CAMPUS FIRES: TACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS

BY JERRY TRACY

Fires at institutions of higher learning have been claiming the lives of students living in on- and off-campus housing throughout the country for decades, and the number of fire incidents keeps rising.¹ Among the factors contributing to the campus fire problem are the following:

• Death is a distant thought to young adults. It is looked on as something that doesn’t affect a young and vibrant person, unless an accident occurs. And, to their youthful minds, accidents are rare. They are young, they think they’re invincible, and they believe they can control or avert accidents. They take part in fire safety education and drills because they are expected to, not because they feel an emergency might occur and what they are learning may someday save their lives.
• Young adults often behave as adolescents and do not understand the consequences of their actions, such as sounding false alarms. In many cases, students become so accustomed to false alarms that they are complacent when a fire alarm sounds and often ignore it, assuming that it is another false alarm.
• In some cases, the task of teaching fire safety to college students is left to the institutions’ administrators. This is usually done during orientation at the beginning of the Fall semester and without conveying a sense of urgency.
• Because of the frequency of false alarms, some colleges have instituted a policy in which an individual at the college, usually the resident assistant, investigates the alarm before calling the fire department. This is a dangerous practice; it causes a built-in delay of the fire department’s response. Time is of the essence. These dormitories can house hundreds of students. It would take considerable time to evacuate the building. When fire departments are notified immediately and response is rapid and proficient and personnel and equipment are sufficient, it is more likely that the fire will be extinguished before occupants in areas not immediate to the fire area will be endangered.

• College enrollment for the Fall 1999 semester increased a record 10 percent, bringing the total enrollment to approximately 14.9 million.² The institutions that were not ready for this record expansion subsequently encountered overcrowding conditions within student housing, which taxed the existing fire safety systems and plans.

  Many of these institutions have been scrambling to construct new housing to accommodate the increased student population. This situation heightens safety concerns, since there are hazards inherent in construction and making alterations on the grounds and in occupied buildings during the school year.

  The Initial Call

  The design, configuration, and elevation of campus structures may not be the same on all sides, and these structures may be quite different from those to which you usually respond. It is vital that the information given by the individual calling in the fire be complete and accurate. The information should be documented by security personnel or persons in authority on the campus so that responding units arrive at the correct location. Confirm and identify the fire’s location and the areas to which it may spread. Communicate this information to all units on the scene and in the preliminary report of operations in accordance with your department’s procedures, the size-up on arrival, and later confirmation reports.

  The life hazard in college structures can be significant at any time of the day. Students have varied class schedules and can be found sleeping in their dorm residence at all hours. They are up at all hours studying or socializing. Responding personnel and equipment should be adequate for controlling problems that can develop rapidly. It may be necessary to have in place a mutual-aid agreement that would have other departments respond with yours to ensure sufficient engine and ladder apparatus to control a single-alarm response (fires requiring the stretching of one handline). Weigh the need for ladder personnel and equipment against the life hazard that may be present. If you are a member of a paid department, review your alarm policy for these types of occupancies.

  Approach fire operations within these structures in the same way as you would for high-rise structures: Designate a stairway for attack and one for evacuation, and coordinate search and ventilation. If ventilation is initiated improperly and prematurely, it can have a serious effect on the overall operation.

  ACCESS

  Campus settings offer limited access. There may be only one or two entrances/exits by which to enter the complex of buildings. This can delay response time, your arrival at the scene, and the positioning of apparatus. The arrangement of buildings within the campus may make it difficult to lay supply lines and to ladder a building because of topography, a lack of street access on all sides, or a close approach. You may have to position a ladder apparatus on a soggy lawn, which might cause it to sink in the mud and have to be placed out of service.

  EVACUATION

  Many of the structures used as dormitory housing are of fire resistive construction and can be treated as high-rise and multiple dwellings of the same type of construction. In fire-resistive construction, a small fire should not affect the structure. Sleeping rooms, common areas, and egress features must all be separated by fire-rated construction. All doors should be fire rated and self-closing or should close on the activation of an alarm.

  With this in mind, it may not be necessary to completely evacuate these structures in all emergency situations. In fact, it may be safer to have students not located on the fire floor and the floor above the fire remain in their rooms and place or tape a wet towel at the bottom of the door to keep out smoke. This way, they would not have to exit into hallways or stairways where they may be exposed to fire, extreme heat, and toxic smoke. The fuels in today’s environment generate high levels of carbon monoxide; it doesn’t take much of an exposure to render a person unconscious.

