CLEARWATER, Fla. — When the first 911 call came last Thursday night regarding a large fire at the Bayside Waters mobile home park, Clearwater Fire Chief Scott Ehlers feared the worst.
“The mobile homes are right on top of each other, there’s zero lot lines,” he said. “It’s very hard to confine it just to one mobile home. They are a lightweight construction and they burn very quickly.”
At first, firefighters were not aware of a distress call that came in just moments before from the pilot of a nearby plane. As crews began rushing to the scene, Ehlers says the situation became more clear, and they realized that the plane that was losing its single-engine and attempting to make a landing nearby had likely crashed into the mobile home park.
The construction of the homes so close together, tight roads and difficult access from U.S. 19 provided their own challenges.
“You put that all together,” he said. “The worst case vision comes into your mind that this is not going to be good.”
Ehlers said his team, as well as the different agencies across Pinellas County, train extensively to prepare for calls like this. Clearwater Police, Largo Fire Rescue, St. Pete Fire Rescue and the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office responded to assist.
“Everything from bad car wrecks, active assailants, plane crashes,” Ehlers explained. “How are we going to handle this if it really does happen?”
Ehlers said they have what their agency refers to as run cards, a set way to pre-identify the type of response needed for an emergency situation. The run card determines how many units and what types of specialty units initially respond to a serious call.
“We front load incidents so we’re not asking for them in the back,” he said.
Following Thursday’s plane crash Ehlers says 36 units responded initially with roughly 70 personnel.
The first 911 call regarding the fire came in at 7:08 p.m. The first crew arrived at 7:15 p.m.
Six minutes later, they began attacking the flames, and the fire was out by 7:32 p.m., roughly 17 minutes after arrival.
“In the end, three people lost their lives and our hearts and prayers go out to their families, but there’s nothing we could have done to change the outcome of that occurring in that area,” Ehlers said. “What we did was minimize the impact that it had to that community.”
The pilot, 54-year-old Jemin Patel, was killed in the crash. Martha Parry, 86, and Mary Ellen Pender, 54, have been identified as the two victims on the ground.
Ehlers credits fast decision making from a number of key units as to what helped to keep the fire contained and get it out quickly.
“Engine 49, our first unit going in there, made the decision to oppose the oncoming traffic on Frontage Road, which cut down on response time,” he said. “Critical decision on their part.”
He said the team with Pinellas County’s Air Craft and Firefighting Unit was initially stationed at the airport awaiting the landing of the distressed plane. When they realized the plane didn’t make it, they rushed to the fire scene at the mobile home park, which Ehlers said was a tough call to make but one that made a world of difference.
During the next few weeks, Ehlers said his team will be examining the pieces of the response to see if there’s anything they can learn from and do differently in the future.