Below Grade

Fires

OFC Training Officers Seminar

November 30, 2004

Don Knap, HES-FIRE

From a firefighting point of view, a cellar is the most dangerous area inside a building.

More firefighters are killed and injured battling cellar fires than are killed and injured battling fires on any upper floor.

Dangers Include: Fire

Explosions Collapse Drowning

Toxic gases Electrocution

Below Grade Fires

- Commercial/Industrial

- Residential

- Clandestine

Basement

• a full story below grade

• One-half or more of its height is above grade level

• When calculating the height of a building, the basement is counted as the first floor

Cellar

• is a below grade area that has more than half of its height below grade.

• can be below grade on one side of a building and above grade at the sides and rear (up to 50%)

• can be totally below grade

Hazards

Grow Operations Haz Mat Building Construction Building Design Age/Maintenance of Building Fuel Source Water Supply Electricity

Grow Operations

• High voltage electrical ballasts• High pressure grow lamps• Unfused, no disconnect, hydro source• Entanglement potential• Set traps• Limited entry/ventilation/egress due to

security• Mould

HazMat

• Minimize the ‘surprise’ factor through preplan/tacticals

• No garage, suspect basement workshop

• 1 lb. propane cylinder = 2 sticks dynamite

• Consumer chemicals and aerosols

Building Construction

• Lightweight truss• Well involved fire; - was 20 minutes to collapse - now 16-18 or less with superior insulation

• Interior finish• Exposed ABS plastic conduit etc.• Renovations

Building Design

• Enclosed/open stairway

• Secured building

• Underground parking

- propane/natural gas fueled

- maintenance of sprinklers/exhaust fans

- disorientation hazard for firefighters

Age/Maintenance of Building

• Even without fire, some stairways are old, weak, and ready to fall apart under the weight of a firefighter and equipment

• Rapid extension upward

• Derelict/exposed to weather buildings

Fuel Source

• Natural Gas – plastic pipe can melt below ground level

• Rural – Size up for propane tank or private gas well

• Oil – basement storage tank of relative size to occupancy

Water Supply

• Municipal system

• Rural tanker or drafting source

Electricity

Firefighter training concentrates mainly on the conduction of electricity through hose streams

• Need to consider - wet flooded floors - wet firefighters - breaching walls/ceilings with metal toolsEmergency generators - commercial - residential

• Utility control must be accomplished early in operations.

• Pre-plan to identify internal hazards

Fog Streams

Fog streams are useful tools when used correctly in the appropriate situation

• Flammable liquid and gas fires• Protection of exposures• Electrical Fires• Foam Application

Pick correct tool for the job

Using Fog Streams

• Reduces reach• Reduces penetration• Reduces visibility around your stream• Entrains air (oxygen) into your stream – 30 degree fog nozzle moves well over

2000 cfm • Increases likelihood of upsetting the

thermal balance in the space and of producing steam burns

Spray and Pray Method

• “get inside, put it on fog, and whip it around”

• Creating massive amounts of steam, overpressurizing the room

• Firefighters unable to move through that atmosphere further into the fire building

• “It was way too hot to get inside”

• Building dies a slow death

Solid-bore/Straight Streams

• Airflow volumes introduced into the fire area by solid-bore and straight streams from combination nozzles are very similar

• Moves relatively little air,600-700 cfm, into the fire area

• Will not disturb the thermal balance of the room

• Large volume of water going directly onto the fuel in the form of large drops

Fog Nozzles as Protection

• The need for the fog pattern for protection often based on airflow patterns, air-movement volumes, and velocities experienced without realistic heat or confinements of an interior fire condition

• Using a fog pattern in an unvented interior fire will not protect the firefighters but will greatly increase danger

Training

• “That more live fire training exercises in the form of realistic scenarios be provided for all suppression personnel as often as possible”

Ventilation

• Dangerous temperatures (2000 F) at the high levels of the room will remain until complete ventilation takes place

• Solid-bore/straight stream nozzles will not overpressurize the room and cause a rapid air movement toward the nozzleman

• Air injected can easily be moved through a 3X4 foot vent-size opening

Ventilation

• Assignments on the fireground have become more demanding. ICS has identified specific jobs with limited numbers of firefighters on scene.

