“BREAD AND BUTTER” OPERATION: TOWNHOUSES AND THEIR “ANCESTORS,” PART 2
Normal operations for a fire reported in one building in a block of row-frame buildings call for the engine company to proceed to the reported block, search for the given address, and start operations. Most rowframes “face” the street on which they are built. Addresses, where supplied, are visible from the cab of the apparatus as you proceed down the block. Even if the reported fire building does not have an address on it, adjacent addresses should be able to guide the company to the proper building.
In “garden apartments.” the job of locating a given address becomes more difficult. Single buildings may have multiple addresses; buildings, in addition to being set back from the street, may be accessible only from a cul-de-sac or parking lot.
Occasionally, a second building will be located behind the first one, facing the same rear of the front building. This second row of apartments, although not actually fronting on the street, will use the same street name in its address as the front building but with a different numbering pattern. The front buildings may be numbered 123, 125, and 127 Main Street and the rear building may be 123a. 125a, and 127a: or. the front can be 123, 127. and 131 and the rear 125, 129. and 133.
Signs that list groups of addresses with appropriate arrows many times will be found on the end building of the complex and may offer some help. Unfortunately, the arrows may or may not point to the most direct route to a given building, or the route may be only by way of walkways and across lawns. The apparatus will have to find another means of access to a reported fire. One commonly found method used in garden apartment identification is the assigning of a number designation to the entire building, and the separate apartments have that number but w ith a letter added (for example, 123 Main Street has four separate apartments listed as 123a, 123b. etc.).
As townhouse developments started to appear across the country, plot layouts became increasingly complex: winding roads ending in cul-de-sacs, buildings facing different directions, and sections having no street address but identified by an area designation (Valley Area, Building “B”). Unlike garden apartments, an individual unit in a townhouse building has an individual address, but the entire building may have a letter designation (Building “B” has 123, 125, 127, 129, and 131 Main Street). As the complexes increase in size, so do the operational problems.
Departments that have complexes of townhouses or garden apartments must preplan these areas. All streets, alleyways, and parking areas must be “named or numbered.” Hydrant locations must be identified and their expected flows determined and recorded. Markings indicating individual addresses or buildings must be located where they will be visible both day and night.
A preplan book containing maps with hydrants, buildings, and all roadways should be available to responding apparatus and the dispatcher. Enhanced communication will make operations smoother.
ENGINE COMPANY OPERATIONS
As the first engine company responds to a reported fire at 157 Washington Ave., the officer on board thinks about the neighborhood to which the company is responding. The area has experienced an increase in activity in past years, so the lieutenant, while not familiar with this particular building, has had a number of fires on adjacent blocks in similar structures. Most buildings in that area are twoand threestory wood-frame buildings. They are built in rows that sometimes cover whole city blocks. Water supply should not be a problem: A 12-inch main runs ciown the block, with hydrants at the corners and maybe one in the middle.
(Photos by Willie Cirone.)
On arrival, smoke is issuing from the three front windows on the second floor. The officer orders a l Vi-inch handline stretched to the top floor and directs the driver/operator to lead out to the hydrant 2(X) feet farther up the street. The driver/operator hooks up to the hydrant as the two-man crew stretches the line into position. They meet up with the officer, who has gone ahead of the stretch to determine fire conditions. The fire is located in one room only, mostly just the furnishings. As the engine crew gets water, the truck company arrives on the scene and commences ventilation, search, and rescue.
The coordinated attack results in a quick knockdown. Engine company responsibilities in row-frame buildings are similar to those discussed in bread-and-butter operations for apartment fires. The main function of the engine company is to protect the interior staircase and extinguish the fire.
