ON FIRE ❘ by MICHAEL N. CIAMPO
Over the course of a career in the fire service, certain addresses will be forever ingrained in your memory bank. Whether that address was notorious for “work,” false alarms, or automatic fire alarms, most of us can recall it. When one of those “good addresses” for work is dispatched, we’re usually geared up and ready to go, just waiting to see a column or getting a whiff of it blocks away. Unfortunately for many of these addresses, we’ll get a little complacent donning our personal protective equipment. Is that because we’ve been here three times today or four times this week and found nothing? It’s easy to get complacent when you add hot and humid weather or it’s in the early morning hours and your energy levels are low. That’s very dangerous because one day when we’re on the nuisance box, things could suddenly go from good to bad at a moment’s notice.
Food on the stove is a big culprit in large apartment buildings, assisted living facilities, and wherever hard-wired smoke alarms are installed just outside cooking areas. These alarms can be triggered by the dreaded burnt piece of toast, steam from a boiling pot of water, or burnt popcorn in the microwave. On arrival, especially at a high-rise multiple dwelling, you’d better have your self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) on your back! There’s nothing good about stopping two floors below the fire floor in the elevator (so the floor plan’s layout is the same as the fire floor in the case of scissor stairs) and getting a good whiff of smoke when you were too lazy to carry your SCBA. It’s too late now to go back down to get it and you’ve just thrown a monkey wrench into company operations. Sure, if it’s hot and humid out and “nothing showing,” I’ve been known to leave my coat unbuckled when walking through the long courtyard toward the building, hoping any fresh air would help cool me down. We all gamble a little here and there, but when you’re at high-rise multiple dwellings, it’s not the time to put yourself, your crew, or the residents in jeopardy because you didn’t want to wear your SCBA.
Big buildings are hosts to big problems that you often won’t be able to see on arrival. Don’t be lazy; carry your tools with you. “Two hands, two tools” allows you to complete more tasks than you can with one tool. Plus, you can often marry both tools together to create more leverage. It’s going to take more time to run back down to the apparatus to retrieve something you should have carried in the first place.
At many high-rise multiple dwelling fires, the floor-above teams often carry additional sets of forcible entry tools since they may have to force numerous apartment doors to complete a primary search. Since many of these buildings are “fireproof” (fire resistive structures built with concrete or block construction), there are fewer ceilings to pull that require the use of hooks and less chance of extension to the floor above through interior voids. The normal extension in these buildings is usually autoexposure from fire venting from the windows. However, it’s also very important to carry hooks; one or two married together can make an anchor point across the bottom of a door frame for a life-saving rope evolution.
Automatic fire alarms are also notorious for not giving us much other information when dispatched. When we arrive on scene, we’ll need to initially check the alarm panel to get the specific information and type of alarm transmitted (smoke detector, water flow, or heat head). If you’re lucky enough to have a zone or location transmitted on dispatch, it may point you in the right direction when you arrive on scene. Always check the alarm panel when you arrive on scene to ensure it matches the response information. Don’t be surprised if the panel is blank or cleared and reset prior to your arrival. Some security personnel don’t want you walking through the building or causing them more work. They feel like if it’s cleared, you’ll go with a defective system as the cause of the activation and just leave.
When we get a response for an automatic fire alarm informing us of a water flow, our senses should be on high alert. Any water flow terminology relayed to us must make us investigate the cause. Sure, a drop in water pressure in the main may cause an alarm to trigger, but it may also be due to an activated sprinkler head, water flowing from a broken pipe, or even an open standpipe valve. Often when the weather has been frigid, pipes have been known to freeze, and when the warm-up begins, the pipes have leaks at the seams or joints or are split open due to water expansion. Don’t be surprised if one of your crew members gets drenched with water while plugging a sprinkler head or trying to shut down a water control valve.
Another way we can get a little complacent is by taking security personnel at their word that they checked it out and found nothing. Sometimes the burnt toast was thrown into the garbage can, and we’ve arrived to find a smoldering rubbish fire in the can. Security personnel aren’t trained to our level and haven’t experienced the incidents we have. At one incident, a smoke alarm was set off, and security told us a guard was going to check it out. It was a large hospital complex and quite a distance from the alarm panel. We waited to hear back from the guard. Nobody mentioned that welders were enclosing an open atrium for more floor space. To our surprise, the guard began yelling on the radio that he had a fire in the construction materials. We all began to scramble in that direction.
Do your job and do it well, carry your tools on each run, and wear your personal protective gear when needed!
MICHAEL N. CIAMPO is a 38-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 International Truck Essentials H.O.T. program. He wrote the Ladders and Ventilation chapters for Fire Engineering’s Handbook for Firefighter I and II (Fire Engineering, 2009) and the Bread and Butter Portable Ladders DVD and is featured in “Training Minutes” truck company videos.
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