Dave McGrail

High-rise Firefighting and Standpipe Operations: Nozzle Selection

Part II: The Fire Attack

In my previous article, I discussed proper nozzle selection for high-rise firefighting and standpipe operations. For firefighters involved with standpipe operations, debris in the system and low operating pressures are a fact of life. They are real-world problems that you will likely encounter during most standpipe operations. The use of a low-pressure nozzle will help to address the issue of the low operating pressure. The smooth-bore/solid-stream nozzle, with an operating pressure of 50psi is the lowest pressure nozzle available that will also pass debris better than any other nozzle type. This is the obvious tool of choice for standpipe operations because it addresses both the low pressure and the debris issue. There are low-pressure combination nozzles available today, but they will clog up with even the smallest pieces of debris.

I also addressed the issue of weight. For those well-disciplined fire departments that use stairs, at least for part of their journey up to the fire floor, equipment weight is a significant issue. Any opportunity to reduce weight equates to lowering the overall physical stress placed on your firefighters. Most combination fog nozzles on the market today are several times heavier than the short smooth-bore/solid-stream tip weighing in at less than a pound.

Debris, low pressure, improperly set PRVs, and equipment weight are just a few of the numerous indisputable water delivery facts associated with high-rise fire fighting and standpipe operations. However, even with these facts, and several tragic events in fire service history, there will still be those individuals resistant to leave their beloved fog nozzle behind. Most of those individuals haven’t yet encountered a tragic event, debris, or low-pressure situation to gain the first-hand experience illustrating the negative aspects of fog nozzles. Therefore, since it hasn’t happened to them yet, they figure why change? There are things I haven’t personally experienced yet either, like big planes crashing into high-rise buildings. But I know it can happen, and I'd better be prepared for it. The truly dedicated fire service professional is constantly on the look out for “fire nuggets” even if it happens to be a vicarious nugget of experience gained by listening to, or learning from, another brother. That is the central theme of this great web site.

In my travels, teaching and speaking with other firefighters across the country, I find that when these facts are thoroughly explained to them, most are in complete agreement with the issues associated with standpipe operations. However, many are still reluctant to break free from nearly fifty years of bastardized water application.

Those lost in this thick fog of bastardized water application will frequently cite the “need for protection” as their reasoning behind wanting to use a fog nozzle. The truly progressive thinkers in the American fire service now understand that this so-called “protection” is truly a myth. Fornell gives a comprehensive explanation of this so-called fog nozzle “protection myth” in his text, Fire stream Management Handbook. As Fornell states, “All the wide pattern accomplishes is to give the firefighters a false sense of security.” Here are the facts:

In order to achieve this so called “protection” one must open the fog pattern up from a straight stream (and keep in mind, IT IS NOT A SOLID STREAM FROM A COMBINATION NOZZLE, but a broken stream in a straight pattern) to a wide fog pattern. If you do that, the following will occur: First, any fire, heat, and/or smoke conditions in front of you will be forcefully pushed away. Not a bad thing if you are pushing that heat and smoke to an open atmosphere with no exposure concerns, such as while extinguishing a vehicle fire on the street. However, in the typical open-floor, center-core construction of a commercial high-rise building, you can push the bad stuff all the way around the center core and back on top of yourself, possibly cutting off your escape route, or the escape route for other firefighters. Furthermore, that forceful pushing of fire, heat, and smoke will seek the path of least resistance, which could be any one of the countless hidden void spaces in most buildings (such as the plenum in a commercial high-rise building), thus, extending your fire laterally and vertically, and making the overall fire conditions much worse. So it’s not “protection,” it’s “pushing” — that is, pushing the fire somewhere else to be dealt with later.

This wide fog approach can have even more devastating results in a typical residential high-rise. I frequently hear firefighters talk about wanting the fog pattern to help them make a long hot hallway filled with heat and smoke. Ask yourself: how did the heat, smoke, and fire get into the public hallway in that high-rise multiple dwelling in the first place? Simple, the occupants of the fire apartment more than likely left their door open when they fled. As the fire developed and when the fire alarm audible horns begin to sound, countless other complacent occupants will open their doors to investigate and possibly attempt to escape via the public hallway. If we are coming down that hallway with a wide fog in front of us, none of these finely divided water droplets are likely reaching the burning solid fuels that are causing all that heat and smoke. So rather than extinguishing the fire and dealing with the real problem (the disease), we are merely treating the symptom of that disease by forcefully pushing the heat, fire, and smoke being produced by those burning solid fuels into open uninvolved apartments and on top of the people who we are suppose to be helping. It might even be some of our own guys that we are harming, brother firefighters attempting to complete a primary search, when all of a sudden it feels like the world is coming down on top of them as they are dangerously chased out (if they’re lucky) by the heat and smoke. Those firefighters who have been on the receiving end of this know exactly what I am talking about. It’s no different than having some buffoon open up a nozzle, or worse yet, a master stream from the outside while the real brothers are taking a beating on the inside.

