By Mark van der Feyst
When arriving at a structural fire, we sometimes need to locate the bedroom windows quickly from the outside to affect a rescue using tactics such as vent-enter-search. This tactic allows us to quickly gain access to the room with a viable victim, and locate and then remove out the victim the same way firefighters went in. Other times we may need to locate the bedroom windows to gain access for fire attack operations.
Bedroom windows can be easily located in a residential structure based on window size and location. In a two-story home, the bedroom windows will be on the second floor with the master bedroom possibly on the first floor in some newer models. In a single-story house, the bedroom windows will be opposite the bay window, which is the family room or the garage if one is present. Bedroom windows will be large enough for a person to escape with a diagonal measurement of about 4 feet. The bedroom window is designed to certain building code requirements and knowing what those requirements are will also help.