I bring this up because many departments are straying away from interior firefighting.  I know that some do not have the staffing or experience to do it very often, but there are plenty that do.  This is a fire that happened at 14 T St NW yesterday in DC.  Several reports of heavy smoke and fire showing upon arrival.  Rear was almost fully involved.  However with an agressive interior attack using 1 1/2" hand lines, they were able to get a knock on the fire and extinguish it within under 10 minutes and save this persons house.  Here's a pic after the bulk of the fire on the first floor was knocked down.


My main point is just to show that aggressive firefighting is still something that should be practiced when possible.  Standing outside with a 2 1/2" would have probably meant the loss of this house and possibly others.(These are all row homes which means easy extension)  Thought this may get some people thinking and be an interesting discussion.


Story from fire with pics: http://www.dcfire.com/history.html?view=1&id=70519

http://www.dcfd.com

Views: 802

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Not to diss you or anything but knowing that you have limited water supply do you not automatically call for mutual aid for a structure fire so you can have a chance to save something.That's two 1 1/2's you could go in with and that isn't that bigof a fire so could be sufficient till you had water there.How far out is your nearest tanker cause you wouldn't want to put your guys in harms way with a threat of not having enough water.i'm just tryin to get a better feel for your situation.
as long as there is not fire out every window,thru the roofexperienced crew and there dosen't appear to be an imminent collapse make the attempt.a good crew should be able to make an informed decision once inside about the interior condition's.
Looking at the first pic I would say no.....but that is why we do 360's....
Photobucket

Of course!!!
Rear porch fire... go in from the unburned side, knock the snot out of it, overhaul and go back to quarters!
I've spent most of my life trying to stay out of Shaw.
Haha... it a WHOLE different world now. Very yuppified. Still has it's issues though.
I know what you mean. Those houses look pretty good, actually - new paint, nice windows etc. My mother recently moved to DuPont Circle - I can't believe how much nicer that area has become over the past couple of decades. Well, we'll always have Anacostia!
Looks bad on the C side, but from what I see in the first photo of the A side, I would make an interior attack provided we knew we had plenty of help on the way and enough water to knock 'er down. Great stop, guys!
My crew and I would make entry. It does not seem like a horrible amount of fire. It's enough that you need to respect but not enough to fear. Get in and cut her throat quick before she gets to big and bossy. Right now, she just needs a little attention but she doesn't have a full blown attitude yet.
Sure. This isn't a lighweight engineered construction building, the fire is mostly on the exterior of Side C, and from reading the smoke most of the fire is incipient with possibly a little structural involvement smoke showing from the C-D corner.

Interior all the way, with emphasis on cutting the fire off from the D exposure. As row houses go, this one has one advantage - it's at the end of the row and there are no attached exposures other than on Side D.
if i was first due and had the crews coming to back me up we would at least give it a try, also depends on who's around, during the day I'm usually the only interior firefighter around on my department so I'd at least give it a try and pray that the city truck could find us quick enough to bring on the second line and more man power to put it out or at least keep it from extending to other structures, but we don't have any row house in our area just a few homes built close together so hopefully we could get a good knock down
Based on the pics, I would say yes our Dept would go in the front, for an interior attack. Depending on the smoke from those eves, hard to see in pics, may even need to vent the roof, if in attic. It dosent look like it is that bad judging from the smoke color, and the black above the windows on, if Im right the B side. Looks to me based on the rear pic, that there is poss? only a 1/4 of the back on fire, tell me if I am wrong. For I cant see the inside, only from the pics, am I able to judge. Looks as if the back 2nd story porch is, adding to the intensity of the flames. Our Dept is real good at getting water moven, within a few mins of ariveing on scene. We also do a lot of interior attacks they work, unless of course its fully involved front to back and attic. You see that in many balloon framed homes, fire moves up the walls fairly easy. So if make the 1st truck for a change and not bringen up the rear, I would go in and attack the heart of this one right off.

Reply to Discussion

RSS

Find Members Fast


Or Name, Dept, Keyword
Invite Your Friends
Not a Member? Join Now

© 2024   Created by Firefighter Nation WebChief.   Powered by

Badges  |  Contact Firefighter Nation  |  Terms of Service