Later in the alarm a fireground event, described as a smoke explosion, backdraft  or possibly a collapse created a tremendous sudden push of smoke and heat from the building. I captured some images of conditions in the front of the building just as this occurred, and also got some images of the RIT deploying in response to a brief mayday that was declared.

The east side of the building had an overhead door, and when the event happened a large rush of heat , smoke, fire, and air vented out of this opening, injuring 3 members. I believe all are ok, with some minor injuries. I don’t believe the RIT actually performed any actual rescue as the injured members were upright in short order.  I personally think a large portion of the roof came down causing this rapid exit of fire gasses … mind you just my opinion … I am not qualified to truly judge what actually happened.