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Well the weather has finally broken here, and it is full on Summer time! As always this brings about unique challenges for us as we still have to deal with the routine emergencies, yet the conditions in which we deal with them have changed. These changes can lead to heat stress, heat exhaustion, heat stroke, the list goes on and on. I touched on this in a post last year about this time you can read that here:
http://averagejakeff.wordpress.com/2012/06/08/heat-stress/
It is important that we address these situations in a proactive manner. While a lot of the responsibility should be taken by the individual, the company officer needs to be fully aware of the battle ground the company may have to face.
Ensure you assess the weather every shift. Temperature, humidity, possible storm systems, all play a factor in determining work rest cycles, resources needed, etc. If it’s a hot day the usual 1 engine response may take 2 or even 3 in order to successfully mitigate the task.
Perform an assessment of your crews nutrition, and hydration at the beginning of the shift, throughout the day, and after each run. Lets face it some people still do not get that soda is not a hydration tool. It is up to the officer to ensure that crews are hydrating properly pre and post incident, as well as maintaining a proper diet. You do not have to be a food dictator, or a water Nazi, just simply make sure you know what your crews are eating and drinking. It affects performance more than you know.
Post incident rehab is always important but even more so in extreme weather conditions. It is NOT one size fits all, and make sure you tailor it to each individual incident and person. Also implement medical monitoring to ensure that you catch any possible injury or illnesses early.
Summer can tend to grind us down as the fires tend to slow down but the frequency of calls and our exposure to the elements tends to increase as our citizens take to the outdoors. We need to be ready to respond in any situation, are you ready?
As usual thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!
It is no secret that I think helmet cams, and cameras in general are great. Sure now we are always “on air” and a fire in your area could be on YouTube before you even finish draining the water out of your hose line. However think of all the learning we can accomplish because EVERYONES fires are now online for all to see. This is valuable to every fireman as we can learn from the comfort of our firehouse day room.
There have been a lot of talk about transitional attack, and the debate keeps getting heated up. I have written about it several times, because I think it is a viable option that needs to be in your tool box. You all know the arguments today’s buildings, fire loads, low mass synthetics, low staffing, etc. dictate that sometimes we must change our tactics. Notice I said sometimes, as I still feel that crawling down a dark hallway to the seat of a fire and applying water directly to it is still very affective and must be done when conditions allow.
However TODAY we must be able to adjust when that option does not present itself. In the video above you see what appears at first glance to be an older balloon frame construction house with an advanced fire from the second floor. Usually one would say with this construction type that if you beat it to the attic and cut it off you could fight fire for a long time in these structures with possibly plaster lathe construction, and true dimensional lumber. However it is not all about the construction, placing the fire loading with high heat release rates within older construction can still lead to advanced fire conditions, rapid flashover, shorter building collapse times, etc.
It is important that we realize that sometimes the best, most effective, and SAFEST form of fire attack may be to hit it from the outside and kill the flashover potential.
Take a look at this article from the Des Plaines Fire Department
http://www.firetrainingtoolbox.com/safeattack.pdf This is a guide if you will to direct your action in todays fire environment. It is not gospel but it is thought-provoking and should be shared with your crews.
The point is in today’s fire service and in the dynamic battleground we find ourselves in on a daily basis there is more than one way to defeat our enemy. Frontal attack may be glorious but it sometimes is not the best strategy. Just ask General Pickett, and Col. Custer how frontal attacks went when the enemy was better fortified.
As usual thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!
Everyone knows the tale of Hansel and Gretel. Two kids who get lost in the woods and leave a trail of bread crumbs to lead themselves back home. Well while the method was not perfect Hansel and Gretel had a great idea and it is something we can use on the fireground.
Here are the two styles of door chocks I carry in my gear. While this may seem simple think about this scenario. Your chocking the doors that you going through, but then despite your best efforts you get turned around, you think you know where you’re at, but then that anxiety sets in. YOUR LOST! You issue the MAYDAY and you give your LUNAR report and whether you include your name in the report or not at some point you will be identified by name. Either through your MAYDAY report or when you give your unit number and position the accountability officer should have some form of accountability tag with your name, or it may be as simple as your company officer going “I lost Johnny”. At some point the RIT is going to be activated and they will know who the person is they are looking for. As the crawl into the building their flashlight sweeps over a door and they see a chock with writing on it, “Isn’t that Johnny’s initials/name? ” “He must have gone this way”.
Any hint we can give the RIT as to our location will do nothing but improve our chances of surviving a MAYDAY event.
Here are 2 other types of chock I carry. One is called a “hing hook” the other is a “cherry bomber”. In order to make these more visible I have added some reflective striping. This way they will be more eye-catching to a RIT, because door hinges usually don’t glow or shine back at you, so they may be more inclined to investigate it.
