BY BILL GUSTIN
Part 1 appeared in the September 2003 issue. Part 2 appeared in the October 2003 issue.
Engine and command officers have to decide whether to hoist a hoseline directly to the fire floor or to the floor below the fire and then advance up the interior stairs. This is a crucial decision that must take into consideration building construction, sprinkler protection, smoke conditions in the hallway, and the presence of a substantial door to hold the fire inside the apartment (photo 1). Consider also the potential size and intensity of the fire, which may be minimized by a properly operating sprinkler system or suddenly maximized into a “blowtorch” by failing windows and strong winds. This is truly a decision that weighs risk vs. benefit—that is, the risk of stretching directly to the fire floor and getting burned before the line is charged against the benefit of speed and simplicity. Clearly, hoisting a hoseline through a window to the floor below the fire and ascending the stairs with a charged hoseline is safer than hoisting it directly to the fire floor, but it takes more time, more hose, and more firefighters—as many as three extra firefighters: one pulling line on the floor below into the stairwell and two “humping” hose in the stairwell to the company advancing down the hallway on the fire floors (photos 2, 3, and 4).
If conditions permit hois-ting hose directly to the fire floor, you must maintain control of the door to the fire apartment until all civilians have been evacuated from the hallway, the nozzle and at least 50 feet of hose are carefully laid out at the apartment door, the line is charged, and everyone is “masked up” and ready (photo 5). Prematurely opening the door to the fire apartment can suddenly change a smoke-free hallway to zero visibility and possibly burn firefighters waiting for water (photos 6, 7).
null
 (2) A firefighter working on the floor below the fire pulls hose into the attack stairwell.
|
null
 (3) A firefighter “humps” hose from the stairway mid-landing to the fire floor.
|
null
 (4) A firefighter at the fire floor landing “feeds” the hose to the company advancing down the hallway.
|
null
WHEN PRECONNECTS FALL SHORT
Preconnects deploy quickly and easily and eliminate the friction loss calculations required with varying lengths of hoseline. As a result, many fire departments stretch preconnects for a vast majority of their fires. Engine companies accustomed to wing preconnects, however, had better know what to do when police cars block the entrance to an apartment complex and they find themselves and their apparatus hundreds of feet away from a fire building. Companies should frequently drill for those fire scenarios, however rare, that require a stretch beyond the reach of their longest preconnect. Companies should also survey their districts for apartment buildings, schools, and commercial occupancies where preconnects could fall short.
Basically, there are two ways to lengthen a 13/4-inch handline—extend a preconnect by connecting rolls or folds of 13/4-inch hose or stretching a 21/2- or three-inch hose to a fire building and then connecting 13/4-inch hose by means of a gated wye.
Many departments, including mine, frequently lengthen their 200-foot 13/4-inch preconnects by unscrewing the nozzle and connecting a 100-foot high-rise hose pack. In actual practice, we use high-rise hose more frequently to extend preconnects than for standpipe operations.
 (5) A charged hoseline is at the ready while a firefighter is operating a hydraulic forcible entry tool. A nylon strap maintains control of the door.
|
null
 (6) The door to the fire apartment is opened. The nozzle team moves in; smoke pours out.
|
null
null
null
A company investigating a report of a fire in an apartment building should equip itself with forcible entry tools, a water extinguisher, and rope bags and strongly consider taking a 100-foot 13/4-inch high-rise hose pack and at least one extra 50-foot section whether the building is equipped with a standpipe or not. This gives the company the capability of hoisting a 13/4-inch preconnect and extending it or hoisting 21/2- or three-inch hose and connecting the high-rise hose to a gated wye (photo 8). The high-rise hose deploys easily in a stairway because it’s already folded in an accordion or reverse horseshoe and thus plays out from a firefighter’s shoulder as he walks the stairs.
There is, of course, a limit to the length of 13/4-inch hoselines before friction loss and pump discharge pressures become excessive. Some texts and authorities have set this limit at 300 feet, but, as I stated in “Preconnects, Part 3: Extending the Hoselines,” Fire En-gineering, June 2002, this may be increased to 400 feet because of modern fire hose with lower friction losses and the use of nozzles that operate at 50 psi instead of 100 psi. Each department should set its own limits on the length of 13/4-inch hose based on actual flow tests, not friction loss charts or theoretical hydraulic calculations. Consider also the additional pump discharge pressure necessary to overcome elevation when operating on upper floors, roughly 5 psi per floor. Extending 13/4-inch hoselines with 21/2-inch or three-inch hose may not be as fast or as easy as connecting more 13/4-inch hose, but it has some definite advantages: First, its low-friction loss, compared with 13/4-inch hose, allows the use of handlines hundreds of feet from a pumper. Second, using a 21/2- 2 11/2-, 2 11/2-inch gated wye allows you to connect two 13/4-inch hoselines. Companies in Miami-Dade (FL) Fire-Rescue’s Battalion 3 hoisted three-inch hose to the top floor of an apartment building when, on arrival, they found fire in possession of at least two apartments and the attic and their apparatus could not get close enough to the building to use preconnects (photos 9, 10).
Hoisting 21/2- or three-inch line into a window or up a well hole has the effect of installing a standpipe in a building but without two problems that sometimes befall standpipe systems (photos 11,12). The first is reliability; using fire department hose from pump to nozzle bypasses closed valves and pipe possibly weakened by years of corrosion and clogged with rust, sludge, and debris. Second, using all fire department hose overcomes some of the pressure limitations of standpipes, particularly in older buildings. Higher pressures at the gated wye allow greater flows from 13/4-inch hose connected to it as well as longer stretches of 13/4-inch hose.
 (9) A fire on the top floor or in the attic requires at least two handlines.
|
null
 (10) Three-inch hose is hoisted and secured to the railing. Companies connect their 13/4-inch high-rise packs. [Photos courtesy of Miami-Dade (FL) Fire Rescue.]
|
null
 (11) Hoisting a three-inch hose equipped with a 21/2- @ 11/2- @ 11/2-inch gated wye.
|
null
 (12) The line is secured in a window on the floor below the fire, next to the attack stairway. The building now, in effect, has a “standpipe” to connect bundles of high-rise hose.
|
null
The methods and techniques described in this series of articles may or may not work for your department. Their effectiveness depends on your department’s staffing, hose loads, and the design and construction of the buildings in your jurisdiction. Every fire department must, however, have a plan and thoroughly train on getting handlines into position and operating on the upper floors of buildings. Don’t let the seemingly overwhelming number of medical and “community service” calls be an excuse for not preplanning buildings in your district.
Almost every nonfire-related call gives us an opportunity to get inside buildings and become familiar with details that will be vitally important in a fire; they include the locations of entrances and stairways and the length of hallways between stairways or smoke-barrier doors. Never pass up an opportunity to preplan. Ask yourself and your company, How would we get a hoseline in this apartment if it were on fire?
Thanks to Chief Dave Wood for his assistance with this article.
BILL GUSTIN, a 30-year veteran of the fire service, is a captain with Miami-Dade (FL) Fire Rescue and lead instructor in his department’s officer training program. He began his fire service career in the Chicago area and teaches fire training programs in Florida and other states. He is a marine firefighting instructor and has taught fire tactics to ship crews and firefighters in Caribbean countries. He also teaches forcible entry tactics to fire departments and SWAT teams of local and federal law enforcement agencies. Gustin is an editorial advisory board member of Fire Engineering.
