Ten Minutes in the Street: "On-scene with a whole lot of Fire Showin"

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Permalink Reply by FETC on October 2, 2009 at 8:32pm

Not to make this a four page response:

IAP - IN REALITY DEFENSIVE - SAVE THE TAX BASE (EXPOSURES IF POSSIBLE)
Initial arrival - knowing your district and a good 360 - Assurance of no squatters
Strike the box for additional alarm, emphasis on extra aerial ladders for master streams
Water supply -Big GPM, do we have enough water and pumpers for the 4 or 5 aerials
Resource allocation depends on your local resources
ICS: Incident Command, Aide, Accountability, At least 2 Safety Officers, Operations, Four Exterior Division officers, Level II Staging Officer, 2 RIT Teams due to the size of the building, Rehab, EMS - Unified Command with PD Rep, special request Water Works Representative to Command Post.
60 minute required GPM's - Unobtainable - With 3 side exposure included in formula is around 15,000 GPM
Safety Issues - 360 - Collapse Zone, Bravo / Charlie Immediate Evacuations on arrival, Potential for full block evacs later with PD assistance.
Concerned for station coverage as this is a two dinger - (possibly seeing the sun and moon) Rehab, Food, Rotating shifts in/out, heavy equipment for overhaul, and personnel debriefing.

Oh yea, contact my boss (the city manager) as we have the potential for a conflagration here.

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Permalink Reply by Christopher J. Naum, SFPE on October 2, 2009 at 9:18pm

Thanks Chief, short, direct and to the point is always good....

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Permalink Reply by Chief Mike France on October 2, 2009 at 9:53pm

Have to go with FETC, except where we are it would be a 4 alarm, concern exposures

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Permalink Reply by FETC on October 5, 2009 at 7:52am

Local option / resources available but I kept it real, as he called this thread "10 minutes in the Street".

Another typical downfall is getting crazy and telling a dispatcher to skip alarms. If anyobody is skipping and striking an automatic four alarms is setting themselves up for failure from mass chaos when all four alarms arrive together...

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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on October 5, 2009 at 12:29pm

Easy answer to this one - designate a Level II staging area, have the additional alarms report there, and move apparatus from the Staging Area to the scene as needed.

It works unless the company officers are completely undisciplined, in which case you have bigger problems that just making tactical assignments.

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Permalink Reply by FETC on October 5, 2009 at 2:37pm

Yes Ben I used Level II staging in my reply, yes it does work. Many department's use it so in-frequently that it is unpracticed or just forgotten.

In past experiences of hearing other good officers jump alarms, dispatch was overwhelmed as well. I work out of a mutual aid system that tones 80+ towns and trying to tone 20-30 companies to one incident (at once) is a nightmare radio scenario for mantaining the dispatch frequency for other emergencies in the geographical repeater system.

Toning, toning on mutliple repeater sites, heck some towns get three tones for the single message, then all those trucks trying to sign on responding, saying they are on scene, etc.

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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on October 5, 2009 at 3:05pm

Sorry, I missed the reference in your first post.

I guess I'm spoiled...we use Level I staging for everyone except the first-due engine, first-due medic (if an EMS call), and the Battalion Chief on every call.

We use Level II staging infrequently, but we use it when indicated.

We have two dispatch centers dispatching for seven fire-rescue departments, one fire-rescue-EMS department, one ARFF department, and one EMS system. Radio channels include two fire and one EMS dispatch channels, 15 tac channels, and a variety of specialty channels such as 2 Major Incident/Interoperability channels, a Ground-to-Air (LZ only) channel, and a repeated, multichannel statewide mutual aid/disaster system with numerous channels and repeated links from anywhere in the state to the state EOC.

We still occasionally talk over each other, though by what you indicated, my area has it pretty good.

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Permalink Reply by Truckinainteasy on October 3, 2009 at 8:36am

What is the main goal of your initial IAP? Hold the fire to the building of origin.
Fire on multiple floors and rapidly extending on arrival pretty much rules out going in and doing much of anything. A quick check into the exits for squatters would be in order. I'd want to start thinking about protecting the Bravo exposure pretty quickly and then we need to think big and plan for a much larger incident

• What needs to be determined First?
Status of the building, potential for occupants, collapse potential / building condition.

• What are the first series of Strategic Objectives and Assignments? Position apparatus for the long haul and plan on more room being required for additional tower ladders.

• What would be the first series of Tactical Level Assignments be? Limited check into exits and common areas on lower floors for squatters. No interior attack. Protect exposures. Provide water supply for first tower ladder on Side Alpha.

• What are the realistic resource needs required for this incident? I'd probably use to 3 - 4 tower ladders and consider somewhere around 6-9 engines to get all of them a water supply. Most likely 3 alarms with a special call or task force assignment.

• What’s your incident management organizational structure going to look like? I would get an Ops Chief designated very early in the incident. Initial assignment of Divisions to surround the structure, Water supply officer would be seperately designated as well as a Safety Chief with several assistants.

• Assuming the degree of fire present now upon your arrival, what do you expect the required fire flow to be sixty minutes from now? I'd HOPE the first tower ladder knocked the snot out of it. I'd PLAN on the 3rd Tower Ladder catching it and stopping it.

