Field Communications Center Proves Value at Mutual Aid Operations
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A second fire within two months in Wood-Ridge, N. J., proved that a field communications center is the best means of coordinating responding mutual aid companies.
The first fire was at the First Presbyterian Church on April 5,1977. The building was engulfed in smoke and a heavy rain was falling as 1st Assistant Chief Robert Gross reached the fireground in response to an alarm at 3:15 a.m. Chief Herb Gorab arrived shortly afterward and the two officers determined that the fire was in both the sanctuary and basement at the north end of the L-shaped, 124 X 40-foot, brick and wood edifice.
The chief ordered first-in Engine 902 to take a hydrant at the northwest corner of the church and hand-stretch a 2 ½ and a 3-inch line to the center of the east side of the church. The first engine also brought 2nd Assistant Chief Ronald Phillips.
Aerial positioned
Truck 904, a 65-foot aerial with a 1250-gpm pump, located at the east side of the church in a parking lot. Engine 905 backed up to the center of the church on the west side and then laid two 2 1/2 -inch lines to a hydrant near the southwest corner of the church.
The intent was to cut off the fire in the sanctuary and drive it toward the north end of the church. The first 2 1/2-inch line from Engine 902 was trying to make the basement when Phillips, who was at the front of the church, noticed that the slate roof was turning the rain to steam. The 2nd Assistant Chief then ordered the captain on the line and his men back up the cellar stairs to the parking lot.
At this point, the chief officers decided to call for mutual aid.
Our mutual aid group of 13 towns is divided into three zones. All the units called to the fireground were from Zone 2 and one engine from Zone 1 covered at Wood-Ridge Headquarters.
Mutual aid requested
The first request for aid was to Carlstadt for a truck, and Truck 704, a 75foot elevating platform, took the front of the church to set up a water tower operation. The Wood-Ridge aerial set up a fly ladder pipe since the fire had taken hold of the cockloft and was traveling south toward the building wing. Calls also were placed to Hasbrouck Heights, Moonachie and Wallington for one engine company each.
The hand lines from Wood-Ridge Engine 905 were switched to the elevating platform so it could put a stream through the roof, which had collapsed in two areas, bringing down the entire ceiling in the sanctuary.
The Hasbrouck Heights and Moonachie engines established a two-block relay to feed the Wood-Ridge aerial, which covered the east exposure. Carlstadt and Wallington set up a relay from another hydrant east of the church and used hand lines and a master stream on the south side to try to contain the fire.
At the height of the fire, a flow of 3000 gpm was applied and the fire was declared under control at 4:10 a.m.
Radio jammed at times
The Wood-Ridge Fire Department tape-records communications at fires and when the tape for this fire was played, it was obvious that because of all the apparatus radios and walkie-talkies on the fireground, sometimes it was impossible to transmit a radio message successfully.
At their next meeting, the officers of the department discussed the radio problem and came up with two ideas. The first was to set up a second-alarm running card with the same departments and equipment on it that responded to the church fire. This card was given to the police department so the desk officer would know what departments to call when a Wood-Ridge fire officer requested a second alarm. All mutual aid companies would respond directly to the fire.
The second idea was to set up a field communications unit, using the rescue truck as a mobile base.
These ideas were explained and accepted at the next meeting of the Zone 2 chiefs. Every department also agreed at this meeting to send additional equipment when requested.
Second fire
Two months after the church fire, on June 8, 1977, there was a fire in the Christiansen Greenhouse complex on Hackensack Street. The complex, about 100 years old, consisted of 14 greenhouses that were all connected at their northern ends to a 30 X 300-foot wood structure.
Stored in the wooden building were thousands of plastic flower pots, fertilizer, peat moss, small kerosine tanks, propane tanks, tar paper and four vehicles, one of them a 1940 fire engine. A dirt road encircled the complex.
The most serious exposure was a 124-unit garden apartment complex beyond a 40-foot-wide parking lot with a 6-foot retaining wall and a 5-foot fence.
The fire started 50 feet from the east end of the wooden structure and was burning toward a 5000-gallon outside tank half full of No. 6 fuel oil. First-in Engine 902 backed down the dirt road near the fuel tank on the north side of the greenhouse complex and then stretched a 2 1/2 and a 3-inch line 800 feet back to a hydrant on Hackensack Street. The 3-inch line was wyed off to one 2 1/2 and two 1 1/2 -inch lines.