• Ventilation often not given sufficient priority and done in a timely manner – especially when fog streams used

Ventilation

• Is the interior crew safer if we assign; - RIT and no ventilation? - Accountability and no ventilation? - Safety Officer and no ventilation? - A ventilation crew to support the attack

before adding additional handlines? Need priorities and essentials to make

fireground safe.

IFSTA Essentials IV

• “The application of hose streams must be performed with prudent care because of the difficulty of ventilating generated steam”

• “If ventilation holes cannot be made large enough for effective ventilation…..then it is important to keep the nozzle on straight stream”

Fire Attack

Indirectly through floor;• Specialized cellar nozzles• Flooding the floor

Descend hot smoky stairs and get below the heat barrier

Must be fully coordinated with ventilation activities to prevent vertical and horizontal fire spread – may need ‘creative’ ventilation techniques

Training - Fire Below

• Identify weakened floor joists

• Terrazo (finished cement) and cement board/tile

- increased dead load

- contains heat and smoke – water evaporates quickly or turns to steam

- no sagging, spring or spongy feel to indicate collapse

Size Up

• Get the big picture• Avoid tunnel vision• Must do 360• Available resources• Type of construction• Time considerations• Etc.• Continually evaluate the risk versus gain

When inside

• Expect the UNexpected

• Pay attention to surroundings, stop and listen (fire/structure/PASS)

• Try to anticipate what may go wrong…before it does

• Risk/benefit

• Check communications often (simplex/relay)

Ignoring Changing Fire Conditions

• Sudden flash of fire out of a room doorway – rollover

• Failure to assess the heat buildup in the smoke filled room

• Warning signs of backdraft conditions in smaller confined spaces

• Listening to radio reports of operations above them – fire extension, ventilation

Safety

• First line of defense is training (ff. survival)• Assign a Safety Officer ASAP• RIT team/crew requested when a ‘working

fire’ confirmed• Treat every power line, cable TV, phone

line as live• Too many firefighters inside not doing

specific tasks• Air management accountability

Storage

• Boxes, cartons, furniture

• Large quantities of combustible merchandise

• Frequently stacked as high as possible to underside of floor above

• Narrow isles through stored material to access utility supply and shutoffs

Firefighting Challenges

• Blocks hose streams – need 3 ft. or more

• Collapse due to water soaking

• Conceals exact point of fire

• Flashover/backdraft possibilities

• Large amounts of water may need to be discharged

• Activities of crews above

Safety“Our life expectancy inside a structure is limited to

the air we carry on our backs” (A. Brunacini)

RIT…The time it takes to rescue a firefighter is longer than the time allotment for which we carry on our backs

Low air alarms – time in/out (residential/commercial)

Use PASS devices

Emergency evacuation tones

RIT

RIT• Rapid Intervention isn’t rapid

• RIT should be in place and equipped before conditions become unsafe

• RIT should be observing building and fireground operations

• Deploy a search team (TIC’s)

• Send in rescue team

• Set up lighting to guide

RIT

• Unreasonable to expect a single company/crew to locate, package for removal, provide air, to extricate from any entrapment, and actually remove a firefighter from the structure

• May be operating under rapidly deteriorating conditions

• Train under realistic conditions - UP stairs….UP ladders

Where We Go From Here…

• Operating procedures up to date• Training efforts need to be focused on

preventing us from ever needing to use rapid intervention

• Training should include getting ourselves out of trouble (ff survival)

• Does your rapid intervention concept work?• That more live fire training exercises in the form

of realistic scenarios be provided for all suppression personnel as often as possible”

• The first attack hoseline is the single most important firefighting action at a fire

after accurate size-up

• The first hoseline stretched at a fire saves lives, including saving lives of firefighters

As the frequency of fires decline in our communities and practical training on firefighting being carried out less often, is a gap growing between what we think we can do safely and effectively to fight fires.