Here is a great "memory jogger" for Command Functions and Size Up from one of our instructors, Scott Hulsey.
Click the link for each and feel free to use how you wish. If you have additions and suggestions, please share.
Thanks for reading and keep training.
Here are some more pictures from my A Shift buddies, Jim, Bob and Dave at Florissant Valley Fire Protection District. These photos show the challenges of just getting into some of our buildings. It's a lot easier to get a good look at the working mechanisms and traits of these obstacles during daylight and in non-emergent situations.
Take time to know what is behind these doors and grates. What are they protecting and how secure are they? Is just a matter of prying bolts out of the brick and concrete or are they really seated into the building? Now is the time to find out.
One note, the pic with the bars is actually a smoking lounge for an adjacent bar. Access is made from inside the building but it looks like a different occupancy. Don't wait until it's smokey and dark.
Read the doors and try to identify characteristics that can indicate foricible entry challenges. Do the doors swing out or in? Are the hinges exposed or protected? Is the jamb protected?
These are also important for RIT operations, to read the building and soften it up for interior crews if a company has not already done so.
Stay alert and get out and look around. You'll be surprised what you'll find.
Here is a short video that you can use for a drill or training night. Feel free to use however you like. This is from a recent basement fire and what was looked for and what was done. There are some considerations to think about. This is not everything for all basement fires. Just a simple tutorial. Feel free to add your experience and ideas to this video.
Stay safe,
Jason
As you may know, I am playing with a different format. It wont be all of the time for every blog, but something a little different. So, here is one based off an article that I did. Please be patient as I work with this. Hopefully, it will enrich your blog reading.
Thanks, and let me know what you think.
I understand that all buildings, for various reasons, will not get a 360 performed on it during a fire. But, for those that we do get to job around, we need to understand what we are looking for.
I recently spoke with an acting officer and asked him what he was looking for when performing a 360. His answer was "fire." I asked what else? The answer came, "ways in." We need to make sure we are taking advantage of the information being made available to us while we are circling the building.
This post is going to focus on some basement indicators. The pictures shown below are just examples of things you might see when making the round. Keep in mind that at night you need to take a hand light. For example, the wood behind the basement windows below may not be noticeable with shining a light in the windows on the way around.
We must pay attention to what we are looking for when conduction the 360. As you can see, we may be faced with some very challenging situations. Not only do we need to be aware during the initial arrival, but the RIT will need this information as well.
As always, follow you own operational guidelines and train hard.
This and other topics will be discussed during one of my presentations at Fire Rescue International 2011. I am presenting for the Company Officer Development track and hope to see you there.
Jason
Looking at these pictures shows us a building of ordinary construction. These are usually older buildings and the building we see is typical of many downtown areas. This particular building has storefronts on the main level with multi-family units above.
What are the main characteristics of ordinary construction and how do they relate to fire operations?
What are some problems we face with this type of building in many downtown areas that will cause us concern?
What are the challenges with apparatus placment, not just with this buildling, but with many small, downtown buildings?
What are our challenges in regards to exposures and how do we address them?
These are just a few issues we face with this type of building. It is important to be prepared for a fire in this type of occupancy. It will be challenging, especially late at night when that upstairs is occupied and as you can see, access is not necessarily fast.
Share your thoughts and experiences and as always, train hard and thanks for reading.
Jason
With the recent posts about the anniversary of the Colerain-Township LODD from 2008, I thought I would provide some thoughts about basements and some of the things we can do to better prepare.
It recent years it seems we hear a lot about firefighters being killed and injured in residential fires where the basement was involved. There are a few reasons for this including changing building construction as in the use of engineered i-joists and the heavy fire loads that we have in basements. In addition, most houses with basements don't just use them for storage anymore. Basements are used as active living spaces increasing activity, heating and electrical demands that were not always present in the past.
One thing that we can do to help prevent some of these issues is to know what we are dealing with. Probably one of the most important tasks a fire officer can do when arriving on the scene of a residential fire is to complete a 360 walk around of that building. This gives us information we cannot obtain by darting for the front door.
By seeing all four sides of the fire building we can see if the seat of the fire is in the basement and may allow us a more direct attack from the same level as the fire reducing the chances of floor failure. We are also able to see hazards that impede our egress if a quick escape is necessary. It gives us an idea of our options for ventilation and fire control.
The pictures show some of the hazards that we can find and keep mind of during our 360. Exterior stair wells are altered and secured causing us difficulty making an egress. This is a perfect time for the first due officer to relay these findings to the next due or the RIT crew. These other units should cut locks, open bulk heads and make sure the egress points of the basement are accessible.
Additionally, we need to know the characteristics of the buildings in our still area. This is a picture of a house that is approximately 50 years old and the stairs to the basement are in the garage. Not knowing this could put our initial attack team at risk by searching the main level while fire is burning under them increasing the chances of a failure. Some of these homes have no outside exit and we must protect the stairs for the basement crew just like we would for a crew that ascend to a floor above us.
Take some time to look around your area and discuss these issues with your crew. Prepare your newer members for that thermal layer as you descend the stairs into a basement. We all know what that first experience is like. Train hard and don't forget to do that 360, it may just save your life.
Train hard and stay safe,
Jason
The next type of construction that we are going to talk about is Type V, or wood frame construction. This is the most commonly used type of construction in most jurisdictions. This type of construction is typically associated with residential occupancies, namely single-family dwellings, but many commercial buildings are now built using wood frame construction.
Years ago, wood frame meant real dimensional lumber. A 2×4 was really a two inch by four inch piece of wood. Roof systems were stick built with rafters of dimensional lumber that were connected with a ridge beam. We forget that this traditional type of construction is wood frame. Balloon frame is also a type of wood frame.
We have just gotten so ingrained that wood frame mean light weight, or now commonly known as “low mass” construction. This “low mass” construction uses engineered products that makes construction faster and cheaper to build. Although these components like engineered I-joists and roof truss systems are very strong for the engineered loads, they fail miserable during fire conditions.
We just need to remember the hazards and myths of this type of construction. One is that if one truss fails they all fail. I like to ask the classes that I teach if any of them has seen a house constructed with wood truss systems with a part of the roof burnt off and the rest of it still intact? The answer is always yes.
I am not saying that these truss systems are safe, quite the contrary. All I am saying is that we need to keep our firefighters educated about these systems. I know there are some chiefs and instructors upset with some of this, but we can operate on and under these roofs with some careful size-up and thoughtful tactics. One thing I have learned in the fire service; never use the words never or always. There is always a circumstance or situation that will challenge both.
Now, characteristics about this type of construction. There are void spaces everywhere and these components use a lot of glue to help keep them together. These buildings are getting bigger on the residential side and this construction type is very popular for many commercial buildings like fast food joints, restaurants and strip malls.
Something we need to keep in mind also is that some of these wood frame buildings look like masonry or brick, or type 3 buildings. These are just veneers and we need to understand the challenges dangers associated with that. Masonry and brick veneers can easily collapse of the foundation and still kill or seriously injure firefighters.
Pay attention to your area and be familiar with the buildings you may have to operate in. Know the different characteristics of the construction types and the challenges each one poses for us operationally.
Train hard and stay safe.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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