SEARCHING A HIGH-RISE BUILDING FOR TRAPPED VICTIMS
BY VINCENT DUNN
Several years ago, a young woman working late was trapped in a high-rise fire. She called a fire dispatcher and had her last cries for help recorded on the telephone: “Help! Please save me. I`m trapped on the 20th floor of a high-rise building at 111 East Drive. A fire is raging! I don`t know where the exits are. Please send help. Hurry! I`m in the northeast corner of the building. 111 East Drive, 20th floor. Help. I am going to die.”
The Chicago (IL) Fire Department was unfairly criticized for not rescuing this woman, who was trapped and who died in a high-rise fire. Search and rescue during a raging fire of the 20,000-square-foot floor area containing 156 rooms took more than an hour.
The public and many firefighters do not know how difficult, how dangerous, and–most important–how much time it takes to search for a trapped victim in a high-rise building.
The young woman died in the fire that night not because of the Chicago Fire Department but because of the absence of built-in fire protection and a lack of training of the building`s security force in how to manage a fire. As an example, the smoke-detection system was not connected to a central station. When the smoke alarm detected the fire, a signal was transmitted in the basement, but no one was on duty to hear the signal and take action. Also, there was no automatic sprinkler to extinguish the fire. When firefighters arrived, a raging fire had control of the entire floor. Another factor contributing to the woman`s death was that she did not know where the stairs were located. Evidently, no fire drills to show occupants how to escape a fire were held in the high-rise building. And, finally, when firefighters arrived, the security force told them there was no fire in the building and no one was in the building; it was after work hours.
When firefighters got to the 20th floor, it was inaccessible due to a raging fire, heat, and smoke.
SEARCH METHODS
There are two methods of searching for life at a high-rise fire: One is carried out when the fire is small and confined to a room and the floor is clear of fire and heat, just a light smoke condition exists–in other words, the floor is accessible. The other method of searching for life in a high-rise fire is used when the floor is inaccessible–when fire, heat, and smoke have spread throughout the entire floor and meet firefighters at the stair doorway leading to the burning floor.
Accessible floor–search for life. The first ladder company enters the floor to locate the fire before beginning the search for life. The company splits into two teams. Team 1–made up of the officer and forcible entry firefighters–goes in one direction. Team 2–made up of the chauffeur, roof firefighters, and outside vent firefighter–if not needed for elevator return, goes and searches in the opposite direction from Team 1. The team that locates the fire notifies the other team. This other team goes back to the stairs and notifies the hose team of which stairway is to be used as the attack stair. While the engine company stretches the hose, the search team stretches a search rope to the fire from the attack stair. As soon as the hose team discharges water into the fire, the search for life can safely begin.
At a high-rise fire, firefighters search every office cubicle and space on the floor, and all floors above are checked for smoke. Additional firefighters will be required. The fire extinguishment may take only 20 minutes and the search another hour or two, depending on how much smoke was generated and how many people are in the building. When firefighters are searching for the fire`s location, they are also conducting the primary search (the first search of a fire area) for trapped victims. The primary search is a quick, systematic search of areas in which there is the highest chance for finding a victim.
After the fire has been extinguished, the secondary search–a thorough search of the entire fire building and surrounding area for victims–can begin.
Inaccessible floor–search for life. This is a more serious fire. The stairway door leading to the floor may be blistered and buckled and, when opened, black smoke and heat flow into the stair enclosure. The search team officer ties the search rope onto a standpipe riser to the stair banister in such a way as to allow the stair door to close behind the search team entering the floor. The company does not break up into teams. All firefighters stay together. Crouching down in the smoke, they play the search rope out, heading toward the hottest part of the smoke-filled floor area or toward the location from which the crackling sound of fire is emanating. They go as far as fire conditions allow; at some fires, this may be only several feet inside the door. Every 25 feet, the officer holding the search rope taut stops. Firefighters clip their search ropes on to the rope and branch off, searching outward at right angles, looking for people unconscious on the floor. After the hose team connects to the standpipe, using the search rope as a guide, its members will catch up with the search team and, using the hose stream, advance in front of it. Or, a defensive position may be taken until the heat subsides due to the effects of the hose stream. If the fire is too large and cannot be extinguished, all firefighters–hose team and search teams–will back out into the stair enclosure under the cover of the hose stream. However, if the hose attack team is able to advance and extinguish the fire, the search team plays out the search line and follows in the path of the attack hose team, searching for victims, using the search ropes. As soon as the fire is extinguished to the point where reflash is no longer a danger, the secondary search can begin.
