Cincinnati firefighters rescued 10 people trapped on the third floor of a burning apartment building in West Price Hill Saturday morning.
Cincinnati District 2 Fire Chief Michael Washington said no one was injured in the rescue, which was performed by ground, ladder and aerial approach. Washington did say that five adults and three children were displaced because of the fire.
Overall, 52 firefighters and 14 companies were able to rescue those inside the building and suppress the 2-alarm fire in 30 minutes after responding to the scene around 5:30 a.m. Saturday. Firefighters remained on scene for two hours to work on hot spots.
“It is what we do. It goes with the job. It was an extraordinary effort and the guys did a bang-up job,” Washington said. “It is what they are trained to do. It is a good day when everyone can go home safe.”
Washington said that the cause of the fire in the 12-unit apartment building, located in the 3700 block of Westmont Drive, was unattended food left on the stove. The damage of the fire is currently estimated at $50,000. The building’s smoke detectors were operational.
Curt Isakson is a 35 year veteran of the fire service. Curt is currently a Battalion Chief for Escambia County Fire Rescue. Previously worked 9 years with the Pensacola Fire Department where he was assigned as the Company Officer on Rescue 31. Curt’s fire service experiences started at a young age as a Junior firefighter with the Midway Fire Protection District and rose through the ranks to Captain. He has worked in volunteer, career, and combination departments.
Curt has held all ranks up to Battalion Chief and been assigned to operations, training, inspections, and was Chief of Special Operations for 7 years. Curt owns and operates County Fire Tactics that covers a very diverse range of fire service topics, as well as Firefighter Rescues, a site that documents rescues made by firefighters around the country.
He has annual contracts with numerous departments to provide standardized monthly training for these departments that respond daily together under an automatic aid agreement. Curt teaches nationally to include; FDIC, Firehouse Expo, Firehouse World, Orlando Fire Conference, Atlanta Fire Conference, Bowling Green State University, and owns/operates the annual HROC, COBC, WOTF, CFT ODP on Pensacola Beach. He is a Florida Certified Fire Officer, Instructor, Inspector, Arson, and FLUSAR.
