The Delaware fire company that responded to a 2004 fire at President Joe Biden’s home at the time has responded to the president’s dramatic account of the fire.
On Tuesday, Biden claimed that firefighters almost died in the fire, which occurred at his Wilmington, Delaware home when he was still a senator.
“I was doing ‘Meet the Press’ and lightning struck a little pond behind my house, came up through the ground into the air conditioning system and ended up generating thick black smoke,” Biden said at the White House Summit on Fire Prevention and Control.
“From the basement to the third floor, the attic, everything was ruined,” Biden added. “And the kitchen floor — we almost lost a couple firefighters, they tell me, because the kitchen floor was — the burning between the beams and in the house in addition to, it almost collapsed into the basement.”
At the time of the fire at Biden’s home, the fire chief of the Cranston Heights Fire Company, which responded to the fire, said they caught the blaze early and the flames did not spread beyond the kitchen.
“Luckily, we got it pretty early. The fire was under control in 20 minutes,” Fire Chief George Lamborn told the Associated Press.
In a statement provided Friday to The Daily Wire, the Cranston Heights Fire Company said that while the fire could be considered “insignificant” to the fire service, it was “obviously significant” to the homeowner.
“For the fire service, this could be considered an insignificant fire as it did not lead to multiple alarms and did not need a widespread incident response throughout the county,” the fire company said. “However, in the case for any homeowner, it was obviously significant at the time and was quickly responded to by the local firefighters.”
The fire company cautioned that some fires involve structural issues of homes and can be “very dangerous” and cause collapse that can happen quickly without warning.
“Any fire that firefighters encounter is inherently dangerous and can put their lives at risk, as they attempt to save lives and property,” the fire company said. “In this case, the fire was contained in 20 minutes and avoided significant extension into the rest of the home. However, it still caused damage to the home.”
“The traumatic experience, as recollected by President Joe Biden and any victim of a home fire, is recognized by the fire service. We appreciate the concern and support of the President for the fire company that protects his home and his family, both at the time of the fire and today. The fire company and its members also truly appreciate his concern for the safety of the responders as they sought to protect life and property at the time,” the fire company said.
“A quick response by the local Fire Company ultimately extinguished this fire, prior to a devastating result,” the fire company concluded.
Cranston Heights Fire Company directed further questions to the Delaware State Fire Marshal’s office.
Biden has told the story of the blaze on several occasions. Last week, he referred to the fire in remarks to Hurricane Ian victims in Florida.
“We didn’t lose our whole home, but lightning struck and we lost an awful lot of it,” the president said.
In November, Biden told the story with yet another twist, saying the house burned down with his wife was inside.
“I know, having had a house burn down with my wife in it — she got out safely, God willing — that having a significant portion of it burn, I can tell: 10 minutes makes a hell of a difference,” Biden said in New Hampshire during a trip promoting his $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill.
Earlier this week, Biden raised eyebrows when he appeared to claim that his son Beau “lost his life in Iraq.”
Beau Biden passed away at 46 in 2015 at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland after a battle with brain cancer. His father has previously said that he believes his son developed the cancer because he was exposed to toxic burn pits during a long deployment to Iraq. He returned from Iraq in 2009.
The president has made a number of other questionable claims over the years, including telling black students in Atlanta in January that he was arrested more than once for protesting for civil rights. There is no evidence to support that claim.
