BY TOM BRENNAN
It seems so long ago …. We just had a few problems to solve or unique solutions or tricks of the trade to play with on this the last page in Fire Engineering for the past umpteen years. I think that we were speaking about awards for “Mutts” of the Year in this column and never completed the thought because of the arrival of the supreme Mutt on our eastern shore. I want to let all the experts (though, I think, not too many) on terror talk to you about the big stuff and let us continue on with the mundane and basics that have been found in our fire buildings and our responses, at least in my time.
I remember going to City Island to talk with our NYPD Bomb Squad and ask about car bombs and what signs a responding fire department apparatus might see that would make them suspicious.
“Basically none,” was the beginning of the answer from the sergeant. “Be careful of new cars that are reported to have been untouched for long periods of time; and if you arrive at an exploded car bomb, the safety hint is that there may be a second one!”
The people in the running for the Mutt award at fire buildings usually don’t have mass destruction in mind-just your destruction!
Many of these arson-for-thrills and gratification Mutts may have your aggressive interior act down pat. They can begin with delay in water-not the usual stuffed barrels of hydrants (let the water flow out of the 41/2-inch a little longer)-but more offensive. They have sawn the operating nuts off at the bonnet level of a few of the hydrants nearest to the building they set on fire. Eventually, you will run out of hose in the bed during a reverse lay so you would need to act here and then change the SOPs to in-line pumping. Take a sledge and break away the bonnet itself. Using an adjustable pipe wrench on the exposed operating rod will get the water started-for now.
Stairs. Next are battered and weakened stair treads that have been cut away, and broken slate and marble landing areas before the next hallway or the change in stair direction. While conjuring up all the pictures of painful injuries that might occur to you and to those below you (remember, you can forget them if you adopt a simple rule for all staircase uses in fire buildings), always (silver bullet coming) keep the soles of your feet on the riser and almost none of your weight on the tread or landing! Simple, but a painful lesson that all don’t have to relearn.
If the staircase itself is suspect, stay to the wall side of the risers, or drop a portable ladder on top. Buildings with obvious arson fires on the upper floors of combustible buildings will have us in the staircase ascending most of the time. You know it; and, unfortunately, they know it. The practice here is that they will light additional fires after the fire department has committed on floors you have passed or in the cellar, which does not have your attention on arrival. Take time to check the occupancies you pass on the way up in vacant buildings. Before I retired, they were using diesel fuel on the lower floors and gasoline on the upper floors. Now, you figure why.
Fire on the top floor of a combustible dwelling. The fire is under control, and hoselines have been shut down to sporadic dousing. It’s hook time, and ceilings start to come down. The fire is under control-not extinguished-and floors have embers; dressers and bedding and the low-burning structure are still glowing to some extent.
Pull cockloft spaces that are large and spacious or near openings like skylights and scuttle returns very carefully. We have found open cans and bottles of gasoline positioned so they were waiting to drop on firefighters who were opening up for the engine’s final assault.
“My baby is in there! My baby! Lotsa children!” How many of you make a practice of gaining control of this “witness” to get more meaningful information that is delivered more calmly? In most cases, such a cry will help concentrate and increase the courage level of the search effort, but it could be a vicious Mutt bent on seeing you take extraordinary risks with his bonfire. As you approach, take note of the description (if you can calm down enough). If he “takes off” on your arrival, call the police.
And, finally, is the well-meaning customer who thinks that the fire department is there for any emergency at any time of the day or night. One citizen called us to her high-rise apartment from our out-of-the-ghetto rest night. She was at her apartment door, holding it ajar on our arrival up the seven flights of stairs that the elevator was not servicing that night. “My toilet-it is full of hot water, Mister Fire Man,” she said. Grumbling began to be heard from the darkened faces beneath the bent and smelly helmets. “Ma’am,” I uttered in a calming demeanor, “it is 3:30 in the morning. How do you know that your toilet water is hot?” Six smiling faces turned and walked down the stairs with a lesson not forgotten. Muttress of the year!
TOM BRENNAN has more than 36 years of fire service experience. His career spans more than 20 years with the Fire Department of New York 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. Brennan is featured in the video Brennan and Bruno Unplugged (Fire Engineering/FDIC, 1999).
