Wednesday, August 21, 2013

When Science and The Fireground Come Together.....


As we are all aware, there is a ton of useful information being disseminated throughout the fire service courtesy of science and technology. As we are also aware, there are lots of opinions related to this information. My brief opinion on much of this information is: when information gathered from labs and firegrounds matches up, there is probably validity to the information. With that said, don’t simply take all information that’s disseminated as gospel. Get out and formulate your own opinions based on your observations and experiences.  Of course that means you actually have to be observing AND processing what your observations are telling you. For many, that may be easier said than done.  Anyways, I want to share a story about a recent fire where information gathered from science and actual fireground experience facilitated efficient and effective fireground operations in the modern fire environment……without a hoseline. I know, I know. It can’t be done without taking unnecessary risks, right? I’d beg to differ.

It was a typical June afternoon in Virginia, hot and humid with thunderstorms passing through. When these storms pass through, call volume soars and it’s a good time to be at the firehouse. I was in the Chief’s vehicle and we had the Engine Company staffed at our firehouse. The Engine Company was dispatched to the southern end of our county for a reported water rescue and I stayed behind due to the storm conditions that were currently affecting our first-due.  A few minutes after the Engine Company went out the door, I decided to go “on the air” as it was likely additional incidents would be dispatched.  Shortly thereafter, a career medic unit came across the dispatch channel and advised they were on the scene of a house fire in our first due.  Before Communications had finished transmitting the box alarm, the Operations Deputy Chief and I were on the scene as well.  The Operations Deputy Chief established the command and told me to take the medic unit inside and start a search. Of course, this broke my heart! Right. Anyways, I took a lap and observed a 1.5 story detached SFD with smoke issuing from the top floor and knee wall areas. I forced the front door and got it on my second attempt at gapping the door with the adze end of the bar. I closed the door and donned my face piece with the members of the medic unit.  I told them we were going to perform a search and to close the front door behind us when we entered the first floor. I had them quickly search the basement and first floor, which proved to be clear of fire and occupants. The stairs leading to the top floor had an outward opening door at the base and as soon as I opened it, visibility was gone. I immediately turned around and told the medic unit that we were going up and to close this door behind them too. Additionally, I told them not to open any windows or walls when we get upstairs.  At the top of the stairs I encountered moderate heat and smoke was to the floor. I, once again, turned around and reinforced that we were not opening any walls or windows. We were simply doing a search and would not start any of the other tasks until an Engine Company arrived. One of the medic unit members was a month out of Recruit School and this was his first fire. I opted to have him to wait at the top of the stairs while the other member went right and I went left.  As this was occurring, our Engine Company and the second-due Engine Company were arriving simultaneously and stretched lines through the front door. I informed them of our location and the location of the stairs.  After making it to the front of the house without finding any fire or victims, I made my way back to the top of the stairs to meet up with the member who had searched to the right.  He reported the same results. The heat was starting to increase on the upper floor to the point where popping a window was a tempting option, however everyone exercised discipline and waited for the line to make it to the top of the steps before opening up. When the two hoselines made it to the upper floor, I directed one line to work the left side and one line to work the right side. We had pretty good heat conditions but the fire had yet to show itself, so we were going to have to look for it and began making holes in the ceiling and knee walls.  The TIC was showing the all too common, “white everywhere” condition on the screen. After a minute or so of working the two sides we still had not found the fire and the heat was getting to the point where we probably needed to make something happen pretty quickly. One of the linemen opened the line over our heads, which provided temporary improvement of conditions but we still needed to get to the seat of the fire. While this was taking place, an outside crew was working on making the roof to open the area over the knee walls and our heads.  As the officer working the right side and myself were discussing our next move, the fire quickly showed itself from one of the inspection holes made on the right side. It rolled over our heads and the lineman working the left side quickly knocked it back. The line working the right side got in a better position and finished it off, while the roof was opened nearly simultaneously. 

Several good things happened at this fire that reinforced the validity of information that’s been disseminated through UL, NIST, LODD reports, and stories from real firegrounds. These things include:

-     -  closing and controlling doors is very important when operating without a hoseline

-      - do not make large holes in void spaces without a hoseline present and ready to flow

-      -properly timed and placed vertical ventilation will improve conditions very quickly

-      -when encountering high heat and no visibility, opening the line overhead is a good thing

-       -good old fashioned firefighting skills cannot be replaced by technology, as technology sometimes fails

-       -coordinated line placement allows for egress protection, confinement, and extinguishment

-       -discipline and experience is necessary when operating independent of a hoseline




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