INDIANAPOLIS — Five Indianapolis firefighters are recovering after falling through an upstairs floor while putting out a house fire Tuesday night.
It's one of the many risks first responders face on any given day.
“We will risk a lot to save a lot,” said Fishers Fire Department Capt. John Mehling.
That’s the pledge every firefighter makes when they sign up for the job, and IFD crews risked it all Monday to put out a burning vacant home.
Five firefighters were sent to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries after they fell 10 feet inside the two-story home.
Mehling said it’s hard to hear about accidents like Monday's.
“Our thoughts go out to the families as much as those firefighters,” Mehling said.
Not only is the gear heavy, but Mehling said the window to extinguish a fire has decreased significantly over the years — and the fires are getting hotter.
“In today’s construction, a room and contents can be completely engulfed in flames in about three minutes. The house I grew up in was built in the 1950s, so you may have had 20 minutes to get out of the house because it was made of all natural products back then,” Mehling said.
They rely strongly on their training.
“When things go bad, they can go really bad. We realize this going in. That’s why we train so hard. We never want our training to fail us, so we are preparing for worst-case scenarios,” Mehling said.
Most importantly, they rely on each other.
“We depend very heavily on those with us on the trucks. That crew is our lifeline,” Mehling said.
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