SPRINKLERS AND OTHER FIRE SAFETY MEASURES
At 1307 hours, on Monday, October 26, 1992, the Philadelphia (PA) Fire Department received a call from a frantic caller, who reported “Apartment A-41 of the Ashley Court Apartments was burning.” First-alarm companies were dispatched to Building #4 of the apartment complex —a large, three-story, truss-constructed structure with 26 living units.
In his initial report, the captain of the first engine company to arrive advised the Dispatch Center that fire was lapping from the first floor. He continued to size up the situation, established command, and assigned units. His unit became the fire attack team. The captain took these actions because he realized that the behavior of the fire and the construction features of the building were at odds with an extended offensive assault.
An interior attack was ordered. The fire attack group stretched a 1 ¾-inch water line through the front entrance to the common hallway. The attack group’s mission was to stop the spread of flames before they entered the truss flooring and to keep the public hall clear for a massive evacuation.
The first-due ladder company performed the tasks of search and rescue. Upon the company’s arrival, a young immigrant boy informed the group leader in broken English that his grandmother was alone in Apartment A-43, located approximately 100 feet from A-4 1, the apartment in which the fire originated.
The five-person truck crew was divided into two teams: a two-member search team and a three-member ventilation team. The interior search team proceeded to the last known location of the trapped occupant, Apartment A-43.
The ventilation team began the “labor-intensive” exterior work of raising extension ladders and ventilating the fire zone.
The resources quickly were depleted, and additional first-alarm companies were taken from staging to join the fire attack, search/rescue, and ventilation groups.
As fire attack moved its mobile line into the apartment of origin, A-41, it encountered obstructions by furniture, exercise equipment, and prized firearms. As the members pushed from the living room area to the bedrooms, the powerful water stream from an automatic flow-type nozzle began to reverse the direction of the heat and smoke. It was obvious to the hose team that the windows, curtains, and blinds had been successfully removed by the ventilation group because horizontal ventilation became extremely effective.
When the fire attack team reached the bedroom in A-41. it discovered the charred body of the sole occupant on the floor next to the bed and nightstand as the final flames were confined and extinguished. The short, but intense, fire had taken its human toll.
Meanwhile, the search and rescue group followed the interior partitions into the south end of the public hall. Visibility was restricted due to the dense smoke and the team members’ crouching low to search for occupants. They passed several apartment doors, all of which were locked. There was not enough time for forcible entry. As they reached the end of the main corridor, the outer door of Apartment A-43 was ajar. Instantly, the firefighters began an organized search pattern —room by room, clockwise—all the while listening for any sound of life. lT»ey heard a gurgling noise, which the experienced truckmen followed. It led to an elderly woman on a bed. Maneuvering the unconscious body from the toxic environment was difficult. At the firstaid station, the paramedics began the proper medical treatment with the administering of pure oxygen, and the patient later was transported to the hospital.
Outside in the parking lot, the manager of the apartment complex began a detailed process to systematically track evacuated occupants. A rabbi speaking fluent Russian assisted the “super” in tracing the whereabouts of the residents and visitors. In addition, the Philadelphia Police Department provided a translator to act as the link between the incident commander and the displaced families.
A chronological review of the Ashley Court operation showed that the captain’s decision to implement an offensive strategy at the onset of the incident contained the fire’s progress, reduced the number of serious injuries, and limited the amount of property damage. The incident also reinforced many other fire safety factors; they have been incorporated into the mnemonic SPRINKLERS as follows:
S—Support from religious leaders, the media, and governmental agencies is essential. language barriers and cultural diversity can become public i relations challenges. During preincident planning, a public safety organization should create a written directory of services, equipment, and other kinds of assistance so that information can be disseminated before, during, and after a crisis.
P—Placement of water lines is critical in controlling flame spread. Protecting the main path of escape is a priority. Attacking from the unburned side is encouraged, but crews always must position the first hose stream between the fire and the “human” exposures.
R—Rescue of “savable” occupants is the goal. Search teams must be ready— mentally with a logical inspection procedure and physically with the proper equipment (protective clothing, SCBA with PASS device, handlight, and portable radio on the proper channel) available before entering a structure. Effective rescuers must be capable of inspiring confidence, maintaining discipline, and eliciting cooperation on the fireground and inside evacuation shelters. Removing panicky individuals or families from a large group of evacuees is necessary and prudent.
I—Interior “size-up” offers a very limited view. Immediate status reports from all sectors will help the incident commander to make sound decisions based on accurate information. A knowledgeable fire officer can distinguish between a room-and-contents “job” and a fire where the loadbearing supports are being compromised. An offensive mode is appropriate in structures that are stable.
N—Never allow emergency responders to freelance. By having a designated staging area that is easily visible to incoming units, safety will not be sacrificed for speed. Responding resources can be directed so that proper accountability records are completed before deployment. Tactical worksheets are practical and can be adjusted as the incident escalates or demobilizes.
K—Keep fire doors closed. Compartmentation is the key to maintaining the integrity of interior escape routes. Smoke spread is restricted when fire suppression activities and evacuation paths are conducted from separate stairways.
L—Laws and standards mandate the implementation of an incident command system to ensure that vital duties are not duplicated, confused, or forgotten.
E—Elderly or ill occupants often cannot be safely removed by portable ladders. The defend-in-place concept is a viable option under the right conditions. “Safe havens” are required under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and these designated areas cannot be ignored during an annual familiarization tour or in a crisis situation.
R—Reducing fire fatalities through the use of passive devices such as a working smoke detector and an enforced fire code is not enough. Today’s fire loads in homes, apartments, and commercial buildings generate too much heat and smoke to guarantee sufficient protection. An automatic sprinkler system is the only satisfactory’ life-safety solution.
S—Strategic priorities are not inci| dent specific. Regardless of the scenario, the IC must make decisions based on life safety’; incident stabilization; and, finally, property conservation.
For the members of the Philadelphia Fire Department, this tragic incident reinforced the lesson learned in the 1991 One Meridian Plaza high-rise fire, also in Philadelphia: A sprinkler system is the most important fire i protection feature that can be built j into a structure.
During the past year, the controver’ sy over NFPA 1500 and the required | staffing levels at interior firefighting | operations have taken a lot of time, energy, and resources from the Amer| ican fire service. In the upcoming | year, we should focus on the only single element that protects the safety : of citizens and firefighters, the sprinkler i system. By actively working for sprinkler legislation, we can help make the rest of this decade and the next century safer for our communities.