If they do happen to crawl over to it, or past it they will then just like the door wedges they will see an identifying mark as to who it is and who could have been through here. You can even add this reflective striping to your wedges to enhance there visibility. You can even add your company number, or any identifying mark that will help lead a rescuer to you.
The point is that this simple thing could pay huge dividends when involved in a MAYDAY situation. This is our “bread crumb trail” and can be just one more tool in your tool box to help you in your time of need. We should be chocking doors anyway why not take advantage of this and make it work for us.
At minimum putting your name and company will enhance the chances of your chock getting returned to you after a fire.
So take some time for “chock enhancement” it could pay off for you in the end.
As usual thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!
I have written about his subject several times. It has been debated, argued, revisited and gone through the whole hay bailer again. Much like everything we do, there are several different ways to accomplish the same mission. A majority of them fall in the realm of not wrong but different. To me the “when to mask up question” is one of those topics. As I have stated before there is a few wrong places to mask up (In the hot zone, or near potential exhaust points) but for the most part it is up to personal preference.
You can argue one way or the other, but if you take this video for wha it is worth, and at face value then the only way this rescue could have been made is by coming off the rig masked up. Taking the time to mask up in the yard would have taken too much time and the room would have flashed over before an entry could have been made.
This technique does work, and when practiced can decrease our Zero Impact Period.
Like I have said a million times however this needs to be trained on here is an example
People who participate in the Firefighter Combat Challenge do so in full PPE,SCBA, with mask on air. These events are supposed to mirror the fireground, all it takes is training. You think it will affect your size up, then practice your size up with your mask on. You think it will affect your fireground movement, then put your mask on and do the movements.
It is possible, and with training you can make it happen.
As usual thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!
I say interesting because very rarely do you get to see a video with 2 victim rescue, and the forcible entry process of a heavily fortified door, with a roll down gate. Take this video and apply your departments response and staffing to it and ask yourself,
1. How would you deploy your EMS resources for the victim rescues?
2. Do you have enough EMS resources for multiple victims, and still maintain rehab and medical monitoring of your firefighters? If you don’t where/how can you get them?
3. Whats your protocols for smoke inhalation? burns? Where is your trauma hospital/burn center? Can you get there by ground fast enough or do you need a helicopter/air ambulance?
4. How/who would force that door? Would you do anything different?
5. When is the last time you reviewed roll down gate forcible entry?
Use videos like this as a learning tool, sit down with your shift/crew and ask how are we going to tackle this fire? Do we have occupancies like this in our first due? Have we visited them? Do we have a preplan?
This fire could happen in your area TODAY! Are you ready?
Lets make the year 2013 the year of training in the fire service. It does not always have to be the 6 hour-long class, it can be something as simple as watching a video, stretching a hose line, or going over a tool in the bay. If you dedicate 1 hour of your shift every shift to some type of fire training, and then 1 hour to some type of physical training I guarantee you will see results!
As usual thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!
By now I am sure a lot of you who frequent the trade magazines, fire service blogs, etc. have seen videos and reports on how new and old furnishings impact fire growth and development.
We all know it yet we continue to see minimal change or acceptance to change on the tactical level.
I heard this quote from an instructor the other day while he was teaching about difficult airway. Basically he said when it comes to difficult airways he doesn’t belive in “fighting fair” and he is going to use every tool at his disposel in order to secure the airway, and secure a good clinical outcome for the patient. This brought to mind the question….
Why do we fight fair?
Lets think about it.
Fire is dangerous: It is hot, it produces toxic smoke and can use it’s by product for destruction and death. It is already well ahead of us by the time we know about it.
Buildings are dangerous: The wood used today even if dimensional is not of the same density, of legacy construction and does not perform as well under fire conditions. Additionally the buildings connection components are not as strong as they used to be.
Our training is inadequate for todays fire environment: We train in concrete burn buildings with class A combustibles that in no way mirror the fire growth, fire behavior, or building response of the modern fire environment. Even when we train in acquired structures the fuel packages and safety features we add to the houses make them unrealistic.
Some of our staffing levels are inadequate: Some departments are being made to ride with less than 3 people making it even more difficult to make a positive impact of today’s fires.
Taking into account all of these things, knowing all that we know, and yet we still make the conscious effort to fight these fires fairly!
We do not owe these fires a fair chance! We need to take the maximum amount of water, people, and equipment in order to overwhelm the fire. BY taking in undersized crews, handline, or pushing poor tactical choices is the same as going after an elephant with a BB gun.
