We OFTEN take FOR GRANTED the value of stairs. Whether we’re using them for “attack” or “evacuation,” one of our main tactics should be control of the stairwell. The stairs may be on fire when we arrive and our normal means of egress to the floors above cut off. If so, you must initiate alternate routes of travel using portable ladders, an aerial or a tower ladder, or a fire escape. This is true when a building is under renovation or construction and the stairs are compromised or haven’t been finished to a particular floor yet.
Dispatch informed us it had received multiple calls as we pulled into a multiple dwelling with nothing showing. As we entered the building and looked toward the rear, we could see fire burning up the stairwell. We immediately requested a hoseline to our location.
Donning our masks, we proceeded forward; as we got closer to the stairs, the heat condition pushed us to the floor. Visibility was about three feet off the floor and under the stairwell, which also had an exit door to the alley; we could see furniture burning fiercely.
As we waited for the line to reach us, we discharged the pressurized water can onto the ceiling and then into the pile of material burning. This had little effect, so we directed the water onto the two apartment doors burning next to the stairs.
As the line got to our location, the nozzle firefighter bled the air from it by turning himself toward our entry path so as not to add air to the raging fire. Then he let the line flow for a few seconds, checking his stream. As he spun around toward the fire, he opened the nozzle and hit the ceiling, just at the base of the stairway. Then he quickly directed the stream toward the pile under the stairway, knocking down the bulk of the fire there.
Hearing over the radio a report from the roof firefighter that fire was blowing out of the bulkhead door on the top floor, we began to push forward with the line. Now, as the line began to knock down the fire on the first set of stairs and landing’s walls, we could hear loud cracking and popping sounds and feel ourselves being hit with debris. Initially, we thought it just was the paint and plaster falling off the interior brick walls, but as visibility toward the floor increased, we noticed that the marble stair treads were cracked or missing and pieces of them were lying on the floor next to us.
Now our primary means of access was compromised, and we still had a raging fire in the stairwell to contend with. Plus, there was no well hole, so the stream couldn’t be directed upward to knock down the fire on the floors above. Because of the conditions of the stair treads, we had to systematically spread members out as we moved upward. The nozzle firefighter had made it to the next landing while the backup firefighter was on the first floor and had a bow of hose pushed up along the wall to help the advance.
To knock down the fire on the next stairs and landing, the nozzle firefighter pinned himself and the hoseline against the wall for support. He made sure not to lean into the compromised glass windows on the half-landings as he advanced.
As the team advanced, a third firefighter was positioned at the bottom landing to assist in moving the hose upward. As they prepared to move up to the third floor, all the members had to use caution because they were now climbing just on the stairwell’s risers since the marble treads had failed and were gone.
When the same tactics were deployed up to the next floor, the heat and intensity of the fire had warped the four apartment doors inward so badly that fire was now extending into those apartments. The second hoseline was also stretched up the interior stairs; once the truck forced the doors to these apartments, the line knocked down fire extension on this floor. The initial attack line continued to proceed upward, knocking down the remaining fire in the stairwell and bulkhead.
Meanwhile, civilians were being removed from the front and rear fire escapes. Additional alarms were struck, and companies were using tower ladders, portable ladders, and aerial ladders to relieve the severe overcrowding on these means of egress. An engine company was stretching a hoseline to the upper floors by using a utility rope stretch up the front of the building to the upper floors. This line was used to knock down some of the minor extension into the apartment ceilings on the fourth floor where the doors had failed.
Lessons Learned
- When proceeding up interior stairs that have been compromised by fire, members should spread out to reduce the chances of a stair collapse.
- Members stopping to extinguish fire can place the tanks of their self-contained breathing apparatus into the corner of the walls for support. Wear full protective gear; the cascading water will be hot!
- All members operating behind the line can assist in moving the line upward, especially when there is no well hole.
- Place portable ladders over compromised stairs for access, egress, and overall safety.
When faced with compromised stairs, it’s going to be difficult to climb them, just like the 343 members of the FDNY did on 9/11. Never Forgotten.
MICHAEL N. CIAMPO is a 30-year veteran of the fire service and a lieutenant in the Fire Department of New York. Previously, he served with the District of Columbia Fire Department. He has a bachelor’s degree in fire science from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. He is the lead instructor for the FDIC Truck Essentials H.O.T. program. He wrote the Ladder chapter and co-authored the Ventilation chapter for Fire Engineering’s Handbook for Firefighter I and II (Fire Engineering, 2009) and is featured in “Training Minutes” truck company videos on www.FireEngineering.com.
