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Tactical Scenario # 1

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You (your crew) is ordered to search the third floor of a building.  The chief says “we have multiple reports of people on the third floor, go get them”.

You know it’s not that simple or I wouldn’t write about it.

We’ll call the building a standard 3 unit row house 20X40, end unit.  Single front door and front stairway, fire escapes in the back.  Get the picture?  OK. Now for the problems.  Engine first due is trying to make the front stair, they are currently pushing a 2 1/2 up to the 3rd floor, but cannot get past the return between 2&3.  Engine second due has ascended the fire escape with another 2 1/2 and is making an attack from the third floor fire escape, they are unable to push in.  The truck company reports from the roof that there are multiple layers of roofing and venting will be delayed.

What do you do now?  You are now behind a string of 8 -Balls.

Our course of action: 1. vent every window we could reach, there weren’t many.  2. “Motivate” the company on the fire escape to take a more aggressive approach to the fire (unsuccessful) 3. Enter the 2nd floor, search, then assist the company in the front stairwell to make the push to the 3rd floor  to bring the fight to the fire.  Which turned out to be the best option.

I’ll share the outcome later.

What would you  have done different or similar?  Why?

Posted in Scenarios

June 30, 2010 • 5 comments

Tactics Tuesday

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This fire started in the garage and quickly moved interior. The fire was caused by a leaking fuel line on a truck. The house was a near total loss. Give your size up and tactics you would use for this fire

Tactics Tuesday, posted with vodpod

Posted in Drills, Education/Training

June 29, 2010 • 4 comments

Fire Vocab: What does LOVERS U stand for

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Posted in Uncategorized

June 28, 2010 • No comments

BTU defined 1944

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This clip answers the common question -what is a British Thermal Unit or BTU? It’s from a 1944 US goovernment film on refrigeration.

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Posted in Uncategorized

June 25, 2010 • No comments

Light Weight Truss Construction in Mobile Homesby Training 38

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What type of buildings do you think of when lightweight truss construction is brought up in a class, article or discussion? Most people would think of Commercial, Industrial and possibly Multi-family dwellings? Do we put into that category single and double wide mobile homes? No, we don’t. Light weight construction exists in more residential homes than we would like to admit. Light weight truss as we all know is dangerous and takes a backseat in the thought process of building construction in the rural communities. Unfortunately if you have mobile homes in your district you have lightweight truss construction.  Most mobile homes use a 2 x type construction in the roof truss system. Older mobile homes have aluminum wiring, poorly maintained flues or chimneys. The wiring can either run through the void space in the ceiling or in-between the frame rails beneath the floor. The poorly maintained flues or chimneys have a direct path into the void space above the ceiling which can allow for rapid fire spread through the length of the home and can cause for a lot of pike pole action, pulling a lot of ceilings and attempting to get ahead of the fire. Take heed of this type of construction and the associated dangers that come with it. We need to take this as a serious threat. We need to pay attention to the age, size of the mobile home. We need to analyze the fire conditions upon arrival and understand the construction of the mobile home. The older models of mobile homes are easy to identify. Most of these homes have the kitchens on one end and bedrooms on the other end. Newer homes, have bedrooms on either end with the kitchen and living room towards the center. Pay attention to the windows and the locations. Pay attention to the color of the mobile homes. Most older mobile homes are brown or beige with newer ones being white in color. This isn’t always a definite, but it works most of the time. Why does this play a factor, you might ask. Older mobile homes use paneling on the interior walls and lack sheet rock. This will allow for rapid fire spread and cause multiple room and contents fires. Newer mobile homes have sheet rock through out the interior and will help to compartmentalize the fire. Fire spreads into the void space at the ceiling level and can cause for an unstable roof truss system. This is due to the paneling and access for the fire to move into the void space and travel the length of the mobile home. Newer models still can have fire get into the void space. How many times though do we actually get a stop on the newer models? More than people think. Just because you have a mobile home in your first due area, doesn’t mean that it is going to burn to the ground. So please next time pay attention to the roof line, pay attention to the light weight truss construction and let’s have everyone come home.

Posted in Building Construction

June 25, 2010 • No comments

Quick Drill :Ventilation How to use your Axe the Wrong Way!

