The problems with firefighting in Winter

Big news this week is a 6 alarm fire that happened just 3 blocks North West of my office.
Here's a little lesson:

How Big Is A 6-Alarm Fire?

They're thankfully very rare but they do happen and they force crews to throw everything at them. Here's a look at the varying degrees of a fire.

1st Alarm

2 pumpers, 1 aerial truck, and 1 district chief

If it's downtown or involves a highrise building, a highrise truck is used. If it's a working fire an air supply truck, which provides breathing cylinders, and a heavy rescue squad are called.

2nd Alarm

5 pumpers, 2 aerials, 1 squad, 1 hazardous materials truck, 2 district chiefs, 1 platoon chief, 1 air supply vehicle, and 1 incident command vehicle.

3rd Alarm

8 pumpers, 3 aerials, 1 squad, 3 district chiefs, 1 platoon, 1 air lights, 1 hazard, 1 command vehicle, 1 division commander,

4th Alarm

11 pumpers, 4 aerials, 1 squad, 4 district chiefs, 1 platoon, 1 air supply vehicle, 1 hazardous materials truck, 1 command vehicle, 1 division commander

5th Alarm

14 pumpers, 5 aerials, 2 squads, 5 district chiefs, 1 platoon, 1 division commander, 1 command vehicles, 2 air supply trucks, 1 hazardous materials vehicles, other support staff if needed.

6th Alarm

17 pumpers, 6 aerials, 2 squads, 6 district chiefs, 1 platoon, 1 division commander, 1command vehicle, 2 air supply truck, 1 hazardous materials truck.

7th Alarm

20 pumpers, 7 aerials, 2 squads, 7 district chiefs, 1 platoon, 1 division commander, 1 command vehicle, 2 air supply trucks, 1 hazardous materials.

So now you know that it was a big deal, here's the problem. Water + Cold = Ice.
150 firefighters sprayed water onto the blaze, and in the cold temperatures, some of it came down as snow and the rest of it froze on power lines and the firefighters it landed on.
Once the fire was out, work began to pump out the water before it froze and turned the street into a skating rink.
Interestingly I heard on the radio this morning that one of the people saved from the flames hadn't been paying attention during fire drill. He was waving from a window as he could not get out the emergency exits. So when rescuers put the ladder up to his balcony, he handed them a laptop and then ran inside for his stereo!
He was dragged out and carried down the ladder.

I pity the fool!