Car bursts into flames after crash

Thu, 12/06/2007 - 9:14pm
By: The Citizen

Firey crash at 54/74

No one was seriously injured when these two cars collided at the intersection of Ga. highways 54 and 74 Thursday night, fire officials said.

One of the cars burst into flames, which shot through the hood along the windshield. In less than a minute crews had the flames under control.

The intersection is one of the worst in the city in terms of the number of motor vehicle crashes.

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Submitted by darcy on Fri, 12/07/2007 - 10:43am.

I had just finished eating at Carrabbas when I saw the accident, and it took way longer than a minute for the flames to be extinguished....

Submitted by scems134 on Fri, 12/07/2007 - 12:24pm.

You do realize there is a difference between extinguished and under control right?

Submitted by darcy on Fri, 12/07/2007 - 2:10pm.

Awww, it must be because I'm new...thanks for the attention!

You're nit-picky about words! Enjoyable life you must live. Excuse my mis-reading of the article.

P.s. If "under control" means flames bursting from the vehicle with plenty of onlookers standing way too close, then yep, I guess it was under control. By the way, where is the "rolls eyes" emoticon?

Submitted by ff8279 on Sun, 12/09/2007 - 8:40am.

Darcy please allow me to excuse your ignorance on the subject. As one of the members there, and a professional fireman for 8 yrs I see I am going to have to educate you. Number one priority is to ensure that the life hazard is removed. This is done getting all of the victim out and away from the burning vehicles. The patients had already self extricated, that means they got out, so the immediate life hazard had already been handled. Next is property conservation, which in the case of car fires they are virtually always totaled out. So, now we come to our own safety, the firefighters. The lines were pulled immediately on arrival. The only way to deploy them faster would be to do it while driving down the road. Then with only two personnel on the Engine, where most departments have three or four, the fire was brought under control and extinguished in a timely manner. So when you are ignorant on a subject keep your mouth shut unless you are asking a question. Thank you.

Submitted by darcy on Tue, 12/11/2007 - 11:40pm.

welcome to peachtree city!

SpinDr's picture
Submitted by SpinDr on Sun, 12/09/2007 - 9:13pm.

To see one of PTC's great firemen correspond with another blogger here in such a crass manner is a great dissappointment. Despite Darcy being inaccurate in their description of what happened, ff8279 lowered himself by berating Darcy in a manner similar to what one would expect from one of PTC's police officers when pulling over an unsuspecting driver.

Next time someone presents an inaccurate case, attack the case and not the author. You may be right, but how you presented it was WRONG!


Submitted by Carolina76Girl on Mon, 12/10/2007 - 10:11am.

Wow Spin... jumping in a little hard on the guy.

ff8279 waited until darcy spoke ignorance twice. As a homeowner in FC, I appreciate the fact that he explained the terminology. Granted, darcy could blame ignorance on the media for the term under control...but the rolling eyes, and lack of emoticons led to the fireman response.
When you're trying to save lives, and the city would rather brick sidewalks than give safety equipment, understandably, you want to set someone straight.
I don't agree with Spin. I thought you were defending firefighters everywhere.
Thanks for all that you do firefighters!

Submitted by ff8279 on Sun, 12/09/2007 - 11:48pm.

Well SpinDr I am truly appreciative of your praise of the fire service. In truth while I have been involved with PCFD for just over a decade I am a Dekalb Fireman and maybe that would account for my lack of tact. You have to understand that due to the nature of the job a rough and at times non-poetic personality is developed. While I don't expect this to be a valid excuse, it's hard to describe to some people what this job means and the passion that it brings out. I have spent much of my life engrossed in a never ending task to always become better fireman than I was yesterday. When someone has never crawled blindly down a hallway with their ear and shoulders burning from the heat, or pulled a victim out of a building only to realize that the skin from their body is now stuck to your gloves, your right to speak on the subject is limited. I am not going to argue that I stooped, but when someone attacks me or my brothers when they are not on the job I will not stand by. The closest I can related this passion to is someone who has children that they care for more than anything have to listen to a non-parent telling them that they are doing a poor job. Once again thank you for your praise, and know that I, while not tactful, will still provide the highest level of emergency response that I can whether I like someones point of view or not.

Submitted by skyspy on Mon, 12/10/2007 - 6:41am.

Thanks for protecting us. Some of us are painfully aware of how short our city is when it comes to emergency personnel.

You are right most other cities have 4 or 5 guys to a truck.

I have four firemen in my family, I do appreciate the danger of your work. I have heard all of the gruesome stories.

Isn't it true that if a fire isn't spreading it is considered under control??

