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You Make the Call…Ladder Drill

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You Make the CallYou’re the boss on the ladder company today and have decided to run the troops through their paces.  The large extension ladder is raised in front of the firehouse.

You’ve sent the young guy up to practice working off the side and locking in when a woman with a clip board casually strolls up and begins to talk to you.

Even though all your member are in their PPE with helmets in place, she refuses to stand back as she makes notes on a sheet on her clip board.

“I notice your ladder is not secured at the top,” she tells you.

“Well No, Ma’am, it’s not, we’re practicing a situation where that doesn’t happen, that’s why this fellow here is holding the ladder,” you tell her while pointing to your foot man holding the ladder as he always does.

She presents credentials from the local occupational safety department and orders your member off the ladder.  She then demands to speak to your supervisor for a violation of safety laws.

What do you tell her?  You make the call.

Posted by happymedic on February 26, 2010 • Filed under: Command & Leadership, Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighter Safety & Health, Firefighting Operations, You Make the Call • Tagged:

Layout

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Sunday Fun - Get MotivatedIn my opinion the most important person on a hoseline is the layout man.

Some departments staff 3 to an engine, meaning there is no layout man unless the Officer goes back down the line to make things right.

Not mine.

We run 4 to an engine and for good reason: You need 4 people to mount an effective primary fire attack.

Driver/Engineer: Operates fire apparatus, engages and monitors pump and water supply.  Good so far, we have a way of getting water into the hoses, that’s a plus.

Officer: In command of the team. Calls for type, length of hose and where it is to be deployed.

Nozzleman: Operates the valve at the end of the hose, points it at the fire.  Really more complicated then that, I know, but than again, so is…

Layout: Ensure the hose is properly deployed from the apparatus and unkinked entering the building.  Follow the attack team around corners, untangling and advancing line as needed.  Block open doors and move furniture so that when the line is charged it isn’t trapped under something.  Stay back from the firefight to pull line back so the nozzle team can redeploy to another location without standing on a load of spaghetti in the hallway.  And, possibly THE most important role of the layout position is to slow additional responding companies if conditions are unsafe ahead of you.

Even though the Officer has a good view of the seat of the fire, and a good officer knows the conditions around them, they can’t see what the layout person sees.  From a safe distance, possibly at a corner, ready to pull hose while the nozzle gets the “glory,” the layout can scout conditions in other rooms and maybe even get some ceiling fall on them when the truck cuts a nice hole.

The layout knows all the trouble spots that line may encounter if it needs to move through that area again.  The first two folks through had their attentions elsewhere.

The layout is also the one who will be assisting the nozzle team should the conditions warrant an evacuation.  From that position you know where the exits are, not just where the line goes out, but also rooms of refuge, should they be needed.

When the fire is out and overhaul continues, the layout man needs to make sure that line is still available to knock down hot spots in the ceiling and walls by looping it into an unburnt room and placing the nozzle, with nozzleman still attached in a position to redeploy if necessary.

We should never leave the engine without a tool of some kind, but as the layout we need full flexibility so a sheathed axe can really get in the way.  A pump can can also get in the way but makes an excellent door chock and point of no return doorway device.  That little can can keep an advancing fire from getting through a doorway if teams are retreating behind you for at least 2-3 minutes when used properly.  So what to bring?

Depends on construction, location of fire and your Department’s SOPs.  A cop out answer I know, but the truth.

So next time someone else “grabs” the nozzle, remember that they have it easy, now you’ve got the most important spot on the hose line.  If the fire goes out you did your job right.

Now get those kinks out and feed line up to the third floor!

Posted by happymedic on February 23, 2010 • Filed under: Command & Leadership, Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighter Safety & Health, Firefighting Operations, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged:

That’s twice

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blog engineI’m walking through a busy shopping center looking for someone, not sure who, and it’s stressing me out.  Panic, confusion, anticipation.  Then a loud tone strikes me from my sleep, the shopping center nothing but a dream.  The lights are bright in the dorm of the firehouse, the time is just before 2 AM and the tones finish just as I sit up to the corner of the bed awaiting the inevitable magic voice telling me where the sick people are.

“Units standby for the box!” the voice says with a tone of excitement.

A fire.

The dorm springs to life, sleepy firemen now scrambling into their turnouts and heading for the pole hole as the dispatcher rattles off the companies due.  Downstairs we dress, the doors are coming up and the rainy night awaits our response.  The dispatcher finishes reading the first alarm assignment by telling us this is a report of smoke in a building and we take that very seriously.

The engine beats the truck out the door, as we should, but not by much and I can see them following from my rear facing jump seat.  The green light on the front gives away they are a truck company, letting our driver know to let them take the block ahead of us if we’re second due.  The MDT tells me that we are first due and by the address, we’re less than 3 blocks away.  I might just be ready by the time we get there.

