Staying Safe After a Knockdown

So you’ve been studying your fire tactics, learning your SLICERS, reviewing coordination of suppression and ventilation, and drilling hard on your water supply and fire attack evolutions, and the moment you have been waiting for happens-you get your first working structure fire. Well what do you know? All that stuff worked rather well and your company did a heckuva job knocking down the fire. The smoke is mostly turned to steam and is starting to lift. You shut the nozzle down to take a look about and admire your work and are feeling pretty good about yourself and your crew. You call back to command and advise them that, “… the fire is knocked down; you can place it under control.” But is it really controlled?

The temptation just might be there to take a few selfies of you and your crew and think about packing it in to get back to doing whatever you were doing when the call came in. At the very least, it must be time to take off this uncomfortable and restrictive self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), right?

Instead, it is a good time to look around and gain a bit of an understanding about what just happened, what is happening now, and what needs to happen before packing it in, doffing your protective equipment, and heading home.

Once the attack phase of firefighting is over, fireground operations move into the overhaul phase. Despite what may seem to be a time to let your guard down, there are many cautions and considerations necessary during this phase of operations. Building collapses, firefighters getting overcome or electrocuted, gas leaks, and a variety of other situations that have resulted in firefighter injuries and fatalities have all occurred after building fires have been placed under control. Will an investigation of the fire be needed, and, if so, has an investigator been called to the scene? Have the utilities to the building been controlled, and, if not, is that underway before we start digging into walls/floors/ceilings that are likely to have utilities hidden behind/under/above them?

A Safe Scene

Are we clear to actually start the overhaul phase? At this point, just about everybody is starting to think about picking up and leaving if they can get out of there. But if an investigation of the fire cause is necessary, has the investigator approved of what can and cannot be overhauled? If water has been used and is moving into walls and floors, and if walls will be “pulled,” have the utilities been secured to the fire building? Water can easily find its way into electrical services inside the building, causing additional problems, and using tools to pull the walls can result in the compromise of both electric and gas lines in those walls. Has a utility company representative arrived on scene and verified power and gas, where applicable, have been completely secured? In addition, alternative energy sources such as solar, generators, and other devices can create special problems with securing power.

Has the structure been checked to determine its soundness for continuing operations? The safety officer or operations should thoroughly review the building to determine what can be done where and see if overhaul may cause further deterioration and possible collapse. Things that may not have been obvious with active fire attack occurring may become perceptible when entering the overhaul phase.

It is important to take some time once the fire is knocked down to carefully reevaluate the building and conditions at that time before doing further structural deconstruction of the building. Check the entirety of both the interior and exterior of the building, including roof beams and floor beams to ensure they are not damaged or weakened. If it is dark out, set up lights outside and inside the dwelling so conditions are clear. If collapse is a real possibility, consider bringing in backhoes, cranes, or other demolition and heavy equipment to assist in conducting the overhaul.

Review exit paths from the work areas of the structure. Are they clear for immediate use if needed? If not, can they be cleared or alternative means of egress provided? If there are weakened or compromised floors, clearly communicate this to all and mark the space with cones, caution tape, or some other markings so that no one falls through. Go over the ways out and any emergency evacuation signals with the crews working inside.

Air Quality

Before removing your SCBA, check the air quality in the building. Note that a four-gas meter is only set up to monitor for the four gases that it is calibrated for-not for all of the potential gases and vapors that can create hazardous exposures for firefighters. You might have adequate oxygen levels in the building but there can be many other things in the atmosphere that could result in short-term or long-term problems because of exposure.

We are only starting to learn about many of the effects of hazardous exposures, and in an industrial or haz-mat environment the atmosphere should be characterized by detailed air monitoring prior to entry by workers who aren’t wearing SCBA. Why should the fireground be treated any differently? If there is asbestos in the building walls, floors, ceilings, or insulation, overhaul is the perfect time to disturb it and make it airborne. The major problem is that we don’t yet know all of the large number of potential contaminants to which we risk exposure. Use monitoring and extensive positive pressure ventilation to inject fresh air into the fire building. But remember that fresh air can reinvigorate hidden fire.

Clear for Overhaul

During overhaul, as you are searching for hidden fire, don’t be surprised if you find it-that is what you are looking for, isn’t it? Have a hoseline or at least water or another extinguisher readily available to deal with fire in concealed spaces that, once exposed to oxygen, may quickly spread. More than once I’ve seen firefighters opening walls or the ceiling, suddenly finding fire, and then having to look around to find something with which to extinguish it. In addition, have something around (an ash can or bucket, scoop shovel, or something similar) to remove hot ashes, embers, or other smoldering material to the exterior of the fire building.

When working in walls, ceilings, and floors, be a little gentle if you hook wiring or piping. Try to anticipate where wiring and piping may be located based on lights, outlets, or appliances that can be along the same stud line or horizontal from the visible devices. Rekindles happen to the best of us, but we want to do everything possible to prevent them. Remove burned material to the unburned area and ensure that all of the burned material is either removed from the building or thoroughly wetted down.

If it is not safe to operate adjacent to or underneath weakened structures, get heavy equipment to assist in clearing the hazards before putting personnel in potential jeopardy. Class A foam and other wetting agents have proven to be effective tools to use during overhaul to soak into burned materials to prevent them from reigniting later. However, these agents can mask other hazards and make things more challenging for investigators. Be aware that the water used both during the firefight and to soak the structure and contents during overhaul is adding additional weight to what may already be a sagging structure-amplifying the potential of collapse during overhaul.

A Serious Undertaking

The overhaul period on the fireground is not to be undertaken lightly. Firefighters can be exposed to toxins, injured, or killed during overhaul operations, and it is very easy for firefighters to let their guard down during this time. Just after a fire has been knocked down, firefighters are generally on a “high” thinking they can do just about anything as they have just made an excellent fire attack. However, this “high” must be tempered by the fact that the overhaul period brings many hazards and traps that are easy to fall into.

At this point, it is a good time to have someone-operations, safety command, or another officer-assess the fireground and put appropriate safety precautions in place so that overhaul is just as safe and successful as the fire attack and the possibility of a rekindle is reduced or eliminated. You’ve done a great job so far-take the time to do overhaul right.