A similar scenario in a townhouse/garden apartment development may not go as smoothly as the row-frame operation. Consider the following fire scenario for comparison. Without the benefit of a preplan book, the address given for the reported fire, 6 Overlook Trail, isn’t one of the main streets in the complex. As you approach the entrance to the development, a rapidly rising column of gray-black smoke is visible over the buildings. Well-intentioned civilians are pointing down a driveway in the direction of the smoke. You’re in luck! There is a hydrant right on the comer of the driveway, so you wrap the hydrant and stretch into the fire. After two turns, you find yourself and the company in a dead-end parking area, still two buildings away from the fire. Now the merits of having a preplan book become very obvious.
Once the engine company arrives at the fire, other factors come into play. Water supply in cul-de-sacs or rear parking areas may not deliver the desired flow. Preconnects may not be long enough to reach the entire building. Long stretches will delay much-needed second and third handlines.
If, after all these problems, you arrive on the scene and an interior attack is still possible. lines should be stretched with these objectives in mind. Normal “garden” apartment layouts have units with the tenants living on only one level; in townhouses. units are multilevel and are not compartmenti/ed vertically. In garden apartment fires, the first handline should be stretched to the door of the unit on fire. The second handline should back up the first but should have sufficient hose available to cover the floor above the fire. This second line will have to wait for the first line to advance out of the public foyer and into the fire apartment before ascending up the stairs to the floor above. In a townhouse fire, because of the multilevels and the open interior stairs (such as the kind found in private dwellings), lines will be needed on all levels above the fire. Lines will be stretched through the front door and through windows above. For most fires, unless an entire unit is heavily involved, ⅛inch hoseline will be sufficient for an interior attack. But remember, the more fire encountered, the more water that will be needed.
Fires located in the two, large, concealed spaces in garden apartments/townhouses— the attics and basements—require different tactics. In the garden apartment, basements that contain storage areas and laundry rooms run under an entire building. Attic areas also run over an entire building unless the building is unusually large or the fire protection has been upgraded beyond the requirements of most local codes. A heavy fire load coupled with limited ventilation will make basement fires extremely punishing. If fire conditions dictate, stretch a 2½inch handline for stream penetration, protection, and the knockdown capabilities.
For fires that have extended into the attic area, stay with the lX-inch line for maneuverability. Additional handlines will be needed—at least one to every apartment on the top floor will be necessary to knock down fire as the truck companies pull ceilings.
In townhouse-type structures, fire that enters either the basement or attic should be contained to only that unit. Each individual unit is built separate from the others, with partitions that divide basement areas. Attics are also normally divided and. according to local codes and date of erection, may have fire separations that extend from basement to attic and through the roof.
In most townhouses and some garden apartments, garages are built into the structure. Fire in the garage—with its vehicle(s) and array of household haz mats—normally will be heavy if given a head start. Do not overlook the potential for fire to spread rapidly from or into the garage if pokethroughs exist.
TRUCK COMPANY OPERATIONS
Fires in row-frame buildings require rapid truck company operations if the fire is to be held to the building of origin. In addition to normal duties such as forcible entry and search, other tasks require special attention. Timely horizontal ventilation to help the engines advance, coupled with immediate vertical ventilation to prevent the lateral spread of fire through the common cockloft, will give operating forces the best shot at limiting fire extension in the fire building and to adjoining exposures.
One problem associated with performing horizontal ventilation is access to the rear of the building or the rear yard. If the building has no rear fire escape, a portable ladder will be needed in the rear yard. When the middle | building in a row of 25 frames is involved, i taking a ladder through an end driveway and | trying to cross 10 fences and backyards will ; be nearly impossible. W indows on the upper floors can be “taken” by members on the j roof using a six-foot hook for top-floor winI dows in reach and a halligan on a rope for j those out of reach. If a ladder is required in I the rear yard for either ventilation or rescue.
two methods may be employed. The first. for use on two-story frames, consists of hoisting the portable ladder up the front of the building and across the roof and lowering it down into the rear yard. The second method is to take the portable ladder, buttend first, through the adjoining building’s entrance and out the rear door or through a rear apartment to the rear yard.
