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Hose Deployment

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What hose stretch would you use?

Here is an example of store fronts that are off of the street. This is like an alley that runs parallel  perpendicular to the main streets.

In most cases, these have a tax payer on the main level and residential units on the upper floors.

You can see that hose deployment is a priority and should be picked carefully.  The wrong choice could be very detrimental.  This brings up a good question: what type of hose loads do you use and deploy for non-traditional lays?

How long are they and what other uses are they good for?  What sizes and configurations do you use?  Where do you keep these loads and how are they loaded?

We have to remember that the atypical fire requires atypical tactics in some cases and the norm of pulling a 1 3/4 inch cross lay or speed load just isn’t going to get it done.

Train hard and be careful.

Posted by dc802 on September 3, 2010 • Filed under: buildling construction, command-leadership, fire-rescue-topics, firefighting-operations, high rise • Tagged: , , , ,

Which Way is Out?

6 comments

This may seem a bit simplistic, but I am always surprised when I ask someone to close their eyes and hand this prop to them. After I hand them the hose I ask which way they would go to get out of a building?

Follow the Male Lugs Out

This is typically with no gloves on and they are just standing or sitting there, so they are not stressed or in a tough situation. But, most get it wrong.  Why?

Well, I say it is because of the lack of fundamentals and not enough training on the simple stuff.  In this instance it is basics of hose, in my humble opinion anyway.

If you are well versed in hose operations and how the hose is deployed and which end of an attack line is at the truck and which end is inside the building, you should have no problem with this “pop quiz.”

Take the time to learn about your hose.  More on hose lays later, but this little drill that can be done anywhere and any time is valuable and a good discussion starter.

By the way, when they tell you which way they would follow, make them tell you “why” so that you know they aren’t just guessing and watch them squirm.

Remember the fundamentals and stay safe.

Posted by dc802 on August 27, 2010 • Filed under: RIT, command-leadership, fire-rescue-topics, firefighter-safety-health, mayday, search, situational awareness, training-development, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

Learn Something

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I debated myself on whether I should post this video or not. I don’t like to be critical of fire departments and how they handled a call. I, and many others have made poor decisions on the fire ground over the years and we will likely make unintentional mistakes in the future. After all, we are human.

But, the more I thought about it the more I believe that there is just too much to learn from here. Notice the word learn? This video is being shared as a learning tool and to show how easy it is to fall into the trap of thinking it will never happen to me.  We have all been there and done that and this video will hopefully provide as a reminder of what we need to consider on the fire ground.

So, I ask you, what is to be learned here?  What lessons would you share with your crew and fellow firefighters?  Be constructive and not critical.  Remember, you never know when the camera will be on you and I know I am not perfect.

Let’s learn something that will keep us safe and make us better and thank the guy who filmed and posted the video for the experience.

Stay safe and be careful.

Posted by dc802 on August 15, 2010 • Filed under: buildling construction, command-leadership, fire sprinklers, firefighting-operations, forcible entry, situational awareness, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

Blog Carnival 5: Minimum Standards?

3 comments

I have had this discussion several times with fellow fire service professionals.  It is something that is also asked of me in a more indirect manner by friends and family when talking about my job.  The fire service professional usually has one answer and my family and friends are shocked that there aren’t any standards.

Personally, I believe that there needs to be, at least at the state level, a system that requires continuing education and minimum job performance evaluations.  I have heard that the last thing the fire service needs is more unfunded mandates required by non-firefighting personnel.  To that comment, I agree.  However, it cannot be overlooked that we are in a time and era of firefighting like we have never seen before.  We have all heard someone say that “this ain’t your father’s fire service anymore.”

I have been a paramedic for 17 years and I am required to acquire a certain number of continuing education units over a five year period.  In addition, the CEU’s must be in particular categories and areas in order to keep me a well rounded educated paramedic.  It works and it is expected by the public.  After all, do you want a medic that is keeping up with the profession or one that got his license and then never did another thing in his career working on you or your family?

Well, that is exactly what we have in the fire service. We have what I believe is a majority of our peers getting “in” and never doing anything extra.  I know firefighters who are more interested in their side jobs and hobbies than they are in the profession in which so many depend on his skills.  I have heard one say that he has no desire to go get any extra training or to read the trade publications because he “just isn’t that in to it.”  WTF!

I have seen guys fight and fight to get into the academy. They spend ten weeks learning very basic information that must be continually expanded on and re-learned over years to become proficient.  Then they get hired and never do another thing in their career.  This leave us open for scrutiny and makes the fire service a dangerous place.

Although I am not a big fan of making government a part of the fire service as we know it, I am fearful that if we don’t fix some of our own problems they will fix them for us.  Part of the fix should include requiring recertification, fitness testing and job performance evaluations. Now before some of you have a complete seizure, hear me out.

