Fire Behavior: A Tale Of Two Fires

I recently posted about flashover training and the importance of having a strong knowledge of fire behavior.  Fire is predictable.  We know what is required for fire to occur and we know what it requires to sustain.  Fortunately, the 21^st century fire service has been provided more information than ever before on fire behavior.  Technologic advances, scientific studies, real world experience, and some very intelligent folks have come together to produce and distribute this great information. While we have known much of this information for a long time from our real-world experiences, the science behind it reaffirms our observations and provides us with information on the “how and why” of what we’ve seen.  In November 2007 and February 2008 I ran two nearly identical fires and was able to observe many of the things that UL would reaffirm a few years later.

November 2007 Fire

We had three crews at the firehouse on this particular evening and I was the Wagon OIC.  We were eating dinner at a restaurant that sat near the end of our first due when the alarm was transmitted for “Smell Of Smoke In A Structure” and we were dispatched as the second-due Engine.  At the time, an incident of this nature received a full box alarm.  As usual, we turned out quickly and I knew it would be a tight run between us and the first-due Engine.  The information we received was that the homeowner had come home and found smoke in the house.  We arrived first with a 2 story detached SFD with nothing evident from the street.  We secured our own water supply one house up from the address and I made my way to Side A of the house while my crew was stretching a hoseline.  As I approached Side A, fire had begun to show itself from the top of an upstairs window.  Our department’s Assistant Chief had now arrived, established command, and provided the update of “fire showing”.  The homeowner met me at the front of the house and said everyone was outside.  My company and I advanced in the front door and stretched dry to the second floor landing.  We stopped to don our face pieces at the top of the stairs and I could tell we had a fire in the growth stage in the first room to our left.  I figured this was a “home run” for us and we’d make quick work of the fire without incident.  I called for the chauffeur to charge the line and I advanced into the room ahead of the line, completing a quick search and clearing the bottom portion of the window before crawling back to the hallway.  I was a bit surprised when I got back to the hallway and the hoseline still hadn’t been charged.  Once again I called the chauffeur and told him to charge the line.  Predictably, the fire in the room was transitioning from the growth stage to the flashover stage.  It didn’t take us long to figure out that we probably needed to hang out around the corner at the top of the stairs until we got water.  Soon the room flashed over, which was a great “real world” fire behavior class from the refuge of the hallway.  However, we still didn’t have water and the smoke and heat was starting to come down on us in the hallway.  I called the chauffeur one more time and told him to charge the line to which he replied “it’s coming”.  Seconds later we had water in the line and pushed in quickly knocking the room out.  After all was said and done, the room of origin and a small section of the hallway had sustained fire damage.  However, smoke had banked down to be about 2’ throughout the hallway walls.  We put a knock on the fire quickly and nobody other than us knew what had happened on the second floor, however there were lessons learned.

February 2008 Fire

We had two crews at the firehouse, it was Super Bowl Sunday night, and I was the Truck OIC.  The alarm was transmitted for a “House Fire” in our first due.  The address was right up the street from the firehouse and we would be there pretty quickly.  As the Wagon stopped to lay out, we proceeded past them in and took position on Side A.  We had a 2 story, end-of-the row townhouse with fire showing from the top of an upstairs window again.  We only had 3 personnel on the Truck, so the Irons FF and myself proceeded to the front door while the Truck Driver handled the outside duties.  We were met at the front door by an adult female and child who were exiting the home.  The adult female said everyone was out of the home, however she was in a panicked state and the kid was only wearing underwear so I wasn’t certain she was completely cognizant of what was going on.  These townhouses are not very big and we were able to perform a primary search of the first floor in about 20 seconds before heading upstairs.  The Wagon was just pulling up to the front as we headed up the stairs.  The Irons FF went to the rooms on the left and I went to the rooms on the right, to include the fire room.  When I entered the fire room, it was still in the growth stage and I crawled through it quickly performing a search and finished breaking the bottom portion of the window before retreating to the hallway to await the hoseline’s arrival.  This time when I left the room, I pulled the door closed.  Conditions in the hallway and other rooms were very tenable as the Wagon made their way to the second floor.  The SCFR career DFC-operations arrived and established the command.  I communicated the results of our search and that the hoseline was getting in position on the second floor now, shortly thereafter he struck the second alarm.  In my head I was thinking, “What the hell did he do that for?” and then I began to wonder if he’d seen something we couldn’t.  In the hallway, we popped the attic scuttle and didn’t have any fire above our heads.  I met the Wagon OIC on the stairs and told him where the fire was and that it was confined to the room.  He called for water and got nothing.  He again called for water and got nothing.  He walked the short distance out the front door to see what was going on and found a kink right next to the Wagon and saw the impressive sight of fire out of the second floor window.  As soon as he freed the kink, water filled the line and I was crouched down in front of the lineman.  It was his first fire on the pipe and I told him as soon as I open this door fire is going to meet us.  “Are you ready?” He said yes and we pushed in making quick work again of this fire.  The door held for at least 3-4 minutes with a good fire going behind it and the conditions in the hallway and adjacent rooms were completely tenable until we opened the door to complete extinguishment.  The second alarm was quickly cancelled and the alarm was held with “2 and 1”.

These two fires were quick, easy, and uneventful jobs.  So why would I tell their stories?  While they were quick, easy, and uneventful, a lot can be learned from these two stories.  These were “real-world”, not in a laboratory and yet they reaffirm much of the information that UL disseminated.  Fires in rooms furnished with synthetics reach flashover very quickly and even quicker when we introduce air.  It’s pretty common sense stuff if you think about it, yet every day there are fire departments across the country that can’t grasp the concept or dismiss it because it’s just a bunch of “nerds trying to reinvent the fire service”.  It’s not.  It happens in the real world and I bet if you truly look at fires you’ve operated at, you’ll see that it happens.  Of course, that means you have to be paying attention to what’s going on around you, which also seems to be a challenge for many.  If you aren’t truly paying attention and aren’t able to read the conditions, you’re likely going to find yourself in a bad spot.  If I had taken a second to close the door at the first fire, I would have been able to isolate the fire compartment.  This would have kept the fire and products of combustion within the compartment and not made the entire second floor untenable for anyone not wearing SCBA.  I assumed since the hoseline was right behind me, we’d have water and knock the fire out before it ever reached flashover.  I was wrong and the pump wouldn’t go into gear until the third try.  Not closing the door and clearing the window in the room provided the fire with as much oxygen as it wanted.  If we hadn’t got water, there’s a good chance we would have burned the piss out of the second floor for a fire that was in the growth stage upon our arrival.  Unacceptable!  It was a great learning experience and hopefully someone reading this is able to learn something and apply it on the fireground.  Again, having a strong knowledge of fire behavior will help to maximize your efficiency and effectiveness on the fireground.