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To Go… or Not To Go… (That is the question)

 

During my recent trip to the S.C. Fire Academy for the 2013 Kill the Flashover research fires, I came away with one aspect as to the importance of thermal imaging and the fire attack that rocked my paradigm. It is referred as the GO..NO TEST. This is worthy of reading brothers so don’t stop here..

Typically, most fire service agencies train firefighters on Thermal Imaging Cameras (TIC) for a variety of uses related to fireground operations but few utilize the TIC for fire attack for gaining insight into the hostile environment you are preparing to engage upon.

Most TIC imagers have the capability to determine temperatures by placing a small cross-hair or “dot” onto a surface to determine temperatures. In a high temperature environment (greater than 500 degrees F) the TIC will indicate a red or orange color or numeric value for the surface being surveyed. (In this case, the ceiling)

Normally, this technique is used in overhaul operations but let’s discuss using the TIC in a fire attack mode as a life-saving…better yet.. a firefighter saving technique.

The “dot” or cross-hair on the TIC is aimed to the ceiling to gain a temperature reading of the surface of the ceiling and some particulate matter from combustion. It does not measure the temperature of the smoke.

The GO..or NO GO Test should be used by any fire attack, search, or vent team entering a working fire environment. It begins by the officer of the team directing the crew to prepare for the attack by gathering needed equipment. The officer and the crew should complete a 360 degree look at and into the structure using the TIC to determine hotspots (for possible fire locations), potential exits, other hazards, and close any doors that may be contributing towards fire development or creating a Air /Flow Path in order to slow fire progression and limit fire extension.

Upon completing the 360 walk-around, the officer quickly scans the exterior of the door prior to entry. This provides a quick look at temperatures of the door being used for entry. If a high temperature (above 500 degrees) is identified on the door from the exterior, chances are an eminent flashover is waiting for you on the other side once the doors is opened. This is a “NO GO” situation and the attack should be delayed until a hoseline is in place and can be discharged prior to entering the structure. Why you may ask?

If there are high heat signatures indicated on the exterior of entry point, most likely there are significant amounts of unburned gases (fuels) in the hallway that are too rich to burn. This is also known as a “plug”. When you open the door for entry the environment that was once too rich to burn has now been provided an exhaust point, for which, the environment has changed from a too rich environment into a flammable range and combined with the replenishment of oxygen into this environment and with an ignition source down the hallway can result in a flashover condition seconds into your search or fire attack.

So… back to the TIC…

Prior to opening the door, have the hose crew “condition/cool the door and surrounding area. I know… sounds crazy. This method of pre-wetting provides us with a safe area in the event our attack crew is met with a thermally aggressive fire coming at them and is forced to retreat.

Essentially, we “Wet to Protect”.

So, upon opening the door. Stop the nozzleman. What? Yes. Do another GO.. NO GO…. Entering into a known environment above 500 degrees in a heavily charged smoke condition is like climbing into the barrel of a gun. Why 500 degrees? If you think about it, what does our turnouts to protect us from? Radiant heat. Continuous exposures to thermal temperatures above 500 degrees erodes the protective elements of our turnout gear and limitations of our SCBA. In addition, many UL tests on SCBA’s and turnouts 500 degrees is used as a benchmark for protection for the wearer for only a short time before degradation or failure. So, if obtaining temperatures in a extreme fire condition (500 degrees+) at the door are found how long will crews be exposed to those temperatures while trying to make the hallway? See where I am going with this?

If extreme temperatures (500 degrees+) are encountered during your GO..NO GO test, order the hoseline opened to cool/ condition the environment you are about to enter. Perform another GO…NO GO Test. Temperatures should have dropped after the water application. If so, proceed in the attack. As the officer and crew make their way towards the fire area, slow the crew down and take intermittent GO.. NO GO test and cool and condition as you proceed towards the fire area. This also continues prior to climbing stairs, turning corners, entering adjacent rooms until reaching the fire area.

This GO…NO GO should be applied especially during Vent Enter Search Operations, as well.

