Beardsley Avenue that killed a 25-year-old woman and her almost-2-year-old daughter.
The Flora Drive house, owned by Champaign-based Fast Track Realty LLC, was valued at $116,880, according to tax records. It was destroyed.
A cousin of occupant Jason Melchi set up a GoFundMe fundraiser within hours of the fire to enlist help for him.
“Jason went home at lunch, ate and played with Kojak, and then returned to work. A short time later, he received a call that his house was on fire,” the post read. “Rushing to the scene, the only thing on his mind was getting Kojak out safely. Sadly, Kojak parished (sic) where Jay wept over him outside. I can’t imagine grieving the loss of Kojak while also losing his home and everything in it.
“Jay has to start over completely. He was unable to salvage anything. He’s lost a lifetime’s worth of possessions, including his furniture, clothing, tools, and his home.”
Ludwig said there were 25 firefighters on scene dealing with the blaze, and after their colleague was removed, they had it out fairly quickly.
Round two
Then, shortly after 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, firefighters were called to a two-story house in the 1000 block of North Neil Street, just south of Beardsley Avenue and across the street to the east from Stratton Academy of the Arts.
Ludwig said that fire is also believed to have been accidentally started — by children playing with fireworks.
Initially, firefighters thought the fire was confined to the outside and could see only light smoke in a basement window well. It didn’t take long before fire that had apparently gotten into the walls of the house, with its “balloon” construction, made itself apparent.
The house, which property-tax records suggest was owner-occupied and valued at $67,080, is a total loss.
A woman, her three children and a dog living there all got out safely, said a relieved Ludwig. No firefighters were injured. They had a Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District bus on site to use as a warming station.
“Most balloon frames don’t survive a fire,” said Ludwig of that type of house built between 1860 and 1940. “They are built so that the support structures run from the ground floor all the way to the top. You can tell because the windows on the first and second floors are directly above each other.
“You have these void spaces,” he added. “If a fire gets in the first floor, it’s going to travel all the way up.”
Adding to the difficulty of fighting that kind of structural fire was a lack of water pressure, Ludwig said.
“It’s an old part of the city and they didn’t build water mains big back then,” he said, noting that the mains are only 4 inches in diameter in that area.
“We had to go and actually find other water mains, all the way to Beardsley and Hickory (about a half-block to the northeast) … and lay long supply lines to other engines,” said the chief, who went in with Battalion Chief John Hocking to rescue the dog.
The city’s emergency support services team provided help to the family while firefighters worked for hours to douse the fire.
“We finally shut down operations about 4 a.m. (Thursday.) It was a long, stubborn fire that we had to fight from the exterior because it was too dangerous to be inside,” he said. “The conditions became untenable early on in the fire.”
COVID-19 weary
Ludwig said his co-workers were sad but carrying on valiantly Thursday following the injury to their friend.
“I am so proud of these firefighters. They have been strained to begin with. We are short because of those out with COVID,” said the chief in reference to seven firefighters who have tested positive since the middle of last week. “I have firefighters pulling three or four (24-hour) shifts straight so this community can stay protected. Then they are dealing with the mental part of the fact that one of their brothers went down and they are worried about him.
“I can’t emphasize enough how proud I am of them and the work ethic they have to protect this community,” Ludwig said.