Brennan Q&A October 2000

FIRENUGGETS encourages readers to submit questions to Tom. Your name and department will not be printed unless requested to do so. CLICK HERE to e-mail your questions to Tom.

TOM BRENNAN has 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 has 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 has 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, is currently a technical editor, and his column “Random Thoughts,” is a regular monthly feature. He is co-editor of The Fire Chief’s Handbook, Fifth Edition. He is the recipient of the 1998 Fire Engineering Lifetime Achievement Award.

OCTOBER 2000 - PAGE 1

Question: In the last year, I have gone to a couple of basement fires in occupied MD's (multiple dwellings), of old law construction. The buildings are from the turn of the century, having combustible stairwells. They were four stories in height. With a fire in the basement, do we "open up" all apartments above the floor above the fire? In the last couple of these fires, some of my comrades seemed to think (despite chief's orders to "check all units") that we shelter in place all tenants above the No. 2 floor. The apartments had metal doors with two or three locks a piece. As a newer fireman (6 years) on the job, I can't see how there wouldn't be a set procedure for this operation. We get these fires alot. What is your opinion on this situation? Was the chief correct to order all units to be opened up with a heavy smoke condition in the stairwell? The time was 2330 hrs, college student area, report of multiple entrapments. Fire was extinguished with two lines. The fire went for two alarms based on the life hazard. Please give me your take on this scenario.

Answer: To give you a quick answer to your question: YES!

You have to account for all spaces in this type of construction. In your letter you set up a great "tenement" situation for life loss. Old, combustible, midnight, multiple reports (though you don't say where from), many locks on each door. The only puzzling thing was the "metal door" remark. I am assuming that you mean metal-clad wooden doors (calimine type) typical of the older buildings, instead of metal door and buck assemblies.

In any event — "Can we talk?"

You mention "Old Law." That term refers to codes from a specific era of construction in New York City in effect before 1938 and after 1901. Your four-story building was built before the turn of the last century when there probably was no important building code compliance. You also don't mention alternate means of egress (entry for us firefighters), such as a fire escape. Most (life safety) codes require secondary egress on buildings housing more than two families and DEFINITELY on dwellings of three or more stories.

Now you have a cellar fire in a structure that is combustible and old. It is probably full of shafts, both seen and unseen, It has gas line chases for the old gas lighting. Fire from the cellar in these buildings could be anywhere — at least the products of combustion can be anywhere. The stair is combustible and a major problem for a fire in the cellar and a fire-fighting dilemma all by itself.

Probably the best thing about the building is that it has a skylight for rapid vertical ventilation and a fire escape balcony to every apartment above the first floor. Buildings built in the 1930's (New Law) required the basement to be isolated from the public hall by two-hour construction and to have the entrance(s) from the outside of the building at sidewalk level or from the rear. Not so in your Old Law types. The wooden stairs to the basement or cellar (a building code definition difference) is accessed from the public hall on the first floor by a door under the stair to the second floor. This stair from first to second floor is usually exposed to fire produces from its underside and is under extreme pressure threat on our arrival at a fire in the cellar.

Rapid control under the most extreme fire-fighting conditions is the key to winning or losing at cellar fires in this building. Given you know that the fire is in the cellar, the first line must get to the door and the access to the cellar stair in the first floor hallway behind and under the stair to the second floor. This handline has the most difficult job, to protect the public hall at all costs. It can do that by advancing down this stair and extinguishing the fire. If that is not possible, which is most of the time, the handline crew must at all costs hold the fire from extending out of the opening and to the public hall and combustible stair to the four floors of the public halls or apartments, their occupants and the firefighters searching and removing civilians and positioning firefighting logistics above the cellar.

Three lines are needed immediately. First as said and the second to back up the first. The third line determines the secondary entrance to the cellar. Usually this type of building has an old coal chute in the front that is unusable for anything other than venting, and the entrance that is usable for the handline is probably in the rear. In any event, you have to get water on the fire. This is accomplished by the first line down the stair or the third line from another horizontal entry to the cellar. Both lines cannot operate on the same objective at the same time. Serious communication is necessary here. Either the interior line advances and the exterior line stands by or the reverse.

If there is any extension above the cellar then a second alarm is necessary and will probably be overworked — especially with today's disgraceful manning policies. Closed shafts from the cellar will put fire in the cockloft and break out in any apartment after mushrooming at the roof boards. Fire extends at the masonry walls to rotted beam ends and missing flooring. This is not to mention auto exposure to combustible window trims.

In short, every space in this building must be accounted for — both for life-hazard and for fire-extension. If the fire appears to be under control, alternate entry points can be accessed rather than forcing all the doors.

If the apartments are from front to rear of the building, access can be by fire escape in the rear or aerial device in the front. If the building is split from front to rear (and legally done), you have double the problem.

Now let's talk about "Shelter in Place."

This tactic is never to be a possibility for use in combustible buildings. The term evolved from hospitals and institutions that were large enough to have Horizontal Exit facilities and Areas of Refuge — built according to the building code that defined these areas. The only areas of a combustible building that can be ignored for a time are those areas below the floor of origin of fire. For example, if the fire you describe was not in the cellar but in the third floor rear, you could put the cellar, first-, and second-floor occupancies on hold. If the apartments are split front and rear, then you can also put the third floor front on hold. The only time "Shelter in Place" is a valid tactic is in large-area high-rise, apartment-type buildings and office buildings. But that is a whole other question and lengthy answer.

You have described a "truckie's" nightmare with a fire in a cellar of an "Old Law tenement" at the midnight hour. You have to account for all the spaces. These are the scenarios in which real rescues are made.

Question: You have served as chief of department in a large urban setting. How did you overcome the “stereotypical attitude” of management and labor – “It’s us against them?”

Answer: Hmmm, great question.... I hope the answer is as welcome to you as well. The question could read, “How can you try to bring a halt to the feeling within a career department that the chief will always be “that @#$#ing guy,” and the union is perceived as “those @#$#ing guys!”

The overall strategy is to communicate from the first minute. That is orally, in writing, morally, professionally, respectfully, formally, informally, by word, by deed, by presence, by caring, by being fair in almost all things!

The first criterion is to understand that the union has worked very hard and at great cost for many, many years for their members to get to the position that they are in at this moment. The job description in the contract and working conditions, no matter if they are currently good, better, or best, are written and agreed to. The contract and its terms and time frame are just that — a contract between the municipality and its rank-and-file fire-service members.

A few of my personal rules that helped me greatly are:

Know your job and the job of firefighter very well and with intense interest and zeal to provide excellence for the members and the public served.
The union and the fire chief must agree to disagree.
Keep a copy of the present contract on your desk and consult it before you act — every time! If unsure, a phone call for advice on interpretation will help for many reasons.
Chief and union officials should agree to meet often and on varying turf.
Work for the hierarchy of needs found in Psychology 101.

I really believe that the rules labeled #1, #2, #3 above straightened out most of the bumps and ditches that existed for years and made the job, assuredly for me anyway, the most professional fun and enjoyment of my career.

How many fire chiefs do you know who confess to having a great time?

BACK TO Q & A TABLE OF CONTENTS