Do not get me wrong overkill is not the answer, but when appropriate use the big guns, as an old captain of mine used to say know the difference between an infantry fire, and an artillery fire. Do not be afraid to knock it down from the outside and then finish it off, in that same breath do not be afraid when it is warranted to crawl down that dark hallway with a handline and put the fire out.
No matter what you do, or who you are the fire always has the element of surprise when it comes to us, lets minimize its advantage by using our superior fire power and not giving it the chance to win.
As usual thanks for reading spread the word and STAY SAFE!
It feels like I am always just catching up! This time of year what else can you do. Working, holiday things, kids, shopping, class, passing the sick bug around! It seems like an endless loop that never ends leaving you wondering when will I have time!
Luckily I did have time to head to Fairfax City this past week to attend the 8 hour seminar “The New Firefighter: Intelligent Firefighting in lightweight Construction”. My brother and I along with about 200 other firefighters got to listen to a great seminar from BC Pete Vandorpe, and Firefighter Dalton from the Chicago Fire Department. The class focused on how to make intelligent decisions in newer construction homes. They exposed us to all kinds of data regarding the burn tests Underwriters laboratory has been doing on new construction components. While I was familiar with a lot of the studies it was great to hear from the guys that actually participated in them. I could go on and on about this but I’ll share two of the best things I gathered from the class.
1. Todays wood is different. The wood we have today is farmed and not allowed to age, affecting density so even when it is a true 2×4 is loses the potential to withstand heat and fails faster.
2. We have to stop calling training fires ‘Live Fires”. The fuel packages we use even in acquired structure burns are no where close to what happens out in the field. We need to call them “Simulated Fires” so that a false sense of security is not created in the public and in the younger firefighters we are training.
This was without a doubt a great class, sure some of the science stuff was dry but it is important in what we do. In order to make sound tactical decisions we have to analyse data, study fire behavior and building construction.
While I was away, I received a couple of requests to share some thoughts on Chimney Fires, so here are some.
Chimney fires can be tricky because we can be lulled into a sense of self security. Usually they are not all that difficult, and there in lies the problem.
ALWAYS CHECK THE ATTIC!!!! Thsi should go without saying but the fuel loads in attics are ridiculous! In newer construction homes the chimneys are not as insulated as the older ones and the fire can extend into the attic space and what was once a contained chimney fire, is now an out of control attic fire.
Place a chimney kit in service this time of year. You kit should be some type of metal bucket, a canvas tarp, and fire-place shovel. This allows you to cover the carpet in front of the fire-place, and scoop out the burning debris into the bucket from the fire-place and remove them safely outside. Some like to include a mirror to try to look into the flu and chimney pipe, I am not a fan as I find it always fogs up.
Some people like to use chimney bombs. I am indifferent to them. A chimney bomb is essentially dry chemical extinguisher agent in a plastic baggie that you drop in from the roof, through the top of the chimney. The bag melts due to the heat and the agent extinguishes the fire. I have seen it work and seen it not work, it is definitely a less damaging way to extinguish the fire as using water can damage the chimney cracking the mortar due to the rapid cooling effect.
However DO NOT be scared to utilize water application if you feel that the structure is in danger. I have had to use direct water application before and while it may damage the chimney water is still the best way to put a fire out.
Chimney fires can sneak up on you in a hurry, we need to treat them as STRUCTURE FIRES until we prove they are contained to the chimney and or fire-place.
Lastly thanks to everyone who listened to the first “Average Jakes Views From The Jumpseat”. The next episode will be coming VERY SOON so stay tuned to Firehouse.com .
As usual thanks for reading, spread the word and STAY SAFE!
Your just cleaning up from lunch, when the tones drop. Engine 1, Engine 2, Ladder 1, Squad 1, Medic 1 and Battalion 1 for the residential fire 1345 West St.
You drop what you’re doing you head to the rig you get all your gear on you jump on the engine, you buckle up and begin putting your pack on. The engine pulls out of the station your officer sees a column of smoke in the sky, you’re going to work!
You arrive and you hop off the rig and pull your hand line to the front door, you may be on the porch landing, you may be right in front of the door but your close, no one is getting a line on this fire before you. You drop to your knees and begin to don your SCBA face peice….then this happens
Now I am not going to quote a bunch of statistics, to you because frankly I do not even know if someone has studied this phenomenon. What i do know is that I have been to enough fires, seen enough videos, and heard enough stories to know that this stuff happens. Hostile fire events come out of open doors and windows, and even under enough pressure can open closed windows and doors or for lack of better term possible vent openings.
Take a look at this video:
Not only is the danger of a hostile fire event possible from masking up so close to the structure, but these firefighters are already in an IDLH atmosphere. That smoke the are “eating” is no different from the smoke inside the structure. It contains the aggregates, and cancer producing abilities just the same as any other smoke it makes no difference that it is outside. It is also super heated and could damage your airway.