The active and vigorous application of water from a smooth-bore/solid-stream nozzle will cool that hot hallway down, and allow the engine company to make the fire apartment, without forcefully pushing the dangerous heat and smoke into uninvolved areas, and on top of helpless occupants or other firefighters. Furthermore, much of that solid stream of water may actually make it to the real problem (the burning solid fuels), for extinguishment. If you want to protect yourself (“protection”), extinguish the fire. This is only going to happen if the water reaches the burning solid fuels.

The reach and penetration associated with the solid stream of water produced by a smooth-bore nozzle will cool the upper atmosphere and prevent flashover more effectively than any other nozzle type. Furthermore, unlike the finely divided water particles produced by a combination fog nozzle, the solid stream of water from a smooth-bore nozzle will not be prematurely evaporated and carried off by the convection currents of a hot fire. In fact, once again, much of that solid stream of water will actually reach the real problem, the burning solid fuels which are producing all that heat and smoke to begin with.

The second thing that will happen when there is an inappropriate application of water fog is that nasty by-product, STEAM. Yes, we all know it. Just as Layman said some fifty years ago, and as Fredericks tried to explain to the American fire service during his unfortunately short life, if you use water fog, you are attempting an indirect attack. In that case, you must have:

1. Extremely high heat.

2. Limited or no ventilation.

3. No occupants in the fire compartment.

If we are in an offensive operating mode, we have become the occupants of that building or fire compartment. The fact that this inappropriate application of water fog occurs all too often certainly helps explain why there are more thermal and heat related injuries to firefighters today than ever before in the history of the American fire service. And yes, high BTU fuels such as plastics, and the over confidence of young inexperienced firefighters while encapsulated in full personal protective equipment are also part of that injury equation.

Our brother, the late, great Andy Fredericks, left us with countless articles and quality videos that thoroughly explain indirect attack and the bastardized utilization of water fog. Please review Andy’s excellent article “Stream Selection” which can be easily accessed via the “Fire Nuggets” archives.

I have found that most fire departments across the country are aware of these fog facts and are teaching their recruit firefighters to utilize straight-stream water application for interior structural firefighting. Unfortunately, you will still see a combination fog nozzle at the end of many hose lines. Many will state that “we only use a straight-stream pattern.” My question for those firefighters is “then what’s the point of having a fog nozzle on the end of that structural attack hand line?” If you’re going to use a straight stream anyway, why not go with a smooth bore. This lowers the nozzle pressure, which in turn reduces the nozzle reaction, yet the GPM increases. Less pressure, less work, more water, and the water is delivered in the form we want it in to begin with. Remember, brothers, what makes the smooth-bore nozzle a great tool for high-rise and standpipe operations also makes it an excellent choice for all of our other interior structural firefighting operations as well.

“Yeah, but, I like to ventilate using my fog nozzle.” If I had a dime for every time I’ve heard that one, my wife could quit her job and start mowing the lawn. The last time I witnessed this hydraulic ventilation was at a duplex fire on a cold winter night. Before I recognized that it was happening and could put a stop to it, several square feet of mud and ice were created on the B-Bravo side of the fire building. This made exterior operations much more difficult and dangerous for the brothers operating on that side of the building. Furthermore, several hundred gallons of water followed the path of least resistance and ended up flooding the basement of the exposure building. The modern fire service has positive-pressure blowers and powerful fans to move smoke!

Other than the stupid, annoying, and sometimes damaging byproducts of hydraulic ventilation, there are the critical safety concerns that really concern me. We all know that a fog stream will move a significant amount of air. If hydraulic ventilation is applied before a thorough check for extension and aggressive pre-control overhaul, firefighters may and have forcefully drawn hidden fire, heat, and smoke back upon themselves. This very act has led to extremely dangerous situations and severe injuries to firefighters. There are also those fires that we go to that were intentionally set. A good arsonist doesn’t just set one fire, in one location of a building. Ten- twenty-, or thirty-thousand cubic feet of air per minute drawn into the venturi of a fog pattern can forcefully pull that other fire from the basement, up the stairs, and on top of unsuspecting firefighters. We have enough problems to deal with on the fireground lets not create our own!