Hands still tingling from waking suddenly we are on scene to the large apartment building with nothing showing but an audible alarm sounding and young people milling about in the lobby.

My walk around the engine to my airpack gives me a chance to size up the building.  If we’re going above the ground floor, we’ll need a bundle to extend a pre-connect.  The first door on the first floor (first above the garage level) has a smoke detector alarm sounding and an odor of burnt food.  Deadbolt secured, we’ll need to force the door, damaging it completely, to make entry to investigate.

The truck is laddering the fire escape when they see a haze through the window of the unit in question and the decision is quickly made to enter through the window.

From our position in the hallway outside the door, the haligan tool is just being placed in the door jamb when we hear the truck make entry through the window.  The old thick windows break loudly and we now hear our brother pushing the mini blinds aside.  Boots thunder to the floor and footsteps get louder as the lock on the door clicks and the smoke wafts out as he opens the door.

“I gave at the office,” he says as I grab the pump can and go in search of the source of the smoke.  As we converge in the kitchen we hear shouting from the back room.  Shouting about waking up.  Shouting only from our people.  Being the Paramedic, I peel away from the burning pizza making all the smoke and meet the truck in the back room with a man curled up on the couch, completely passed out asleep.

They’re shaking his feet, being polite as can be in an effort to let him know we’re there and his apartment is filled with smoke.  It’s amazing that the breaking window didn’t wake him.  The tillerman and I exchange a look and the politeness is gone as he shakes the man’s shoulders shouting “Wake up! Fire! Fire! Wake up!”

Nothing.

Down in his face. “WAKE UP!”

“Whoa! What?” He sits up defensive, most of the first alarm compliment standing in his living room.  Escorted to the hallway, he is still confused about what is happening and I make my way back to the kitchen to help remove the source of the smoke.  The pick end of the haligan has a number of uses, one of them being removing small pizzas from ovens, so out it comes onto a baking tray and it is carried outside into the rain.

Back upstairs one of the firemen from another company looked around, saw the man we awoke and cried out,

“Let me guess, pizza in the oven?”  He went to the man and held up two fingers, “That’s twice!”

Posted by happymedic on January 19, 2010 • Filed under: Fire, Fire Prevention & Education, Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighting Operations, Fires • Tagged:

Small fire, small water. Big fire…

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Well, did you finish the statement?

Did you finish it the same way most do? “Big fire big water”?

Is that really the right answer?

I think it is the wrong answer.

Pumping high volumes of water into the 7th floor office complex isn’t going to help us if we haven’t trained with the tools used to knock that fire down. Yes having larger amounts of water on the fire floor will help us, but we must remember the layout of our commercial sites. They are commonly open with organized furnishings, and heavy on false walls and highly flammable file cabinets, records etc.

Training needs to include coordinating multiple lines, finding the seat of the fire, and knocking it down. Sounds simple and straight forward, but when all you hear is, big fire, big water, then train residential and not commercial, things can get tricky.  But even in a multi-residential situation, we need to get our water to the fire, otherwise it will ricochet off the ceiling, fall to the floor and run into the street.  All that big water right down the drain and the fire is still burning.

I prefer to say “Big fire, SMART water.”

Get in there with the large line but use it appropriately. Get your fog nozzle off and gain the distance from a smooth bore nozzle. That will give you a chance to get closer to the seat of the fire, find it and effect a knockdown to facilitate a search.  Defensive fires are no different.  Shooting a line from the street and aiming for the ridge line will direct all that water up and over the fire, not into it.  If you don’t have fire to hit, why are you training a line there?  Use that water to your advantage.  Collapse an issue?  Then get the lines up and out of the collapse zone with aerial pipes and platforms but don’t just “surround and drown.”  Aim for areas of heavy fire.  You won’t be “pushing it” somewhere else, it’s already going there, knock down the bulk of it’s heat and support and it will slow it’s advance.

When it is commercial and you’re trying your best to get as many large lines as you can into the office building, what are we doing?  Each of those lines needs 2 persons on the nozzle, an officer and then a member at each corner feeding line.  That exceeds even the best staffing models I’ve seen.  Take that first line and make a difference with it.  Keep it dry until you absolutely need water, then your layout person and other companies can help you stretch as you go.  Charge that 2 1/2″ line with 2 people at the door and all it will be good for is holding the front door open.You’ll need help getting it where it needs to be, but once there and trained on the seat of the fire, conditions will improve and smaller lines can chase the fire back as you advance, knocking down a lot of fire.  All because of SMART application of water.

Think I’m wrong?  Know I’m wrong?  Show me.

