Roof Vent Training, D.C. House Fire, Helmet Camera Footage

Helmet cameras, when properly used and edited, can provide valuable lessons from the fireground for training. These two video below, from a house fire in Washington, D.C. provide tips on readiness, sizeup, ladder work, ventilation and communication. While every department operates differently, and within their own standard operating procedures, lessons gained can be useful when the time comes for you to open up the roof.

Videos are courtesy of Washington, D.C. firefighter and Traditions Training instructor Joe Brown.

"This video is meant for positive discussion about tactics and duties of a firefighter placed into a similar situation. In this video units arrived on the scene of a 1 1/2 story single family bungalow with smoke showing and a report of people trapped inside."

"Raw footage of a roof vent of a 1 1/2 story bungalow in Washington DC. Crews arrived to find the home with smoke showing from all floors. Interior crews made an aggressive attack on a fire in the basement while Truck 17 preformed simultaneous horizontal ventilation on the dormer windows then moving to vertical ventilation on the peak roof with Truck 13. Once the cut is made the crew gets off the roof, both on the alpha side as well as the charlie side. Meanwhile the interior crew finds that the 2nd floor stairs have burned out and try another tactic."

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Permalink Reply by Kip on February 24, 2012 at 7:24am

I really like this video, I believe that vertical ventilation is becoming a lost art in a lot of departments. You hear the excuse of not enough man power, and believe me, we deal with this on every call. But, I have come out of a structure after getting my behind kicked, and see a bunch of guys standing around. Just because the initial attack may have already been started and the fire may be knocked down, vertical ventilation can still be useful. It is the quickest way to get heat and gases out of a structure. I am really trying to push this at my department, getting back to basics.

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Permalink Reply by capcityff on February 25, 2012 at 2:12pm

The house WAS saved. So you're still making no sense. We didn't take an oath to only save lives. We took it to save lives and property. People have some priceless possessions and memories in their houses. We save what we can.

I didn't go back and forth about it being a ladder pipe job. Re-read it. I said that it wasn't. They only went to it because the stairs burned through.

" I don't understand why you don't seem to be able to post without using logical fallacies, particularly when I'm simply asking questions in order to gain a better perspective on why other departments do things the way they do them."

Believe me that it doesn't seem like that to many people on here. I've gotten quite a few private messages from posters thanking me for my opinions and for staying strong when attacked by you. So I'm done discussing this with you since you only want to listen to yourself. I think I know a little bit about MY OWN fire department than you.

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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on February 25, 2012 at 11:34pm

I have never attacked you. I've questioned some of the things you've said that don't make sense, and I've pointed out some things you've said that were obviously inaccurate, but those are not personal attacks.

As for not making sense - you are not. You said "I didn't go back and forth about it being a ladder pipe job. Re-read it. I said that it wasn't. They only went to it because the stairs burned through." So, which is it? Either there were ladder pipes used, or there were not. You're still claiming both. That's impossible.

Your last statements are complete B.S. I'll repeat - I asked the questions because I wanted more information. You seem to be bent on being defensive because you didn't answer the questions in a coherent manner. Then you ended with a logical fallacy - a straw man. I have NEVER said that I know more about your fire department than you do - you just made that up.

You also claim that the house was "saved" when the upstairs and the attick were obviously flashed over. You made the statement that the stairs were burned through. You also stated that this was a ballon construction house with fire origin in the basement. Those things don't seem to add up to "saved" for most of the house. I've asked for specifics several times, and all you've done is danced around the question, refused to answer specifics, and then put words in my mouth.

Roof Vent Training, D.C. House Fire, Helmet Camera Footage

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