On the fireground, the usual objective is to try to get a hoseline stretched and into operation. This tactic saves more lives than any other operation performed. Sometimes, the home or business owner meets us at the entrance to the occupancy and shows us the quickest and, hopefully, most direct route for the handline to take. In a perfect world, this is how it would work every time. But firefighting is definitely not a perfect world, so the unexpected must be anticipated and overcome.
Many times, the only thing that stands between the advancing engine company and the fire is a locked door. Now for most departments, this should not cause much of a problem. Forcible entry has been a mainstay of good truck companies forever. But several things have happened that have complicated the problem.
The first is that the general public’s overall concern about personal security and safety has increased. Doors normally left unlocked or with a relatively cheap locking mechanism have been replaced with metal doors with several deadbolt locks. Security bars are found on windows and doors. Drop bars, angle irons, and any variety of devices are employed to help keep America safe. Even private houses have replaced their center glass-paneled doors with heavy solid wood doors with two-inch deadbolts.
The second thing that happened to compound the forcible entry problem is that an abundance of hydraulic forcible entry devices is now available to fire departments. Why should this be a problem? Departments have become so proficient with the hy-draulic tools that the tried-and-true ways of forcible entry have slowly been neglected. The basic use of a halligan and flathead axe for forcing doors has slowly gone by the wayside. The young members of the fire service have come to appreciate the ease of forcing doors. But if the tool is down for repairs or out of service, or if the door is a wood door in a wood frame, the door will need to be forced in the conventional way.
CONSIDERATIONS BEFORE FORCING
Several steps should be considered when forcing a door, whether with the “irons” (halligan and axe) or a hydraulic tool. As the truck company-or in departments without dedicated trucks, the forcible entry team-approaches the door, members should size up the door, the locking devices, and the possible conditions behind the closed door. When looking at the door type, try to determine the material of which the door is constructed and the way the door opens, outward or inward. Doors are constructed of various materials, but wood, metal-covered wood, and metal doors are the most common. These doors are also set into a variety of frames. The wood door is usually found in a wood frame. Wood covered by metal, or calamine doors, and metal doors are usually found in metal frames. The type of door/frame assembly affects how effective the method of forcible entry will be.
While determining the type of door, check also to see if you can gauge the conditions behind the door. Is smoke pushing around the door? Is fire or a glow visible under the door? Does pushing at the top of the door release any smoke into the hallway? With many energy-conscious civilians, tightly sealed doors are very common. It is possible to have a serious fire behind a door with nothing or very little showing around the door. By pushing at the top of the door, away from the locking devices, a small amount of “give” in the door may indicate what lies behind.
The conditions you anticipate may be behind the locked door will also help you determine what you should do before forcing the door. Consider these questions: Will fire blow out the door? Will the heat and smoke make conditions on the floor above untenable for anyone operating or trapped up there? Is a handline needed to protect the hallway before the door is forced? How can the door be controlled once it is forced? Consider all these things.
Finally, check to see how many and where the locks are on the door, the types of locks, and whether the locks are engaged or locked. Always try before you pry! It’s very embarrassing to work on a door for several minutes only to have someone reach past you, try the knob, and open the door!
TYPES OF LOCKS
Locks will have been installed at the manufacturing facility or added afterward. Mortise locks, actually inside the door itself and frequently part of the doorknob assembly, usually come with the door and are installed by the manufacturer.
Homeowners install additional deadbolts and drop locks. The deadbolts are installed by drilling a series of holes in the door for the two cylinders and a corresponding hole in the door edge from which the deadbolt comes out and engages the door jamb. The other style is anchored to the rear of the door and is connected with long screws that pass through the door to the cylinder that shows on the door’s exterior. The bolt that is engaged when the lock is in the locked position goes into a receptacle mounted on the inside of the door frame. These add-on locks can be forced by knocking the entire lock off the door.
