Firefighter jumps into action when engine truck starts burning at fire station

PLYMOUTH, Mass. — Firefighters run into burning buildings all of the time. It's what makes their job so dangerous, but this week, a freak occurrence in Plymouth brought flames right to a fire department's doorstep.

It was the absolute last place firefighter Trevor Nadile expected to respond to a call.

"About right here we just started to smell it, then as soon as we started to see the inside of the bay, you could see it was just smoke all the way to the ground," said Plymouth Firefighter Trevor Nadile.

His crew had just returned from a medical call when alarms began going off. One of their trucks was burning from the inside.

"I mean, smoke is just coming out from underneath. First thing I did was just open the door and tried to see if the truck would even turn on," said Nadile.

Engine 5 did start and Nadile made the brave decision to try to move it while it was burning.

"The entire cab when I opened the door was full of smoke. I just kind of had to take a deep breath and just started it and jumped in and pulled it out. But, like I said, the last thing you want is for the fire station or the rest of the trucks to catch on fire," he said.

While he was busy getting the burning truck out of the firehouse, the other guys grabbed a fire extinguisher and hose and went to work. The irony is the hose is usually just to clean the fire trucks, but on that night it was used to extinguish one.

Friday, the wires inside Engine 5 are left charred and melted. Chief Ed Bradley says it was an electrical fire, just a freak occurrence, and said Trevor did the right thing by moving the truck.

"That was the right move. As it turned out, that was absolutely the right move," said Bradley. "I don't think there's any training on your fire truck burning up in your station. You've got to wing it."

Bradley says Engine 5 can be salvaged, but the damage is around $200,000. As for the guys in Station 5, there may never be another emergency closer than the one they had to deal with Monday night.

"Yeah, quick response on that one, to say the least," Nadile said laughing.

Cox Media Group