PATRICK J. LAVIN
Firehouse.Com Contributor
It's three in the morning and you receive an automatic alarm for a commercial building in your district. While responding, you are thinking of the area the call is in and what kind of commercial buildings there are in this area.
You pull up to the address and see that it is carpet store. As you look into the storefront through the glass windows, you see a light-smoke condition growing darker. Your review of the inside and its layout is hampered by large show room displays that are placed throughout the store. You make a notification to the incoming units that there is a light-smoke condition at this time.
As the first-arriving units pull up in front of the building, your engine is pulling a 2 ½" line. Your Forcible Entry Team from ladder truck is at the glass front doors of the storefront using a K-Tool to take out the lock to gain entry. The smoke condition inside is starting to get darker as the heat begins to bank down as well.
The outside vent man from the truck has made his way around back and advises he sees a heavy volume of fire inside the building through a window. Your roof man is making his way to the roof to perform vertical ventilation. Your engine team is now positioned at the front door, which was taken out by the Forcible Entry Team of the truck company. As the Engine opens the lines and advances on the ceiling and sweeping the floor, there is no change in conditions.
You keep advancing, searching for the fire, looking for any indication of where it might be hiding. As your engine company advances, you hear the water from the 2 ½" hose hitting something, making loud, thunderous noise. This noise is familiar, but what is it doing inside this storefront. As you get closer, your hand light flashes upon steel roll down doors INSIDE the storefront. Where did these come from? What are they doing INSIDE this building?
Many commercial stores today like tile, flooring, and carpet stores, have added show rooms to the front of their warehouses to attract customers. Separating the storefront from the warehouse are steel roll down doors or heavy steel garage type doors which were used as loading and unloading docks before they added the false storefront. This scenario which is common throughout the U.S., greatly hinders today's Incident Commander and the plan of attack.
What would have been a basic offensive operation has now become one of how do I get inside fast before this operation becomes a defensive one. My forcible entry team, which got us into the storefront, is now gone doing searches. My outside vent team has begun horizontal ventilation as the roof team begins vertical ventilation to relieve the deteriorated conditions inside. As you do not know how long this fire has been going; it is imperative that vertical ventilation is done to relieve both the high heat and smoke condition inside.
Communication has now become an intricate part of the attack and a new plan of attack must be made immediately. What are my options? An unwritten rule in the fire service is that no matter where the fire is in the structure, we will enter through the front. But as always in the fire service, certain cases dictate a change to the unwritten order.
Look at two plans of attacks.
1) As incoming units respond, you radio to your inside team that they need to regroup and bring in the forcible entry saw. If this is not feasible, then your second arriving ladder truck can take over this operation. Your engine team now must work with the forcible entry team offering them protection from what lies on the other side of the roll-down doors as the fire has now been growing with intensity. Your forcible entry team, which had the luxury of operating in a smoke free environment, must now operate a saw inside a structure in which visibility and conditions have grown worse. As your forcible entry team is repositioning, you ask yourself some questions.
How many roll-down doors are there? Is one saw going to do the job? How are my personnel holding up, and how is their air supply? Once we get the door cut open, can one hand line handle the job? These are several questions as an Incident Commander you must ask yourself, then evaluate your plan of attack to determine if it is the best for you and your members.
2) Always remember who you have at a fire scene and if they are trained correctly. They should be following there riding positions. You have an outside vent man that is venting the rear for you. What does he/she have in the back of the building? Are there additional roll doors, or regular emergency exits? What kinds of windows are there? Are they the large showroom type or small? Ask the questions; and don't be scared to ask him or her if gaining access will be easier from their position to fight this fire. Can you leave your first line to protect the exposures in the showroom as you set up another attack team to go in through the rear? Remember communication and trust in your personnel are key in any fire situation.
You have now gathered all the information you need to attack this fire. If you believe in your training, and experience, this will become another basic operation.
Patrick J. Lavin has been a member of the New York City Fire Department for eight years and a member of the Westbury Volunteer Fire Department for 15 years, serving as company captain, and department instructor.
