Question: Looking to conduct some training on the subject of large-area searches.  I am having a huge amount of trouble finding any resources on the subject.  Do you have anything to share on this subject?

Answer: You sure hit the country hard with this question. I will try to give you some information that was learned in New York City. Whew!

Anyway, any time you need to search a fire building that has a complicated layout, is below grade, or has compartments larger than a room in the average dwelling you need a team-search procedure. I ask participants in every class or seminar at which I preside if they are equipped to do so in their department, and the answer, more than 90 percent of the time, is no! We have lost firefighters all over the United States because of getting lost in fire buildings. The most recent and saddest tragedy of all was in Worchester, Mass.

Anyway, once your objective is clear — warehouse, commercial office building, school basement, ship at the dock and more — you need to assemble logistics and personnel. You need a minimum of three people to begin to perform a methodical and efficient examination of such areas.

Put a large lamp in the doorway you are entering. Have a bag containing about 150-200 feet of “ready-to-deploy” search rope. This rope should be repacked after every use and weekly when not in use. Tie the line off to a substantial object 2 to 3 feet above ground. Three to five more protected personnel enter.

The person in charge (designated by rank or by incident commander, but he or she must remain in charge) moves into the charged area, stops and ties off about 25 or 30 feet inside. Firefighters leave the leader and peel off on each side of the rope; they are tethered with their personal utility line of about 25 feet.

The search pattern that is often effective is the semi-circle that is used by divers. They move into the occupancy in ever-increasing semi-circles until they run out of rope or finish and return to the main rope and announce they have returned. The leader moves another segment and ties off, and repeats.

When it is time to leave — SCBA out of air or successful location and removal of a victim, or whatever — the team exits together after tying off the line and leaving the bag. The relief team just follows the rope to the final location and continues as above.

Easy, right?

Question: I am a career firefighter in Virginia, and while I am home I serve as the volunteer fire chief in my small and rural department. In keeping with my fireground philosophy of “keeping it simple as possible,” I believe that the first hose line stretched into a dwelling fire should be advanced to operate between the probable occupants and the threatening fire condition. This sometimes is in conflict with the theory of advancing the nozzle from the “unburned side.” Today I responded to a typical two-story private dwelling, platform construction, two-car attached garage, peak roof with dormers; exposures B and D were similar construction and about 30 feet from the fire building. There was a moderate smoke condition showing through an open front door and an open garage door on my arrival — first unit on the scene. I gave a preliminary report and established command and “took a look” while units were still responding. Through the moderate smoke at the front door you could make out the open stair to the second floor and fire was “licking” out of the cellar entrance beneath and to the rear of the staircase and rolling to the foyer. The first engine arrived. I ordered the first officer to stretch the first line to the fire at the top of the cellar stairs and protect the interior and the open stair to the second floor. This officer and his crew took this line into the open garage, into the house and made a U-turn into the hallway and attacked the fire extending out of the cellar stair entrance. The stream caused the front door to slam shut and lock. The venting fire now pressurized the interior and the second floor via the open stair and cause some steam conditions to surround the firefighters. When confronted by me, this officer said that he wanted to attack the fire from the Unburned Side and did not agree with my tactical decision. I can see the validity of the unburned-side theory, but that is not the only thing upon which you base your attack tactics to support the offensive strategy. How do you know what to base your initial line placement on? How do you debate this topic with someone who refuses to take all the factors into consideration (the first-arriving line officer)?

Answer: Oh man! Oh man! Do you have problems!

From my perspective you have two. Let’s take the simple one first!

Once you plan an offensive interior attack on or at a structure that appears to be occupied or can be occupied, the first handline has objectives based on the fire condition, the type of structure, and the life hazard seen, life hazard perceived, and structural salvage considerations in that order.

To be short, the first line is stretched to protect the occupants from the fire. It is stretched so that the nozzle will basically split the fire and push it away from the victims and give them time to be removed or rescued.

The second consideration is to stretch to protect the open interior stair. Get the line between the stair and the extending fire condition — in this case, the open cellar stair.

The third and last consideration for the first handline at a structure fire that will be fought offensively is to protect the most unaffected area from the extending fire. In short, again, stretch to cut off the fire from the largest amount of fuel left still unburned.

