Operating Independent Of A Hoseline

Members operating as part of a Truck or Rescue Company have an array of fireground responsibilities and tasks that need to be accomplished in a timely manner such as forcible entry, searches, ventilation, and utility control.   Often it is necessary for these members to operate independent of a hoseline to ensure these tasks are accomplished efficiently and effectively.  However, some departments discourage operating independent of a hoseline in the name of safety.  The obvious downside to this is the delay of certain fireground tasks and, consequently, this may place firefighters and civilians in more danger.  This article will outline how members can manage the risks associated with operating independent of a hoseline, to ensure efficiency and effectiveness on the fireground.

Maintain Your Orientation

This may seem like an obvious thing to do on the fireground, however many “Mayday” transmissions occur due to members becoming disoriented.  Maintaining your orientation in occupancies may begin prior to the incident being dispatched.  Paying attention to the layout of occupancies in your response area during EMS calls or service calls and conducting “walk-through’s” are two ways to help with maintaining orientation prior to operating within an IDLH environment.  Keep in mind that renovations or additions may occur to an occupancy, which may alter the layout from your last visit.

The exterior of a building can give clues to the interior layout of an occupancy and help identify access and egress points.  Taking a few seconds to look at the exterior of the building may help save minutes while operating on the interior.  It’s easy to get focused on the fire that is showing itself, however members need to have the discipline to look at the “big picture”.  The “big picture” shows fire conditions, smoke conditions, number of floors, length and depth of building, additions, basement access, window size and type(which can be good indicators of the room type),  and doors.  Observing these things in a timely manner will assist in maintaining orientation and facilitate more efficient and effective fireground operations.

Once entry is made into the fire building, it is essential to maintain orientation.  Through training and experience, members will be able to maintain orientation while moving in an expeditious manner. Different flooring materials and transition strips often serve as a good indicator of the type of room you are entering or leaving.  When proceeding through a door on the interior of the building, take note of the direction of door swing.  Many times this will serve as an indicator of the room type.  Stairway doors and closet doors often open outward into a corridor or room.  Conversely, bedroom and bathroom doors often open inward from a corridor or room.  While proceeding through the interior, take note of windows and doors.  Regardless of your position within the building, it is good practice to always have an escape plan should conditions warrant immediately leaving the building.  Members also need to be cognizant of their orientation within the building in relation to the fire location to avoid being cut off by advancing fire conditions.

Bring Appropriate Tools

Varying tasks often require varying tools.  With that said, there are some tools any member operating independent of a hoseline should have.  These include a portable radio, handlight, and some type of breaking or breaching tool.

The portable radio allows members to have a constant communication source.  This will allow the member to hear what tasks are being performed on the fireground, where companies are operating, and the status of the fire.  The portable radio also allows the member to communicate their location at any time, the status of their assigned tasks, and any “Urgent/Priority/Mayday” messages. 

The handlight may assist members in progressing through the building by providing illumination depending on smoke conditions.  The illumination provided may alert members to points of egress, interior doors, compromised floors and stairwells, fire extension, and victims.  A handlight can be used to gain the attention of members operating on the exterior of the building by a member on the interior.  This may be performed by a member who becomes cut off by fire and needs a ladder placed to an upper floor window.  At a suburban Washington D.C. townhouse fire in 2007, two members of a Rescue Company transmitted “Mayday” messages.  The crew that located the disoriented firefighters stated that the LED lights on one of the disoriented member’s handlight assisted in leading them to the disoriented firefighters. 

Breaking and breaching tools will not only assist members in carrying out their assigned tasks, but can assist a firefighter in compromised position by clearing out or creating a means of egress.  This may simply require breaking a window or could involve breaching an interior or exterior wall.  The breaking or breaching tool can also be utilized as an anchor when a member uses a personal escape system from an upper floor.

Some other tools that may benefit members working independent of a hoseline are the pressurized water extinguisher or “the can”, search rope, and/or thermal imaging camera.

The primary reason for bringing the pressurized water extinguisher should be for the safety of members operating independent of a hoseline.  It should serve as a tool that can protect members from progressing fire conditions or to buy them time to move to a safe area of refuge.  With that said, if the crew operating independent of a hoseline comes across a small fire and the hoseline is still being stretched, it would behoove the crew to use the pressurized water extinguisher to extinguish the fire.  After all, extinguishment generally prevents conditions from worsening. 

