Questionable Boston Roof Ventilation

Boston Fire Department [member] of Ladder 29 opens the roof at a house fire on West Seldon St. in Mattapan.
Posted December 2, 2010.

The Fire Critic: House Fire in Boston. Female Firefighter Venting The Roof is Featured…For Some Reason.

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Comment by lutan1 on December 9, 2010 at 1:53pm: Ok...so i sat down with my crew last night and we went over this video. WE as members of the BFD and Two of the four people working last night was actually at the fire. All you arm chair, IFSTA manual, OSHA compliant, failed to notice a HUGE mistake!! .Can you name it, Or are we all too worried about not wearing a scba or not wearing a helmet on the roof? .

She was venting the wrong house? The house next door was burning? ;-)

Comment by Bradley Webb on December 9, 2010 at 11:23am: The front engine is parked under some lines and it looks like one is draped in front of the engine at 1:00 but I don't know if that's what your talking about so hit us with it Dave.

Comment by Dave on December 9, 2010 at 10:24am: Ok...so i sat down with my crew last night and we went over this video. WE as members of the BFD and Two of the four people working last night was actually at the fire. All you arm chair, IFSTA manual, OSHA compliant, failed to notice a HUGE mistake!! .Can you name it, Or are we all too worried about not wearing a scba or not wearing a helmet on the roof?

Comment by Bradley Webb on December 8, 2010 at 1:44pm: Smooth Dave. So you "borrowed" their G.I. Joe (saw) and did not return it. Haha. Well that's one way to get a new saw! In my honest opinion any company or department that does a lot of vent work or forcible entry needs at least two rotary saws and at least one chainsaw. Just personal opinion.

Comment by Dave on December 8, 2010 at 1:26pm: We aquired our third saw by means of not returning it when one of our saws went out for repair...We find having them set up this way is quicker then changing blades over on the fire ground. If for some reason you want/need another wood saw...we'll change one out with the first already in service. Keep the ball rolling if you know what i mean!

Comment by Bradley Webb on December 8, 2010 at 11:29am: Yea at one of my departments we run a K-12 rotary with I believe a carbide tip but I'm not sure, and we have a metal blade for it. Right now they have the metal blade on it and have the carbide tip too the side which I don't totally agree with because primarily around this area we are going to use it for Vent instead of cutting bars and the like so it would be wise to have the carbide tip on there all the time, but each time I try to state my case they shoot me down, they did listen to me one time when I suggested putting a strap on it and I rigged a backboard strap as a sling. We also run chainsaws with standard blades in this area. All Stihl saws except the K-12.

In the city we don't have a Rotary saw much to my disappointment. We have three chainsaws, two with normal chains and one with a bullet chain. They however get used alot. How they have operated without a rotary saw with as many flat-top buildings as we have is beyond me. Hopefully with a new truck on the line they will put a rotary saw or two OR EVEN THREE on it. Ah that would be perfect. You really only need two but hey since their buying a truck maybe we can sneak another on there. I know that FDNY squads carry three Partner saws and they have at least one set up with that beast of a blade they have for roof work and another for metal and the last one is set up however they need it for the area. I don't know if the Trucks and Rescues are the same way or not, I'll do some research and find out. Thanks for the info Dave.

Comment by Dave on December 8, 2010 at 11:12am: Good question Bradley, As with alot of dept...what ever they can get the most of the cheapest is what we get. I just looked on the Rescue and we have 3 cutters edge saw, one set up with a wood blade, one for metal and one with a diamond tip. We also have a cutters edge chainsaw with a bullet tip chain. As for the name on the blades....hahaha...good luck finding that! The best i can do is see what appears to be ANG..

Dave

Comment by WestPhilly on December 8, 2010 at 11:05am: Dave,

In addition to that maybe not being the only hole she opened, that may not even have been the only job she made that day. That may have been her second or third - who knows? Yes, she didn't have a Pak on - didn't need one. She didn't have her helmet on - should have. The ax and the roof were clearly wearing her out - been there. She was rather precariously perched atop the main/roof - been there, too. Haven't we all? Yeah, right.

Comment by Bradley Webb on December 8, 2010 at 10:35am: Exactly my point WestPhilly. I've seen many people knocking larger departments for not following all safety guidelines. I'm just frustrated with it is all. I love the FDNY and Boston and Chicago and hate to see them treated as such. I know some guys from FDNY who would go insane if they read some of the stuff on the sites here that people say about them and others.

And thanks Dave for a logical explanation. You guys use rotary saws on flat roofs don't you? What type of blade you running nowadays?

Comment by WestPhilly on December 8, 2010 at 10:15am: Bradley,

I figured he checked your profile, just like I did. Just like you could check mine and he could check mine. But his is "private". He can look but not be looked at. Go figure.

As for the criticisms, they're often legitimate, but tough to pull off without sounding like a know-it-all. (Especially when all one knows is very often based primarily on IFSTA manuals and training evolutions in ideal settings.) Very few of the sharpshooters have anything close to the experience level of the firefighters and departments they're criticising.