BY BILL GUSTIN
An incendiary fire in an auto dealership presented Miami-Dade (FL) Fire Rescue firefighters with some serious challenges. The fire occurred on a Saturday, when the auto showroom was occupied by sales personnel and several customers. At the time of the fire, the occupant load of the showroom was greater than usual because a rare 1960s vintage Ford G.T. was on display.
A dissatisfied customer who had argued with salespersons over the deal on the SUV he had purchased there the day before allegedly started the fire. The customer left the dealer and later returned to drive his brand-new SUV through the aluminum-and-glass doors of the showroom and rammed the vintage G.T. The customer then allegedly poured a container of gasoline on the showroom floor, ignited it, and calmly walked away. The situation inside the showroom, however, was anything but calm, as stunned salespeople and panicky customers rushed to the back of the showroom to find rear exits that led outside or into the parts department and service area.
Although this incident is unusual and bizarre, it is not uncommon for vehicles to be accidentally driven into the fronts of businesses. In Florida, television news almost daily reports on a driver, usually elderly, who panics or mistakes the accelerator pedal for the brake and crashes through aluminum-and-glass storefront doors and show windows.
Firefighters responding to such an incident may be faced with a fire, a heavy rescue operation, and a multiple-casualty incident (MCI) when the number of victims exceeds the capabilities of first responders. The first-arriving officer must exercise self-control; project strong leadership; and present a calm, capable command presence in such situations. Firefighters must be disciplined not to take action until a size-up determines effective strategy and tactics. In an MCI, triage victims to ensure you treat and transport them in order of priority.
The incident commander may have to call for additional EMS units, utility companies, or heavy equipment and technical rescue capabilities to free victims trapped under the intruding vehicle or pinned against a wall or furniture. Firefighters must be assigned to the rear of the business to perform “forcible exit” so occupants can escape through rear doors that may be illegally locked during business hours. Firefighters operating in the rear must rapidly locate and secure utilities, since gas and water pipes may be damaged and leaking. Electrical service should be shut off because energized wires could become a source of ignition or electrocution.
Sprinkler valves may have to be closed if uncontrolled water leaking from damaged pipes is causing more of a hazard than the potential for fire in a building with an inoperable sprinkler system. The decision to shut off sprinklers is not irrevocable. A radio-equipped firefighter should stand by the sprinkler valves awaiting orders to restore the water flow.
Fire is, of course, an ever-present hazard. The fuel tank of the out-of-control vehicle may rupture or the fuel lines may be severed. Recently, a car crashed into a South Florida Italian restaurant, broke the gas line to a pizza oven, and ignited a fire. Hoselines must be rapidly positioned to protect trapped occupants, but firefighters directing hose streams from the front of a building must be extremely careful not to push fire toward occupants trapped in the rear. This was a critical factor at the auto dealership fire, because gasoline burning on the surface of water applied by firefighters could have spread the fire toward the rear of the showroom. Fortunately, firefighters recognized this problem and rapidly shifted to foam operations.
INCIDENT OPERATIONS
You must plan and train for the day when a vehicle may crash into a business in your jurisdiction. The most important lesson you can learn from this incident is that businesses must be inspected regularly to ensure that rear exits are clearly marked, unobstructed, and unlocked.
The initial size-up at this fire was difficult: Heavy smoke obscured the fire building, and the first-arriving engine company officer was approached by several excited civilians and police officers, who were giving conflicting reports of trapped and missing occupants (photo 1). A critical consideration was positioning apparatus to facilitate a rapid advance of hoselines to protect occupants who may not have escaped the showroom.
Positioning of Apparatus
Photo 1. Factors influencing apparatus positioning included the following: How far was the showroom set back from the street? If the distance exceeded the effective length of the preconnected hoselines, firefighters would have had to team up the crews of two or more companies to hand-stretch three-inch hose to the entrance of the showroom, where a gated wye would allow two handlines to operate.
 Photo 1 Photos by Eric Goodman. |
Should the apparatus remain on the street where its driver-engineer could hand-lay a five-inch supply line from a nearby hydrant? Was the parking lot leading to the showroom too congested to allow a large apparatus to maneuver close to the fire building?