First, there should a required number of CEU’s that must be obtained in each discipline over a predetermined amount of time.  For example, you have to get formal training in ventilation, forcible entry, etc, every three years.  Yes, your employment would depend on it, just like my medic license. I want to know that the person crawling down the hall is up to date with our SCBA techniques and rescue drills in the event that something goes bad.

As I said before, I don’t think that this should be regulated by a national standard so much as state oversight.  The reason I say this, as much as I would like to see a national standard, is that each state is unique in its needs.  If you are a firefighter in California you will need more extensive training in wildland than someone in Missouri.  The examples are endless, so I believe each state should meet minimum national requirements and then can adapt their own program.

I think we only hurt ourselves when we don’t train and encourage measurable professional development.  We owe it to the people we protect and to our peers and to our families to be highly trained and educated professionals.  The only way to be “professional” is to continually train and learn about our profession.

Posted by dc802 on July 29, 2010 • Filed under: administration-leadership, command-leadership, fire-rescue-topics, forcible entry, scba, search, training-development, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: , , , , ,

What Do You See?

5 comments

I am a big fan of companies getting out and scoping out their response area. Just when you think you have seen it all, something catches your eye that you missed the other 100 times you passed it by.  We all know what I am talking about.

Look at the picture above. As a fire service leader, what do you see?  What have you learned from your years of experience and training about these types of buildings?

What is of significance?

What is of significance that you see right away but the new guy might not have a clue about?

As an officer that will be making the initial decisions on this building you have a great responsibility to know as much about this structure as you can.  It will certainly help you to make the best possible decision about your tactics.

Take the time to sit with your crews and look at the features of this building. What type of construction is it?  What type of occupancy is it?  Why are both so important?  It just might mean the difference of saving the occupants and yourself.

Stay safe and be careful.

Posted by dc802 on July 28, 2010 • Filed under: buildling construction, command-leadership, engineered lumber, fire codes, fire stopping, fire-rescue-topics, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, i joists, rescues, residential sprinklers, situational awareness, training-fire-rescue-topics, trusses, ventilation • Tagged: , , , , , ,

Changes in Building Features

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Changes in building features.

These pictures show how buildings are altered over the years and with change of ownership and/or occupancy type.

You can see that what used to be windows are now bricked in.

This is very common on older buildings that had numerous windows and in some cases they are not very efficient.  Owners will frame or brick them in just to eliminate the problem all together.

The problem is we don’t know what the inside sill and frame-out of the inside of the window is like.

This is important to note when your doing your 360 or pre-planning.

When firefighters become lost or disoriented we are taught to find a window or door on an outside wall.  The inside of this building may feel like windows to the gloved hand, but in reality it has been blocked up.

A firefighter may spend a great deal of time and energy trying to get out the “window” and not move on to an actual egress point.

Keep these things in mind and get to know your area. We probably all have these buildings with these feature changes in our area and we have an obligation to point these out to our newer firefighters.  Stay prudent and be involved in your jurisdiction’s building construction and occupancy types.

Stay safe and keep cool.

Posted by dc802 on July 24, 2010 • Filed under: RIT, buildling construction, command-leadership, exits, fire codes, fire-rescue-topics, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, mayday, search, situational awareness, training-development, training-fire-rescue-topics, vacant building fires • Tagged: , , , , , ,

Adapting–The Rest of the Story

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First, let thank you all for the comments.  There are no right or wrong answers, just great thoughts and ideas for us to all think about and learn from.  Now, the rest of the story.

The rest of the story.

There is nothing earth shattering here, but I learned two valuable lessons on this fire.

When we pulled up on this fire, the first arriving engines were all two man cabs. We didn’t have jump seats in any of our trucks at the time. I did some digging and found out that this fire was in 1997.

The drive was narrow and we got hung up in the ditch, blocking the drive right off the bat.  Luckily we had multiple trucks rolling at the dispatch and we had adequate personnel.

The first crew stretched a 1 3/4 inch line in through the side B door in the kitchen and advanced up the stairs.  The first floor had no smoke or fire at this time.  It became apparent fairly quickly that the initial attack was not making any progress.

We advanced a second line, a 2 1/2 inch stretch up the same stairs and made a very fast knock down.  The importance of this is that we did this with less than 1000 gallons of water.  Why do I stress this?

I have had debates about using large lines when water supplies are limited or late in developing.  When asked about using a larger line the response is that they would not use one because they will run out of water too fast.  My rebuttal is always that they may just get enough gpm on the fire to put it out before you run out of water.  That is exactly what we did.  Oh, and two guys handled the hose!

So, lesson 1 is big fire equals big water. If the fire is advanced enough that you will run out of water, it wont make any difference what size your line is. But, the larger line will put out more fire in that short amount of time.