These are my observations and do not reflect the standards and practices of my employer.  Nor is the Department in the image used being singled out, nor were they the inspiration for this post, just a nice shot of an outside defensive line and an officer who appears to REALLY love that tree.
Posted by happymedic on January 12, 2010 • Filed under: Command & Leadership, Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighting Operations, Uncategorized

Christmas Day, 1909

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One of the main things a love about the San Francisco Fire Department is the history that still lives in these halls.

The journals of Truck 12 and Engine 12 (Old Engine 30)

This morning, Christmas morning, I was doing my morning chores when I needed supplies.  In this house the supplies are kept in the journal room.  Most stations have a journal room which houses all the old records of the companies assigned to those stations.  Some have those dating back to the 50s, some the 30s, and a few have them from the 19th century.

Engine 12 used to be Engine 30, so pre-1970s the journals are labeled Engine 30.  The numbers were changed when engines were moved to co-habitate with Truck companies, taking the truck number kind of like a wedding.  Only completely different.

Not far away, in fact, is the old firehouse for Chemical engine 5 and Truck 12, which is now a Daycare but still has the old wooden doors and red lights out front, not to mention beautifully restored and maintained company insignia.  I’ll try to get some shots up in the new year.  I decided to take a moment from my morning toilet cleaning and share with you Christmas Day at Engine 30, 1909.

Christmas Day 1909Staff at 8am: 1 Captain, 1 Lieutenant, 2 Hosemen, 1 Stoker and 1 Driver.

The exact type of apparatus is not listed as we do now, but it was a single steamer company.

The horses were exercised at 10am, one of the Hosemen took leave to attend church, they had 4 alarms for service.

Merry Christmas from Old Engine 30.

Posted by happymedic on December 25, 2009 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, Administrative, Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighting Operations • Tagged:

New School, meet Old School

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I was sent this video by a friend on facebook and had to make sure it spreads as far and as wide as we can get it.  Maybe you’ve seen it before, maybe it’s been on other blogs or outlets, but this video from almost 80 years ago could be dubbed over modern video and be just as important.  It is about 12 minutes long and comes to us thanks to the folks over at flashovertv.com, a site I will spend most of the day wandering through and suggest you do the same. But first, a company film.

Please to enjoy the Los Angeles Fire Department training film “Company Response”

Posted by happymedic on December 15, 2009 • Filed under: Command & Leadership, Fire Prevention & Education, Firefighter Safety & Health, Firefighting Operations, Technology & Communications, Training & Development, Vehicle Operations & Apparatus, Videos • Tagged:

The Lost Art of Poaching?

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There are tales in the Fire Service of old of companies scouring the edge of their districts hoping to jump a run, beating another company to a fire on their own turf.

It was nice to see last night that art is not completely lost.

Dispatched as part of the first alarm assignment in another part of town, the first companies called for a second alarm before we were even out of the station.  Heavy fire was reported from two large homes, both 3 story type 5 ordinary balloon frame construction.

While responding quite a distance to the growing fire (Later we learned our assignment had been a dispatch error)  we heard the sirens of some of the second alarm companies.

As we passed through one district, like I said we were a ways out, we saw one of the busier trucks in the country on the side of the road, just on their border, dressed and ready to work.  They were no doubt monitoring the tactical channel and listening for command to order up a third alarm so they could be on scene before the bells even rang.

YouTube Preview Image

This video was taken from the house behind the fire building and shows the early efforts of the first in companies.  Well, it’s an orange glow and some saws, but it did go to a third alarm when the B exposure started rolling.  And no doubt that Truck we saw was the first in on that third.

The art of poaching is alive and well after all.

Posted by happymedic on December 14, 2009 • Filed under: Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighting Operations, Fires, Vehicle Operations & Apparatus, Videos • Tagged:

You Make the Call…Restaurant…What Happened

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You Make the Call...Line UpThis was the situation I gave you on friday, standing at the top of the stairs, no smoke, no fire, only an odor of burning paper.

We had all our PPE, including air of course, and multiple companies arriving behind us, so we took our pump can and went in search of the odor.  Back under the stairs in what likely passed for a store room 100 years ago, we found a small section of charred drywall at the floor level.  Opening up the wall led us to a large section of brick which likely went all the way up the inside of the building, but all the drywall was clear.  Oddly enough the other side of the brick wall had a large amount of trapped smoke so the Truck went to work opening it up.

In the end the conditions were such that having a charged line before going down there would have gotten us knotted up for sure.  Turns out the source of the smoke may have been above us, at the street level in an alley where a man was seen smoking prior to our arrival.

If you said have a look, but be safe, you made the right call.

