Sunday, December 26, 2010

"We hold these truths to be self-evident...

... that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

We all know these words, written 234 years ago by Thomas Jefferson.  They defined a nation and a culture as a collection of Colonies made the decision to assert their right to Independence.  That we are all equal is a core concept of the American concept. In many ways that defining sense of equality is why the American Fire Service has been accused of being aggressive, occasionally to the point of being "unsafe".

I sat at my in-law's house for Christmas day and the conversation turned to the deaths of Chicago Firefighters Cory Ankum and Ed Stringer. Someone posed the question, "What do you think happened."  My father-in-law made the statement, "They shouldn't have gone in there," based on the fact that it was a vacant building.  My wife, true to form, rose to the challenge, "That's what we have firemen for." That conversation and a piece posted on Fire Engineering's website got me think more about why we find ourselves once again in the, "To search or not to search," debate.

I got out of my Truck this morning and Mr. Jefferson's words ran through my head, "We hold these truths to be self evident..."

This is the United States.  We believe in EQUALITY (even if we fall short of the goal at times) and we believe in "the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."  THAT IS WHY WE SEARCH.  The day we start writing off a building and the occupants inside because WE might get hurt is the day we have stopped being useful to the community we serve.  I would say it's the day we start ignoring what the core ethos of being an American is all about.  (To my international readers I don't know if you are facing all of the same issues that we are about this topic right now, and I don't mean to exclude your culture, but I am after all an American).

We search because it is the American thing to do.  If there is any likelihood that there might be someone in the building we search.  The homeless squatter's life has just as much worth to the firefighter as does the person living in a decrepit tenement, or the person living in the wealthiest of areas.  Sometimes we will search a room that has very little chance of being tenable because someone has said, "My child is in there!"  Sometimes we search the abandoned building because we know the area is a haven for squatters.  Sometimes we search because something just feels, "wrong" about the situation.  Really though, we search because it is our Duty.

We search because it is the American way.  We search because everyone is our neighbor even if we wouldn't have them into our homes for dinner.  We search because we believe that EVERYONE'S life has value and that it is our voluntary accepted DUTY to go the distance and protect those lives. If you do not want to risk your life for your neighbors please turn in your badge, your pager, your gear, and your self-proclaimed title of "hero".   No one put a gun to your head and said, "You will be a firefighter!"  You CHOOSE to do this job each and every day and you can choose not to if you feel it is too risky.  Please, please though, do not do a disservice to those of us who believe it is our duty to protect our neighbors and say that the fire service should change.  Own this job, own the risks, TRAIN EVERYDAY to minimize the risk by being prepared.

If you find yourself at Ed Stringer's wake tomorrow I'll be there.  I'll be at 115 Bourbon Street  to hoist a pint afterward and toast our Brothers.  Maybe I'll see you there.  Have a happy new year.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

This Firefighters Game

Anyone who reads this blog by now should know that the Chicago Fire Department lost two members, FF Ed Stringer (E63) and FF Corey Ankum (TL34) in the line of duty at a fire with building collapse at 1744 East 75th Street.

I've listened to the audio from the fire.  I've watched the press conferences.  I've read quit a bit of the news paper coverage.  This is one of those fires where losing members very well may have been unpreventable.  From what Commissioner Robert Hoff stated in his press conference on Wednesday evening while the building was a bow-string truss based on the Situational Awareness of both interior Company Officers and the Incident Commander the fire had NOT penetrated the truss area; the fire had been confined to an office area. The 23rd Battalion (the initial Incident Commander) reported just prior to the collapse (roughly 6 minutes into the fire) that they had two lines on the fire and had the fire knocked.  So, what the %$#@ happened?


The owner of this building was sued by the City of Chicago for failure to maintain the building.   

So here is my question. If we are supposed to try and reduce the 100+ firefighter line of duty deaths we see each year, HOW IS THAT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN WITHOUT HELP!  Sorry I'm yelling, but seriously, WTF?  The building department had information for YEARS that this was a bad building and the Fire Department Companies didn't?!  REALLY?  What else were these guys supposed to do.  I believe Commissioner Hoff if he says that someone checked the truss; the man lost his father in a building collapse, he has spent time in a burn ward, he taught my Saving Our Own class, and he's probably the best example of a Fire Service Warrior you or I could try and live up to.  If he says they know the fire wasn't in the truss, then it wasn't. 

