Photo by Tim Olk.
By Alexander Degnan
“Battalion 4 to the first due truck, people on the outside reporting people on the second floor.”
You hear this transmission as the ladder turns the corner on a humid, August afternoon. You turn from your jump seat and look out the windshield. A huge Queen Anne looms before you at the end of the block, and you can see fire at the first-floor porch windows. Almost all the windows (except the very rear) are chugging smoke of some sort. As you dismount and grab a can, a quick comparison shows that the windows directly above the porch have the blackest and fastest smoke. There are multiple gables, a rounded cupola, and two staircases. The engine is taking it straight to the seat, and you know you have to go above the fire and quickly. Seconds may matter. Where are the people likely to be? What is about to light up? What access and egress point will give your team the greatest odds?
Sometimes, windows and the conditions at them can be of tremendous service to us. They can be as equally helpful to us on arrival as they are on the interior; windows are, too often, overlooked. So much is said about when, where, and how to take them. And, too often, I feel like it is simply “smash, vent, and forget,” but we must remain vigilant in all the valuable, lifesaving, and suppression-helpful information they feed us.
Suppression
If you arrive to any number of private dwellings, be it standalone, row frame, or apartment, the window conditions can be of great assistance. Windows in apartment buildings, framed or occupied multiple dwellings can be equally helpful. Generally, you can assume that windows that have not yet failed to have no great heat or fire condition behind them, barring, of course, thermo-paned windows. (In this instance, community, age of construction, or the possibility of replacements may be your indicators.) Failed or opened windows with “lazy” smoke showing tell you that the fire is either no great problem below the window where you are looking or, simply, the seat is in an area remote from that window. Windows with smoke filling their whole surface area—depending on color—can indicate conditions and survivability close to that location. If a window or a door is showing you moving black smoke at the upper reaches (I always think the upper third), the fire is probably on that level a few rooms back from that specific window and is fairly intense. It is also signifies that there are no barriers between the seat and what you are observing, whether it’s open doors, true railroad flat, or burned through panel door. It is hot enough that the smoke is exiting at the highest point possible. There are many indicators, but the thrust is to look at HOW current is leaving a window. The size, type, and proximity of windows tell us a great deal.
Black smoke under pressure, we are all taught, is an indicator of looming flashover. But what if it is pushing out of a smaller window than normal? Smoke, similar to the water, narrowing toward the tip of the nozzle, behaves similarly. On a summer day, if windows are open, smoke rushing out of the bottom pane is NOT the same as smoke rushing in a similar fashion from a failed window. The smoke is exiting a violent atmosphere and hanging in a humid one. It looks very similar to chugging smoke. If the air-conditioner (AC) falls from the window and smoke is blasting out, this can mean the same thing. The bottom line is that smoke leaving an opening is often different than smoke leaving a failed opening. The former is likely telling you the area is not yet involved, and the latter had fire recently blowing out of it. Be cautious of what can appear to be lazy smoke from failed openings, hanging around and low, whether it is rainy or humid. These outside conditions can mask the intensity waiting within. When profiling for suppression or rescue, be careful and mindful of what window conditions are telling you.
A window with fire showing is of tremendous service to suppression teams. On a similar note, arriving for control at an attached frame, window condition can tell you how likely advanced extension is into the cockloft (although it is not the only marker). If you don’t see heavy chugging or heavy fire at top-floor windows, you have a good chance to get your team after it immediately. If the fire is really rocking at the same windows, cockloft involvement is assured. At this point, cockloft height is inversely related to your chance to take the fire head on. If it’s a sizable one, you have a few minutes; it will take a bit of time for the fire to fully stratify and push toward the exposure lofts laterally. If it is a small loft, you will be afforded no such luxury. The area will be pressurized faster, involved faster, and spread to your B and D lofts faster. You must relay that incoming units must cut it off immediately. Make no mistake, if the street-side window conditions are telling you involvement of the living area, that is where your initial effort needs to be. Knowing that the fire has started making headway into the cockloft is vital and empowering information for the continued attack. Remember, in this scenario, window condition is not the “catch-all” for possible cockloft involvement—especially if the fire originated there or the space had been rehabbed.
Looking at two sides of a private dwelling or smaller apartment building, if you see fire at one set of windows but just smoke at another, you know its localized, and one turn from the stair. At an apartment building, if you see windows involved along the same floor over length, barring alterations, it is valid to assume that you have multiple apartments going, and it’s likely that the origin is lower than the level of these windows.
These are just a few of the examples of how, even as a “hooker” or “nozzleman,” a quick window scan from the outside can help mentally prepare you for what’s in store and with what you may be dealing. It is important to remember to look up at the building as you proceed from the apparatus. Other than the overall conditions, the windows may be your best indicator in that five-second walk from the rig to the front door.
Life
As helpful as it is to profile windows when you arrive for suppression, it is even more important for life. “What is that window telling me?” If I arrived to a private home, multiple dwelling, or project building, I tried to let that window tell me as much as possible.