Posted by happymedic on December 7, 2009 • Filed under: Command & Leadership, Fire Prevention & Education, Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighter Safety & Health, Firefighting Operations, Fires, Training & Development, Uncategorized, You Make the Call, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged:

You Make the Call…Restaurant

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You Make the Call...Line UpOK folks, back to the grind.

You are dispatched with your Department’s first alarm compliment to a report of smoke in a restaurant.  You are unfamiliar with the layout, since this is not your usual assignment and the building is in the oldest part of town.

On arrival you have nothing showing from the 4 story, mostly brick building, folks still seated at their tables as you arrive.  A quick inspection finds a labyrinth of hallways and stairwells behind the kitchen and a clear odor of burning paper.  No smoke is seen from the top of the stairs leading down to the storage area, which appears to have been retro-fitted into another kitchen area.

You have no charged line, only a pump can, but all your PPE.

Do you inspect the basement without a line or wait?  You make the call.

Posted by happymedic on December 4, 2009 • Filed under: Command & Leadership, Fire, Fire Prevention & Education, Firefighter Safety & Health, Firefighting Operations, You Make the Call

the Handover – Close Calls Edition

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Last call for the HandoverThis month’s handover draws from our friends across the interwebs stories of close calls. Times when they or their patients, colleagues or family almost didn’t make it. I was inspired to make this the theme not just because of the holiday weekend here in America, but to remind us all that we are fragile and put ourselves out there sometimes. Hopefully one of these links rings back when you’re in an unsafe or curious situation.


Found with the Where did the angry guy go files-

“What do we do?” asked Eric, his eyes wide.

“I don’t know about you two,” I said, “but I’m about to jump through that window over there.  I don’t know if that guy’s getting a gun or what.”

by Buckman who runs Gomerville

From the I don’t think you should be driving file-

“I was overwhelmed by the dreadful realization that I had just accepted a ride from a highly intoxicated snowmobile rider and we were hurtling through the dark northwoods at 70+ miles per hour.”

from Greg Friese of, among many, Every Day EMS Tips.


From the Thank God you’re driving category-

“This was a serious incident. This was no routine, boy, we almost had an accident. This was my death.

I don’t know if my partner would have stopped on his own if I hadn’t shouted. Maybe. Maybe he had it all under control and was already getting ready to hit the brakes.”

from Peter Canning, a new contributor to the FireEMSBlogs family, at StreetWatch:Notes of a Paramedic

In a section titled simply Gulp

“Jill and I found him lying on the floor, fully clothed and in a coat, eyes shut, but eyelids flickering. An almost certain sign of pseudo-unconsciousness. A fake. I took a step back and called out to him. Jill was still standing by the front door, uncertain how to proceed. Something still felt wrong, so I asked her to go and call for police back up. With hindsight, I should have gone with.”

writes Ben Yatzbaz, resident Insomniac Medic


Found in the Basement selection

“This moment, this intense moment, was where I made a decision the likes of which I hope I never have to make again. I knew that if I stayed more than a few moments longer, I would suffocate and burn to death right there on that floor.”

from our pal Chris Kaiser at Life Under the Lights


From the lost in the snow pile-

“Dear God, they’re working a search pattern. Please, not tonight. It’s not mutual aid to another fire department; they’re working a grid search with the police. I grab my boots, then pad to the garage to check the fluids in the IV warmer. Anyone caught in this weather without shelter will be near death, if not there already.”

by Mack505 at Notes from Mosquito Hill


From the trust your guts file-

“I give my partner the “time to leave pronto” hand gesture. “Code 3, hurry up”. I give a little oxygen and attempt the IV enroute with no success. I realize that something is not going well for this patient and I don’t have the means to diagnose or fix the problem.”

by Rescue Monkey of Paramedic:Life on the Streets


From the Old School section-

“The smoke level now was to the floor as I grasped the hose line to find my way out. The urge to rip off my mask was strong but my training had taught me this would be fatal for sure.”

by HMHQ Contributor the Angry Captain


and finally, from the Hmmm…that looks wrong category

“A back board was brought up and one of the other Paramedics on the engine teams attended to him pulling off his jacket.  Justin asked us if the building was still on fire. We we told him that yes, it was still on fire, he asked us to put his jacket back on. Not completely out of it.”

from yours truly and the event that launched me into the blogosphere.



Next month’s handover will be hosted by Ambulance Driver, theme TBD, watch his space for details as they develop and, above all else, be safe.

HM Clear.

Posted by happymedic on November 27, 2009 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, Command & Leadership, EMS Health & Safety, EMS Topics, Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighter Safety & Health, Firefighting Operations, Fires, Line of Duty, Patient Management, Rescues, Technology & Communications, The Handover, Uncategorized, technology-communications-ems-topics, the Angry Captain, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: ,

the Angry Captain’s Close Call

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The Angry Captain is on sceneThis month’s EMS Blog Carnival, the Handover, will be hosted here and the theme is “Close Calls.”  With November in the US including Thanksgiving, I thought what better time to share an experience when we had that thought go through our mind “I/they might not make it.”

