Review of firefighter survival awareness points

2.  Just as firefighters prepare to fight fires
 FF must also prepare for the situation they hope to
avoid
 The incidents where firefighters have lost their lives, or
where they lived to tell about it, have a consistent
theme:
 Inadequate situational awareness

3.  Several NIOSH line-of-duty-death (LODD)
investigations indicate Firefighters :
 May not be adequately trained on fire ground survival
procedures
 How to call a Mayday
 Actions to take while waiting to be rescued

4.  ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI FD. May 3, 2002.
 The NIOSH incident report can be viewed at
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/fire/reports/face200220.html
.
 Lessons learned include:
 Team continuity
 FFs operating on the floor above a fire should have
charged hoseline.
 Train FFs to manually activate Personal Alert Safety
Systems PASS when lost or disoriented

5.  HOUSTON, TEXAS FD. FEB 19, 2005.
 The NIOSH incident report can be viewed at
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/fire/reports/face200509.html
.
 Lessons learned include:
 Proper size up
 Communicate interior condition to the outside IC.
 Train FFs on the actions to take while waiting to be
rescued
 Use exit locators such as high intensity floodlights /
strobe lights

6.  Preventing a Mayday must consciously occupy a fire
fighter’s thoughts during:
 Training
 Emergency calls
 Summarize the knowledge and skills fire fighters must
acquire during drills to prevent a real Mayday

7.  MAINTAINING SITUATIONAL AWARENESS
 Firefighters most often find themselves in trouble
because:
 Develop tunnel vision
 Operate off the hose line and lose their “lifeline”
 Fail to monitor their SCBA air consumption
 Get separated from their partner
 Operate alone.

8.  Firefighters need to assess the situation for changing
conditions also improves situational awareness and
safety
 stay on or close to the hose line
 closely monitor their SCBA air supply
 Listening to radio traffic
 What’s going on about the fire ground
 Firefighters should never push the safety envelope

9.  To increase survivability, firefighters must become
familiar with their response districts
 Allows us to see:
 Construction elements
 Discuss strategies
 Recognize potential response problems
 Provide clues to where and when a building may fail

10.  May prevent a Mayday situation
 Ultimately, this knowledge allows personnel to
anticipate building compromise during fire
involvement so fireground safety is maintained.

11.  Critical findings during a preplan:
 Building construction
 Roof construction
 Conventional construction
 regular timber or metal beams
 Light-weight construction
 truss systems.

12.  Further classified as:
 Protected construction
 Has a fire rated covering.
 Unprotected construction
 Structural members are fully exposed.
 Unprotected lightweight construction is the most
dangerous.
 Must be identified on the preplan

13.  Inherently dangerous
 Must be considered high risk
 National Institute of Standards and Technology
(NIST) and Underwriters Laboratories (UL)
 lightweight “I-joist “ was exposed to fire
 collapsed in only six minutes

14.  Phoenix / NIOSH
 Lightweight roof trusses
 Only eight minutes
 Collapse will occur about the time firefighters arrive on
scene

15.  UL also found
 Insulation qualities of flooring and carpet above light-
weight truss systems:
 1,200 degree fire below
 100 degree above
 Measured just prior to collapse
 Misleading “cool” environment
 Inability of thermal imaging cameras to detect the
severity of fire below in the basement

16.  All contents stored in a
building
 Add fuel to the fire
 Determine the rate of spread
 Amount of heat released from
burning fuels plays a significant
role in fire spread

17.  Heat release / Time to peak heat release
 Significantly enhanced when the fuel is contained
within an enclosure
 Generally, contemporary furnishings made of synthetics
such as polyurethanes and microsuede fabrics, have a
higher heat release

18. Natural Material Furnished
265 Seconds (4 min. 25 sec.)
Synthetic Material Furnished
240 Seconds (4 minutes)

19.  Rapid fire growth
 Smoke rapidly fills the occupancy
 Difficult to locate the fire
 A decision
 Search above the fire floor
 Before having hose lines in place on the floor below
 Resulted in fire fighter fatalities and numerous Mayday
situations

20.  HVAC units
 Tanks
 Excessive roofing material
 Billboards
 Snow (Standing water)

21.  Renovations
 Legal
 Illegal
 Previous fires

22.  Abandoned
 In disrepair
 Defensive operations

23.  Critical fire ground survival task
 Assess the risk versus benefit
 Assessment of the situation
 Changes
 Mode of attack for the operation
 Fire fighters should risk very little to save just the
building and/or its contents

24.  Four critical components
 Construction
 Location and Extent
 Occupancy
 Life Hazard

25.  Construction
 Assessing the way the fire building is erected. Questions
to ask include:
 How is the building built?
 How long will it contain the fire to its current location?
 How long will the building allow fire crews to operate inside
if the decision is made to enter?
 Was the building built using light-weight truss construction?

