Do you teach your firefighters how to read heat? If so, how?

Typicaly the new fireman on our dept. are drilled heavily on wearing their PPE correctly and at all times. It is not untill they have some seasoning and further education that we start discussing monitoring heat. As their education progresses we train on multiple aspects of monitoring heat and knowing what to expect from recognition of building and occupancy types. We recently hosted a reading smoke class which shed light on heat conditions for many of our younger fireman. Color, push, velocity, and level of smoke were all covered. As well as how different types of buildings retain heat.

Many of the more seasoned members of our dept. wear hoods with the flaps rolled up on their helmet. Once in a while you will hear someone prefer the flaps with no hood. I always tell them that with the hood and no flaps its a quick deployment to roll down your flaps and save your neck and ears. If all you have on is your flaps and its too hot, well your s**t out of luck and your gonna get burned. We also preech the use of a smooth bore nozzle aimed over the companies head to check for heat. With the smooth bore you don't risk the steam burn and upset of the thermal ballance of the room and you typically get a good return of H2O from overhead to tell you how hot it really is over your head. This is very usefull in commercial structures with higher than normal ceilings and some of todays taller entryways with 2 story high ceilings.

Fire location is normally determined by a member on scene before the trucks arrive via a walk around or reports from neighbors/owners. Room layout is simple when the homeowner is frantic in the front yard screaming about their house I just calmly ask them how do you get to that room from inside, is it the 2nd or 3rd door down the hallway etc. Fortuanately in some of our newer neighbor hoods the houses are very similar in style and layout. So when we respond to the famous CO2 alarm I make it a point to "snoop" around the house I have the crew read every room with the gas monitor, this is an excellent oppurtunity to learn the layout and attic access and look for void areas behind knee walls and where they are accessed from. Calls like this to 3 or 4 different house styles you pretty much know the layout of every house in the neighborhood. Even the most pain in the a** call can be a training. And we get plenty of these, we actually carry spare batteries so we can replace the batteries in the detector while we are there, this is normally the reason we were called in the first place, occupant: ' Well, it has been beeping every few minutes since I got home from work I didn't know what to do so I waited until it woke me up at 2 am to call you to check it out."

'The Art of Reading Smoke' by Dave Dodson is an excellent resource. I used information from this dvd to make my own presentation on Reading Smoke and I have since presented it to all of our 90 members. Excellent information that all FIrefighters should have.
Neil

As an instructor in both the industrial fire venue (power industry fire brigades) and the civil service venue (retired carreer and and now volunteer), I would have to say yes you have to teach it to new people. In our industry The fuels we use create huge amounts of smoke in some cases while other fuels (hydrogen) burn with no visible flame or smoke in some cases. OUr fire fighters have to slow down and feel for the heat and sometimes the pressure increases associated sith this. We show them these techniques during live burn training. In the civil side I teach the smae way but we have a better time with reading smoke because they respond from the outside while an industrial firefighter may respond from within the structure. Also there are fewer fires going on for new people to see and learn from experience.
One thing i didn't see mentioned, was the use of Thermal Imagers to read heat changes. They are a great tool when used appropriately and if you are scanning doorways, stairways, and other channels you will see the heat movement and pick up changes before they trap you. Also a crew member with a thermal imager can scan back the way the crew came looking for sudden changes that may trap them.

Your comments on thermal imagers is right on, and indeed this should have been exposed some messages back. With this tool in your "options pack", you can visualize what conditions are in front, above, around and, BEHIND you as you penetrate into a burning structure. If properly used, the TI can help to save ears and the backs of many hands.

Jay,

You bring up a good point about not looking again/rushing into smoke.
Been there, done it, seen it.

We can teach and/or learn about smoke, heat and what it's telling you. But more importantly, we need to learn beforehand to take a minute to look at the surroundings and conditions.

Slow down a bit, look, see what's happening, calm down. How to think and reason better coupled with smoke/heat/fire instruction.