Send in your submissions about a time when you, a patient, or someone you know had a close call and I’ll put them together to share.  If just one person can use that information to make their job safer, then we’ll have succeeded.

So with that theme in mind, here is the Angry Captain’s Close Call.

8:30 pm February 1982

The call:  Structure fire, “house across the street has black smoke coming from it.”

It is a cold winter night with temperatures well below freezing; we are in a relief unit that had no inboard seats so I was belted in on the tailboard. On arrival, we found a residence with black smoke pouring from the rear.  Reportedly, no one was home.

The home is typical for the area in that the base of the home started as a house trailer with several additions around it. As the first engine to arrive, we pulled a 200’ preconnect and forced entry on a side door that appeared to be the entry. The captain and I crawled in below the smoke and worked our way through a maze of doorways to what appeared to be a fully involved kitchen area. The ceiling was flashing over as I trained the nozzle at the base of the fire. Suddenly, my air pack warning bell went off.

We could not have been on air much longer than 5-10 minutes. I patted the captain on the back to notify him that we needed to back out. He gestured for me to head out and took the nozzle from me. My training from my previous department was never to leave anyone alone in a fire. As I turned, my air pack quit entirely; no air at all.  The smoke level now was to the floor as I grasped the hose line to find my way out. The urge to rip off my mask was strong but my training had taught me this would be fatal for sure. Holding my breath was all I could do as I struggled to focus on following the line out amid my disorientation from lack of oxygen. As I moved along, I remember hearing a loud mechanical sound further confusing my strange journey through this black maze. The sound grew louder as I slowly followed the hose line hand over hand in the seemingly longest moments of my life.

Suddenly light appeared as the noise grew to a roar, but I crawled out, finally ripping off my face mask, gasping for air, and collapsing in a snow bank. My next memory was lying on the gurney in the back of the ambulance.  At the hospital, they ran blood gas tests and flooded me with plenty of O2. As my color returned to normal (apparently I was quite gray), I was told that they found me outside our entry point where the truck had hung a mechanical fan at the top of the doorway for ventilation. (The loud disorientating mechanical sound.) I am not sure how long it was that I lay there in the snow bank before I was noticed.  But Mrs. AC got the frightening call about 11 pm to pick me up at the hospital….no one likes that call.

Lessons learned:

1.       The air pack I was wearing was found to be working properly back in a warm station house and in fact still had about ½ its air. The speculation at the time was that the moisture in the diaphragm froze causing it to stop the air flow.  Had it been checked at the scene, it could have provided the exact problem.

2.       Never allow a member to leave alone or leave a member alone in a fire. This was long before 2 in 2 out.

3.       Always follow your training; i.e. following the hose line out and keeping your mask on in heavy smoke.

4.       Do not block the egress of the hose line with ventilation. Had I been on all fours coming out feeling ahead with my hands, my fingers may have been lost to the whirling fan.

This was a true wake up call for me and cemented in my mind how important my training had been and how things can go wrong in a matter of seconds.

Posted by happymedic on November 7, 2009 • Filed under: Command & Leadership, Fire, Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighter Safety & Health, Firefighting Operations, Fires, The Handover, Training & Development, the Angry Captain, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: , ,

Hi…Fire Alarm

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blogengineIn the early 20th century most municipalities were encouraged by multiple fatality fires to take note of fire safety in public places.  Some of these ideas included not locking exit doors, marking said doors, building standpipes and installing high tech fire alarms.  But none of this matters if people ignore the bells and flashing lights when the alarms sound.

THE EMERGENCY

Automatic alarm activation at an elementary school

THE ACTION

I’ve only seen half a dozen actual fires in a school during the school day, one of those when I was a student.  Surprisingly, way back then, they didn’t activate the fire alarm evacuation, but instead chose to shelter the students in place.

Back to today.

I am  an imposing figure in full gear.  I have been known to scare small children visiting the firehouse when I am geared up.  When we arrive on the scene of a reported fire we take it seriously since most of our City is made of 100 year old wood and spaced 1/8″ apart.  The alarm bell is ringing and strobe lights flashing when the engine arrives.

The usual administrator, hand held radio to her ear, is meeting us at the alarm panel as our officer investigates the source of the alarm.  As he does that I hear the truck company arriving and grab another administrator, similar radio and stance and ask what I thought was an important question.

“Has the school been evacuated?”  All I was thinking about was back in 8th grade when they ignored the plan.

“Yes, it’s clear.” She tells me, and you already know where this story is going.

