Fires in Multiple-Family Dwellings Present Special Challenges to Chiefs
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A well-developed fire involving a multiple-family dwelling can put to test the first-alarm chief officer’s ability to control a fire problem.
This is true because these fires can create a severe threat to life, and they can present a serious exposure problem to the interior of the structure as well as to adjacent structures. These buildings are referred to as “fast burners.” First-in chief officers must take decisive action to minimize the threat to life and exposures.
We will review some of the techniques that can be deployed to handle fires involving multiple-family dwellings. Keep in mind that these are not new techniques, but techniques that have been tested for many years, have been established at many fires, and have brought favorable results.
At the outset we should discuss what we mean by a multiple-family dwelling and why fires spread so rapidly in these structures. These dwellings will vary in size, construction and style from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. These buildings can be three to six stories high, 30 to 50 feet wide, and up to 90 feet deep. They can be referred to as tenements, apartment buildings and railroad flats. The number of occupants will vary with the size of the structure and the area where the structure is located. You will find one to four apartments per floor.
These structures are situated in congested residential areas and are built in rows or very close together. The structures that are not built in rows are generally separated by a narrow walkway or driveway. A common type of multiple-family dwelling in the New England area is the “three-wood” or a “threedecker.”
Common features
The construction of the structure is balloon framing or ordinary type construction. The exterior walls are of wood, wood covered by asphalt siding, or brick. Common to these structures are open wooden interior stairwells, open wooden rear porches, a common cockloft, a variety of vertical shafts, and doors to the apartments and cellars which cannot withstand the effect of a fire for long. All of these characteristics contribute to the fast spread of fire. Once the integrity of the door is lost the fire can rapidly communicate into or out of an apartment.
When the fire gets outside the apartment and into a hall or an interior stairwell, we have severely exposed the remainder of the structure. In a rundown structure, it is not unusual to have openings in the plaster walls and ceilings. This condition will allow the fire to extend into the concealed spaces of’ the walls and ceilings so that the fire spreads both vertically and horizontally throughout the structure. Another means of fire communication is through openings where utility services are run-vent pipes, water pipes, heating pipes, etc.
Before we discuss the placement of hose streams and the extinguishment of the particular types of tenement fires that might confront the first-alarm chief, we should establish what size lines we should be operating. The fire conditions in these structures will vary from the need for a 1 1/2-inch line delivering 95 gpm to 125 gpm to a fire of such magnitude that the first line put into operation is a master stream. The fire condition observed by the fire officer determines the size of the stream that is put into operation. Generally speaking, 1 1/2inch hose lines will be sufficient to handle a fire situation of moderate proportion. Remember that it is a good practice to back up your initial lines with larger hose stream capability.
New Haven Fire Department photos
Rescue considerations
The primary objective of a fire fighter is life safety. As we have indicated earlier, the threat to the life safety of the occupants in a multiple-family dwelling is severe. Officers must see to it that thorough primary and secondary searches are conducted at all fires.
There are numerous strategies and tactics the chief officer can use to accomplish rescue tasks. One is to mount an offensive attack on the fire. When you control the fire, you minimize your rescue problems. Fire officers must strongly encourage engine companies to be aggressive in their attack. Lines must be committed to cut off the spread of the fire toward occupants.
If a fire on the lower floor has extended from an apartment to the public hallway, the integrity of the interior stairwells becomes vulnerable. If the fire should communicate to these stairwells, you will expose the occupants on the upper floors and your rescue and fire fighting operations become time-consuming and more difficult. Your fire fighting forces must control the interior stairwells.
There will be times when an exterior line or stream will have to be put into operation to protect victims who are exposed to flame while they are at windows, on fire escapes and on porches. Quickly darken the fire to enable your personnel to make an interior rescue or rescue over ladders. When occupants are at windows awaiting rescue, there is a strong probability that there are other occupants in greater danger inside the structure. And don’t forget to check the rear of the building for occupants in need of assistance.
Ventilation should never be overlooked as a function in search and rescue operations. With effective ventilation,, you buy time for trapped occupants by relieving the condition in the building, and you will begin to reduce the panic problem. It allows search and rescue companies to be more effective, it can prevent the spread of fire toward occupants and it allows fire fighting crews to get to the source of the fire with greater ease. Ventilation efforts should be concentrated on keeping stairwells as tenable as possible and to prevent the fire from extending toward trapped occupants.
Horizontal ventilation can be accomplished by your search and rescue companies or by roof personnel who have accomplished vertical ventilation. Proper ventilation at these fires is essential and vital to support rescue and fire fighting efforts.
Aerial ladders, ground ladders, and life lines are other options that are available to a chief to accomplish his rescue objectives. Although these options can be difficult, are time-consuming and tax your manpower strength, they should never be overlooked as a means of saving a life.
Call for aid immediately
Fire officers should not hesitate to immediately call for additional help when they are confronted with a fire that poses a serious threat to the occupants of the dwelling or exposed dwellings. Rescue is the priority at these fires. It will take manpower to accomplish your rescue operation. The chief officer must recognize that the commitment of his first-alarm assignment to rescue operations might cause a delay in positioning lines to effectively control the fire.
It is not uncommon to find multiplefamily dwellings with security gates and bars on lower windows that are readily accessible to undesirable people. These bars and gates have to be removed early in your operation to provide an exit for the occupants and also for fire fighting personnel. When conducting search operations, fire officers should never hesitate to breach walls to move from room to room or apartment to apartment if fire conditions or security devices cut off their means of ingress to apartments or rooms.