“Smoke Showing”:

A term utilize by thousands of brothers on the fireground during the size-up. Well if we truly know how to “Read Smoke” what do we know about it? Survey the members of your agency..ask them what the interior temperature conditions are during light smoke, moderate smoke and heavy smoke. What about grey smoke, brown smoke, black smoke. I bet you get a variety of opinions.

Why not verbally convey via the radio to the IC the temperature findings on the GO..NO GO test? This will give the IC and idea of the potential fire he/she is confronting and can alter the fire attack, vent, and other operations accordingly.

Verbalizing the thermal conditions to the fireground is a more tangible way of describing interior conditions than simply describing smoke color or volume don’t ya think?

I hope this is starting to make sense to you by now…

By verbalizing the GO..NO GO Test, arriving units knows how intense a fire you are encountering and should be making their own plans, as well.

I tried using the GO..NO GO test during my fire attacks and found old habits were hard to break. My mask blacked out and I resulted to Old School firefighting of using my senses to determine the temperature levels. Upon reviewing the thermal data from the test I quickly discovered the environment we were entering was a NO..GO as we had thermal conditions of 800 degrees over our head. Luckily, with the aid of a fire curtain behind us keeping us in a “too rich” area and the fire never flashed over us.

As with any new idea there must be training to get this technique down. Try it in your next live fire training event I think you’ll be surprised at what you will see prior to entering.

By Trey Smith

FRC Instructor / Captain Ladder 1 Charlotte Fire Department

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Posted in administration-leadership, command-leadership, ems-health-safety, Fire Dispatch, fire-prevention-education, fire-rescue-topics, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, fires, Kill the flashover, major-incidents, mass-casualty-incident, news, rescues, special-operations, technology-communications, Training, training-development, training-fire-rescue-topics, Uncategorized

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Posted by on 03/05/2013 • No comments

Have we forgotten Tradition in the fire service ?!?!?

First off let me start off by apologizing if this blog offends anyone. If you feel like you are easily offended , please do not read. Other than that, you have been warned. I decided to write this post in response to a Facebook post I saw just moments ago (I plan to keep this short and to the point). While being respectful I will keep the names of the fire department and station private.  But it is on Facebook, so how much privacy is there really? So what I saw was a fire station looking for ideas to replace their traditional “Wetting down ceremony” of their new apparatus . The reason they were looking for new ideas was, they were told that promoting a Wetting down ceremony was a violation of church and state. Correct me if I’m wrong , It states that a Separation of Church and State is the distance in the relationship of organized religion and the nation state. How in the crap is promoting or participating in a wetting down ceremony a organized religion??? It”s no different from our own government smashing a champagne bottle across the bow of a new war ship. Its the same thing and still is a common practice with our government.

Has today fire service changed so much that people forgot where they came from? As soon as they get into an administrative role it sucks the life and common sense out of them. Firefighters need to stand up for them selves and their rights. In the world of budget cuts, budget short falls , and administrative pay increases. Tradition is all we have left to keep the brotherhood! Now they are trying to take that away from all of us. No matter if you are Union or not, we all need to stick together. Do not forget where you came from!!

 

Note: Wetting down a new fire apparatus started many years ago. It is a way christening a new apparatus very much like the government does to its Navy ships. To learn more about how wetting down the new apparatus got started, I suggest you do some research ( I do not give out free history lessons, you have to work to get something you want). By doing so, you can learn for your self and pass it down to the ones beside, below, and above you.

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Posted in administration-leadership, command-leadership, ems-health-safety, ems-topics, Fire Dispatch, Fire Safety, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, funding-staffing, hazmat, in-the-line-of-duty, line-of-duty, major-incidents, mass-casualty-incident, news, patient-management, rescues, special-operations, technology-communications, technology-communications-ems-topics, Uncategorized

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Posted by on 01/25/2013 • 5 comments

Christmas Tree Safety

As we approach another Christmas season, we need to always remember safety. During this time is prime for traffic accidents , fires, falls, and other traumatic incidents. But today we are going to focus on Christmas Tree Safety. It seems every year that the public is so excited that they rush the season by putting their tree in their homes earlier and earlier. I have even heard of people putting out their trees two weeks before the American Thanksgiving Holiday. We are going to cover the hazards of two types of Christmas Trees that are found in homes today, Real and Fake.

