BY FRANK C. MONTAGNA
We are told that when traversing a fire escape, we should step lightly, position each foot on the tread alongside the riser, and keep one hand free for climbing. Why?
FIRE ESCAPE SAFETY
The reason is that fire escapes, often old and in disrepair, can be dangerous places. A common point of failure is the stair tread. By stepping gently near the riser where the tread connects to it, you are stepping on the tread’s strong point, putting less strain on old and possibly corroded connections and reducing the likelihood of tread failure. Truckies carrying tools and climbing up a fire escape should put the tools in one hand, leaving the other hand free to grasp the railing or ladder rung. Should a tread fail or some other mishap occur while climbing, one hand will be available to steady yourself or prevent your fall.
 From a position under the fire escape landing, use the tip of your pike pole to raise the ladder, and the supporting hook will release. |
Another safety tidbit tells us to vent the window farthest away from the fire escape stairs first. If this window is not vented first and we instead vent the window nearest the steps first, we can be trapped on the far edge of the fire escape should fire vent out of the window we just vented.
 Vent the window farthest from the fire escape stairs first so that if fire blows out as you vent, you are not cut off from the stairs or prevented from venting this window. |
Fire escapes built onto wood-frame buildings pose an evolving hazard at fires. Although the metal structure of the fire escape may be firmly attached to the building at the start of the fire, it is attached only with metal bolts through wood. As the fire burns the wood structural element supporting the fire escape, the potential for the collapse of the fire escape increases. In fact, as the metal connecting bolts are heated by the flames, they begin to char and burn the supporting wood from the inside out. As a result, a fire escape that was just fine at the start of the fire can become unstable and collapse as unsuspecting firefighters use it later.
On wood buildings with serious fires, the stability of the fire escape must be monitored until the fire is brought under control. If the fire escape’s stability is suspect, its use must be prohibited, and all on the scene and those who respond later should be told why it should not be used.
To lower a fire escape drop ladder, we place the tip of a pike pole under the bottom rung and push up. The ladder rises, and the supporting hook drops free. At this point, the ladder is supported only by the pike pole. Remove the pole from a supporting position, and the ladder will crash to the ground ready for use. Obviously, you do not want to be under the ladder when it comes crashing down, so do not position yourself directly under it when performing this task. In fact, consider standing under the fire escape, out of the way, when lowering the ladder. If the ladder rails are corroded or damaged, the ladder can slip out of its tracks and fall away from the fire escape. A firefighter standing opposite the fire escape could then be struck by the falling heavy metal drop ladder. It is safer to stand under the fire escape when dropping the ladder.
Fire escapes are designed to support a specific weight. This means that we cannot just keep adding firefighters, hose, water, and victims to the fire escape. Once the weight limit is exceeded, sooner if the fire escape is damaged or corroded, the fire escape or a portion of it can fail. In the winter, you must consider the buildup of ice in the weight equation. Since you will not know when a fire escape is overloaded to the point of failure, at all times keep the number of firefighters on the fire escape to a minimum, and get them off it as soon as possible.
The fire escape is a useful rescue and firefighting tool, but it is fraught with dangers that must be considered and countered when it is used. Whenever possible, throw a portable ladder up to the fire escape, and use it for access and egress even if you lower the drop ladder. The portable ladder at the proper climbing angle is safer and easier to climb, and after you lower the drop ladder, it provides you with a second means of egress to quickly empty an overcrowded fire escape.
DISTRIBUTOR NOZZLE
We are told that when deploying a distributor nozzle, we should lower the nozzle through a hole in the floor until it hits the floor or the top of the stock below, whichever comes first, and then pull it back halfway up to the ceiling joists. Why?
A distributor nozzle is designed to put cooling water on fires that are inaccessible to the nozzle team. A cellar fire, for example, that cannot be accessed, because of heat or other reasons, can be extinguished by a well-placed distributor nozzle. The nozzle is attached to the end of a hoseline and has several orifices from which water is sprayed in various directions. The nozzle swivels as the water passes through it, resulting in a rotating spray of water that wets the area above, below, and on all sides of the deployed nozzle. It is similar to the child’s sprinkler that sprays rotating jets of water for delighted children on a hot summer’s day. Of course, it supplies much more water than the child’s sprinkler.
To deploy it at a cellar fire, cut a small one-foot-square hole in the floor above the cellar fire. Lower the nozzle and hose into the hole past the joists until it hits an obstruction, probably the floor or some furniture or stock stored in the cellar. Then raise it back up half the distance to the ceiling below you and charge it. Raising the nozzle back up halfway to the joists gives the rotating water jets maximum coverage of the area below. The distributor is also used to extinguish pier fires by cutting the pier deck and lowering the distributor through the cut hole, ship fires by lowering it through the ship’s hatches, and cockloft fires by lowering it into the cockloft from a hole cut in the roof.
