ON FIRE ❘ by MICHAEL N. CIAMPO
Many of us can admit that sometime during our firefighting experiences, we wish we had the chance to get a do-over. Maybe our size-up was too hasty or our adrenaline levels had us rushing, and we felt we could just use brute strength instead of using a little more finesse to get the job done. Or, we went to our “old reliable” or “this feels the most comfortable to me” tactic, and it didn’t turn out too well. It has happened many times in different situations, usually causing a delay in allowing us to perform other tactics and in our primary mission of extinguishing the fire.
Many urban firefighters will encounter numerous roll-down gates on commercial establishments. These gates could be on the first floor of a storefront in a three-story dwelling or on multiple occupancies of a block-long taxpayer. The gates ride up in channel rails located at each end and are either hoisted up manually by a manual chain-hoist system or by an electrical motor. If the motor fails or there is a power failure, there usually is a backup hoisting mechanism in place. This consists of a circular chain that goes around a pulley and a clutch mechanism and cable. These items will be stored either in the motor housing box or in a channel housing next to the channel rails.
There have been plenty of times when firefighters have jumped off the rig and grabbed the forcible entry saw and just started cutting the gates. A proper size-up must be done; simply cutting a padlock may expose the chain and clutch cable out of its channel and allow the firefighter to quickly raise the gate. If the electrical motor is in a galvanized steel box at the end of the upper portion of the gate, sliding the box’s cover open with a hook often exposes the chain and cable. Pulling them out with a hook allows a firefighter to use them instead of the longer procedure of cutting the gate.
Many of the gates we’ll face have a single padlock or multiple padlocks on each channel rail. A circular hole in the channel rail and gate lets you insert a pin through them. Then, you insert a padlock through the pin’s eye hole and through a stationary bracket that’s welded onto the rail to keep it in the secured position.
One night, we watched a company try to fix a mishap when an inexperienced firefighter cut the pin and bracket off the channel rail. The problem was the small section of pin that was stuck in the roll-down gate so the gate couldn’t be raised. It took numerous attempts of grabbing the pin with a pliers and sliding it out until personnel could get the gate opened.
Often, we focus on cutting the padlock from our forcible entry training, but there will be times where these brackets are thinner and easier to cut. If you do decide to cut them, don’t cut the head off the pin! The nice thing about cutting a lightweight bracket is that once it’s cut, you can easily grab the padlock and pull it and the pin right out of the gate.
Speaking of the channel rail, we’ll often see the “hockey puck” padlock on them; sometimes they’re encased in a security bracket, making them harder to cut open and not allowing the 36-inch pipe wrench to be placed on them and snapped off. We’ve come across a mishap of a firefighter cutting them in the wrong location. We should all remember that when we cut these locks, it’s two-thirds of the way up from the keyhole. These locks can be placed in different directions, so locate the keyhole and work upward from it to avoid a mishap! If you do find an error, size up the thickness of the channel rail; you may just be able to cut the rail with a diagonal cut above and below the lock. Now you can insert the rail’s cut section between the halligan tool’s forks and pry the rail and lock out of its securing position. If you encounter numerous hockey puck locks on multiple gates, you can consider this cut to save you time, especially if the channel rail is thinner metal than the locks.
A situation some firefighters might not have a lot of experience with is encountering roll-down gates with no exposed housing, padlocks, or manual operation chains. We might think using the forcible entry saw to cut the gate in one of our cut patterns is our main course of action. However, we should be looking for a power control box, which is usually mounted on the outside of the building wall or recessed into the wall. The box will usually have a key control slot in it and the words “open” and “close” on opposite sides of the box, informing the operator which way to turn the key for the gate to move in.
Some boxes may have a stop button under the key; this shuts the power down in case of a malfunction but can be pulled back to turn the power back on. Normally, these boxes are just electrical boxes with four screws that need to be released to expose the internal electrical switches. These two switches are often called rocker switches, meaning they pivot back and forth, making contact with a button or lever inside. Removing the cover is easy; if you have these in your response district, carry a 5-in-1 screwdriver in your pocket to remove the cover and expose the switches. Usually, the screws are Phillips head, but they can be flathead, too. Once exposed, you can move them in the desired direction. Never pierce the box with a tool to rotate the switch; some of these gates are powered by 220-volt electrical service, and doing so could cause a severe mishap to you!
MICHAEL N. CIAMPO is a 36-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 International Truck Essentials H.O.T. program. He wrote the Ladders and Ventilation chapters for Fire Engineering’s Handbook for Firefighter I and II (Fire Engineering, 2009) and the Bread and Butter Portable Ladders DVD and is featured in “Training Minutes” truck company videos.
