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Chief On Scene; Working Residential with Trapped Civilians
You’re the Company Officer (or Acting Officer) on the first-due Engine Company. Chief's on scene with a working fire in a single story wood frame residential occupancy. Confirmed by neighbors that there is an elderly female confined to a wheelchair in the residence possibly with a second resident. Hydrant is near the house as you arrive.
The house was built within the past year. Discuss your immediate actions and why. What’s your assignments based upon a (very liberal) five person crew. ( you weren’t short staffed today). What are your safety concerns, what’s the level of risk to your personnel and where a you going to go first? Where is your crew going to go first? Assuming a second due Engine Company is still 5 minutes out, with the Truck Company being heard in the distance. If you assume the Command Officer’s role; What’s your Incident Action Plan (IAP)? What’s the risk/benefit profile? What are your concerns for the occupants? For the firefighters? (Are you sweating yet?) “Affirmative; Engine, your on scene, now lets get to work”
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Firedog on
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Well first it would be nice to have 5 instead of 4 all the time because this looks like alot of work. 1st attack line 1 3/4 ( thats what we have in SAFD) would go through the front door ( Alpha ) side began s@R to(Delta side) looks like from photo 1 the whole garage is involved ,2nd attack should back up 1st and depending on how far the hydrant is from scene a person can assist in connecting a supply line. The garage apartment in the rear should be focus of ladder company hopefully the residence of the female we are looking for .On the third engines arrival they can pull another 1 3/4 off engine 1 and assist in firefihghting.We now have a total of 600 gpm flowing ,should be enough if we can keep it out of the attic.
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Permalink Reply by Marques Bush on
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I would say with five people drop one at the hydrant to secure your water and grab a 2.5 and advance it and start getting a knock on the fire while the other two firefighters are completing a very aggressive primary. Once the primary is completed and its negative,the truck should have arrived and split there crews to complete a secondary and also soften up the structure for emergency egress and the engine men doing the search can advance a back line to assist in putting out the fire. When the second engine arrives they will need to relive the crews on fire attack the exterior team from the truck crew is going to be my RIT! I also like the idea of the deck gun but it is to risky for us that that hydrant wouldn't be working. Gotta love public works.
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Permalink Reply by Bob Shelly on
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2-1/2" in front door to attack fire and to keep it in the garage. Primary search team in thru the open garage door (thats not on fire)and work their way thru dwelling. second due engine asssist in extinguishment and the truckies to do secondary search and pop the top where needed. Action plan would be rescue, then isolate garage fire from the house, and knock the snot out of it.
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Permalink Reply by Moose on
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The first line at an attached garage fire always goes through the house. By 5 firefighters do you mean an MPO, officer, and 3 firefighters? If so, 2 firefighters through the front door with the 1 3/4" line to hold it to the garage. The other firefighter and officer goes in for a search of the dwelling. The Ladder Co is only seconds away, it stated you could hear them coming, so i would pass off IC to the Ladder Officer and go in and do the search with my left over firefighter. Ladder to complete VES and utility control when the arrive, second engine to attack fire in garage. It depends on how many firefighters are on the ladder. I could have two perform VES and the other 2 stretch the attack line. Newer construction are required by code (In NYS Anyway) to have a 2 hour fire rated wall separating the garage and living space, but that does not take into account if the door between the garage and living space was left open or not.
Good scenario, thanks for sharing.
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Permalink Reply by Rob Tudisco on
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My plan is this after seeing the heavy fire from the AB side - 2 car garage fully involved, fire has spread to the BC corner and seems to be in the attic area of the A side. Safety concern is the light truss systems used today and fire extension. Victim removal will not be easy but we will attempt it from the safe side (CD)
5 man crew - 1 hits the hydrant, 2 man search team/forcible entry to the back of the house (C side) with a 2 man attack team using a 1 3/4 preconnected hand line. After establishing a positve water supply the hydrant man reports to me for additional tasks like: victim removal, man the door for hose line advancing or setting up a second hand line. Everyone is packed up and ready to go as we pull up and assignments are given en route, radio's are issued and more specific instructions like those mentioned above are given as we step down.
