It’s Not Your Bread and Butter …
The fire service is reminded or humbled by the fact that we aren’t all in big cities, and there is no denying that. Although we aren’t the fire department servicing midtown Manhattan, with mega high-rises, six-story tenements, old law tenements, and triple subcellars, we in the volunteer fire service may still have the opportunity or the responsibility to respond to similar types of structures or emergencies within our own jurisdictions or mutual-aid response areas.
Often, we respond to fires and emergencies that we wouldn’t call our “bread and butter.” In my department, we responded to 2½-story wood-frame residential fires, fires in small commercial buildings, motor vehicle accidents, and car fires. However, in my community and the adjacent towns, the potential for response to high-rise fires, tenement fires, and unique emergencies certainly presents itself.
To us, our bread and butter fires are easy fires. We see fire out the window, we know where it is, we stretch the line, and we go put the fire out. Additionally, with that, at every fire, we ensure we see as many sides of the building or incident as possible. We complete the 360⁰ size-up, we identify means of egress, we identify the potential for occupants, we assign search responsibilities, we assign vent and ladder responsibilities, we assign utility control, and so on. We do this all as second nature because it’s how we train, and it’s our bread and butter.
Now, take this small-town fire chief and assign him to something he isn’t as familiar with. Will he stumble? Will he fail? Are there things we can do to limit failure and ensure a positive outcome?
Let’s face it, when someone calls 911 on their worst day, they expect the best. They do not care what the side of the fire truck says, and they don’t care what your geographic and demographic makeup is. They see a fire truck in front of them and have hopes that it has several experienced geniuses aboard to fix their problem on what they believe to be their worst day.
So, how do we, who aren’t used to fighting fires or responding to emergencies outside of our norm, still ensure that we provide the best possible service to the customer regardless of the type of building or environment we’re working in?
We may be new to these environments, but we are not unfamiliar with the actions we need to take on the fireground. There are some tasks that we need to complete at every incident. If we respond to a fire in a garden apartment, we know that we need to get a line in service. We know that we need to consider the length of the stretch. We know that we need to ladder the building and assign search crews to the fire apartment and adjacent apartments. We still must coordinate ventilation with fire attack. We need to put the fire out!
When we respond to a fire in a high-rise or a tenement, we know that we need to stretch; we need someone to the roof or floor above for vent; we need someone to search the fire apartment, public hallway, apartments above, and adjacent apartments in the immediate area. We need to control the utilities. These are all things that we instinctively know but because it’s not something that we do every day, not our bread and butter, we get concerned by it.
When we think about the needs of these different emergencies and fires, we can easily equate them back to our bread and butter. In high-rises, we want to know the status of the fire apartment door: Is it open or closed? In a garden apartment, we want to know the same thing, but in a house fire, I still want to know the status of the door. Is it open or closed? In high-rises and tenements, we identify the attack and evacuation stairwells, and we pressurize stairwells. In house fires, we identify an attack pattern. Where are we entering from? Are we coordinating positive-pressure fire attack? These are all things that we do on a day-to-day basis that relate back to these different types of fires and emergencies, but because of what we see immediately as something not normal, we become concerned.
We know completing a 360 must be done because we do it at every fire. “But the building is too big.” We still need to complete that task. Use your resources. Have your roof crew complete a topside 360 for you!
In the end, we need to understand that we won’t be responding to our “bread and butter” incidents every day. We, as the fire service, will be challenged, and just because it’s not what we are used to doesn’t mean we cannot act. We know the tasks that we need to complete at every incident. Of course, the tactics associated with those tasks vary, but we need to have a basic understanding of our actions and needs. We need to understand ventilation on a large scale. We need to understand hose appliances and system makeups. At some point during the incident, someone will arrive on scene with a working knowledge of these tasks, someone who is familiar with the intricacies that we are not used to, and we will effectively tackle the job.
I’m telling you to think. The brain is a magical resource, and our ability to think critically and understand intricacies is what puts us ahead of other professions. Start the processes and get the ball rolling, because when you pull up, the customer expects the best. Even though it’s not your bread and butter, you can still butter your bread.
Steven K. Sulcov
Former Chief
Fair Lawn (NJ) Fire Department
Compatibility is Key
We are still the same fire service, yet we operate in so many different ways, and I’m not even comparing East Coast to West Coast. I’m talking about neighboring towns that operate together on a regular basis.
I have been seeing brand-new apparatus set up like they are still fighting fires in the 1950s. I have seen rescue trucks that couldn’t rescue a mouse out of a trap. With all the meetings we attend, whether it is as chiefs, memberships, or mutual-aid groups, it is now being brought to a head that no one works compatibly anymore. Sure, everyone is ready for the one- or two-room job in a two-story cape, but what about these new podium buildings going up all over the place? Any small piece of land that can be built on is being built as high as possible.
I’ve been noticing that even in single departments, their high-rise packs are not even compatible with each other. How do you plan to make a stairwell stretch and then advance down a hallway when none of your equipment is compatible?
It may be time to start standardizing certain equipment that may need to be joined together to accomplish one task. The choices of these hose packs come down to every component.
As an example, I have always believed in and enjoyed working with the FDNY high-rise packs: two 50-foot-length bundles of 2½-inch hose and one 50-foot-length bundle of two-inch hose with 2½-inch couplings with a one-inch smooth bore nozzle, all bundled the exact same way for easy deployment. And don’t forget the well-stocked standpipe adapter bag!
Some other hose loads that are changing in the area I monitor are the hosebed loads. Many departments are going back to the trusted fire-to-hydrant dead loads, thus allowing them to estimate our stretches but also getting the engine out of the way of the front of the building, leaving room for one or more truck companies to operate.
It’s time to start looking at the situation of low staffing and automatic mutual aid. We all need to know when we are tasked with a mission that it’s going to get done the way we are all used to.
Think outside the box when preplanning your newer larger mid-rise or big box store buildings. You won’t be attacking these buildings with a single alarm.
Ex-Chief Ken Robertson
Garfield (NJ) Fire Department
