This month we remember the line-of-duty-death of Firefighter Bret Tarver. If you have been in the fire service for a minute, you have probably heard about Bret. Firefighter Tarver of the Phoenix (AZ) Fire Department (PFD) was lost while fighting fire in the Southwest Supermarket in March of 2001. Tarver died from carbon monoxide poisoning and thermal burns after running out of air and becoming disoriented while fighting a supermarket fire. His death, and the recovery in the PFD, changed the fire service. Thankfully.
The PFD did extensive training and learned the realities of rescuing a down firefighter. They learned that the rescue of a down firefighter was not going to be quick and required a significant number of personnel. Over the years, their work has influenced the development of NFPA standards and fire departments SOPs/SOGs.
Here are links to reports on this tragedy:
Firefighting in commercial buildings has always been a difficult scenario for fire departments. The issue is the low life hazard related to civilians and the high risk for responding firefighters. Firefighters must manage this risk when faced with a commercial building (See the table below).
Due to our experience of fighting residential fires, the fire service does a good job of managing the risk associated with these occupancies. Unfortunately, we do not have the same familiarity with commercial building fires and it can be riskier. One of the risks associated with these buildings is the increased fire load due to the type of and the amount of contents. As the fire load increases, so should our fire flow (See the June 2022 Mayday Monday). This may require the use of larger handlines. To help with your decision-making on when to use a BIG line the A.D.U.L.T.S. acronym was developed. It stands for:
Recently, the UL Fire Safety Research Institute conducted experiments in an acquired strip mall to learn more about the fire dynamics in this type of building. Learn more about this research here.
Skill/Drill
This month’s skill/drill is to practice stretching and operating the 2½-inch handline. You can find several articles and videos on the internet that provide different techniques to handle the BIG line. Here are some from Fire Engineering:
- ‘Big Fire, Big Water’: The 2½-Inch Hoseline
- Training Minutes Revisited: ‘Pin and Hit’ Tactics for 2 1/2-Inch Line
- Training Minutes: Advancing 2 1/2-Inch Hose
- Andy Fredericks: The 2 1/2-Inch Handline
- Hoseline Selection: 1¾- and 2½-Inch Hoselines
Please send in pictures of you and your crews performing this month’s skill drill. Send to tcarroll@louisa.org.
Tony Carroll is deputy chief of operations with the Louisa County (VA) Fire & EMS Department.
