ON FIRE ❘ by MICHAEL N. CIAMPO
Running the roads all night long is very common for us on the eve of Thanksgiving. Trying to squeeze in a quick nap before the night turned into morning, the bells woke us. Over the loudspeaker we heard, “First due all around—smoke in the building.” We wondered if it was food on the stove from someone already cooking the holiday meal at 0400 hours.
As we arrived at a building we seldom respond to for fire calls, the doorman met us outside and calmly told us that residents were reporting smoke from the second to the 13th floors. Since there were no people fleeing the structure, we thought it was probably food on the stove.
As we entered the lobby, the building’s superintendent met us, reiterating the same information. We asked him if it smelled like burning food; he replied, “No.” Then we asked where the compactor was, and he said it was on the first floor. We decided to check that first, considering the report of smoke on numerous floors. We found no condition in the chute after looking into the unit itself.
We walked away from the lobby and toward one end of the large residential high-rise. We chose the first set of stairs we came to and climbed them to begin our search on the lowest reported floor for the origin of smoke. Exiting onto the second floor with a smoke condition hovering at the ceiling, we had to walk about 50 feet to the end to look down the “T” intersection of hallways.
The odor was hard to identify: One member said it smelled like a mattress; another said he smelled plastic. As we approached the intersection, conditions changed rapidly. Looking to the left, we saw the smoke was thick and black with particles of material lingering in the air like raindrops. We informed the chief of these conditions and that starting a line was our first priority. We then informed him that it may take a minute to identify the fire apartment.
The engine company had its high-rise hose packs in the lobby waiting for us to determine the fire floor. We communicated directly to wait until we located the fire apartment and the proper stairwell to hook up to the standpipe.
As we made our way down the hallway, one member used the thermal imaging camera (TIC) on the doors to see if it could pick up anything. Other members used their ungloved hands on the other doors to try to locate the fire apartment. As one member did this, he noticed with his flashlight that there was soot stains around a door frame. He put his halligan into the jamb and pried downward, and smoke pushed from the crevice. Relaying to the chief that 2E was the fire apartment, the officer informed the members to begin to force the door, and he quickly made his way back to the stairwell containing the standpipe while counting the number of doors. The next thing we heard on the radio was, “Stretch out of the ‘C’ stairwell, make a left, follow to the ‘T,’ make another left, fourth apartment on the right.” The building superintendent, who was standing in the stairwell, then informed us that an elderly semi-invalid female was in the apartment; that information was relayed to the units on scene.
The forcible entry team figured someone was probably in the apartment because the security chain door lock was still engaged when the member forced the door. Entering the apartment, members used the TIC to try to locate the fire, but it didn’t pick up anything substantial. The heat conditions weren’t excessive, and the smoke was banked to the floor. Two members on their knees searched to the left (when they sized up the public hallway, the next apartment door seemed farther down, often indicating that the apartment runs farther in that direction). One member went right and found a hallway and began to search the first two rooms he came to—a bathroom and a bedroom. When the other members reached him, he said he still hadn’t found anything.
Retracing the hallway, they found the last closed door on the opposite wall. Entering it, they traveled through a small hallway with sliding closet doors on one side; then the room opened up. As they passed a bed they searched on top, under it, and on the side, but it was negative. Nearing the opposite end of the room, they could see a small glow of orange and found another bed. Unfortunately, this bed was occupied and on fire. As members used the pressurized water to try to control or extinguish the smoldering fire, one member went back to the hallway and verbally relayed the location of the fire to the nozzle team and instructed them to use a very coarse stream because of the victim’s physical state.
Once the engine knocked down the fire, we realized that because of the thermal pane windows and lack of air, the fire never accelerated. Unfortunately, the victim was deceased on the vinyl-covered mattress in the hospital bed. We covered the body, draping the blanket over the top of the rails, and awaited the fire investigators’ arrival. We all were upset that we lost on this holiday, but we also realized that along with many celebrations there are often many tragedies.
● MICHAEL N. CIAMPO is a 28-year veteran of the fire service and a lieutenant in the Fire Department of New York. Previously, he served with the District of Columbia Fire Department. He has a bachelor’s degree in fire science from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. He is the lead instructor for the FDIC Truck Essentials H.O.T. program. He wrote the Ladders and Ventilation chapters for Fire Engineering’s Handbook for Firefighter I and II (Fire Engineering, 2009) and the Bread and Butter Portable Ladders DVD and is featured in “Training Minutes” truck company videos.
