Buzz
Indeed, it may seem ironic, but fire stations are not immune to catching fire. Surprisingly, many stations have fallen victim to flames more than once. For example, in 2009, a Japanese firefighter accidentally left the stove on while preparing dinner in the firehouse, just before heading out to battle a blaze. As a result, ten fire trucks from surrounding stations were called in to extinguish the fire within the firehouse.
Not far from there, also in 2009, a fire ignited at a Capitol Heights, Maryland fire station, originating from a fire truck engine. When an automatic fire alarm initially went off, volunteer firefighters at the scene made the unwise decision to cancel the alert. Five minutes later, they found themselves requesting backup, and eight minutes after that, firefighters from a neighboring station arrived to put out the fire.
That same year, another fire broke out at the Bladensburg fire station in Largo, Maryland, when wiring inside a ladder truck caught fire. Similarly, Illinois saw its share of fire station fires, such as one in Elwood on August 26, 1995, when a fire station was completely destroyed. In Fillmore, a small town southeast of Springfield, another fire station was reduced to ashes in a similar incident.
On July 7, 2009, the Strattanville Volunteer Fire Department in Pennsylvania responded to a roof fire at their own station. The cause? Arson! After apprehending the two culprits and bringing them to the police station, one of them confessed that he set his boxer shorts on fire and tossed them onto the fire station's roof, explaining that he "thought it would be funny" if the fire station itself caught fire.
Of course, there's nothing amusing about any of these incidents, but it certainly makes you pause and reflect. It also leads to other curious questions, like: who delivers the mail to a post office?
