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Apply the Lessons Learned
With the fire service and others taking this day and weekend to remember the Charleston 9, along with other high profile LODD, I wanted to do something different. I wanted to look at how we can specifically apply the recommendations that were listed in the report on the Charleston Super Sofa Fire.
I am going to do this just one at a time and I will likely take several weeks to cover them all. It is very likely that some will intermingle with others, and will be covered together.
Today I want to look at pre-incident planning. For me, this starts with when the building is being built. In reality, it is a combination of both, during construction and visits and regular intervals.
conduct pre-incident planning inspections of buildings within their jurisdictions to facilitate development of safe fireground strategies and tactics
The comment was made that we need not enter this building if it burns. Well, in an ideal world that is correct.
The fact is is that we just don’t know what we will be tasked with doing if this building catches fire. We can’t predict what time of day or who will or will not be in it. What we can do, however, is know what this building is made of and the hazards associated with those materials and products of construction.
We also must be prudent in our tactics when arriving, like lifting ceiling tiles before we get too far in the building, looking for fire running above us.
This visit provided some great information aside from the type of construction and those hazards associated with them. First, the building is completely sprinklered. That is a plus. We located the FDC and the nearest hydrant. Both good things.
As we discussed earlier in the post, most would say we don’t need to enter this building. In theory I agree, but we never know what we are facing when we arrive.
Something that we learned was that there is an area on the east side of this building, Side D, that is built with dimensional lumber and is sprinklered as well. The roof construction is not truss and the walls are all dimensional studs. What can we take away from this?
Side D construction was different than the rest of the building.
We discussed that if there needed to be an attempt to make entry, it would be best to try to take a stand from this area. It is not part of the rest of the roof system and will likely hold up a little longer with the dimensional lumber.
Another idea was that RIT would be staged near this entrance if there would happen to be interior crews making a rescue or knocking down what was perceived as a small fire. They know that there is a straight shot to the middle of the building through a more secure type of construction.
With all that being said, accessibility to the building needs to be looked at; where will multiple units be staged? Where will you place ladders and are there overhead dangers?
It is important to look at all of these factors to make a good decision based on prior knowledge. We also understand that Plan A doesn’t always work so have a Plan B ready based on the planning you did on the building.
There are many other components about pre-incident planning that I didn’t mention, but hopefully you get the point. Get out and visit these sites. Be involved and have discussions about how you would perform at a fire here.
Above all, don’t let the lives lost at any LODD be lives lost in vain. Learn from their mistakes, but don’t be critical, we have all screwed up and been lucky enough to get away with it. Be constructive and train on the recommendations so that you don’t repeat history.
Stay safe and please, never forget those lost in the line of duty. We owe them our promise to train hard and to learn from them.
I am going to do this just one at a time and I will likely take several weeks to cover them all. It is very likely that some will intermingle with others, and will be covered together.
Today I want to look at pre-incident planning. For me, this starts with when the building is being built. In reality, it is a combination of both, during construction and visits and regular intervals.
conduct pre-incident planning inspections of buildings within their jurisdictions to facilitate development of safe fireground strategies and tactics
The comment was made that we need not enter this building if it burns. Well, in an ideal world that is correct.
The fact is is that we just don’t know what we will be tasked with doing if this building catches fire. We can’t predict what time of day or who will or will not be in it. What we can do, however, is know what this building is made of and the hazards associated with those materials and products of construction.
We also must be prudent in our tactics when arriving, like lifting ceiling tiles before we get too far in the building, looking for fire running above us.
This visit provided some great information aside from the type of construction and those hazards associated with them. First, the building is completely sprinklered. That is a plus. We located the FDC and the nearest hydrant. Both good things.
As we discussed earlier in the post, most would say we don’t need to enter this building. In theory I agree, but we never know what we are facing when we arrive.
Something that we learned was that there is an area on the east side of this building, Side D, that is built with dimensional lumber and is sprinklered as well. The roof construction is not truss and the walls are all dimensional studs. What can we take away from this?
Side D construction was different than the rest of the building.
