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Are the EMERGENCY EXITS clear??

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With Christmas arriving in the next few days, many retail stores have greatly increased the amount of stock on shelves. Unfortunately, some businesses may go overboard and place products and/or packing materials in emergency exits. Restricted, or blocked, emergency exits have been contributors to great loss of life during fires. When this problem is identified, firefighters must quickly notify the store manager and make sure the problem is immediately corrected. If you’re not 100% sure about fire codes, speak with your company officer about your findings. If the company officer is not sure, NOTIFY THE FIRE MARSHAL or FIRE INSPECTOR and work with him/her to correct the problem!

Here are some photos I’ve taken in various locations around the country. A short explanation accompanies each photo.

Photo #1: Blocked exit. Beyond the blocking, these smaller items will become tripping hazards for people exiting the building. Move the trash! (Extra points for you if you noticed the pile of trash impedes access to the fire extinguisher.)

photo by author

Photo #2: Blocked emergency exit. In this photo, an emergency exit has been blocked by store employees. No store employees were present to quickly move the blocking device. This emergency exit is very wide and designed to move large numbers of people to safe areas. Note the items intruding into the exit access.

photo by author

Photo #3: Blocked exit discharge. Emergency exits must lead building evacuees to a safe area. This emergency exit discharge is significantly restricted by the automobile; as evacuees come upon the vehicle, they slow evacuation! (Super-extra points if you noticed this emergency exit is too narrow for code and is a ROLL-UP door!!)

photo by author

Be a proponent of fire safety whenever you are out in the community, whether on, of off, duty. Company officers: share emergency exit information with your crew. Ask the crew if anyone has ever found an obstructed or blocked exit? If so, how did he/she handle the problem? Let your crew know what the departments policy is for blocked emergency exits.

Stay safe! ~EMAGUY

Posted in Building Construction, Education/Training, fire-prevention-education, firefighter-safety-health, Training, training-development

December 20, 2012 • 3 comments

Legacy Tactics Part II by Training 38

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So what does it take, to effectively manage a scene and not be labeled as a “Legacy” department?

First, you must understand your response area, resource availability and the ability of your personnel.

Secondly, once you arrive on scene, paint the picture gives a “Windshield size-up”. Then you must exit the vehicle and conduct a 360 degree walk-around. If the Incident Commander does not complete the initial walk around, a seasoned firefighter or officer must complete the walk-around. They will know what they are looking for and be able to relay the critical information to the incident commander via radio or face to face. During the walk-around, scene observations are made, roof line, initial smoke and fire conditions. Reading smoke is critical.

Next, the incident commander must quickly develop a plan. One that weighs Risk vs. Benefits. Once the plan has been established, ACCOUNTABILITY has to be established and utilized. ACCOUNTABILITY has been a façade for many departments that acted as a security blanket for years.  Tactics have to be given, in order of priority based on the fire ground priorities/strategies. Once these tactics have been thought of and handed down to the company level will then employ functional assignments/tasks.

Communication from the crews to the Incident Commander or Operations sector and communications from the Incident Commander or Operations sector to the crews has to be a priority. This is the only way to achieve better accountability.  Benchmarks have to be utilized by using a checklist (Tactical Priorities). These bench marks will drive the overall tactics, which in turn will cause the incident commander to reevaluate their strategies.

This will not be foreign material to “Modern” departments, however “Legacy” departments will be at a loss with the information and the mind set of what has to be accomplished.

I commend those that are a “Modern” department and I pray for those that are still a “Legacy” department. There is more at stake than an ego and hiding behind the “It’s always been done that way” attitude. Families, communities and organizations are at stake. If you are an officer and want to gamble, go to Vegas or Atlantic City. Don’t gamble within your own department.  If you don’t want to stand up for your safety, your family’s safety and change within the department. Then do the fire service a favor and change professions and allow someone else who is willing to affect change to take your place. Start early with young firefighters, introduce them to the NFPA standards, professional journals, well grounded web sites. Learning never stops and more than ever, we as a fire service cannot sit idle by as hydrocarbon based materials become more and more volitile and building construction becomes more lightweight/deadly.

Posted in Building Construction, command-leadership, Education/Training, fire-prevention-education, fire-rescue-topics, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, Thoughts, Training, training-development, training-fire-rescue-topics

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May 17, 2012 • 3 comments

Pre- Planning a tool for Fire Ground Survival

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Often times firefighters have to gripe when being told they have to conduct Pre-Planning. During this time firefighters should understand the opportunity that has been afforded to them. Firefighters have to take notice of the construction , and hazards while the building is open to them. Even if a firefighters are on one man company it is no excuse. Here are some suggested steps to help you get started.

