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THE FIRE LANE
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Fire Call Summary January 2012
The Turlock Fire Department responded to a total of 432 incidents during the month of January, which included a total of 301 emergency medical service calls. Turlock Fire responded to 15 motor vehicle accidents, and 18 commercial/ residential fire alarms. There were a total of 26 fire type calls classified as: three building fires, three vehicle fires, four unauthorized burnings, two cooking fires, eight vegetation and/or rubbish fires, one Dumpster fire, one excessive heat-scorch burn, one outside equipment fire, one authorized burning fire, one electrical fire, and one fire classified as "other."
The remaining incidents consisted of public assists, a carbon monoxide incident, assist to police, person in distress, smoke checks, gas leaks, power lines down, rescue, and smoke removal.
Noteworthy events in January included a vehicle fire due to a single vehicle accident on Hwy. 99 south of Fulkerth Road. Fire crews arrived on scene to find a fully involved pick-up pulling a 32-foot box trailer on fire up against the center divider. The vehicle occupants reported there was over 400 gallons of assorted fuels in the pick-up and trailer. This caused some canister explosions and a considerable amount of smoke and flames. Due to the location and fuels involved there were a total of 20 firefighters that responded: Turlock Fire Bat1, Engine 31, Engine 32, Engine 33, Engine 34, in addition mutual aid was needed from Turlock Rural and Keys Fire departments. The fire destroyed the pick-up and trailer leaving the family stranded, so Turlock Firefighters Local 2434 Random Acts of Kindness group assisted the family in their time of need along with the generosity of our local businesses. Wal-Mart donated car seats to the family to replace the ones lost in the fire and Applebee's, along with Turlock Firefighters, gave the family a warm place to stay and food to eat while they waited for someone to come pick them up. We would like to thank the community for coming together during a family's time of need.
Another noteworthy call was a major fire in a 5,400 square foot classroom building at Crowell School. Fire crews arrived on scene to find visible smoke and fire coming from the building which contained three classrooms and bathrooms. Fire crews were able to keep the fire contained to the building of origin (no exposure damage). The building sustained major fire damage at a total estimated loss of $1.6 million. Fire 1, Fire 3, Fire Marshal, Battalion 1, Engine 31, Engine 32, Engine 33, Engine 34, Truck 71, and several off duty personnel responded to the incident. Crowell School did a great job with evacuating approximately 900 students from the campus in a quick and controlled manner that assisted the Fire Department and allowed them to focus on fire operations. No injuries occurred to civilians or firefighters.

SAFETY TIP
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