Engine Positioning

The alarm sounds for a house fire, and you don your PPE and hustle to the officer’s seat of the engine. After buckling up, your driver proceeds through the streets as you process all the dispatch information you’ve received, mentally starting your size-up before you arrive.

You look up the closest water supply and inform the driver of the hydrant’s location. Turning the corner onto the dispatched street, you observe a working fire midway down the block. You stop at the hydrant to secure the water supply with large-diameter hose (LDH) when the driver calmly asks over the headset, “Where do you want the engine?”

The Right Location

The positioning of the engine is very important as you arrive at a fire. You want to ensure that you can take full advantage of the engine’s capabilities and also ensure that you leave room for other apparatus. People often say the ladder company “owns” the front of the building and, for the most part, we agree. We always say: “You can stretch more hose, but you cannot stretch the ladder.” Of course, this only matters if you have a ladder company.

The engine will often arrive at the fire first. In our system, the first engine always obtains a source of water supply, usually by forward-laying a 5″ supply line. Still, there are times when a different engine position would help us take advantage of its full potential. Let’s look at our engine-positioning options-stopping short, stopping in front and pulling past-and their pros and cons. We’ll also discuss some other issues that can affect positioning, including dead-end or narrow streets and exposure concerns.

Stopping Short

Stopping short of the address may be beneficial if you’re taking advantage of hydrant placement directly before the address and using the front intake (if so equipped). You must be careful to ensure that there’s ample room for other apparatus to get by so you don’t block the entire scene. Sometimes pulling onto the curb or sidewalk will allow more room. In other words, get the apparatus as far to the side of the street as possible.

When stopping short of the address, you need to be competent at estimating distance and knowing exactly how much hose you’ll need to get to the fire-you don’t want to stretch short. If your hose comes off the rear, it will be more difficult to stretch since you’ve added a 180-degree turn into the equation. Apparatus with crosslay pre-connects are easier to use in this situation, as long as they’re long enough for the stretch.

Stopping short of the address also doesn’t give you the view of three sides of the structure for size up, a definite benefit to pulling past, and you’ll have to walk to look at the three sides.

Stopping In Front

Stopping directly in front of the fire building can have its advantages. This position usually allows for the shortest and most direct hose stretch to the front door and the fastest access to the fire. Once again, try to get as far to the side of the street as possible to allow companies to get past the engine. This also protects the attack line, as it will not have to be exposed in the street.

On large, multi-lane streets, the engine can often park close to the building, allowing the truck company to park next to the engine and still have a good scrub reach with the aerial ladder. Either way, in this situation, the engine should be on the same side of the street as the hydrant, if close to the fire building. If you use pre-connected hose loads and have a crosslay, this will be the attack line of choice when spotting directly in front of the structure, as long as it reaches.

Pulling Past

Pulling past the address gives the officer a view of three sides of the structure before they even get off the engine. This is an important size-up tool and only requires the officer to get to the back of the building to have a completed 360-degree view. Also, pulling past the building usually leaves the front of the building wide open for a responding truck company, provided the engine properly laid the large diameter supply line in the street.

The supply line should be laid on the hydrant side of the street for as long as possible and only cross the street at the engine to keep the street open. If there’s a hydrant past the address that’s in reach of your hose loads, the apparatus operators can hook up to the water supply themselves-this is your best option. We use a general 100′ rule: If the hydrant is within 100 feet of the address, the operator should pull past to allow frontal access for the truck. Once in position, the apparatus operator can then stretch the required supply line and make the connection. Engines with hose loads or pre-connected attack lines from the rear of the apparatus are well suited for pulling past the structure. In this situation, you also eliminate the 180-degree turn around that’s necessary when stopping short.

Narrow/Dead-End Streets

So what happens if you turn the corner and encounter a narrow or dead-end street? Should you forward lay in or reverse lay? Unfortunately, there’s no universal rule that will apply. Each situation may have its own set of benefits and problems and it will depend on where the house and hydrant are located on the street; it also greatly depends on if you are set up for this operation and are proficient.

If the address is located at the beginning of the street, it may be best to forward lay and pull past the structure, leaving the beginning of the street open for subsequently arriving companies. It may also be advisable to reverse lay to a hydrant located farther down the street or in the cul-de-sac, which will take the engine completely out of the way. Your company must be proficient and practice these tactics to be effective on the fireground.

The first time you reverse lay should not be with fire showing on the second floor of an occupied dwelling. Set your engine up to allow for this contingency. You should have static beds of hose to supply the operation (2½”, 3″ or 5″), wyes attached and attack lines packed for easy transport and deployment.

The address located in the cul-de-sac of a narrow street presents all kinds of apparatus placement challenges. It only takes one horribly placed apparatus to mess up the entire operation. Utilizing a forward lay from the hydrant and then parking the engine on the opposite side of the cul-de-sac from the fire building may leave enough room to get a truck in front of the building. Again, you need to ensure you have enough hose to make the fire. If all else fails, position the engine in a driveway or on the sidewalk opposite the fire.

Major Fire/Exposure Concern

Imagine a scenario where your engine arrives at a two-story wood frame with fire blowing out the “B” side first-floor window and impinging on the “B1” exposure that’s 12 feet away. Positioning the engine so the engine-mounted deck gun can protect the exposure is the fastest way to protect the exposure and keep the fire to the original exposure. This placement will also conserve firefighters, as you won’t have to deploy a firefighter between the buildings with an exposure line.

If practiced, the driver can usually get this set up and monitor it while your crew advances. If a large volume of fire is presenting from the fire building, consider placing the engine in the best spot to take advantage of the quick knockdown power of the apparatus-mounted master stream deck gun, even if this means blocking out the truck.

When the engine arrives after a ladder truck, be careful not to pull up directly behind the truck. The ground ladders will need to come off of the rear of the truck and the truckies get really angry when they keep bumping into the front of the engine. Don’t give them ammunition to talk about the engine before they go back to bed.

Final Thoughts

Engine placement can be a crucial element in utilizing all apparatus to their full potential and impacting the outcome of the fire. When you pull onto the street, take a few seconds to evaluate your options and then place the engine in the best spot for the encountered situation. Not using an apparatus to its full potential, or improperly placing apparatus so that others becomes useless, simply turns them into a very expensive taxi cab transporting firefighters. missing image file