“BREAD AND BUTTER” OPERATIONS: THE QUEEN ANNE, PART2
It’s 11:00 p.m. as you head home from the firehouse. Elections are over, and your term as chief of the town’s volunteer fire department is almost over. It has been a pretty uneventful two years. No major fires. The drills seem to be paying off. Everybody’s pulling together, and the department seems to be heading in the right direction. You’re thinking, “If we can just get through this last week without any disasters. I’ll retire’ with a smile on my face.” Your thoughts are abruptly interrupted as you turn into the block before yours. You are greeted by a wall of smoke, which is covering the street. Your nose tells you it’s not from a fireplace. Proceeding slowly down the street, you try to find the source of the smoke. You spot it: a large, vacant Adams Family” Queen Anne (QA). “Soon, I’ll know just how effective those drills really were, ” you murmur to yourself as you pull up at the fire scene.
Following are skills you can apply when encountering a fire in a QA.
ENGINE OPERATIONS
When arriving on the scene of a working fire in a QA, the engine officer immediately must begin sizeup based on the department’s SOPs and its members’ training and prior experience. An advanced fire in a Victorian structure can rapidly overtax available resources. Any tactical problems this first company observes should be relayed to all responding apparatus and chiefs. Chief officers, on being apprised of a working fire in a QA, immediately should consider calling for additional help. The aid should include an aerial or tower ladder if the department does not have one of its own.
As in most house fires, stretch the first line to the seat of the fire as rapidly as possible. Unfortunately, it may take two companies and more time than usual to position this line and get it into operation due to the Victorian’s large size and unusual floor plan w ith w inding staircases and rooms running off rooms.
Victorians commonly are found on oversized lots and are set farther back from the street than smaller houses. Circular driveways, professional landscaping and gardening, and large front lawns may make the front of the structure inaccessible to apparatus. Leave the front of the house open for any aerial apparatus that may be responding; doing this may necessitate that the engine remain at the base of a driveway so that the ladder truck can get up into position. If your department does not have an aerial device, you must consider having the nearest mutual-aid aerial start out for the fire. Conducting laddering operations with only ground ladders is possible but timeand staffing-intensive. The time a mutual-aid ladder located 30 minutes away from the fire scene should start for the fire scene is not when the fire is extending into the attic.
The difficulties in positioning the engine company’s apparatus will strain department SOPs that are based only on the use of preconnects. Even if the engine is positioned close to the building, the size of many of these houses limits the effectiveness of the commonly found 200-foot preconnects for all but first-floor fires. For handlines that must cover all floors, including the attic areas (a fire in a basement of a QA with balloon-frame construction—found in many QAs — commonly spreads directly to the attic, bypassing the intermediate floors), preconnects 300 feet or longer may be needed. Some departments set up “static” loads of hose stretched until the quantity of hose needed to operate has reached the objective. The line is uncoupled and hooked up to the pumper. The only drawback here is that you must count the number of lengths stretched so that the pump operator can operate the pumps at the correct pressures. The quantity of hose in this bed depends on the expected uses. This hose load also works well in areas that have garden apartments with numerous walkways and courtyards.
(Photo by author.)
(Photo by author.)
The size of the handline needed is based on the location and severity of the fire when the first companies arrive. If, on your arrival, fire is found to have control of more than two rooms on the first floor and is extending rapidly, the first engine company should stretch a 2’/2-inch handline as the initial attack line. These large, allwood houses become involved rapidly. If sufficient water is not used from the outset, the fire quickly will extend up the open staircases and through the balloon-frame walls to the upper levels. As in other fires w here 2’/2-inch handlines are needed, once the fire has been knocked down, the smaller, more maneuverable handlines can be stretched to complete extinguishment.
(Photo by author)
(Photo by Robert)
For fires that have control of a whole floor of a QA, use a master stream appliance or multiple 2!/2-inch handlines to try to stop the fire’s progress. When QAs become heavily involved, the radiant heat frequently spreads the fire to adjacent exposures, requiring the stretching of additional handlines to knock down any surface fire on these exposures. These lines later can be used to operate in the interior of the exposures—but only after the majority of the heavy fire in the original fire building is knocked down. More personnel will be needed as well to check the adjacent houses for fire that may have extended into their interiors.
(Photo by Robert Athanas.)
For fires involving a room located on the second, third, or attic area of a QA, a l’/t-inch handline properly stretched and operated will provide adequate water and maneuverability to rapidly control the fire. This is especially true when the fire is located in or extending upward toward the attic. The stairs leading from the second to the third floor usually are narrow and winding. To try to maneuver a 1 ‘/2-inch handline on the first floor up two sets of stairs and then to operate in the close quarters of the attic rooms is nearly impossible. You can stretch the smaller lA-inch line more quickly with fewer personnel and place it in operation before the fire has a chance to extend.
When the fire has control of two or more rooms on the second floor or in the attic, stretch additional 1 ¾-inch lines to sufficiently cover all the involved areas. In all cases, stretch an additional line to act as a backup line.