At a serious fire in a high-rise building, the primary search covers the paths leading to and including the area of fire origin. The secondary search includes, again, the fire origin area and paths leading to the fire, plus the surrounding portions of the floor, such as outer offices, bathrooms, cubicle work stations, dead-end corridors, and the stair enclosures up to and including roof bulkhead areas. All elevator cars must be searched. the floor above the fire and all floors above must be checked for pockets of deadly smoke stratification. A secondary search of a high-rise building can take hours.
SEARCH ASSIGNMENTS
A 100- by 200-square-foot floor area in a high rise could have 150 rooms, cubicles, and spaces that must be searched. If it takes one minute to search each space thoroughly–for example, looking on the floor, beneath a desk, behind a chair, and on the sides of bookcases and file cabinets–it would take two and one-half hours for one firefighter to complete a search. If one firefighter were assigned to check outer offices, another the stair enclosure all the way up to the roof, another to check out all elevators in the lobby, and still another firefighter the floors above, only one firefighter may remain to search the large 20,000-square-foot area; this is unacceptable. Several fresh companies must be used to conduct a secondary search. At one high-rise fire at which I operated, we used four battalion chiefs, six engine companies, and six ladder companies to conduct a secondary search; and it took two and one-half hours to complete.
PREPARING FOR A SECONDARY SEARCH
A secondary search in a high-rise building must be organized and controlled. This entails advance preparation–for example, obtaining and analyzing the floor plan; assigning firefighters specifically to search, to avoid duplication; and obtaining from building management keys to open windows and doors. The windows must be opened and positive-pressure fans used to exhaust smoke. If the building engineer is present, request that the air-conditioning system be started in full exhaust mode; do this after the fire has been fully extinguished. The engineer may also be able to provide house lights if the fire damage is not too severe. If not, set up portable lights to improve visibility of search. Select some method of identifying the areas that have been searched before beginning the search.
SECONDARY SEARCH INFORMATION
The most important part of organizing a secondary search is obtaining information from building employees. Names, work areas, and the location at which a person was last seen are all important components of reconnaissance information that can reduce search time. Security people in the lobby are supposed to have a written record of all persons in the building after normal work hours. They may also know the number and work areas of cleaning employees in the building. A report of a missing person must be given special attention as soon as it is received. In addition to conducting the normal secondary search, a company should be assigned to supervise every missing persons report. If there are no reported missing persons, divide a large high-rise floor into halves or quarters and assign firefighters to search each section. It is important to do this for search effectiveness, control, and accountability.
Searching for life in a high-rise building after a serious fire has occurred is time-consuming and requires large numbers of firefighters, preferably ones who have not been exhausted by fire extinguishment. A veteran firefighter in a high-rise district gave me the following tips on searching:
Don`t force doors when searching for life. People generally don`t lock doors behind them when escaping a fire.
If there are many offices to search after a fire, check those with open doors first.
If an office has a broken window, consider that someone may have jumped.
The areas in which victims are most often found at high-rise fires are the fire area, corridors leading from the fire area, the elevator lobby, elevators, stairs above the fire, outer offices near windows, and bathrooms.
Special thanks to firefighter Gerry Kochanski, Ladder Co. 2, the high-rise company of FDNY.
VINCENT DUNN, a 38-year veteran of the City of New York (NY) Fire Department, is a deputy chief and previously served as division commander for midtown Manhattan. He developed the National Fire Academy “Command and Control of Fire Department Major Operation” course and wrote the collapse rescue procedure used by New York City fire rescue companies. He is a lecturer; is the author of the text and video series Collapse of Burning Buildings and the text Safety and Survival on the Fireground, published by Fire Engineering Books and Videos; and has had numerous articles related to firefighter safety published in fire service magazines. He has a master`s degree in urban studies, a bachelor`s degree in sociology, and an associate`s degree in fire administration from Queens College, City University of New York. He is a member of the New York City Fire Chiefs Association, the NFPA, and the IAFF. He can be reached at (800) 231-3388.
