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VIDEO REVIEW

By John M. Malecky September, 2017

“10-75” The Box
By Fire Line Video Productions

Available from:
FSP Books & Videos
188 Central Street, #4
Hudson, MA 01749-1330
1-800-522-8528
e-mail: fire-police-ems.com
www.fire-police-ems.com

Price: $29.95 (DVD)

This presentation is in excess of 60 minutes and involves three major fires during 2001. In New York City, the fire signal “10-75” represents the need for three engines and two trucks to respond to the scene of an incident. It is usually transmitted by the first arriving company or chief and when those units are put to work, an “All Hands” signal is transmitted which brings a rescue company and very often other equipment. It is followed by additional alarms if needed. This is a weak explanation to give the reader an idea about the title of the DVD.

Of the three fires on this DVD, all are well beyond a 10-75! What I can say about them is “Wow!”. It stands to reason that they all started out with a 10-75 signal. The first fire was in the Bronx at E. 174th Street and Weeks Avenue. It involved (six) one-story attached stores commonly known as “taxpayers,” meaning that they were cheaply built structures placed basically to pay the taxes on what otherwise would be vacant land.

This is a second-alarm, but has the appearance of a much worse fire. Heavy streams operate from four tower ladders and two Stang guns. There are some handlines but the fire seems to defy everything, resulting in an outside fight. Very intense flames can be seen inside the building.

The second fire is a third-alarm in Brooklyn in the month of January. It involves two frame dwellings heavily involved in which there were two DOA’s. It became another exterior operation.

The third was in the Bronx at East 169th St. and College Ave. in the Highbridge section and eventually goes to seven-alarms, involving (14) two-story attached dwellings. The fire just runs the cockloft. At least two trench cuts are made by truck companies on the roof. The videographer at one point takes a position on a roof across the street and at times, the smoke is so intense that the buildings are obscured, almost as if you are in an airplane above the clouds. It again becomes an outside fight in the most intense parts of the fire.

In all of the fires, toward the end of the coverage, a voice in the background gives a size-up and explains what is burning and what armament is being used to combat it. This is one of the most fire intense videos I have seen.