Line is charged, going off tank water if we need to, to protect the search team. We enter through the sliders in the back just in case the victim has reached the front door and now become a barricade due to their wheelchair.
(I am thinking the chief will have the ladder company begin ventilation when prompted and assist with placing a second line into operation) I am sure the rescue company will ready for us well.
As we move to the C side I am also sizing up the situation. Once we have located the victim(s) we would request more manpower for victim removal and use the best means for egress at that point. Attack the fire with our safety first and saving the rest of the home last. Constantly size up the integrity of the structure as we knock down the fire. Communicate well.
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Permalink Reply by Keith Crawford on
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At Flint Fire we see this scenario frequently (sans new-build and 5 man crew. LOL). The new-build aspect, to my mind, means a very open and free-flowing attic area with potential for rapid fire progress through the attic area. Additionally, new construction typically means open floor plans and increased ceiling height. That aspect should allow for a rapid and cooler primary search for victims. I like to start my searches as close to the fire as possible and move away from the fire so we don't lose victims as more rooms become involved with smoke and fire. That said, myself (or a firefighter, depending on the skills/abilities of my players) and one additional firefighter, search the bedroom and living areas first (time of day). Keep in mind the wheelchair-bound person is not likely to be on the second floor (If there is a second floor- hard to tell from picture) unless they have a chair elevator for the stairway. The remaining two firefighters are taking 1 3/4" line through the front door and working the fire from the house toward the garage. This creates simple egress for the hoseteam if things get ugly and a protective barrier between the fire and the search team. The rest is simple firefighting. As for the risk benefit analysis, I find the risks marginal for skilled firefighters. The survivability index for occupants is high, due to the probability of higher ceilings which typically translates to more breathable air.
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Permalink Reply by Christopher Parker on
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Well as a first due company officer I would establish a water supply, five firefighters on a first due rig is an accomplishment! I would have the driver/operator blitz the garage with the deck gun to knock down the BTU's. have a team of two start an aggressive search while me and the remaining firefighter would take a 2.5 in the front door and attack the remaining bulk of the fire and push it back into the garage and protect my search crew. The only problem i see that could hamper the inital attack is the attic area, it already looks like it extended over to the unburned side of the house. the main goal is life safety of the occupants and the crew. my objective is to get the occupants out of the structure and to minimize the damage to the remaining part of the house. once the occupants are safe, it may be time for a transition and call it a defensive attack. no since of hurting or killing anyone. The critical concerns would be early collapse of the truss roof, sometimes you need to make the decision is the risk worth the benifit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! are they going to survive the conditions that are present.
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Permalink Reply by Jeff Cole on
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Too much fire for anything less than a two and half. Going with with what we have and use, with a crew of five, (either one more, or one less than reality, depending upon staffing) I'm ordering the 2.5" preconnect stretched to knock down the garage with one FF. (easily done with good experience and training.)It's obvious the garage is well vented. Although it IS likely the fire has entered the house, if we have truss floors and ceilings, we must expect fire in those voids. I am not seeing smoke showing from any of the division 1 "A" windows to indicate that part of the house is charged yet to the untennable degree. Given the conditions, the staffing, and the eta of the second engine, if we do have entrappment, we have very brief window of oppurtunity to make an effective RESCUE rather than a recovery.
I don't want to speculate on condtions out of my view. With the ladder company within reasonable distance, A 1.75" handline will go to the front door, and if entry is possible, fire attack and immediate search will begin there. The fourth Firefighter and the Pump operator will begin to clean out the windows, and use VES to cover as much area as permissable with interior conditions. This will be possible upon completion of the water supply using the hydrant FF and the MPO. So initially we have a big line on the main body of fire showing to slow it down, and an interior line between the heavy fire that can begin to search the area closest to the fire, as well as a VES crew entering from the side furthest away from the fire.
It's hard to pinpoint what exactly IS next door, or behind as it has another driveway. With arrival of the truck, and hoping I have at least four, I can now put another member on the 2.5" line to move it around the building more. The roof isn't an issue, so two truck members will enter opposite the last crew for search, ventilate "as they go", with the remaining truck crew member completing exterior "OV" as well as removing all barriers to provide egrees.