While we were up stairs fighting fire, there was a crew in the living room doing some work. They had started salvage operations in the unaffected part of the house.  Understand that we didn’t need extensive ventilation and we had adequate manpower.  But, they stacked and covered everything in the living room and did the same in other rooms that were appropriate.

This ended up paying off big with the homeowner. As happy as they were about us putting out their fire, they were just as happy, or even more so, that we protected what had not been damaged by fire but would have been by the water.  When they were interviewed by the paper they went on and on about our efforts to protect all of their property.

So, lesson number 2 is to take the time to perform salvage operations if manpower and conditions permit. It is something that is too often overlooked.

By the way, there was no basement here, but all of you are correct in assuming this until you know for sure.  All of the responses were great and I really appreciate the time that you took to share.

Stay safe and be careful.

Posted by dc802 on July 22, 2010 • Filed under: administration-leadership, command-leadership, fire-rescue-topics, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, fires, training-development, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: , , , , ,

Adapting

5 comments

What size line would you take?

This was a fire I was on one night over ten years ago.  It was a great learning fire and the tactics had to be changed for a successful stop.

I can tell you that a great deal went right this night and there were things that happened away from the fire that paid huge dividends.

If you are the first arriving unit and officer, explain where your going and what your doing.  I’ll give you a little information to help you along.

-This is in a rural area, no hydrants.

-The house is old. Old newspaper and straw were found in the walls during overhaul.

-We had plenty of manpower.

-On side B there is a door that leads to the kitchen and the stairs go up from the kitchen on that side, just so you know.

I would like to see a great deal of feedback on this one.  Please let me know what operations would be going on away from the fire.  After I get enough comments, I will post what we did and why it worked.

As always, thanks for your continued support and use this however you want for your training purposes.

Stay safe and be careful out there.

Posted by dc802 on July 18, 2010 • Filed under: administration-leadership, buildling construction, command-leadership, fire-rescue-topics, firefighting-operations, fires, overhaul, situational awareness, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Residential or Commercial Alarm?

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Residential or commercial?

Even in this downturn in the economy, there are still very large homes being built.  In many cases these homes are over 5,000 square feet of total living area.

This creates a significant problem for many fire departments, especially smaller, more rural ones, in regards to tactics.

We are fighting these fires with traditional methods and resources. In many cases it just isn’t enough.  Add to the those issues that these are all built using light-weight construction, we have a recipe for disaster, as we have seen across our country.

Firefighters are falling through floors immediately after entering.  Roofs are collapsing much earlier than before.  Contents are causing fires to burn faster and reach untenable temperatures much earlier in the fire.  The larger area requires the firefighters to search longer and further into a building than in the past.

We need to look at these structures a little differently when confronted with a working fire in them.  Here are some considerations that should not be overlooked on these fires:

1. Your going to need more water, get it rolling fast.

2. A 360 is a must. You don’t know what you might have on the back side. 4 stories, victims hanging out windows, location of the fire, etc.

3. A larger line. It may be very prudent to pull a 2 1/2 as your first line of attack.

4. More manpower may be needed due to the multiple functions needed because of the size.  You may treat this alarm like a commercial alarm.

5. Search lines. In these very large homes, it is not out of the question to use a search line.

These are the primary items that you can’t discount. You may need to think differently on these larger home fires to have a positive outcome. I have seen departments burn these houses down because they were using tactics for an 1100 square foot building on a 5500 square foot house.

With the open floor plans and the light weight building materials, fire develops very fast in these homes. Anticipate that and plan for it. Adjust and have back up plans.  Never be afraid to regroup to get it right.

Feel free to add to the concerns, I encourage you to contribute. After all, that is what makes this so much fun.

Stay safe and stay low. Don’t forget to hydrate all day in this heat. Carry around some water and sip on it all day.

Posted by dc802 on July 16, 2010 • Filed under: RIT, buildling construction, command-leadership, engineered lumber, fire-rescue-topics, firefighter-safety-health, i joists, situational awareness, training-fire-rescue-topics, trusses, ventilation • Tagged: , , , , ,

Crisis Leadership

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When I presented at FDIC I had a few evaluations that were disappointed in the lack of “solutions” to some of the issues that I present.  The following is some of what did not get covered at FDIC due to limited time.  For those that might have been in the above category at FDIC 2010, I had 1 hour 45 minutes to fit a 4 hour class.

So, I hope this addresses some of those concerns.  It does not address all of them, but hits the point of Crisis Leadership.  However, I believe that you can apply much of what is in this submission to most situations, just slightly modified.

Thanks for reading and please pass on any ideas or methods that you have used that have been successful.

As always, stay safe and keep hydrated in this heat.

