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Ten Minutes in the Street: Vacant or Unoccupied-Tactical Decisions
Ten Minutes in the Street:
Your company has arrived on scene at a building that apparently is either VACANT or initially appears Unoccupied. You have moderate fire evident upon arrival on the Alpha side. In this case, what are you going to do strategically or tactically? What are your presumptions, can they be validated, what is at risk in your dynamic risk assessement and size-up?
Here are some basic definitions to keep us all on the same playing field;
Vacant: refers to a building that is not currently in use, but which could be used in the future. The term “vacant” could apply to a property that is for sale or rent, undergoing renovations, or empty of contents in the period between the departure of one tenant and the arrival of another tenant. A vacant building has inherent property value, even though it does not contain valuable contents or human occupants.
Unoccupied: generally refers to a building that is not occupied by any persons at the time an incident occurs. An unoccupied building could be used by a business that is temporarily closed (i.e. overnight or for a weekend). The term unoccupied could also apply to a building that is routinely or periodically occupied; however the occupants are not present at the time an incident occurs. A residential structure could be temporarily unoccupied because the residents are at work or on vacation. A building that is temporarily unoccupied has inherent property value as well as valuable contents.
From a risk assessment and safety standpoint, what are your options or what does your organization, SOPs, or department “culture” drive you to do? Is it business as usual? You know what I mean; “..you pull up on street side, do a quick size-up, yup-we’ve got a fire, seems safe enough, now let’s get to work, we’ve got a job.” Do you go offensive, interior operations or defensive? Assume you have plenty of resources and everything is favourably on your side today.
Also HERE for recent post
Your company has arrived on scene at a building that apparently is either VACANT or initially appears Unoccupied. You have moderate fire evident upon arrival on the Alpha side. In this case, what are you going to do strategically or tactically? What are your presumptions, can they be validated, what is at risk in your dynamic risk assessement and size-up?
Here are some basic definitions to keep us all on the same playing field;
Vacant: refers to a building that is not currently in use, but which could be used in the future. The term “vacant” could apply to a property that is for sale or rent, undergoing renovations, or empty of contents in the period between the departure of one tenant and the arrival of another tenant. A vacant building has inherent property value, even though it does not contain valuable contents or human occupants.
Unoccupied: generally refers to a building that is not occupied by any persons at the time an incident occurs. An unoccupied building could be used by a business that is temporarily closed (i.e. overnight or for a weekend). The term unoccupied could also apply to a building that is routinely or periodically occupied; however the occupants are not present at the time an incident occurs. A residential structure could be temporarily unoccupied because the residents are at work or on vacation. A building that is temporarily unoccupied has inherent property value as well as valuable contents.
From a risk assessment and safety standpoint, what are your options or what does your organization, SOPs, or department “culture” drive you to do? Is it business as usual? You know what I mean; “..you pull up on street side, do a quick size-up, yup-we’ve got a fire, seems safe enough, now let’s get to work, we’ve got a job.” Do you go offensive, interior operations or defensive? Assume you have plenty of resources and everything is favourably on your side today.
Also HERE for recent post
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Fireyladd - Retired Chief Sharp on
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Christopher, seen this picture on the news recently I believe.
Ok, based on your description and what I see here. We have a outer structure of rock or masonry. Vacant or not we dont really know for sure. This fire will take out the rest of the building or block if it isnt contained to the area involved now. A effort must be made to extinguish the fire and also get access to the areas to each side of the fire area to insure it isnt allowed to spread to other areas of the building. At the same time evaluate if indeed it is vacant. Should be a easy fire to extinguish as it appears to be mostly a contents fire at this time. That is my quick down and dirty assessment at this point. Going to need several units working this puppy.
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Permalink Reply by Jeff Cole on
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It may well be vacant, unoccupied, or whatever term we want to use. But if that is the case, we need to determine if utilities are on. The fire had to start somehow. It's actually hard to determine what exactly the contents are. The exposures to 'B" and "D" appear to be secured and locked. We need to get a report from the rear, as well as the roof, which is often the best vantage point to aquire a 360 view.
A quick dump, blitz attack froma pre-piped deluge to knockdown or slow the fire would be indicated until we could detrmine what we are actually dealing with in term of building layout, fire extension, and even structural conditioning. Roof reports should help our strategic planning. Any signs of structural compromise will be cause for immediate evacuation of the roof, and a total defensive operation.
Though we may well lose the block, if the exposres are vacant and in similar condition...we aren't losing anything of value, and will protect our firefighters...the first priority. Of course we would consult any pre-fire infornmation we have on the property.
