Firefighting in Suburbia: Q&A with Capt. Jim Silvernail

A closer look at what it means to be a firefighter in a suburban environment

By Cindy Devone-Pacheco

Much talk in the fire service centers around the strategies, tactics and overall experiences had by larger, urban departments—and with good reason. Large departments in urban settings encounter an extremely wide variety of responses—everything from fighting high-rise fires to delivering babies on the subway. Therefore, they gain a certain level of knowledge and know-how that other departments may not obtain.

On the other end of the spectrum are the rural departments, many of which have little funding and none of the trappings of urban America, such as high-rises, a mass-transit system or a vast system of working hydrants. These small-town departments are often discussed because of the ingenuity they must regularly employ to fight both structural and wildland fires, establish a water supply, rescue animals, and maintain apparatus, equipment and training on a tight budget, etc.

But what about the middle ground? What are the challenges facing the suburban fire department? Jim Silvernail, a 14-year veteran and captain with the Metro West Fire Protection District in St. Louis County, Mo., discussed those challenges in his class, “Suburban Fire Tactics,” which was held today at FDIC. Here’s his take on firefighting in suburban America:

Cindy Devone-Pacheco: What is your background with suburban areas?
Jim Silvernail: I’ve spent the majority of my time in the fire service in the suburban environment. St. Louis County surrounds the city of St. Louis, but the [outlying area] is suburban. We have 88 paid fire companies in the county, which includes 23 fire districts and 20 municipal fire departments. My actual district is probably the second or third largest in the county. We run five quints/pumpers and four prime ambulances.

CDP: You’re a long-time attendee of FDIC. What have you learned in those years? What are some of your observations?
JS: I’ve been going to FDIC for the past 10 years, and I’ve been taking all these classes about urban firefighting from great teachers, but if you look around when you’re in those classrooms, you’ll see that the guys in there are from suburban departments. The teachers for the classes are definitely the people who should be teaching on those topics, but the guys from New York shouldn’t be determining policy for the people in suburbia. So I guess my point is, don’t fall into the “urban trap” so to speak. Don’t let the urban guys dictate how you run your department. Take all your situational awareness and use it to [determine the procedures and tactics that will work for your specific environment].

CDP: When discussing understaffing and other economic problems, do you think we’re too focused on urban departments? Are suburban departments a bit forgotten?
JS: Yes, I think it’s that urban trap again. For example, a company in New York is typically well staffed. I know they’ve had cutbacks too, but generally, they can easily pull a handline and make entry into a building. But if I arrive with three people to a working structure fire, I know I’m going to need extra help, so I will request another apparatus, which will provide extra staffing.

CDP: From your experience, what would you say is the major challenge facing suburban departments today?
JS: The major challenge facing suburban departments is the fact that we don’t have dedicated truck companies like the larger departments, so we really have to prioritize our functions and know our functions well. If I pull up first on a working structure fire, I have a lot more decisions to make as the incident commander because our resources are limited. I staff my engine with three people, but with full staffing, I can have as many as five, so on a working structure fire, I have to take several things into consideration, such as how many people I have on my engine at the time, when deciding which function I’m going to employ.

The second-due apparatus also has to decide what role they’re going to play based on the needs of the incident upon their arrival. You have to keep in mind that your needs decide your role. The circumstances dictate your tactics. In our department, we decided that the second-due apparatus will serve as the truck company. And we need to stick to that plan most of the time, because if that first line doesn’t get into place, the whole situation won’t go as you need it to.

You also need to ask yourself, is forcible entry needed? Is ventilation needed? Is rescue needed? It really doesn’t matter if your apparatus has a ladder or not; in the suburban environment, you have to be fully trained on both disciplines. In my department, I know that if I pull up second, I go right to truck operations. I won’t be pulling hoselines.

CDP: How do suburban tactics differ from urban or rural tactics?
JS: The main one, as I mentioned before, is the lack of a dedicated truck company. But to add to that, another difference is that, because we don’t have a dedicated truck, our people need to realize that you might be doing engine and truck work all in the same day, so you have to have the knowledge and decision-making skills to do both.

CDP: We’re all familiar with the image of multiple apparatus at the foot of a high-rise building during a major structure fire in the middle of an urban area, but what does structural firefighting look like in suburbia?
JS: A main point there is that a lot of us in suburban departments haven’t caught up with suburban sprawl. After WWII, residential communities expanded [so people could live somewhat close to where they worked in the city], but it’s become much more than that now. There are more businesses, more offices; it not just residential anymore, so you’re trying to catch up with your tax base.

Another major point is that we rely on mutual aid a lot, and because of that, we train together and we have the same dispatching agencies. And because we have to rely on our mutual aid agreements and our training agreements, we also have to know the policies of our neighboring departments.

CDP: Do you think suburban departments are experiencing more or less difficulty with regard to the economic situation when compared to urban departments?
JS: It’s hard to tell. I know that there are departments around here that are facing hardships. We used to have five engines and a rescue truck, but we failed at the bond issue, so we had to cut a unit and distribute that “wealth” across the board.

But it seems to me that suburban departments have to wear more hats and are expected to take on more jobs. In St. Louis County, everyone is a paramedic. It’s assumed that the engine works well with the ambulances, so they work together. Plus, the bulk of our work is in the EMS field. So if I’m first due in my area and I get a call for a structure fire, I can have a five-person engine and place the ambulance out of service.

CDP: What do you want attendees to take away from your class?
JS: They should remember the importance of preferred operating methods or procedures. There has to be a plan in place for structural firefighting. Who’s the engine? Who’s the truck? What are the duties of the third-due apparatus? There needs to be some kind of systematic approach to it all. Preferred operating methods help organize the chaos.

The guys who don’t have a plan and try to do what the urban departments are doing are putting themselves in danger. They need to have their own way of doing things. Our number one concern here is safety. It’s simple: If you have a preferred operating method in place, you’ll be safer. RIT is great too, but they’re not the safety catch-all. It’s important and some departments train on it a lot, but having a RIT team on the lawn doesn’t mean you’re automatically safe.

Some people may argue with that, but in my opinion, the safest thing we can do is put a line on the fire. Everything we do is about putting out that fire.

Cindy Devone-Pacheco is senior editor for FireRescue magazine.

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