Making 200' Go The DIstance!

In an earlier post I talked about the heavy reliance, in my geographical area, on the 200’ 1.75” hoseline for interior fire attack in residential occupancies.  With that said, I am a fan of having, and utilizing, many options for hoseline stretches.  The 200’ 1.75” hoseline is an option, but it’s not the only option nor is it the right option in all instances.  However, the intent of this post is to look at how to maximize your company’s effectiveness when stretching a 200’ 1.75” hoseline.

The fireground is full of obstacles and features that have the potential to influence hoseline stretches.  Some of these obstacles or features may include: parked cars, setbacks, street signs, trees, stairs, hills, or downed power lines.  Regardless of the obstacles or features encountered, a hoseline still needs to get to the seat of the fire.  Through observation, preplanning, and training, a company may identify these feature or obstacles and determine methods to overcome them.

Garden apartments are a common building in my response areas at work and at my volunteer firehouse.  Anyone familiar with garden apartments know that these occupancies present numerous obstacles and features that influence hoseline stretches.  Within the last year, my volunteer department responded to a reported apartment fire and arrived as the second due Engine Company.  Companies went on the scene with “smoke showing” from the third floor.  The second due Engine Company is responsible for securing the water supply for the first due Engine Company and stretching a second line to back-up the first due Engine Company.  The first due Engine Company led off by deploying a 400’ leader line, 200’ of 1.75” connected to 200’ of 2.5” via a gated wye.  Often in Northern Virginia, the second line is deployed off of the first due Engine Company.  This isn’t always the case, nor do I think it should be.  Regardless, that’s another topic for another day.  Anyways, our Engine Company crew attempted to deploy a 200’ 1.75” hoseline off of the first due Engine Company until they were told by the first due Engine driver that the line would not reach.  Since the crew was very young, they listened to the Engine driver and failed to deploy a second line. 

The end result was fireworks in the stairwell and no fire department services were required.  However, our company had failed to complete their mission: deploying a second line.  There were many options they could have exercised including extending or “making up” a line, however the 200’ 1.75” hoseline would have been more than sufficient.  Unfortunately in a reactive manner, I later made it a point to ensure our folks know how to maximize the effectiveness of the 200’ 1.75” hoseline.  This post will look at four hoseline stretch options that any Engine Company should be able to perform.

The first stretch option is the stair stretch.  Simply follow the course laid out by the corridor and stairs, and deploy the hoseline in that course.  This stretch obviously uses a lot of hose and potentially involves making several turns, depending on the type of stairs that are encountered.  Using the stair stretch, we have found that it is difficult to get sufficient hose beyond the third floor when deploying a 200’ 1.75” hoseline.  Of course, the amount of setback encountered will heavily influence how far you get.  The picture below shows that the nozzle barely made the fourth floor landing utilizing the stairwell stretch and would not be sufficient to conduct fire suppression operations on that floor.

The second stretch option is the well stretch.  Utilizing a feature of the building, the well of the stairs, the hoseline is advanced vertically.  The hoseline stretch option is dependant on the presence, and size, of a well.  The well must be large enough to accommodate a charged hose and couplings.  A quick way to determine if the well is of sufficient size is to place a clenched fist in the well.  If your fist will fit, generally a 1.75” hoseline will fit.  The success of this stretch, as with most stretches, is dependant on teamwork amongst the Engine Company.  The nozzle firefighter can not prematurely drop hose and the back-up firefighter must be diligent about keeping the hose in the well during the stretch.  The well stretch gave us approximately 75’ of hose on the fourth floor landing.  This was more than enough hose to conduct fire suppression operations on the fourth floor.

The third stretch option is the hook stretch.  The hook stretch is a stretch on the exterior of the building and involves vertically stretching a hoseline up the exterior of the building.  The hook stretch utilizes two firefighters and an 8’ hook.  The nozzle firefighter advances hose to the bottom of an exterior stairwell, while the back-up firefighter goes to the second floor with an 8’ hook.  The 8’ hook is lowered off of the second floor landing by the back-up firefighter with the head of the hook pointing down.  The nozzle firefighter hooks the bale of the nozzle on the head of the hook and reports to the third floor landing.  Simultaneously the back-up firefighter hoists the hook vertically and passes it to the nozzle firefighter on the third floor landing.  This process is repeated until the nozzle reaches the desired floor.  The hook stretch gave us approximately 100’ of hose on the fourth floor landing.  The hook stretch can also be completed from windows in buildings with an interior stairs.

The fourth stretch option is the rope stretch.  The rope stretch, like the hook stretch, is a vertical exterior stretch.  The rope stretch utilizes two firefighters and a rope.  The nozzle firefighter advances the nozzle to the bottom of an exterior stairwell, while the back-up firefighter proceeds to the desired floor with a rope.  The back-up firefighter drops the rope down to the nozzle firefighter, while maintaining one end of the rope.  The nozzle firefighter secures the rope to the bale of the nozzle and the back-up firefighter hoists the hoseline up the exterior of the building using the rope.  Like the hook stretch, this stretch option gave us approximately 100’ of hose on the fourth floor landing and can be done from windows in buildings with interior stairs.

While these are not the only options that can be exercised to maximize the effectiveness of 200’ 1.75” hoselines, they are four options that any Engine Company should be able to perform.  Regularly deploying hoselines, on incidents and during drills, will improve Engine Company operations and will allow a company to maximize their efficiency and effectiveness.