I recently attended a mandatory training class at our Safety and Training Division. A retired chief officer from a large northeastern city was the instructor. He recommended the use of a fog nozzle on a wide fog pattern operated on the floor above the fire in a high-rise to prevent auto exposure. I was so shocked by this ridiculous statement, I almost blew a gasket. It was obvious to me that he had never really tried this, because he was still alive. Those who have worked a few serious high-rise fires are familiar with the unusual and unpredictable ventilation and wind currents. A strong stack effect, heavy wind conditions (not untypical especially higher up in a high-rise) and you could literally kill firefighters by attempting such a dangerous maneuver. Furthermore, just how many individual hose lines and fog nozzles would be needed on the perimeter of a ten- or twenty-thousand square-foot floor to stop a serious case of auto exposure? I am still performing exorcisms on a few of the sad souls who actually believed some of this guy’s propaganda.

For many of the tens of thousands of firefighters raised on fog nozzles, it frequently seems to be very difficult to teach some of these old dogs a new trick. Nevertheless, there are a lot more believers out there today than ten years ago. As the late Bill Clark stated in Chapter 17 of the Fire Chief’s Handbook, Fifth Edition, in regard to water fog: “Ridiculous claims were made for it, but worse, they were accepted without question, except by a few of us who believed what we saw rather that what we were told.” Clark further states, “This revision of fire stream tactics [from fog back to smooth-bore/solid-stream] is the strongest trend of the nineties.” I believe that the revision is still occurring, stronger than ever before. If this is new to you, welcome aboard.

Here are some final thoughts: As for your high-rise standpipe hose packs and equipment, stay away from the highly marketed so called “break-apart” nozzles. When these nozzles first came out several years ago, I thought they were a good idea. It was a compromise, providing two tools in one. In fact, we purchased several of these on the Denver Fire Department for our high-rise hose packs. With experience and flow testing I have found that the break-apart nozzle quickly becomes a large, long, heavy fog nozzle with a 7/8-inch or 15/16-inch reducer between the fog tip and the ball valve shutoff. Most departments rarely break off the fog tip, and the small slug tip significantly reduces the overall flow when using the fog tip.

You may have noticed that several nozzle manufactures have been working for the past decade to make their fog nozzles more like smooth bores. They have given them fancy names, and big prices to go along with them. Believe me, they see the fire stream movement as well, and they are not all too happy about the majority of the American fire service purchasing more of the cheap, durable, maintenance free nozzles that last a lifetime. Most of the people in the nozzle industry are good hard-working individuals. But remember, they are also businessmen. The bottom line for them is profit, or loss. We will continue to purchase their best fog nozzles for some of the work we do. It just so happens that their best product for high-rise firefighting, standpipe operations, and any interior structural firefighting is also their cheapest product.

For those of us raised on the fog nozzle, the wide, 60-degree fog pattern was replaced in recent years by the so-called “30-degree power cone.” Another real cool name! Unfortunately, that name was thought up and developed by several individuals wearing ties, sitting around a fancy cherrywood conference table, in the comfort of an air-conditioned building. Although many are good, well-intentioned people, those from the marketing department of a nozzle manufacturer are no match for a group of firefighters pushing down a hallway on their bellies. If I want a power cone, I will assemble the companies in my district; and we will meet up at the local Dairy Queen. The only “power cone” I’m going to be using is one with chocolate on top of it.

For those who are fog guys — and that’s it, not going to change, ever, no way, please at least heed this advice. You must steer clear of the automatics and invest in low-pressure, constant-gallonage fog nozzles for your high-rise and standpipe operations. It is critical to flow test them before your fire, and at low pressures. One-hundred, 65, and 40 psi are some of the potential pressures you might encounter. You must know how much water you are NOT going to flow before your fire occurs.

Last, but certainly not least, have a Plan B. Your fog nozzle will clog up with debris, someday, somewhere, and you aren’t going to fix it in the heat of battle up on floor 27. Have a spare nozzle and extra hose. If you are using 1¾-inch hose with your fog nozzle, buy some 2½-inch to stop that fire that is probably going to get away from you some day.

I have experienced some interesting observations in regard to the use of various nozzles. Most of the smooth-bore/solid-stream nozzle proponents that I know, including myself, were at one point in time fog-nozzle guys. The open-minded, progressive thinkers who are willing to give it a try, rarely go back to the fog. On the other hand, most of the fog guys out there have never actually tried the smooth-bore/solid-stream nozzle. Furthermore, many of them have been frequently heard to say, “I’m not going to try it either.” Their words, not mine.

My brothers, please remember this: the information and recommendations in this article are related specifically to interior structural firefighting, especially standpipe and high-rise operations. There are countless fireground operations that require the use of a good combination fog nozzle. I certainly encourage all of you to continue to purchase and use good quality combination fog nozzles, but only for their intended purpose. It is also my hope that each of you will give the smooth-bore/solid-stream nozzle a try, that is, if you haven’t already done so. You might like it, and, who knows, you might just become one of Andy’s Ambassadors.

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