We need to get into each exposure. Considering the forcible entry potential, and the need for search on all sides we will need additional alarms, with extra truck and/or squad or heavy rescue companies. Again, this may well be an incendiary fire, with use of flammable liquids. We should expect compromised flors, possibly missing stairs and blind shafts. If the building has been vacant for any appreciable time, we will consider the collapse potential due to the addition of water weight and structural compromise from the age, weather, and the fire it self. We may even expect previous fire damage.
The least threat from this fire would be from a defensive mode. Operations inside these types of buildings are extremely hazardous and we should expect ANYTHING! It would be ideal for clandestine activity. This may include diliberate traps set for firefighters, LE, or any intruders. This being possible, total destruction by an otherwise controlled fire would be a community service!
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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
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Chris,
I would classify this as a possible 3rd category..."Abandoned". That definition is a derelict building that is both vacant and unoccupied, and is not in condition for a rebuild.
There are three things that grab my attention on this one right away.
1) Large body of fire with rising fireballs and heavy black smoke...and not much other smoke. The flame and smoke pattern should be shouting ARSON FIRE to the first-in company. There should be a mix of other colors, density, and velocity in the smoke unless very homogeneous fuels (liquid hydrocarbons) are burning.
2) The security gates are all locked, but there is a large body of fire immediately inside the gates across the front doors.
3) There is a large sheet of flame on the floor immediately inside the front doors. That's another way this building is shouting ARSON FIRE at us.
Here goes on the incident...
Building profile - Type III (ordinary), unoccupied, possibly abandoned.
RECEO - VS Profile
Rescue/Life Safety - The locked grates tell us that life safety is improbable. Early Recon of Side C is critical to see if there are open ingress routes somewhere we can't see from the front. The empty parking meters tell me that no one is around...maybe in the entire neighborhood, depending upon where this is and how well we know our 1st due.
Exposures - Attached on Sides B and D. These will be big problems if we can't overpower this one in a hurry.
Unknown exposures on Side C.
Confinement - The best confinement here will be early extinguishment. If we can't get that done, confinement may be pour water into the smoking crater for a couple of days.
Extinguishment - We'll probably be a while on that one.
Overhaul - Later, with heavy machinery
Ventilation - It's vented plenty, and it's going to be even better vented in a few minutes.
Salvage - I think we can salvage the bricks from the basement, next week.
Risk Profile = Born Loser
IAP
1st alarm is three engines, two trucks, a B.C., and an ALS ambulance.
Engine 1 should upgrade to Working Fire/All Hands on arrival. That will add an engine, a rescue, a RIT truck, and two additional chiefs. Engine 1 makes the "Abandoned Building, Defensive Operations ONLY", and "No Collapse Zone Operations" notifications upon arrival.
Engine 1 - establishes water supply, forward lay with LDH, and hit the Division 1 fire through the front doors with the deck pipe.
Engine 2 - lay in with LDH from the opposite direction, establish water supply, and hit the Division 2 fire through the front windows. Both deck pipes are smooth bore for max penetration and avoiding pushing the fire.
Truck 1 - sets up the stick at a front corner in anticipation of exposure protection and collapse ops. Engine 3 supplies Truck 1.
Truck 2 and Engine 4 - go to the rear, complete size-up, and if it's an alley, establish exposure protection with the ladder pipe.
Battalion 1 - Fixed Command post out of the collapse zone. Order everyone to stay away from the building, avoid Candlemoth Syndrome, and to stay out of the collapse zones. Request a 2nd and 3rd alarm and have them go to Level II staging a block or two away for now. Reqest the police close streets for one block in all directions. Request utilities respond. Water/Sewer boosts water supply pressure/volume. Electric and gas ensure that those utilities are shut down.
Battalion 2 - Side C
Battalion 3 - Safety
Truck 3 and Engine 5 - set up ladder pipe ops at the front corner not taken by Truck 1 and Engine 3.
Request the mobile command post unit, the mobile air cascade unit, and get the 2nd alarm companies ready to start protecting additional exposures on Side B and D as needed. Two engines and a truck from the 3rd alarm start downwind brand patrol, the rest of the 3rd alarm stages to give us a ready reserve.
RIT Truck - collect the RIT cache and report to the CP.
There is more to do here, but I'll leave it for others.
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Permalink Reply by Smoke Eater on
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The shape of the building to me makes it look vacant. There is fire on the A side looks to be first floor only. The fire has already pretty much vented itself so it looks like business as usual. But that's also the attitude that can get us killed. One problem I see is the bars on some of the windows as well as the front door.
