PRIVATE DWELLINGS
BY TOM BRENNAN
What is so important about private dwellings and fires located in them, you ask? Well, that structure continues to be the killer of most of the humans who die in this country each year from fire. So a short return to awareness about these structures should be valuable. These structures cause us to be complacent when it comes to the amount of training activity that we put into becoming experts in our field, especially when compared with the strip store, covered mall, Gothic cathedral, retirement home, and high-rise office building.
There are reasons that so many of our annual fire deaths occur in these structures. Some we can change ourselves, and some we can hope to influence through changes in construction trends and in occupant/owner awareness and behavior.
From our point of view, there are still special conditions we can overcome with understanding and tactical action and reaction. What is there about these buildings that stacks up against us in trying to accomplish our core mission, which is to protect human beings in America from the harmful effects of fire (remember?)?
The first thing that should come to mind is the people killer of this structure–the open interior stair. We should believe that the most serious life exposure (aside from that in the fire room) is at the top of these staircases in the halls and rooms they serve. We should know that access to this space is paramount and that it must be one of the primary missions of the interior search team AND the exterior vent-enter-search (VES) team(s). If the fire IS on the bedroom floor, the handline must quickly split the fire area from the nonfire area, and primary simultaneous search activities must commence in the now “protected” portions. If the fire is on the floor below the bedroom floor, the interior team should believe it must access that area if at all possible, AND the exterior command function should believe that this is a primary goal (and not be surprised to see glass break from inside on that floor or to hear a portable radio communication announce that “floor above search” is commencing). The “contract” that they will not abandon the stairway protection of these ascending and searching firefighters must be made.
We should know that the top three steps in the staircase are going to be the center of “hell” for the firefighter. We should know that the landing on the second floor above that barrier is going to be more tenable. Rapid ascent of the staircase along the wall to which it is attached will give us our “best shot” of getting to that landing.
The VES team should be placing the portable ladder or aerial device to the window of the most exposed bedroom (wherein survival is still possible). There is never enough time or personnel on today`s fireground to professionally and effectively access these survivable areas as soon as it is necessary. (We need to do our best until sanity returns to our operational staffing issue in this country.)
We usually have no preplan! These buildings usually have a few simple and similar layouts. How much fire planning do we put into them? How much training? How much hoseline do you need from the pumper to the most remote bedroom? How much to the rear interior cellar entrance and then to the most distant location from that? How many of you believe that the preconnected hoseline is ALWAYS sufficient? What portable ladders do you have that reach the sill of most of the bedroom windows on the second floor of private dwellings in your district? How many ladders do you have? Do you have procedures to break most of the window glass before you ascend to enter?
Many of these structures have illegal occupancies to assist in payment of rent or to make the most rent for the absentee landlord. How many of you “see” and report the extra doorbells or mailboxes to the operational crew or to the fire marshal? I remember stopping into one of my fire stations and questioning the crew about how many people they would expect to encounter or be accountable for at a structure of balloon construction 100 feet from the fire station. “Oh, two or three small families,” they guessed. There were 13 mailboxes on the front wall!
Along with the illegal occupancies come maze-like construction provided over the years by individual homeowners. Expect cellar and attic occupancies, single-room tenants (padlocks on the bedroom doors), and flimsy extensions to the rear of the structure.
It is virtually impossible to vertically ventilate many of our platform-constructed, peaked-roof, private dwellings in an effective time frame. Besides, we need most of our most valuable second-floor-access portable ladders to try to do that. The only time such venting can be successful on arrival is if skylights are present. Quick access to immediately break away this membrane will do wonders for the conditions below. Otherwise, get the people out, and then open the peaked attic roof if it is still necessary.
Fire behavior is different in these structures. Much is hidden in walls and floors. Unplanned-for fuel load or stored combustibles are throughout the area, as no code enforcement is allowed in private dwellings. Garages are a virtual hazardous materials site, as are most older basements–that still serve as basements.
Fire in the cellar or basement can ensure a probable full or partial collapse of the first floor. There is no legislated protection of support members of the flooring on the first floor at the basement level. Coupled with additional vertical openings for laundry chutes, no secondary means of egress, horizontal openings in walls and hidden support members, overhangs added for rain protection of patios and walkways that prevent the placement of portable ladders at the rear or sides, heat transfer openings in floors or walls–no wonder these buildings represent our most frustrating fire problem.
This time I have only the questions. You come up with the answers! n
n TOM BRENNAN has more than 35 years of fire service experience. His career spans more than 20 years with the City of New York (NY) Fire Department as well as four years as chief of the Waterbury (CT) Fire Department. He was the editor of Fire Engineering for eight years and currently is a technical editor. He is co-editor of The Fire Chief`s Handbook, Fifth Edition (Fire Engineering Books, 1995). He is the recipient of the 1998 Fire Engineering Lifetime Achievement Award. You can e-mail him at tfb111@aol.com.