A long hose stretch through a parking lot filled with vehicles can be difficult and personnel-intensive because it is loaded with “hose magnets.” As hose is dragged along the pavement, it has a tendency to catch and snag against the tread of vehicle tires. This can require firefighters to be positioned where hose comes in contact with vehicle tires and corners to keep the hoseline moving.
Firefighters can reduce the effects of hose magnets by carrying hose in folds or bundles as they play it out around obstacles. Certain hose loads are easier to deploy around obstacles than others and necessitate fewer firefighters to stretch through congested areas. A “minuteman” and a horseshoe load, for example, allow firefighters to carry hose in a bundle on their shoulder or forearm. Conversely, hose configured in a flat or triple-layer load necessitates that firefighters drag their line and move it around obstacles.
Hoseline Deployment
Photos 2, 3. Firefighters stretch a 1 3/4-inch hoseline to the front door and “mask up” prior to making entry. Some of you may be asking why they didn’t deploy a 2 1/2-inch attack line. Honestly, since I wasn’t at this fire, I asked the same question. The decision to use the smaller-size hose was influenced by the following considerations. First, hoselines had to be stretched and rapidly advanced around multiple obstacles and corners. The floor plan was typical of most auto dealers, wherein the front of the showroom is congested with cars and the rear is a maze of small aisles and offices. Hence, 1 3/4-inch handlines afforded more mobility than 2 1/2-inch hose.
 Photo 2 |
The second consideration was the gallons-per-minute (gpm) flow of the 1 3/4-inch hoselines. The hoseline’s mobility is not enough to suppress a fire: You must also be able to flow sufficient water. Miami-Dade’s 1 3/4-inch hoselines readily can flow 220 gpm because their actual inside diameter measures 1 7/8 inches. This makes the hose friction loss and gpm flow close to those of a two-inch hoseline. In addition, engine companies use a “low-pressure” combination nozzle on their 13/4-inch hoselines that flow 180 gpm at 50 psi nozzle pressure or 220 gpm at 70 psi. (For additional explanation, see “Nozzles and Handlines for Interior Operation,” Dave Wood, Fire Engineering, April 1999.)
 Photo 3 |
A third consideration in favor of deploying 1 3/4-inch hoselines was that they could be (and were) rapidly converted for foam use.
Although it is a common practice, firefighters should not have to stop, kneel, and set down their helmet when donning their SCBA face mask. As I explained in “Tips for Donning Masks, Hoods, and Helmets” (Fire Engineering, June 2001), firefighters who don their face piece in this manner are likely to lose their helmet down the stairs or off a balcony or fire escape. Additionally, firefighters using this method often neglect to fasten their chin strap when donning their helmet. A chin strap saved my dad, a Chicago firefighter: It kept his helmet from being knocked off his head in a building collapse.
Now, notice the firefighter in photo 2. He is donning his SCBA face piece by loosening his helmet chin strap and resting his helmet on his shoulder. This firefighter doesn’t have to stop to don his face piece, as he always has possession of his helmet. Also, he carried his gloves with a self-fastening strap, which he will put on after he masks up.
Advancing into the Showroom
Photos 4, 5. Firefighters prepare to advance a hoseline into the showroom. Prior to entering, sufficient hose to reach the rear of the showroom should be carefully laid out in a series of “S’s” at the entrance and all the kinks should be removed. This will facilitate a smooth, uninterrupted advance. The hoseline may have to make several turns as it is maneuvered around the cars and corners in the showroom. This will necessitate firefighters at positions along the line to keep it moving around these obstacles. If they all crowd behind the nozzleman, the line won’t make it past the first turn.
 Photo 4 |
A critical position on this hoseline is at the entrance doorway where a firefighter will feed hose to the nozzle team as it advances and withdraws the line if they must back it up. This is not, however, a static position, as he may have to go back to the parking lot to free a coupling snagged on a curbstone or a sign or clear another entanglement. This is a job for a trained, capable firefighter. Every firefighter on the hoseline depends heavily on the “doorman” to keep the line moving. This hoseline, however, cannot move without adequate ventilation. This fire demands that firefighters break the show windows before advancing the hoseline.
