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Size Up Drill

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There is a lot of talk about the different kinds of size up in regards to survivability profiling.  Although I respect those views, I just don’t think we are doing ourselves in the fire service justice by creating an additional “method” for performing your size up.

I still believe that a size up is a size up and the information you gather during it, along with experience, training and knowledge, will direct you into the right direction.  If the building is tenable or not; if it has burned before; if it is in poor condition; it doesn’t change how you size up. What changes is how you use the information.

That is if you have trained properly.  Let’s face it, not all company and chief officers are adequately trained in giving a thorough size up and applying that information into your strategy and tactics.

So, here is a little drill that is simple but yet effective.  I am going to give you four sides of a single-family dwelling and you need to size it up.

In addition, what can you tell about the layout of the house just by looking from the outside?  What are the indicators or clues that you are using to make these educated guesses?

Share your experience and techniques, new officers and firefighters need this  stuff, so be generous.

Train often and stay safe.

Posted by on November 28, 2010 • Filed under: administration-leadership, buildling construction, command-leadership, fire-rescue-topics, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, situational awareness, size up, training-fire-rescue-topics, Uncategorized, vacant building fires • Tagged: , , , ,

Get the Whole Picture

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This is just a reminder to get the whole picture when doing inspections and pre-plans.  Just don’t get lazy when doing these prevention functions.  Especially on larger buildings that require some effort to get around.

Recently I did an inspection at a local nursing home.  It had been awhile since I had been there because we have the crews do most of these inspections.  There were some things I had forgotten about and had I not taken some extra time, would have missed.

As I walked out the back of the building this is what I saw.  Unremarkable, really.  However, to the right is the drive that leads from the front of the building.

Apparatus coming to the rear would get a view similar to this if they were assigned to the rear.

This second picture is the view from the other corner.  What do you notice?  It is kind of tough to see and unless you are aware and really looking for it, you might miss it. Especially at night or in rain or snow and with smoke conditions.

If you look real hard you will see one end of an 1000 gallon LP tank jutting out from behind the shed.

If you were to walk over there and actually take a look, this is what you would see.

These are two 1ooo gallon LP tanks that are near the rear property lines.  These feed the appliances in the building with the exception of the generator, which has it’s own smaller tank.

But, there are separate shut offs for each line going into the building, but it is not typical.

The lines and shut offs could easily be missed entirely if prior experience with this building is not known.

This is one of the numerous shut offs for the gas lines going into the building.  They are all up high on the building and some are actually on the roof.

It just points out the importance of knowing your buildings, in particular your high life hazard buildings.

Take some extra time to ask the maintenance person a lot of questions, they usually like to show all of the little intricacies of the building.

Be safe and be familiar with your response area.

Stay safe and be careful.

Posted by on November 23, 2010 • Filed under: buildling construction, command-leadership, fire codes, fire-prevention-education, firefighting-operations, inspections, situational awareness • Tagged: , , , , , , ,

What Hydrant?

4 comments

I enjoy looking for things like hydrant locations and building features whether I am on the job or just out and about. It really makes my wife nuts because I point out what exits we will be using if something happens and things like that.  She just doesn’t understand.

Hydrants are a real challenge sometimes.  People like to hide them like Easter eggs for the firefighters to find. But, instead of a bright, sunny morning to go hunting for these important pieces of our suppression puzzle, we get to hunt for them in dark, rain or snow driven nights being half awake.

These are just some examples of what property owners do with hydrants.  The one shown above is behind a large complex with an anchor store and many ancillary stores in a strip mall.  You cannot see this hydrant when you pull into the drive.  Notice the leaves are mostly gone and we still can’t see the plug.

This hydrant is the closest to a FDC on the same building.  I found this one while doing an inspection at the building next door.  I just happen to park where you see this vehicle and as I got out of the vehicle noticed the plug. You have to be looking just in the right place to find this one.

The really bad thing about this plug is that the most obvious hydrant is straight across a four lane road.  Odds are that is where the operator would take his line for his supply. In the middle of the night he is going to hit the closest, most visible hydrant.

We don’t only have hydrants that are hidden, but some get damaged and it is never reported or repaired.

It is fairly obvious that we would have a tough time turning this hydrant. We have to have the property owners make these repairs.

Accidents happen and hydrants are not typically an attractive addition to well manicured landscaping. However, we must be diligent to find and make sure corrections are made to keep these valuable resources accessible.