For attic fires, stretching additional handlines to operate on the fire might prove difficult, as the stairs will rapidly become overcrowded. It is imperative that the first line to reach the attic move in and off the stairs so that the second and third lines, if needed, can move up onto the floor. These lines working in tandem will enable the companies to gain control of the floor and give the truck company members protection as they expose concealed fire.
Basement fires in QAs have all the problems commonly associated with below-grade fires, with the added bonus of those caused by balloon-frame construction. From the engine company’s standpoint, the greatest problem is that of gaining access to the cellar. If conditions permit, stretch the first line into the first floor, to protect the interior basement stairs. The members operating this line should continually monitor the floor for stability. If the basement ceiling is unfinished, the fire immediately will attack the flooring on which this company’s members are operating as they hold their position.
When the fire is of a minor nature, the first line can be advanced down the stairs to complete extinguishment. For more serious fires, this line should maintain the position at the top of the stairs while a second line is stretched to the outside entrance and advanced into the basement from this position. The third line, stretched for basement fires, should start for the third floor and attic areas in anticipation of the fire’s spreading from the basement directly to the attic, which, as indicated above, is a possibility when balloon framing is present.
It’s your worst nightmare. The large vacant “Adams Family” QA home slated for demolition is puff- ing smoke from every nook and cranny. After notifying the dispatcher to sound your alarm, you start your size-up. .4 glow in the basement windows confirms your fears. You are confronted with a heavy fire condition in the basement of a large, balloon-frame house. As the approaching sirens sound in the night, the fire starts to show in the attic windows. Luckily, there are no exposures, because this house soon will be fully involved. Defensive tactics and heaiy stream appliances are the order of the evening as you relay your instructions to the responding companies.
(Photos by author.)
LADDER COMPANY OPERATIONS
As the officer assigned to perform truck company operations at a QA fire, certain features of the building and the fire’s location should influence your decision-making process.
(Photos by Robert Athanas.)
Due to construction features, fire and smoke spread rapidly to the upper levels. As in all fires, protection of life is the number one priority. Proper searches of all floors of the house — especially of the sleeping areas, if it is nighttime —are required.
The fire’s location should be determined as soon as possible after the first company arrives. Doing this allows the engine company to begin its stretch and will help define the areas most severely exposed to the fire’s smoke and heat. Most of the truck company operations are similar to those performed at fires in 2‘/2-story houses (see Eire Engineering, November and December 1992). The major difference affecting fire operations in these structures is the larger size of the Victorian structure. While interior crews must perform searches for life in both structure styles, additional personnel must be assigned to perform these searches in the larger QA. Some of these houses have more than 15 rooms. Even with three twomember crews performing searches, each crew is responsible for five rooms. Even under a moderate heat and smoke condition, members may run out of air before completing a search of their areas.
Another factor of which the inside team must be aware is that this style of house has numerous hidden channels through which the fire will spread. The opening up of walls and ceilings on the fire floor must begin as soon as the companies reach these areas. If it is discovered that fire is extending to the floor above, immediately call for a handline for that area, as well as one for the top floor.
The outside team’s duties for the QA and the 2’/2-story house are basically the same. The construction features of the QA, however, help some of the operations and hinder others. In the case of a first-floor fire, horizontal ventilation for the engine company still must be performed with a six-foot pike pole. For second-floor fires, the porches, found on most QAs, provide access to numerous windows. These porches usually cover more than just one side of the house. The horizontal vent person and any members looking to gain access for vent-enter-search (VES) (see Fire Engineering, November 1992) should seek out these porches in their initial size-up. Remember that any venting for the engine must wait until there is water in the hoseline, or the fire will intensify.
(Photo by
Unlike fires in most styles of private houses, a serious fire in a QA almost always must be vertically ventilated to prevent the entire house from being destroyed. As noted, the balloon framing will cause fire entering any of the exterior walls to extend immediately toward the attic. This construction feature, coupled with the normal paths of vertical extension, almost guarantees that fire will extend to the attic and roof.
The roof usually is sharply pitched and has numerous peaks, valleys, and possibly a turret or cupola. These features do not make for easy laddering and ventilation. That’s why an aerial device is preferred if roof operations are required. If your department does not have a ladder truck, you must anticipate the need for one.
Roof material also may pose a problem for the operating forces, as some QAs have roofs made of slate and clay
(Photo by author.) tile. They are extremely dangerous to work on and require different methods to open them. The slate or tile must be removed before the vent hole is started. The pieces frequently fall to the ground. Be extremely careful, since serious injury may result if someone on the ground is struck by these sharp and heavy pieces. When opening up the roof of a QA, make the first hole along the main gable. A center hallway usually runs in the same direction as the gable. Unless there is a known life hazard, avoid opening up the roof of a turret, as doing this vents only the turret and does little to improve conditions in the rest of the attic.
The outside team also must search the surrounding areas under all windows for victims who may have jumped before the department arrived and must supply portable ladders for access and egress. This team also should be supplemented as soon as possible.
Fires in QAs are very personnelintensive and easily can deplete the forces on hand. When encountering a serious fire in this style of house, call for sufficient help immediately, or you will lose the battle before you begin.