This is as bad as the fire FDNY had where Lt. Curtis Meyran and FF John Bellew, jumped from a forth floor window of a New York City Tenement because of uncontrolled fire spread. Four other Brothers followed them out that window.  They died, and their bodies broke the falls of the four men who lived.  They died because of an illegal renovation of the fourth floor, “The transformation of the 4th floor apartment into a Single Room Occupancy (SRO) led to the construction of an interior partition wall that impeded the discovery of the fire and hindered the fire fighters’ searches. It also prevented fire fighters from reaching the rear fire escape, their secondary means of egress.” - 1 

Guess what, we cannot stop preventable fire fighter fatalities if we don't have the information!  You cannot tell from the street level, the front door, or in the middle of a firefight if the Bow String Truss has been in horrible repair for years.  You cannot tell if the 4th floor has been carved into an illegal tenement during your size-up.  I've said it before WE DO NOT HAVE PERFECT KNOWLEDGE.  

The building department in any municipality, district, or county needs to mark buildings that are dangerous.  I know from personal experience of two years spent working in the Fire Alarm Office in Chicago that Fire Companies go out DAILY to conduct building inspections (TOCs as they are called in the City), but only on buildings that are open and operating.  We cannot be the building department and the fire department and provide EMS and conduct OSHA mandated Training and ISO required training!  There aren't enough hours in the day.

I know one of the Lieutenants on TL34.  They drive their still district.  The know what buildings are vacant.  I would wager my pay check that they knew the building at 1744 E 75th Street was vacant,  but guess what, it's cold in Chicago in December and there are thousands of homeless people who seek shelter, start warming fires that extend, and then either flee or are rescued.  Unless we are going to say that being homeless is a crime worthy of being written off by the fire department then guess what happens?  Guys like our brothers Cory and Ed will go into search.  

Personally I don't want to get to a point in time where we EVER say that just because the building isn't supposed to be occupied that we won't search.  We see reports regularly of supposedly vacant and abandoned structures where savable victims are recovered.  Yes, we have to do our size-up for conditions, as the Officers and Members did on 75th Street on Wednesday.  

So, as we remember both our Brothers (and the 21 Chicago Firefighters and Officers who died 100 years ago to the day at the Stockyards Fire) never forget that YOU can do everything right and still get killed.  This job is a combat position and it requires a Warrior's mindset if we are to hope to make it home.  To the Brothers still recovering I hope you have a Happy Christmas, even with heavy hearts. 

Every time we lose one of our own I think of the Irish Rebel tune "Patriot Game".  You could change a few words and change it into a song about Firefighting.  "Come all you young fellows, and list while I sing.  For the love of one's comrades is a terrible thing.  It banishes fear, with the speed of a flame, and makes us a part of this firefighters game."

I'm listening to the Dubliners perform the original words as I hoist a pint and drink a toast to  Ed and Cory.  May blessings be upon your families and brothers and sisters in this terrible time, guys.  Sláinte

 

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Nope, Venting There Isn't Helping.

This is the video I was talking about earlier. There is a TON of great things to talk about in this video, but I'm going to restrict my comments to a few areas.  1) Conditions at the start; 2)The statements about the roof (1:25); 3) the Venting of Division A (4:05 mark)



Okay, this is a prime example of smoke conditions telling you that you are losing at the get-go.  The smoke is pushing out of here in a violent manner.  Dave Dodson talks about Velocity, Volume, and Density.  THEY ARE ALL HERE! This thing is structural and ready to flash.  Then we get to the commentary about the Roof being unstable.  There is a rule I learned at 15 years-old when I started hanging out in firehouses, "If you can't be on it, you shouldn't be under it."  In other words, if the roof is too unstable for vertical ventilation then it isn't safe to be underneath.  After all, when was the last time you saw a rood collapse upwards?  Next let's look at what happens at the 4:05 mark when the Division A window gets vented.  The front room finally gets enough good air to light up.  Watch how the fire quickly extends to the smoke over the heads of the members on the front porch.  Smoke is FUEL!  

As always I am not criticizing the actions of anyone on the scene.  I don't know what orders were given, only what I see in the video.  Just throw this one up at roll-call and get some conversation going.

No really, this has to be the last copyedit...

So I spent a big hunk of today reviewing the "Really this is it, no more, honestly!" copy-edit of A Combat Position: Achieving Firefighter Readiness (that's the new and improved title of my book).  It's interesting to see how something like a textbook evolves from a simple idea to a edging slowly towards completion thing. 