For immediate rescue in the rear of a rowframe building with no fire escapes, the lifesaving rope is the choice. Although a complex operation, it may be the only option available. While the rope rescue is being set up, additional personnel should go to the exposure building nearest to the point in the fire building where the victim is trapped. Once in position, these members should attempt to breach the wall that separates the two buildings and try to remove the victim to safety.
Vertical ventilation in row-frame buildings must be undertaken immediately on the arrival of truck personnel on the roof. Removing or opening scuttle covers and skylights will provide immediate relief for companies operating in the fire building and will help to prevent mushrooming of heat and smoke at the top floor and cockloft levels. When the fire is located on the top floor or has extended into the cockloft, additional vertical ventilation will be required. Power saws, preferably two, should be taken to the roof, and ventilation holes should be opened. Adjacent cocklofts must be checked as soon as possible, as fire will spread rapidly to these exposures. It is better to start on the ventilation holes as soon as practical, because once fire reaches the cockloft, it will spread with alarming speed throughout the row of buildings.
Truck company duties in garden apartment complexes are similar to those in rowframes. Forcible entry may need to be performed twice—at the entrance door to the foyer and at the apartment door itself. Cramped foyers and steel doors with multiple locks in steel door frames make the use of a hydraulic forcible entry tool a must. Especially when personnel are operating on the floor above the fire in heat and limited visibility, the use of a hydraulic forcible entry tool eliminates the additional hazard of swinging tools to force a door.
The use of portable ladders may be limited by trees and shrubs surrounding the building and by the distance from the truck to the building. Remember, some of these buildings are built behind others; access may be only by walkways. Horizontal ventilation should be timed to the engine company’s advancing on the fire with a charged hoseline. Premature ventilation will only intensify and spread the fire. Sixand 10-foot hooks can be used from ground level to vent the first two floors. Above the second floor, ladders will be required.
(Photo by Willie Cirone.)
Unlike row-frame buildings, garden apartment buildings with peaked roofs will not require immediate ventilation of the attic area unless the fire originated in or has extended to this area. If a heavy body of fire is located on the second floor and extension to the attic is suspected, ventilation operations should be started (likewise if the building is of the fiat roof variety). All natural openings should be removed and cutting started if fire is suspected to be in the cockloft.
All fires in these apartments require personnel for the pulling of ceilings and walls to expose hidden and extending fire. This is especially true for top-floor fires that are extending to the cockloft/attic. The faster the ceilings are dropped, the quicker the engine can get water into the concealed spaces and stop the spread of the fire.
Fires in townhouses are similar to those in garden apartments, except the truck company’s functions will be performed on a number of “stacked” levels rather than on one horizontal layout. Instead of searching on one level that encompasses the living room, kitchen, bathroom, and bedrooms, townhouses may have a family room and laundry room on the lowest level, living and dining rooms along with the kitchen on the main floor, and sleeping areas on the upper level. After searching the main level, truck personnel must rapidly ascend to the upper level to search for life due to the open staircases that let heat and smoke rise to the top floor.
Vertical ventilation, if needed, should be required only on the unit where the main body of fire is located. Extreme caution must be used when working on the roofs of these buildings, as lightweight trusses and plywood roof deck assemblies have been used throughout the country. These roofs collapse with little or no warning and under less than heavy fire conditions. If prefire inspections have determined that lightweight trusses have been used, tactics must be altered. Any roof operations should be performed before fire has extended into and taken hold of the attic. The incident commander must judge the potential for fire extension into this area and commence operations prior to involvement.
Although fire spread is normally confined to one unit, if the IC is concerned about spread of fire past any fire walls or partitions in attics or cocklofts, observation holes should be cut in the adjoining roofs or the ceilings below should be opened.
This concludes our series “Bread and Butter” Operations. For reference, articles in this series were published in the following issues of l ire Engineering: September, October, November, and December 1992; January, February, March. May, July, August, September, and October I993; and March, April, May, and July 1994.