Now everyone knows I am a big fan of masking up in the rig. However if this is not your style then perhaps you should not mask up so close, to the structure. One approach would be to treat it like a Haz-Mat situation creating Hot, Warm, and Cold zones. Cold zones no PPE required, Warm zone PPE donned, Hot zone all PPE required. This would minimize the risk of the hostile fire event and unneeded smoke intake, that is quite frankly killing us slowly. I do not care how in shape you are the damage the smoke does to your lungs and airway can never be repaired. It may not affect you now but eventually it will, what you do today will minimize its impact.
I am reminded of a story that happened a few years ago on a fire. We arrived and fire was through the roof and it was decided that we would go into defensive operations. My brother on the truck company masked up, was pulling the soffit from side A in order for our hose streams to make access to the attic space. When he inserted his NY Roof Hook and pulled tar from the shingles that had melted and pooled in the soffit space shot out and splattered all over his face piece. Had he been “mask less” because this was a defensive operation that super heated tar would have burned him, and possible gotten into is eyes, and mouth. This could have ended his fire service career! However because he wa a mask up in the truck kinda guy he came off ready to work, and was uninjured.
So whether you are in the mask up in the truck camp or masking up in the yard camp try to be aware of your surroundings and keep away from masking up in front of possible vent openings and in the smoke being produced by the fire.
As usual thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!
It is just about that time! The air is cold, the days are shorter, and you can smell the wood burning in the air. That is right folks WINTER IS BACK! Around here we refer to winter as fire season, as the chances of going to a fire are significantly increased by people using a variety of methods to heat their homes.
I have seen everything from your standard wood stove/fireplace, to people leaving their oven door open to heat there homes and apartments. These creative methods of heating can create a huge increase in call loads, and cal types for us from chimney fires, to burn patients.
It takes a ton of extra preparation on our end to be ready for these responses here are a few older posts where I outline some tips on how to survive the winter:
Those above posts point out just a few things to put into play before you try to tackle winter fireground operations.
Bottom line is the winter makes everything we do that much tougher, its cold, dark more hours of the day than light, and did I mention it is cold? Well then we add snow, ice, freezing rain, wind and the stakes of the game just got upped! It is hard enough for some people to pull a hoseline on a normal day, now add in a few inches of snow or a slippery surface and this task just west from tough to dangerous. Many a fireman have been put out of the job, or on the light duty shelf during the winter time.
Also take into account what we know about response times, building construction, and fire behavior. Fires are going to burn at the same rate during this time yet, during times of precipitation our response times, and deployment of resources (companies, people, hoselines) is slowed to a crawl. With everything going slower yet our enemy moving at the same rate of speed, we have to adjust our tactics, let me say that again, WE HAVE TO ADJUST OUR TACTICS! We can not go about these fires the same when our response and deployment times are doubled and even tripled in some cases.
We have to overcome these factors with increased training, and planning. Instead of just pulling hoselines on flat land during your training, pull them up a hill. I know some places even have restrictions on training in poor weather conditions, but if we are expected to fight in these conditions I feel like we should embrace them. Im not saying do 3 hour drills in the snow, but if it snows maybe pull a line and then pack it back, go out in the dark and pull some lines, or at minimum go outside with your turnout gear and walk around to see how difficult it is to walk around in the snow and how much you have to adjust. Just doing these small things could make the difference in someone’s life, or the building becoming a parking lot.
So now is the time to get geared up and ready, because this winter has already been bad for some, and it could be a rough one after the mild one we had in my area last year.
As usual thanks for reading, spread the word, STAY SAFE, and STAY WARM!
In multifamily dwellings all over the country outside stair wells exists. They can be made of metal or wood. In either case we do not know the up keep of these stairs, nor do we know if these stairs have been subjected to vandalism, or the quality of their construction.
While at work yesterday out int he district I noticed a particular set of stairs that looked a little suspect.
As you can see by the pictures these stairs are weathered, rusted and have seen better days. How would they stand up to the weighted of fully geared fireman deploying hoselines, tools, rescuing victims, etc.? These particular stairs lead to the rear exit for the second division apartments. How would these stairs hold up to victim evacuation, or victim rescue? If these stairs were to collapse how could we overcome them with the equipment we carry?
These are all things we need to figure out before the incident. We have minimal influence over the individual complexes to up the maintenance program, or repair/replace the stairs or other features of the buildings. What we do have influence over is to get out in our district, and discover and plan for these failures before the incident.
So in short get out in your district and find problems like these, and let the companies that respond to them know about them. DO NOT KEEP IT A SECRET!
As usual thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!
