STRUCTURE FIRES
RANDOM THOUGHTS ON…
By establishing incident priorities, the nation’s fire service has etched the order of our responsibilities in stone. Life safety first, then incident stabilization/extinguishment, and property conservation last. Tactics used to solve or account for one responsibility may be used to accomplish another of a higher priority but never at the exclusion of or as the replacement for it.
The highest, of course, is life—all life. And that, most assuredly, includes the firefighter! In the past couple of months we have begun speaking about the many facets of extinguishment support tactics (truck work) that must accompany extinguishment of any occupied structural fire. How do they interplay to account for our first responsibility?
Ventilation is the systematic removal of the toxic combustion byproducts and replacement of them as soon as possible with cool, fresh air. Normally (exceptions discussed in Random Thoughts, Dec. 1988) vertical ventilation begins as soon as possible, supported with controlled and coordinated horizontal ventilation that’s dependent on whether it’s used for fire control or life accountability.
Ventilation allows for smooth and more rapid penetration of the structure by fire forces for search and handline movement and evacuation. The vertical arteries, the stairways above the fire, and the occupancies they lead to become more tenable for the trapped civilians and for us.
Victims overcome and unconscious but breathing spontaneously will gain time with improved air supply, and we will gain more time to find them. Visibility will increase and reduce panic. Effectiveness of our operations will increase. Heat will stop banking down and mushrooming. Flashover possibilities will be more remote and the rescue effort and extinguishment will be more rapid.
Search/rescue/remove. This function must be ongoing and a first priority regardless of activity or manning levels. A systematic, orderly, continuous examination of every area of the structure in priority order based on fire location and size-up is the only way to account for every human being. Coordinated efforts of interior search and exterior entry search can account for and remove all occupants. Communication, the nozzle movement, and the command function are the keys to success.
Confinement. The beginning of extinguishment is a major tool to account for life safety, both for the civilian and the at-risk firefighter. The search effort can be more determined once confinement is accounted for by various methods. Closing a door (or providing a barrier) to the fire room or area will give needed time for the search. The use of an extinguisher (2½ gallons of water) can control more fire than you would realize while awaiting handline position or providing a more formidable barrier. If you look at your enemy—the fire— and do something to retard it} growth, you will be more in control o your emotions and better able tc recall and accomplish the basics.
Extinguishment. Sometimes con trol and extinguishment of the fire art the only ways to accomplish protec tion, search, and removal of the life exposure within the structure. Be cause of fire conditions or personnel levels at the scene, the failure o) proper line placement and use will collapse the life safety goals. I recall s fire in the first floor of a 2‘/2-story private dwelling of balloon construe tion. Two persons were showing at the street-side windows of the attic space, at the opposite end of the house from the fire location. The few members of the department that ar rived put all efforts into raising porta ble ladders to the two distressed civil ians. No one was left to stretch a handline and isolate the first floor rear fire. Later, after fire was extin guished, the search team located the other five members of the family who succumbed to fire products on the open second-floor landing at the top of the stairs.
As we’ve said so many times before, a real and effective size-up must affect fireground decisions. Think with your head and not your heart. In this case the second commandment of firefighting could have been used to accomplish the first: Actions on the fireground must be influenced by your ability to locate the fire!*
