It wasn’t long ago that I figured out I was an idiot….
A couple of years ago, 3 ½” years ago, as a matter of fact, I discovered that I needed some serious training….
It was the day before my Wife and I were going in to induce our son into labor…To be honest with you, that was really the only thing on my mind during that shift. Then, sometime in the afternoon, we were called on a full alarm to a house on fire. The Medic Unit arrived first and said they had a working fire in a one-story single-family dwelling. We pulled up as the first Engine and saw fire coming out of one window on the C/D side. My usual partner (and one of my best friends) was on the Medic Unit, and we were riding three on the Engine…he was able to get his stuff on pretty quickly (as usual) and met me at the front door. It was the first time we had deployed a new-fangled bumper load (stolen from Prince George’s County) on a real fire…the line was deployed so quickly that the Driver of the Engine was surprised to see us asking for water within about 30 seconds or so. The line was charged, and we opened the door. It was one of the weirdest things I’d ever seen…thick, black smoke from ceiling to floor. But it wasn’t moving. It didn’t move in or out. It just formed a wall. Oh well, we told ourselves…and we proceeded in. The second-in Engine had arrived by that time, and they were crawling and banging around. I assumed they were helping us, but how, I couldn’t figure out. Where is the hallway? It should be off to the right….I think. So, we went right. It felt a little warm, but not unbearable. I opened up the nozzle into the overhead, and felt nothing. The fire’s gotta be here somewhere. Then, I felt myself somersault and go upside-down. I saw my life flash before my eyes and then felt a thud with my PASS device digging into my ribs. My partner yelled, “Firefighter down, firefighter down.” I got my bearings and figured out that I’d only fallen down three steps onto a basement landing. “I’m alright.” “Hand me the nozzle,” he said. “Uh, no…I got it,” I replied. (I wasn’t about to give that up.) My ribs hurt like hell, but we figured out that we’d gone the wrong direction. “Over here,” yelled the Second-in Engine crew. We followed their voices and found our way to the hallway. A few more feet…and there it was. A room full of fire. It was beautiful. I hadn’t seen it in a long time. “Hit it!” the Captain of the Second Engine yelled. I took my time, made sure my nozzle was on a straight stream, and opened it on the fire. In a matter of seconds, the fire was knocked down. We moved in to the fire room, which was obviously pretty warm. Guys were pulling ceilings, and I sprayed a little bit of water. By then, my low air alarm was sounding…so, me and my partner left.
Well, the fire went out. It was scary and fun…just what I look for in a fire. But as I’ve become older (and maybe a little wiser, or perhaps lazier), I’ve figured out that there were a whole host of things that could’ve made that fire go a little better. Here are a few (and maybe you’ll think of a few more). 1) I could’ve slowed down a little bit. The rapid deployment of the bumper line bought me a little time. I should’ve used it to think more about the potential layout of the structure and path to the fire. To be honest with you, I didn’t even think about victims…this should’ve been one of my first considerations. 2) The second-in Engine could’ve been more help with stretching the line. By the time we actually made it to the fire, my bottle was almost empty. Part of this was due to being out of shape (which I’m remedying constantly); part of it was due to a lack of discipline. There were just two-of us dragging a line over and under and around a bunch of obstacles. If just one of the guys on the second Engine had taken the “control” position and helped feed the line around corners, we would’ve probably made the fire room faster and expended less energy. 3) We crawled through some pretty black and hot smoke. To this day, I don’t think that any ventilation was considered until after the room fire was knocked down. I’m doing a little research on the layout of the structure, but we would’ve benefitted from aggressive ventilation above the hallway. 4) A little too much pride…when I fell down the stairs, a backup line should’ve probably taken our place. I don’t think that anyone knew about the fall until after the fire was out.
There are probably a multitude of other items that would’ve made this bread and butter fire go a lot better. The primary thing I learned, though, was that we really don’t “learn” anything from our fires. We have become stagnant and just “rushed in.” No real assessment of building construction or reading smoke. Our fancy PPE will protect us. Now I’ve learned that this isn’t the case. I’m not going to bore you with all of the “Risk Management” Bullshit that you’ll find in just about every tactics book and trade journal article…although I agree with it, I think the stuff is overplayed. What I will say, though, is that 1) learning about the building construction in your district (including floor plans and layouts), 2) Reading the smoke and fire conditions as they relate to the construction and determining your attack plan, and 3) Utilizing a little company discipline will all contribute to these operations being conducted more professionally (and safely). Truth is, we attacked the fire the way I wanted to attack it…and nobody was the wiser. It might not have been the right way, and the more I think about it, should I have done what I did?
All I can say, is that my passion for training in effective fireground operations has been relentless since this fire.
The other thing that I can say, is that I went to the hospital, got X-rayed, and just had some bruised ribs. The next day, my beautiful son was born…which has given me further resolve to continue to try and “do things right.”
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