Jim Connors

Everyday that we start a shift in the firehouse we are presented with opportunities. These opportunities range from catching a good working fire, unique medical calls, interactions with the public, fire inspections, good training drills, the unknown of what can occur in 24 hours, and drills with eager new probationary members. Or we could be a newly appointed lieutenant or captain and are faced with all sorts of opportunities — training, administrative, personnel, fires, EMS, and the dreaded discipline. And finally, we could be working one Saturday, and in 45 minutes be on the road for six days of urban interface fires in Southern California. That is definitely an opportunity one will remember for a lifetime.

One of the reasons I chose the word “opportunity” for my subject is a building in my former first-alarm response area. This building was an opportunity to incorporate many facets of being a firefighter — fire inspection, fire attack, fire suppression, building construction and associated hazards, incident command structure, safety, and apparatus placement. You will undoubtedly think of others as you proceed through this article.

The building pictured above is a nine-story structure of Type-1 (fire resistive) construction. It was for years a building used by Bekins Van and Storage. It is now a public storage facility. It measures approximately 150 ft. by 100 ft. Above the ground floor is a mezzanine and six additional floors of cubicle storage, plus the roof. I am counting nine floors in order to properly consider laddering situations. The building has access on the A side, as seen from this picture, as well as the B and C sides. The D side (on right in Photo 1, above) has a one-story restaurant building butting up against this building.

While there is access on three sides, it is not clear, unobstructed access. The A side, shown above, has only one traffic lane in front of it, due to a sublevel boulevard. The B side is a city street, which provides room for apparatus. The C side (rear, see Photos 8-10 below) is a loading-dock area, which presents significant hazards that I will talk about later. The D side, as shown above, does not provide access for apparatus.

While this is a Type-1 fire resistive building, there is a significant fire problem, due to the numerous storage rooms throughout the building. We do not really know what is stored in this building. It presents problems similar to those we encounter in other types of residential and commercial buildings that we respond to.

As can be seen from the pictures below, there are numerous fire protection features provided in this building.


Photo 2 — Standpipe Inlets Front of Building	Photo 3 — Sprinkler Inlet

Photo 4 — Standpipe Inlets Rear of Building	Photo 5 — Close-up View of Standpipe Inlets Building Rear

It can be easily seen from Photo 5 (above) that the standpipe inlet cap has been painted “into” the inlet, making removal difficult at best in a real fire situation.

Note: While there are two fire escapes on the front of this building, only one has standpipe outlets for the fire department, allowing one to be used by the fire department for fire suppression and one to be used as an “escape” by any building occupants. Due to the height of this building, any use of the fire escape by building occupants would easily involve assistance by fire crews.

Photo 7 — Fire Escape and Standpipe Inlets at Rear of Building

The drop ladder off the fire escape can presents an additional hazard to fire department personnel. The engineer could easily get “nailed” by this drop ladder, if it were dropped unexpectedly and without warning, while the pump operator was attempting to remove the inlet caps and charge the standpipe system. Fire department members need to be aware of many hazards when connecting to standpipe inlets: drop ladders, falling glass from windows, falling debris from the fire building, and occupants jumping from higher areas.

While this may be a fire resistive building, a closer inspection of the building itself presents significant issues for fire department personnel to be concerned about. Everyday, I thank people like Frank Brannigan for their valued commitment to the fire service. When I was studying this building, I kept thinking of Frank and what he does to help each and every one of us when we go to work. Frank’s contributions to the fire service are invaluable.

What follows is a series of pictures, with comments and issues that fireground personnel need to be concerned with, as well as command staff, and any safety officers involved with the incident.

The rear of this building (Photo 8, below), presents significant hazards to fire crews working in the loading dock area. The hazard of the drop ladder off the rear fire escape has already been mentioned. But, the overhang roof area over the dock bay causes much to be concerned about. For example, look at the long tie rods holding up the overhang roof area (Photos 8, 9, 10). What are the condition and age of these systems. Is there any pooling of water on the roof, causing an increase in loading that was not originally designed for. What is the condition of the overhang itself? Closer inspection will note some deficiencies in the overhang.


Photo 8	Photo 9

Photo 10

In Photo 10 above, clear evidence of rust attacking the building materials exists. A problem that is also evident is how this rust is attacking the connection of the tie rods to the roof and steel members supporting the roof. This building is in the western area of San Francisco, and, as in many areas in the city, the fog and salt environment have a debilitating effect on building materials.

After inspecting this building, contact was made with the district battalion chief and the district fire prevention inspector so that they could further investigate the strengths and weaknesses of areas noted in the pictures above. Even though fire suppression and fire prevention personnel work in the same department, we are not always on the same page. It is beneficial to have a good working relationship with fire prevention personnel who work in your areas of operation.

From a fire suppression standpoint, this building has standpipe and sprinkler systems, an internal fire and smoke detection system, and building personnel on duty. Hopefully, this ensures prompt notification of the fire department in the event of an emergency. However, as we all know, anything can happen in the course of a small fire growing. Sprinkler systems can be overrun, especially considering the unknowns of storage facilities.

A scenario that was used when this building was inspected was a fire on the fourth floor rear. Items of discussion centered on the following:

There are a lot of questions to be answered quickly by the first arriving companies. What initial reports do they give to other responding units to alert them to areas of concern — apparatus placement, hose leads, aerial laddering, on-going reports to battalion chiefs as they arrive on scene, and so on? I am sure you can think of additional concerns that you might address if you were first on the scene or in charge of this incident.

You could create an additional fire scenario for this building. For example, a first-alarm assignment is dispatched for a reported moving van on fire at the rear loading dock. You arrive on scene as the officer of the first engine company and find a 40-foot trailer on fire under the roof overhang area at the rear loading dock. Flames are shooting up and licking at the underside of the roof overhang. What are your initial actions, initial reports, safety concerns of your crew, contents of the truck, daytime or nighttime concerns of people working in the area? What is the heat exposure to the exposed steel in the loading dock area? Is this an unrealistic situation? Not in the least. In the Bay Area recently, we have experienced several moving-van fires, one of which caused the San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge to be shut down on the lower deck.

Opportunities: We can get out of the firehouse, conduct inspections, and analyze a building and its exposures for real-possibility situations. Take the opportunity to go with your crew to buildings in your operational areas. Take the opportunity to pre-plan. It will make you a better firefighter, as well as reassure the public as to how we plan for possible incidents.