FIVE POINTS OF COMMAND
BY BOB PRESSLER
Photo 1. A nighttime alarm comes in for a building fire. The block is a familiar one for working fires. As you respond, the dispatch office notifies you of numerous phone calls reporting a fire in a vacant building. The nighttime sky shows a definite glow in the direction of the alarm. As you continue your response, you start to plan possible strategies to use at this fire.
On arrival, you find a 212-story vacant frame building heavily involved in fire. Fire is showing in all the second-floor windows and is venting through much of the roof. There are exposures on sides 2 and 4, separated by small alleys. The glow of the fire is visible in exposure 4, a similar vacant building, through the partially boarded windows. Exposure 2 is a 112-story frame dwelling that appears to be vacant. The fire is endangering both exposures, and from the front it is hard to tell if there is a rear exposure.
Regardless of the assignment that your department responds with, certain factors will always come into play. Whether you are the first-arriving officer or the responding chief, you must ensure that all players work from the same action plan. One plan you can use is called the “Five Points of Command,” a simple plan that is suited to fires of any size. The five points are (1) attack the fire, (2) back up the attack, (3) cover the exposures, (4) ventilate the fire, and (5) search the fire. Think of and cover these five points.
Attack the fire. This is often the easiest of the five points to accomplish. In this case, it is a large fire, so the attack must be with large water. This is not a fire for booster line or 134-inch handlines. This fire is threatening several structures at once. You need to attack the fire and stop it where it is now, especially with vacant, frame buildings. If the first-due engine is able to, it should position the apparatus to use the apparatus-mounted master stream device. Position the apparatus to get water on both the main fire building and the most severe exposure. This way you get water on and between the burning buildings. The officer of the first engine must ensure that the apparatus is positioned away from overhead power lines and out of any collapse zone. He must also be aware of the dangers of radiant heat.
If the first-due engine does not have a master stream device, the engine should leave room for either the second-due engine (if it is so equipped) or an elevated platform or other type of apparatus. Once water is flowing on the main body of fire, the second point of the plan can be addressed.
Back up the attack. For a fire of this magnitude, the backup line will most likely be a 212-inch handline or another master stream device. The backup, regardless of what size or type, must go to the same place as the first attack line. The officer of this second line must check in with the first line to ensure that the first line is not running into any difficulties. If the first or attack line is having any problems, such as too much fire, a burst length of hose, or not being able to make any headway, the second line should remain at this position to operate. The most important fireground task is still to get the first line into the proper position and operating.
At this fire, once the master stream is in operation, the backup line can attack the fire in the most exposed building. This keeps the backup line in the vicinity of the first line, the crew that it is actually backing up. If staffing is a problem and help is far away, then the backup line may have to be pressed into service covering the other exposure.
Cover the exposures. When considering fire exposures, remember to count all six sides of the fire as potential problems. Fire normally spreads upward, but it may also spread downward if there is a path for it to follow. Such a path might be an open stairway, a shaft, or another void space such as the stud void in balloon-frame construction. In fires where there is only a narrow gangway between buildings, place a line between the fire building and the most severely exposed building (photo 2). Once you have darkened down the main body of fire in the original building, you may have to advance smaller handlines into both buildings to complete extinguishment. From the interior, you will have to open the walls until you have exposed the exterior siding on both buildings. This is the only way to be sure that you have exposed and extinguished all the hidden fire.
Ventilate and search. The fourth and fifth steps in the action plan are sometimes done together (photo 3). Ventilation falls into two general categories, vertical and horizontal. Vertical ventilation is performed to provide an avenue for smoke and heat to escape to the outside as well as let fresh air into the fire area. As the nozzle team advances into the fire area, proper and timely ventilation in front of its attack will assist the advance. Without horizontal ventilation, the heat and steam from the attack will be pushed back onto the engine company. Just because the fire has self-vented, do not think that additional venting is not needed. You still should vent adjoining rooms in the fire area to improve conditions in the fire apartment for any trapped civilians. If your department is trained in VES (vent-enter-search), these additional windows become entry points for search. Horizontal ventilation must be timed for when the engine has water and is ready to advance into the fire area, except for when the opening will be used for entry and search.
Vertical ventilation will depend on the type of building involved. In flat-roof buildings, you must perform vertical ventilation as soon as possible to prevent mushrooming of heat and smoke on the upper floors. You can accomplish this initial ventilation by removing or opening all the natural vent points. These include scuttles, skylights, and bulkhead doors. If fire conditions dictate, you may need to make additional ventilation openings in the roof surface itself.
In peaked-roof buildings, initial roof operations are reserved for certain fires. Fires that originate in the attic areas as well as fires that are extending into this area will require early roof operations. This includes fires in 112 -story houses with finished half stories. These fires are extremely punishing, and without roof ventilation the engine will normally have to wait for the roof to burn through to be able to move up into the fire area. Other fires that require early venting include those in large Victorian-style and balloon-frame homes.
Whether your department uses VES or not, interior companies must also be ready to perform searches for any trapped or overcome victims. These interior searches may be off of the advancing handline or, depending on fire location in the apartment or house, in areas remote from the hoseline`s advance. If searching remote from the handline, always search toward a secondary means of escape in case fire conditions drastically change.
Although these five points are not all the officer needs to consider on a fireground, they serve as a great starting point for operations. If you address these points and their supporting activities at every fire, your operations will run more smoothly. n
Special thanks to Captain Mike Lombardo of the Buffalo (NY) Fire Department for his “Five Points of Command.”
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Photos by Chris E. Mickal.
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n BOB PRESSLER, a 23-year veteran of the fire service, recently retired as a lieutenant with Rescue Company No. 3 of the City of New York (NY) Fire Department. He created and produced the videos Peaked-Roof Ventilation and SCBA Safety and Emergency Procedures for the Fire Engineering video series “Bread and Butter” Operations. Pressler has an associate`s degree in fire protection engineering from Oklahoma State University, is a frequent instructor on a wide range of fire service topics, and is a member of a volunteer department.
