Define "Attacking a fire" opposed to a "defensive"

[WannabeFDNY]

I'm pretty baffled when i hear people talk about this. I get the gist of what its trying to say, but I would like to hear a educated, text book definition of what "attacking" a fire or taking a "defensive position" means.

[S8ER95Z]

I don't have the 'text book' definition but I would say defensive moves moving back and trying to prevent things around the structure from being damaged (a house next door, shed, garage, etc) while offensive means going up the building (entering if possible) and trying to knock the fire down before it gets too large/out of control.

[MEck51]

OK, first off it is always an "attack". It can be either offensive or defensive and than branch off into a couple variations of both.
In general an offensive attack would be conducted on a building that is a viable save with limited risk. Meaning that it is felt by the OC that with an aggresive approach to interior firefighting the fire can be extinguised with minimal risk to firefighters. This can occour with an assortment of options ranging for extinguishers to 2.5 in handlines.
A defensive attack may be performed when it is decided that a building is a loser. Meaning immenant collapse hazards, special hazards such as chemcials. It is also possible that a building be written off due to concerns of rapid fire spread to adjoining or near by buildings, where it would be of higher value to stop the fire from spreading and losing an entire block.
There are situations where a defensive and an offensive attack may be combined. This may be done to prevent fire spread and extinguish at the same time. An example would be interior teams working with a handline on the fire while other teams are protecting exposure buildings.
There are many different factors that come in to play when making the decision as to what attack to make. Primary would be building and fire knowledge. You have to know how a fire is going to spread in a given building. This is only going to happen thru years of training and hands on.
I would recomend getting a book and researching more. There is only so much that can be put on here and I assure you that there are plenty of resources available to give you good answers. I am currently reading a book by anthony avillo that has a wealth of knowledge on scene size up. But there are hundreds available to you. If you have any further questions please post as there is a lot of knowledge on here to be shared.

[WannabeFDNY]

Thanks for the detailed responses.. i have looked up that book by avillo and it looks very interesting even for a junior FF who doesnt know much about it. haha. I'm hoping to learn all that i can to properly decide if this career is what i want to go for.. from the looks of it the application process is longer and more complicated than the naval academys'! (which im also considering)

[slackjawedyokel]

defensive --you generally stay in one place until the fire is either knocked down or burned out -- offensive -- hit it and move in -- hit it and move in etc.

[jreb721]

My thoughts on offensive is basically - Fast, aggresive, interior attack - where you go inside to fight it. I have also seen a combination of offensive and defensive. The best definition of a defensive attack I have heard is - when the water level goes above the fire, the fire will go out-.