This year is coming to a close with more lessons shared on www.FirefighterNearMiss.com than ever. That translates to firefighters picking up tips on everything from fireground survival to best practices to use on the drill ground.
The system crested 3,000 reports in late October and continues to climb, thanks to a more interactive partnership with www.FirefighterCloseCalls.com. Firefighters relating their accounts on FirefighterCloseCalls.com now have an option to forward their report to FirefighterNearMiss.com. Report intake continues to increase in part because of the affiliation, and the Firefighter Near-Miss Reporting System has responded by assigning a full-time system reviewer to handle the data intake from FirefighterCloseCalls.com.
For this final article of the 2009, we stepped back to the early days of report submissions and found Report No. 05-276, which highlights how easily things can go wrong on the fireground and reminds of us the importance of “Everyone Goes Home.”
Event Narrative
“My crew was extinguishing a fire in a second-story apartment unit that had originated in a downstairs unit. It began when a resident attempted to burn a Christmas tree in his apartment fireplace.
“The fire had been knocked down, and we were overhauling when a small section of the ceiling overhead fell on top of me. This small amount of drywall had become saturated, but normally would not have been much of a problem. What was unusual was that the ceiling contained a grid of wiring for heating. This is very uncommon in this part of the country, and I had never encountered it before.
“The wires became entangled with my breathing apparatus. It took me a minute or two to untangle myself. Luckily, the fire was already extinguished. Under different circumstances, I could have easily been trapped and injured, or burned. I quickly realized the importance of carrying a knife or cutters in my turnouts to free myself if I ever encountered a similar situation.”
Lessons Learned
“Knowledge of building construction features is important. Similar situations can occur in buildings with suspended T-bar ceilings and overhead phone and cable lines. The best way to prepare for this is with adequate training and situational awareness. Our rapid intervention crew (RIC) training now requires the firefighter to untangle himself from wires while crawling through a tight space in full turnouts and breathing apparatus with minimal visibility. By encountering this situation in training, he will be less likely to panic and more likely to think and apply lessons learned to free himself.”
Comments
There are many hidden hazards behind walls and above ceilings. As the reporter notes, what was encountered in this near miss was unusual for this part of the country. However, neither the building nor the fire–nor any of the hundreds of hazards–we encounter care what part of the country they occur in. Therefore, as the reporter states, we have to prepare for this with adequate training and situational awareness. We accomplish that mission through proper preparation and prevention.
Preparation
- Forget the cliché, “Expect the unexpected” and substitute “Prepare for everything.” The all-hazard nature of our work today insists that we create and participate in comprehensive training programs. These programs mix liberal amounts of research and didactic instruction with scenario-based, realistic, demanding, hands-on evolutions.
- Approach each run or activity with the mindset that you are going home when it’s over. Studies of people who have survived adverse events credit an individual’s “survivor mentality” with being as important as skills and equipment. According to the Web site www.survivaltopics.com/survival/traits-of-the-survivor, a short list of survivor traits include: never giving up, a desire to constantly learn, a good sense of humor, being flexible (mentally as well as physically), not dwelling on mistakes and being adaptive.
- Look: Get out and learn your area. Look up when you’re in a basement. Poke your head into a structure being stripped for renovation to see what’s behind the walls.
- Listen: Pick the brains of the “old timers” to start filling your information void. Institutional and vernacular knowledge can be as important to your survival as accredited training.
- Feel: Take opportunities to gain access to “behind the scenes” sections of occupancies. Ask for permission to open doors, walk down stairs, climb into attics and into voids behind knee walls. Get a sense of how wires, cables, ductwork and other service systems are run and connected to structural members.
Prevention
- Invest in a “survival system” in your coat pockets. You don’t have to be loaded down like a mechanic’s tool box, but carry the basics: wire cutters, a multi-head screwdriver or all-purpose tool, a knife and a bailout system you can deploy quickly.
- Be aware of what’s going on around you. When you’re engaged in a high-stress situation, periodically take a few seconds to assess whether you are controlling your destiny or if destiny is controlling you. For instance, are you making headway in your fire attack, or is the fire continuing to drive you to the floor?
- Place yourself in the reporter’s or author’s role of near-miss situations. Map out how you would react, what skill sets you have to escape a similar situation or what skill sets you learn to keep you out of a similar situation.
Adapt to Survive
Darwin said survival was not so much about being the fittest, but rather about being adaptable. Recognizing how the components of the firefighting environment have changed is the key to getting home for the holidays and every day.
Happy holidays!
