1810 Ch 6 PowerPoint

1. Strategic and Tactical
Considerations on the Fireground
4th Edition
Chapter 6 — Building Collapse and Scene Safety

2. Learning Objectives
6.1 Describe building collapse indicators.
6.2 Describe a plan to address search at a building
collapse.
6.3 Discuss the role and responsibilities of an incident
scene Safety Officer.

3. Building Collapse (1 of 3)
‣ Questions to ask students:
‣ If part of a wall collapses, the Incident Commander
must determine the reason for the failure. What
factors must be considered?
‣ List the exterior wall collapse indicators.

4. Building Collapse (2 of 3)
‣ Most firefighters are injured by these smaller and less
spectacular occurrences.
‣ For this reason, firefighters and company officers must be
alert to hazards during operations.

5. Building Collapse (3 of 3)
‣ Aggressiveness
‣ Aggressiveness will be counterproductive when
dealing with buildings that have a high potential for
collapse.
‣ The life safety of firefighters dictates that the safest
method be employed, which could result in a longer
period of time for total extinguishment, but an overall
safer operation.

6. Wall Collapse (1 of 8)
‣ Collapsing walls can trigger the devastating failure of a
building.
‣ A bearing wall will release the supporting connections of
floors and roof members, resulting in their failure.

7. Wall Collapse (2 of 8)
‣ There are three basic types of wall collapse.
‣ 90-degree collapse
‣ Inward-outward collapse
‣ Curtain collapse

8. Wall Collapse (3 of 8)
‣ 90-degree collapse
‣ The 90-degree wall collapse assumes a wall will fall
outward its entire height, encompassing a 90-degree
angle.

9. Wall Collapse (4 of 8)
‣ Inward-outward collapse
‣ The inward-outward collapse has the top of the wall
falling into the building and the lower part of the wall
falling outward and away from the building.

10. Wall Collapse (5 of 8)
‣ Curtain collapse
‣ The curtain collapse resembles a curtain falling
straight down as if dropped from a curtain rod.

11. Wall Collapse (6 of 8)
Figure 6-2 An inward/outward collapse of a wall causes the top of the wall to fall inward
and the bottom to fall outward.

12. Wall Collapse (7 of 8)
‣ Collapse zones
‣ The collapse zone must be recognized as a safety
zone.
‣ There should be no excuse to violate the zone. The
comment “I’ll be only a second” is not valid.

13. Wall Collapse (8 of 8)
Figure 6-7 The collapse zone should be considered a safety zone.

14. Building Collapse Indicators (1 of 20)
‣ Each scene has indicators that provide varying degrees
of information. The ability to manage an incident scene
will be enhanced when firefighters utilize every piece of
information at their disposal.

15. Building Collapse Indicators (2 of 20)
‣ Following are some indicators of building collapse:
‣ Fire conditions
‣ Two or more floors fully involved
‣ Continued or heavy fire for 15 to 20 minutes
‣ High heat and heavy smoke conditions with inadequate
ventilation
‣ Type of construction
‣ Unprotected steel columns and beams exposed to heavy
fire
‣ Unprotected lightweight steel and steel bar joist roof
assemblies

16. Building Collapse Indicators (3 of 20)
Figure 6-9 As steel is heated, it expands and exerts a tremendous amount of pressure on the
exterior walls, causing them to bow outward. As the walls are forced outward, the steel and the
roof or floor it was supporting falls downward, pushing on the walls until they collapse.

17. Building Collapse Indicators (4 of 20)
‣ Following are some indicators of building collapse:
‣ Fire burning in an area containing lightweight wooden
building components

18. Building Collapse Indicators (5 of 20)
‣ Exterior walls
‣ As fire attacks a building, it will destroy the
building’s integrity. The exterior walls of a building,
more than any other component, can contain a
multitude of collapse indicators.

19. Building Collapse Indicators (6 of 20)
‣ Typical exterior wall collapse indicators
‣ Smoke showing through walls
‣ Old wall cracks enlarging
‣ New wall cracks
‣ Fire showing through wall cracks
‣ Bulging walls
‣ Leaning walls

20. Building Collapse Indicators (7 of 20)
‣ Failure of part of a wall
‣ Visible spalling of a brick wall
‣ Spalling of concrete and exposure of steel
‣ A wall breaking down under a hose stream
‣ The presence of wall spreaders

21. Building Collapse Indicators (8 of 20)
Figure 6-21 A wall spreader is placed in a wall that has been weakened. A 15/16-
inch all-thread is placed into a hole drilled in the wall. It passes through three joists
and is attached to each joist. This spreads the weight of the wall across these joists.

