FIRE ESCAPES
RANDOM THOUGHTS
Firefighters use fire escapes for egress from the fire building when trapped during primary search of the fire floor or as the secondary exit when searching the floor above. Fire escapes give searching firefighters access to the “rear” of the fire (see August, September, and October 1992 columns). Account for this alternative entry early at occupied fires, and you will be giving out more medals on awards day. Fire escapes also serve the trapped public as a second means of egress.
W hen strategies shift rapidly, they serve as a great vantage point for a defensive then offensive operation for handline attack on a momentarily untenable fire floor. T hey also are a good route for the third handline to be stretched —remember, if you place more than two handlines on the same interior staircase, one of them is bound to get in serious trouble.
bet’s focus on the typical tenement (more than two-family building) metal assemblies—their similarities, their differences, and their dangers.
One of the main differences is in how they provide tor the escape of the public they serve. Most connect from roof to sidewalk or another area of refuge and then access to the street. Some, however, only connect to other apartments on the same floor. Your size-up must account for this difference in the type of assembly. The latter—less widely found —is known as the balcony type. The trapped occupants can exit only onto the balcony and move along the assembly to a safe, adjoining apartment. There they must await removal or force their way into the safe apartment’s window, through the nonexposed apartment, to the interior stairs.
Our access to the fire apartment is just the opposite: force entry into the adjacent apartment, out onto the balcony, to the “rear” of the fire apartment. These are old installations, and most codes banned their use years ago.
Most fire escape balconies are affixed to every floor above the first floor. They are connected to each other by pitched ladders of varying degrees. They are the safest and most effective to use because you are coming up at the fire from below it. They almost always serve at least two apartments—one window of each or two windows for one and one window for the other.
Some problems and safety considerations for balcony and stair operations follow:
Ladder or stair. Older stairs are at a much more severe angle for the climber. Rather than treads, each step is made up of two fragile and rusting rods. All steps in general pose a safety threat to the unaware firefighter. Look at the condition and connections of each step as you climb. Rather than place your feet in the center of the step, focus your weight (feet) at the connection points. Do not shift your weight to the step itself until you have a firm grip on the handrail(s). Should the step give way, you will be able to hang for a short time wTiile maneuvering to your next support point. If you fall through unprepared, you will continue through the opening at least 10 feet to the stair below.
Balcony to balcony. The balcony area around the stair opening is severely restricted, sometimes less than a foot as you go around to the start of the next set of steps. Sudden slips, trips, or vibrations can send you directly to the ground. Most times there is not enough room for a firefighter and his/her properly donned SCBA to pass between the building wall and the stair assembly to the next floor. You must be able to quickly move the mask assembly from your back to underarm (low-profile) position to get through this obstacle to your objective. Constantly watch all connections and stair treads as you ascend from floor to floor.
Get on the first balcony. How do you get there? You must know how the assembly is constructed. Civilian access and exit at the sidewalk is either by counterbalanced stainvay or by drop ladder. To use either, you need a six-foot pike pole from the sidewalk. Pull the counterbalance assembly down until you can get on it, or (with the pike pole facing away from you) push up on one rung of the drop ladder to release its holding hook and lower the ladder to the ground.
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There are many dangers here: First, a poorly maintained counterweight may drop, causing injuries. Second, the drop ladder rests in two tracks held in vertical position by two flimsy guides at the tip of the ladder—any distortion or violent motions may cause it to fall out and toward (on top of) the firelighter. If the hook is used facing the firelighter, the drop ladder assembly may move toward the firefighter—riding the hook handle and causing injury.
There is one foolproof, safe way: a 20-foot portable ladder to the opposite side of the drop ladder or counterbalanced stairway. This also frees the drop ladder for civilian traffic or to assist in evacuating an overloaded balcony. Should you find and be forced to carry or escort civilians along this route, they certainly are more manageable on a properly selected and placed portable ladder than on a vertical drop ladder.
To the roof. Many fire escapes also serve the roof of the structure. But which ones? On apartments served by one fire escape, it usually is in the rear (rarely on the side) and serves the roof by a gooseneck ladder from the top-floor balcony. Fire escapes attached to the front of the structure usually mean there is more than one fire escape, and those serving the front apartments usually are permitted (by code) to not have ladder access to the roof. Fire escapes at the front of the building do not serve the roof, while those at any other location on the building do.
Gooseneck ladders are an excellent second or third choice for the firefighter assigned to the roof to get to this position. They also serve as an alternate exit for the roof team in trouble or for secondary assignments for the roof team for a fire below the top floor. Often, after opening the roof at a fire below the top floor, this team can begin a search of floors above the fire if the fire escape is tenable.
Gooseneck ladders are also trouble. Their connections to the roof area are most neglected and usually the first to fail. Once the weight of the firefighter is above the neutral point—middle of the ladder—if this connection pulls out and free, the firefighter will be out in space for the entire height of the building. A good practice is to climb this ladder with your weight close to the rungs, much like a tightrope walker’s ladder. It keeps the stresses close to perpendicular to the balcony support and not on the roof connections. If life is in severe jeopardy, climb down or up the ladder, keeping yourself between the ladder and the building. Sounds crazy, 1 know, but when there is no other alternative, it works!
