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Engine Company Operations; Third Alarm Apartment Fire
Engine Company Operations; Third Alarm Apartment Fire
Alright, I felt bad for leaving the Engine Companies in staging at that other Townhouse fire, while the truckies were doing all the initial work, so that being said, the Engine Companies (all of them) have been reassigned to another box.
You've got a well involved and rapidly progressing fire thats taken control of an open stairwell in a Garden Apartment occupancy. The fire is gaining both in intensity and severity and is starting to do some very undesirable things. The apartment building (typical garden apartment style), three story wood frame, double backed layout, wood I-beam floor joists, truss roof with plywood decking, floors and sheathing (no OSB). The building is occupied, (look at some of the windows). It's a Sunday afternoon, weather is warm, slight breeze.
You have reports of civilians in distress on the number 1, 2 AND 3 Floors, on both the Alpha side and the charlie side. After a quick roundabout 360, you identify the fire originated in a ground floor two bedroom apartment on the Charlie side that opens directly the open (wood) stairway.
OK, now its all about engine work....( or at least for the first few minutes).
You have an third alarm assignment coming ( based on your resources and what constitues a 3rd alarm or equiv. mutual aid, same goes for the manpower staffing levels)
Given these factors; What are the Strategic and Tactical assignments?
What are the number of handlines needed and fire flows required?
Where's the fire going to go?
What about ( oh we've got to get them in here somewhere...) Truck assignments and operations?
Risk Profile of the structure and occupancy?
What if this was a Night time alarm, any different issues?
Let' see where this takes us.. Ok now charge that line and let's get some water on this..
Alright, I felt bad for leaving the Engine Companies in staging at that other Townhouse fire, while the truckies were doing all the initial work, so that being said, the Engine Companies (all of them) have been reassigned to another box.
You've got a well involved and rapidly progressing fire thats taken control of an open stairwell in a Garden Apartment occupancy. The fire is gaining both in intensity and severity and is starting to do some very undesirable things. The apartment building (typical garden apartment style), three story wood frame, double backed layout, wood I-beam floor joists, truss roof with plywood decking, floors and sheathing (no OSB). The building is occupied, (look at some of the windows). It's a Sunday afternoon, weather is warm, slight breeze.
You have reports of civilians in distress on the number 1, 2 AND 3 Floors, on both the Alpha side and the charlie side. After a quick roundabout 360, you identify the fire originated in a ground floor two bedroom apartment on the Charlie side that opens directly the open (wood) stairway.
OK, now its all about engine work....( or at least for the first few minutes).
You have an third alarm assignment coming ( based on your resources and what constitues a 3rd alarm or equiv. mutual aid, same goes for the manpower staffing levels)
Given these factors; What are the Strategic and Tactical assignments?
What are the number of handlines needed and fire flows required?
Where's the fire going to go?
What about ( oh we've got to get them in here somewhere...) Truck assignments and operations?
Risk Profile of the structure and occupancy?
What if this was a Night time alarm, any different issues?
Let' see where this takes us.. Ok now charge that line and let's get some water on this..
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by NOVAFireman on
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Nice picture. That's really close to home. I actually know some folks who were on that fire back on July 6, 2001, and it did end up going to 3 alarms. I may have additional photos of it somewhere.
The alarm assignments have changed since this fire, along with the adoption of regional SOPs. The alarm assignments are 4 Engines, 2 Trucks, 1 Rescue, 1 Ambulance, 1 Battalion Chief, 1 Safety Officer, and 1 EMS Battalion Chief. A 2nd alarm would bring the same number and types of companies. Some counties in the region may not get a safety officer or EMS Battalion Chief after 1800 hours because of volunteer staffing. In a couple of those counties, volunteer chiefs run Battalion at night with no EMS Battalion or Safety Officers.
Our regional SOPs lay out assignments for each due company on the first alarm. For example, the 1st due engine will have fire attack. 2nd due will establish a water supply for the 1st engine if not already established, then pull a backup line. The 3rd due engine establishes at secondary water supply and pulls a line to Side Charlie. The 4th due engine will ensure that the 3rd due Engine has a water supply, and become the RIT crew.
The 1st due truck positions on Side Alpha and splits the crew. The inside team forces doors for the engine, and gets inside for the primary search, while the driver and OVM throw ground ladders, performs rescues as needed, gets the aerial setup, secures utilities, and begins horizontal ventilation. The 2nd due truck also splits the crew, takes the floor above the fire to search and recon. The outside team on the 2nd due truck also throws ladders, performs rescues and sets up for verticle ventilation. The rescue company also splits the crew and does a primary search and assists the truck crews with rescues and ventilation. The ambulance, or medic unit crew puts on all of their PPE including SCBA, grabs their stretcher and supplies and sets up on Side Alpha near the command post and awaits further orders.
If supplimental dispatch information is given stating the building is occupied, a 2nd alarm would be requested while responding, this would'nt go straight to a 3rd alarm.
Given the amount of fire involving the stairwell, the 1st due engine would wagon pipe the stairs to get a good knock on it and follow up with handlines. Since the stairs on this building are, or were wooden and heavily involved in fire, staying off the stairs and doing lines over ladders into the apartments on the upper floors maybe needed. I would also ensure that the engines on both Sides Alpha and Charlie sweep the soffits with a stream to help control the amount of fire getting into the attic space. An order would be given to the outside teams on the trucks and rescue to get to the roof and open it up.
SOPs state the first arriving Engine Officer on the second alarm will be the staging officer. The remaining members of the first arriving engine's crew would be called up to supplement the RIT team. One of the 2nd alarm engines would be sent to Side Charlie and deploy a second line there. The remaining engines would be called up to assist in water supply and fire attack. The truck crews on the second alarm may also be called up to help the first alarm special service units with rescues, ventilation and ground ladders. After commiting that many 2nd alarm companies, a 3rd alarm would then be struck. With that many personnel operating on the fireground, a request for companies to complete a level 2 RIT assignment would be made. A level 2 RIT consists of 1 Engine, 1 Truck, 1 Rescue, 1 Medic, and 1 Batallion Chief. The chief on the RIT dispatch be assigned RIT Group Leader and given a seperate radio channel.
Given the number of civilians trapped, and a 3rd alarm assignment, an EMS Task Force may also be requested consisting of 2 Ambulances, and 1 Medic. All of the EMS units would be assigned to the EMS Group with the EMS Battalion Chief being assigned Medical Group Leader. One of the ambulance crews would be assigned to setup rehab.
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Permalink Reply by Christopher J. Naum, SFPE on
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Thanks for taking the time to provide a well thoughtout and complete response...this type of post helps everyone see things from varied perspectives and experience levels. Let's see what other replies we get.
Stay safe....
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Thanks for the comments guys. As promised, here are two additional pictures from this fire.
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Permalink Reply by Jay Nicholson on
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What really stood out in this response was the use of SOP's. Not just for your dept., but it seems like all of the surrounding depts. are on the same page. Here with the advent of automatic aid, it is not uncommon to have 3 different depts. respond on a 1st alarm. Having everybody on the same page sure makes fireground ops run a lot smoother.
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