“General alarm, second floor” the officer calls out and I gather my tools and away I go.  I have my usual 40 lbs of turnout gear, helmet, 40 lb airpack, flat head axe and 10 gallon water can in hand.  My eyes are flying around the hallway looking for smoke, flames, a pulled hand alarm station or the tell tale red light on a smoke detector.  As my eyes are moving they come across a human form in the hallway who sees me and quickly turns away.

“Hi…Fire alarm, you need to evacuate the building.”  Maybe she didn’t hear me.

“Hi,” I reach her and look into the classroom directly in front of her. “Fire ala…Hi there, Fire Department, those lights and the alarm mean you need to leave the building,” I said to the half dozen adults and TWO CHILDREN sitting in the classroom.

“Oh, OK, we thought it was a false alarm, so-” she began, but I had no patience for the example they were setting.

“Now.  Down the steps to the front. Now, thank you.” I said with what I perceived as forceful, but kind.  Standing 6′3″, 6′8″ with helmet and all that gear, I hoped to put the fear of those trapped in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory into them, but I likely only made them uneasy for a few minutes.

Back downstairs a few minutes later without signs of a fire, I inform the officer of the folks upstairs and he spun on a top to the administrators, radios still to their ears.

I didn’t hear the entire conversation, by choice, as I see people squirm enough in the ambulance, but I can only hope it was something out of an episode of Hell’s Kitchen.

Posted by happymedic on October 28, 2009 • Filed under: Fire, Fire Prevention & Education, Firefighting Operations • Tagged: ,

You Make the Call…Garden Apartments…What Happened

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You Make the CallA 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.

Posted by happymedic on October 26, 2009 • Filed under: Command & Leadership, Fire, Firefighting Operations, You Make the Call • Tagged: ,

You Make the Call…Garden Apartments

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You Make the CallYou are the Officer assigned to a three person engine company dispatched for a reported oven fire.  On arrival you find a large courtyard style apartment complex with a main front pedestrian entrance leading to a large 75 by 75 foot courtyard, at least 50 feet from your location out front.

In the back of the complex you see a fully involved unit with smoke and flames showing from the door and front window.  The manager states the occupants have escaped and are in his office, accounted for.  There are stairs on the B side of the inner courtyard leading to the second floor.

Does your preconnect make the stretch?  If not, what will you deploy?

You make the call.

Posted by happymedic on October 23, 2009 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, Firefighting Operations, You Make the Call • Tagged:

You Make the Call…Smoke Showing…What Happened

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Seems every time we put a fresh pot of coffee on, something comes in.

In this scenario I was actually the eager young fellow out in front of the station reading the smoke in the early morning hours. I was beside myself when the boss looked over to me and told me we were out of service and there are other companies to cover it. But, the red stuff, it’s…red and burning and hot and stuff. Huff.

My jaw was on the floor. I wanted to throw the radios back in our coats and head over there. I don’t need my ALS kits at a working fire, that’s what ambulances are for.

If you said hang back, you made his call.
However,
If I was in the seat that morning we’d be right back in service on the air and responding if we were due. I think most of us work in a place where if you can see the smoke, chances are you’re due.

If you said get off your butt, there’s a fire, you made my call.

A quick note on our You Make the Call series. There are often comments about not knowing my situation or my SOPs, etc, etc. The point of these situations is to get us thinking about what WE would do in our own districts with our own SOPs, staffing, equipment, etc. Don’t wonder what I did, tell me what YOU would do. Hence the “YOU” Make the Call.

Posted by happymedic on September 28, 2009 • Filed under: Fire, Firefighter Safety & Health, Firefighting Operations, You Make the Call • Tagged:

Rules for Covering-In

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Different places might call it different things, but here when one company is called to respond for another, it is called Covering-In. Our dispatch system already knows who will cover for who depending on the severity of the incident. Most commonly used when greater alarm fires are transmitted, this system puts companies into the effected area to maintain basic coverage.

We are dispatched as follows: “This is a directed cover for Engine 99 to the quarters of Engine 77, Engine 99 you are now first due in place of Engine 77.” And we head over to Station 77.

There are rules you should follow when covering-in.

1. Get the map book from the office and put it on your rig, after looking it over. Maybe you’re lucky enough to come from a nearby area and know the neighborhood you’re covering, but if not, become best friends with that book if you’re the driver.

2. Cover the food. If they were in the middle of a meal when the bells rang, cover their plates and tend to the food left out. Do not eat the food, they’re expecting it to be there when they return, so go out and get your own food.

3. Make up a hose pack. If your department has a standard strapped hose load, make a new one so the company can go back in service faster when they return. Make it up or ensure there is enough line to restock their pre-connects and get it ready.

