Brennan Firepics Comments

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The late TOM BRENNAN had more than 35 years of fire service experience having responded to 33,000 fire alarms. His career spans more than 20 years with the Fire Department of New York as well as four years as chief of the Waterbury (Conn.) Fire Department. He had a bachelor of science degree, summa cum laude, John Jay College; Alumnus of the Year Award, John Jay College; chairman of the Connecticut Fire Chiefs Association and a charter member of the National Fire Protection Association, Fire Service Section. He delivered courses and seminars throughout the United States and has instructed at the National Fire Academy. He was the editor of Fire Engineering Magazine for eight years, and his column “Random Thoughts,” was a regular monthly feature. He was co-editor of The Fire Chief’s Handbook, Fifth Edition. He was the recipient of the 1998 Fire Engineering Lifetime Achievement Award.

STRATEGY AND EXPOSURE

If this fire were in your district or firefighting textbook, what would you learn about it or discuss when looking at it?

There are two excellent points in this photo. The first is fire strategy. What is the strategy in place here? About what would you concern yourself at this location if this were the condition on arrival?

Remember that there are Offensive, Offensive/Defensive, Defensive/Offensive, and Defensive strategic concepts that may be chosen or forced upon you. The titles of the strategies above indicate the goal of the tactics on the fire building and then on the exposures. In this case, it is Offensive/Defensive. The offensive interior attack is still in progress — though the interior lines may have momentarily backed down from the top-floor landing trying to get a hold on what could be a two-directional attack from the stair landing.

Second is the exposure. Because of the outside line in the picture, the attack here is momentarily defensive of the exposure. There is no doubt that it will “go” offensive as additional handlines are positioned on the interior of the top floor for extension through broken windows and exterior siding to the inside of the bearing walls on the exposure side.

The point of recognizing the ongoing and intense exposure problem in this row of frame buildings early is manpower and equipment. As soon as the strategy has two aspects — immediate need for personnel on the fire ground triples!

The second lesson here is the position of the raised ladders in this picture. The portable ladder in front of the building to the third floor indicates that this fire is ongoing and that it may have been tenable (able to be entered) a few moments ago. (By the way, incident commanders, where is the firefighter that used that ladder before your arrival?)

The position of the ladder is excellent. It was well chosen for the height. The angle is excellent for climbing. And, most important is the position of the tip at the window. The tip is at or slightly below the windowsill. It is best for entry into floor areas that are heavily exposed to fire spread. If you enter, you want your best “shot;” and that is the lowest position in the window opening. As the ladder tips extend further and further above the sill, the higher you must enter into the window and the greater will be the heat.

Another thought: if the ladder is high in the window and you are inside and must exit, how would you get out over the top of the ladder? How would you get a small child out? Never mind a lightweight adult.

The other thought is the aerial. With a top-floor fire on arrival the ventilation of the roof is paramount and ongoing for a considerable time (you need to cut top-floor-fire roofs). The aerial is to the blank side and rear of the structure. That gives the firefighters assigned to vertical ventilation the greatest amount of time to accomplish their tactics and get off the roof by ladder before the ladder is exposed to products of combustion. Should the ladder have been placed in the front of the building, the escape of these firefighters would be cut off by now.

Ciao.