Following is a list of educated guesses you can make while conducting a window size-up. Remember, these are not catch-alls. When you are operating with the expressed intent of lifesaving, you must make split-second decisions in your search efforts. When these decisions are predicated on “best chances for life,” you increase the likelihood of getting to a victim. Profiling windows can arm you with information that yields the best chances.
- Multiple window AC units on are on the same floor. It is fair to assume that the building is either single-room occupancy type, or somebody sleeps in that room. This room is a priority!
- Offset windows. These probably tell your team that it is a staircase or perhaps a duplex/triplex. You must take care to access, vent, and mark.
- Smaller windows or frosted glass (bathroom). Make a “pseudo-priority” for search because people tend to flee for bathroom.
- Windows abutting a fire escape. Again, this generally yields a sleeping area or front living area. It would be rare (although it does happen) for the fire escape to be adjacent to a bathroom or kitchen.
- Three windows in a row. This is the living room/den. This is common on the street side of many row and class three dwellings.
- Multiple windows in a row at the rear. This can tell you it’s a party-fire escape serving two apartments. In that instance, you may also see two drop ladders at the lowest level.
- Two half-sized windows. These are probably over the kitchen sink.
- Any kind of decorative window such as a half-arch or stained glass. This is a good indicator of a dining room or perhaps the master bedroom. In larger and older framed homes, a decorative window is sometimes at a bend in the stair. (It would be rare for parents to have an arched window in their child’s room. It’s a good pointer because, to you, it is an eliminator, and you will go for the child’s room first.)
Following are a few more unique circumstances:
- Any additionally secured, oddly paned, or jalousie windows. You can gamble and open into a common area. (Do not be steadfast, however—my childhood bedroom window was a crank.) However, this is a “two-second look” prior to primary search.
- Any secured windows on an upper floor. Someone sleeps there. This may not simply mean bars on the exterior. At times, you will see a wooden rod on the inside to prevent the window from opening, or even the bottom pane screwed in. People are clever in their security efforts. They assume a potential burglar will not want to lower the top sash and crawl over the bottom-secured one for fear of breaking it. In any case, if any type of security measure is see in this instance, it is a good bet that someone sleeps there.
- Two fire escapes abutting windows on same side of the building. With this scenario, you likely have two apartments on that side. For example, let’s say you are charged with the primary search for life and, stepping off the rig and looking up, you see fire blowing out of two separate double-hung windows adjacent to an offset one. You charge for the front door, assuming that it’s a fire in the living area directly off the stairs. You need to get to the room that is directly next to that since it’s your likeliest sleeping area. Your deductive reasoning needs to be quick for the primary search. Apartments generally don’t open into a bedroom; the offset window is near the stairs, so you need to proceed accordingly. Although you should not overlook the chance of someone using the main area as his sleeping quarters, hospital bed, or other function, you need to focus on your likeliest confirmable sleeping area after quickly checking the fire area and egress routes.
The bottom line is your search profile is created by fire conditions in conjunction with what the building is telling you. And the windows tell you a great deal.
On the Inside
Being cognizant of window location when you are working the interior; it is tops for orientation, egress, life, ventilation, removal of a downed member…everything! Make every effort not to go in head down, crush the fire, vent, and then think, “Oh wow, we are in a bedroom.” Also, note the same outside indicators on your trip inside. If a firefighter becomes lost, know where you can duck into. (“I’m on the first-floor corridor. I can peel out of this window to an alleyway really quickly if I need to.” Or, “If something goes south, I saw a window just to my left, I can get out quickly.”) If your attack team is trying to pin down the fire, experience will help you build profiles of what interior layout will be based on where you entered and the windows.
A note on room orientation: Briefly, common-area windows facing the street will likely have couches perpendicular to one side and TVs on the other. Dining rooms will be apportioned with their windows along the long ends of the tables, not at the heads. In the bedrooms, headboards will most likely be 90° to a window. At the rear of a structure, interior furnishings will mostly face the opposite side of the windows or be turned partially away from them.
Layouts vary widely with area, demographic, and building type. Develop your profile by being in the buildings, and note it when you respond for the fire. For example, more than a few apartment and class 3 buildings in my district open into the kitchen. The kitchen tables, it stands to reason, will not be in position to be hit by the inward-opening interior door. And so, they are on the opposite wall next to a window. The fridge won’t be on the wall with the table, and it won’t be on the wall with the door; it must be on one of the remaining two walls, and the other is likely the access corridor to living areas and bedrooms. Without visual contact, and from the hallway, I can make an educated guess as to layout, vent point, bathroom (kitchen adjacent) and sleeping areas. I now have two egress points before entering—the door in which I came and over the kitchen table out the window). This may be an over simplification, but it is a good example of how noting window location can keep you oriented.
You must work hard at rescue, suppression, and egress profiling. This will empower you to raise your aggression level and work smarter before you even get through the front door. More often than not, getting to that window means the end of the fire; emergency air for your team; emergency egress, if needed; and ventilation, and it gives the incident commander and you the location of potential victims.
Never look at a window the same again.
Alexander Degnan is a captain (#618) with the Jersey City (NJ) Fire Department assigned to Squad Co. 4. He was previously a firefighter (#1013) with Squad Co. 4.