4. Don’t sleep in their beds. If you’re stuck there overnight, you get to sleep in a chair. Do you want some stranger sleeping in your bunk? Didn’t think so.

5. Secure the house and the yard. Make sure all the doors are closed and locked (and that you can get back in) and cars in the lot are secure. Goodness only knows what they were doing when the call came in.

6. Make a fresh pot of coffee. Also check for bottled water and put some in the fridge.

7. Post a night watch. This person will be pre-selected to answer the phone, front door and monitor the radio to wake the crew when the home company is returning. That way they return to lights on, fresh coffee and extra hands to help get back in service.

8. Check the washing machine and dishwasher. Do basic chores to make less work for your co-workers when they return, likely exhausted.

9. Keep a log of any supplies you use while gone, from coffee to medical supplies.

10. Before leaving, make sure there is nothing else you can do for that company including chores, dishes, cooking, anything. Pay it forward. Do onto others, etc etc.

Posted by happymedic on September 26, 2009 • Filed under: Administrative, Command & Leadership, Firefighting Operations, Special Call • Tagged:

You Make the Call…Smoke Showing

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Congratulations on making it through your first shift as the Engine Boss. Yesterday went well and here you are at 6 AM stripping the radios and whatnot from the engine as she is due at the yard for an oil change.

Just as you finish removing the ALS bags, defib, radios and headsets, a call comes over the radio for a reported working fire in the next district over. You are out of service for the yard, made the call not 5 minutes ago.

Not thinking much of it at first you go back to your morning paper. The first engine to go enroute on the air reports heavy smoke showing as they pull out of quarters. One of your firefighters has come running back in as you take your first sip of coffee and tells you it looks to be on the border of your two jurisdictions, maybe even closer to you.

“Are we going on this or what?” He has his pants and coat on.

You make the call.

Posted by happymedic on September 25, 2009 • Filed under: Firefighting Operations, You Make the Call • Tagged:

…building alarm box…

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blogengineThe alarm machine called us, so this isn’t a funny call story, but a notice to other firefighters to think about WHY alarms go off.

And to let you know that one person actually evacuated when the alarm went off a the 10 story apartment building. A clear sign people are learning what that loud buzzing means.

THE EMERGENCY

Automatic alarm activation in 10 story multi-residential type 1. Alarm panel indicates single smoke detector on the third floor.

THE ACTION

We’re the first engine in and up to the third floor we go. There is only one person standing out in the cold, wrapped in a blanket, asking if she can go back in yet. Clearly she’s from out of town, likely a new student at the nearby college.

Roaming the hallways we see no signs of smoke or fire, only the flashing strobes and blaring buzzer. We can barely communicate it is so loud.
Looking from detector to detector for the indicator light showing it is the one tripped, we see nothing. The ladder company finally silences the alarm but the system will not reset.
Assuming the alarm is confused, we search the floor above and below finding nothing. There has been some wall refinishing in one area of the third floor, but the areas smell of paint instead of dust.

Downstairs, the alarm will not reset and the Chief wants us back up to take another look around just to be sure. No one will answer their door, but all the doors on the floor are cool to touch and have no odor coming from them.

I decided to slowly walk looking for anything out of the ordinary, not just signs of fire.

It was on this walk I noticed a faint over spray near one of the detectors. Looking closer and reaching up I felt the reason…wet paint. Someone spray painted only the sensor part of the detector, including the light that indicates it is faulty. We called up the building engineer who said he’d get to it whenever.

After picking our jaws back up off the floor we explained that the giant building’s alarm system was not working and he doesn’t want to wait on this repair, but get to it immediately.

On the ride down (elevator down of course) we could only think of 2 reasons to spray paint a smoke detector:

  1. You like to smoke in the hallway.
  2. You plan on burning the building down and are testing response times.

We’re hoping for the former.
Although when it really is a fire, more folks might leave the building when the alarm sounds.

Posted by happymedic on March 25, 2009 • Filed under: Fire, Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighter Safety & Health, Firefighting Operations • Tagged:

…to investigate the smoke alarm…

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blogengineThe following tale is told not because we are reminded to always leave the engine with a tool; Not because we were the only ones to bring water to the fire; Not because you need to be careful when extinguishing burning wax, but because of how determined the owner was to “let us in.”

THE EMERGENCY
A caller states, “Smoke alarm downstairs is beeping and the unit feels like smoke.” Not smells, but “feels.”