22. Building Collapse Indicators (9 of 20)
‣ Present state and building history collapse indicators
‣ Previous fire damage
‣ Windows, doors, floors, and stairways out of level
‣ Sagging wooden floors

23. Building Collapse Indicators (10 of 20)
‣ Excessive snow or water on a roof
‣ Cracking noises coming from a building
‣ Interior collapse
‣ Plaster sliding off walls in large sheets

24. Building Collapse Indicators (11 of 20)
‣ Buildings under construction, renovation, or demolition
‣ New construction will not have the safety features
required of a completed building. Sprinkler and
standpipe systems may not be functional, delaying an
attack on the fire. Unprotected structural members will
be prone to attack by fire.

25. Building Collapse Indicators (12 of 20)
‣ Buildings undergoing renovation can have varying stages
of fire protection. A nearly completed structure would
probably be well-protected, whereas a building in the
early stages could have much of its protection removed.

26. Building Collapse Indicators (13 of 20)
‣ The building undergoing demolition will have many of the
same faults as a building under construction or a building
being renovated. Safety features will be removed, and
fire-stops may be nonexistent.

27. Building Collapse Indicators (14 of 20)
‣ Water and building loads
‣ Water is the principal tool used to combat fire. For all
of the positive aspects, water can have a negative
effect on a structure. It is important to monitor water
usage.

28. Building Collapse Indicators (15 of 20)
‣ Collapse indicators associated with water usage and
other building loads
‣ Excessive water in a building
‣ Water not coming out of a building as fast as it is
going in
‣ Water runoff from between bricks
‣ Bales of absorbent material in a building
‣ Large machinery or heavy contents in a building
‣ Excessive or unusual roof loads

29. Building Collapse Indicators (16 of 20)
‣ Live loads
‣ The live load of a building is the weight of the material
in a building that is not permanent. The live load can
constantly change. The live load includes:
‣ Desks
‣ Furniture
‣ Machinery
‣ Kitchen utensils
‣ Tools
‣ Merchandise

30. Building Collapse Indicators (17 of 20)
‣ Dead load
‣ The dead load is the total weight of the building
components. It includes every part of the building that
is permanent:
‣ Structural members of steel, masonry, or wood
‣ Air-handling systems
‣ Plaster or wallboard
‣ Paint and wallpaper
‣ Plumbing and piping
‣ Electrical components

31. Building Collapse Indicators (18 of 20)
‣ Eccentric load
‣ Eccentric loads essentially create a pulling action on
a wall in a downward thrust. Examples:
‣ Wall signs
‣ Marquees
‣ Large, ornate cornices
‣ Corbelled brick

32. Building Collapse Indicators (19 of 20)
‣ Impact load
‣ The impact load can be a critical factor in a building’s
stability during firefighting operations. An impact load
is a weight forced upon a building.
‣ Undesigned loads
‣ A designed load is a load that a building was
designed to support. Undesigned loads on a building
are loads that a building was not originally designed
to carry.

33. Building Collapse Indicators (20 of 20)
‣ Effect of building collapse on a fire
‣ The collapse might result in near extinguishment of
the fire caused by the smothering effect of the
resulting debris on the burning area.
‣ Another effect can be the involvement of a much
larger area and a spreading fire. This occurs because
the fire now is getting a sufficient supply of air to
sustain free burning.

34. Collapse Search (1 of 17)
‣ Questions to ask students:
‣ When confronted with a collapsed building and the
need to initiate a search, the first step is to conduct a
size-up of the scene. What size-up information must
be gathered as the site is surveyed?
‣ List the four common types of floor collapse.

35. Collapse Search (2 of 17)
‣ Possibly no other fire department operation needs more
coordination than collapse search rescue.
‣ Victims can be found trapped within a building or buried
on the exterior of a structure trapped by parts of the
falling building.
‣ If firefighters rush into a collapse area with no prior
thought or size-up on the collapse, they often become
part of the problem instead of the solution.

36. Collapse Search (3 of 17)
‣ Safety Officer (SO)
‣ Staging
‣ Size-up

37. Collapse Search (4 of 17)
‣ Determine the cause of the collapse.
‣ Try to determine the cause of the collapse.
‣ Eyewitnesses to the actual event can assist not only
in giving information on those in the building but also
on what actually happened.

38. Collapse Search (5 of 17)
‣ Call for help.
‣ Assistance by using the appropriate equipment and
personnel is a must. Is a heavy rescue unit available,
either within your department or on a mutual-aid call?
‣ Contracts must be in place to call for heavy
equipment, such as cranes or backhoes.

