BY STEVE GODSHALL AND BILL SEASHOLTZ
Just as you sit down for lunch, your pager goes off: Smoke is coming from the closet of Room 112 at the Hometown Elementary School. Two minutes later, you’re in the officer’s seat of your first-out engine. You know where the school is but not Room 112. You ask the driver and the other three firefighters in the cab, “Anybody know where Room 112 is?” No one knows.
The elementary school has two separate vehicle entrancesone on School Street, the other on Main Street. Unfortunately, the two parking lots are not connected. If you select the wrong entrance, you’ll have to exit it and enter from the other street.
As you approach the scene, you see students and teachers outside but no smoke. You enter from School Streetat the main entranceand stop at the main entrance door. You exit the truck and ask a teacher, “Where is Room 112?” The teacher points to the main entrance and says, “Up the main hallway, turn left at the second hall, and it will be the third classroom on the left.”
As you open the main entrance door, you see smoke floating along the top foot of the main hallway ceiling. You immediately request two firefighters with SCBA and a 200-foot preconnected 1¾-inch attack line. You and your team advance the charged line up the hallway, looking for Room 112. As the team turns left at the second hall, you run out of hose. Room 112 is another 75 feet farther down the hall.
 Figure 1 Figures by author. |
If you had a site drawing of the school (Figure 1) in your engine, you would have noticed that Room 112 is near door 6, which is off of the Main Street entrance. Not only would you know where you are going, but the site drawing scale would also have indicated the estimated attack line length needed to reach the room.
SPEED YOUR FIRE ATTACK WITH SITE DRAWINGS
Site drawings can reduce the time from receiving a call to search, rescue, and fire attackthree of your primary responsibilities.
In the fall of 2007, the Hatfield (PA) Volunteer Fire Company updated its 10- to 15-year-old photocopied run book site drawings with electronically generated ones. Members prepared 30 site drawings and placed priority on “high-risk” life safety sites. Below are the steps we used to implement this project.
Establish a team.The team should include a line officer as its chairperson; one or more site visitors, who obtain site information; and a graphic designer, who prepares site drawings.
Prioritize the sites.Prioritize the preparation order of the site drawings. Below is one such order based on “high-risk” life safety, such as the following:
- 1. Schools and day care centers.
- 2. Institutions (nursing homes and special-needs workshops).
- 3. Apartment complexes.
- 4. Shopping centers.
- 5. Large industrial complexes.
Select the software and drawing symbols. Select graphics software by considering compatibility with current fire department software and computer user expertise. Convert graphics software drawings to PDFs (a commonly used electronic platform) using a PDF writer program for distribution to neighboring fire, police, and EMS departments. Software firms offer substantial price reductions to nonprofit organizations and government customers. The only hardware needed is a computer with a color printer.
After you choose the graphics software, have the graphic designer create standardized drawing symbols, such as for hydrants and fire department connections (FDCs). NFPA 170, Standard for Fire Safety and Emergency Symbols, provides a number of symbols to use. Use the same symbols in all drawings and provide a legend of symbols for each drawing.
Prepare the draft site drawing. The most difficult and time-consuming step is preparing the initial draft site drawing. Use existing drawings, satellite map Web sites such as google.com/maps and maps.live.com, and water company maps of hydrant locations.
If drawings are not available electronically, draw them from scratch. Here, hand trace existing drawings or satellite map Web site printouts on gridlines created with the graphics software by using a light box or by taping them to a window on a sunny day. You may need to reduce or increase existing drawings and satellite map Web site printouts in size to fit the format used, such as 8½- × 11-inch paper.
Prepare three types of drawings based on the level of detail provided.
Schools may require additional elements, such as door numbers (i.e., #1main entrance, #2next door, in clockwise direction); specific class locations (e.g., classes with autistic children); and high-risk fire potential locations such as maintenance rooms, kitchens, laundry rooms, and wood/metal shops. For nursing homes, record the maximum number of residents for accountability purposes.
Suggesting the fire apparatus entrance for specific buildings may reduce response times to apartment complexes with multiple entrances (Figure 2). To aid rescues, mark balconies on site drawings. Indicate apartment complex laundry rooms and storage areas, since they are high fire potential areas.
 Figure 2 |
Large industrial complexes pose different situations. Here, mark yard hydrants and FDCs such as sprinkler and standpipe connections. Pinpointing locations of overhead doors offers opportunities for rapid ventilation.
Visit the site.The only way to prepare accurate site drawings is to visit the site to see where key elements are located. Conduct this visit during daylight business hours. When visiting the site, show a fire department business card and state that you are updating fire department records to help protect the site personnel and firefighters. Also, indicate that it is not an inspection. Showing the draft site drawing helps instill confidence in the effort. The first questions should verify the site name, address, main entrance, and any rapid entry key system location.
Ask permission to walk around the building’s exterior to mark locations of FDCs, utility shutoffs, and doors. If you want to perform an inside walk-around, request that a maintenance supervisor or property manager accompany you. Note fire apparatus entrances, nearest hydrants and their sizes, and potential hazards. Be sure to thank site personnel for their time.
 Figure 3 |
Finalize the site drawing.After the site visit, the graphic designer can finalize the drawing, updating its revision number and date. If some aspect of the drawing is unknown, indicate it as such or use a question mark. You can then obtain final fire department approval.
Distribute the site drawing. You can distribute the site drawings in numerous formats. Common formats are 8½- × 11-inch color copies and CDs. Distribute copies for use in fire apparatus and fire officer run books and to neighboring fire, police, and EMS units. A paper transmittal note should accompany any format, requesting that recipients remove previous drawing pages and insert updated color pages. Consider a legal disclaimer indicating that the information was reliable at the time the drawing was prepared, reasonable efforts were made to provide accurate information, and no representation is made that the drawing is entirely accurate and complete. You can also give the drawings to the site or place them in the site’s rapid entry key system.
ADVANTAGES
When the first-in officer knows where he is going, he can focus on fire attack strategy rather than individual tactics. Site drawings can rapidly locate the fire area, primary search and rescue area, nearest hydrants and FDCs, utility shutoffs, potential hazards, doors closest to the fire, and doors for ventilation. As the fictitious example at the beginning of this article shows, floor plans can also help determine the length of attack hose needed. All of the above help to speed your fire attack.
DISADVANTAGES
Site drawings take considerable time and expense to prepare and update. Initial drawings can take half a day to several days to complete, considering both graphic design and site visit time. Do periodic reviews and updates to keep them current. Despite these efforts, the site may have changed since its last drawing update, giving firefighters less than accurate information.
Overall, our department has found that site drawings are well worth the time and expense.
STEVE GODSHALL is a 20-year veteran of the fire service and is assistant chief of the Hatfield (PA) Volunteer Fire Company.
BILL SEASHOLTZ is a 25-year veteran Hatfield firefighter and serves as safety officer.
