ON FIRE | by MICHAEL N. CIAMPO
This sounds like an easy question for many firefighters to answer. Maybe some would answer it’s the industrial building with large amounts of hazardous materials stored in it, the high-rise multiple dwelling, the office building with maze-like room layouts, or the “toothpick towers” being built across the country. All seem like they have plenty of reasons for you to fear when they’re on fire, but should we focus on that one building or complex, or should we fear more than that?
Construction Features
It’s very important for firefighters to know types of construction, whether it’s balloon framing (where a void exists in the exterior walls from the basement to the attic and fire can travel rapidly, often bypassing the floors in between) or a lightweight wooden I-beam supported floor that is prone to collapse much quicker than a solid wood joist because it is not protected and encased by fire rated drywall in a basement ceiling.
Years ago, we always spoke about the 20-minute rule: If a fire that was attacking the structural elements was not extinguished in 20 minutes, we had to fear a collapse. In newer lightweight construction, when laminated I-beams are subjected to direct flame impingement, we must expect that time to be much less. Test burns have shown that these beams, when unprotected with fire retardant materials, will collapse in minutes. If you are questioning if the wood is burning, make sure you’re able to read the smoke and taste of it. The brown rolling smoke coming out of a wall or from a hole in the ceiling or floor is a great indication that it’s structural components and not the materials burning in the room.
Another building to fear is the lightweight metal-skinned and -roofed structure. It resembles a giant tin can; it has a structural steel frame and often has metal C-joists that support foam sheathing boards and metal roof decking. Fires in these structures aren’t your typical building fires, and you have to evaluate your firefighting tactics before you perform some normally aggressive actions. Scrap the idea of roof ventilation with power saws right from the start; these roofs aren’t meant to support a firefighting team under heavy fire conditions, especially when the C-joists are spaced a far distance apart. If you can place a tower ladder bucket or aerial ladder near the roof level, a firefighter may be able to vent a skylight with a hook while standing in the bucket or on the ladder.
These buildings will also have roll-down garage doors; they are often used as large-scale warehouses and have a heavy fire load. Cut the doors open and flow a portable monitor nozzle into the building when you encounter heavier fire conditions on arrival.
Another tactic is to cut open panels in the side walls of these structures to permit flowing water into the building. When these buildings are well-involved in fire, be fearful of the skin of the building and roof collapsing way before the structural steel framing does.
Placards and Hazards
Every building we respond to has hazards. Firefighters can’t just think that a placard on a building indicates the only hazards they’ll encounter. Sure, a placard can warn us of truss construction if it’s not blocked by the landscape around the structure; or, we may run into the National Fire Protection Association diamond placard warning us of flammability (red), instability (yellow), health (blue), and special warnings (white). The special warning box is particularly important to firefighters because of the severity of the hazards. There are three markings in this diamond: “W” indicates unusual reactivity with water and is a caution about the use of water in firefighting or spill control, “OX” indicates the material is an oxidizer, and “SA” indicates the material is a simple asphyxiant gas. Be aware of that hazard at fast food restaurants that have carbon dioxide (CO2) systems for their soft drinks.
What about those buildings with no markings? The homeowner who is a welder and stores his oxygen and acetylene tanks in his garage for his business surely doesn’t have his house marked, warning us of the hazards inside.
Preplan and drill on complexes with severe hazards such as chemical plants or bulk storage yards with flammable liquids. Work with the safety teams at these sites to understand the hazards and how to extinguish the fires at these locations.
Many of these complexes will have prepiped deluge guns at specific locations to handle fires. In addition, they’ll have industrial fire departments; work with them and draw on their experience.
When you arrive and see vehicles parked around these complexes, look for Department of Transportation placards on them. Use the Emergency Response Guidebook to look up the placard’s number and symbols for intel on what’s inside these buildings or tanks when we arrive. For fires involving electrical substations in New York City, fire department units meet power company personnel at the White Hat Station, which is a designated meeting area with signage showing a white fire chief’s helmet and a power company’s blue hard helmet. It’s very important you don’t just use water on arrival or enter these areas carrying metal tools.
When driving around your district, look out the window of the rig and notice the buildings being renovated. That tells you that you’ll probably see older structural components mixed in with newer types of materials, additional floors added to the structure, and updated floor plans that weren’t previously found in these types of buildings. Stop the rig and look at the construction. Maybe you’ll spot an area with new voids in it that will permit fire travel or will see that the fire escapes now lead into a different area than before.
Be fearful of all the buildings you respond to; they’ll all present a challenge when on fire.
MICHAEL N. CIAMPO is a 37-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.