• What are the safety issues that you’re planning for? Tower ladder streams are powerful and can throw debris and building components quite a distance, firefighters working outside for extended periods of time have a tendency to get bored and want to "do" something. Adequate safety zones are essential.

• What are you going to do about the exposures? The Bravo exposure is my main concern. Based on fire conditions I would put lines in place early. Bravo and maybe Charlie could be affected by a collapse.

• When confronted with a fire of this magnitude, what do you think are some of the major considerations that a large scale fire might involve? Use of an incident management team is a big help to get you thinking large scale. Evacuations are probable, need to coordinate with OEM, you may disrupt transit routes or major commuter routes and will need to work with a number of agencies, the Ops Chief will be essential as will a Liaison. Fire coordinators can move apparatus to refill areas stripped of coverage, additional chiefs can look at issues you may not have. Order food and rehab early, start thinking about refueling rigs early, think about how this might affect your town water supply, consider options such as drafting, longer lays to bigger mains or other systems.

.

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Permalink Reply by Nathan Enyart on October 3, 2009 at 8:59am

Mine would be OH )&^(**&^$*&)&% Being from a small town fire dept don't remember anything of this magnitude.

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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on October 3, 2009 at 9:15am

Good points, everyone.

The immediate concerns are life safety, exposures, water supply and manpower.
This is a third alarm on arrival with probable escalation to at least a fourth.

The major concern I have is that the interior floors in the fire area appear to already be collapsing. If that is the case, a localized collapse can bring down a lot of the rest of the building with it. A better look might reveal floors that are intact, but a lot of the structural mass may have been removed during the reconstruction.

We need three engines just for exposure protection - the two structures on the B side and the one across the narrow alley on Side C.

If we're going to search the uninvolved rear of the building, we're going to need at least 4 companies - preferrably truck and/or rescue companies with search ropes, tools, water cans, and TICs. That's one for Divisions 1, 2, 3 and the basement.

Water supply - the water utility will need to boost pressure.

Command - we'll need at least 7 chiefs...Command, Safety, Divisions B, C, D, Water Supply, and Accountability.

Medical - start with three ALS ambulances...two for rehab and one ready for transport of victims or firefighters.

Additional support - A Rehab unit if we have one, a Cascade unit, and the hazmat team for the likely hazmat problems we'll have..unless we just let the building burn, which is a possibility.

When we go defensive, we'll need at least 4 ladder pipe - one at each corner.
We'll also need portable monitors for fire attack and hand lines for exposure protection.

At this point, the 4 alarm for brand patrol will probably be needed.

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Permalink Reply by Christopher J. Naum, SFPE on October 3, 2009 at 9:46am

Rapid fire growth and compromising wall enclosure (partical collapse) has caused the fire to extend to Bravo side Residential occupancy as you're setting up your divisions and Operations becomes, functional. Observe the diectional flow of the flame column, its listing towards the Bravo side.....
Look at the L-Shaped wing, see anything at this point. You're at the 10 minute mark...what's your plan looking like, any companies operational with water flowing?
"Command, be advised the water dept is working to beef up the main pressure in your grid, forthcoming in about 15 minutes....any additonal progress reports, K?"

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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on October 3, 2009 at 2:44pm

At this point, you're going to hear "Abandon, Abandon, Abandon" over the radio, followed by "SOS" (Three short, three long, three short) repeated three times on the air horns. Each Division will get a PAR of assigned companies on the exterior.

At this point, the command structure will be reorganized as follows:

COMMAND

Operations Branch 1 - Defensive attack on the Born Loser that now confronts us.
Operations Branch 2 - Offensive attack on the detached B exposure - two engines and a truck should be enough for this one, unless the collapse has damaged it to the point where it's not savable. If that's the case, the two engines and truck will be defensive on the Exposure B fire as well.

Division C and D - reporting to Operations Division 1

Water Supply - Can the water utility cut that 15 minutes to 5?
A water utility engineer with main maps is urgently needed at the command post.

An EMS Chief/supervisor is now operating a Medical Group with Rehab and Treatment teams working.

An additional chief is needed for the Level 2 staging area we're operating in a church parking lot about 2 blocks upwind. The 5th alarm is staged there.

Two additional chiefs to the Command Post to staff Planning and Logistics, along with the Emergency Management Coordinator (Liaison) and PIO. The Town Finance Manager or Assistant Manager will report to staff the Administration/Finance branch.

If there's a life safety hazard in the B exposure fire, I'll ask for two more mutual aid truck/rescue companies for additional RIC.

We'll need lots of law enforcement - this fire will be a spectator magnet, and we need them out of the way and their vehicles off of the supply lines. I'll ask for a senior police officer (Captain or higher) to handle the law enforcement function at the CP.

We had a little water flowing on the fire - a couple of engines with interior 2-1/2s on Division 1 and 2 from the rear - when we went defensive. I'm telling them to abandon the lines and not to back them out - we can replace hose and nozzles, but we can't replace firefighters.

The L wing looks like a little light smoke showing from Div. 3 and 4, but we're writing the entire building off, so I'm not too worried about it right now - we'll cut it off with master streams once we get the surround and drown in place.

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