 Photo 5 |
Ventilation
Photos 6, 7. Firefighters vent the showroom windows. Here, they use six-foot pike poles to break the glass. I’m sure they chose the six-foot hooks out of habit because they are used most frequently. For safety, break large show windows with long eight- or 10-foot pike poles. Firefighters should use the added reach of a longer pike pole to strike the glass at the top of the window. When breaking large show windows, always assume they are glazed plate glass. If a large plate glass show window is broken anywhere but at the top, sharp heavy shards of glass can fall like a guillotine from the upper portion of the window. Over the years, the falling glass has caused several firefighters to suffer career-ending injuries. Firefighters breaking show windows must be careful to clear the top of the opening of any remaining glass, because it can fall and cut firefighters or hoselines.
 Photo 6 |
In photo 7, crystals of broken glass cover the sidewalk. This indicates that some, if not all, of the show room windows were glazed with tempered glass. Fragments of broken tempered glass are much safer than sharp, jagged shards of plate glass.
 Photo 7 |
In recruit training, firefighters are taught to break tempered glass by striking it with a pointed tool in a bottom corner. This is an effective technique, provided that the glass is indeed tempered. There is no way to be certain that all the glass in a building is tempered. Many older buildings constructed before building codes requiring tempered glass in storefront doors and adjoining show windows were in effect are glazed with plate glass. Tempered glass is much more expensive than plate glass; consequently, a building owner may choose to replace a broken tempered glass window with plate glass and will shop around until he finds an unscrupulous glass installer willing to violate the building code.
A few years ago, my company had the opportunity to practice breaking show windows in a supermarket undergoing renovation; some of the glass was tempered; some was plate. There is no way to tell.
Never assume that show windows and aluminum glass doors are glazed with tempered glass. Striking plate glass at the bottom using the technique most effective for breaking tempered glass is likely to precipitate the guillotine effect. The lesson here is clear: Break all show windows at the top, and then work down to clear the opening of glass.
Shift to Foam
Photos 8, 9. Gasoline poured by the arsonist and leaking from the customer’s SUV is burning on the surface of the water applied by hoselines. Continuing to apply water at this point would intensify the fire and spread the spill of burning gasoline toward firefighters searching the rear of the showroom. This called for a shift to foam operations.
 Photo 8 |
The first-arriving engine was not equipped with a built-in Class “B” foam system (photo 9). Consequently, the driver-engineer had to disconnect a 1 3/4-inch preconnect from its crosslay and reconnect it to a 125-gpm in-line foam eductor on a 2 1/2-inch discharge. A “pigtail” (a 10-foot section of 1 3/4-inch hose that connects between the swivel discharge in the crosslay and the preconnect hoseline) would have made this process much easier. A pigtail facilitates a rapid setup for foam, because the engineer can disconnect the preconnect from the pigtail instead of having to climb up in the crosslay and disconnect it from the discharge swivel.
 Photo 9 |
As you can see in photo 7, most of the fire at this point has been extinguished. The remaining fire isn’t very large, but it was stubborn because it was fed by leaking gasoline. This relatively small fire was well within the suppression capabilities of one 125-gpm foam hoseline. Just how much fire can an engine company extinguish with an in-line eductor and three or four five-gallon containers of foam concentrate? The flow rate of foam solution-that is, the mixture of water and foam concentrate-is determined by the size of the fire. For example, every 10 square feet of burning fuel surface requires a minimum application rate of one gpm of foam solution. A 125-gpm eductor connected to a foam hoseline can theoretically suppress 1,250 square feet of fire (125 gpm × 10 square feet). Again, this flow rate is a theoretical minimum that may be insufficient because of many variables that are beyond the scope of this article. Also, consider that the area of the burning fuel surface is at best an estimate; it is highly unlikely to find someone using a measuring tape.