 

Real Christmas Tree

There is nothing like the joy and the smell of putting up a real Christmas Tree. According to FEMA real Christmas trees account for roughly 250 fires annually. That may seem like a small number, but out of the 250 fires , roughly 14 people die. Now that is 250 fires too many. Its not even worth one life. Not to mention the 14 million dollars of damage they cause to house holds. NFPA and FEMA offer suggestions when dealing with real trees.

 

What about Fake Christmas Trees?

There are many people that decide to buy a fake tree. Many reason are due to, budget, allergies, and etc. What ever the reason may be, over 10 million fake trees where sold world wide in 2003. Most fake trees that are imported to the United States are from China. Fake trees are typically made from plastic and other synthetic material when exposed to a heat or ignition will catch fire.

Below are some tips to help you during this Christmas Season when dealing with fake and real Christmas trees.

 

1st. Water your Tree!! ( a dry tree is a fire bomb waiting to explode )  all it needs is an ignition source to get it going. Make sure your real tree has a fresh cut of one to two inches, so that it may better absorb the water.

2nd. Never have lit candles near your tree. This provides a ignition source to all trees.

3rd. Placement of the tree is critical. Becareful about placing your tree around vents and fire places. They can dry out your tree faster and can be a ignition source for your tree.

4th. Check your lights. Make sure you are using the newest brand of lights that are on the market. Newer lights are manufactured to a standard of care than older lights were. If you have older lights, it may be time to replace them.

5th. Do not over load your circuits and outlets. Most lights allow you to plug multiple strands together. This it self may cause a short or a spark. Its best to use a power strip with a built in serge protector, drop cords are a no no. We have all seen the movie a Christmas Story, pay special attention to scene of when the old man gets his lamp and he attempts to plug it in to a overloaded outlet.

6th. When your real tree has dried out, it is time to get rid of it. The longer a dry tree stays in your home, the greater the chance you are taking.

"The video clip above from the Building and Fire Research Laboratory of the National Institute of Standards and Technology illustrates what happens when fire touches a dry tree. Within three seconds of ignition, the dry Scotch pine is completely ablaze. At five seconds, the fire extends up the tree and black smoke with searing gases streaks across the ceiling. Fresh air near the floor feeds the fire. The sofa, coffee table and the carpet ignite prior to any flame contact. Within 40 seconds "flashover" occurs – that's when an entire room erupts into flames, oxygen is depleted and dense, deadly toxic smoke engulfs the scene." Quoted from FEMA

DISCLAIMER: This post is for informational purposes only. Information and research was taken from NFPA, FEMA, and the Nation Christmas Tree Safety Association. This post was short and to the point. We suggest that everyone to reaserch the dangers of Christmas Trees, real or fake. We help that everyone have a safe and Merry Christmas!!

 

Posted in ems-topics, Fire Safety, fire-prevention-education, fire-rescue-topics, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, fires, major-incidents, news, rescues, special-operations, training-development, training-fire-rescue-topics, videos

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Posted by on 11/28/2011 • No comments

Fundamentals of Timber Rigging (Part 2)

Setting up the Timber Tripod

With the current economic crisis in the country and other countries, fire departments are cutting cost where the can. Normally the training budget is first to go and then comes the equipment budget. There are various companies that have premanufactured tri-pod systems for example, DBI, Skedco, Arizona Vortex, and the SMC/PMI TerrAdaptor to name just a few. Now, these are all great products and they have their place in the rescue environment. But not every department can come up with the funds to purchase such equipment. So that means we need to go back to the basics of rigging. In this second part of The Fundamentals of Timber Rigging, we are going to go over the process of constructing the Timber Tri-Pod.
The amount of equipment needed to achieve this maybe more that the average pre built commercial tri-pod system. First of you need to decide what size of timbers are going to be needed. Most timbers for the tri-pod are going to be 4x4x12’. You can go with 6×6’s or 8×8’s, but they can be heavy and are normally used in lifting heavy objects during a structural collapse. We are going to be rigging up a Timber tri-pod for use in a confined space environment used to lower or raise rescuers and or victims. Next you will need 30’ of ½ inch life safety, 12’ of 2” webbing, and assortment of carabiners and tech cord, all rated for life safety.

