Andy’s Ambassadors

For the past several months, I have been thinking and searching for a meaningful topic to submit to my brothers at Fire Nuggets. Ted Corporandy and Paul Schuller have been very patient with me, but have remained tenacious with their requests of me, as I continue to procrastinate and miss deadline after deadline for submission. I always say that I will get an article ready for the next issue, but then I seem to get involved with another house project, fire department project, or whatever happens to be the current demand in my life. Then it just puts me that many more months in debt to my brothers at Fire Nuggets. So here goes, finally.

As I reach the completion of my first year as a district chief on the Denver Fire Department, my mind is continually swimming with thoughts and “firenuggets” which I would like to share. However, I place most of these on the back burner, in an effort to first share those items that always seem to rise to the top of my list.

Like many of my brothers out there, I am still, frequently thinking of the events of September 11, 2001. Specifically, I think of my friend and brother Andy Fredericks and the positive impact he had on my career and my life as both a friend and fire service brother. Many of our brothers have written articles in regard to nozzles and made dedications to Andy regardless of the subject. My intention here is not to repeat what you have already heard or read, but to build on what other brothers have said, specifically the recent Fire Nuggets article by my brother and friend Captain Tim Adams, Sacramento City Fire Department, Engine Co. 6.

Consider this a story about my friendship with Andy and our continued work to carry on Andy’s work by teaching and spreading a most critical message to our brothers throughout the American fire service.

Like several generations of firefighters over the past twenty to thirty years, I was initially raised and taught to fight fires with combination fog nozzles. In fact, as a brand new firefighter in a 1982, I had no idea there was any other type of nozzle out there other than the combination fog. I was taught to use a wide 60-degree fog pattern for fire attack, with a very strong emphasis on preventing any and all water damage. I was also taught to use the fog stream as a water curtain to protect exposures, and furthermore, I was taught to use a fog pattern to protect myself from the fire in front of me.

I remember my first experience with the propane Christmas Tree. What a fantastic and exhilarating training experience that was for a young firefighter, especially during a night-training drill. Twenty years later, I am still anxiously waiting to be dispatched to a Propane Christmas Tree on fire.

In the mid-Eighties, after taking several major beatings at various different structure fires, I was finally taught a very valuable, but hard, lesson. While using water fog (the way I was taught), I sustained serious steam burns to my ears and neck. I wasn’t injured seriously enough to warrant a hospital stay, rehabilitation, or skin graphs, Thank God, but nevertheless, it was a painful and embarrassing experience. It was also the beginning of my quality education regarding fire streams, fire attack, and overall fire ground operations.

My most important mentor throughout my life, both personally and professionally has always been my father. Pat McGrail is a retired division chief of the Denver Fire Department, who worked 42 years before he retired. He never missed a shift in that entire 42 years. He never called in sick and always worked on the busiest fire companies in the city.

While trying for several years to get hired by the Denver Fire Department, I was fortunate enough to get hired on a smaller suburban fire department in the Denver metropolitan area. My father allowed me to find my own way and make mistakes along the way in order to gain my own experience. However, he was always available to answer questions and give advice.

With a bright red neck, blistered and swollen ears, I felt and probably looked a little like “Spock” from StarTrek. It was certainly impossible to hide the mistake of my inexperience from anyone, especially my father. His questions were not to belittle or poke fun at me, but rather designed to help me gain knowledge. “What size line were you using?” he asked. Followed up by “what type nozzle was at the end of that line?” These simple questions were the keys to solving what I would later learn to be a significant problem throughout the American fire service, but also a problem with a very common sense and simple solution.

It’s been many years ago, but it seems like yesterday that I learned how dangerous it was to trust a 1½-inch attack handline, with a 95 gpm 100 psi combination fog nozzle between me and a much more formidable opponent. It was after that experience that I decided to dedicate my career to the study of fire streams, nozzles, handlines, and the various other critical components of the engine company.

Little did I know that at the same time a young firefighter by the name of Andy Fredericks was making his way into our great profession. Andy’s dream was to become a New York City fireman. Like me, Andy had to work for many years to achieve his dream, working in both the volunteer sector as well as a medium-sized fire department in Virginia before his appointment to the FDNY.

Over the years, I gained as much knowledge as possible from my mentors, classes, seminars, books, videos, and my own personal firefighting experiences. I was also a dedicated reader of the periodicals, including Fire Engineering magazine. After working at a serious high-rise fire in 1991, I submitted what would become my first article to Fire Engineering. Thanks to Bill Manning, I was able to get into the loop, which would lead to many great opportunities including my association with Andy Fredericks.

