Fire scene video from Sweden

[Micael]

Hi everyone, I posted some Swedish firefighting videos to the firehouse.com forums a few years ago that seemed to interest some people so I'll have a go here at posting one and see if anyone is interested.

Video from a major fire at the KTH school of architecture - ironically a very ugly building - in Stockholm on May 4th 2011. About 80 firefighters from three departments worked the job at the height of things and about 120 total including relief crews.
Brand p? Arkitekturskolan i Stockholm

I'm not the one who shot or uploaded the video I should add.

 

[raybrag]

Enjoyed the video; keep them coming.  Question:  It appears that the Stockholm Fire Dept does not use large diameter hose.  Is that correct?  The hydrants seemed to have nothing but connections around 2 1/2 inches or less, and I saw no large intakes on the pumpers.

 

[grumpy grizzly]

Enjoyed the video I noticed SCBA being completely different from US types. How effective is it in regards to time and usage? also were they using those portable reels to carry small diameter hose? One thing for certain the job is the job no matter where you are!GG

 

[Micael]

Glad that you both enjoyed it.

Raybrag: The usual hose diameters are 3 inches and 1 2/3 inches. The reason for the smaller hoses is likely that fog nozzles are almost always used for hand lines these days.  The pumpers normally have 800 gpm pumps as well so less than in the US.

Larger diameter hose is used for more specialized applications such as with their "Large scale extinguishing system" which is a multi apparatus unit primarily intended to fight oil refinery fires and similar, with it 6 inch hose is used with two 2640 gpm pumps and foam cannons.

Grumpy grizzly: The SCBA is made by interspiro which has been in use in some places in the US but seems to have been disliked by most. I gather the main reason for that being that it needs more maintenance and care in order to function properly.
The capacity is about equivalent to the Scott bottles and such.
Having two smaller bottles rather than one large one is mainly to make it a bit easier to get around in tight spaces.
Yes the reels are used for carrying the hose, they use a winch handle to wind the hoses back up into them.


Here's a short poor quality video from the same fire but it's interesting because it captured something rare. The use of explosives to ventilate heavy roof structures which a few departments in Sweden use.
It's used when they can't get through something with regular tools and it's done in the manner of shaped charges mounted in frames which are then placed on the roof and detonated.
Explosion p? KTH Arkitekturskolan

 

[Micael]

So here's some more videos from the same photographers:

First is a live burn training exercise that Uppsala FD held with some of their part time (retained) firefighters. Both exterior and interior views.
*INSIDE VIEW* Bj?rklinge deltidsk?r ?var med ett rivningshus i S?tuna

Then Uppsala FD fire at a camping ground
St?rre brand p? Siggefora camping

Uppsala FD apartment fire
L?genhetsbrand p? Sturegatan

Uppsala FD car fire
Bilbrand p? Hjalmar Brantingsgatan

Stockholm FD Fire in a bakery
Brand i konditori p? Tegeluddsv?gen i Stockholm

If anyone has any questions I'll try to answer as best I can, and comments would be welcome of course. I'm curious with the differences between firefighting in Sweden and the US for instance.

 

[R1SmokeEater]

What's the difference in the helmet colors,gear,etc signify?

I assume the green is EMS.....?

Assume tan turnouts are new...Black older?

White helmets mean?
Yellow helmets mean?

Guys in red with checkered trim? Etc.

 

[Micael]

Yes the tan turnouts are newer, they started the switch over to them during mid to late 2011.

In general checkered denotes a command level of some sort, I'll attempt to translate them below into FDNY terminology with regards to Stockholm. Uppsala and others do it somewhat differently.

*Green helmets and yellow/green outfits are EMS.

*Regular turnout with white helmet is firefighter.

*Regular turnout with yellow stripe on white helmet is lieutenant. They normally act as second in command of a company, Stockholm staffs most of its companies with two officers per shift.

*Tan turnout with checkered reflective stripes and yellow helmets is captain. Is in command of a company. Often acts in some chief like roles on a fireground and if so hands over company operations to the lieutenant.

*Yellow turnout coat with checkered stripes and yellow checkered helmet is battallion chief.

*Red turnout coat with checkered stripes and red checkered helmet is division chief and above. Both the yellow and red turnouts have velcro straps on the back where they place temporary signs such as "Incident commander", "Sector commander" and such to indicate their role in a specific incident.

Brief overview of Stockholm command structure:

L5 - Chief of department and deputies. One of them on call as acting chief of dept. per shift.
L4 - Chief of operations - One chief per shift that oversees department operations from the dispatch/command center.
L3 - Division chief.
L2 - Battallion chief.
L1 - Captains and lieutenants.

 

[Micael]

Here's a clip that's seemingly mundane - just another car fire for Stockholm FD.
However shortly after the clip ends the firefighters discover gas tubes, fiercely burning materials and wires in the back of the car and at the same time they can hear an explosion from a couple of blocks away.
Sweden just got its first suicide bomber who fortunately failed both with his bomb belt that only killed himself and this car bomb that merely set the car on fire.
It's a reminder that not everything is what it seems at first.

December 11th 2010
Sj?lvmordsbombarens bil i Stockholm

This news segment includes portions of a second video showing firefighters trying to bring the troublesome fire under control by applying foam
Christmas Shoppers Stunned by Explosion (Suicide attack)

Surveillance camera video of the later suicide blast for the sake of context (viewed indirectly, the bomber himself is out of frame)
?vervakningskamera f?ngar sj?lvmordsattacken

 

[Micael]

Here's a video from a reality show featuring Stockholm FD. This is one of my personal favorites from the show and it shows firefighters tackling a fairly dramatic apartment fire with people trapped.
Just ignore the narrator and brief interview segment in Swedish and the video will speak for itself.

?stermalm Brand

 

[mikeindabronx]

Thanks for posting the videos

 

[Micael]

Thank you for watching.

Here's another clip from the same series, this time it's an electrical fire that's spreading through the walls of an old apartment building. Firefighters are working to contain it before it gets out of hand.
112 p? liv och d?d

 

[Micael]

Here's a historic and dramatic film from a very severe fire in 1937 in a dairy distribution central in Stockholm

It caused the line of duty death of fire lieutenant Johan P?rlefors who fell from the top floor following an explosion and a desperate attempt by lieutenant Konrad Rydestam to hold on to him failed.
Fireman Tage Lyd?n was struck by an exploded gas tube which flew from the fourth floor and was severely injured. Fireman Nils Kvist was nearly killed in a similar manner and three other fireman were injured during the course of the fire.
Along with the gas tubes there were some three and a half tonnes of paraffin in the attic which fueled the fire.

Fire dairy distribution central Stockholm 1937

Below is Nils Kvist showing the gas tube that nearly killed him

 

[Micael]

Well tonight I managed to shoot a video of my own although poorly with my cell phone. As I was heading to bed two cars went up in flames outside my apartment building here in Sweden - not even 45 minutes ago. Attunda FD which covers my area responded and handled it efficiently.
So apologies for the poor quality but it's very current at least:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Punn11sVcJU