When I teach my class “A Firefighter’s Own Worst Enemy” I discuss behaviors and actions that are detrimental to the person, his fellow firefighters, the officers and the organization.  One of the biggest factors in this equation is leadership.

We toss that word around in the fire service all of the time, yet, I am not so sure many know what it really means to be a leader.  We have all seen the promotion happen and the new officer expects to be a leader but has never had any real leadership training and hasn’t practiced leadership prior to the promotion.  Leadership is more than just bossing people around and making decisions about what the daily schedule is going to be.  It is even more than telling your folks what to do on the fire ground.

There are many aspects of leadership, but today we are going to talk about leadership during rough times.  I’m going to focus on crisis leadership and how it relates to how we cultivate our people in the fire house and on the fire ground.  We have to prepare them to make decisions.  Let’s face it, you are not always going to be there to guide them, so we have to set them up to succeed.

As was mentioned in the above paragraph, we have to practice leadership.  It doesn’t just show up and is not obtainable for everyone.  Sure, there are characteristics and methods that you can copy and learn from other leaders, but the fact is that you have to create some of your own style based on the people you are leading and the goals of the organization.  One of the most important parts of our profession is preparing our people for battle.

Firefighters must make split-second decisions that result in life or death consequences.  In some circumstances what we do and the decisions we make could determine whether or not someone lives or dies.  It could be the people that we protect or us.  We have to instill in our firefighters and officers the ability to make those decisions and the education and training to make the correct decisions.

When we speak of crisis leadership, we are talking about decisions during an emergency.  Sure, a crisis could happen in the firehouse, but for this article, I am speaking of fire ground decision making.  That is where we are getting injured and killed and where some of our decisions are most important.  But, the molding of good leaders will carry over into the firehouse, making the company and organization better.

When you are a company officer, you have to lead by example and your expectations must be made clear.  It is not a matter of coming in and telling everyone that you are in charge and that they must listen to you. It is a matter of you coming in and showing that you are in charge and the leader by your actions.  You present yourself the way you want your firefighters to present themselves.  You convey a positive attitude and you don’t complain about everything that is wrong with the place or the job.  Additionally, you train and work hard and you put great effort into improvement and you’re cool under pressure.

If you want your people to be calm and collected during times of crisis, take a look at the leader and that will tell you if the crew is or isn’t.  During crisis moments, the leader must set a direction that is clear and concise.  The initial decisions are crucial and will dictate how the rest of the incident goes.  The leader will evaluate the situation at hand and determine what tactics to take, what resources will be needed and will already be thinking of a backup plan.

If things start to go bad, the good leader doesn’t get flustered and will not stick to failed plan just because he is worried about how he will be judged.  He understands that plans don’t always work, even when based on good information.  Changing a course of action, even in the fire house, when something is not working is a true sign of a leader.  It isn’t so much admitting that you are wrong, but that you can adapt and change the course of action to get to the desired outcome.  This teaches them to make decisions and not to be afraid of being wrong.

With these leadership skills we are obligated to pass along to our people the decision making skills that are necessary to be effective during a crisis.  By doing this, we ensure their progress as a firefighter and future officer, but we also ensure that when you are not there, they are confident enough to make tough decisions without retribution.  This is crucial and will be discussed more in a future article.

If a leader is truly a leader, he will be able to get buy-in or commitment of his decisions.  This is not based on his authority for rank necessarily, but rather on the trust he has built over time.  As he has made decisions with his team, they have learned that his decisions are based on the overall good of the company and not self-motivated.  This type of commitment is important for the leader to have during times of crisis.  Typically it results in clear communication and a common goal between the leader and the crew.

The ultimate result is a crisis situation that goes smoothly and is successfully mitigated.  That is what it’s all about anyway, right?  In addition, you are showing your team members how to be leaders and not telling them how. Remember, leadership is not something that you get or have and then that’s it.  Leadership is a dynamic process by which you are able to continually motivate people to do the things that they want to do very well along with getting them to do the things they don’t want to do even better.  If they trust your purpose of your motivations, they will continue to operate as a well oiled machine while at the same time making you look very good.

Posted by dc802 on July 14, 2010 • Filed under: administration-leadership, command-leadership • Tagged: , , ,

Officers, Take a Look Around You!

9 comments

What do you see that makes you say, Hmmmm?

Take a look at this picture and tell me what you see?

It isn’t the operations, necessarily, that I want you to see here.

This is why the officer/s need to be aware and not get tunnel vision.

Too many times I have seen new and veteran officers take the nozzle from the back stepper and go barreling in without any regard for what is going on around him.  His days on the nozzle are over for the most part. His job now is to see the conditions and to take a look at the big picture.

So, what do you see?

Stay safe and be careful out there.