39. Collapse Search (6 of 17)
‣ Utilities
‣ Control of the utilities supplying the collapsed
structure will be an immediate concern.
‣ The Incident Commander should check with the utility
representatives to establish if natural gas, electric,
and water service is provided to the involved property.

40. Collapse Search (7 of 17)
‣ Locating victims
‣ Surface victims are first to be rescued.
‣ A close inspection must be conducted because a
surface victim may have only one arm or leg visible to
rescuers.

41. Collapse Search (8 of 17)
‣ Operations must proceed slowly.
‣ The possibility of a secondary collapse or shifting
debris dictates caution on the part of the rescuers.

42. Collapse Search (9 of 17)
Figure 6-35 Surface victims are the first to be rescued. A close inspection must be
conducted because a surface victim may have only an arm or leg visible to rescuers.

43. Collapse Search (10 of 17)
‣ Firefighters involved in the collapse
‣ If firefighters involved in the collapse were equipped
with a personal alert safety system (PASS) device,
the device can be manually sounded, or it will
automatically sound after a preset period of inactivity.

44. Collapse Search (11 of 17)
‣ Floor collapse
‣ Types of floor collapse
‣ The pancake collapse occurs when one or more
floors collapse on top of each other.
‣ The V-type collapse occurs near the middle of the
floor and creates voids on the perimeters.

45. Collapse Search (12 of 17)
‣ Types of floor collapse
‣ The lean-to collapse is supported or hinged on one
side, with the opposite side resting or supported
and hanging freely.
‣ Unsupported floor collapse occurs when a bearing
wall has failed and the floor has sagged due to the
missing wall, yet still remains somewhat intact.

46. Collapse Search (13 of 17)
Figure 6-37 Various types of floor collapse can occur: lean-to, V-type, unsupported, or
pancake.

47. Collapse Search (14 of 17)
‣ Shoring
‣ Freestanding walls or unsupported floors can be
temporarily stabilized by the use of shoring.
‣ Shoring is placed either against an unstable wall or
beneath an unsupported floor or object.
‣ This is meant to prevent further movement and
should not be an attempt to restore the area to its
original position.
‣ Body retrieval should not be performed at the risk of
firefighter injury.

48. Collapse Search (15 of 17)
‣ Safety at collapse scenes
‣ Firefighter injuries at this kind of incident can vary
widely.
‣ Serious injuries can occur from secondary collapse of
the structure.

49. Collapse Search (16 of 17)
‣ Emergency evacuation signal
‣ A signal is needed to ensure that all members
involved in a collapse operation are notified that
conditions have drastically changed and immediate
withdrawal from the area is required.

50. Collapse Search (17 of 17)
‣ Debris removal
‣ When debris removal begins, it should be done
selectively. Selected debris removal can start as a
hands-on operation.
‣ This part of the operation is a dangerous time in
which secondary collapse can occur.
‣ All debris must be checked for victims, even if
everyone has been accounted for.

51. Safety (1 of 40)
‣ Questions to ask students:
‣ In which types of responses would a high degree of risk
necessitate a risk analysis by the Safety Officer?
‣ What is the safety policy statement in your fire
department? If you do not have a policy, what should it
be?

52. Safety (2 of 40)
‣ The safety of the operating personnel at an incident
scene is the prime responsibility of the Incident
Commander.
‣ The frequency of firefighter deaths, coupled with the
many injuries sustained, demands that Incident
Commanders try to find ways to reduce these numbers.

53. Safety (3 of 40)
‣ Selecting a departmental Safety Officer
‣ The position of SO should be entrusted to an officer
of sufficient rank.
‣ Some fire departments utilize captains in this role.

54. Safety (4 of 40)
‣ Health and Safety Officer
‣ The Health and Safety Officer must consider all types
of injuries.
‣ Stress and heart attack is a major cause of injury that
occurs to firefighters, and it is the leading cause of
firefighter deaths.
‣ Illnesses can be caused by exposure to toxic
chemicals or communicable diseases while operating
at incident scenes.

55. Safety (5 of 40)
‣ Hepatitis A
‣ Hepatitis B
‣ Hepatitis C

56. Safety (6 of 40)
‣ Cancer
‣ Cancer poses another problem. The latency period from
exposure to a carcinogen until development of cancer can
span from a few years to more than 50 years. With the
numerous chemicals used in the workplace, and the daily
development of new ones, it becomes impossible to know
what a firefighter is exposed to.

