Here is a quick look at a building that offers more than one considering in regards to construction characteristics. The building in the photos is currently a resale shop. This building has been a tack shop, lawn equipment, sold boats and trailers. If you look hard at the front, it has been added onto.

The right side of the building was the original and the left was an addition. The front and side walls are wood frame with a brick veneer. As you can see, there is a parapet wall on three sides of the building. Both sides have been rearranged multiple times on the interior to accommodate the occupant of the moment. The original roof was flat.

This side view shows some exterior doors and the brick veneer. We can also see the electric service and a boarded up window. This two doors lead to different areas of the building and are not adjoining. You can also see that the parapet wall appears to be very tall and of combustible material.

This is the rear view and the most telling about this building. We can see that the back wall is different from the other three walls. The back wall is of block. We can also see that the roof is a lean to type of construction and knowing the history of this building, it is a “rain roof” or “roof over” that covered an old flat roof.

We can also see the parapet wall is brick on the two side walls with support ties. We know that those connections are very likely going to fail during a fire. There is a lot of void space that could be difficult to get to due to the “rain roof” and early collapse of the parapet wall should be expected.

In addition, the importance of the block wall in the back is important for orientation as well. If we get inside and get to a wall that is block, we have a pretty good idea of where we are. We only would know this by pre-planning and/or doing our 360.

These are just a few of the considerations you must think of when presented with this building or one like it. Discuss this with your crews and identify buildings that are similar in your response areas.

Train hard, stay safe, and remember those who have fallen for the lives of others. Please especially remember the families of Chief Kyle Ienn, Firefighter Doug Haase, Chief David Flint, Fire Lt. Kevin West who all left us this week.

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If you have a high rise or respond on mutual aid to a high rise district, do you know if they are marked for floor identification? If so, do you know how they corresspond with the interior labels? High rise buildings are marked differently, if at all. In our area the windows are typically marked with a reflective sticker, one on every fifth floor. Where this gets tricky is when the interior floors are labeled differently.

This high rise has red circle on the corner on the fifth floor window and the 15th floor window. You can see them in the top right hand corner of the windows on the right side. Now, some places will actually put numbers on the windows, but we are going to just address this one method. If you count the windows you will notice that it doesn't add up.

This building has eliminated the 13th floor, thus making the floors on floor off if counting. This is where preplanning comes in.

It is important to know how the outside corresponds with the interior. In some of these buildings the ground floor may be labeled as "Ground" or "Lobby" and not the first floor. In addition, if there are penthouse units at the top they may be labeled as such and not given a numerical label on the elevator panel. On this building the 13th floor has been eliminated. It goes from floor 12 to 14. On the photo below you can see that there is no 13 on the panel.

We need to get into these buildings and be familiar with the labeling of floors. The last we want to do is deploy to the wrong floor or take an elevator to close to the fire floor. It is also important when searching for victims, knowing what floor is reported and how the occupants will report floor numbers.

This is by no means the only marking systems, just one method. Get out, know your system and train with it.

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This post is just a simple challenge of tactical considerations.  The photos that are posted show a single-family house that had fire venting from the C/D corner when first units arrived.  The first in crews could not make the entire hallway on the first push do to intense heat and smoke.

[View with PicLens]

The smoke was banked almost to the floor even with the fire venting from that corner bedroom.

What are some considerations that must be looked at with this fire?  What would be your next plan of action?  Why ist there so much heat and smoke with the fire venting the exterior?  What is your size up?

Share your thoughts and answers with everyone and use this as discussion with your crew.  

As always, train hard and stay safe,

Jason

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It's Sunday and I was just sitting at work and I started thinking about an anchor point that I was taught with webbing. Not having tied it in a while I went out and made sure I remembered how to get it done. Lucky for me my memory is still intact.

The other guys came over and we had a short lesson for it's uses and showed them how to tie it too.  This led into a morning of going over some very simple, but effective, ways to use the webbing that we carry.

Everyone has their own ideas about why they carry a certain length of webbing or rope. But, don't limit yourself to the harnesses and escape systems that utilize webbing. The pieces I keep are for a multitude of "basic" practices that assist me, when needed, in actual firefighting.

We can use them for controlling doors, advancing a large line, searching off of a line and more.  I would like you to all share your webbing stories.  What lengths do you carry? Why? And are there any special tricks you have picked up from some experienced guy in the house?

Take care and remember our troops and their families this Memorial Day.

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I recently taught an Instructor 1 class and one of the things that I really like to make a point to emphasize is that we need to  pay attention to those firefighters and officer who are “salty” and who have been around a while.

We know that we have to attend classes and that we must get our noses in the trade journals and worth while web sites, but do we really listen when our more senior members are “telling stories?”  If not, we really need to start paying attention.

As a disclaimer, not all senior members will share or they just have never been engaged in the fire service. But, even some of those guys have something to offer even if they don’t realize it.  Each story has a lesson and we need to recognize this and absorb all we can while they are here.

Okay, so where I am going with this?  A few days after finishing this class, we were doing the dinner dishes and the discussion came up from a couple of the younger guys about fires and training.  Some how the conversation turned to commercial buildings, more specifically strip malls and fast food restaurants.

Out of curiosity I asked one of them what the first thing they would do if they responded to one of these buildings with a slight haze, odor of smoke or even an alarm sounding?  His first response was to go to the electric panel.

Well, as most of you may know where I am going with this, we advised him that he was wrong.  He had never been taught to take a pike pole and lift a ceiling tile as soon as you walk in the door.  This is critical information and I was shocked that his captain had  not covered this at some point.  Granted, he spends a large majority of his time on an LSV, but this is something he should have known.

What we did was have a very informative training lesson while doing dishes. I am pretty sure this will stick with him for the rest of his career as we discussed some case studies on this type of fire.  It didn’t take a lot of class preparation or Powerpoint slides, just an eager firefighter and some older ones willing to share.

Talk fire and rescue.  This has to be a normal activity in the fire house.  If we can instill this in the newer generation they will pass it on also.  We owe it to them to give them every little nugget of information that we can, sometimes whether they want it or not.

What was passed on to you by someone that you worked or trained with? How did it change what you did in the fire service? Let us know your story and keep on fighting the good fight.

Stay safe and train hard.

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Don’t miss these training opportunities. The Brotherhood Instructors provide all facets of fire service training. You really need to attend one of their trainings.

Here is some training from Traditions Training.  Again, if your looking for some of the best training offered, these two groups of guys can get for you.

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Here is a video from Brotherhood Instructors. This is a basic engine company operations class that shows some really good ideas for drills.

Also, check out the Brotherhood site for training dates. If they are near you, you really need to check them out and get enrolled. It is really good stuff and they are great guys.

Watch and pass it on.

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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?

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.

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Cutting the drip loops.

This is a sensitive subject for some, but a basic skill I remember learning as a rookie.

Cutting drip loops is something that not all departments do, but it is necessary in some instances depending on where you are in the country.

In my area you could get utilities on scene in town within minutes whereas the more rural parts could take an hour.

Cutting the drip loops requires some skill and knowledge to be done correctly.  You must also have a set of appropriate cutters and ideally, some electrical gloves.

As you can see, there are some hazards associated with this and you must follow your departments policies on this.

With this particular photo, what do you see as a hazard?

When would you consider cutting the drip loops?

Do you have the appropriate tools to cut the loops?

Be careful when dealing with electricity. The ideal tactic is to let the utility company deal with it.

Train to your departmental SOG’s and stay safe.

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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.

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