Posted by dc802 on June 24, 2010 • Filed under: RIT, administration-leadership, buildling construction, command-leadership, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, i joists, situational awareness, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: , , , , , ,

Apply the Lessons Learned

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With the fire service and others taking this day and weekend to remember the Charleston 9, along with other high profile LODD, I wanted to do something different. I wanted to look at how we can specifically apply the recommendations that were listed in the report on the Charleston Super Sofa Fire.

I am going to do this just one at a time and I will likely take several weeks to cover them all.  It is very likely that some will intermingle with others, and will be covered together.

Today I want to look at pre-incident planning.  For me, this starts with when the building is being built.   In reality, it is a combination of both, during construction and visits and regular intervals.

conduct pre-incident planning inspections of buildings within their jurisdictions to facilitate development of safe fireground strategies and tactics

Light weight, engineered floor joists.

Today, we stopped in on a new restaurant.  As you can see from the photo it is all light weight, engineered construction.

The comment was made that we need not enter this building if it burns.  Well, in an ideal world that is correct.

The fact is is that we just don’t know what we will be tasked with doing if this building catches fire.  We can’t predict what time of day or who will or will not be in it.  What we can do, however, is know what this building is made of and the hazards associated with those materials and products of construction.

We also must be prudent in our tactics when arriving, like lifting ceiling tiles before we get too far in the building, looking for fire running above us.

This visit provided some great information aside from the type of construction and those hazards associated with them.  First, the building is completely sprinklered.  That is a plus.  We located the FDC and the nearest hydrant.  Both good things.

Concealed spaces over the booths.

We found that this concealed space had sprinklers dropped down to the ceiling level, but none were in the space or immediately above it.  An easy place for fire to spread quickly.

As we discussed earlier in the post, most would say we don’t need to enter this building.  In theory I agree, but we never know what we are facing when we arrive.

Something that we learned was that there is an area on the east side of this building, Side D, that is built with dimensional lumber and is sprinklered as well. The roof construction is not truss and the walls are all dimensional studs.  What can we take away from this?

Side D construction was different than the rest of the building.

We discussed that if there needed to be an attempt to make entry, it would be best to try to take a stand from this area. It is not part of the rest of the roof system and will likely hold up a little longer with the dimensional lumber.

Another idea was that RIT would be staged near this entrance if there would happen to be interior crews making a rescue or knocking down what was perceived as a small fire.  They know that there is a straight shot to the middle of the building through a more secure type of construction.

With all that being said, accessibility to the building needs to be looked at; where will multiple units be staged?  Where will you place ladders and are there overhead dangers?

It is important to look at all of these factors to make a good decision based on prior knowledge.  We also understand that Plan A doesn’t always work so have a Plan B ready based on the planning you did on the building.

There are many other components about pre-incident planning that I didn’t mention, but hopefully you get the point.  Get out and visit these sites.  Be involved and have discussions about how you would perform at a fire here.

Above all, don’t let the lives lost at any LODD be lives lost in vain.  Learn from their mistakes, but don’t be critical, we have all screwed up and been lucky enough to get away with it.  Be constructive and train on the recommendations so that you don’t repeat history.

Stay safe and please, never forget those lost in the line of duty.  We owe them our promise to train hard and to learn from them.

Posted by dc802 on June 18, 2010 • Filed under: RIT, administration-leadership, buildling construction, command-leadership, engineered lumber, fire codes, fire sprinklers, fire stopping, fire-prevention-education, fire-rescue-topics, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, i joists, in-the-line-of-duty, inspections, line-of-duty, situational awareness, training-development, training-fire-rescue-topics, trusses • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , ,

So Many Decisions

13 comments

Decision Time!

This is an incident that could turn out to be very interesting.

This is going to address the use of back up lines and when they are deployed.

I had an interesting conversation about assignments, as you could tell from the previous post.

This discussion circled around the deployment of the second apparatus on the scene.  This is not a metro response where engines do engine work and so on.  Rather, this is where the second in unit is assigned upon arrival.

With this picture in mind, what does your second in unit do?  Does it backup the first in crew with a hand line?  Does it perform ventilation?  Just where do you order this second in crew and what are the tactical priorities?

I believe that there is a time and situation for using the second in unit for a back up line, but not automatically just because they are the second unit there.

What do you think and why? You gave some great insight into run procedures, so I know there will be some great conversation on this one.

Stay low and be safe.

Posted by dc802 on June 8, 2010 • Filed under: VES, command-leadership, fire-rescue-topics, firefighting-operations, fires, funding-staffing, rescues, situational awareness, training-development, training-fire-rescue-topics, ventilation • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

How Do You Operate?

13 comments

How are you assigned? Or are you?

This is more of a poll question that I would really like a lot of input on.

How are you assigned?