57. Safety (7 of 40)
‣ Cancer-causing chemicals
‣ Certain chemicals are known to cause certain types of
cancer. It is difficult, if not impossible, to determine an
exact incident when an exposure occurred that caused
cancer in a firefighter.
‣ Benzene—leukemia
‣ Carbon tetrachloride—known carcinogen
‣ Creosote—known carcinogen
‣ Asbestos—known carcinogen

58. Safety (8 of 40)
‣ Personal protective equipment (PPE)
‣ Firefighters’ exposures can occur due to absorption of
chemicals or fumes through eyes, ears, or exposed skin.
‣ Do all firefighters routinely clean their gear after every
fire?

59. Safety (9 of 40)
‣ In many fire departments, it is routine for PPE to appear
to be darkened or dirty in order to represent the number
of working fires attended by the firefighter.
‣ This mindset permits contamination to remain and allows
the off-gassing from the PPE to affect anyone who enters
the area where the PPE is kept.

60. Safety (10 of 40)
‣ Diesel fumes in firehouses
‣ Diesel exhaust fumes are a known carcinogen.

61. Safety (11 of 40)
‣ Safeguards
‣ Implement the safeguards provided by the department.
‣ On medical calls, wear all the protection necessary.
‣ Do not operate in smoke or dust-borne atmospheres
without breathing protection.
‣ Decontaminate PPE at the scene of all hazardous materials
incidents and working fires.

62. Safety (12 of 40)
‣ Ensure that PPE in personal vehicles is kept in a sealed
bag.
‣ Discuss safety concerns with Health and Safety Officer.
‣ Have an annual physical with a physician and make it
known that you are a firefighter.
‣ Have blood work performed at least annually.

63. Safety (13 of 40)
‣ HCN is 35 times more toxic than CO and is generated by the
burning of ordinary materials contained in insulation, carpets,
clothing, synthetics, and man-made plastics, which release
cyanide if they catch fire.

64. Safety (14 of 40)
‣ HCN
‣ High temperatures and low oxygen levels favor the
formation of cyanide gas.
‣ Enters the body by absorption, inhalation, or ingestion,
and targets heart and brain.
‣ Incapacitates a victim in a short period of time.
‣ Highly flammable; most will burn away during combustion.

65. Safety (15 of 40)
‣ Prehospital treatment of acute cyanide poisoning entails:
‣ Removing patient from source of cyanide
‣ Administering 100 percent oxygen
‣ Providing CPR if necessary

66. Safety (16 of 40)
‣ Cyanide exposure is an expected outcome of smoke
inhalation in closed-space fires.
‣ Full utilization of PPE and self-contained breathing
apparatus (SCBA) is critical until air monitoring shows safe
levels.

67. Safety (17 of 40)
‣ Safety Officer response
‣ Ideally, a SO position should be staffed around the clock.
This is costly and rarely done. Instead, the position is
usually staffed through the use of on-call personnel.
‣ To ensure availability during emergencies, there should be
a minimum of three trained staff personnel who rotate “on
call.”

68. Safety (18 of 40)
‣ Incident scene conditions
‣ Firefighters often operate in a noncontrolled environment.
They perform hazardous activities that can jeopardize their
safety.

69. Safety (19 of 40)
‣ Hazards and risks
‣ Hazards are things that can cause harm to people or
equipment.
‣ Risks are potentially unsafe actions taken by personnel
when responding to hazards at an incident.

70. Safety (20 of 40)
‣ Risk analysis
‣ Risk analysis starts with identifying various types of
responses where a high degree of risk could exist. These
could involve:
‣ Fire situations (structures, high-rise, refinery, wildland
fires)
‣ Medical calls (exposure to bloodborne pathogens,
contagious diseases)
‣ Special operations (hazardous materials responses,
high-angle rescue, swift water rescue, trench rescue)

71. Safety (21 of 40)
‣ Safety monitoring
‣ Monitoring is the constant surveillance of an incident scene
by visual observation, listening to communications, and
through instrumentation to detect or identify problems or
dangerous situations.

72. Safety (22 of 40)
‣ Monitoring rehab
‣ The SO will monitor the rehab area. As firefighters are
sent to rehab, emergency medical services (EMS)
personnel must evaluate them and take their vital signs.

73. Safety (23 of 40)
‣ First in, first out
‣ The first-arriving or first-due unit is often the last unit to
leave the scene.
‣ This procedure can keep a unit at an incident past the time
where fatigue can set in.

74. Safety (24 of 40)
‣ Checklists
‣ Safety issues can be reviewed by using an incident safety
checkoff sheet and note pad.
‣ The development of a checklist by the SO should consider
problems encountered during past incidents.