My little idea has been in the hands of a bunch of people so far.  Now though it is in the hands of the big boss who has the ultimate authority to sign off on the final text that will go to press.  I believe, baring something coming up I have not seen, that I am probably done with this part of the process.  Now, I just have to wait for the galleys and see what the "finished" product will look like in layout.

I was going to use tonight to post a few videos and add some commentary, but I'm pretty well shot after all the other work and two separate computer restarts while working.  Tomorrow....

Monday, December 13, 2010

Does it have pictures?

I was having a discussion with Bill Carey of Backstep Firefighter a few days ago about a key dilemma facing the fire service.  Firefighters just don't read.

Now obviously plenty of firefighters do read, after all this blog had over 4000 views last month, and thank you for that.  However the reality is that over the course of fourteen years in the fire service and 19 years of being around the firehouse I have seen folks far more inclined to read the sports page, the comics section, or enter a progressively deteriorating vegetative state in front of Jerry Springer or Maury than I have seen someone crack open The Fire Officer's Handbook of Tactics, Responding to Rountine Emergencies, or Safety and Survival on the Fireground.  Why?

I've come to the conclusion that in part the "Textbook" world is not really written for the typical firefighter.  The focus is to generate a book suitable for use in a collegiate level classroom. The commonly accepted way of expressing yourself in the firehouse is very different than writing for academia.  I believe that is one main reason there has been an explosion in the world of fire service blogging.  When I blog I write the way I talk.  I condense my ideas down and can give a short snippet of information like you would get if we were having a cup of coffee together.

Our trade is predominately physical (psycho-motor if you will).  We have to perform TASKS on the fireground, and they involve a complicate process where we have to synthesize information while comparing the fireground reality with our past experiences.  However we have to have a depth of knowledge that is most readily attained by reading (reading aloud even to use multi-modal learning).

The reality though is that you must constantly be reading if you want to try and master this trade.  I like the example set by the United States Marine Corps.  The Office of the Commandant regularly updates the "Commandant's Reading List" which directs what books Marines at all levels (from Private to General Officer) are expected to read for Professional Development (PRODEV); some of these books are to be read every year.  That is a direct statement of the value that the USMC places on PRODEV and being a student of their trade.

We don't have ANYTHING like this that I have seen anywhere in the fire service.  I've adapted the idea and created an appendix in my book The Combat Position: Achieving Firefighter Readiness that suggests some essential reading for firefighters and fire officers.

The list is not all inclusive; it is not broken down into specific books for specific ranks.  It is an attempt to encourage a culture of reading in the fire house.  Do your part, print this out, with the list of books I've started with and then add your titles. Be a student of this vocation!


  • ·         Handbook for Firefighter I and II, Fire Engineering
  • ·         Report From Engine Company 82, D. Smith
  • ·         On Combat, D. Grossman & L. Christensen
  • ·         Firefighter Survival Techniques:  From Prevention to Intervention DVD, F. Ricci
  • ·         Enchiridion, Epictetus (Dobbin Translation)
  • ·         Tom Brennan’s Random Thoughts, T. Brennan
  • ·         Pride and Ownership, R. Lasky
  • ·         Firefighting Principles and Practices, W. Clark
  • ·         Safety and Survival on the Fireground, Dunn
  • ·         Stoic Warriors, N. Sherman
  • ·         Building Construction Related to the Fire Service, 3rd Edition, IFSTA
  • ·         Building Construction for the Fire Service, F. Brannigan
  • ·         Air Management for the Fire Service, M. Gagliano et.al.
  • ·         Firefighter Rescue & Survival, R. Kolomay & R. Hoff
  • ·         The Art of Reading Smoke DVD, D. Dodson
  • ·         Meditations, Aurelius (Hays Translation)
  • ·         Leadership and Training for the Fight, P. Howe
  • ·         Warrior Mindset, M. Asken, D. Grossman & L. Christensen
  • ·         Rescue Men, C. Kenney
  • ·         The Last Men Out: Life on the Edge at Rescue 2 Firehouse, T. Downey
  • ·         Working Fire: The Making of a Fireman, Z. Unger
  • ·         Fire Officer's Handbook of Tactics, 3rd Edition, J. Norman
  • ·         Flashover! Now on DVD! V. Dunn
  • ·         The Rescue Company, R. Downey
  • ·         The Engine Company, J. Salka
  • ·         First In Last Out: Leadership Lessons from the New York Fire Department, J. Salka
  •       Fireground Strategies, 2nd Edition, A. Avillo
  •  ·         Tinder Box: The Iroquois Theatre Disaster 1903, A. Hatch
  • ·         To Sleep with the Angels: The Story of a Fire, D. Cowan
  • ·         Triangle: The Fire That Changed America, D. Von Drehle
  • ·         Bushido: The Way of the Samurai, T. Yamamoto
  • ·         The Art of War, Sun Tzu
  • ·         Boyd: The Fighter Pilot who Changed the Art of War, R. Coram
  • ·         Report from Ground Zero, D. Smith
  • ·         Delmar’s Firefighter's Handbook: Firefighting and Emergency Response, 3rd Edition
  • ·         IFSTA Essentials of Fire Fighting, 5th Edition