We discussed that if there needed to be an attempt to make entry, it would be best to try to take a stand from this area. It is not part of the rest of the roof system and will likely hold up a little longer with the dimensional lumber.
Another idea was that RIT would be staged near this entrance if there would happen to be interior crews making a rescue or knocking down what was perceived as a small fire. They know that there is a straight shot to the middle of the building through a more secure type of construction.
With all that being said, accessibility to the building needs to be looked at; where will multiple units be staged? Where will you place ladders and are there overhead dangers?
It is important to look at all of these factors to make a good decision based on prior knowledge. We also understand that Plan A doesn’t always work so have a Plan B ready based on the planning you did on the building.
There are many other components about pre-incident planning that I didn’t mention, but hopefully you get the point. Get out and visit these sites. Be involved and have discussions about how you would perform at a fire here.
Above all, don’t let the lives lost at any LODD be lives lost in vain. Learn from their mistakes, but don’t be critical, we have all screwed up and been lucky enough to get away with it. Be constructive and train on the recommendations so that you don’t repeat history.
Stay safe and please, never forget those lost in the line of duty. We owe them our promise to train hard and to learn from them.
Views: 163
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Michael Bricault (ret) on
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-I hate and always cringe when I hear the comment, "we need not enter this building if it burns". It implies that the responding firefighters have some sort of clairvoyant knowledge that there are no trapped victims. Remember them... THE VICTIMS?!?!?!
-A drawback I have noticed time and again with pre-incident plans and walk throughs is that not all shifts seem to participate or have access to the knowledge gained during the walk through. And in larger departments that have companies responding from six or more firehouses the transfer of knowledge usually seems lagging.
-If a pre-incident plan/walk through happens hopefully there is a system in place, much like the FDNY uses, in which the information is filed and the dispatcher has access to it so that it can be relayed to responding companies.
-Dissemination of information is crucial otherwise the info is useless.
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Permalink Reply by Jeff Schwering on
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Brick, we currently have a premis file system in place. While pre-planning or inspecting a structure, any pertenant information get placed into this file at our dispatch office. This information comes out with our dispatch orders. While this helps a great deal, technology is just that. It falls on the officers to make sure everyone is playing on the same page of the playbook. We need to be aware of the construction and hazards, but, our profession dictates to save life and property. It doesn't say run into a fully involved building that is falling down around you. Be as safe as we can, use common sense and Train to survive and do our Jobs correctly!
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-My thoughts exactly. The job is always about calculated risks not foolish chances. No one advocates running into something falling down but, far too many fire officers today write off possibly trapped occupants way to early, if they initiate a search at all. In fact it seems that the primary search is usually primarily overlooked and happens as an afterthought at many fires in far to many communities.
-My mantra is, "Be a thinking firefighter NOT a reacting one". The only time a search should not immediately take place is:
1. If fire conditions are such that the interior environment is incompatible with human life; in other words there is just to much fire.
2. The structural integrity of the occupancy is compromised creating a situation in which it is reckless to initiate a search; in short the building is falling down.
-Like many FD's we in Albuquerque have dropped the ball when it comes to pre-incident planning and have no system in place to store, retrieve, track or disseminate information gained on a pre-incident plan. The crucial nature of the pre-incident plan information is that it be available to the dispatcher 24/7 so that this information can be relayed, in some format, to responding companies.
-I remain hopeful that a system will become available soon to correct this deficiency but...
Jeff Schwering said:Brick, we currently have a premis file system in place. While pre-planning or inspecting a structure, any pertenant information get placed into this file at our dispatch office. This information comes out with our dispatch orders. While this helps a great deal, technology is just that. It falls on the officers to make sure everyone is playing on the same page of the playbook. We need to be aware of the construction and hazards, but, our profession dictates to save life and property. It doesn't say run into a fully involved building that is falling down around you. Be as safe as we can, use common sense and Train to survive and do our Jobs correctly!
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I hear ya Bro! Our system is only as good our Company Officers who note things on pre-plans, inspections, or even an EMS run. It works great for all calls when it works!
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