Brooklyn Rescues Highlight Knowing Your Apparatus Placement and Overcoming Window Gates

Will you fit? Better find out before the box

Companies in the 39^th Battalion responded to Box 1873 for the reported fire on the fourth floor of 1308 Loring Avenue on 29 July 2014. Reports of children trapped led to the initial assignment being made up of four engine companies, two truck companies and a rescue company.

First due Ladder 107 arrived and transmitted the 10-75 (working fire, which would normally bring the fourth engine as well as a squad company, a FAST truck and a second battalion chief ) followed by Battalion 39 transmitting the 10-77 (high-rise residential building fire)[1]

1308 Loring Avenue is one of many apartment buildings making up the complex more commonly known as “Pink Houses”. 12 public housing projects are in East New York and Pink Houses is one of them. Built in 1959, it is composed of 22 eight-story, 200’ x 60’ Class I dwellings. Named after former chairman of the New York State Housing Board, Louis Heaton Pink, they eventually became what is stereotypical of most urban housing projects.[2] Likewise, they are also the site of fires. In January of this year, firefighters rescued a wheelchair-bound woman and four other occupants from a fourth floor fire in Pink House’s Stanley Avenue location.

The July 2014 fire highlights not only the training and education of the FDNY personnel but the ingenuity of apparatus positioning. Being intimately familiar with your response area allows you to know spots where you can maximize your truck company’s positioning to its fullest potential. Photos below show you the situation before the fire.

1308 Loring has relatively easy access on the Eldert Lane side, but if you look closely in the news videos you will notice that the Ladder 103 (using a reserve rear-mount) and Tower Ladder 107 took the courtyard area for placement of their apparatus; 103 on the walkway and 107 on the sidewalk.

See more photos from Brooklyn 77-1873 by First on Scene Photos and Brian Grogan on Smugmug.

Recognizing possible apparatus placement difficulties and learning how to make the most of them requires that your truck company gets out and on the street to first find such areas and work out a solution. Review some of our content on apparatus placement and overcoming child safety bars and then go out and look for those hard to access sides that might be the scene of your next rescue.

Tips for Proper Aerial Ladder Placement on the Fireground (Robertson, March 2013)

Two Quick Drills on Aerial Positioning (Robertson, January 2009)

Outside-The-Box Apparatus Positioning (Steger, January 2014)

Apparatus Positioning at Multiple Dwelling Fires (Sheridan, May 2011)

Think Like a Truckie (DeStefano, January 2013)

Fire Engineering and Mike Ciampo on forcing Child Safety Bars, click the photo for the video.

[1] High-rise building fire 75ft or more (Response of 4 engines, 4 ladders, 4 battalion chiefs, 1 deputy, 1 rescue, Mask Service Unit, Hi-Rise Unit, Field Comm Unit, a Squad, a Tactical Support unit, a RAC unit, Rescue Battalion, Safety Battalion, Lobby control unit.)

[2] “The Land That Time and Money Forgot” New York Magazine, September 2012

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Bill Carey is the online public safety news and blog manager with PennWell Public Safety, or more specifically FireRescue Magazine/FirefighterNation.com, JEMS.com, LawOfficer.com and FireEMSBlogs.com. Bill started in the fire service, as a third generation firefighter in 1986, on the eastern shore of Maryland and then continued after moving to Prince George’s County. He served as a volunteer sergeant and lieutenant at Hyattsville. Bill’s writing has been on Firehouse.com, Fire Engineering, FireRescue Magazine, FirefighterNation.com, the Jones and Bartlett 2010 edition of “Fire Officer: Principles and Practice”, The Secret List and Tinhelmet.com. His recent writing on firefighter behavioral health has been nominated for 2014 Neal Award for Best Subject-Related Series.