75. Safety (25 of 40)
‣ The building
‣ Time
‣ Weather
‣ Surroundings and staffing
‣ Medical responses
‣ Special operations

76. Safety (26 of 40)
‣ Tunnel vision
‣ Tunnel vision can occur when a person becomes so
engrossed in a particular phase of an operation that he or
she fails to see the big picture.

77. Safety (27 of 40)
‣ Apparatus placement
‣ Apparatus placement must consider the use of the
apparatus.
‣ It should not be placed where it will impede movement of
other apparatus.
‣ Fire hydrants should not be used if they are directly in
front of or alongside a burning building because their use
can affect the safety of the operator.

78. Safety (28 of 40)
‣ Electricity and firefighting
‣ The proximity of overhead wires needs to be considered
when placing fire apparatus on a scene.
‣ If downed overhead electric wires are encountered, all
firefighters must realize that direct contact with the wire
can cause serious injury or death.

79. Safety (29 of 40)
‣ Ladder pipe operation
‣ Malfunctioning ladder pipes cause many serious injuries
and deaths.
‣ The use of ropes attached to the ladder pipe and operated
from a safe location on the ground should be the accepted
practice.

80. Safety (30 of 40)
‣ Risk versus gain
‣ Risk to firefighters can be classified as low, medium, or
high. A high-risk situation would be fighting a fire in a
vacant building that is heavily involved. A low-risk situation
could involve the same structure with a minor fire on the
exterior impinging on the building.

81. Safety (31 of 40)
‣ SCBA usage
‣ Accountability
‣ Personnel accountability report (PAR)

82. Safety (32 of 40)
• Two-in-two-out rule
•OSHA states that “once firefighters begin the attack on an
interior structure fire, the atmosphere is assumed to be IDLH
and the two-in-two-out applies.”

83. Safety (33 of 40)
• Rapid Intervention Crew (RIC)
•Rapid Intervention Teams (RITs), rapid Intervention Crews (R
ICs), and Firefighter Assist and Search Teams (FASTs) are
standby crews that are assigned for rescue of firefighters that
become lost, incapacitated, or trapped in a building due to a
flashover, a backdraft, a collapse, an injury, an SCBA
malfunction, or a similar event.

84. Safety (34 of 40)
•Assign in the early stages of fire.
•RIC reports to IC or Operations Section Chief.
•Location of RIC
•Training of RIC
•Tools and equipment

85. Safety (35 of 40)
‣ Upgrading a RIC to a task force
‣ Observations by the IC could indicate the need to expand
the RIC from a single company to a task force.
‣ Exact size of the task force would be determined by the
available resources.

86. Safety (36 of 40)
‣ Factors or cues that could indicate the need for upgrading
from a single company acting as the RIC to a task force:
‣ A working fire in a commercial building
‣ A working fire in a high-rise building
‣ A working fire in a large residential structure
‣ A significant or unusual fire situation

87. Safety (37 of 40)
‣ Factors or cues that could indicate the need for upgrading
from a single company acting as the RIC to a task force:
‣ A report of firefighters missing or in trouble
‣ Personnel not reporting back after two PAR attempts
‣ If RIC advises Command that they cannot accomplish
an assignment

88. Safety (38 of 40)
‣ PASS devices
‣ PASS devices can assist in locating a missing or trapped
firefighter. They will activate due to a lack of movement
when a firefighter is overcome or incapacitated.
‣ Current standards require a dedicated PASS device in all S
CBA.
‣ The PASS device can be manually triggered should
firefighters find themselves in trouble.

89. Safety (39 of 40)
‣ Crew integrity
‣ Mayday
‣ Rescue efforts for missing firefighters
‣ Unsuccessful rescue
‣ First in, first out
‣ Documentation

90. Safety (40 of 40)
‣ Public Safety Officers’ Benefit Program
‣ SO actions to be taken when a line-of-duty death occurs

91. Local Assistance State Team (1 of 3)
‣ NFFF has founded the Local Assistance State Team (LAST).
‣ This is a line-of-duty death state response team that operates
in every state.
‣ Primary mission is to bring expertise to the surviving family in
filing for Department of Justice-Public Safety Officers’ Benefits
(DOJ-PSOB).

92. Local Assistance State Team (2 of 3)
‣ The team can also provide:
‣ Honor guard ceremonial support
‣ Chaplain services for department members
‣ A fire service survivor to work with family
‣ A behavioral specialist to work with department members
and family
‣ Information access to various state, federal, and local
benefits
‣ Other information and resources to assist both family and
department

93. Local Assistance State Team (3 of 3)
‣ These teams will only respond if requested and will be on the
ground within six hours.
‣ They are trained to ensure quality over expediency and to
show empathy at all times while always thinking in terms of
honor, dignity, and respect.