We get complacent! “We can get in and knock it down real quick!” “Staffing is low!” “We spend all our time drilling on EMS and not on fires!” All of the above are great excuses-and they’re just that, excuses! We are doing too much with too little and then stand back waiting for “the other shoe to drop.” (The other shoe will be another firefighter badly burned-or worse.)
If you haven’t figured it out yet, I just vented, rationalized (very poorly, I might add), and again fooled myself about current fireground tactics and safety (Yes! Those two words can be lumped together in the same sentence!)
In many departments, including mine, throwing ground ladders strictly for a secondary means of egress at working fires is an afterthought, if it is thought of at all. I can still remember crawling around the second floor of a house and breathing a sigh of relief (out of my exhalation valve) when the chief (there was no incident commander back then) told us there was a ladder raised in the rear of the building.
Some common sense must prevail here. Strictly throwing ladders for the sake of safety is wrong. The fire conditions on arrival and the potential for problems down the road should be your guide. A wastepaper basket fire in a kitchen probably does not require a secondary means of egress for firefighters. On the other hand, the need for a secondary means of egress for any well-involved room-and-contents fire probably deserves a quick “run-past” in your mind.
Let’s forgo the excuses and the question of when to raise a ground ladder to the building. If you wouldn’t feel comfortable crawling around inside without a ladder raised, then find two firefighters to put up a ladder and allow yourself and the crews inside to heave a collective sigh of relief. Oh, and don’t forget to tell the guys inside that you have a ladder up and where it is!
John (Skip) Coleman, deputy chief of training and EMS, Toledo (OH) Department of Fire and Rescue; author of Incident Management for the Street-Smart Fire Officer (Fire Engineering, 1997) and Managing Major Fires (Fire Engineering, 2001); editorial advisory board member of Fire Engineering; and member of the FDIC Educational Committee.
Question: Does your department routinely place ground ladders at fires specifically for a secondary means of egress, or is this generally an afterthought or usually not even considered?
John Salka, battalion chief,
Fire Department of New York
Response: Members of the Fire Department of New York do place ground ladders at many of our fire operations for many reasons. Since we respond to and operate at many different types of structures, different situations arise that require the placement of ground ladders.
At private-dwelling fires, a major component of our operation is the positioning of ground ladders for access to the upper floors for VES (vent-enter-search). The first- and second-arriving ladder company firefighter teams place these ladders to attempt to reach trapped occupants directly from the outside of the building without requiring firefighters to make their way through heat and smoke to locate bedrooms through the inside of the involved structure. Since these ladders are usually placed to the window of a second-floor bedroom, they serve as the primary means of escape for the members using the ladder. Simultaneously, they serve as a secondary means of egress for any other members operating on that level who may suddenly need an alternate escape route from inside the building.
At taxpayer fires, our roof teams usually use portable ladders to access the roof where ventilation openings are made to assist in the effort to control and extinguish the fire in the stores or the cockloft area below. When we place one ladder to such a roof for access, we will usually place at least one more as a secondary means of egress for the members operating on the roof.
Although many of our multiple dwellings are equipped with fire escapes on either the front or rear, some have none at all. Even in the buildings with fire escapes, many of the windows do not have access to a fire escape. This requires placing ladders to rescue or remove people trapped in these locations. Not as many ladders are routinely thrown up at multiple-dwelling fires as at private-dwelling fires, unless people are visible and need immediate removal from the outside.
Some chiefs assign a unit to position several ladders around the perimeter of different types of buildings strictly for secondary egress for members operating inside.
Tom Brennan, 20-year veteran,
Fire Department of New York; chief (retired)
Waterbury (CT) Fire Department
Response: First, I assume that “throwing” ground ladders means placing portable ladders in effective locations and that we are speaking of buildings of four stories or less. Otherwise, the question would have to mention aerial devices also. This so-called rule assumes that the occupiable floor or floors above the fire floor will be accessed by the interior team and that the outside team placing the ladder for a secondary exit will know where within the occupancy floor the team will run into trouble and must exit.