26.  Location and Extent
 Where the fire is located in the building
 How it will spread inside due to the construction style.
 Reading of smoke conditions
 Identifying the color, velocity, density and volume of the
smoke

27.  Occupancy
 Is the building an empty factory
 Occupied
 Single family
 Two-unit apartment building
 Consider secondary means of egress prior to entering
the fire building

28.  Life Hazard
 Where
 Survivability
 Risk versus benefit analysis

29.  Would you enter a building filled with propane?
 Propane is extremely dangerous because they are
susceptible to gas explosions
 Smoke filled buildings are just as dangerous

30. The flammable range and ignition
temperatures of propane
and smoke are similar

31.  Recognize the dangers associated with the smoke
conditions:
 En route
 Upon arrival
 During fire fighting operations

32.  Missing signs
 Flash over
 Smoke explosions
 Backdraft
 Rapid fire development
 Deadly to fire fighters
 The ability to read smoke correctly will prevent a
Mayday situation from occurring

33.  The following is a description of each characteristic:
 Volume
 Velocity
 Density
 Color

34.  Volume
 Quantity of smoke
 Indicates the fuel load and
 Fire flow required

35.  Velocity
 Speed the smoke comes out
of the building
 Help locate the fire
 High velocity indicates high
heat

36.  Density
 Thickness
 Most important factor
 Indicates
 Continuous fuels burning
 Possible flashover conditions
Fire fighters should not enter
structures where dense smoke is
banking down the walls and nearing
the floor.

37.  Color
 How long the fire has been
burning
 Distance the smoke has
traveled to the outside
 Gray/white and slow
moving
 young fire

38.  Color
 Gray/white smoke exiting
with high velocity
 Hot fire - smoke has
traveled a distance

39.  Color
 Brown smoke
 Mid-to-late-heating
 burning unfinished wood
products

40.  Color
 Black smoke
 The fire has been burning
for a while.
 Black, dense smoke
 a precursor to flash
over…Get out

41.  Stay oriented
 Critical to being able to get
 Fire fighters must know at all times are:
1. Where they are
2. How they got there.
3. How they can get out.

42.  Dispatch
 Recall that they know about the building
 Prior knowledge
 Create images of what you might see when you arrive
 Anticipate what they expect to see when they arrive
 Share any information that may be of value
 Girlfriend lives in complex, etc

43.  Consider
 Types of rooms
 Hallways
 Furniture
 Doorways
 Windows

44.  Create
 Mental image of layout
 Location of windows
 Location of doors

45.  Map the room
 Identify
 Memorize
 Furniture
 Landmarks

46.  Orientation
 Knows where you are
 “I’m in a bedroom because I feel a bed and a window.”
 Remember how you got there
 “I entered the bedroom from a hallway adjacent to the
kitchen.”
 Know how to get out
 “I can use the bedroom window if conditions worsen.”

47.  Awareness of worsening conditions alert the fire fighter
that it’s time to exit the building
 Continued increase in heat or flame production
 Cracking noises
 Monitoring radio traffic
 indicate worsening
 The fire fighter should never hesitate abandoning a
position and exiting the building if conditions worsen.

48.  The National Institute of Standards and Technology
(NIST) Scientific Study of the Iowa Fire in December
1999
 Post incident analysis of fire fighter fatality
 In December 1999 a two story duplex fire in Iowa claimed
the lives of three fire fighters.
 The fire was reported by a 9-1-1 caller at 0824.
 Upon arrival fire fighters found white to dark brown smoke
coming from a single unit of a two-story two-unit duplex.

49.  First floor layout of the unit involved. Fire fighters entered on
the A-side, through the front door (left side of diagram where
the porch is located). Fire originated on the stove in the
kitchen (C-side). One fire fighter was found in the living
room.

50.  Second floor layout of the unit involved. Hot gases
and fire extended up the stairwell. One fire fighter
was found on the second floor near the stairwell and
another in bedroom 1.

51.  The following timeline, along with computer images
of the fire at various stages, indicate how thermal
conditions trapped fire fighters only minutes after
arriving on scene.

53. The following FDS/Smokeview images are scientific re-creations of the incident.
This data
includes: size of the building, materials used in construction, and building contents
(furnishings, window coverings).
View looking through the
wall (D-side) into the living
and dining rooms with the
kitchen behind the yellow
door. Thermal conditions at
approximately 0832 (491 s
into the simulation). Hot
gases (390 °F to 570 °F)
rapidly extending into the
adjacent rooms.

54. Thermal conditions at
approximately 0833 (524
s into simulation).
Thermal conditions
consistent with flash over
extending further into the
structure.
Temperatures exceeding
1000° F were
experienced in areas
where fire fighters were
searching for children.

55. View from the opposite
side with the walls
removed. The
front door is on the right
and the kitchen on the
left. Thermal conditions at
approximately 0834 (605
s into simulation).
Temperatures exceeding
1000° F were consistent
with a flash over event.
Fire extending up
stairwell where fire
fighters were searching
for victims.

56. All fire ground personnel are responsible for safety and
must be aware of fire conditions that may lead to a Mayday
situation
All personnel must maintain situational awareness to
prevent a Mayday.
A coordinated effort with good communications will help
with an ongoing assessment.

57. Ongoing reports from:
Interior operations
Ventilation teams
Exposure groups
Help the IC make better decisions to continue the current
attack or move to a defensive, exterior position.
Preventing a Mayday requires all personnel to
communicate what they see, especially when conditions
indicate immediate disengagement is necessary.