Do you run separate engine, truck and rescue companies?

Do you run with predetermined assignments based on your arrival order?

Are your people assigned tasks by seating?

Or, do you arrive and wait for an assignment from the IC?

These questions came up in a recent conversation with several people on multiple occasions.  I am really interested to know how the rest of the country is doing “it” and what trends are being followed.

This is especially interesting with the unfortunate budget cuts and reductions in staffing in some jurisdictions.

Let us know what is going on out there, we really look forward to your feedback.

Posted by dc802 on June 4, 2010 • Filed under: administration-leadership, command-leadership, fire-rescue-topics, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, funding-staffing, training-development, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: , , , , ,

Factors to Consider

1 comment

What do you notice that could be crucial to your decisions?

We have recently had discussions about size up, so I thought this would be a good picture to post.

If you are the officer pulling up on this one and nobody is out front, what are some immediate “red flags?”

I know this one is easy, but it just drives the point home.

What if this was a vacant house and you noted the same conditions and “red flags?”  Would it change how you approach this fire?

What would be your tactics and how much would you risk as the first arriving officer?

Let’s talk fire!

Stay safe and keep training.

Posted by dc802 on June 1, 2010 • Filed under: administration-leadership, command-leadership, fire-rescue-topics, firefighting-operations, fires, rescues, search, situational awareness, training-fire-rescue-topics, vacant building fires • Tagged: , , , , ,

Since We’re Talking Ventilation…..

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Since posting the video on PPV, I have been sent links to many other videos on PPV, ventilation and flashover. Some were good and some not so good. This one I thought was a good video to sit down and take a look at with your crew.

There are some things that can be learned from this video. We weren’t there from the onset, but valuable information can be taken away from this video.

If you have links for videos or your own that you think would be beneficial, pass them on to us and we will take a look and post them if appropriate.

Take care, stay safe and stay low.

Posted by dc802 on May 28, 2010 • Filed under: RIT, command-leadership, fire-rescue-topics, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, fires, training-development, training-fire-rescue-topics, vent, ventilation • Tagged: , , , , ,

Fundamentals, Basics, Training, Oh My!

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Last night I had the pleasure to listen to and get in on a discussion on Art Chief Reason’s new FirefighterNetcast radio show.  The show was fantastic and the content was interesting and stimulating.  However, the topic that came up that really got my attention was when he and Dave dove into the subject of risk vs. benefit and safety vs. extinguishment.  I know, I know, this has been beaten with a sledge hammer over our collective heads for the last year or so.  But, I just can’t figure one thing out; when did it become okay to perform different risk analysis and size-ups for assumed different buildings?

Now listen, I understand that if a vacant building is leaning and crumbling you have to take a different approach, but overall, your first 90 seconds should be very similar, if not the same, on every a call.  I don’t buy into the segregation of calls and how you look at them in theoretical terms.  I think that this is a crash course for failure.  Oh, and I get that a commercial building is different from a residential building, but the basics are the same.

Before you start slamming me on this, hear me out.  We are taught as company officers to size-up a call and/or building as soon as we get the dispatch.  We should be familiar with our area and resources that are or are not backing us up.  We should be more than competent at basic size-up skills and ideally get a look at three sides of the building before we ever get off the apparatus.  We can determine within seconds and relay to our back stepper what size line to pull and give instructions to incoming units before we hit the ground.

We have heard of and there are some teaching victim profiling; determining if there is someone in the building or not and if it is survivable.  While I understand what is trying to be done in regards to keeping ourselves safe, why should it be any different from your size-up and basic training as a company officer?  A building is tenable or it is not, no matter if it is occupied or not occupied.

Decisions, decisions.

Decisions, decisions.

It seems to me that the real problem is intermingled between fewer fires, thus we have less real-world experience.  The second part of this is that we have not compensated for that lack of real-world experience as a whole.  The experience we cannot help, but the training has to change for company officers and improve.

The fire officer when confronted with a crisis situation pulls from past experiences to determine what he should do.  Those past experiences include actual calls, education and training.  We have already determined that we are all getting less experience because fires are down.  The other part of this is that the training has to be meaningful and relevant.

If our training doesn’t match what we are expected to do under extreme circumstances, we will fail to make the proper decision at those times.  So, when the company officer pulls up and has a working fire in any building, he is pulling from his past experiences, or lack of, to make his decision on a course of action to take.  This is critical and I think it goes back to mastering the basics and being able to identify potentially hazardous conditions at any fire without trying to run down two separate matrixes based on occupied/unoccupied.  That is just confusing.

When an officer pulls up to the building or situation his experience and training will kick in if trained appropriately.  Whether it is a two-story, occupied house or a single-story vacant house, the process should be the same and the decisions made from the same variables identified by the company officer.

–What is showing?

