The Social Network & Community JUST for Firefighters
Ten Minutes in the Street: Read "through" the Smoke
You’re the designated Safety Officer at the scene of a working fire involving a moderate sized, single story commercial building. Companies have been working for about ten minutes into the operations. You’re starting to complete a 360 of the building, which has full access. You come across the task operations depicted in the photo. You observe a three person crew operating a hand line. (Two firefighters and a Company Officer). A Battalion Chief is observed coming across the location also.
As the Safety Officer, what do your observations tell you? What are you’re immediate actions and follow-up actions (if any) and why? There’s some dynamics present here that say a lot, IF you know what to look for, what is obvious and what is very subtle.
A typical fire, typical conventional fire suppression operations being undertaken, typical tactics…..Read through the smoke and take a minute to see things that we sometimes fail or neglect to see, remember, we may be only ten minutes in the street, but it’s what happens in the eleventh and twelfth minutes that changes everything……
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Mike on
-
It looks like the mortar holding the bricks above the doorway is coming loose with either age or expansion. No one should be in that doorway. Maybe use a master stream from a distance as a defensive operation.
-
Permalink Reply by Christopher J. Naum, SFPE on
-
Good Comments and insights so far....keep it going-Lots more to "see"
-
Permalink Reply by rfdjumper on
-
The fire is very angry. It is in the ceiling, the 1 3/4 is way under gunned. A step gun or deck gun would be much safer than having these guys standing under this mess. A couple of observations: collapse is coming very soon evident by the big ol' crack in the bricks above the opening, and the extra load of the air conditioner in the top middle of the picture isn't helping. I'd expect a giant fireball real soon, so bring some marshmellows.
I'd pull everyone back away from the collapse zone, and suggest large bore appliances to put lots of water on the fire. This fire will soon be through the roof, so I wouldn't put anyone on it.
-
Permalink Reply by Jay Nicholson on
-
It's hard to tell from the pic, but it almost looks like roofing supplies on that dock. This makes this an even nastier fire and unless that 2.5 is being stretched now, somethings going to blow.
-
Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
-
I think there's a bigger structural problem than just loose mortar. There's at least one spot that looks as if it has the classic zig-zag brick seperation that indicated impending collapse. If you look at the brick work about 8 feet directly over the Battalion Chief's head, you'll see it.
Worse, the smoke is pushing through the wall (the cracks in the bricks) to the left of the door frame. Not only are we at risk for the lintel area collapsing, the entire wall is a pending collapse.
My next question is "Where's the loading dock door?" That door is invisible in the smoke. It could be either a roll-up door, a sectional slab door, or a cantilivered monolithic slab. The door could come down at any second, and at least the nozzleman is directly in the fall zone if it closes or collapses. Most of those doors are steel spring assists, and that smoke is hot enough to turn the steel into taffy as long as we've been here.
-
-
I agree with pretty much everything that's been said...too much heat for the small-caliber line, crew unnecessarily exposed, Black Fire pushing out, pending collapse, possible roofing supplies, and lesser things like improperly worn SCBA.
Some details inside...the line is being directed to the left, through the security bars. That tells me that something either really valuable or really dangerous, or both is stored there. With an old industrial/warehouse occupancy like this, I'm betting on the "dangerous". Whatever it was, it got the engine crew's attention to the point that they're not cooling the area where the smoke is coming from.
The stream is going up and left instead at the base of the fire, which is to the right and near floor level.
The next thing is that this appears to be an ordinary construction building, and it's really old. The wood is likely exposed, dry, weak, and has already taken a lot of heat. That's the third collapse potential I see here.
It's difficult to tell, but there are probably compressed gases stored inside. I think there's one next to the security bars to the left, although I can't be certain.
Additionally, the smoke appears to be funneling up from some kind of vat. Jay might be right - not only might this be a roofing materials fire, but the smoke might be coming from a propane-fired tar pot inside the building. If that's not the case, vats are still bad news. They typically contain liquids or semi-solids that are flammable, toxic, caustic, or all three.
There is also some scaffolding or bar stock stored inside the door to the right. If it's scaffolding, that's another vote for a roofing materials fire, and maybe an incomplete construction/rehab job. If it's bar stock, we may have a welding shop occupancy, which means lots of oxygen and acetyline cylinders in the fire.
Regardless, I know where this building is. It is in Amityville, and it's telling us GET OUT!
-
-
For readers that haven't had a "Reading Smoke" class, this smoke is classic Black Fire. It is hot enough to ignite...all it needs is a single, small ignition source and this whole place will be flashed over with fireballs rolling out the door.
Reading this smoke, I'm seeing the following:
Color - dark gray to black, and oily looking.
Density - heavy, thick, completely opaque.
Volume - lots and lots of it.
Velocity - rising very fast...another indicator that this smoke is very hot.
Put this together with reading the building - a large, mostly-enclosed structure, and you have a large area involved in a high heat condition. This building wants to kill us, and it wants to do it suddenly and soon.
-
Permalink Reply by kenny goines on
-
BLACK FIRE, imminent flashover, get out!
-
Permalink Reply by Al (olddogg) Westbrook on
-
OK , I saw the ugly, black smoke and said ,WTH ! are they doing on that dock ? And with a inch and three quarter line ? Way too small for that amount of smoke to do efficient cooling . I saw the loose SCBA straps too, a no-no in my neck of the woods. And I see the smoke "pushing" through the cracks in the old mortar ,with the risk of possible collapse -and Man! did I miss those cylinders to the left ,BEHIND the bars-OK maybe I was too compfortable thinking they were more rolls of tar paper-but they could be "M" (?)size cylnders .
But what about the "CAOS" (chief arriving on scene)-he has no SCBA at all ! ,and yet he is walking into an environment unsuitable for life-the toxins and so forth- which is why we all wear SCBA ,right ?
Is he coming to pull the crew the hell out of there , or is he doing his own 360 ?and is forming up his plan of action ?
-
Permalink Reply by Oldman on
-
Angry, boiling black smoke unable to see the seat of the fire.
Improperly worn PPE
Construction materials and scaffolding
Essentially no fire flow for conditions
Structural roof integrity potential collapse.
Pull the out and go defensive
BTW Ben, the loading dock door is a sliding door to the right, note track on floor
-
-
For those of you who may want additional information on the "Art of Reading Smoke", Check out the free downloadable power point program on FFClosecalls.com from Chief Dave Dodson; http://firefighterclosecalls.com/fullstory.php?68508
© 2024 Created by Firefighter Nation WebChief.
Powered by