THE ACTION

We are second due in the first alarm compliment. It is early evening on a calm winter night, no wind. First engine reports smoke showing from a garage, no fire noted. We kick it up a gear. Our assignment as second in is to supply the first in engine so we pull past them and to the hydrant, it’s a short pull.
The first in engine is at the garage door, peering in, we see no smoke. I grab my airpack, buckle the hip belt (like so many forget) and BAM! axe holster. Noting a heavy fuel load and no pre-connected line stretched yet, I reach for the pump can and away we go. Since our job is to back up the first line, and there is no first line, we’re searching for the seat of the fire.
In this shotgun style house, the garage and attached area reaches back maybe 60 feet, on average, and can be dotted with small closets and in most cases small illegal apartments. As we pass the halfway point the smoke has forced us to our knees and we have yet to find the fire. Smoke is mostly light, grey, but no heat.

We have good communications, no one is panicing, a plan has been made and is clear. As I’m reaching past some debris to see how deep the closet is I feel a touch on my shoulder from behind.

It’s a civilian. “I need to get to my unit and let you in” he mumbles as he begins to push past me into the closet. This guy is clearly altered and where on earth did he come from? He’s got keys in his leading hand and before I can react he suddenly disappears into the closet, gone. My officer and I decide to give chase in the most unusual search and rescue I’ve been involved in in some time. Turns out what we thought was a closet was simply a jog in the hallway with heavy painter’s canvas leaning in all directions. As I pass through, axe and pump can in tow, I see the occupant near another door near what must now be the back of the garage. Smoke is thicker and warmer here.
The man is trying to unlock the door when the officer reaches him first and pushes him forcefully out the back door, immediately ventilating the small, cramped hallway.
It also introduced fresh air to the fire area because the heat intensified behind the slightly open basement apartment door.

We found the fire.

The team now behind me started calling back for a line to be charged.
“We got it! Hand in a nozzle! We need a line in here.”
My officer sticks his head in from outside and screams, “Did no one think to bring water to the fire?”
“I got this Cap’n” already footing the door open and peaking in I see what used to be a candle on what is still mostly a dresser, all standing beneath what might have been a curtain.
Not 30 seconds of quick bursts and the fire was out. Well before the line made it in.
When I hit the dresser the first time, I knew the wax would scatter, but I had no idea how neat it would look. It was similar to throwing water on a grease fire, only the wax cooled as it flew.

I tried to help overhaul but the man in the back yard needed my particular attentions at that time.
Turns out he ws fine, mentally sound, simply wanted to make sure we opened the door instead of breaking down the door. Not sure why, exactly, since the landlord now will have to explain why this guy was paying rent on a tiny little illegal bedroom in the back of a garage.
At the end of it all I didn’t have a single drop of candle wax or water on my gear. The folks cleaning up were covered in it as it was still dripping from everywhere I had spread it.

Before you all start commenting about “You weren’t on air?” and “No charged line?” We were on our knees to maintain clear visibility due to all the junk in this garage. On a similar note, dragging a charged attack line around a crowded area can prove dangerous. There should have been someone assigned to bring it in, and there may have been, but I never heard if there was.

I mention this incident here because it was hilarious to hear the Captain the next night tell the story of a man just wandering into a closet and disappearing, “And me and my medic say, let’s see where it goes! Sure as hell it goes to the fire!”

Posted by happymedic on February 13, 2009 • Filed under: Fire, Fire Prevention & Education, Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighter Safety & Health, Firefighting Operations • Tagged:

…for the vehicle fire…

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blog engine

So many dangers these days with flammable bumpers, exploding pistons and a full load of cardboard…wait…say that again?

THE EMERGENCY
A passerby has noticed a pickup truck on fire on a residential street

THE ACTION
It’s late at night and we arrive to find a large pick up truck built up in the back to transport large amounts of cardboard for recycling, rolling pretty good. As the officer calls for the bumper line I look over to the firefighter on the other side of the engine and see an empty seat and an open door as the engine rolls to a slow stop. As usual, I don’t move until I hear the brake. It’s a habit.

He’s out in front struggling to free the bumper line so I decide to check the cab of the truck, more out of curiosity than anything else when I see a head, connected to a body, resting on the open window edge of the door.
“Hey!” I call to him with no response. I realized later that if the siren didn’t wake him, my voice won’t.
I open the door and pull him out into the quiet street where the boss watches over him.
The other firefighter is just beginning to stretch the line as I return to help with the layout. Looking over the driver is fine, rubbing his eyes, clearly tired, but uninjured.

It took almost an hour to pull all the cardboard out and soak it down. The fire was intense and burned a lot of cardboard but, amazingly, the truck was rather unscathed, aside from a little discoloration.
“Why so fast out of the engine?” I asked later as we were loading up.
“Wanted to beat you to the nozzle.” Was his smiling response.
“You can have it if you promise to wait until the engine stops to get out.”

He never replied and I’m sure still jumps out first chance.

Posted by happymedic on January 25, 2009 • Filed under: Fire, Firefighting Operations, Fires • Tagged: