There are several types of incidents that, for many firefighters, may occur once in their entire career. They’re big events that require a lot of focus and resources to manage correctly, and in today’s world, they’re even more intensely recorded and scrutinized than ever before.
These events demand effective operations to minimize damage and maximize safety for responders. Incidents of this kind include high-rise fires, nursing home/medical facility fires, major wildland/urban interface (WUI) fires and warehouse fires. There have been multiple warehouse fires across the country (from Gastonia, N.C., to Chicago to Solon, Iowa) recently, and many new, very large warehouses have been built in the past decade for just-in-time delivery, often in suburban/rural areas and near interstate highways.
Like almost all fires, warehouse fires start small. If departments are prepared, quick detection and response may keep them that way, but delays can result in major fires that pose significant risks to people and property. In 2012, a Canadian judge held a city near Montreal liable for $3.7 million in damages caused when a fire started in a warehouse storage room in 2004. While using a chainsaw to open a hole in the roof, firefighters responding to the fire accidentally started a second fire within the polystyrene of an adjoining area.
Fire departments must be aware of the warehouses in their coverage area and what’s stored in these occupancies so that they can plan for potential incidents and prepare incident action plans (IAPs).
Contents & Collapse Hazards
Depending on the material stored inside the warehouse and the built-in suppression systems, once a fire ignites, it may grow exponentially. Fires in paper (particularly large rolls of paper), flammable paints/liquids, tires, plastics and consumer goods based in alcohols or other solvents will all grow rapidly and require a heavy attack to control. Compressed-air foam systems (CAFS) may prove to be a potent tool for these incidents.
Fires involving aerosol cans or other gas storage containers can cause the containers to rocket throughout the occupancy, not only spreading the fire, but also creating a severe hazard to firefighters. Materials stored in warehouses may also become unstable as a fire progresses, and present a collapse hazard to firefighters operating alongside of them.
The structure itself may become a collapse hazard if the fire begins to attack/deteriorate it. If the structure consists of a metal deck on a metal truss, it won’t burn, but the metal will weaken as fire exposure continues. Through continued exposure, the insulation over the metal deck can catch fire and/or spread combustible gases under the deck, which will ignite and spread the fire further across the underside of the roof.
Suppression Systems
Many warehouses have built-in suppression systems that can control damage and greatly assist fire departments in fighting fire, which is why it’s vital for firefighters to understand how they work. The most common system firefighters will find at storage occupancies is a sprinkler system. It may be a wet-pipe or a dry-pipe system, but if the fire is hot enough to activate sprinklers, fire department operations should remain the same:
- Ensure water supplies are operating effectively.
- Keep valves supplying the operating system(s) fully open until the fire is extinguished and incident command (IC) determines it’s appropriate to turn off the system.
- Ensure fire pumps are operating properly.
Firefighters with radios should be stationed at each valve supplying the operating sprinkler system(s) until full extinguishment of the fire can be confirmed. This ensures that the sprinkler supply valves aren’t closed inadvertently, and that firefighters can reactivate them should a controlled fire suddenly rekindle.
The first- or second-arriving engine company should hook up to the sprinkler system’s fire department connection (FDC), and supply their lines at the designated pressure (or, if the designated pressure is not known, pump at 150 psi). This pumping operation should continue until IC determines it’s appropriate to stop.
Note: Some locations may have numerous sprinkler systems and therefore numerous FDCs. Clues to which system is operating, and thus which system fire departments should connect to, include an operating water motor gong above or next to the FDC, or water discharging from the main drain line below or next to the FDC. That said, these clues don’t always identify the correct FDC; the best way to do that is to survey the building before the fire and clearly mark them.
Hoseline Reach
Although many of these buildings have sprinkler systems, most are designed to control fire–not extinguish it. Fire protection system designers count on the fire department to show up to finish the job, which means fire departments must be equipped to advance adequately sized hoselines to the seat of the fire. If your preconnects are 200 feet long and the warehouse measures 300 x 400 feet, there’s a very good chance that your lines won’t reach. Important: You must know this in advance, and make sure your preconnected hoselines will reach, or find a way to extend preconnected lines or utilize standpipe arrangements in the building. A 1½” hoseline may be inadequate for an advanced storage facility fire, so make sure you’re able to extend a larger line or perhaps a portable monitor into the building, if necessary.
If you find an advanced fire, and it’s exposing overhead truss supports for the roof, the late, great master of building construction Frank Brannigan recommends directing hose streams onto the truss supports to keep them cool and intact. Perform this task from a safe location, such as near a firewall, where it’s less likely that the roof will collapse on top of you or other firefighters.
Water Supply
Incidents at these buildings will challenge your ability to provide enough water to accomplish all of the tactics that the IC wishes to accomplish. If you’re blessed with strong hydrants in the area, it may not take more than laying several large-diameter supply lines to get what you need on the scene. However, if public water supply in the area is weak or non-existent, be prepared to establish a water supply group with tender shuttles or large-diameter hose relays, or to scale back tactics to match the available water supply. Note: All of this should be planned before the incident happens.
Forcible Entry
Open up the place–and I mean every door possible (always considering what affects the influx of air will have on the fire), including garage doors. Key boxes (aka, Knox boxes) would be nice where available, but it’s likely that firefighters will need to force one or more doors. Tip: Doors on the back side of warehouses will likely be more difficult to force than those on the front.
During preplan walk-throughs, take the time to study locking mechanisms on these doors and determine what tools you’ll need to get the doors open. But don’t waste a lot of time during a working fire on neatly taking these doors. Use hydraulic tools, saws or whatever equipment is at your disposal to force doors. Determining access around the building–as well as creating as many exit paths as possible for firefighters operating in the building–will be crucial.
Hazards to Firefighters
Warehouse or storage occupancy fires present many hazards to firefighters–the sheer size of the incident can be overwhelming. Accessing the seat of the fire may require forays deep into the building, beyond the point of no return for firefighters’ SCBAs. Building layout and heavy smoke conditions may create maze-like scenarios that can complicate egress from the building and can cause even the most experienced firefighter to become disoriented. Sprinkler protection can aid firefighters in many ways, but it can also push the cold smoke down on firefighters, distorting their vision. Even if the building is sprinklered, improper design or changes in storage may hinder sprinkler protection for the particular material stored, rendering the system useless.
Key Feature: Firewalls
A key building feature that may greatly help the fire department, as well as the building occupants: firewalls. To utilize them effectively at an incident, firefighters must know where firewalls are located and have the confidence that they haven’t been compromised. They are typically rated for one, two or three hours of fire exposure.
Responders must quickly close any openings in the firewalls protected by fire doors to minimize the threat of heat and smoke crossing the barrier. At the same time, be aware that other firefighters who’ve entered the fire area through the openings might not expect to find the doors closed if they need to exit the area rapidly. Note: Fire doors may slide horizontally or drop vertically, which can cause injury to firefighters operating under them.
Firewalls should be considered first as a key location to attempt to contain a fire. If you can’t close an opening via fire doors, consider applying large-caliber streams with portable monitors to the openings. If fire is not impinging on the opening, but smoke is crossing it and the materials stored are subject to smoke damage, use a fog stream to help contain smoke and heat to the involved section.
Firefighters should monitor the entire length of the firewall(s) during the incident to ensure that the wall isn’t being compromised by the fire or unseen penetrations. Combustible storage may need to be moved away from firewalls to prevent ignition via heat conduction.
Ladder Ops & Ventilation
Poor ventilation can significantly increase the amount of smoke damage sustained by the product(s) stored in the building. Proper ventilation may save of millions of dollars, and may allow interior crews to make good progress on the fire.
A good place to start ventilation is on the roof, if you can get to it. Open scuttles, skylights or other natural ventilation points; this can also provide excellent intelligence as to what’s occurring inside the building. Positive-pressure ventilation (PPV) is also a very useful tactic, but for a large warehouse, you’ll need lots of air movement. In this case, use PPV early, when firefighters are stretching initial lines into the building. Put the biggest PPV fan you’ve got into every opening on the side of the facility that’s not burning, which will assist firefighters in reaching the seat of the fire.
Note: PPV is not recommended for use with concealed space fires or when the exact location of the fire isn’t known. Due to the large volume of space warehouses present, you may need to use multiple fans in series (put your largest CFM generating fan/blower in the entry and a second fan/blower set back to seal the opening), always making sure to establish an adequate-sized exhaust/exit point.
A number of departments across the country use truck- or trailer-mounted PPV fans, which move an extraordinary amount of air. If you have lots of warehouses and other large buildings in your coverage area, determine how you can gain access to this sort of resource. Another idea: Do you (or another department) have access to an airboat (maybe for water or ice rescues)? If so, simply hitch it up to the warehouse door, aim the prop toward the opening and watch the smoke lift.
Fires involving metal deck roofs can involve the roofing material and insulation, and can burn and smolder underneath this material, traveling in the deck channels and potentially involving the entire roof. Firefighters will have to cut a “firebreak” in the insulation/membrane to prevent this–which can prove extraordinarily difficult.
Rapid Intervention Operations/Challenges
While personnel perform all of the above tasks, you must have a rapid intervention plan in place, but remember: Large warehouse/storage occupancies will present significant challenges to rapid intervention teams. As you may know, the Phoenix Fire Department (PFD) has done a great deal of research and testing in this area. In numerous evolutions in three separate structures (two 5,000-square-foot buildings in a 7,500-square-foot area), the PFD determined that it took an average of almost 22 minutes and a total of 12 personnel to locate, package and extricate a downed firefighter out of a commercial structure. The point: If you have firefighters operating inside a warehouse, you’d better have an appropriate rapid intervention plan in place, as well as a strong accountability program to track your personnel.
Property Conservation
Life safety is the primary objective at any incident, but once the incident is stabilized, ICs must consider property conservation. Do you have appropriate water diversion/removal equipment, as well as access to salvage covers? Simply controlling heat and smoke, as already discussed, will play a major part in property conservation, but diverting water away from undamaged stock and covering it can save thousands, if not millions, of dollars in damage. Consider assigning one or more units to this task early on, especially if the stored material is susceptible to water damage.
If you made ventilation holes or forced entry into the building, the owner would most likely appreciate assistance in making plans to secure the building. Working with security and/or the police to monitor open property will also help control loss. Tip: Make sure someone keeps current emergency contact information to notify the owner that an incident has occurred.
The Most Important Thing
The most important thing a fire department can do to prepare for warehouse or storage facility fires is to preplan the buildings and know their construction, layout, protection systems, contents and storage method. Preplan what may occur when the building catches fire, how you can utilize built-in suppression systems and construction features to control the fire, what might go wrong during a fire in the building and how to advance hoselines to all potential fire areas.
