Fighting fires in 1 1/2 story houses with bedrooms upstairs.

Our district is a bedroom community close to a metro city, people move here to get away from all the things that come with large cities. We have several new subdivisions with moderate to large 1 1/2 to 2 story houses, the floor plans are cut up, lots of void spaces in the attic, concealed attic spaces and with very steep pitch. We have no ladder trucks. We are an all volunteer dept, but we have some good response times. We are short handed in the daytime like most other vol depts. We have had a few calls to these type houses in the last couple of years, nothing big until a couple of weeks ago. The question is, how have you been able to sucessfully attack working fires in these houses without loosing them and still keeping your firefighters safe? I have some ideas, i would like to here from someone who maybe has a lot of experience with this kind of structure fires.

Thanks for your input.

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Permalink Reply by John S-B on January 10, 2011 at 9:56am

Well, first of all, it does not matter what kind of dept. you are, mutual aid can make a huge difference. Your dept. should have automatic run cards that give you the resources you need on the first alarm. Many situations have gone bad because not enough manpower or equipment were called at the onset, and then they try to play catch-up. That's why all FD's should develop a good working relationship with all their neighoring FD's. Some FD's have a little too much pride and don't want anyone else in their "turf". Or they are Fulltime Union and look down on "Vollies". Or Vice Versa. The citizens don't care what it says on the side of the truck, they just want their families and property protected. So working out mutual or automatic aid is essential.
Another thing is use Class A foam. You should be specifying foam tanks and pumps in your apparatus. This will give you better suppression with your limited manpower. It doesn't neccesarily have to be a CAFS system, just one that will give you the ability to inject foam into your preconnects.
Lastly I'd say that good firefighting skills are neccessary. Know your equipment, practice often. Make sure your people understand building construction and how to "read" smoke and understand fire behavior. Make sure you can provide good ventilation, use the ground ladders you do have to ventilate high and provide relief to your guys inside. And if it's too much, pull 'em out! Hope this gives you some good idea's
And when a new house is being built, get permission from the owner to check out the layout after it's framed. Try and develop preplans as much as possible. You may be able to get floor plans from the local or county building dept. Try and develop regulations that require submitting a copy of the floor plan of any building being built to your FD. (Not neccesarily for approval, just for preplanning.)

Fighting fires in 1 1/2 story houses with bedrooms upstairs.

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