Officers, Take a Look Around You!

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Permalink Reply by Michael Bricault (ret) on June 24, 2010 at 6:27pm

-Kind of hard to see details but it looks like the fire is in the basement. If so a line should be stretched to that location as well as some type of ventilation of the basement area.
-It appears that a line has been stretched, in the lower right foreground. Where its going is unknown.
-An aggressive interior search should be initiated and the roof should be opened.
-The visible conditions and occupancy type demand an aggressive primary search regardless of the time of day or whether there are cars in the yard.
-Though I'm not a big fan of opening the roof of a residential structure (another discussion altogether) this structure is old enough to warrant roof operations. In residential structures built before the Second World War, and with companies having difficulty in locating the fire or, smoke from the roof of these types of occupancies necessitate a search of the basement for fire. These conditions generally indicate in these older structures that the fire may be in the basement.
-From the Alpha/Delta corner it appears there are no exposure problems but the rest of the structure has not been seen. The photo also leads one to believe that the first floor has not been compromised yet. Yet being the operative word.
-I'm assuming that the fireman with the red helmet out front is an officer and may in fact be the IC. If so, he is exactly where he belongs. It is inexcusable for any company officer to be operating the nozzle, chain saw, roof hook, irons, etc... instead of the firefighters on scene. If an officer is performing at the task level then he is not managing the company; pure and simple, there is no room for argument.

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Permalink Reply by Mike France on June 25, 2010 at 8:37am

Smoke coming from the Basement dark smoke , Light Smoke coming from the 2nd floor, No handlines , no backup for the FF on the porch roof, no one at the front door[ A side] , 2 exposures on b and d side ,Kids in background leds me to believe that resident may be home ,
time of Year fall October
I would say the ladder should be placed on the B side , not the d side seeing the fire seems to be coming from under the porch

Officer is [ red hat] doing a size up,

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Permalink Reply by Mark Wadsworth on June 25, 2010 at 12:03pm

Without adding to what has already been said I would agree that the officer is in a good position if that is his crew in the picture. Location of the fire seems to be fairly obvious with likely vertical extension, however hard to tell for sure without the full picture/360. High horizontal ventilation would be appropriate depending on manpower. Is that a second entrance C/D corner with the flag...could be a duplex? Operationally what has already been said is right on, agressive primary search and fire attack before it gets worse. It appears to be in the very early stages so take advantage and take quick but caluculated action.

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