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Using the flat side of your Axe can be much faster than the blade. Often the blade will wedge itself into the roof and you have to spend energy freeing it. B…

more about "Quick Drill :Ventilation How to use y…", posted with vodpod

Posted in Uncategorized

June 22, 2010 • 11 comments

Telephone, Telegraph, Tell a Firefighter

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Remember the game Telephone from when you were a kid?   One person tells a story to another and then it goes from one to another until the last person gets it.  What was the outcome?  The guy at the end always had a different story then what was started.  Amazing.   What a great kid’s game.  The sad part is we still play that game.  I hate to say it, but firefighters are really terrible at playing it too.

Recently in my department a rumor got started about some “indiscretions” at a firehouse.  The rumor made it’s way up the chain of command and came back down like an avalanche.  Firefighters were being threatened with punishment, investigations were started AFTER those threats, and maybe some searches were performed on lockers.

One firefighter in particular was being blamed for starting the whole ordeal.  Mostly for an end run of the chain of command and for being a coward by not confronting the people who were said to be involved.  Other firefighters who were not involved called the firefighter on his off time and generally harassed him.

Long story longer…when the investigation was finally launched and the firefighter in question was asked about the incident, it was quickly apparent that there was no incident.  The firehouse alleged to have performed the indiscretion had no idea what the commotion was about.  Eventually the source of the embellishments was found (someone who was unrelated to the whole thing).  And all charges were dropped, minor apologies were made.

End of story right? wrong.  The firefighter’s reputation is now crap even though he did nothing wrong.  Reassignment was ordered.  Many companies refused to take him on the grounds that his attitude might spoil their company.

Why?    Because firefighters are horrible at playing telephone.

Most firefighters love to gossip.  I could bet they aren’t spending too much time discussing the good things guys do.  I tell the guys I work with “If you haven’t worked with him, you don’t know him”.  Nothing pisses me off more than when someone says “I heard he’s a real POS”.  My first question is “How do you know?”

I could tell you not to judge a book by it’s blah blah blah.  But if you leap before you look, bad things are going to happen and not just to you.  NEVER start handling a problem until you’ve identified it.  It makes you look like an idiot and it can damage other member’s careers.  Bottom line;  it’s unprofessional. Think before you act.

Let me hear some of your horror stories.

Posted in Thoughts

June 21, 2010 • No comments

Fire Vocabulary: BTU ( British Thermal Unit )

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Posted in Uncategorized

June 21, 2010 • No comments

Charleston Nine Tribute

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Charleston_SC_6_18_2007

Posted in LODD

June 17, 2010 • No comments

IN HONOR OF THE CHARLESTON NINE 6-18-07

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charleston_phase_one_reportsofa super store report may 15 2008 finalClick on the picture and you can get the Final Report from NIOSH

Posted in LODD

June 15, 2010 • No comments

Big City thoughts for a Small City

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All over the internet we see video and pictures of big city fire departments, the amazing structure fires they have and the seemingly endless amounts of manpower they are able to provide. Type in any big city that is near you and you will more than likely find a video or two or several that someone has taken. FDNY, over 11,000 videos on you tube. Chicago has over 900 videos. Los Angeles Fire, over 2,000 videos. These are just a few departments that I look up real quick.  They see the “big” fires on an almost daily basis. They have the opportunity to see fire every shift. Everyone big or small has the opportunity to see fire every shift.

For the most part these departments have it together when it comes to fire ground operations and other various jobs that are performed in our profession. Watching some of these videos can provide some very valuable information. Some will show good ways to perform various functions such as roof ventilation, forcible entry, and auto extrication. Some videos show the not so good side of firefighting. The point is that there is something to learn from every video. Good or bad.

If you are in a small town or city department, do not have the mentality that the big cities do things any differently than you. The biggest difference, is that the big cities have the opportunity to perform firefighting operations on a larger scale and more often than smaller ones. Do not let this discourage you from learning from the bigger department and taking something away from them. On the other side of that, big cities can learn something from the smaller departments to. Ventilation is ventilation. The big cities do not ladder the building, use any special saws, or cut the hole any differently than you would at a smaller department. Forcible entry is performed the same way. A pump is a pump. The bigger department pumps pump the same way as those in a smaller one. Extrication is extrication.

One of the biggest things that I believe is wrong is training. If you train your people, there is no reason that you cannot have the mentality that you can do exactly what the big city departments do. In reality, we do. We do the job just the same as the big department do. Fire is fire. Water is water. An engine is an engine. A ladder is a ladder. A rescue is a rescue. Just because you are in a smaller department doesn’t mean you cannot have a big city mentality. A friend of mine is a Lt. in a smaller volunteer department and they have adopted the “Metro” mentality. Train, learn, and share. By doing this we can all learn from one another. Big or small, we all dress the same. We go into burning buildings and put the fire out the same. Stay safe and train like you fight.

