Basement Fire

So the other night I'm laying in bed at home when my minitor radio goes off and it was for a confirmed structure fire in our juristiction. Now in the township I work, we go to a decent amount of fires every year but we only get a few that are in our township. So I fly out of bed, grab my radio and get in my truck to get to the station.
On the way, I hear the dispatchers and first engine giving updates on the condition of the structure. From what I hear, it is a fire in the basement of a single family one story home. There is one occupant inside the home who states she is staying in the basement trying to put the fire out and refusing to leave. Shortly after that, I hear the first engine arrive, stating there is smoke coming from the A, B, and D side windows of the structure and that the occupant had decided to exit due to heat and smoke. I then hear our tanker go enroute.
As I get to the station, my Shift Leiutenant comes in at the same time and we go enroute to the call on our second engine. On the way, we hear command state they have extinquished any fire and would be starting ventilation with salvage and overhaul.
When we got to the scene, we set up a few fans upstairs and in the basement, opened some windows and removed burnt objects. Overall, it was a very small and simple fire but it could have easily been much worse. Here's some pics of what we saw, courtesy of our Fire Prevention Officer, Lt. Morrison.

This was the culprit. Apparently, the ventilation tube that goes from the back of this dryer to the outdoors was filled with lint, which builds up over time. So when that tube had enough heat to light off, it spread to other objects in the basement on the dryer.

There were many objects on shelves against the vent tube from the dryer as well as clothes laying on the dryer that easily went up. The fire wasn't burning very long and you can easily see that it was already becoming involed with wooden members and floor joists. It was an easy little fire but there are some important things to think about and learn from.

1. This basement was absolutely packed. There were endless piles of clothes, a maze of clothes lines, multiple rooms, a bar and I even saw one of those chairs where you can get yer hair permed. If this fire had a few more minutes of free burning and the occupant had not left, we would have some serious safety concerns for the guys that might be searching the area. The place was just plain dangerous.

2. We got there early enough that the initial crew had a member put the main fire out with a water can. It was smoky but a very small and at the time, manageable fire. The important thing though, is that the first in crew also had a charged hoseline with them ready for a bigger situation. That hoseline stayed in place until we were into salvage and overhaul operations and were sure all fire was out.

3. We had a thorough salvage and overhaul operation. We cleared the basement of the dryer, all involved shelves and any damaged or burned property in the basement.

4. We transported that occupant for what appeared to be symptoms of minor smoke inhalation but there were no other injuries during the incident.

5. In two and a half hours, we had four EMS calls and a fire and handled all of them on our own with 11 out of 13 department members responding. The only outside help we had was one auto-aid engine (not to say that we don't call for help sometimes). Now this may not seem like a big deal to larger departments with more staffing and a higher call volume. But in my opinion, with recent neighsaying and public mudslinging from outsiders, this is a huge deal and it shows that we are stepping up and handling our own.