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Permalink Reply by Jim Brunelle Jr. on
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This sounds familiar,oh wait it is.I did this one for real(with 1 invalad person trapped). First thing I did was told the guy standing in the street to tell the very next firefighter that showed up that I was inside(and yes I was the chief of my department when it happened).
Next thing I did was advise dispatch of the fire condition and that I was attempting a rescue alone. Next entered found the person sitting on the floor of his bedroom with a very small extingisher pushing flames back away from is feet.
Did I mention there was an oxygen machine as well as 4 or 5 oxygen tanks in his room? Black hot smoke about 3 feet from the floor,watching the skin on the back of my hands blister and my ears burning.
Dragged him to the door where I was met by a police officer who pulled him the rest of the way out and helped me to the yard where I dropped from not being able to breathe.
Thats what I "DID" first.
First due laid a line,streched two handlines,attacked the fire,and were mopping up within 45 minutes. Why? Training...everyone knew their job.
Nuff said.
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Permalink Reply by Jenny Holderby on
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I'm an SO so I have to say - ARE YOU CRAZY going in there by your self?? And I am a fire fighter and I know why you did what you did & thank goodness it turned out well. IF you hadn't made that decission the fire extinguisher might not have lasted long enough.
We are fire fighters. We risk our lives to save others. That is what we are supposed to do. You used the risk factor & risked a lot to save a lot. I am sure that if you hadn't thought it was worth it and that you would not have found a viable life that you wouldn't have taken the risk. You trusted your team to do what they knew they needed to do.
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Permalink Reply by John Kriska on
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Well I am going to get a little contoversial with this incident. My thought process is: Timely ventilation of the interior of the house to enhance victim survival (remember, the longer they are exposed to POCs, the less chance they have of survival), isolate the fire from the trapped victim and un-burned part of the building by pushing the fire back into the burn area, locate and remove the victim(s). How would I do this? Since the plug is near the building, my driver would be responsible for hand laying a line and making the necessary water supply connections. The fire has already self-vented itself out the overhead garage door and I would want to keep it going in that direction. As the Company Officer, I would do a 360 degree walk-around size-up. We would use our Department Riding Position SOG for providing timely ventilation. One Firefighter would deliver a PPV blower to the front door, start the blower and leave at idle pointing away from the door. My second Firefighter would pull an attack line, once charged and using a straight stream, attempt a quick knockdown of the fire in the garage to reduce the fire down to a more managable size. My third Firefighter would begin force entry operations to gain access to the living space. Once I return to the front of the building, I would quickly brief the crew on any significant findings. We would then position the blower to pressurize the building, advance inside, make sure the door to the garage is open so PPV can assist in keeping the fire confined to the garage area. Two Firefighters would attack the fire from the interior garage door, myself and the remaining Firefighter would perform a primary search. If additional ventilation in the living space is needed, I would make an additional exhaust from the living space to allow quicker ventilation of that area. Remember though, that once the interior garage door is opened, most of the POCs in the living space will be pushed back into the garage and out of the building. Upon arrival of the truck company, they would join us inside to begin pulling ceilings etc checking for any extension of the fire. Good effective training is the key to a successful operation that I described.
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Geez here we go with the PPV fan. It's a frame dwelling. Most likely lightweight construction which means truss, which means open voids for significant, and rapid fire spread overhead, which translates into likely flashover conditions which are significantly increased by the introduction of a large volume of fresh air.
Leave the fan on the truck. It is a dangerous tactic for frame dwellings, especially ballon construction and lightweight wooden truss. Look at the amount of fire. Look at the smoke along the roof eves. Go ahead and start that fan. PPV works in conjunction with compartmenting ventilation, which requires enough firefighters present to direct the flow of air to force it out the appropriate opening. There is barely enough personnel on location to knockdown the fire and make a primary search, let alone get into PPV THE RIGHT WAY. Your gonna loose that dwelling. It's totaled for all practical purposes anyway. Contain/control the fire, or slow down the fire spread, is your objective until you can rescue the reported entrapped victim. That fan will spread your fire inplaces it already is anyways, but now your gonna give it what it wants, and your desired effect of ventilation will most likely force you out quicker, and result in the rapid spread of fire causing an iminent collapse to happen earlier.
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