While this was being done, Aerial 904 stretched a 2 1/2-inch supply line from the hydrant that Engine 902 was to take and moved down the dirt road after 902 cleared. Engine 905 backed down the east access road of the apartment site and laid two 2 1/2-inch attack lines to another hydrant. This placed two 2 1/2-inch lines on both sides of the fuel tank, which was exposed to radiant heat. The chief had requested one engine from the second-alarm card to respond to the apartment site and hook up to a hydrant on the south.
Unable to hold positions
At this point, the fire was moving too fast to be contained. The men in the northeast sector were unable to hold their positions because of the intense heat and smoke.
Based on this report, Gorab ordered Phillips to set up field communications with Rescue Truck 903 as the command post. Field communications now notified Wood-Ridge police that it would be on the air and would assume command responsibility. Field communications then requested police headquarters call the remaining second-alarm companies.
Carlstadt Engine 701 had entered the apartment site via the east road and field communications ordered a master stream placed in operation from the engine while two 3-inch attack lines were hand-stretched over the wall toward the fire.
The Moonachie chief called in service with Engine 803 and advised field communications of the availability of his 85-foot Aerial 805. Field communications immediately special-called this truck because the Hasbrouck Heights aerial was out of service.
While Moonachie, Wallington and Hasbrouck Heights were responding, field communications requested all engine companies to report residual pressure readings.
It then became apparent that the water system was nearing its capacity and this was confirmed when Engine 905 reported it could not maintain 2 1/2 -inch lines if Engine 701 continued to operate its master stream. Field communications ordered the master stream shut down so that Engine 905 could continue covering the main exposure and fire building. Field communications then advised Gorab that engine companies outside of Zone 2 would have to be called to augment the working engine companies’ water supply.
Field communications now called police headquarters, requesting an engine company from East Rutherford to respond to the Fireground and an engine company from Rutherford to stand by in Wood-Ridge Headquarters. When Hasbrouck Heights Engine 616 arrived, it backed down to Truck 904 and laid two 2 1/2-inch lines to a hydrant on Hackensack Streed. Field communications advised 616 to pump only one line as water was now critical.
Moonachie Engine 803 was told to drop parallel lines from Wood-Ridge 905 and stop at the next block, 400 feet away. East Rutherford Engine Green 2-1 was ordered to drop parallel lines from Engine 803 to a block with a hydrant on a separate main. This relay enabled Engine 905 to pump at its rated capacity.
Field communications notified Gross that it was sending a truck company to his location and he was to place the truck in operation. Engine 803 backed up to Engine 701, dropped a single supply line and positioned itself where it could cover both the fuel tank and the fire building. The 1st assistant chief then advised field communications that it was more advantageous to shut down one 2 1/2-inch attack line and use it to supply Truck 805. This was OK’d by field communications.
Another engine needed
The 2nd assistant chief advised field communications that an additional engine company was needed to protect the south exposure. Wallington Engine 203 was ordered to lay dual lines from Engine 905 and enter the dirt road from the southeast side. The Hasbrouck Heights chief notified field communications that he would send an additional engine company, but another out-ofzone engine would have to cover Hasbrouck Heights. Field communications notified Hasbrouck Heights police to request an engine company from Lodi and then requested the second engine from Hasbrouck Heights, Engine 615, to respond to the fire.
An engine company from Rutherford had been requested to stand by at Wood-Ridge Headquarters. Upon field communications being notified that Engine 615 was responding to the fire, the’Rutherford engine was requested to to the fireground in case another twoengine relay might be needed.
An engine company from Lyndhurst was called to replace the Rutherford engine in Wood-Ridge Headquarters. At this time, there were approximately 150 fire fighters on the scene and field communications requested ambulances from Carlstadt and East Rutherford to stand by. There were only two injuries during the fire.
Fire controlled
A fire flow of nearly 3500 gpm brought the fire to a halt.
A meeting of chiefs decided which town would pick up their own hose and which would assist Wood-Ridge, which had laid 5000 feet of 2¼ and 3-inch hose. All these activities were coordinated through field communications, which kept radio traffic to a minimum.
The results of this operation were all positive. Towns throughout our area were greatly impressed with the way the fire was handled. Many chiefs from both paid and volunteer departments have since spoken to our chief about doing the same thing in their towns.
At this writing, steps have been taken to draw maps of all the high-hazard areas in the town and to list all equipment up to a fourth alarm. This will be carried in the chiefs car.
Two days after the fire, two boys, ages 15 and 16, were apprehended by the police and they admitted setting fire to the greenhouse complex as well as a vacant house three days earlier.
