On Tuesday, July 2, 2024, at 2:48 pm, the Chestertown Volunteer Fire Company was dispatched for the Large Vehicle Fire in the 300 block of Maple Avenue. Just as the call was being dispatched, one of our members, in his personal vehicle, was first arriving. He found a concrete mixer with the brakes on fire and discharging a large amount of smoke.
Knowing that a concrete mixer carries a tank of water and a garden hose for cleaning the equipment of fresh concrete, he had the driver set him up with said hose. Our member proceeded to extinguish the fire and begin cooling the super-heated brakes, which takes a lot of water. (After the fire had been knocked down, and after our engine arrived, our crew used a TIC (Thermal Imaging Camera) to measure how much heat remained in and around the involved brake. The initial measurement revealed the temperatures were more than 400°. Our crew employed the mixer mounted water system to continue cooling the brake surfaces. Our last measurement with the TIC showed temperatures had dropped below 180°. Because the temperatures were below the boiling point of water, very little to no steam was being generated.
The 300 block of Maple Avenue, southbound between Spring Avenue and Cross Street was temporarily closed by Chestertown VFC Fire Police, with traffic being detoured around the incident. Northbound Maple Avenue remained open and this traffic continued to flow unimpeded.
We operated on this incident for about 20 minutes, and there were no injuries.
Photographs by the Chestertown VFC. The media may use photographs with attribution!