Posted in Education/Training, Thoughts

June 11, 2010 • 4 comments

Combustion

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Hope this gives an understanding of combustion

more about “Combustion“, posted with vodpod

Posted in Education/Training

June 11, 2010 • No comments

Fire Vocabulary: Combustion Answer

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A rapid chemical process in which the combination of a substance with oxygen produces heat and light. How many of you got it right? Or learned it a different way.

Posted in Education/Training

June 10, 2010 • No comments

Truck Company Operations Class For Thursday Truckin

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A look at another Truck Ops Class.

more about “Truck Company Operations Class“, posted with vodpod

Posted in Education/Training, Truck Tips

June 10, 2010 • No comments

Tactics Tuesday

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Based off of what you see. Give your size-up as the first arriving engine officer. Describe the strategies and tactics you may use to combat this fire.

more about “Tactics Tuesday“, posted with vodpod

Posted in Drills, Education/Training, Scenarios

June 8, 2010 • 1 comment

Fire Vocabulary: Combustion

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Posted in Education/Training

June 7, 2010 • No comments

Stumbled across…

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Gotta love new construction, because there are no secrets.  I fully recommend that everybody take a cruise through your first due area and have a look at construction sites.  I’m not saying you need to be the code enforcement officer but just get to know what’s happening in your area in case you need to respond there.  Have a talk with the contractors about anything that looks out of place or new.  Again, don’t try to scare them or you won’t be allowed back on the site and they won’t call you if they need you.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard dispatch say ” at the construction site”, “near the construction site”, “the building under construction”….

Now look at this foundation.  Does anything stick out?  Sure it’s a little irregular shape, obvious garage and possibly a  finished basement. BUT, what is that on the left?  Panic room? Vault?  Cistern?

I spoke with the contractor.  But do you folks have any ideas?

Posted in Building Construction

June 7, 2010 • 3 comments

Fire Vocabulary: Backdraft Answer

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The sudden explosive ignition of fire gases when oxygen is introduced into a superheated space previously deprived of oxygen

Posted in Uncategorized

June 4, 2010 • No comments

Thursday Truckin

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I found this video while trying to learn a little more of how others are training on Truck Work. Hope you enjoy

more about “Truck Work“, posted with vodpod

 

Posted in Truck Tips, videos

June 3, 2010 • No comments

House Fire Video For Basics Have Not Changed

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This video illustrates the basics of firefighting and the most important rule of pushing in and putting the fire out.

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Posted in Uncategorized

June 2, 2010 • 1 comment

The Basics of Firefighting Have Not Changed

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No matter where you go around the country you will find firefighters whom are the end all be all of firefighting. They will swear that firefighting is different everywhere you go. No matter where you are, there are still some basic firefighting principles that have to be followed in order to put the fire out. Fire apparatus have to arrive and have the personnel to deploy the handlines and deploy them correctly. Secondly, the line that was selected has to be of the right size to put the fire out. Example: You arrive on the scene of a well involved house fire, let’s say 25% to be exact. Do you believe that the one 1.75 line that you pulled off is going to really extinguish the fire that is flowing a 150 GPM or do you know it will. Will you use an Indirect attack or will you use a combination attack? If there is no company available or assigned to ventilate, do you know how to hydraulically ventilate? No matter what fire you go to the first line still has to be put in service quickly and in the right spot. A second line ( notice I did not say back up line ) has to be pulled for protection or even assisting in extinguishing if the volume of fire is that heavy.  Some are reading this going but what if it is a one line fire, I’m not pulling two lines if they are not needed. Your pulling the second line because until you have overhauled you do not know all the fire is out, and if for nothing else it is stretching a line in real time. You also get the practice of loading it again, because most of us feel when we got out of fire school why practice loading hose we have that down, but the story is told when you look at the back of the hose bed or the pre-connects.

Truck work no matter if it is being done out of an actual truck or an engine still has to happen. Ventiltion has to be coordinated with fire attack. Primary and Secondary searches still have to be conducted. Ladders still have to be thrown,and not always because its a mutliple story residence. Salvage needs to start taking place during fire operations whenever possible.  How would you call it?

Posted in Thoughts

June 2, 2010 • 1 comment

Fire Vocabulary: Backdraft

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Posted in Education/Training

June 1, 2010 • No comments