Garden Apartment Fire-All Hands Working


You've got a Four (4) Story Wood Frame Garden Apartment Building Fire, with a working and progressing fire on the number four floor (C-D). The fire has extended into the truss loft of the roof and is traveling rapidly.

Its 08:30 hours on a Saturday morning. The building is occupied, with some residents self evacuating. There are no present reports of any civilians in distress (yet). You have a very good box alarm assignment consisting of; Four (4) Engine Companies, Two (2) Truck Companies, Two (2) Heavy Rescue Companies, Two (2) EMS ALS Ambulances, along with Two (2) Battalion Chiefs, A Shift Commander and a Safety Officer (Boy are you lucky today..). Staffing is 4 personnel on the Engine and Truck, 5 staffing on the Rescue, 2 on the EMS units. Additional alarms bring in a 3 and 2 assignment along with two additional chiefs per alarm. Additional Rescues on special call.

The Apartment complex was built circa 1982, wood frame, brick veneer facing, truss roof system w/ plywood decking and solid wood floor joists w/ plywood sub-flooring. Weather conditions do not contribute to any issues at this alarm.

You’re arrived and all hands are working on the first alarm assignment. You find the BC who has established command on the Alpha side, and begin a status report. Companies are transmitting and requesting immediate resources. There are some initial reports coming in on fire extending past the fire wall on the number 4 floor and dropping into other apartment units. There's fire reported on the number three floor (C-D). (see photo)

Describe your immediate needs; what do you need to know right away before assuming full command of this incident; what’s your Incident Action Plan (IAP) going to start looking like? Strategic and prompt Tactical assignments are crucial at this point, what are your orders? Any thoughts yet on safety and risk profiling and assessment?

You’ve got a lot of work to do and assignments to be made. All Hands are working…You’ve Assumed Command; now let’s get to work…..

More communications from interior operations as we progress….

Views: 942

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

OK well havent been doing this officer stuff for a while and we dont have all these resources but ill give it a shot since noone else has. If no attack or search teams are already in progress then I would go with a offensive attack. Im gonna go ahead and strike another box wit a request for another rescue since additional resources are already being asked for.

4th Floor assignments-5 man hose team with a 2 1/2 in. hose trying to get in front and prevent spreading to lower levels or farther down the wing into other apts. Send a 2 man search team in to do a primary of the 4th floor apt. Id have a 5 man RIT team for the 4th floor hose team and a 2 man RIT team for the search team outside ready to go need be. I'm not to sure on how far either team could get in on this floor or the one below for this fact because it looks like the roof has collapsed into the 4th floor just a precautionary I'd throw out there to the crews.

3rd Floor assignments-3 man hose team with a 1 3/4 hose with the same idea as the 4th floor team trying to extinguish and prevent any further spreading down the wing and into the 2nd floor. With another 2 man search team for the 3rd floor apt. With same number of RIT Teams members outside.

Outside the building id have 2 man teams on both the A & C sides with ladders ready to throw to assist with rescues if needed with one battion chief on each side supervising and the safety officer D side trying to evaluate both sides as much as possible.

By this time I hope my additional help is here.

Depending on the search teams air supply and stamina I may or may not send another team to replace them so they can go into rehab. If not needed then I would put together another 2 man search team to go through the 2nd and 1st floors just to check for any residents needing help and to confirm no fire has spread to anymore lower levels. After the primary searches have been completed Id get together another RIT Team and send the existing RIT Team in for secondary searches on their respected floors. This would then leave me with 9 fresh firefighters not including the unused hosed team and Search RIT teams to use need be. Whether for overhaul or what not. I dont really know if this is what you were looking for but Im trying to get as much advise and help as I can . Like i said my town doesnt have these resources or these big apts like this. and yes I know im young but I work hard at this I love it im just trying to work on my commanding skills instead of being the one going inside all the time...lol
Been there, sone that... and it makes for a very long day....

Strike additional alarms right away ( the one I had while I was a Captain, I struck the 2nd on arrival, the Deputy arrived right behind me and struck the 3rd alarm, the Chief arrived and struck the 4th alarm ... all within a few minutes!)

The only way to cut off the fire from going through the entirte building is by doing a trench cut in the unburned section where the roofline narrows. This will require the coordination with the ladder companies.

There is smoke coming from the 3rd floor, which means that the fire has dropped down into the lower units already.

Assign companies to search and make sure everyone is out. Most apartment complexes have so many false alarms, the real thing is ignored until the occupants hear the banging on the door and see a firefighter in full PPE telling them to get the hell out of Dodge... and at 08:30 on a Saturday, a lot of people will be home.

Any hoselines brought in should be deuce and a half with smooth bore nozzles.. and one must be prepared to go defensive if the fire breaches the trenched area.
Several things I am concerned about with this one: 1.) Wood Frame 2.) Trusses 3.) Long hose lays and the rest of the obvious concerns... life safety, location and extent, etc... So, here it goes,
1.) Rescue crews to the second and third floor to check for victims and to check for fire spread.
2. First truck and engine place yard lay (300' of 3" gated to 2 1/3/4") supplimented with the second engine laying water supply.
3. Second truck check for extention on expouser side of fire wall and third and fourth due engines lay in 2nd. water supply and advance a second yard lay.
4. Shift commander has command while Battalion 1 has front side and Battalion 2 has rear. Safety has... well, Safety,
5. First EMS Unit sets up triage of any victims, second EMS unti sets up rehab, additional EMS units called as needed.
6. Additional Alarm with first engine of second setting up staging area and has staging command.

Probably going to lose this to the fire wall which is my goal. Trusses fail in 5 minutes, wood frame construction with a veneer and rapid horizontal fire spread is a lot to deal with but I think checking the units on fire for victims rapidly and then controling from the fire wall out we should be in good shape. By the pictures I really didn't see a place to set up the ladder truck. I don't like to set up on grass and side walks so thats why I didn't do it. And last but not least,
rehab, rehab, rehab... we are going to be here for a while!

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