To assemble the legs of the timbers, you need to make sure the tip is elevated to allow you to lash the timbers together (normally this is done with saw horse or the back of the apparatus) using the 30’ section of ½ life safety rope. You start off by placing all 3 4x4s side by side leaving a 1.5” or 2” space in between the timbers (normally with using 2x4x2’ slats to achieve this) to allow the lashing to pass through. Next, you would want to make sure the corners are smooth down (this is done by rubbing the corners with a rod or beating the corners with a 3lb hammer) so as there is no damage done to the rope in the assembly process. Once the corners are smooth down, you need to measure down 36” from the top of the shortest pole. This will be your starting point. (Keep in mind timbers shorter than 12’ will reduce the amount of height need to raise or lower your rescuer/victims). Next take your 30’ lashing and start with a clove hitch on one of the outside legs. Next take the rope over and under the three timbers in a figure-of-eight fashion. Make at least six turns, working upward. (This is called figure of eight lashing). Once the six turns have been completed, then make two frapping turns between the first and second timber, and two frapping turns between the second and third timber. After the frapping turns have been completed, secure the lashing with a clove hitch on the opposing leg from where you started and below the lashing. (If you have excess rope after your lashing is complete, you may coil it and tie it off to one of the legs).

Note: You must make sure your lashing is tight. If not, it could cause failure of the tri pod system.

After completing the entire lashing we can then raise the tripod by raising the center timber and crossing the outer timbers forming an equilateral triangle. Once the tripod is in its upright positions you may begin to attach your web sling. To attach the web sling you start by placing the sling over the outside timbers at the top. Next you take a bight of the sling down through one side of the center timber above the lashing and pull a bight up through the other side of the center timber above the lashing. After this you need to attach your system of choice to both bights of the web sling.
After you have completed this step, something you need to consider is the legs of the tripod can and will kick out or lift up may causing it to tip over. You can choose to picket and lash in place or use a tieback system to make sure the legs are secure. If you chose to lash in place you can also use that leg as a snatch block sling for a COD in your haul/lower system. Keep in mind the setup is best done as close to the incident as possible, timbers can be quite heavy. Once the setup is complete a safety officer needs to monitor the Timber tri-pod in case of sudden failure.

DISCLAIMER: Fire and Rescue Concepts suggest extensive hands on training be completed on Timber rigging before performing these techniques out on the field. This four part series is for informational purposes only. If Departments wish more training on Timber Rigging please contact us at estroud@fireandrescueconcepts.com

Posted in Confined Space Training, fire-prevention-education, fire-rescue-topics, major-incidents, rescues, special-operations, training-development, training-fire-rescue-topics, Uncategorized

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Posted by on 10/06/2011 • No comments

Hooks and Hoses, Let’s Work Together

Capt. Trey Smith

So you want to be a truckie, or even a nozzleman? Assuming these roles takes tremendous knowledge of the responsibilities and expectations to be performed which should not be taken lightly. These positions will make or break a good offensive fire attack.

These positions are the workhouses of the fireground and one does not perform or work efficiently without the other. For the moment, let's try to put aside our egos and focus upon the task at hand of getting the wet stuff on the red stuff. Following two large scale incidents in my first due area in recent months, I have had time to reflect upon some of our successes and our shortcomings of two identical fires involving mutli-family occupancies or large scale residences.

I started out my career assigned to several active engine companies and had some great officers and firefighters I have worked with throughout my tenure. I became a truckie after making Captain and enjoy the challenges of truck & rescue work. But in my 30+ years within the fire service, I have grown frustrated at the reality of having lots of nozzlemen and hose jockeys but few ceiling pullers and the lack of coordination between the two functions.