Maybe with our new city council, we will have a few sane voices who will right size our police and fire depts.

Submitted by Bonkers on Mon, 12/10/2007 - 12:28pm.

Times 4-5 trucks = 25 Times four shifts =100 Firemen!
Times Four stations........ out of hand!

Submitted by skyspy on Mon, 12/10/2007 - 4:44pm.

You would consider that too much.........

right up until it was your home and your family was trapped inside.

We always have too many emergecy personnel until a tradegy happens to you. Thats when everyone has the "come to jesus" moment, and then even 100 men per truck wouldn't be enough.

Sniffles's picture
Submitted by Sniffles on Mon, 12/10/2007 - 5:51am.

Firefighter, I think your commentary is out of line.

I think if you queried the general populace (i.e. non-firefighters) as to the meaning of the phrase "fire under control", a substantial majority would assume that to mean "out".

We now know, thanks to you, that due to a peculiarity in firefighter semantics, a "car fire under control" essentially means "we're gonna stand around and keep people away while a car burn to the ground because it's totaled anyway".

Learn something new every day.

Your condescension and hubris reflects poorly on your professionalism. You took a "teachable moment" and threw it away.

p.s. Any other twisting of phrases that we should be aware of? Does "the house fire was extinguished" actually mean the whole subdivision burned down?


Submitted by sc8226 on Mon, 12/10/2007 - 7:09pm.

I think even Darcy would disagree with your deffinition of "under control." Anyone who was there or saw what happened knows that the car was not just left to burn. The fire was put out in an efficiant and timely manor. It is not about putting out the fire so you can save the value of the car and rebuild it. Once flames are visible in a car you can almost always write it off. Car fires are put out to protect the property around it and the people. Tires pop, bumpers fly off due to high heat exposure and the burning plastics put off a smoke that is hazardous to inhale.

Ask the people whose house caught fire on Thanksgiving Day if they can still live in their house after ff's put out the fire. Another couple of min. and that house would have been alot more involved in flames. But thanks to Pachtree City ff's they still have a house to live in for the upcomming holidays.

I doubt anyone who has ever lost anyone or any property to a fire would laugh at your p.s. comment. Unless you've been on the job or lost something to a fire you have no business joking about a house or subdivision burning down.

Your sarcasm reaks of disrespect for every brother on the job.

Submitted by Nitpickers on Fri, 12/07/2007 - 12:56pm.

from the California fires. There is something ablaze called a "wildfire"; then when the fire department gets there it is called "under control" to some guessed at degree or acreage; days later it is called "out." Except for "hot spots" which get sprayed and watched until the money runs out!
For a hundred thousand years, fires were allowed to burn its self out, which was good for the ground and the trees.
Then we built tee-pees on it, and every time it caught fire, we picked up our tee-pees and went around where it had already burned and sat them down again near a creek.
Then we built sod houses on the land, where cows grazed on the grass on the roof, and when fires came along we simply stayed inside the sod house which we soaked before the fire got there, and then got into a hole in the ground under the kitchen floor. Many survived that!
Then we built houses worth over five million each, and about the best that can be done is to send a crew to each five million dollar house and try to keep it wet.
It really doesn't matter though because the insurance companies keep paying these people five-million dollars to build another one and spread the premiums out to the eastern tribes!
We don't do that for floods however in the deep south!

Submitted by dollaradayandfound on Fri, 12/07/2007 - 2:33pm.

There is no sod in California now. No cows either.

Submitted by Bonkers on Fri, 12/07/2007 - 6:48am.

Probably the only six-laned main intersection that is way too wide, built on a hillside.
It is like approaching the intersection between hell and heaven in a chariot!
One road should go over the other---save a bunch of injuries, lives and vehicles.

Submitted by skyspy on Fri, 12/07/2007 - 12:23am.

It's the best place in the county to run a red light and cut people off. Love that intersection.
Hard to believe our police headquarters is within spitting distance.

Most of them only patrol that area anyway. They aren't on the paths or in the neighborhoods.

One time I saw and old lady run the red light right in front of a squad car and they did nothing. If that had been me in my red convertible he would have been all over me like stink on a DPAC person. (or mcBULLY, after a hard night at y-nots)

Submitted by John M on Thu, 12/06/2007 - 10:13pm.

worst intersection in Fayette County. We're #1! We're #1!

"I'm NOT John Munford"

cmc865's picture
Submitted by cmc865 on Thu, 12/06/2007 - 9:52pm.

PCFD gettin it like "straight out of Rescue Me!"
West Fayette Social Club.


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