  Moreover, mass evacuation will affect personnel requirements and the positioning of the attack line. The attack will be launched from a stairway with a hoseline stretched directly from a pumper or connected to a standpipe. If evacuation is necessary, occupants must exit using these stairways. The first-arriving unit or subsequent incident commander must decide which stairway(s) will be used for attack and which for evacuation.

  Students must be told which stairs to take when evacuating. One deficiency of fire drills and evacuation plans is that students are not given a choice of exit stairs. They must use only the stipulated stairway and exit door. Some institutions have all the students leave by the main entrance so that it is easier to account for everyone. This is not a good practice; students may try to exit from a stairway/door near the fire.

  WATER

  Standpipe operations. Many campus residential structures have standpipe systems. Many departments, especially those in rural areas, may not be familiar with standpipes. Responding units must understand the system and know its limitations. Each department must determine the sizes of hoses and the types of nozzles that will most efficiently meet the magnitude of fire engendered by today’s fuels. Small-diameter hose requires high pressures to overcome friction loss, and combination nozzles require increased pressures to deliver adequate flows for extinguishment. You must have a plan to ensure that personnel will be available to place an attack line as quickly as possible. The plan must include having fire department pumpers augment the standpipe system to maintain adequate water volume and pressure. If your department does not routinely employ standpipe operations, you must train in this area.

  The water main system may be old. Piping not used at regular intervals may be encrusted with rust and sediment. When called on to function during a fire, the pumpers may draw a vacuum or limited flows and can seriously endanger the life and property you are attempting to protect.

  Supply lines. Operations may require laying long stretches of supply lines; additional pumping apparatus may be needed for water relay. Evolutions involving supplying water under these conditions must be preplanned and practiced if they are to be executed without delay.

  LADDERS

  Portable and aerial ladders and platform equipment are imperative on every response, considering the number of students present in campus structures. It may be too late to request such equipment after you arrive and assess the situation. This equipment is needed for rescue, evacuation, and access.

  FORCIBLE ENTRY

  We cannot expect that unencumbered and open entry will be available at every fire situation. Colleges and universities have enhanced security to protect students and equipment in these structures. The students themselves must have keys, swipe ID cards, and so on to gain entry. If master keys/cards are not available for firefighters’ use, anticipate the need for forcible entry.

  FIRE LOCATION

  Establish a unified terminology and system for describing the fire and communicating its location to all units on-scene (see Figures 1 and 2 for examples of identifying structures and exposures, respectively).

  ACCOUNTABILITY

  Administrators should provide a list of occupants residing in each building. Institutions that use the ID swipe card security system could program the data processor or chip to provide an up-to-date accounting of people in the building. The fire service response must be adequate so that the entire building can be searched in a timely manner to confirm that all are accounted for. It is not uncommon for a student to sleep through the excitement and appear late in an operation. There must be an accountability for firefighters as well. Having SOPs for these types of operations makes it easier to locate units based on their functions.

  SAFETY

  Taking into account all the obligations, functions, and requirements previously mentioned will enhance the safety for all concerned. Your execution of actions and performance must be deliberate and always be done with caution. Training also enhances safety and enables you to function within a relaxed atmosphere without distraction.

  TRAINING

  Repeatedly performing a task conditions the mind and body to perform that duty or function easily and instinctively. Executing our responsibilities and duties to protect life and property demands extraordinary efforts. These tasks have to be practiced to the point at which they can be performed routinely so that our operations will run fluidly and efficiently. People’s lives depend on how well we perform.

  This article addresses some of the most important issues the fire service may face at these institutions. Hopefully, it will aid you in reexamining your procedures, policies, and resources so that you can deliver the highest-quality customer service.

  Endnotes

  ¹For additional information on the scope of this problem, see “Seton Hall: From Tragedy to Triumph,” Gerard J. Naylis, Fire Engineering, September 2000, 42-44, and “Open Letter to American Colleges and Universities: Promoting Fire Safety on Campuses,” Jack J. Murphy, Fire Engineering, January 2001.

  ²National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)/United States Fire Administration (USFA) college fire safety forum, Quincy, Massachusetts, August 1999.

  JERRY TRACY is the unit commander of Fire Department of New York’s (FDNY) Squad 18, located in Manhattan. He is an instructor for the FDNY Captains Development Course and Firefighters Professional Development Program and helped to develop the Back to Basics training course. He has lectured nationally on a cross-section of subjects including strategy and tactics in high-rise structures, multiple dwellings, hotels, and private dwellings.