This is a great one to show the crew and talk about some tactics. The rapidly growing fire conditions in this video are a great reminder to us all why that first water is so important. No time for complacency on this one, we need a first line that is quickly flaked and charged, we need guys that can mask up quickly and then make an aggressive push through the apartment. It also shows the importance of aggressive search crews making a quick pass through the floor above, it could be what makes or breaks someones chances in those rooms.
This seems to be one of those fires that could quickly have people worrying about everything but that first hose line, look how much fire is knocked down in a matter of a few seconds of the first line flowing.
“The Fire Goes As The First Line Goes”
A. Fredericks
This video starts out a little slow because it shows the response to the fire, however if you skip to the on-scene footage it is worth the wait. The truck arrives in the video at about the 1:30 mark. This video has been around for a couple years and provides some good training footage, it originates in Columbus Ohio. The first photo we have posted just gives you a clear day time view of the street and occupancy.
A couple things to notice in the video. It appears that when the rig arrives there is already at least 1 engine and 1 truck on scene. The engine is getting a line flaked out and the truck appears to be getting ready to make a search of the floor above. There does seem to be a slight delay in getting water to the line, with that said we are not sure if it was a problem at the pump, or just a normal delay from performing a reverse lay to the hydrant. The video captures some good fire development and the speed at which it can be knocked down. We will let the video speak for itself.
Something that stands out to us is how much everyone is counting on each other. The truck crew is heavily relying on the engine to make a knock down and the engine crew is relying on the truck crew to make the rescue so they can focus on extinguishment. Obviously the citizen (unconsciously) is relying on both crews if they have any chance of making it out of this building. If either crew would have not done their part on this fire, the outcome could have been much different. From our research we found that the first arriving units had no reports of victims trapped. This victim was pulled out unconscious with some 2nd degree burns but had reportedly survived the fire.
We welcome any thoughts or discussion on this video, please keep it productive and related to learning as much as we can. I think we can agree that videos only give us a small look at these scenes (that we were not on) and it becomes very easy to pick apart the things that went wrong. However they present a greater opportunity to discuss lessons learned, what went right and what we may change next time.
We think this specific video brings up some excellent points such as: Search priorities? Ladder work/Egress ladders? Where do you take the 2nd line? Ventilation on this structure? Bringing your own water or not?….and many more.
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