WOOD DOOR
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Once you have identified the door and its hardware, learned that the door is locked, and know that you need to enter this door, you can proceed. If you are dealing with a wood door, the wood frame and door assembly is relatively easy to force, even with several locks, because the wood has some give to it and the halligan usually will pass between the door and jamb. Even if the fork of the halligan gets buried in the jamb, the wood will splinter, and the fork will end up in the right position. Use the irons to force these doors, because the hydraulic tools often will split the frame and stop, but not force, the lock.
First, try to force the door with the adz end of the halligan. Place the adz in the space between the jamb and the door, and apply pressure in a up-and-down motion so that the point of the halligan presses against the door. Do not pull in a horizontal motion; the adz will pop out of its purchase. The up-and-down motion works against the door and will open a purchase point, if not the complete door. If the door does not open, turn the halligan, and use the fork end.
 (4) The halligan has been turned so that the bevel of the fork is now against the door. Now as the halligan is forced into the opening, the fork end passes behind the frame. |
When forcing a wood door, it is best to get the fork of the halligan into the space between the door and jamb, with the tool’s beveled, or rounded edge, against the door. Once the fork passes by the jamb, push the halligan toward the door to pop the lock. Other methods of forcing wood doors include driving the halligan’s pick end into the jamb in the vicinity of the lock and then moving the halligan up and down to get the adz end to push against the door. This works well on doors with only one lock or when you are working on doors alone. You can use a baseball bat swing to drive the point into the jamb and force the door by yourself.
METAL DOOR
When confronted with a metal door in a metal frame, the forcible entry problem increases. Metal doors usually have a much tighter seal, making it more difficult to force the fork into position. Experience plays a very big part here. Firefighters who have forced several doors and are used to metal doors will use the same approach and position and will be able to “feel” and “hear” the fork of the tool and determine if there is a problem.
 (5) Once the halligan has reached this point, with both forks securely behind the door frame, push the halligan inward, toward the door, until the locks give. |
What is apt to happen with inexperienced firefighters is that the fork, because the door is so tight, will get stuck in the jamb instead of passing between the door and the jamb. Just the construction of the door jamb makes this almost a sure thing. The bevel of the tool forces the fork right into the metal frame. These frames are usually filled with concrete so that the tool becomes imbedded in the frame. Whereas a wood frame may splinter, the concrete-filled metal frame doesn’t even give. Tip-offs that the fork is into the frame instead of the area between the door and the jamb are the sound and the feel of the halligan when struck by the axe. A solid sound and feel probably mean that the fork is hitting the jamb. A more hollow sound, plus the tool’s slowly penetrating deeper into the opening, indicates that the fork is spreading the space between the door and the jamb.
An easier method for less experienced firefighters is to start with the fork’s bevel against the door frame or jamb. The bend of the tool and the way the door “meets” the frame make it easier for the tool to slide between the door and the jamb and not get caught in the frame. Once the fork has opened up a space large enough so you can see into the opening, withdraw the halligan, turn it over, reinsert the fork with the bevel against the door, and drive it back into the opening. Once the fork passes behind the jamb so that it is deep enough to get a good purchase, push the halligan toward the door.
There are several other ways to gain purchases and force doors. Practice makes perfect. Use the time spent on the road, or while doing EMS runs, to acquaint yourself and your company with the different types of locks found in your district. Look while the doors are open; be nosy. The time to find out about a new style of lock is before you have to force it.
The last thing to consider as you force the door is what you are going to do when it opens. If the fire is right behind or close to the door, the fire will immediately come out into the hall. The team that forces the door must maintain the integrity of the hallway or stairway. The door must remain at least partially closed until all civilians are out and any operating companies above the fire have a place of refuge.
BOB PRESSLER, a 23-year veteran of the fire service, is a retired lieutenant from Rescue Company No. 3 of the Fire Department of New York. He created and produced the videos Peaked-Roof Ventilation and SCBA Safety and Emergency Procedures for the Fire Engineering video series “Bread and Butter” Operations. Pressler has an associate’s degree in fire protection engineering from Oklahoma State University. He is a technical editor for Fire Engineering, a frequent instructor on a wide range of fire service topics, and a member of a volunteer department.
