STORE GATES
BY BOB PRESSLER
Fire companies start their advance through an overhead door that they have just forced. You should reserve the actual cutting of the metal rolldown door itself for when the locks that secure the doors are inaccessible or when conventional forcible entry will not be effective on the locking mechanisms. Conventional forcible entry is using hand tools, such as the halligan and flathead ax; power tools, including power saws; or other cutting tools, such as an oxyacetylene torch, to cut the locks themselves.
Security gates come in many varieties, including fixed or nonopening, sliding, and overhead rolldown gates. The fixed or nonopening type of gate is normally found on windows or below-grade openings. Fire department operations on these gates will consist of trying to force the anchor points of the bars or cutting the bars themselves. (See “Operations in Heavily Protected Homes” by Ray McCormack, July 1997.)
Sliding or scissors-style gates normally are not as much of a problem as rolldown gates because the engine company has access for stream application. If the truck company has problems forcing the padlocks, all members need to do is reach through the gate and ventilate the store windows. Now the engine will be able to operate a handline through the opening onto the fire. Once the engine gets water on the fire, the truck can resume work on the locks that hold the gate secure.
This is also the tactic to use if the windows have failed prior to the fire department`s arrival. With fire venting from the store and extending up the front of the building, the truck must wait for the engine to get water on the fire before attacking the locks and gates. When the engine encounters this scenario, give some thought to using an apparatus-mounted deck gun or multiversal. This rapid application of water will achieve rapid knockdown of the visible fire, inhibit extension via the front of the building to the upper floors, and give the truck company access to the gates.
The more formidable challenge to the fire service is when we find ourselves confronted with rolldown gates that cover the entire front of a row of stores or a commercial building with large overhead doors similarly protected. Some stores even have rolldown gates on the inside behind the door and plate-glass window. When the fire is in a store, whether in a row of taxpayers, in a strip mall, or on the lower level of an apartment house, access to the main body of fire will be delayed. When the store is located on the ground floor of an apartment house, our choice of which store is involved usually is limited to one store or sometimes two stores, although some large corner buildings can house eight to 10 separate commercial occupancies. People living above the store that has the main body of fire may be the first to call reporting smoke in their apartment. With a fully occupied building above the fire, hopefully someone will smell smoke and call in the alarm.
On your arrival, if the fire store is not immediately evident, open all gates and gain entry to the stores to find the fire store. The type of gates and door lock assemblies will dictate how much of your first alarm assignment will need to be committed to open up the stores. If personnel are available, send a member or team of firefighters to the second floor to try to narrow down the fire`s location. Smoke in the hallways may not be of much help, but heavier smoke in an apartment may indicate its closer proximity to the area over the fire store. These companies will also start the search of the second floor for any trapped or overcome civilians.
For fires in taxpayers, the roof firefighters may be able to pinpoint the fire`s location. Smoke pushing from natural roof vents, fire or smoke showing at the rear of the building, or heavier smoke showing from opened skylights or scuttles may indicate the location.
The firefighters on the outside must now work rapidly to open up the stores. One firefighter with a power saw can go from store to store, just cutting the outside gate locks (see photo right). After he opens all the gates, he can go back and use the saw to cut the inside door lock to complete forcible entry.
The actual entry door of the store is what is normally called a narrow stile door with a pivoting-type deadbolt (see bottom photo). When the key is inserted into the lock and turned, the deadbolt pushes out of the door`s frame and into the corresponding space in the doorframe. You can insert the power saw with the metal cutting blade into the space between the door and frame and cut the deadbolt to gain access or use conventional through-the-lock entry techniques.
If the lock assemblies on the outer gates are too tough, hidden under protective guards, or mounted on the inside of the gate, then cut the gates themselves.
Once you make the decision to cut the gates, what types of cuts are available and what are their advantages and disadvantages?
The first type of cut is called the inverted “V” or triangle cut. This cut is easy to do and requires only two cuts to complete. The firefighter with the saw starts near the middle of the gate and reaches as high up as possible. He makes two cuts on an angle–one from the upper middle of the gate to the lower left corner and the other to the lower right corner. Once he completes the cut, the cut section will normally collapse by itself; otherwise, he can pull it outward with a pike pole.
The advantages of this cut are that it can be used on new and old gates, it requires only two straight cuts, and when you are done there is an opening. There are two major disadvantages. The first is that if the firefighter who is cutting does not have a high vertical reach, the opening may be a little low for egress and exiting. The second is that the opening is sometimes narrow. This depends on the width of the gate and can be alleviated by additional cuts once the engine company makes initial entry.
Other types of cuts involve additional cuts, and most also require sliding some of the individual slats of the gate assembly. (See “Overhead Doors and Security Bars: Forcible Entry Challenges” by John W. Mittendorf and Lane Kemper, September 1993.)
The advantage of these cuts is that the opening you make usually is very large–most times almost the size of the entire opening. The disadvantages are that they require more cutting and more time to complete; you may not be able to slide the slats easily on old gates or ones warped by the heat of the fire; and when the cuts are completed, another operation must still be performed (pulling slats, rolling up the door) before the engine can operate in the fire area.
Whatever cut you use, make sure that the opening is large enough for access and egress (see top photo). Continue operating to enlarge the hole for safety. Avoid cutting small holes into the gates for egress. The only reason to cut a small hole is for stream application.
Once you gain access, continue to search for the seat of the fire. If all stores have a heavy smoke condition but there is no evident fire, check for the presence of a basement (see bottom photo). The basement for the building, including storage areas and oil burner rooms, may be below the stores. Open ceilings and walls to check for hidden fire in the void areas. If fire had been venting out the front of the store, check the overhang or façade for any hidden fire. In many cases, an I-beam is used to span the opening that becomes the storefront. Fire may enter the boxed outside of the I-beam and spread along this channel to adjoining stores and to any attached vertical channels. In large apartment houses, this steel framework extends throughout the building. On upper floors, you can usually find the I-beam or channel rail in or near closets. Check these areas for extension.
Fire extension from the store itself will be via pipe chases and any openings in the ceiling or walls.
Fires in these heavily secured buildings require sufficient personnel–both for gaining entry and for conducting searches for trapped occupants and fire extension. Call for sufficient help early and often.
BOB PRESSLER, a 23-year veteran of the fire service, is 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.
