See all posts in the network tagged with firefighting-operations
Here is a good video from our buddy Dale Pekel. Dale has a series of great training videos. In this video, he shows some basics about size up and reading smoke.
We have to do more of this, and like Dale says, be proactive. Train hard and we’ll see you on the “big one.”
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.
How often do you practice with these?
So, we all have these on some piece of our fleet. Most places will have a set of these on every truck.
The questions that I want to pose are these: How often do you drill with them? What are the instances that you would use them? Do you every practice with gloves and low/zero visibility?
I know that where I am we don’t use these very often but the potential certainly is there. I have seen many drills where they get aired up and then put away. It is also important to understand where they are useful other than vehicle rescues.
The main area I am pointing to here is RIT or FAST activities. If you include this in your RIT cache, do you regularly drill in zero or low visibility. Let me tell you, it is a totally different experience.
You must understand leverage points and counter points or balances. Whatever terminology you want to use, if you lift from one side, you have to expect the opposite to move as well.
So, when you drill for these, lift something, anything, like pallets with full visibility. Watch what happens to the opposite side of the lift and make notes. When you get into the dark you will have to crib, raise, and lower all by feel. Oh, and up on red and down on blue is difficult at best.
After training, let us know how you identify the difference and how you communicate those instructions.
Keep up the good work and train hard.
I recently was in downtown St. Louis with my family for a day with the kids before school started. We were across the street from the building in the picture.
What you see in this picture is just a row of windows, right? Well, they are labeled, which is nice because if they weren’t there could be big problems.
You can see in the second picture that the labels identify this as an elevator shaft. This is a heads up move for the building department and/or fire department for requiring this labeling.
Just imagine trying to make entry or counting dwelling/unit windows for RIT or emergency escape and finding out about this later.
This is just another example of knowing your area and the unique construction methods that are used.
Get in your buildings and be familiar. Had these not been labeled and a significant fire broke out here, this could have caused some serious problems.
Just for fun, what kinds of problems can we identify as a result of these windows not being labeled? I look forward to hearing some great ideas.
Stay safe and be careful.
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.
Forcible entry is an ongoing skill that must be practiced. A huge part of that is knowing your doors and construction of entry ways.
On a recent inspection we started discussing getting into these locked doors that are pass-coded for the resident’s protection.
As you can see, this is an outward swinging door that should be reasonable easy to force with the right tools and skill. Of course, in my experiences people aren’t spending as much time as they should practicing forcible entry techniques.
As a crew we started discussing how we would gain entry. One method is very simple and can be done with one tool.
Bust out the window, this one has no wire mesh, and drop the tool down to engage the panic bar.
I know this is very simple, but it can be effective if you only have one tool. You also have to have a good idea about the interior workings of the door. Showing again the importance of getting familiar with your buildings.
Stay safe and use your time out and about wisely.
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.
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.
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.
This is a video we did for a company drill. I know that everyone has their favorite method and some will not like using webbing for this. This is just an additional option you have. It really does give a little assistance with lifting. We have found we have a bit more leverage using the webbing.
However, you have to practice and practice with webbing in order to be proficient, otherwise it takes too long.
Stay safe and be careful.
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.
This is a good video on operating a typical elevator. I understand that there are many different types of elevators and different operating methods, but most are very similar to this. You can have different types of keys but the systems should be pretty standard.
Now some of the older elevators can have less options and safety features, so get familiar with the elevators in your jurisdiction. This is something I have seen firefighters struggle with, believe it or not, because they have never had any hands on experience with them.
Get out and use some of these and no how to use them before you have to.
When this pulls up on YouTube, you can subscribe to the creator, dieselducy, and he has additional videos of different elevators. Pretty interesting stuff.
Stay safe and be careful.
Car lifts.
Although we all have these in our areas, we need to occasionally take a look at these occupancies and discuss and prepare for the hazards contained in these buildings.
As we can see in this picture, the car lift is holding a vehicle in the air. We know that when they close, these cars remain elevated.