I felt that my knowledge and experience base in regard to engine company operations, handlines, and nozzles was strong; but there was always room for improvement. In 1996, I was quickly thumbing through the latest edition of Fire Engineering when I came across an article entitled “Return of the Solid Stream.” Needless to say, I stopped at that page, sat down, and for the next half-hour I read all of the information that I wished I could put down on paper and express to others. This guy, Andy Fredericks, was saying everything I believed but could never quite express in such an awesome and professional manner. I thought, "Who is this guy and where is he from?"

Andrew A. Fredericks, from FDNY Engine Co. 48, the bio read. With some additional research, I quickly found out that FDNY Engine Co. 48 was a very busy Bronx engine company that worked many serious fires on a regular basis. Fredericks was obviously a man with a strong formal education who could eloquently express his message and had the down-and-dirty firefighting background gained in the hallways of many a Bronx tenement to backup every word.

I was so moved by the article that I immediately got on the phone in an effort to express my thanks to Andy Fredericks and hopefully learn more from him. I reached Bill Manning and got a phone number. I called and got Andy’s wife at home, and she was kind enough to give me the telephone number to Engine Co. 48. We talked for quite some time. It was a great conversation, and, at the end, I knew that I had a new friend and ally in the effort to move the American fire service and my own fire department forward with regard to fire streams and fire attack. At that time, I had no idea how powerful Andy Fredericks’s message would become and how many men he would eventually reach.

Our friendship grew over time, and we would both call one another on a regular basis to share information, ask questions, or simply say hello. Andy continued to produce additional articles with an emphasis on the engine company message. Before long, his name would be recognized by anyone dedicated to our profession and their own personal professional development.

I really wanted to meet Andy in person, so my father and I made our way out to the “Big Apple” to attend an FDNY seminar on high-rise operations. While in New York, we made contact with Andy and caught a ride up to the Bronx to Engine Co 48’s firehouse on Webster Avenue. The standard FDNY hospitality took over, and we were treated like kings. The men at Engine 48 and Ladder 56 invited us to stay for dinner, and basically gave us the key to the Bronx. We talked with Andy and the brothers at the kitchen table for hours. It was an awesome experience. Andy’s boss that night was Lieutenant Billy McGinn. Another great fireman, who I would become friends with and look forward to seeing each year in Indianapolis at the Fire Department Instructors Conference (FDIC). Billy attended my presentation at FDIC that first year. I was extremely flattered that a lieutenant from one of the busiest fire companies in the world would honor me with his presence in my class. Billy is just one of many great men I have come to know through my association with Andy. Andy and Billy would die together as part of the brave Squad 18 team on that terrible day in September, 2001. I am so very proud to have known such great men.

During our visit to New York, Andy invited us to his home in upstate New York for dinner. After getting lost, and going over the Tapanzee Bridge about four times, paying the toll each time, we finally made it to Andy’s house. Hey, two guys, two firemen, are definitely not going to stop and ask for directions. Andy and his wife provided great hospitality. They fed us a great meal, and once again we talked shop for hours.

After our visit to New York City, things really started to take off for me. Andy invited me to be a part of his engine company Hands On Training (H.O.T.) Team at the FDIC. You can’t even begin to imagine how much of an honor this was for me. It was the beginning of one of the greatest adventures of my life. Andy thought enough of me to give me the honor to join his team as we spread the engine company message. The list of great men I have become friends with through Andy is too long to list in this article. But believe me, they are the “Dream Team” firemen from their respective fire departments. And what Andy started continues to grow today through each of them.

We are now “Andy’s Ambassadors.” These great men are all across the American fire service, from coast to coast. And you can become one too! It starts when you make the decision to dedicate yourself and your life to our great profession, and specifically the engine company operation. Proper nozzle and hose-line selection, with a good stretch and advancement of that weapon. You put it all together with an appropriate fire attack by locating, confining, and extinguishing the uncontrolled nature.

I was recently given the honor of speaking at the Boise Fire Department’s Seventh Annual Fire Safety Symposium. My new friend and brother Tracy Raynor, division chief of training, Boise F.D. invited me to this year’s symposium. It was an absolutely fantastic experience. Brother Raynor is one of Andy’s Ambassadors too.

During the symposium, I spoke about Andy and his hard work toward educating us in the American fire service. I told the brothers in that audience that if they really wanted to honor Andy’s memory, they could begin by removing their automatic combination fog nozzles from their high-rise standpipe hose packs.

The tragic One Meridian Plaza Fire occurred over ten years ago in the City of Philadelphia. Three brother firefighters died in that fire. Even after that tragedy, a NIOSH Alert Bulletin, NFPA #14, and all of the information available to us throughout the American fire service, including all of Andy’s hard work, and the deadly combination of 1¾-inch hose and automatic combination fog nozzles still exists on many, if not most, high-rise standpipe hose packs of fire departments all across the country. What a terrible shame! We can’t bring Andy back, but we can honor him by learning from him and our own past experiences.