This involves a lot of assumptions: that the inside team can access the floor above the fire (after accounting for primary search considerations); that there are sufficient personnel to account for vertical and horizontal ventilation to get the charged hoseline in place; and that outside entry was attempted using a portable ladder. Why? Because alternate entry, search, and ventilation have the most positive impact on the disgraceful life loss in America’s private dwelling fires. In the case of private dwellings of more than one story, that means that access to each room that may be occupied is attempted both from inside by the ascending search team and from outside by the VES team(s).
This professional activity-trained, communicated, and expected-should solve the second means of egress problem for the interior team should its members gain access to the occupancy above the fire.
Some more thoughts on the floor-above search by the interior search team follow.
The floor above becomes the objective for the first-arriving interior team after the fire floor is accounted for by searching for and locating the fire, communicating that fact to the engine advance team, and searching back from the fire location to the rest of the accessible fire floor or when fire has possession of most of the fire floor, is blocking access to or eliminating the probability of survivable life on a large section of the floor, and the operating handline has separated the stairs to the floor above from the fire.
When the first-arriving interior team decides that the floor above the fire is now the most serious objective, it must notify the fire-floor handline officer (the member in charge if the officer is nonexistent or is wearing a colored vest outside the building). He also notifies the outside command function of the intention to ascend to the next level in the structure. Command’s assessment of conditions, based on visible data and information relayed by all teams working throughout and around the structure, shall decide who, what, where, and how the secondary exits will be provided.
However, the communication between the interior team that is determined to ascend the interior stairs and the nozzle team operating on the fire is a “sacred bond and contract”! The nods of the head that each masked figure gives one another is an oath from the nozzle team that it will not abandon the floor-above team until it receives acknowledgment that the floor-above team is safe in a position of visual acknowledgment that it has returned to prior to evacuation. This situation does not allow for the “Mayday” call from the fire floor, given that the reader here understands the difference between a “Mayday” and an orderly retreat in face of a strategy shift command.
To reiterate: If there are or were sufficient personnel on the scene to perform the tactics (tasks) necessary to maintain a professional commitment to an aggressive interior attack strategy, then the building is behaving and the interior team is making a more professional and, indeed, responsible risk analysis to access the floor above the fire. The outside command function must know where the floor-above team is all the time.
If outside command is not too preoccupied because of insufficient personnel to handle the myriad communications, it should know this based on communication from inside and the visible effects observed from outside. The breaking or opening of windows from the inside is the main indicator of the searching fire team’s exact location! (How many of you initial incident commanders know what the order is of glass breaking from the interior?)
Frank C. Schaper, chief,
St. Charles (MO) Fire Department
Response: When I was with the St. Louis Fire Department, ground ladders were called for at all working fires; this was spelled out in the SOPs for first-alarm structural fires. These ladders, one in the rear and one in front, were for secondary means of egress. Firefighters were assigned to do this, and it was done with firefighter safety in mind. This was done so routinely that interior crews knew for a fact that if they got in trouble on an upper floor, a ladder would be close at hand. Over the years, this procedure has paid off.
We are doing the same thing at the St. Charles (MO) Fire Department. Ladder placement will be called for in the new SOP and crews will be assigned to accomplish this task.
It comes down to this: If ladders are not called for in your SOP and no one is assigned this task, then it will not be done. Then, we wonder why firefighters are leaping headfirst out of windows or a RIT team is scrambling to put up the ladders.
Bob Oliphant, lieutenant
Kalamazoo (MI) Department of Public Safety
Response: While members of our department understand the importance of raising ground ladders, it does not always get done. The first few minutes of a fire are usually occupied with search and rescue and advancing lines. The longer the operation, the more likely ground ladders will eventually be raised. We do not have the luxury of dedicated truck crews. If we did, I think that raising ground ladders, especially during the initial stages of the operation, would be standard practice.
Leigh Hollins, battalion chief,
Cedar Hammock and Southern
Manatee Fire Districts, Florida
Although we have many buildings in our district that are more than one story (mostly single-family dwellings, apartments, and condos), most of our jobs seem to be in single-story buildings. Ground ladder use is limited at these buildings because of the use of horizontal positive-pressure ventilation in most cases. We don’t do much roof work any more on these types of buildings.