Most of the time this is not an issue, but when a fire happens or if the area fills with smoke, it can be dangerous for firefighters entering the building.
Floor level hazards.
There are also floor level and pit hazards that need to be identified and planned for. These should be identified during inspections and pre-planning surveys.
Be aware and stay familiar with your area and the buildings that you will be responding to.
Stay safe and look at these buildings before they burn.
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.
When I first saw this picture one particular characteristic caught my attention.
In my area, and I am sure it is the same in many other jurisdictions, people are trying to do more with what they have.
We are finding more families living together and they must make some accomodations for those added individuals. What I am referring to is the garage being converted into living space.
I understand that this is not unusual and the practice can make a really nice family room or large master bedroom. The difference we have been seeing is that they still look like garages from the outside. When’s the last time you searched the garage as part of your primary search?
Just be aware and consider this on your next fire. This also is a reason you need to stay familiar with your area. And, the next time your on a “routine” residential fire, you might just want to check the garage.
Stay safe and be careful.
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.
Three days of ball busting training evolutions on acquired structures!
If you missed FDIC, you have to make this training event.
I have had the opportunity to spend some time with Nate and Kevin and they are the real deal.
The training is real and practical. It is stuff you will use in real life, on real calls.
You just can’t afford to miss this. The price is right and the location is in the middle of the country. I just can’t say enough about the classes and teaching style of the Brotherhood Instructors.
Even if you can only make one day, it is worth the travel. But, beware, you will be whooped by the end of the weekend.
Get to the Brotherhood Instructors Facebook page and look at their videos, blogging and pictures for an idea of what they do.
See you soon and train hard with The Brotherhood!
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.
This video was suggested to me by a buddy of mine. It is a good video showing some different methods of forcing doors. This is a skill that too often gets overlooked. I will posting some more videos of forcible entry soon. In the meantime, if you have a method or technique that you would like to share, post or send it to us to post.
Stay safe and happy forcing.
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.
If you pulled up on this store front or one like it, what is your first course of action?
With a fire or just a haze, one of the first things that needs to be done, with an attack line ready, is to start looking above the drop ceiling. Even if it is drywall, you have to see what is above you in these occupancies.
These types of occupancies are found in fast food establishments, sit down restaurants and strip mall type buildings. Most of these new commercial buildings are all light weight, truss, engineered lumber construction.
By lifting the tiles and breaching the ceiling, we know how far the fire has advanced before committing people into these buildings. The concealed spaces are important for initial fire attack in these situations. It might indicate that the front door is as far as you go.
You have to consider, however, that the overhang outside the front door could be compromised if fire is found in the void spaces of the ceiling. Fire could be racing through the soffit of the overhang out front. Additional weight of signs will also cause early failure of these building features.
Remember to think on your feet and be sound in your decisions. These decisions come from experience and training. So, train hard and often.
Stay safe and be careful.
Photo from the Fillmore Gazette
Check out this article by Lance Peeples from the Webster Groves Fire Department in St. Louis County. I know Lance very well and he is a great fire service leader and carries the torch for increased training on the basics and for firefighter safety.
Tell Lance how much you like his article on his Fire Engineering page and give feed back about it. I know he would appreciate it.
Photo by Lance Peeples from Fire Engineering.
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.
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.
This is a video I found on The Bravest Online. This website has some great content and very current fire related videos that can be used for information and training ideas.
This video is from the Salt Lake City area and shows what can happen when you have hidden fire and use a positive pressure fan with crews inside the building.
Find more videos like this on firevideo.net
There are many thoughts on this tactic and you should follow your local SOP or guideline.
 This blog is part of the Emergency Services Ad Network. For marketing opportunities, please click here |
Here is the conclusion to the most recent case: 76 year old female CC: Chest pain. To see Part I… (more)
Fourth of a short series on the establishment of the Metropolitan Fire Department in NYC. Zouaves… (more)
AP reports eight people are still unaccounted for in the foothills above Boulder today, two days… (more)
The powder was not identified, but determined to be non-harmful.… (more)
Recent Comments