BY TOM BRENNAN
A few months ago, we started addressing some simple yet unique solutions to some basic questions that pop up often (and some not so often) on the fireground. Let’s discuss some more familiar events and possible innovative and successful solutions.
How many of you have been assigned vertical ventilation, popped up on the roof of a four-story building, and found that the fire building that requires your attention is adjoining your “platform” and is one story below or above the roof construction you are on-either an attached building of a different height or just an extension of your building to the rear?
Whaddaya do now? Such was the situation facing a member of the truck company that day. During the critique, I learned a lesson for a lifetime. “What did you do, Joe?” I asked. “Well, I just popped the scuttle cover of the fire building and pried off the access ladder (an eight- to nine-footer) and used it for access (and egress) to the roof that I needed to get to!” Most of us stood in astonished amazement because we thought that Joe didn’t know how many eggs were in a dozen!
Jack was guiding some civilians down the fire escape in the front of the building. He just had to get past the windows enclosing the fire on the third floor to the fire escape balcony ladder that led to the safety of the second floor. The portable ladder was to the “wrong” side of the balcony, and the parade of victims had to pass the fire windows and go around to the opening that would drop them 25 feet to the sidewalk. The windows failed, and flames blocked the one section of fire escape landing separating where they were from where they had to get to. The ground crew knew that the ladder had to be moved, but even a few moments would cause some serious injuries. Whaddaya do now?
Jack opened his coat and pressed his victims into the bricks and surrounded them with his opened arms. The air between his body and coat gained him the extra time needed to get the ladder and the help into position.
Similar situations abound, but one that was significant and truly a rescue deserving the top award for the year was when our Tom was blocked by fire-fire in a high-rise multiple dwelling (a couple of rooms in a seven-room apartment-a maze). “My baby is in the back bedroom,” was the cry in the hallway. Tom passed the fire quickly and darted down the hall to the bedroom. The “baby” was 17 years old and pretty much without protection of clothing.
The windows crashed with the ventilation efforts of the fire team directly above. Tom had to get back before the fire blocked him forever. Getting back for him was going to be painful but getting this young man back with him would be fatal. Whaddaya do?
Tom pried two hinges of the bedroom door and dropped it on the back of his charge. Pulling and dragging got the victim and Tom out of there before the extinguishment effort turned the hall into a blowtorch. Tom got second-degree burns on his back and some melted paint had to be removed from “Butch,” but they were alive.
I was just promoted from the ghetto areas of New York City and speedily assigned to a midtown Manhattan high-rise district. (The city likes to make good use of your experience!) I was lost!
Fire was in a one-story men’s furnishings store across the street from Pennsylvania Station at the base of a 40-story office building on Sunday morning. Whew!
Well, we were the fourth engine to arrive, and I hadn’t a clue as to what we would be doing when the deputy chief said, “Hey, get in there and relieve the first engine line in the original fire store.”
They had already transmitted a second alarm because of policy and a third because no one trusted policy. “Listen, kid, you’re from the ghetto, and those things don’t work here. Get in there and keep the water going on the ceiling. We have second- and third-alarm assignments throughout the 40 stories here, and our problem is bigger than you would think!” Boy, was I intimidated!
We crawled in and took over the line. A few seconds of following my orders explicitly and hot got hotter. No red, no light, no nothing. My people were complaining, “Whaddaya do?” Well, I am sorry to say that the experience took over and I said (before I knew it), “Shut this damn thing down for a second, and let’s see the problem!” In no time, the fire showed its ugly face, rounding the corner at us from a small mezzanine of storage, and we charged.
I was embarrassed to report on the radio that I thought we knocked down the original fire. Sometimes, the old “tricks” can still work anywhere. It is just that so many people like to “reinvent” everything about this job.
Did you ever have a large building’s sprinkler alarm transmit in the early morning hours? A multistory tenant factory with tilt-out wire-glass windows and, because of the supply being constant, there was no telltale water flow from the gong drain valve? (Did I lose some of you?)
Whaddaya do to tell if the water is flowing? As above, the drain from the water-motor-gong (if it doesn’t have an electric bell instead) outside the protected building will drain to the sidewalk. If water is not flowing, no gong sound! Duh!
But now you are in the room that contains the sprinkler riser with its myriad of OS&Y valves and gauges. First, listen for flow. Use a tool between your ear and the pipe to hear better. Feel the pipes for temperature differences between the supply side and the service side. Also check the gauges on each side of the alarm valve. The supply side should be lower than the system side. In any event, if the gauges read the same, water may be flowing though the valve and, therefore, the system. Find out where it is going!
TOM BRENNAN has more than 35 years of fire service experience. His career spans more than 20 years with the Fire Department of New York as well as four years as chief of the Waterbury (CT) Fire Department. He was the editor of Fire Engineering for eight years and currently is a technical editor. He is co-editor of The Fire Chief’s Handbook, Fifth Edition (Fire Engineering Books, 1995). He is the recipient of the 1998 Fire Engineering Lifetime Achievement Award. Brennan is featured in the video Brennan and Bruno Unplugged (Fire Engineering/FDIC, 1999)