Certain occupancies may dictate the use of a search rope, or as some appropriately refer to it: “survival rope”.   The search rope provides a direct link to a safe area and allows members to progress into a building without staying attached to a wall.  This allows for more efficient, effective, and safe searches to occur in certain buildings.  However, the search rope should not be deployed in all occupancies.  It is most effective in commercial buildings, “cut-up” buildings, or large multiple occupancy buildings.  Typically the search rope will not be used in single family dwellings, townhouses, or garden apartments as it may become an entanglement hazard and usually slows the progress of searches and other vital tasks.  Like every other fireground operation, the use of search ropes requires training and coordination amongst the members using them.

The thermal imaging camera has been an excellent technological advance in fire service tools.  With that said, it is like every other tool and can be subject to failure.  This reiterates the importance of members maintaining their orientation and using their senses to conduct searches, in addition to using the thermal imaging camera.  The thermal imaging camera can be used to assist in searching for victims and fire.  Typically a traditional, methodical search practice accompanied by periodic “six sided scans” with the thermal imaging camera will allow members to search efficiently and effectively.  In reference to a “six sided scan”, think about a box having six sides and that you are inside the box checking all six sides. The thermal imaging camera may also alert members to compromised floors or stairs and fire extension in walls, floors, or through compromised floors or stairs. 

 

Facilitate Means Of Egress

Throughout this article I have stressed the importance of locating points of egress.  Members operating independent of a hoseline do not have the benefits provided by a fire stream.  With that said, these members do not have the ability to rapidly correct the environment they’re in and may have to exit the building to escape advancing fire conditions.   There are a few things that can be done to facilitate egress from the building including placement of ground ladders and complete removal of windows and window bars.

I believe the fire service is improving drastically on ground ladder deployment and placement.  I think this can directly be attributed to the changing mindset that ladders are primarily for our members to get out of buildings.  Members should strive to place ground ladders to as many windows as possible and at the very least, have ground ladders placed on every side of the building.  Traditionally we were taught to place ground ladders at a 75 degree angle to the building.  However, if we have the ladder length to do so, an angle closer to 60 degrees is better for firefighter egress.

Removing windows in their entirety is essential for firefighter egress.  If not done, it could hinder a member’s rapid exit of the building and lead to injuries.  This means members to need to remove all glass, the sash, and window treatments.  Some people believe that the sash should be left intact if a ground ladder is not at the window.  I do not feel this is appropriate as it takes time to remove a sash and that may be time that a member in danger doesn’t have.  Additionally, with the growth in popularity of personal escape systems, a ground ladder may not be necessary for a member to exit the building in a controlled manner.  With that said, an intact sash doesn’t truly offer any benefits to a member who is using a window as a point of egress.  Window bars should be identified and removed in their entirety too, for the same reasons listed above.   It is essential for all members to keep in mind that removal of windows will effect ventilation and may intensify fire conditions. Members need to be disciplined and refrain from haphazard window removal, as it could place members operating independent of a hoseline in a compromised position.

Use Doors

Members that operate independent of a hoseline need to understand that interior doors can be of great assistance to them.  If a member performing a search finds a room and contents fire, the simple act of closing the door may accomplish confinement until the Engine Company gets a hoseline in position.  This will prevent fire extension and reduce the amount of smoke and superheated gases migrating throughout the fire floor, thus improving conditions for firefighters and citizens alike.

Though we try to avoid or predict it, advancing fire conditions may place a member operating without the protection  of a hoseline in a compromised position .  If a member is in a compromised position, getting into an uninvolved room and closing the door can buy precious time.  The 2010 UL study on ventilation in residential fires conducted tests on three interior doors exposed to a well ventilated fire and all three doors took at least five minutes to fail.  Five minutes is a good amount of time to come up with a “Plan B”.  “Plan B” could include exiting a window, breaching a wall, or transmitting a message to have an Engine Company advance a line to your location and extinguish the fire that has placed you in a compromised position.

Removing doors can also be of benefit to members operating independent of a hoseline.  Interior residential doors can easily be removed with a halligan bar or flat head axe.  Simply place the forks of the bar or head of the axe between the door and frame, on the hinge side, and close the door.  This action will free the screws that secure the hinges to the door and frame.  I prefer to start at the top and work my way down as the weight of the door usually allows the bottom hinges to be freed without having to use the halligan bar or axe.  The removed door can be used to cover holes in the floor and allow members to complete searches or move to an area of refuge.  Also, fires in rooms without doors can be confined using a door that has been removed from an adjacent room.

These are certainly not the only things members operating independent of a hoseline can do to improve their efficiency, effectiveness, and safety.  However, employing these practices are a good place to start.  Today’s fires are not the fires of yesterday and it’s important for us to remain proactive instead of reactive as things happen very quickly on today’s firegrounds.