While true, chief and line officers are expected to direct the symphony of crews working to contain a rapidly progressing fire, many firefighters are under the fallacy tactics training is solely for white & gold shields and doesn't apply to the tailboard firefighter. But the reality is, these positions (nozzleman and celing pullers) will work without direct supervision of the line officer. This results in the IC relying upon the decisions of a firefighter to decide upon the appropriate hoseline and to accurately select the placement of a critical position to defend areas of non-fire involvement. During particularly large scale fires where the fire is "running the attic", several key tactics must occur in a timely fashion or our brothers & sisters will inevitably be overrun and will be losing the battle to stop the forward progression of a rapidly developing fire.

To understand fire travel is to fully grasp the concept of fluid travel and smoke reading. Fire is a fluid that will always follow the path of least resistance. Therefore, as the saying goes…" where there is smoke there is fire", and if gone unchecked or reversed the fire will eventually show itself sometimes more than we expect. So, our hooks and hoses must possess the ability to predict the stage of the fire, the level of heat production, and where it is headed based upon reading the color of smoke, the intensity, and the rate it is leaving the structure will impact the success of our attack.

Let's face it… we have all been there during the heat of the engagement… lots of screaming. noise, confusion, darkness, heat, stress… you name it. We open up the ceiling to get the nozzle into to position within the cock-loft or attic only to see the distinguishable signs of heavy fire rolling across the structural members (truss) above our heads. What should this indicate to the nozzleman and truck crews? And what immediate actions should be taken when these cues are indicated?

1. Observe the direction of the fire. Where is coming from and where is it going? Look at the amount of fire, heavy, moderate, or light?

2. Radio back to IC/Command the fire has passed your attack team. The IC continually needs this feedback in order to re-assess his strategy/tactics, his situation and resource status. He/she may prioritize the incident needs based upon your feedback or request/re-direct additional resources.

3. You are standing in a potential collapse area! Get out from underneath such areas! Because the fire is continually attacking the structural members, we lose valuable seconds of integrity trying to breach walls and ceiling only for them to come crashing down on our personnel. Lightweight wood and steel bar joist floors and roofs don't wait for you. They are coming down whether you are ready or not.

4. Re-Position your attack.

Why try to hold an ineffective position when the the fire is burning behind you? Truckies…Make inspection holes along the ceiling until you see no fire in the attic before deciding where to take up your new posture. when you pull the ceiling and see heavy smoke banking down on you, note the color of the smoke. Heavy black smoke indicates "Black Fire" This means you have high heat and are close to the fire which will be in your area in a matter of seconds! Moderate smoke provides some time to open up large areas and allows time to get hoselines in place. Make sure the nozzleman has the tools he/she needs to mount the offensive. Nozzlemen and Hose Jockies…Bring the attic ladder for goodness sake, don't rely on the truck company to bring it, they enough to do already! After all that IS where the fire is located. Have the hooks open up large areas in multiple rooms and hallway where the nozzleman can hit the fire as it advances from the floor. This is critical if using a large caliber stream such as a 2 1/2". Ever tried manipulating a 2 1/2" in an smaller room or attic space? The larger sized lines will not make the turns in a residence and should anticipate working from the floor and in a hallway or open space.

5. Find the seat of the fire and extinguish it! Often times, we forget that while trying to cut the fire off it isn't going to go out until someone cut's the head off the dragon! Get a line on the seat /origin of the fire and things will improve dramatically.

6. Maintain your egress!!! While engaging the forward progression of the fire, we forget the fire we passed may actually be cutting off our ability to evacuate. Get a back-up line in place, knock-down any fire impinging upon your escape route, or order the evacuation of all crews of an impending collapse or flashover of the area. If you are operating in the hot zone always have two or more ways to escape.

7. Listen to the radio! If you hear things being said such as "flowing the aerial", "Master Stream", "Defensive", "Roof Sagging", "partial collapse"… Don't hesitate to get you and your personnel to the hell out of a potentially catastrophic event.

8. Practice "Pro-actionarism" Pro-Actionarism is the act of being pro-active, taking initiative, taking action. Recognize when situations are going bad and make the necessary steps to mitigate them or make the decision to abandon the effort.