Consider several safety measures before and while using this nozzle. Is the floor, pier deck, or roof safe to operate on? What is the construction? How severe is the fire? How long has it been burning? The area likely will be full of smoke before, if not after, the hole is cut, so SCBA use will probably be necessary.
If possible, avoid cutting your hole in the normal path of travel so that no one steps in it. Stretch a handline and staff it near the site selected to deploy the distributor-to protect the firefighters cutting the hole and placing and operating the distributor and to prevent fire extension through the hole in the floor. Distributors do not have shutoffs, so you will need to place a gate one length back, to start and stop the flow of water as needed. Once the fire below you is extinguished, you can consider cutting another hole in another location to extinguish additional inaccessible fire.
VENTING THE ROOF IN A TIGHTLY SEALED ONE-STORY COMMERCIAL BUILDING
At a fire in a long-burning, tightly sealed, one-story commercial building, it is generally considered a good idea to vent the roof before opening the doors or venting the windows. Why?
A fire in a tightly sealed building that has burned for a long time poses a real danger of backdraft to the unsuspecting firefighter venting windows or opening doors. The fire, which started small, has grown in heat and size over time. It has consumed the available oxygen. The result is a building charged with explosive carbon monoxide-laden smoke and a superheated atmosphere well over 2,000°F. The heated gases created by the fire have risen with the smoke to the ceiling or roof and then mushroomed out until reaching the enclosing sides of the room or building. Now, it banks down to fill the entire space. The missing ingredient for combustion is oxygen; opening the door or venting the windows provides the oxygen needed for a backdraft to occur.
If a backdraft is imminent, you will likely see heavy smoke pushing under pressure from all of the cracks and small openings in the building. The smoke color will vary, depending on what is burning, but it will be thick and may be actually pulsating out of the openings, and the window glass may be discolored from heat. Opening a door or venting a window at this point may result in an escape of smoke followed by a sudden reversal of smoke flow back into the opening. You should know that this is a sign that a backdraft explosion is likely to occur. It may blow out the window glass with a jet of fire extending 10 or more feet and engulf the vented area and unsuspecting firefighter in fire. It is prudent practice to stand to one side of the window you are venting, out of the way of the resultant blowtorch. The backdraft may blow out a building wall or collapse the building. In any case, you don’t want to be in the building at this point or in the path of flying glass or falling structural elements.
You can avoid most of the bad stuff related to a backdraft explosion if you vent the roof before venting horizontally. By cutting the roof and pushing down the ceiling, if present, you allow the built-up hot gases to rise up and out of the building. As they exit the building, these gases will ignite harmlessly above the roof. Now, you can start opening doors and breaking windows, since backdraft conditions in the vented area no longer exist. As soon as the windows are vented, operate your hose stream into them from a safe distance to cool the area. Proper ventilation, the quick application of water, and a good dose of caution may prevent a backdraft from occurring and can save firefighters’ lives if one should occur.
That said, be advised that if an area is sealed off from the rest of the building and is not vented by your roof opening, backdraft can still occur in that sealed area. An enclosed cockloft, if not vented, can harbor backdraft conditions, and firefighters poking holes in it can provide the oxygen needed for a backdraft to occur in the cockloft. The result could be a ball of fire that blows the entire ceiling down onto the firefighters below.
Another point to be mindful of is that backdraft can occur in any tightly sealed building or area of a building, not just in commercial buildings. This is especially true of buildings with energy-efficient windows that do not fail when subjected to the fire’s heat. They allow the heat to build up and prevent the influx of oxygen that would feed the fire, and thus the superheated CO-laden smoke can develop to the backdraft stage.
Any time you encounter a fire burning for a long time in a tightly sealed building, consider the possibility that a backdraft could occur, and proceed cautiously. Remember, if it is at the point of backdraft, the temperature is at the 2,000°F level, and the smoke is heavily laden with CO. There are no live victims to be saved, only firefighters to be lost.
FRANK C. MONTAGNA is a battalion chief and a 36-year veteran of the Fire Department of New York. For the past 19 years, he has served as a chief officer assigned to Battalion 58 and is detailed to the FDNY Bureau of Training assigned to curriculum development, creating training programs for chiefs, company officers, and firefighters. He has a degree in fire science from John Jay College, where he has taught fire science and management courses as an adjunct lecturer. He is the author of Responding to “Routine” Emergencies (Fire Engineering, 1999) and its companion workbook (Fire Engineering, 2006) and is a member of the editorial advisory board of Fire Engineering. Montagna lectures on various fire-related topics and is a contributor to Fire Engineering and FDNY’s WNYF magazine. He maintains his own Web site at http://www.chiefmontagna.com.
