Long-Accepted Tactics

By Michael N. Ciampo

During training sessions you may be taught, “This is the way to do it,” and embed that information in your brain. Many of you may even hear, “Well, that’s our department’s tactics and the way we do things around here.” When you go to question the procedure or tactic with that simple word “but,” you get that blank stare and hear, “Didn’t I tell you how we do it here?” Should it always take a lesson learned on the fireground to change tactics and procedures, or should we have an open mind and look into other options?

Raising a portable ladder to the second-floor window, the firefighter placed the tip even with the sill and directly in the center of the window. As he stepped onto the ladder’s first rung, his firm bounce butted the ladder deeper into the soft ground. He climbed, sliding the halligan up the outside of the ladder’s left rail, hooking the pike pole in his right hand on an upper rung, making his way up the ladder while holding onto the underside of the ladder’s right rail. When the hook’s head was about waist level, he stopped and reached down to pick up the tool just below the head. He then raised it upward to hook it onto another upper rung (so he wouldn’t have to climb with two tools) and maintained three points of contact with the ladder (both boots and one gloved hand).

Approaching the window, he focused on “making the window into a door” for entry. This way, he wouldn’t get hung up on the window’s sash, screen, curtains, or blinds if he needed to quickly exit the structure. Once he vented the window, the smoke, heat, and gases began to exit the opening (which may draw the fire to this location). Next, he leaned into the window, took the halligan and sounded/tapped the floor to ensure its stability, and dropped the tool inside. He then climbed the ladder and rapidly entered the room headfirst, over the sill, to stay below the escaping heat and reach the cooler climate near the floor. These are textbook tactics that many of us have used and will continue to use, but are there other ways to make this evolution easier and safer?

When raising a ladder to a window, you can place the tip even with the sill or slightly below. If the tip protrudes over the sill or too far into the opening, it’s cutting down on the allowable entry/exit space, making it harder to climb in or out of the window. Plus, if an emergency necessitated a headfirst ladder slide, the firefighter could possibly knock into the tip and move it, or his personal harness could get caught on it. Some of you are thinking, “Well, the ladder should protrude through the window so the searching firefighter can see it; isn’t he operating in a smoke condition with not much visibility?” It’s more important to stay oriented to where your ladder is when entering the room. If the ladder was placed alongside the window, the firefighter would enter higher in the window, where superheated gases and smoke are escaping. These by-products could ignite at any moment.

Concerning ladder placement, is it always best to place it in the center of the window? In this scenario, when the firefighter enters the window headfirst, it’s probably fine in that position. However, do we really want to commit to “diving” into a structure with unknown conditions and construction on the inside? Is there a possibility with today’s newer construction that the impact load from the “dive” can cause a failure from a hidden fire in between wooden lightweight trusses or oriented strand board floor joists? Why not control our entry and be more comfortable with an already difficult task to perform? Just place the ladder to one side of the opening and, before entering, sound the floor, right? Wrong! How about sweep and then sound the floor? Aren’t victims usually found near an exit point? If we just go leaning in and banging, what are the odds we will eventually hit someone?

Now that you’re ready to enter, climb the ladder another rung, and drive your shoulder into the side of the window frame that you favored with the ladder while inserting the same side’s leg up and over the sill and into the window. As your shoulder contacts the frame, place your protected head (hood, face piece, and helmet) on the wall outside of the structure. Your leg can now sweep a little farther into the room than your tool did, and you can also resound the floor before you enter the structure.

As you enter, you have two options:

1 Slide your buttocks back toward the opposite end of the window frame, maintain a low position in the window, and then lift your head up and over the sill, proceeding slowly at a controlled descent down toward the floor, following the wall downward with your gloved hand (for narrow windows).

2 Transition both legs in first, then follow with the rest of your body (for wider windows).

Remember, the last thing that should leave the ladder is your hand. If the room lights up, you’re in a perfect position to quickly exit the structure with a headfirst ladder bailout maneuver.

Things are always changing in today’s world, and in the fire service we must adapt to those changes and remember that long-accepted tactics may not always be right.

MICHAEL N. CIAMPO is a 26-year veteran of the fire service and a lieutenant in the Fire Department of New York. Previously, he served with the District of Columbia Fire Department. He has a bachelor’s degree in fire science from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. He is the lead instructor for the FDIC Truck Essentials H.O.T. program. He wrote the Ladder chapter and co-authored the Ventilation chapter for Fire Engineering’s Handbook for Firefighter I and II (Fire Engineering, 2009) and is featured in “Training Minutes” truck company videos on www.FireEngineering.com.