SMOKE AS A BENEFIT
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already located the fire at the rear, and the screaming civilians at the front may not be the “real” rescues. In urban areas it could mean shaft, and shaft means exposures are in extreme danger. Call additional help. You’ll need an offensive/defensive attack strategy all at once. Ah. but look again. W here do you see it mostly? W hat is it doing? Is it rising in column form from the other side of the building? A shaft fire—a fire that is in the rear, vented, and rising without mushrooming toward the front of the structure. You have
Is the smoke seemingly all over the outside of the structure? Is it down to grass level, on four sides, at the roof level all at the same time? And on a clear night? Cellar fire? The earlier that this type of fire becomes a real possibility in the size-up game, the more efficient and safe the firefight should it really be the seat of fire. Cellar fires are the last location you think of. T hey cause more local collapse because of the delay in discovery and the fact that the structure above it is rarely protected. What is the smoke doing at the windows or other openings? Is it just rolling to the other side of the building? Is it coming out under extreme pressure—with edges momentarily formed by the corners of the windows or doors? Fire at the front. What type of building is this condition in? Private dwelling? Is the fire in that room? Remember the size of these rooms—from the front the depth is usually 12 to 15 feet or less. If the smoke condition is so forceful, is the fire in that room? Probably not, but it soon will be.
Soon the interior stream will be attacking from behind and the opening will have fire through it on its own or we will soon push it the additional small distance with our handlines. You have only a few seconds. Get a ladder—you can’t get in, I know! But with a tool you may be able to probe the area beneath and around the window sill. If you touch what you think is a human, there is no way to tell what you’ll do. This is what makes one leap from basic firefighter courage to the superhuman heroics that create real rescues on a fireground.
What of one-story commercial structures, strip stores, taxpayers? Where do you cut your hole on the roof of a 200-foot-deep store? If you see flame, fine. If you don’t, look at the smoke. Look on arrival; it may be the only time you have to do that. How does it look before entry is forced — just before you go to your roof assignment? Y’ou’11 then be able to mentally compare the condition that will be evident to you from the rear of the structure once you get over the parapet wall. Light in the rear, lighter than the front. You have just cut your decision-making process in half. The hole will go in the center toward the front half of the structure. As you open the vertical arteries provided— skylight, scuttles, and vent pipes— other horizontal openings will be made by the crew on the ground. Your original general location guess will be more refined by the sight or noise of flame and the worsening smoke condition. Now you cut!
What of backdraft, smoke explosion. flashover, you ask? Next time, I say. Be safe!
RANDOM THOUGHTS
SMOKE AS A BENEFIT
It’s toxic. It’s hot. It’s explosive. It’s blinding. It’s scary. It’s hated and feared. It drives us to deeds of daring that no one would believe (in most cases the performer). It kills. It’s part of the symbol of the world’s most dangerous occupation. But, as my mother always said, there’s some good in everyone, everything. What could be good about smoke? How could it assist us at the lire scene?
One of the most important functions that must be performed on any fireground is an ongoing size-up. Anything on the fireground can impact that thought process and behavior. To most of us. smoke is smoke, and it must be put up with and vented. Hut long before that, it can help us set up our strategy, indicate our tactics, locate our lire, help us choose our logistics, and give us an early indication of whether we need help. In general, we’re talking about what the smoke smells like, how it behaves, and what it looks like.
let’s start with smell. As you respond. the smell of tire w ill become evident There is a distinct difference in the odors of categories of fire within the structure.
The acrid, throat-closing smell of an aluminum pot smoldering on a stove left unattended too long is unmistakable. It’s awful, but it’s also a blessing in disguise for responders. The smell reduces the situation from a fire to an emergency status. It reduces the urgent} of forcible entry and allows us to pry rather than force, to enter rather than crash, to use the easiest and least destructive method of entry. Handlines arc put on standby, and the main objective is to remove the fuel and search for an overcome occupant. Did the pot remain unattended because the occupant is out on errands, or is the occupant non-compos-mentis within the structure? So just because of smell, we reduced our commitment and returned extra units quickly.
The whisping light smoke easing out of openings or cracks around one window has the unmistakable smell of burning clothing or other fabric. The clothes dryer. Again, better than the vision we had when we were given an address and left the fire station. Ventilation—at least initial vertical and damaging horizontal—are put on hold. Extinguishment with pails of w ater rather than a 100-psi handline is in order. Ventilation is methodical and mechanical, the search becomes a “look.”
The putrid odor of hydrocyanic acid gas gives relief to the outside crew — the pushing, ugly smoke they see concentrated in one room’s window’s) is that of a mattress. Early detection and arrival result in a smoldering contents fire and not a structural fire. The nozzle is more easily disciplined and remains closed until we find the smoldering “smudge pot.’’ Yes, ventilation is needed, but extinguishment usually is dripping a quarter-opened and rapidly closed nozzle. Final extinguishment is outside the structure after the mattress is rolled or folded to prevent reignition and carried from the structure or dropped from a window.
As you approach the black billowy smoke condition that seems to have its origin low in the building, you notice how “easy” it is to “take.” It’s hardly acrid at all. It’s cool. The exposed skin darkens slightly. An oil burner. Faulty ignition with no extending fire or ignition of an escaping leak from any number of sources. Again, a 99-percent “no-brainer.” Get to the source. Turn off the electrical supply to the unit. Dampen the flames with a fine spray from an extinguisher-water or foam. Shut off the fuel supply. Again, the odor of smoke and its color alter the thinking, urgency, and tactics even before you enter the structure.
And then the devil! You can smell him from quarters on a humid night. On clear nights he gives his scent from blocks away. It s unmistakable. Paint, wood, varnish with mixed-in plaster and lath that used to hold it on the wall: stir in some asphalt for shingles and all other odors so easily distinguishable when burning alone, and you have the “stew” smell of burning structure. It’s unmistakable and snaps the responders’ thinking into brutal awareness. The help here is time. All the tactics that are available can come into play now. The earlier you are able to start thinking, sizing-up, the more efficient and aggressive is the firefight. You are in high gear—just because of the smell, so far!
As soon as you can sec it. what is the smoke doing? “Are you nuts?” you ask. “It rises and we have to control its movement!”
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