ON FIRE ❘ by MICHAEL N. CIAMPO
We often hear the phrase “take care of our own,” but in many instances, we can see we’re failing in our quest to adequately safeguard our members. This is especially true when we look at our response protocols. All too often, we’re putting an engine company, often with limited staffing, all alone to combat an automobile fire or work an auto accident. Some departments are now operating blocking apparatus on these incidents, responding to expressways and high-traffic areas for our safety. But, why aren’t we putting a truck company with the engine company on auto fires? Sending a truck can be very beneficial to a fire department for many reasons.
Years ago, you could sharpen your skills daily with nozzle work when you stretched the “booster line” when battling the constant barrage of abandoned derelict vehicles in the South Bronx. As you jumped off the engine, you’d first glance for your safety and notice the truck behind you had already blocked the road with the rig and created a safe playing field.
As you grabbed the line, you hit both tires to cool them down and prevent them from popping and scaring the heck out of you. Then, you advanced forward, hitting the pavement beneath the car at an angle so the water spray could cool the gas tank or push any unseen flammable liquids away from you.
As you continued to move forward, you directed the stream off the inside of the car’s roof so it deflected the pattern and extinguished more fire. Although this usually knocked down the bulk of fire, you then extended the line about three feet into the car and rotated the line around in a circular pattern to totally knock down the fire.
As you shut down the line and backed up from the vehicle, you saw other firefighters prancing around the car with tools in their hands, ready to assist you in your final extinguishment. As you stood there, you noticed a truck firefighter puncture the sidewall of the tire with the halligan tool’s pike to flatten the tire in hopes of preventing the vehicle from rolling or starting up and taking off on its own.
Next, you witnessed two truck members working on the front hood—by wedging up the driver’s side of it and grabbing the hood release cable, smashing out the front grille and grabbing the cable, or working with their tools on the hood latch. Nowadays, with exploding gas cylinders for bumpers and hood lifting assemblies, we like to cut a triangle notch where the latch assembly is to bypass it or cut about a foot back and completely across the hood to miss the hood’s support metal framework. Once we make the cut, we can go to the side of the hood to lift it open slowly and hopefully be out of the way of any exploding gas canisters.
Once the front has been opened and the battery disconnected (negative terminal first), always check the trunk: There have been times when a homicide victim has been found in it. Also remember, when you do open it, there can be a host of flammable liquids and aerosols in it; where else would you expect the owner to store his car’s cleaning accessories and spare oil?
As you see this, you’re about to reopen the nozzle when you hear, “Wait a minute,” and the firefighter with the halligan slides the tool’s forks down into the door, between the window frame and door frame, and pulls the tool toward him and then pushes it away, increasing the area you can put water into for a thorough wash-down of any materials that dropped down into the door panel trough.
As you begin to open up the nozzle, a loud boom scares you, as a firefighter with a hook smashes the roof of the car and hot embers rain down from between the roof supports.
In today’s same scenario, the firefighters operating around a vehicle fire must be cognizant of many more things than in years past, from exploding air bags ejecting without warning through the sunroof to directing the stream inside the vehicle and hitting the magnesium transmission and suddenly being engulfed in white sparks and molten flying metal. When we do have to retreat, let’s hope the person driving by our unblocked scene isn’t videotaping our efforts to be the first one with tomorrow’s viral hit on social media and runs into one of us. Plus, if we need copious amounts of water to battle “just a car fire” and extinguish the magnesium transmission, can’t a few extra firefighters on scene hand stretch to a hydrant and get us the much-needed water? Responding with more firefighters helps train us and expose us to various scenarios that occur at these scenes, giving today’s firefighters more hands-on time with tools.
You’re definitely going to encounter a gas tank that ruptures, and suddenly you have a flammable liquid fire running down the curb line of the street, exposing other vehicles to ignition. How easy will it be for that short-staffed engine to get the foam eductor and line in service if your rig doesn’t have a prepiped foam tank or system? Maybe it’s time we worry about the firefighters on the street operating with more sufficient backup than just an old apparatus with bright flashing lights blocking the roadway. Sure, running a truck company behind the engine is going to add runs, but runs mean experience in a multitude of tasks and overall crew safety for our team.
Think about being a team player and putting an engine and a truck on vehicle fires; skills and safety will improve and maybe we’ll prevent another firefighter’s death while working on a roadway with texting drivers. We have insurance for rigs if a vehicle strikes it. We’ll be able to repair or buy a new one, but you can’t purchase a new life.
MICHAEL N. CIAMPO is a 34-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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