In the week just past, my volunteer fire company faced a fairly severe structural fire. Once again I was lucky enough to be on the first-due pumper. As we rolled in on the job, we were greeted by a fairly strong loom-up off in the distance. Upon arrival, we were met by a well-involved structure, with fire in possession of the rear of the building. The requisite attack lines were stretched, and we began our attack.
It was at this point that the value of our training program began to pay off. As we attempted to make entry with our two attack lines, we were greeted by a wide array of trash, junk and debris in the front hallway. Very wisely, we held our position at the front door and held off on making our entrance.
We had encountered what many in the business call a Collier