All too often we see the headlines about fire stations that have fires and burn to the ground, it is such a traumatic time for the department and the community that there is hardly time to dwell on what happened, it seems obvious, "There was a fire", but yet we fail to investigate what went wrong. By what went wrong, I don't mean what was the cause of the fire, or how much was damaged, but rather why didn't we plan for this? Why didn't we have a plan to save our own fire station? We are in the business of fire safety, pre-incident planning and emergency preparedness, yet we forget to protect our own. It is human nature, just like the cobblers children who always seemed to need new shoes; we in the fire service have failed to make sure we are ready to fight a fire in our own building.
This may not be as appropriate for those large departments with many stations, but think about this... If you were called for a fire at your own station can you get there before the next closest fire station or neighboring community? If you can answer yes, then what is your plan once you get there?
Below are a few steps, some very simple things, which we can and all should be doing, which can hopefully reduce the number of times we have to read about fire stations burning to the ground
Building Design
For those lucky enough, and those unluckily having to build or remodeling your fire station, now is the time to design in some safety features including:
- Sprinkler Systems
- Remote Monitored Alarm systems
- Relay switches which can shut down power/gas to stoves
- Separated stalls / rooms to store combustibles, to perform vehicle maintenance.
Hose Houses
Similar to what industry might use in large plants or facilities consider building a hose house. A structure across the street or just down the block with a few simple tools and equipment that might just make the difference between a small fire in the fire station and a complete loss.
Consider how easy it would be to construct a 8x8 structure to house some hose and nozzles, a few hand tools, and some other miscellaneous equipment...The structure could be as simple has a small garden shed that you might find at a local home improvement store or as might be required in some areas a block structure with steel doors and a cement roof. You know your area best, do what you need to do to keep the vandals out!
Although a direct interior attack won't be possible because of the limited equipment, at least some outside tactics could be deployed to keep the fire in check, and hopefully allow the rescue of some of your vehicles, until the cavalry arrives from the neighboring community. I know, your wondering about water. I have not seen many fire stations that do not have a hydrant or some water source near by. Most hydrants can easily flow 1000 gpm or more, and although pressure might not be the greatest, lets all get out our hydraulics book and check the flow from that old smooth bore nozzle at the 60 psi hydrant pressure, or better yet maybe plan ahead and purchase a low pressure nozzle for the hose house. If you live in a rural community without hydrants this concept of a hose house probably is even more important to you, as your next closest department is probably some distance away. For water supply consider a buried tank, or a cistern with or without a portable pump capable of delivering even just 200 gpm. If you plan it right you will also benefit from a new training aid that can give your pump operators great pumping experience without wasting water, and your yearly pump tests will be much easier too. You can always use a standard well to keep the tank full, or pump it full with your engines once it is installed. If you live in a cold climate plan the tanks depth for freezing to make sure it is usable year round. Again a little planning goes a long, long way.
Preplanning
What are you going to do if a report of your station on fire happen?
- Call the Fire Department -- It sounds funny but make sure someone has called the fire department. Make sure your dispatch center has
a preplan for whom to call in case there ever is a fire at your fire station. When you do get the call make sure the dispatcher has followed the
pre-plan and dispatched the fire department not yours but your neighboring department. Do as we teach others: assume the worst and call sooner than
later. This may cost you an early morning breakfast if it is a false alarm, but you'll live it down eventually.
- Start Trying To Control The Fire -- Wouldn't a hose house be handy about now! Get tot your hose house; use a combination lock, that way no one has to remember a key! Get out what equipment you have and get to work.. No heroics. Remember you won't have turnout unless you carry it in
your car and no SCBA will be available either. Safety is and always will be #1. Get a line working if needed and start controlling the fire as best you
can. Don't forget this though, if you using a hydrant use gate valves. You don't want to have to shut down the one or two working lines you have while
you try and hook up the neighboring departments engine.
- Get Your Vehicles Out - This sounds easy, but again you need to plan. Replace the small combustible rope on the overhead door with a good sturdy length of chain. Connect one end to the overhead door release mechanism and the other to the overhead door. The goal here is to allow for easy, dependable access to the overhead door release mechanism. Some experimentation is required here to make sure the door can operate properly and the chain won't hit the door, but trust me having the chain mounted to the door near a window will make it easier to find with a small pike pole from the hose house than trying to climb on the truck in thick smoke to do it by hand. Again planning is important; do you have your emergency breaks on in the vehicles in that station? A pick-up or an SUV can pull a fire engine out of the fire station in an emergency with 50 or a 100' feet of cable and some hooks, but not if the emergency brakes are on. Know your vehicles and what would be required to be able make them moveable.
A few simple plans, some left over and/or spare equipment, and maybe a special purchase or two can help save your department a loss that none us want to experience. In a day and age we seem to be in an endless battle to explain to the public and elected officials that Firefighters put out fires not fire trucks, we need to remember how important our station and trucks are to our community and our department. Let us all at least consider ways to protect our taxpayer's investment in buildings and equipment, and let us never forget that it is the taxpayer's equipment, and we are only charged with the privilege of operating it for them..
Hose House Equipment
- 500 ' 2 ?" hose
- 500' 11/2" or 1 ?" hose
- Gated Wye
- Gate Valve(s)
- Hydrant Wrench
- Spanner Wrenches
- Nozzles
- Portable pump if needed, with extra gas.
- 2 50' lengths of cable With Hooks
- Set of Irons
- Pick Head Axe
- Extra Gloves
- Helmets
- Bunker Coats, Pants / Boots
- Flashlights
About the Author:
Burton Robertson is a third generation firefighter with 21 years of Fire/Emergency Medical Services experience. He currently works as a Fire Lieutenant/Paramedic for the City of Franklin Fire Department, in Franklin WI. He has a Associates Degree in Fire Science and holds many certifications including Fire Officer I, Fire Instructor II, and Fire Inspector. To contact Lieutenant Robertson send e-mail to [email protected]
