| Editor’s note: The deaths of two West Virginia firefighters last month while tackling a mobile home fire highlights the dangers involved in such incidents. While investigations are still continuing into the LODDs, fire attack columnist Charles Bailey takes a look in the following article at the general approaches you should take toward mobile home fires. |
 AP Photo/BPE, Jimmy May Espy, Pa., firefighters tackle a mobile home fire in this file photo from 2007. |
| Related Article: 2 W.Va. firefighters killed fighting mobile home fire |
Fires in mobile homes are deceptively dangerous. Poor constructions and tight quarters create the potential for catastrophic structure failure. Because these fires often occur in areas with limited water supplies, limited manpower and long response times, officers on the initial alarm must use the most expedient means at their disposal to meet the incident objectives.
These fires should not be taken lightly. When making a fire attack, you should be prepared for the building to come down — which means you should only be in it if there is a good reason and a savable life within reach.
Tactical approaches to fires occurring in mobile homes are not different from fires occurring in other structures designed for continuous occupation. For the fire department, the incident priorities are the same: life safety, incident stabilization and property conservation.
By way of a working definition, a mobile home can be described as “A structure transportable in one or more sections, which exceeds either 8 body feet in width or 32 body feet in length, built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling with or without a permanent foundation when connected to the required utilities, and includes the plumbing, heating, air conditioning, and electrical systems contained therein.” 1
Obviously there are some variations on this theme, including doublewide trailers and other multiple trailer configurations. There are also cases where the mobile home has been covered externally, with paneling, adobe or other materials disguising the mobile home base.
Common characteristics
There are some common construction characteristics of mobile homes. Typically they are built off site with a thin aluminum shell over a lightweight wood frame. They are then transported to the site where they will be used, and either stay as a trailer or are permanently attached to a standard foundation. While various codes mandate full-size escape windows and fire stopping in newer models, a full range of physical conditions, age and styles can be expected in the field.
While there are still some urban and suburban jurisdictions with mobile homes, most are found in more rural areas. This typically means scarce water supplies for firefighting, insufficient manpower on initial alarms and longer response times. Officers must consider the most expedient way to control the fire with the water and manpower they have available on arrival while still meeting applicable mandates and standards, including RIT and 2-IN/2-OUT rules.
The fire officer facing a fire in a mobile home has to realize that the construction of the mobile home is typically even less sturdy than of other buildings of lightweight construction — meaning it will fail sooner when under attack by fire.
Based on the standard construction and the ease with which fires move through these structures, it will be hard to “save” a mobile home from total destruction, especially if there is heavy fire involvement on arrival.
Quick spread
Many mobile homes are collocated with other mobile homes in campgrounds or trailer parks. This proximity, combined with the thin metallic outer coverings of the mobile home, means that fire will likely spread quickly to exposures.
Exposure protection will require continuous streams of water. However, the decision still has to be made quickly whether the limited water available on the initial alarm is better used for direct fire attack or split with exposure protection. Luckily single and doublewide trailers do not require significant fire flows for knockdown because the compartment space is relatively limited.
The first determination to be made is whether or not there is a realistic chance of a savable person still being in the structure. This is not always an easy decision to make. If the fire occurs in a mobile home park, there may be people, including occupants who made it out, who can advise if there are others possibly still inside. Otherwise officers will have to make a risk/benefit analysis before committing to an interior attack.
The primary purpose of the interior attack is to provide protection to possibly trapped occupants and to the crews searching for those occupants. Mobile homes tend to be rectangular with simple floor plans. This makes it easier to place a line in between the fire and the occupant.
Fire attack
Perhaps the quickest way to control a fire in these structures and to preserve savable lives is to direct a smooth bore or straight stream of sufficient flow into the openings the fire is showing from, bouncing the stream off of the ceiling. These exterior lines can be placed quickly and managed by a single firefighter. Once the bulk of the fire is knocked down, crews can re-direct their efforts to interior searches.
While the notion of squirting water in the windows may seem antithetical, it is the most efficient use efficient use of manpower and water resources. The point here is that the structure is destined to fail unless a quick attack is made on the main body of the fire. With the fire out or at least darkened down, we can enhance the ability of victims to survive and the ability of the searchers to find them.
Large flow lines are typically not necessary because of the limited compartment size. A single 1.5 or 1.75" hand line should be capable of quickly darkening down the fire in a mobile home. The added benefit of the smaller caliber line is that once the fire is controlled, the tight interior spaces of the mobile home will require a smaller line for maneuvering inside.
One place where mobile homes are commonly found in more urban areas is a construction site. Construction companies use mobile homes as field offices or for material storage. As they are not usually used for sleeping quarters on these sites, there is a smaller chance of finding victims inside and therefore less of a reason to press an interior attack. Officers must use caution because some of these trailers may store explosives or other hazardous materials.
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