A fire in these kind of apartment buildings can get away from us fast. It is important to remember the flexibility of some of our more common leads and use them to our advantage.
Approaching the scene we were lucky enough to have a hydrant right out in front, so water supply was not an issue. Hearing the unit was empty and seeing a large volume of fire from the door and window let us know that rescue will not be a primary concern at this fire.
A 150′ 1 3/4″ line was deployed and charged from the courtyard and trained at the doorway and the balcony directly outside. If we’re going to get in there, that balcony needs to be protected from outside and cooled quickly to keep it from weakening. As the firefighter opened that line, the officer and I stretched a 3″ line with a wye to the landing on the B side and stretched an apartment or “highrise” pack and called for water. As we approached the doorway, the line in the courtyard shut down, but kept a good eye on us incase we needed to back out fast. By the time we got past the first room, the smoke suddenly lifted and the room was light from above where the truck company had cut a hole.
The 3″ line served almost like a horizontal stand pipe and allowed us to get a large volume of water near the fire and gave us versatility to add another line there if needed.
If you said get a larger line and split it off, you made the right call.
Also on The Happy Medic…
- You Make the Call…Garden Apartments – October 23, 2009
- Layout – February 23, 2010
- …to investigate the smoke alarm… – February 13, 2009
- A Christmas Waterfall – June 12, 2009
