Many injuries on the fireground can be prevented by a clearer understanding of buildings and building construction. The importance of the key role size-up plays on the fireground has always been emphasized to me, from fire school to lectures several years later. No matter what the discussion, the common theme that threaded them all together was the importance of size-up.
Size-up starts when the call goes out. Once the information is put over the air, our minds feverishly work to process it. We carefully put together the bits of information to hopefully predict what lies ahead in the way of tactics and strategy.
But I often encourage firefighters to do size-up even before the call goes out. Take your monthly drill and make it a size-up drill. Study the local fabric of the area your house covers. Understand the areas of construction. When I refer to areas of construction, you may have one section of town that is taxpayer-style, and another that has two-story walk-ups.
If you’re aware in advance a fire is on a street that you know is all taxpayer-style, you can prepare well in advance and en route to the job. You may have an entire block of apartments that was originally an H plan, but after careful study you find out it has been chopped up differently. Studying your neighborhood will also inform you on potential hazards, alternate water sources, or specific way to approach and attack the fire.
Look beyond the obvious — and look for what may kill us. This can include window bars, roll-up doors, attic and basement apartments, unmarked flammable storage, bowstring and truss construction.
What are we looking for?
Construction. Look at the following video. What appears to be a 1 ½ story single family wood-frame dwelling has the potential to be more like a three-story multiple family dwelling:
Among the things to consider with construction are:
- Period of construction – Do we have timber frame or engineered floor joists?
- Roof construction – Flat, bowstring, truss, scissor, parapets, etc
- Walls (type of construction) – Masonry, steel, wood
- Plan – Ranch house or tenement?
- Foundation – Basement, slab on grade, crawl space
Check out the following video. The videographer reports low man power as the fire evolves into a 3-alarm fire and an eventual evacuation and halt to offensive operations:
What do we need in the worst case scenario?
- Water – Hydrant, wells, drafting sources, sprinklers, etc.
- Manpower – Daytime vs. nighttime response, will one engine and one truck handle it, RIT or FAST teams available?
- Mutual Aid or Additional Alarms – Response times, what resources do they have to offer?
Check out the following video that highlights low resources and frozen hydrants:
Time. In doing some research, most literature refers to time as the time of day, time of year, and time of the incident.
- Time of day – Is it occupied? Do not assume a building is not occupied unless proven otherwise. Many buildings have alternate uses. Sometimes spaces are rented out for other purposes. A firefighter once told me that they had a single-family dwelling that appeared to be your typical home, but after closer inspection the owner was running a yoga school out of the basement. If it is the evening, chances are residents are located in the bedrooms. This may help expedite search or rescue operations
- Time of year – We know in winter there is the potential for frozen hydrants, frozen lines, ice, and snow. Summer often brings department water source issues, increased fatigue and need for rehydration and personnel evaluation.
This next video shows the the effect cold weather has on hydrants and the obvious need for preventative maintenance and repairs:
- Incident time – How long has this fire been burning? How was this fire dispatched? Often several minutes can pass between someone noticing there is a fire to actually calling it in to 911. Once 911 has been contacted, then there is the time to dispatch and the time to actually respond.
We all know this time is precious and can have significant bearing on our tactics. If a fire in a single-family wood-frame dwelling has been burning in the basement for 20 minutes before we get the call, collapse is likely if the construction of the floor joists are engineered framing.
I hope this article will help to inspire you to research further into the topic and train in size-up. The more we understand our buildings and the signs of fire, the better we are equipped to make decisions in effective strategies.
Here are a couple of size-up videos useful for training:
Recommended resources
NIOSH Report on Volunteer Fire Fighter and Trapped Resident Die (frozen hydrants, size-up)
Fire Engineering Components of Size-Up
Firefighter Close Calls: Drill
Balloon Frame Close Call Article