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I fully understand your sentiment, but I must disagree.

I’m a firefighter in Texas. We will gladly take calculated risks for the possibility of saving a life. If there is a chance that we can save someone, we will go in.

However, we are highly trained and have supporting equipment (turnout gear, air supply, entry tools, etc), as well as a team of professionals to support us. We train for this specific type of event, and are fully conversant in the necessary techniques. Even with those tools and that training, it is very, very difficult to find people in a smoke-filled home. It is physically and mentally demanding. Most people do not have the physical conditioning to do it. That’s why we train so hard and so often. To get an idea of what the inside of a burning building actually looks like, do a YouTube search of “Firefighter helmet cam” and watch some of those videos.

When we search a home for people, we usually use up a lot of our air just finding them. Once we find a victim, we have to decide the best way to move them - should we pull them out, or call in a fresh crew to remove them? Either way - if we know there are three victims, and we’ve only found one, we know there are still two more we have to go find. Even if they’re in the same room, just a few feet apart, it can be difficult to find them all. In our methodology (some jurisdictions are different), we require at least 2 firefighters per victim (we don’t go into a burning building alone). If there are 3 victims, we’ll probably need 6-9 firefighters just to get them out. Usually, we’ll need more than that, because the initial crews will become exhausted after long searches, and start running low on air. (Remember: We’re also wearing about 45 lbs of gear, and carrying another 5-15 lbs of tools...and our turnout gear feels like a full-body parka lined with a raincoat, being worn in an oven).

Now, if those police officers hadn’t stopped the neighbors from going in, here’s what would have happened (I’m assuming the building is 30% - 40% involved at this point):
Within 1 minute (probably within 30-40 seconds), the “rescuers” would have been overcome by toxic smoke and heat. Since there is typically zero visibility inside a well-burning structure, they’d be blind, and their eyes, lungs, mouth and nose would be stinging and burning. Every breath would bring on panic and pain. It would be like breathing boiling pepper spray. Without proper search training, they’d be lost and disoriented almost immediately. Smoke-induced hypoxia (low levels of oxygen in your brain) would cloud their thinking. They would pass out or die where they dropped, never having reached the victims.

So, when the fire department showed up, they would have to decide if they could reasonably enter the home to retrieve the victims. Only now, they also have “rescuers” to retrieve. The “rescuers” will be between the firefighters and the victims, so they would be found first. Remember, you tie up at least two firefighters per victim. It will typically take 3-5 minutes to extract one adult. Our air bottles usually last 10-20 minutes when we’re working hard. Lugging dead-weight adults through a burning building is grueling, so we use up our air and energy faster. If only 3 “rescuers” went in, they’ve tied up 4-6 firefighters, for up to 15 minutes. I will almost guarantee that the original victims have died by that point.

All victims pulled out of a building must be evaluated by EMS. Typically, two medics or EMTs will work a victim, and each ambulance typically has only those two people. How many ambulances will we need to evaluate and treat 6 victims vs 3 victims? If this home was not in a large city, how long do you think it would take to get those extra ambulances to the scene? Assuming any rescuers and victims were found alive, any time, personnel, material or ambulance space taken up by a rescuer is a resource that will be denied to one of the original victims.

The police officers did the right thing. As hard as it is to swallow, those police officers saved lives and should be commended. I know that flies in the face of what you are feeling - and almost everyone would agree with you. But for the safety of the victims, the rescuers and the firefighters, the cops did the right thing.

Here’s another point. Most jurisdictions have manning issues. It’s just hard to put enough people on a fire within the first 15 minutes. Remember: Almost all jobs require 2-4 firefighters - never less than 2, sometimes more than 4. Each engine or truck typically carries 3-5 firefighters, including the officer. In the first 15 minutes, firefighters MUST: 1) put water on the fire, 2) search for victims (at least one crew for each floor), 3) ventilate the building (a must for safety and putting the fire out), and 4) have a RIT team formed (this is a team of firefighters that will rescue downed firefighters). These are the absolute minimums. More victims means more firefighters searching, which means there are fewer firefighters doing the other “must” jobs. The longer the fire burns, and the longer the building remains unventilated, the worse the odds are that the victims will be found alive. It also makes the jobs of the searching firefighters much harder, and much, much more dangerous.

Please, please, please: Do NOT enter a burning building to rescue anyone. I know it’s frustrating to stand and watch, and your protective instincts scream at you to do something. But you will only make our job harder, and pose a further danger to the victims you’re trying to save.