Photo By Staff Sgt. Brian Jarvis | New York Air National Guard Staff Sgt. Christopher Clay, a firefighter assigned to...... read more read more
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ALPENA, Mich. (July 21st, 2020) – Four firefighters from the New York Air National Guard’s 106th Rescue Wing who deployed to Michigan for routine training found themselves in the midst of a real-world fire when the iconic John A. Lau Saloon and Restaurant in Alpena went up in a blaze on the afternoon of July 21.
The Airmen were at the Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center in Alpena in support of Operation Northern Strike, an annual military readiness exercise including ground and air operations. They were called to help tackle the fire which had engulfed the popular establishment which had stood since the late 1800s.
The four Guardsmen were serving as part of the base Rapid Intervention Team, joined other firefighters from the community after the Alpena fire department putout a call for mutual air to help with the fire. A fire started at the building, which is a multi-use, two-story facility with mixed occupancy, consisting of a restaurant, theater and apartment residences, as a result of a welding accident on the roof.
At one point a first responder ‘mayday’ was called, indicating that a firefighter was down in the interior of the building. A response firetruck, Engine-9, dispatched with the 106th Airmen, Staff Sgts. Christopher Clay, Brandon Ehlers, Frank Quesada, and Senior Airmen Kerry Schmitt, who are trained on firefighter rescue, fulfilling individual roles to locate, assess and stabilize and removing an injured firefighter.
“The local city asked us for mutual aid, we happened to be on shift and so we went down there as the rapid intervention team,” Clay said. “It was an old restaurant, it was set to reopen that week.”
At the request of the crew chief of the fire engine from the Alpena base, the Airmen also dispatched an air trailer, capable of refilling the air packs firefighters carry, to resupply breathing air to the firefighters on scene.
As 40 total firefighters responded to the fire, Clay explained that the decision was ultimately made to focus on saving the surrounding buildings as the saloon was seen as a loss.
“The incident commander on the scene, the fire chief, decided that they wanted to protect the surround buildings, the other exposures,” Clay said. “The building was pretty much lost, it’s called a surround and drown so we set ourselves on at the back of the building, they positioned a tower ladder out front and a couple of other hand lines were drawn and we just poured copious amounts of water on the fire to protect the surrounding structures.”
After a day-long battle with the fire, crews were able to save the 130-year-old Thunderbay Theater, another locally historic building, as well as surrounding apartments, but the adjacent John A. Lau Saloon and Restaurant was now in ruins.
The John A. Lau Saloon was one of the most iconic, historic buildings downtown, said Anne Gentry, the president of the Alpena Downtown Development Authority. She said it was incredible the firefighters were able to contain the fire to one building and that the theater was able to be spared, according to the Alpena News.
Alpena Fire Chief Bill Forbush credited the survival of the theater to the 40 firefighters from Alpena, the other nearby towns and the Combat Readiness Center.
Forbush said they had “set the line in the sand” to keep the blaze from crossing a firewall between the restaurant and the theater once they knew John A. Lau’s could not be saved.
“It’s not coming over this,” Forbush said of the determination to hold the firewall.
“We were successful,” Clay said. “It was a shame that building burnt down but the theater and other businesses didn’t really sustain any damage.”
Clay explained him and his team spent five hours on the scene before being relieved as other crews stayed through the night. He continued by saying he had never personally experienced a firefighting situation to this extent.
“Being asked to help on such a large fire, I’ve never experienced that, I’ve been in since 2006,” Clay said. “It felt good though to help a community that supports the military and supports the firemen like they do here in Alpena.”
The New York Air National Guard Airmen then returned to their roles in Operation Northern Strike, running to the end of July. They were part of the more than 2,300 personnel taking part in the exercise, reduced from upwards of 7,000 due to COVID-19, involving the National Guard, the active duty, the Coast Guard, the Marine Corps and NATO partner countries Latvia and Lithuania.
“Accolades and stuff like that are not what it’s about for us, we got a chance to do our job while we were out here,” Clay said. “We do a lot of training, 99% of what we do in the Air National Guard is training and to be able to go out there and do our job is exciting.”
| Date Taken: | 07.21.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 08.03.2020 08:38 |
| Story ID: | 375055 |
| Location: | ALPENA, MICHIGAN, US |
| Hometown: | WESTHAMPTON BEACH, NEW YORK, US |
| Web Views: | 99 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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