Eau Claire (WQOW)-The heat becomes too much for an Eau Claire Firefighter who was battling flames Thursday evening.
Crews fought a house fire on Dodge Street in downtown Eau Claire. Everyone was able to make it out of the house safely. The battalion chief says the fire is believed to started on the second floor because of electrical problems. With temperatures nearing the triple digits, and the humidity extremely high, fire crews took extra precautions.
"On an average structure fire, we can actually send a crew in wearing one tank of air, which takes anywhere from 25-35 minutes to consume, we can usually have them come out and refill their air bottle, and within five minutes, get them back into the firefight. In this type of heat, we usually send them in with one bottle, and usually when they come out, they need to go to rehab after that. Their core temperature goes up too fast for them to keep doing the work with their gear on," says Battalion Chief Bryon Benson.
One firefighter was treated at the scene for heat exhaustion. The occupants of the home will have to stay somewhere else for the night.
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Eau Claire (WQOW)- The heat overcomes an Eau Claire firefighter who was working to put out a house fire in Eau Claire.
The fire broke out around 6:00 Thursday night. Crews on scene say they believe an electrical fire ignited the blaze, and that it started in the second floor of the home.
The firefighter was treated for heat exhaustion on scene and was not taken to the hospital.
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Eau Claire (WQOW)- Fire fighters are battling flames at a home on Dodge Street in Eau Claire.
A reporter on scene says there is significant damage to the home. It's unclear at this point whether anyone was home at the time the fire broke out.
Part of Main Street near the home is blocked off.
We will bring you more information as it becomes available both on-line and on air.