If you want to become one of Andy’s Ambassadors, begin with some research. Start with “Return of the Solid Steam” and read all of Andy’s articles he wrote for and were published by Fire Engineering magazine. The FE web site will guide you by the author’s name in your search for these articles, what year, which month, etc. Also, Andy worked for hours to produce several videos regarding Stretching and Advancing Handlines, as well as his video on Fire Attack. All are Fire Engineering/Pennwell Videos. And NO, I am not the marketing director for FE or PW, but I am one of Andy’s Ambassadors, and you must hear his message! If you’re reading this as a Fire Nuggets member, then you can quickly go to the archives and read several articles Andy produced for Fire Nuggets.

If you never had the opportunity to listen to Andy or see him in person, I am truly sorry. He was a fantastic speaker. The rooms at the FDIC were standing-room-only with men spilling out into the main hallway. I truly regret not getting Andy out to Denver to speak before we lost him. Whatever it is, don’t put it off, do it today, “carpe diem.”

After the FDIC-West in Sacramento, Spring of 2001, Andy and I were invited by Brother Tom Murray, (retired San Francisco captain, and one of Andy’s Ambassadors) to speak at a S.F.F.D. Training Program. Once again, a great honor. Especially great for me because I had the opportunity to share the stage with Andy Fredericks, just a few months before we would lose him.

Andy had rented a car in Sacramento, and we drove from Sacramento to San Francisco together. We talked about everything during that drive, including nozzles. Tom Murray treated Andy and me, along with several other great brothers to dinner at Izzies Steak House in the Marina District. We spent the night at Tom’s Command, Engine 39. It was a great time, and I will always remember my time spent with Andy.

In late June of 2001, the weekend before the Fourth of July, I was in New York for the FDIC Educational Advisory Board meeting. Andy and I were both members of this Advisory Board. After the meeting, my father flew out to Newark. I picked him up, and we buffed in New York City all weekend. We put 500 miles on the rental car in two days and nights, saw some fires, and caught up with many good friends and brothers. Our last stop was Squad 18 in Lower Manhattan on our way to Newark Airport late Monday afternoon. We visited with Andy; he busted my chops; and I busted his. As we pulled away from Squad 18’s quarters, my father yelled out, “Hey Andy,” and took Andy’s picture as he waved goodbye to us. That would be the last time we would see Andy.

Back at home in Denver we went through the developed photos, and I quickly went past the photo of Andy in front of the firehouse, not giving it a second thought. After September 11, that photo means more to me than I would have ever imagined.

I was in the shower at home on September 11. It was my day off, and it was also my wife Gina and my wedding anniversary, so I was attempting to get my act together and figure out a gift. She called me and told me to turn on the TV. My reaction was the same as yours, disbelief. I didn’t think the buildings would collapse, but I felt that even the experience and resources of the FDNY wouldn’t be able to stop the fire.

After the collapse, I called New York, Andy’s home. I briefly spoke with Andy’s wife Michelle. I realized she would probably be getting many phone calls, but I needed to check on Andy. I asked Michelle if Andy was safe; she said he was at work and she thought he went on the 2^nd Alarm. My heart sank, I knew he was probably gone. And he was.

It is not the one event of a day in history that defined who Andy Fredericks was. It was, in fact, his entire life, dedication to his family, and to our profession that made the man. He was a great firefighter, not only by his heroic actions that terrible day, but also by the contributions he made in his twenty-plus years in the American fire service. You can carry on his message as one of Andy’s Ambassadors. Are you up to it?

I will address the specifics on what I like to call “Proper Weapons Selection” in the next issue of Fire Nuggets. Here’s a very brief preview:

Andy proved to the fire service that we really need to be delivering water in a straight-stream pattern or from a smooth bore/solid stream nozzle for interior structural firefighting. Most fire departments and fire training schools teach straight stream water application.

If you want to make it easier on the firefighters, and lower the nozzle reaction, you can cut water volume, or nozzle pressure. The smooth bore/solid stream cuts out nozzle pressure, and keeps the volume. Lower nozzle reaction, less work, more water!

Last, the water is now being delivered in the form it should be in to begin with, thus minimizing steam production and maximizing visibility.

And, NO, Andy’s Ambassadors are not anti-fog-nozzle. We simply want our brothers to survive by choosing the proper weapon for the specific operation. More specifics next time.

I am thankful to have been given the opportunity to know Andy Fredericks. He will always be my friend and brother. I am also eternally grateful to Andy for the countless great men I now am associated with because Andy brought us all together. They are “Andy’s Ambassadors.”

May God bless Andy and his family.

Battalion Chief Dave McGrail, Denver Fire Department

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