LESSONS LEARNED AND LESSONS REINFORCED
- The greatest lesson that was learned (and relearned) from and reinforced by the 1st Interstate Bank fire is that all high-rise buildings—no matter when built —must be equipped throughout with a complete, automatic sprinkler system. The economic cost to the community and the economic burden to all businesses in the community can no longer be tolerated because a few landlords neglect to provide the necessary fire safety that highrise buildings demand.
- The importance of establishing and adequately staffing an incident command system early in the fire was demonstrated by the many areas that demanded attention at this fire:
- command post manning
- lobby command post
- operations and suppression post
- communications officer
- safety officer
- search, rescue, and evacuation post
- staging and rehabilitation area
- resource management and status board
- logistics, including SCBA support
- water resources officer
- public information officer
- medical care functions, triage area and ambulance support
- elevator control
- apparatus needs, placement, and parking coordination
- helicopter support and coordination
- police support
- interagency coordinator
- The importance of establishing a logistics support system within the incident command system early in the fire and maintaining it throughout the entire operation was demonstrated by the duration of this fire and by the many demands this fire made upon the forces of the Los Angeles Fire Department for adequate support. Without logistics support in a high-rise fire, the best firefighting, strategy, and tactics will be for nought. It’s important that a system be established within the logistic support system to adequately supply air bottles at the staging area in the numbers required if an aggressive attack is to be sustained.
- Two companies must be assigned to a line so that the attack can be maintained without interruption. When the first company is relieved on the line, a third company must be assigned to replace the second company that is now assuming the line operations.
- The duties of the second company on the line while they are standing by should be clear. These duties are:
- acting as the safety observers for the company operating the line;
- monitoring the fire conditions in the area of operations;
- maintaining contact with the company operating the line;
- operating the hose outlet valve to provide correct pressure and volume, with care taken to prevent excessive pressure in the line which may result in burst lengths;
- calling for another company when moving in to relieve the company on the line so the aggressive attack that has been established may be maintained.
- Determining which stairway will be used as the evacuation stairs is essential. This stairway should be properly designated so that all operating personnel are aware of which stairway has been so designated. All personnel shall assist in maintaining the integrity of the evacuation stairs. It’s necessary that an evacuation stairs be designated to provide egress for those trapped above the fire and to provide a means for the firefighters to gain access to the floors above the fire for the search, rescue, and evacuation. It’s recommended that a pressurized stairway or a fire tower be designated as the evacuation stairs.
- Building personnel must be trained on the proper procedures to be used when an alarm of fire is received in a high-rise building.
- It’s also critical that the alarm be promptly transmitted to the fire department or supervisory service so that fire department response will be immediate. At the 1st Interstate Bank fire, the alarm was silenced at least three times, and a building maintenance helper was sent to check conditions on the floor from which the
- alarms were being received. He made the fatal mistake of taking an elevator directly to the floor from which the alarms were being received. This is not the first time that such a tragedy has occurred. All alarm systems must transmit the alarm to a supervisory service or directly to the fire department. This should be automatic. There should be no provision that permits building personnel to override this function.
- Rescue operations must be attempted from below, and the evacuation stairway must be maintained. Rescue operations must be coordinated with fire-suppression operations. Rescue operations can’t wait for fire-suppression operations to be complete before being implemented. Some trapped occupants waited five hours to be removed from the 1st Interstate Bank fire scene.
- Elevators in high-rise buildings should be used to support the logistics necessary to sustain an aggressive attack. No fire department in the world can supply the manpower necessary to support the logistics for successful fire suppression and rescue operations without the use of the elevators to move men and equipment. All safety precautions in the use of elevators must be understood and observed by all fire department personnel using the elevators during fire operations therein.
- The high-rise building must have a fire safety director on duty at all times. These building employees must be properly trained in the procedures to be taken when a fire is reported in their building. They must be instructed on the importance of calling the fire department immediately upon receiving an alarm of fire. This shall be as a backup to the automatic reporting. They must be made aware of the extreme hazards associated with the practice of checking out a reported fire location.
- Units must be trained to supply the standpipe with water at the proper pressure and volume by fire department pumpers upon arrival at the location of a high-rise fire. Reliance must not be placed upon the building’s fire pumps; they should be utilized as a backup to the fire department pumpers.