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Waxhaw live burn

Posted in command-leadership, fire-prevention-education, fire-rescue-topics, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, fires, major-incidents, news, rescues, special-operations, training-development, training-fire-rescue-topics, Uncategorized, vehicle-operations-apparatus

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Posted by on 04/19/2011 • No comments

Super Heros????

My fiance and I were at our local hardware store looking for ideals for our new kitchen to be, when suddenly out of now where came two superheroes. Being that it was Halloween, it was not an uncommon thing to see.  The two superhero’s happen to be twin 7 year old boys who where disguised as Superman and Batman. Catherine and I talked to the little Superheroes and laughed along with their parents. I was amazed by their bravery by coming up to us ready to fight crime. They were more than willing to show us their muscle and let us know that they had no fear. After there departure, I reflected on the two little superheroes. and I asked myself “would these two little boys have came up to us ( total strangers ) if there true identity had been revealed?” I even took my thoughts one step further. “How often do firefighters have this same mentality?”  How many firefighters believe that with all of their protective gear they are invincible much like a superhero? What I’m getting at is, how often do firefighters get tunnel vision when they put on their PPE and believe that they will not get hurt? There is  no doubt any firefighter wouldn’t hesitate helping out if they came up on a house fire while being off duty. But how many would think twice about going in without PPE? But, lets just say what if ( I know!! ) we happen to have all of our PPE, would most of us think twice about going in to preform a rescue before FD arrives? How many of us firefighters have gotten hurt by thinking they can’t be harm because of our PPE? We often think ( myself included ) that we can’t be harm, or the thought of being harm is not a priority on our list of thoughts during fire ground operations. We all need to remember, that just because our gear allows to do travel deeper into a fire, smoke, and heat  doesn’t mean that we are immune to injury.

I would love to hear everyones thoughts on this?

Stay safe and God Bless.

Posted in command-leadership, fire-rescue-topics, firefighting-operations, fires, line-of-duty, rescues, special-operations, training-development, training-fire-rescue-topics, Uncategorized

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Posted by on 12/02/2010 • No comments

Loading the Barrel of the Shot Gun…. Live Fire Training Comments

Are we teaching students to crawl under fire?

There is a serious concern as to how live fire instructors or departmental officers are ignoring the mental cues that lead to firefighter injuries and deaths during live fire training and signifies a critical problem with today’s fire service training. How many times must it be publicized that crawling under fire is a death trap?

Are we seriously training firefighters that our gear and our equipment is always reliable to protect us from such temperature extremes such as flashover?

Should we really be training firefighters to believe that crawling under fire is a safe practice? Rollover, is the precursor to flashover that can occur in a matter of seconds. These firefighters are kneeling and standing in an area being preheated and ready to light off, which means they are being pre-heated, as well.

Many of my students have heard me say, “The day we respond to a house fire involving wooden pallets will be our moment of glory!”. Are we training today’s firefighter to believe the fire behavior and heat ( British Thermal Unit ;BTU) production in a wooden pallet fire is identical to that of the same magnitude in a fire involving hydrocarbon-based products found in today’s household furnishings? I hope not… but why do our tactics in training not reflect how we should engage the enemy? Today’s fires burn more rapidly and hotter than ever, why are we still allowing firefighters to enter such unpredictable environments?

While our turnouts will provide some element of protection from thermal insult, are we relying upon our equipment and our live fire experience in wooden pallet fires to serve as the measuring stick for when it is time to “un-ass” the area? Understanding the NFPA 1403 standard was developed to protect firefighters during live burns which it has, is it leaving tommorrow’s firefighters with the impression this is as bad as it gets?

What if the nozzle malfunctions? Assume the rookie firefighter doesn’t completely open the bailer of the nozzle, don’t forget about the presence of kinks in our attack lines? Do a little research on wind-driven fires from NIOSH’s live burn’s on Governor’s Island and Chicago and you’ll soon discover such tactics of kneeling under rollover is like “staring down the barrel of a shotgun”.

Posted in administration-leadership, command-leadership, fire-prevention-education, fire-rescue-topics, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, fires, training-development, training-fire-rescue-topics

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Posted by on 11/01/2010 • 3 comments