Teach more about the effects of heat. The previously mentioned wet vs. dry is a good way.

The starting post mentions knowing when to get out. Good thing to remind others about.

Edward Hartin and Paul Grimwood have some good articles about buildings and air tracts at FH and www.firetactics.com .

BSAHF, or B-SAHF
Building
Smoke
Air Tract
Heat
Flame

I agree that TIC's are extremely useful tools. However, at this point only our furthest away engines, truck companies and safety chiefs carry them. Plus, when technology fails us it is imparetive that they have good situational awareness and training to fall back on. I've seen as I'm sure you have, many firefighters with their faces glued to the TIC running into walls or crawling in circles.

Another way we teach situational awareness is we use the acronym SAV yourself. I know, I know you're shocked that we use acronyms.

S stands for Size Up. Making a verbal and mental picture of the structure.

A is assess. Once you open that door or get into the stairwell, does the picture inside still correlate with your size up? Did you pull the right line, will it reach ect. what is the ventilation plan for this type of event?

V stands for Verify. Verify that the smoke or fire conditions in the room match up with the picture from the outside.

This gets them thinking early on about reading smoke from the outside and checking their heat levels throughout the duration of the event.

Jrob

Thanks for the input. Sometimes I forget that mot everyone has access to the TIC. Your SAV is a good way to remember. You're right I'm shocked since NO ONE ever uses acronyms LOL

George,

I have learned to use my years of experience to keep from where I and my crew do not belong. I know the S$%t can hit the fan at any time, but thats where size up comes in,"MY SIZE UP" along with the IC. With my flaps up it keeps me from getting to deep into a fire were most end up getting into trouble. My instincts come first and technology is secondary. When the radiant heat is felt through my hood enough to bother me its time to leave. With the flaps down I could be another 15 to 20' in were I do not belong and thats usually when it lights up. TIC's are a great tool but do not always give you the information you are looking for and have failed at times. If I pull my glove back and stick it up in the air to see if it is to hot and remembering thermal ballance why would I put it there. And if I do it at floor level and its painfull I should not be there. With my flaps up I would be long gone. I have also learned with new construction when you arrive on location with fire already out the windows the decision on where you will be has already been made. The greatest thing we have is what we have learned from experience. I have beeh in some bad situations over my time and my ears(early days) and hood with flaps up ( today) have allowed me and my crew to walk away. Technology should never replace instinct. Every fire tells a story, read it, learn from it, and pass it on.

STAY SAFE !! Dennis

Yes. I think it is very important to teach both old and new firefighters how to read heat. In todays fires there are a lot of plastics burning in lightweight structures which translates in higher temps and faster collapse. Although heat conditions are an important factor, it is only a small peice of a bigger picture. Stiuational awareness should be a big emphasis on todays firefighters. I feel that the big push for RIT, bail out bags, rescue filters, ect have given some firefighters a false sence of security.
Please dont get me wrong. All of these are extremely important and should be taught and used. However I have heard numerous times "if things go wrong I can bail out the window" or "If I get stuck we have a rit company". If your department is like so many others one big concern is man power. A 2-4 man RIT company is not going to get my big ass out of a building on the first try and if I have to use my bail-out rope out a window I wont feel cool because I did.
Strong situational awareness can eliminate a lot of LODD injuries or deaths. Simple things are often forgot or not reinforced like reading smoke/ heat conditions upon entering vs exit, listening to all radio communications, knowing all your means of egress, knowing what the difference is between burn tower heat and residential fire heat, ect.
Personally I wear a hood without ear flaps and can peel back my hood if needed. But I feel that before the temp tells you its time to leave some strong situational awareness will tell you even sooner.
As far as teaching this to the men you need to stress the down and dirty basics along with using aquired structures and tower evolutions wisely to stress this awareness in a controled envoronment. Just have one evolution where you just read conditions and explain what the changes mean and when they happened. The best way to learn is to just get out there and do it.