Until a few years ago, throwing ladders up on multiple-story buildings was an afterthought or done only to access the roof. However, since our officers have been involved with the Fire Department Instructors Conference (FDIC) for a number of years, they have been exposed to various firefighter survival classes taught there and in our state. They are certainly more aware of the need to get ladders in place as a means of emergency/secondary egress.
Specifically, I have directed the officers under my command to make sure ladders are placed on any buildings of more than one story, specifically for rescue and emergency egress.
Our rapid intervention team SOP, approved in 1998, specifically calls for the RIT to size up and locate windows, place ground ladders for emergency rescue/escape routes, and set up aerials as needed for the same reason.
Additionally, we use a RIT checklist that lists the duties of the RIT, including “providing additional escape routes for interior crews” and “placing ground ladders at buildings of two or more stories.”
With the popularity of the various firefighter survival programs across the country, “throwing” ladders is becoming more commonplace, which is a really good thing for us all to remember at fire scenes.
Larry Anderson, deputy chief,
Dallas (TX) Fire Department
I have always believed that when crews are working above a fire, the building should look like a “picket fence” with ground ladders. Do we set all those ladders before a crew is allowed to operate above the fire? Not necessarily.
First of all, what is the fire doing and what is it likely to do? Is there an urgent rescue situation, and what are the odds of worsening the situation by taking the time to set ladders? These are just some of the considerations that the IC must deal with.
Commanding an emergency incident is a constant risk/benefit analysis, and there are no easy answers for all situations. As far as I’m concerned, secondary means of egress are as important as backup lines and RITs. One of the responsibilities of our RITs is to observe the building and establish secondary points of ingress and egress.
Rick Lasky, chief,
Lewisville (TX) Fire Department
One of the keys to a safer fireground is the ability to think ahead, anticipating what is going to happen next before it happens.
However, most of what we do may appear reactionary to some. Often, you’ll hear our firefighters say that we’re “what if-ing” things too much. I guess I’ve always thought we’re the “what if” people in the “what-if” business. Being prepared for everything from “What if there is a fire?” to “What if someone drives his car into a wall?” is the reason there’s a lot of noise with pagers, bells, and tones when our citizens need us.
Being prepared to respond to a citizen’s emergency has always been at the top of the list, but up there with it should be being prepared for our own emergencies. And yes, we do have them. From having rapid intervention teams standing by to having enough people on the scene, these are just some of the ways we take care of our own.
When operating on the floor above the fire or attacking a fire above the first floor, creating an alternate means of egress (or multiple ones for that matter) should be a priority for the incident commander. We’ve been pretty good in the past with providing the roof crew with a second means of egress, but often we forget to do this for our interior teams. As important as it is to open up the back of the building when our first-floor interior crews need another way out, it should be just as important to provide another way out for those operating above the first floor.
As part of the first-alarm assignment, my department responds a third engine or quint as a RIT to all reports of a structure fire. One of this unit’s assigned tasks is placing a ladder or ladders for a second means of egress for firefighters operating above the first floor. Most often, they’ll throw one in the front and one in the rear, depending on the size of the building. Larger buildings might get ladders thrown on all four sides. All attempts are made to place the ladder(s) with the tip at the windowsill.
The time to throw a ladder to a window is not when a firefighter is hanging from the windowsill. We emphasize the importance of backup lines, secondary water sources, and a long list of other things. Why not add throwing ladders for firefighters to the list? There was a time when we used to do it. Let’s revisit this important firefighter safety item and bring it back to the fireground.
Garry Morris, assistant chief,
Phoenix (AZ) Fire Department
The Phoenix Fire Department has long applied the practice of placing at least two ladders during roof operations. These ladders are placed at different corners of the building to provide a secondary exit should access to the primary ladder be obstructed. Ladders can be a mix of ground or aerial ladders or platforms. This is clearly good practice.
Our procedures also call for ladders to be placed on all sides of the building when crews are working a fire aboveground. This serves as an immediate emergency rescue route if crews find themselves in trouble on upper floors. (How many times have we seen photos or videos of a firefighter hanging out of an upper window awaiting a ladder for rescue?) In some cases, the RIT may place ladders (using intact crews while conducting recon and monitoring radio traffic). In other cases, the RIT will arrange for prepositioning of aerial apparatus to the sides of buildings as a proactive safety measure.