Another consideration is the concentration setting of the eductor. The alcohol-resistant AFFF used at this fire is applied to hydrocarbon fires at three-percent concentration. Polar solvents, such as alcohols, require a six-percent concentration. The concentration needed for gasoline depends on the amount of polar solvent additives blended in the fuel. Gasoline with a high ethanol content may require a six-percent concentration for a quick knockdown. Most firefighters’ experience in fighting flammable liquid fires is limited to relatively small spill fires from burning automobiles. Most of these small fires are rapidly controlled with one five-gallon container of AFFF. This can lead firefighters to become overconfident in the limited supply of foam most engine companies carry.
A serious fire involving a flammable liquid spill can require continuous foam application for as long as 10 minutes. A 125-gpm eductor set at three-percent concentration will use 3.75 gallons of foam concentrate per minute. This rate of flow for 10 minutes requires approximately 38 gallons of concentrate or eight five-gallon containers. At this rate, each five-gallon container will empty in 80 seconds.
Firefighters deploying foam must know the maximum amount of hose they can connect between the foam eductor and the nozzle. This will depend on the operating pressure of the nozzle, the gpm flow of the foam solution, and the friction loss of the hose. Exceeding the maximum length of hose can result in excessive back pressure and cause the eductor to fail to pick up the concentrate.
As a result of flow tests, my department has established that 200 feet is the maximum amount of 1 3/4-inch hose that can be stretched from an eductor operating at the standard inlet pressure of 200 psi. If the fire is farther than 200 feet from the pumper, firefighters will stretch 21/2-inch or three-inch hose to supply the eductor within 200 feet of the fire.
Foam Application
Photos 10-12. Firefighters push or “roll” foam under a burning vehicle. This is an effective application tactic that prevents foam from plunging into the surface of the burning gasoline. Fire remaining under the vehicle is a result of gasoline leaking from burned fuel lines or melting plastic burning in the engine compartment. This is a three-dimensional fire that requires dry chemical to extinguish. The dry chemical agent can be applied by discharging an extinguisher into the hose stream, which will carry it to the fire or through an old Navy fog applicator.
 Photo 10 |
As the foam blanket degrades, it loses its vapor-sealing capabilities, especially when firefighters performing overhaul walk in it. This will necessitate the periodic reapplication of foam. Additionally, a firefighter should stand ready with a large dry chemical extinguisher to protect firefighters from any flare-ups during overhaul. Notice pieces of the ceiling are hanging from wires in these photos. This is a perfect example of the reason all firefighters should carry some kind of wire-cutting tool in the pocket of their turnout gear-in case they become entangled.
 Photo 11 |
 Photo 12 |
Overhauling
Photo 13. Firefighters overhauling a burned vehicle use a rotary saw to cut a triangle in the hood at the point where it attaches to the latch mechanism. This is the easiest way to get the hood open at this point, because the cable that actuates the hood latch from the passenger compartment has burned away. The firefighter operating the saw should begin the cut with the blade rotating at a low revolution-per-minute (rpm) rate. This reduces the gyroscopic action of the saw and the blade’s tendency to slide across the smooth surface of the hood. Once the blade cuts a groove, the saw should be run a full rpm. The operator should hold the saw in one place until the blade has plunged through all layers of the hood. Then, he can guide the saw slowly through the cut. The operator must not attempt to cut faster than the saw can cut; forcing the blade will cause it to bind and stall.
 Photo 13 |
This was an unusual incident, but the tactics used to stretch and advance hoselines, ventilate, and deploy foam are basic firefighting functions that must be perfected by practicing them until each firefighter can perform the tasks almost automatically, without having to be told how to do them.
BILL GUSTIN, a 33-year veteran of the fire service, is a captain with Miami-Dade (FL) Fire Rescue and lead instructor in his department’s officer training program. He began his fire service career in the Chicago area and teaches fire training programs in Florida and other states. He is a marine firefighting instructor and has taught fire tactics to ship crews and firefighters in Caribbean countries. He also teaches forcible entry tactics to fire departments and SWAT teams of local and federal law enforcement agencies. Gustin is an editorial advisory board member of Fire Engineering.