So in my opinion, you were correct! The whole preparation you performed was correct! You appear to have your head together and are a good officer. Up to a point.

Which brings us to the biggest problem you have! The company officer!

His function is not to debate your order after size-up and command establishment. Period! What you have here is insubordination at the grossest level! It must be dealt with pronto!

You have described the worst case of breakdown and collapse of command. And this is in the easiest place to assert your professionalism as a chief and orchestrate the firefight. It gets harder in routine operations with no fire!

This fire officer (?) is probably your worst problem in the station, at meetings, at social functions, at parades, at drills, everywhere! Besides, not only does the rest of the department know it, but also they watch every move you make in anticipation that you straighten out the situation once and for all.

The good side of this is, “Don’t worry!” You are not alone! How do you think that it was so easy for me to “see” the problem jump off the paper you sent?

We have all been there. Don’t stay there too long, brother!

Question: In a video on ventilation, the statement was made that choice of vertical or horizontal ventilation was determined by building construction. I was always of the opinion that horizontal ventilation was sufficient and first performed on most all of our structure fires. I was surprised when you said that vertical was first to perform in almost all cases and immediately! We had been talking about private dwellings, and you additionally said that the difference in the emphasis was weather the structure was balloon or platform construction. This exchange left me wondering, What did I miss? When a two-and-a-half- or three-story private dwelling has a large living space on the top floor, does that automatically signify balloon construction? I am picturing construction of the building having the peaked ceiling of the top floor as the underside of the roof joists. Given the manpower issues, wouldn’t the size of the windows on sides 1 and 3 of the third floor be the determining factor in choosing horizontal or vertical ventilation priorities? I have read reams of stuff on ventilation of fire buildings and don’t understand why a neighboring chief balked at my theory on horizontal ventilation instead of vertical as the top priority on the fire ground. Does the size of the windows give an indication? I just never tied ventilation to building construction types. What is your opinion, Chief?

Answer: Sorry readers! I usually try to edit the letters a little to make all of you understand the problem as I see it. But this is a doozy! I had to leave it intact.

First, you are correct when you state that ventilation techniques and priorities depend on building construction AND fire location.

Cut the roof if the fire is under the roof. Don’t cut the roof if fire is not on the top floor. Vertical ventilation can usually be started before handlines are stretched and without direct orders. These are a few of the rules that guide us at structure fires.

Second, there are refinements to those, and one of the rules is that vertical ventilation is conducted first. EXCEPT in three instances:

1. Fires in peak roof, platform-construction, private dwellings.

2. True high-rise structures — usually over 75 to 100 feet.

3. Operations in structures wherein there is an odor of leaking product — gas or liquid.

(More on this at a later date. It would take the whole column to explain — trust me.)

Now let’s get to the heart of your question (I think). Balloon construction is older construction and basically abandoned after the beginning of the 1930’s because wood no longer was available long and straight enough.

The vertical walls were made of one-piece studding that was more than 20 feet in length. These studs were extended uninterrupted from cellar plate to roof plate and met the angled joists of the peak roof. Roofs were massive and constructed of more than one gable. Most have front porches and a myriad of interior construction voids and features unique to the era.

The fire problem here is that fire can breach the outer wall and travel rapidly anywhere it wants and is guaranteed to arrive at the attic in short order.

Under pressure of the attic roof, it is forced to break out on any interior wall on any side of the building.

The only tactic that will slow this explosive fire problem is vertical ventilation at the ridgepole of the highest peak on the roof. It relieves the mushrooming pressure and the force on the fire to extend across the attic and down the other sides and across the open floor joists.

Third, ventilation never does depend on the size of the window openings on the sides of the structure. Except for above, plan to vertically ventilate almost all structures to support an offensive strategy. Without it you will be changing the strategy in short order.

The short story on vertical ventilation is:

1. Get there.

2. Open anything that will provide an artery to the fire area. Bulkhead doors, skylights, scuttles, shafts, ventilation fixtures.

3. Cut the roof if you can open the fire floor to the outside air. This refers only to fires on the top floor of multi-story buildings that are not high-rise, to one-story buildings, and to balloon-constructed private dwellings.

There is so much more to this subject, but I just wanted to hit the “experienced basics”; the other stuff you can get from textbooks with pictures.

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