Photos by author
When responding to a residential structure fire, one of the essential firefighters must complete is a search of the structure. This will assist with the life safety fireground priority for the initial incident commander (IC) and subsequent ICs thereafter. The life safety priority must be considered for both firefighters on scene and for the occupants in the structure.
Regardless of the initial tactics employed by the first-arriving company officer, crews will either a focus on searching for life or simultaneously attacking fire and searching for life. When firefighters discover life, occupants must be removed quickly to increase their chance of survival. Occupants should be removed rapidly via the nearest exit point, such as the bedroom window, rather than being dragged through the contaminated area to the main door of entry. This is the main purpose of the primary search—to locate and rescue.
- The Lack of Search Training Is Appalling
- Do a Better Job of Teaching Search
- Civilian Rescue: Removing the Occupant
- Tactical Supervision for Known Rescues
The primary search is an organized search that must focus on key areas where occupants will commonly be found trying to escape. Search is a race againt time—the time related to fire growth and the time available for occupants to survive being exposed to the toxic effects of the smoke and unburned particles of combustion.
The quicker victims are found, the quicker they will be removed from the environment and have access to medical attention. When reviewing statistics, when the initial crew on scene conducts a search, victims’ survival chances increases by 79% when it is completed within less than two minutes and 73% between the two and four minute mark (www.FirefighterRescueSurvey.com).
The focus of the primary search must be directed to where the occupant will be in the structure, and critically, where in that room or space they will be. According to statistics from the Firefighter Rescue Survey, the first floor of the structure accounts for 58% of occupant locations, and the second floor accounts for 30%. The first floor is where we have the main exit points (front door or a rear door) of the structure, which occupants will generally favor for egress purposes.
When detailing where occupants are going to be in the structure, the numbers reveal the bedroom accounts for 45%, with bedrooms on the first floor accounting for 58% of instances and bedrooms on the second floor accounting for 30%. According to the data, the family room accounts for 16% and the hallway accounts for 9% of instances. Other common locations of where we are going to find our occupants in a structure fire will be at the fire location, exit points such as at the window, doors, hallway, stairs, and based on time of day, in their beds—which is supported by the Firefighter Rescue Survey statistics mentioned previously.
Except for the occupant being in their bed (including bunk beds, loft beds, or cribs and playpens in the cases of infants), on the couch, or in the bathtub, firefighters are most likely going to find victims on the floor.
- Training Minutes: Considerations for Adult Victims
- Training Minutes: Considerations for Child Victims
- Training Minutes: Considerations for Infant Victims
Knowing these common locations, when an occupant succumbs to the effects of the products of combustion, they are going to fall on the floor. With this in mind, we need to ensure firefighters are focusing on the floor during search operations. The lead firefighter will focus on building orientation and leading the search on.
In photo 1, we see an example of the common search tactic employed by some firefighters—the wall pattern. As mentioned, the lead firefighter must maintain building orientation, having a body part on the wall while using a halligan in the other to lead. The lead firefighter uses the other hand to sweep the wall to locate any doors or windows that he or she may come across. The doors located may be exit doors, a door to another room such as a bathroom, or closet doors. Meanwhile, the search firefighter will be searching off the lead firefighter and will need to focus on the floor. Photo 1 shows how a search team can waste their time by feeling up the wall instead of focusing on the floor—you’re not going to find occupants on the wall.
In photo 2, we see another example of a common search mistake—searching on top of furniture or appliances. When some firefighters encounter an appliance or a piece of tall furniture, they feel the need to search the top of it. As mentioned previously, we are fighting against time when doing a primary search, and taking the time to search or sweep the top of a stove is a waste of time. It is not just a sweep that occurs usually, but rather a patting and feeling around on top of the appliance and tall furniture. Much time is wasted by “feeling” or “patting” the tops of appliances. It’s highly improbable that the occupants inside the structure are going to be on top of the stove; most likely they are going to be on the floor. In some cases, however, families may place a small cradle or bassinet containing an infant on top of a kitchen table, which will warrant a quick sweep across the top.
Photo 3 shows another example of a common search mistake: searching in and around appliances and furniture. In this syndrome, the search firefighter takes the time to search behind the appliance or piece of furniture like a sofa, the sides of the appliance or furniture where it rests against a wall, or, in the case of the fridge, search it up to the top. Searching around the appliance on the floor area in front of it is where we want to focus, as it’s highly probable that we will locate the occupant on the floor.
The only time that a search firefighter will search up a piece of furniture is when they are in a bedroom and feel the legs of a bunk bed or, when in the bedroom, feel no bed present. This should provide a clue for the search firefighter that there is a bunk bed that needs to be swept on top to ensure no one is present. A sweep under the bed is also warranted to ensure no small children have crawled under to hide themselves from the fire.
The same is to be done with a normal bed or sofa or couch—sweep the top in one pass to ensure no one is present. Do not “pat” the top of the bed or sofa as you may miss the occupant, sweep it. If the bed is too large to sweep in one pass, the search firefighter may have to get up on the bed and sweep it to ensure a complete pass.
Training is needed to help curtail these practices and to help firefighters focus on the floor and areas of high probability during search operations. Any access to an acquired structure or a fixed facility will work—just make sure to transform it into a real search environment with realistic furnishings and items on the floor, like carpet or clothes. Regular, consistent practice will help ensure your firefighters are making the most of their time during search.
Mark van der Feyst has been in the fire service since 1999 and is a firefighter with the Fort Gratiot (MI) Fire Department. He is an international instructor teaching in Canada, the United States, and India, and at FDIC. He is also the lead author of Residential Fire Rescue (Fire Engineering Books & Video). He can be contacted at [email protected].