Maybe try to knock down the fire around the door and force entry. If that fails go to the door on the right and force entry. You may have to breach a wall to get to the fire side. It looks like there may be a wall between 2 businesses right there.
From what I can see, I think an interior attack could be validated. The bars on the windows and on the door to the left will be cut ASAP to provide egress for the interior crews to get out if all hell breaks loose. All utilities will be cut if there are any to this building.
Other crews will search for extension on the first and second floors starting close to the fire and working out.
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Dunno, Cap, I don't like the looks of all of those security grates all over the front of the building. You might be able to get through one of them, but there's not a lot of secondary egress available other than those rather iffy shutters showing in the upper left of the photo. By the time we a) knock enough of the fire in the entry down to attack the grate, b) get the grate cut, c) get a 2.5 inch line in place, and d) get at least one emergency egress open, the fire is going to have a strong foothold on Division 2 even if it's not there yet.
It's a little hard to tell from the photo, but I'm assuming that the fire has already extended to Division 2. My thinking is that I'd rather have additional alarsm that I end up not using than to have help I need sitting in quarters.
This still looks like an arson fire to me. Foam is looking better and better for the initial attack here.
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You know Ben, I think you're right. I definately agree with the arson thought. No sense in getting someone killed over a vacant building. Getting in is going to be tough. I think securing a water supply and using the deck gun may not be a bad idea on this one. Maybe get someone to take pics if there is a camera on the first in companies. This would definately help with the investigation.
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Permalink Reply by lutan1 on
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Dunno, Cap, I don't like the looks of all of those security grates all over the front of the building. You might be able to get through one of them, but there's not a lot of secondary egress available other than those rather iffy shutters showing in the upper left of the photo.
Great thinking about the secondary escape routes...
Refer to my Dirty Dozen blog regarding situational awareness.
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Permalink Reply by Robert Owens on
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This fire is defensive from jump street for us.
Our operations on occupancies like this are open up, light it up (let fire come to us do not go in after it), and fill it up (once water is coming out of the doors and windows).
We would typically use larger caliber hand lines (2 1/2), blitz fire master stream, and the aerial appartaus.
Our initial response would be a 3 and 2 ( 3 engines and 2 special service companies and 1 battalion chief) Once the first engine determined a working fire an ambulance, EMS supervisor, 2nd battalion chief, and Air Utility would be added.
FIrst Engine would lay out and radio his water supply plan to the second due engine. It would typically go like this " Engine 1 to Engine 2 we are laying out from the hydrant at blank and blank, pump to us" The first due officer has the option to tell the second engine to inline or pump to them since we are utilizing heavy streams they need to pump to us.
2nd engine picks up water supply and sends up crew. If Interior attack is initiated they assume the IRIT
3rd Engine lays from second hydrant and then assumes the FULL RIT
1st special service primarily Search and rescue for this fire they would open up the structure
2nd special service assits first special service
1st chief assumes command
Ambulance sets up rehab
EMS supervisor safety officer
2nd chief assumes a foward position such as side c or an interior division if warranted.
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A good 360 of knowledge of the area will go along ways toward deciding if this is occupied or not, usually. Of course you can never completely rely on this. Our SOP's detail derelict builds as Defensive attacks ONLY.
Need a 360 right away. Building status is irrelevant at this point due to location and extent of fire. Engine 1 pull large attack line and darken down visible fire. 2nd due open up windows and egress points. 3rd check roof and open it up. Definately a 2nd alarm right off the bat. Once the fire has been darkened down and opening of egress points is underway roll right into RECEO with 2nd alarm companies performing search and stretching hoselines in. If interior is decided, than consider a 3rd alarm, depending on resources in your area.
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Why send crews to the roof on a defensive fire? "Defensive" means "No on IN it and no one ON it" to me. Does your department define "Defensive" differently? If so, how is it defined, and why would you send firefighters to the roof when the fire has already vented itself?
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Good idea on the camera. Showing that floor-level sheet of fire on camera is a good way to show the unnatural look of this fire and to grab the (eventual) jury's attention.
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Sorry let me explain myself better. IF this structure is derelict our SOP says Defensive only.
The second part of my post was IF this structure wasn't derelict. The picture doesn't give you that. Yes the front windows appear to be either covered or blacken up. If they are boarded that is a good sign it's derelict but if they are painted black then it may not be. I've come across structures where the windows have been painted where a club is ran inside, year round haunt house etc.
Sorry for the confusion.
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