–What kind of construction?

–Life safety indicators?

–Conditions at present time and where will they be in 5 minutes?

–360

–Is it safe to enter or is it not?

These seem simple, but several other factors can be determined from each of these and the company officer will make these decisions in seconds and minutes.  If the building is not safe to enter, don’t enter.  If there is a chance to search safely, whether occupied or not, search.  If the building can safely be entered to extinguish the fire, whether occupied or not, enter and extinguish the fire.  If the building is not structurally sound, occupied or not, don’t enter.  Why make it so hard?

I truly believe we can over think some of this.  If we have officers making bad decisions, we need to look at our training and drills.  We need to look at what emphasis we put on career/professional development and make sure our fire ground leaders are competent.  But, don’t confuse the issue by buzz phrases and methods that just complicate fire ground decisions.

The bottom line is that the sooner we put a fire out, the better opportunity any victims will have.  Use common sense and training and past experiences to make prudent, sound decisions that take into account all factors.

I am sure that I will rub someone the wrong way with this, but I have been kicking this around for a long time and thought I would try to put in the blogosphere.  So, no offense meant and train hard and frequently.  Don’t complicate things, remember our mission and master the basics.

Tenable or not tenable, vacant or not.

Tenable or not tenable, vacant or not.

Posted by dc802 on May 18, 2010 • Filed under: RIT, administration-leadership, buildling construction, command-leadership, fire-rescue-topics, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, fires, rescues, search, situational awareness, training-development, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Are You Making a Difference?

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Ahhh, the good ole days!

Ahhh, the good ole days!

Are you making a difference?  It is a simple question that requires a “yes” or “no” answer.  So, which is it?

The fire service is full of opportunities for people to take advantage of to better themselves.  Are you taking advantage of those opportunities?

It is easy to go to work and sit down at the kitchen table and complain about what needs to be done that day.  It is easy to come into work and complain about training or not doing it unless we are directed.  It is easy to go home and completely forget about the job and never take another class outside of work again.  Are we doing our best?

I recently had some folks complain about the amount of training we do at my career department. (He thinks we do too much!) The bad thing is that it was coming from a captain!  My comment was simple, what is enough?  He has a  daughter who plays sports and I asked about how and when she practiced.  He explained that she did practice at least 3 times a week.

Then I asked if she practiced after her games began and he answered “yes.”  Why, I asked, the games have started and they should be experts by this time, so why are they still practicing since the games have started?  He started to see where this was going and started to get agitated with me.

I simply wanted to know if his daughter’s coach would quit practicing just because the games had started and he finally caved and said that no, they kept practicing.  Of course they keep practicing.  Skills fade and you need to prepare for the next team.

You hear pro teams talk about it all of the time; we have to watch game film, we have to prepare for their defensive schemes or we just weren’t as prepared as they were. It is no different for us. Our enemy never takes a day off.  Our opponent never quits and is always ready to take us out.  We have to keep preparing.

We know of  the guy that gets out of the academy and never does anything extra for the rest of his career.  The guy that gets promoted and then calls it quits on training and classes.  This is not the way to beat the other team for 30 years of a career.

We must continually train and gain knowledge. Not only on new issues but, we must re-learn things that we have forgotten or not done in a while.  We owe it to ourselves to be safe and experts in our profession so we get home safe to our family. We also owe our partners to be as good as we can be so that they have the confidence in us to know that we will be there if something goes bad.

Look in the mirror and ask yourself, “Am I doing enough?”.  Be honest, are you doing enough to make a difference?

Is one day a month, like this particular captain wants to train, enough for you?  I hope not.  You have to stay motivated and keep up the fight.  Train and keep training.  Read and keep reading.  Take classes and pass on the information.

Be fair to yourself, your family and your fellow firefighters; make a difference and do the right things.

Take care and stay safe!

Posted by dc802 on May 15, 2010 • Filed under: administration-leadership, command-leadership • Tagged: , , ,

High Rise Hose Tips

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This video gives some very specific tips for folding and using your high rise pack. Take the time to watch this, it has some really good ideas.

Have a Happy and Safe Easter.

Posted by dc802 on April 4, 2010 • Filed under: command-leadership, firefighting-operations, high rise, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: , , ,

False Exterior Walls

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Do you see anything different here?

Do you see anything different here?

I  was out of town most of this past week for class and noticed this building on the first morning I drove in.

The first morning they had only installed the wall to the “r” in Performing.  The second day I realized that I needed to snap a picture of this to share.

This false wall is about four stories tall and covers the entire length of the building.

What challenges do you see?

What challenges do you see?

As you can see, this wall definately would challenge any rescue efforts were there victims in the windows.

Not only will it hamper rescue efforts, performing ventilation or suppression from this side of the building would be challenging at best.

