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Ok, here is the question we will be talking about till the end of time. Fighting to get up or down the stairs. It never fails but I always seem to have to fight to get people up and out of the way. It was just the other day and it happened again. I was an auto aid Eng. to a fire got on the scene 3rd. They were putting lines into service and the fire was definitly on the second floor of a beautiful 4500 sq. ft. home. The fire had a good start. My crew was ordered as a support Company for the 2 interior lines. The stairs split up to 2 different second floors. One was what we call a bonus room over the garage and the other was regular living space in the main house. A big problem was on 1 stair case up. The fire was over our heads and in the attic trying to move the hose team out of our way on the stairs to force them up was hard. Visibility sucked at about 3-6 inches. My TIC was not showing much heat. We just needed to get up vent and pull ceiling. Does anybody have anyother ideas other than pushing them up or walking over them. It just seems to me that it happens everytime we need to go up or down people just want to stop. I preach stair etiquette to my guys but every time we go I seem to get stuck. Thanks for listening and responding. Stay safe and train hard. Steve

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Replies to This Discussion

Crowding the hall or stairs is a major problem. Working in several departments on the east coast I found this to be a major problem. These are paths of egress and should not be blocked if an evacuation is order it will be difficult to get out. If loss of water occurs, a door burns through or a wind driven fire your escape will be impeded. Getting trapped in a center hall with no windows is one of the most dangerous positions in a structure. The solution is to simply go in another way. Wouldn’t it be great if we had ladders, we do use them!

There is no reson to stop on the stairs. Get up and off the stairs!

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