Residential Basement Fire- You make the [safety] call

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Chris Fleming on June 20, 2008 at 8:26am

Hey Chris,
This is a real interesting question. One of the scariest classes I've taken at FDIC was on basement fires. It almost made me think we should never do an interior attack over a burning basement! Of course, there are no "nevers" in this business. A thorough size up is really important in this scenario. As far as smoke, not only do I want to look at the "pressure" of the smoke, but also volume, density, and color (re: Dave Dodson's "Reading Smoke"). Length of burn time is also important. The fact the basement has windows is a plus. You can take out a window to see what's happening at the upper level of the fire compartment. A well involved fire in the basement is a huge problem whether or not there are engineered beams. Most single family homes have wooden stairs that would be severely weakened by a well involved fire. Engineered beams would not only increase the fuel load (greater surface area, glues, less mass) but also shorten the length of time the beams could support a load under fire conditions. Factors that could work in our favor include whether or not the basement is "finished", and the possibility of a compartmentalized floor plan. Some of the other factors working against us are what is above the fire. Kitchens and great rooms have a heavy load because of appliances and large, heavy furniture. Now for the second part of the question! If we stick to our incident priorities of life safety, incident stabilization, and property conservation our first and greatest priority is to keep firefighters safe. Firefighters should always be included in the evaluation of life safety risk. That being said, a well involved fire in a lightweight constructed, vacant building should be considered a defensive mode attack. At least initially. If you can knock the fire down from the exterior and make a thorough assessment of the floor/ceiling stability then you can consider committing firefighters to the interior.

Permalink Reply by Christopher Naum, SFPE on June 20, 2008 at 8:56am

Great insights and perspectives....you're right on the mark with your thought process and safety risk concerns for operations. Look over some of the NIOSH reports for some tremendous leaning opportunities from previous events. http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/fire/

Permalink Reply by Jim Golondzinier on November 11, 2008 at 1:00am

Brothers,

I need some help on "making the call". I work on the left, I mean west cost and dont have much real training when it comes to basement firefighting. Myself and a core group of guys are looking for as much information as possible on this topic so that we can put together some formal guildlines for our department. I'll spare you the details. I'll take any leads you have. Thanks in advance, FFS J Golondzinier LACoFD