The frame of the false wall is set off of the building wall at a distance of approximately two feet.  That is just a guess, but operating ground ladders here is almost impossible.

Interior crews would need to know that this side is limited access and egress because of the wall.   It will certainly challenge our strategies and tactics should an incident happen here.

This is one good example of why you need to get out and see your area.  Know what’s going on and get involved.  As a crew you can preplan this building by just parking out front, take a picture or two and go back and have a discussion about how you would operate at this building.

Stay safe and be careful.

Posted by dc802 on April 3, 2010 • Filed under: buildling construction, command-leadership, exits, fire codes, fire-rescue-topics, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, forceable entry, high rise, situational awareness, ventilation • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

High Rise Deployment Stretch

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Here is a good video of stretching from a standpipe to the fire room. It looks like a good way to control the hose and to reduce kinks prior to charging it.

Let me know what you think and if you have some other ideas or drills that you use.

Stay safe and be careful.

Posted by dc802 on March 30, 2010 • Filed under: command-leadership, fire-rescue-topics, firefighting-operations, high rise • Tagged: , , , ,

Fire Flows for High Rise Packs

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Here are four great videos showing you the differences in the kind of nozzles and set ups for high rise firefighting.  If you don’t know about or visited the Brotherhood’s site, you really are missing out on some great stuff.  You can also become a Facebook Fan and get regular updates.

Enjoy the videos and visit the Brotherhood regularly.

Go here to see the other videos related to this topic.

Posted by dc802 on March 29, 2010 • Filed under: command-leadership, fire-rescue-topics, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, fires, high rise • Tagged: , , ,

More Company Discussions:You Are the Boss!

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Deploy your people. You are the big boss on this one, what next?

Deploy your people. You are the big boss on this one, what next?

You are the incident commander on this fire.  You can deploy who ever you want where ever you want.

I am allowing for your normal response of resources. No cheating!

Don’t worry about what is going on with the personnel in the picture; pretend they are not there.

Explain your size-up and the building characteristics.

Deploy your resources accordingly through what ever a first alarm will bring you. If you want to expand your alarms, hey, have at it.  Just let us know.

Sit down with your crews and work this out.

This fire came in as a house fire, unknown victims, called in by the neighbors.

Have fun with it, pass it on, and be safe.

Posted by dc802 on March 17, 2010 • Filed under: administration-leadership, buildling construction, command-leadership, fire-rescue-topics, firefighting-operations, fires, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: , , , , , ,

Company Discussions: Redeployment?

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What would you do at this point?

What would you do at this point?

There is a lot already taking place here.  A hose crew is at the door or inside.  A guy is taking out a window or something to that effect on the D side.  And someone is on a ladder.

There is some nasty smoke pushing out of this structure.  It definitely is under pressure.

Time is running out for keeping this in check and an interior attack.  We’ve all been here and we know how this can go.

At this point in the fire, what ventilation tactic would you use and why?

If you need to, redirect these crews and put them where you think they will make the most progress and explain your actions.

Share with your crew and post your discussion points.  We always get great feedback and we know you have some goo ideas, so, let’s hear them.

Stay safe and be careful.  Get yourself healthy and stay healthy.

Posted by dc802 on March 7, 2010 • Filed under: command-leadership, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, fires, situational awareness, vent, ventilation • Tagged: , , , , ,

Back to Basics Part 3: Assignments

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Assignments are important, use them.

Assignments are important, use them.

This picture says a lot to me. I know that it is a still frame and only a fraction of a second in time, but I believe it is telling.

We have fire venting from the Alpha side upper window, and from the Bravo side near the eaves.  There is no doubt that we have a good working job.

How many times do we see chaos from all parties involved when we show up to a fire like this.  Adrenaline is pumping and people are excited and ready to go.  Sometimes too much so.

With all of the chaos and effort to be first in, too many times we forget our assignments or tasks.  Everyone can’t be first in and the other jobs are just as important.

Looking at this picture I get the impression that these are some cool cats.  You have a team raising a ladder. You have a team with a hose line ready.  It looks like the officer is getting his stuff on a little behind his hose crew, maybe from completing his 360.  And there is a firefighter propping open the door.

This looks organized just from what I can see.  It looks good and I bet they took it to it.

Know your assignments and do them.  The best attack is a coordinated one when everyone is doing what needs to be done to accomplish the overall goal; safely get in and out after putting the fire out and removing all victims.

You must train this way and trust your crew for this to happen.  So, get out of the recliner today and do something as a team. Ask about assignments if you have questions and train, train, train, and train some more.

Take care and stay safe.

Posted by dc802 on February 28, 2010 • Filed under: administration-leadership, command-leadership, fire-rescue-topics, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, fires, ladders, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: , , , , , ,