FIRE FOCUS
(Photos by Tom McCarthy.)
All fires in buildings under renovation bring a myriad of problems. Those in special occupancies, such as breweries, add a few more. Openings in floors for vats, inspection ladders, cranes, and other associated furnishings are covered (if at all) by flimsy material and may even be just planks for workmen to use in well-lit areas. Walls and ceilings are usually open, allowing for rapid fire spread. The scaffolding, a great indicator of renovation, is flimsy and prevents rapid ventilation by aerials and portable ladders. Usually the planking is installed only on the floor that the scaffolding is to serve at that stage of the renovation. This eliminates access to other floors by firefighters.
All floors can have the added explosion hazard of propane and acetylene tank storage, while associated oxygen can cause blowtorch effects for fire in any combustible. Tripping hazards and operational (workmen) holes can be found anywhere. The keys to successful response to structures under renovation are preplanning; frequent on-site inspections; established liaisons with building and construction officials; and, in the event of fire, communication and slow and steady tactics supporting a strategy that should be ready to change at any moment.
(Photo by Peter Aloisi.)
A defensive/offensive strategy is needed at fires looking somewhat like the size-up of the one above. Fire is in full possession of the top two floors of this commercial, mill-construction structure. There are perhaps many indicators of collapse: time of burning, amount of fire and its reaction to extinguishment efforts, cracks, bulges, local collapse of flooring, and more.
The tower is well out of the vertical collapse zone and the aerial stream and its platform is operating well outside the third dimension of the collapse zone: The bucket is as far away from the building facade as there is building facade above it.
The proximity of the exposure to this much fire should indicate that an offensive firefighting operation is ongoing within it, as radiation and convection can easily extend fire to it.
(Photo by Al Trojanowicz.)
Defensive operations with a building-collapse threat. Some of the objectives of such a firefight are depicted here. This photo is an excellent example of cooperation between two powerful and versatile tower ladder streams as they operate outside the collapse zone and in the “corner-safe” areas of the structure. The stream attack on buildings like this should be into the openings available (as shown) and not (in most cases) delivered from above.
Firefighters are well out of the collapse zone. Control of aggressive personnel is an ongoing objective once they are withdrawn from inside and the defensive operation mounts. Firefighters want and need to be involved. At an operation with a building-collapse threat, it is indeed difficult to put this aggression on hold. Training and discipline are the keys to firefighter safety at collapsethreat operations.
(Photo by Tom McCarthy.)
Cellar fires in “closed-for-the-evening” or vacant commercial structures are always a nightmare filled with frustration and some surprises. They are almost always a “delayed alarm,” first, because they are well-advanced before showing indications of fire to civilians on the outside, and second, arriving members usually think “cellar fire” as a last resort. Firefighters usually stretch, force entry, and search as if they had a first-floor fire. Operations usually continue until all guesses are used up and a cellar fire is thought of-an additional delay on an already delayed alarm.
Access is a horrible exercise in heat, pressure, flame, and human punishment. Sometimes it’s best to “hold” the interior stair while attacking from an exterior cellar entrance outside with one or two handlines —side by side.
The delay allows extra burn time on the exposed, unprotected structural support members to the first floor, and local collapse is common —a life threat to firefighters that must impact command decisions.
