FIREGROUND SEARCHES
BOB PRESSLER
As you follow the engine company through the streets in the early morning, the dispatcher advises all responding companies that the phone information indicates a working fire. There is also a heavy smoke condition visible in the distance. You turn into the block directly behind the first engine. Heavy smoke is billowing across the street, making identification of the fire building difficult. The block appears to be comprised of all row homes. Down toward the middle of the row, heavy fire can be seen venting from the first floor of an apparently occupied row house. The fire is showing out of the front door and the front window. Heavy smoke is pushing from the second-floor windows.
The engine company pulls up past the front of the building and starts to stretch an attack line. This leaves room in front of the building for the truck company. As the truck pulls into place, a victim is seen lying on the ground in front of the building. This person had jumped from the second-floor front bedroom window. Further information indicates that a person is still trapped on the second floor.
The first engine starts to advance into the heavily involved first floor. The fire has control of the entire first floor from front to rear and has already extended to the second- floor rear. Through the heavy smoke covering the front of the building, a hand pokes from the front window, barely visible to the operating forces.
As the officer of the truck company, what options do you have? Where are your priorities (or what should they be)? How do you split a four-person crew to cover the myriad tasks that a truck company is responsible for on the fireground?
The first priority on the fireground is the preservation of life. With one victim already on the ground and the reports of another victim trapped, the truck company must focus on search and possible rescue of any other trapped victims. The victim that has al-ready jumped from the building may need first aid but basically is out of danger. With the strong possibility of at least one more victim still trapped in the fire building, leaving a member of the first-due truck company to assist this person should not be an option. Once the victim`s hand becomes visible through the smoke, the focus must be the removal of this victim.
There is currently quite a bit of discussion in the fire service today about the survival time of victims in burning buildings. Some people believe that because of the types of fires encountered today–heavy fire loads coupled with dense-smoke-producing furnishings–most trapped civilians have already succumbed to the by-products of the fire before fire department arrival. But every day across the country, fire departments use aggressive search techniques to rescue trapped civilians some people might consider not savable.
As with most fires, the most important way to protect lives on the fireground is to put out the fire. So even with an obvious trapped civilian, the engine company still must stretch a handline and attack the fire. Attacking the fire increases the survival times of trapped civilians and makes the environment safer for operating forces.
The truck company starts a two-pronged attempt to reach the victim. From the outside, they quickly raise portable ladders to either side of the window. The first firefighter up the ladder, the lieutenant of the first truck, reaches the victim, but the civilian passes out and collapses back into the room. While the ladder was being positioned and the lieutenant was climbing up toward the victim, a separate attempt to reach the victim from the inside was also underway. Another firefighter from the first-due truck followed the engine company into the blazing first floor of the row home. As the engine knocked down the fire in the front rooms, the firefighter was able to rapidly ascend the stairs to the second floor and enter the front bedroom where the victim was trapped.
As other companies arrive on the fireground, the members of these companies should support the operations of the first-arriving units. Does the first engine have a suitable water supply? Is the first line stretched knocking down the visible fire, or is it stuck on the front porch, unable to advance? At this fire, the first-due engine has knocked down most of the visible fire in the front of the building, but the firefighters attempting to reach the trapped civilian through the exterior of the building certainly need support. Members quickly raise a second portable ladder to the opposite side of the window from where the victim was seen.
The firefighter who entered the building behind the engine company and made it to the second floor has now located the severely burned victim under the front window (photo 3). With great difficulty, since he is trying to grab a partially clothed, severely burned body, the firefighter is able to lift the victim up onto and then over the window ledge. The firefighters outside try to grab the victim`s arms while the member inside tries to hold on to the victim`s pants.
The most crucial moment when removing an unconscious victim from a window to a portable or an aerial ladder is when the actual transfer takes place. The members outside the building must be sure that they have a substantial hold on the victim before the member inside lets go. Once the victim passes over the windowsill, the interior firefighter can do little but take some of the weight of the victim from the receiving members.
If the victim cannot be put directly onto a ladder, the operation becomes that much more difficult. The weight of the victim, maintaining a grip on the victim`s burned extremities, and the precarious position of the rescuers make keeping control of the victim almost impossible without the help of other personnel on the ground. This is where the later-arriving units must be able to do a rapid size-up of the fireground operations and be able to step in to offer support.
LESSONS LEARNED
A rapid size-up of the fire building on arrival by all first-alarm companies is a must. This size-up should include a quick look at the building for type of construction and any apparent deficiencies. Also, scan the building to ascertain the fire`s location and the possible locations of any trapped civilians.
When it is determined that there is a trapped occupant, you must immediately implement a plan to try to remove/rescue this person. The two-pronged attack from the interior and exterior gives the department two chances of success and the trapped victim two chances of survival.
When positioning portable ladders for fire department members to use and for removing victims, try to position the ladder so that it is in line with the window and the tip is level or just under the windowsill. This makes it easier for members to enter and exit the window and keeps them low while doing so. When a victim, especially an unconscious one, needs to be removed to the ladder, this position simplifies removal by giving rescuers the ability to use the ladder as a guide to remove the victim. Once the victim is on the ladder, the firefighter trying to bring the victim down can just use his body weight to push into the ladder, holding the victim between himself and the ladder for control.
Removing burned victims is much harder than removing unconscious ones. Make sure that personnel have a firm grip on the victim, preferably on clothes rather than on arms or legs, as the skin may peel and the rescuers may drop the victim.
Just because first-arriving units are met with heavy smoke and fire conditions does not mean they should write off everyone in the fire building. There is a chance that people are still alive in areas other than the fire room. Aggressive search is the key to civilian survival; never write off a life based on fire and smoke unless the building is truly fully involved and entry is not possible. If one window or door does not have fire venting from it, how do you know there is no life under or behind this location? Take the window, force the door, and reach or probe with a tool–but be willing to “make a move” if your probe discovers a body.
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BOB PRESSLER, a 23-year veteran of the fire service, is a retired lieutenant with Rescue Company No. 3 of the Fire Department of New York. He created and produced the videos Peaked-Roof Ventilation and SCBA Safety and Emergency Procedures for the Fire Engineering video series “Bread and Butter” Operations. Pressler has an associate`s degree in fire protection engineering from Oklahoma State University, is a frequent instructor on a wide range of fire service topics, and is a member of a volunteer department.