  1. First make an appointment to ensure the owner or manager will be there to grant you all access to the building and answer any question.
  2. Gather all forms provided by your fire department for pre-planning. Those things may include even taking a(n) book on building construction which may aid you in writing strategic and tactical objectives.
  3. Firefighters should seek answers on anything they are questioning such as building codes and safety violations believed to have been committed. Seek answers from Fire Marshals or Code Enforcement personnel. Do not give information for which you do not have the authority or don’t know to be an absolute fact.
  4. Ensure you have a site plan as well as a building sketch.

Future post will actually allow you to interact with pre-planning to aid in getting better at this task

Posted in Building Construction, Education/Training, fire-prevention-education, firefighter-safety-health, Training

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January 16, 2012 • No comments

Building Inspections

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This inspection post is going to be based on the 1000+ inspections I have done for insurance companies.  Yes I was an insurance monkey, and I learned a lot doing it.  Namely; Don’t trust a home owner to do what’s right. Keep in mind that you will be bound by your local codes and fire prevention division.

I’ll try to keep it brief.

1.  Photos

Some departments frown on photography.  The main reason is because when you go to court they will try to prove that you don’t know how to take pictures.  Been there, done that.  But the fact remains: If you can prove that those pictures were taken at that place AND at that time the defense comes to a screeching halt.  I’ve gone to court to represent land lords and just the fact that I was there with photos ended the case.  Take a picture of the building when you are walking up, then take one of the building number with as much of the building as possible in the picture, this proves where you are.  Make sure your camera is set to record the time with the picture info which is very common, and make sure the time is right.  Now you are timing your inspection.  A lawyer will have a hard time proving that you went somewhere else during the few minutes between pics.  DO NOT edit the pictures.

2. Approach

Get a good look around.  Are there any power lines in the way, are they being pulled off the building?  Is the building straight? Do any questions pop into your mind as you look at it.  Can an engine and truck operate as they need to? If not it’s time to document it.  Is this the most commonly used entrance to the building?

3. Greeting

“Hi I’m Anchorpoint, I need to do a quick walk-through of your building.  Do you have time now or can we make an appointment?”  Remember, nothing is wrong, yet.  Explain about how pre-planning helps everybody including tenants and the fire department.  If we can find the utilities we can shut them down quicker if needed.  If it is an inspection let them know what you will be looking for.  Don’t leave without an appointment.

4.Outside

Now that you have the landlords attention, take a walk around the outside.  You know what to look for; exits, building falling apart, trash piles, fire hazards, etc…

5. Alarm System

Is it in Trouble Mode?  Does it actually function or is it still there from the previous tenant?  What does it protect and are there smoke detectors attached to it?  Maybe it’s a burglar alarm and the tenant doesn’t even know.

6. Interior Hazards

Trash buildup, living in filth is very common.  Hoarders are a HUGE hazard.  This has to be documented and addressed.  Falling ceilings, structural damage, gas tanks in the house, welding operations in the house, poorly made repairs, the list goes on and on.  My advice is don’t waste your time looking at every detail, the issues will probably present themselves, unless of course you are the fire inspector.

7. Utility Locations

You need to know if they are secured, hidden and just where they are so you can find them later.

8. Special Hazards, Special Services Required

Commercial cooking requires a vent hood, and vent hoods require cleaning.  The funny thing here is the law required “cleaning as needed”  but the insurance companies required every 6 months.  There are dozens of things involved with cooking.  Day cares require permits, painting booths require vents and paint storage.  I won’t bore you with that but keep in mind special hazards require special services.

9. All Areas Inspected?

Did you miss anything? What about roof access? Adjoined buildings? Tunnels dating back to the civil war?  Did you look in the crawl spaces?  Open all doors that you are allowed to, make sure they work and where they go, you’ll get a surprise one day.

10. Wrap Up

Tell them what you think.  Tell them what they need to fix.  If you are giving them a break on something you NEED to follow up on it.  File an abatement or call the chief and let him know what’s  going on there, now it’s his problem.  If you don’t document or follow up you can get sued for breech of duty.  If something goes wrong and they have a financial loss they will say the fire department knew about it.

11. Reporting

Tell whoever walked around with you, tell the chief, enter it into the CAD, File an abatement.  Whatever is appropriate to do, you need to do.  Then follow up.

12. Legal

Oh yeah, legal.  If you do what your are supposed to do you won’t have any problems. If you forget to follow up or file the abatement do it NOW.  If you get called into court you can review your notes.  It’s ok. Remember it’s not personal.  Too many people take this personal.  The property owner thinks it’s cheaper to go to court than install a sprinkler system, so what.  You have to do your job, and you also have to look out for the other firefighters.

Posted in Building Construction, fire-prevention-education

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October 6, 2010 • 1 comment