Persons in the fire department and on the fire floor are the most severely exposed building occupants. Then, generally speaking, the occupants on the floor directly above the fire would be next, then the top floor, and then the floors in between. This can change with fires in three-story dwellings. Fires will mushroom on the top floor rapidly. A chief officer might consider the top floor prior to the floor above the fire when he is establishing his search and rescue operations. This holds particularly true if the fire has extended to the interior stairwell.
Apartment fires
As we mentioned earlier, the doors to apartments will not withstand the effects of fire for a long time. The first line is brought in directly to the fire department via the interior stairwell. This action will prevent the fire from extending by way of the stairwell. A second line can be brought through the rear. This stream will be used to extinguish the fire and to prevent extension into the rear hall, stairs or porches.
Additional lines should then be stretched over the fire. These lines would be used to check the vertical extension in partitions, pipe chases, and other vertical shafts. The walls and the ceilings in the fire area will have to be opened up to check for vertical and horizontal spread of fire. This action must be accomplished early and quickly to prevent the fire from extending throughout the entire structure.
When the fire has extended from the apartment into the stairwell, the first line should be advanced rapidly up the stairs so that the stream will darken down the fire apartment. By directing a solid stream up the stairwell, the hose crew will be extinguishing fire on the upper floors and also protecting occupants on the top floor. Again, this line must be rapidly advanced up the stairs to control this tvpe of situation.
A second line should be stretched to complete extinguishment of the fire in the apartment, hit fire that the first line did not extinguish in advancing, and protect the first line. There is no real hard and fast rule as to the placement of additional lines. This priority will have to be determined by the chief in charge. One consideration would be the topfloor apartments. Vertical ventilation at the top of the stairs is of the utmost importance at fire situations like this. The fire will quickly mushroom if good ventilation is not accomplished. If the fire weakens the staircase, ground ladders can be used to bridge the stairs, or they can be placed to windows so lines can be advanced over the ladders.
Cellar fires
Cellar fires are particularly difficult because of the heavy fire loading in cellars and the fact that the entire structure and its occupants are above and exposed to the products of combustion.
In cellar fires, the first line should be advanced into the cellar by way of the interior stairwell. This stairwell is generally in the rear hallway, below the rear staircase. If this line cannot be advanced, the hose crew should close the door and hold its position at the top of the cellar stairs. Do not allow the fire to communicate to the rear hall. The chief should send the second line into the cellar through an outside entrance. When fire conditions regress, the chief should try the inside line again to complete extinguishment. Lines must also be put into position on the upper floors to check any vertical fire extension in partitions, pipe shafts, dumbwaiter shafts, etc.
Another problem associated with these fires involve the number of gas meters that are exposed to the fire. You must not extinguish the flame at the gas meter. Shut off the flow of gas. There will generally be a shutoff valve where the gas line enters the building.
Ventilation can be accomplished by removing roof covers on dumbwaiter shafts, outside entrances and windows. The chief might consider ordering the first floor opened at a window to vent the cellar area. A charged line must always be at this point to prevent the fire from extending through the vent hole.
Cockloft fires
A cockloft is the blind space between the underside of the roof of a structure and the finished ceiling on the top floor. This area is generally wide open and undivided. If there are any division walls, the integrity of these walls cannot be relied on to prevent the spread of fire from one area to another. When a fire enters a cockloft, it will threaten the entire roof space.
When the first-alarm chief is confronted with a fire that has entered a cockloft, he should send a truck company to the roof to cut a large hole over the fire area. This will draw the fire up and prevent it from spreading laterally. The design of some of these structures will allow you to make a trench cut in the roof to halt the lateral spread of fre. This technique should not be initiated until your primary vent hole has been completed.
Lines are placed on the top floor and the ceilings on the top floor are pulled down. This will expose the fire in the cockloft. Before the line is operated as much of the ceiling as possible should be opened up. The conditions will quickly deteriorate when you open your lines. A small ladder placed up to the joists will allow the line to be operated in the cockloft. Another tactic that can be used is to operate a cellar nozzle into the cockloft from the roof.
Porch fires
Fires that are well involved on rear porches pose an exposure problem not only to the fire building, but to the structures on either side and to the rear. A 2 1/2-inch line should be stretched to the rear of the fire building to protect your exposure priority. This line should be used to cool the exposures and, again, be used to darken down the magnitude of the fire. The second line, again a 2 1/2-inch line, can be stretched to the rear. This line also is used to protect exposures and knock down the fire. Lines should then be stretched through the front to the interior of the building to extinguish fire that has extended into the hallways or apartments.
With the reduced weight of the newer portable deluge sets, and the use of the lightweight, large-diameter hose, a company can quickly put a master stream into operation at the rear of these structures. These streams will afford you more range and will rapidly reduce the magnitude of the fire. The stream can later be reduced to accommodate smaller lines. If a chief has this ability, he might consider this type application as the first stream.
Fires that are not of major proportion should be attacked from the inside and the fire driven to the outside.
Fires that have extended to adjacent buildings prior to your arrival present a difficult problem for the chief in charge. Line placement is determined by the life hazard. Consider operating a master stream or a minimum of a 2 1/2-inch line between the two structures to knock down the fire, and then move lines into the building. If there is sufficient manpower, divide the company into two groups and place a line on and into each structure.
In conclusion it should be pointed out that the internal conditions within these structures can become very hot and smoky. To most aggressively and effectively control fire situations, the use of breathing apparatus is a must. The benefits of breathing apparatus are many. To say the least, they afford protection for your personnel. Advocate their use.