In my experiences, once explained to the property owner the importance of having the hydrant accessible, and the fact that it is a code violation, they are willing to fix the problem.  Some jurisdictions will trim brush and trees on their own; be careful doing that, unless there is a fire of course.

Do any of you have a policy on cleaning up around hidden hydrants?  Who paints them and what color scheme do you use?  Are they identified by size or gallons per minute?  Do you share that information with your mutual aid companies?

Take care and remember that we need to sweat some of this small stuff, it may be the difference between success and failure.

Train hard and stay safe.

Posted by on November 20, 2010 • Filed under: buildling construction, fire codes, fire sprinklers, fire-prevention-education, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, hydrants, inspections, situational awareness • Tagged: , , , , , ,

Attack the Doors: Part 2

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Remember these doors……?

Well, since posting these doors and asking how to force them, I have been inundated with requests for a view from the inside.

When I took these pictures originally, we were training on the roof of a vacant Value City building and were not sure about permission to actually enter the building.

So, since then we were granted permission to make entry, using our Knox Box keys, and take a look around.  I found the interior side of these doors to be interesting.

This is the view from the interior of those doors from the original post.

Does this view change anything that you might have thought about doing in regards to forcible entry?

The drop bar is not in place and that is how we found it.  It looks pretty harmless from this side of the door.

But, we did take a look at another set of doors that you might be interested in and they might be more of a challenge.

Take a look at these…..

What is your first impression with this set of doors?

Concerns or difficulties that you can see?

These are not too disimilar form the other set of doors.

Here is what the inside looks like……

Okay, there you have it and let us know what you see and what you would do.

Are there any special considerations that you see or would like to share?

Again, post your comments and share your knowledge, we really appreciate it.

Stay safe and train hard.

Posted by on November 16, 2010 • Filed under: buildling construction, exits, fire-rescue-topics, firefighting-operations, forcible entry • Tagged: , ,

What’s in the Cab?

8 comments

Since the the question of “What’s on Your Stick” was so popular, I decided to follow it up with another on. What’s in your cab?

I have seen and talked to many who do things a differently in regards to tools and implements of destruction in the cab of the truck.  As we all know all tools and items are supposed to be secured if it is to ride with us in the cab. (There is my disclaimer, so please don’t point out the obvious.)  However, we know this is not always practical and so that is not what this post is about.

Rather, I want to know what tools or items you just can’t live without having close to you whether you are in the “seat” or riding backwards.

So, what is your weapon of choice and why?

What would you like to have that you don’t?

Do you get to pick what you take or do you have specifically assigned tools?

Let us know how you work and any great tips for keeping tools in the cab.

Stay safe and train hard.

Posted by on November 13, 2010 • Filed under: fire-rescue-topics, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, forcible entry, ladder truck/aerial devices, scba, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: , ,

Good Roof Vent Video

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Here is a good video an actual roof ventilation on a two story house. It is a little rough from the helmet cam and I am not a big fan of the music on these types of videos, but the intent on showing a good roof vent is really good.

Take a look and give some props to Ladder24co folks. Stay safe and share your knowledge.

Posted by on November 5, 2010 • Filed under: firefighting-operations, training-fire-rescue-topics, trusses, vent, ventilation • Tagged: , , , , , ,

What’s on Your Stick?

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This past week we did some aerial operations and flat roof ops training over a three day period.  We used our own 105 foot straight stick and a neighboring departments 105 foot bucket. What learned real fast was that everyone uses their ladder/aerial device differently and has different equipment on the ladder/aerial device.

It made me very curious about why departments build and set up their device certain ways.  So, I have taken some time to look at a few aerial apparatus over this past week just to get a better idea about what is out there.  Does it make a difference to me if it is not my device?  Absolutely!

We run a great deal of mutual aid and there is a good chance that I might be operating off of someone else’s aerial device.  It is good to know what the different options are on our surrounding sticks.  How does the nozzle work?  What tools are on the ladder and what do I need to bring with me?  The options go on and on.

So, what do you have on your stick?  What tools are mounted and do you like to have on the ladder?  Does your device provide air or are you limited to what’s on your back?  If there are roof/attic ladders on the stick, what are their lengths? Will they reach down from your tallest parapet wall?

There is nothing like being prepared and this is sometimes overlooked because it is not always used, especially in rural and suburban areas.

Give us your feedback and comments, we are all waiting to learn some great ideas and suggestions.

Train hard and stay safe.

Posted by on November 3, 2010 • Filed under: fire-rescue-topics, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, fires, ladder truck/aerial devices, training-development, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: , , , , ,