Thursday, December 9, 2010

It's Size Up Time!

This is a great video for SO many things.  Ignore all the companies already operating and just read the conditions.  I want you, as you watch it to give the following report:

"Dispatch (YOUR COMPANY i.e. Engine 1) is on the scene with a (FLOORS, BUILDING CONSTRUCTION, OCCUPANCY, DIMENSIONS), (CONDITIONS), (FIRE LOCATION IF KNOWN), (YOUR ACTION), (DIRECTION OF TRAVEL)



No reading ahead!  What is radio report as the first due Engine? 

Okay, now, before I give you my size-up why do we care about the topics I mentioned?  Let's go step by step.
  1. YOUR COMPANY - Pretty straight forward.  Radio communication should follow the "Hey YOU, It's ME" format.  Get the listener's attention.
  2. FLOORS, CONSTRUCTION, OCCUPANCY, DIMENSIONS - Paint a picture of the building.  Height: How many floors gives us a sense of what laddering issues, how hard it will be to get water up top if needed, etc.  Construction should be of a defined type.  "Ordinary" is a construction type, "Brick" IS NOT.  Construction matters because it tells the responder who can synthesize information how the fire is likely to spread. Occupancy gives us a sense of what hazards we may find.  A typical single family dwelling poses different issues than a Taxpayer.  Dimensions are important becasue they give a rough guess as to critical fire flow.  If you give estimated dimensions rounded to the nearest 10 feet (40'x50') a good Nozzle Team (Nozzle Operator, Officer, Back-up) can figure the right GPM in their head (for 2000 square feet it's 650+GPM using the LxW/3 method).
  3. CONDITIONS - Is there Fire, Heavy, Moderate, or Light smoke showing.  Does it appear to be into the structure or is it room and contents still?
  4. FIRE LOCATION - Where is the fire at?  Smoke always points to the fire location, but watch for multiple indicators (hint, hint).
  5. YOUR ACTION - Are you leading out, and what are you leading out with?  Are you going in to investigate?  All depends on the rest of the size-up but telling folks that you are leading out with 2-1/2" gives a very different sense than saying you are going in with a pre-connect.
  6. DIRECTION OF TRAVEL - Few places do this, but unless the Truck Company pulled out of quarters with you they need to know what direction you are facing.  The Truck HAS to be in an advantageous position to make use of that million dollar aerial, otherwise it's just a tool box.  Leave room for the truck and let them know where to come in from.  Also this lets the 2nd due companies know how to avoid blocking the way, and where to position.

Here's my size-up.
"Main, Engine 1 is on the scene with a two and a half story, balloon frame, residence, 20x40, heavy smoke showing from the attic, looks like the fire may be in the walls, we're droping the skid, we're east bound."

All key information.  Let's folks know what the building is, that we may need the flow of a 2-1/2" line on each floor is this gets away from us, that I likely have an attic fire (and possible a basement fire that's in the walls), I'm leading out with a manueverable attack line, and that the Truck has to approach from the West.

It's really that simple.  Really knowing your job means being able to take all that information and create (syntesize) a picture of what is likely occuring on the fireground.  That's what Situational Awareness is.  Being able to fully Percieve, Comprehend, and Predict what is going on with the fire and the building.

Now, I'm going to do the studying I put off for an hour.  Cheer!

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

What do you mean there's no shouting!?!

Far too often when I watch videos of fires there is a veritable ton of screaming and yelling going on.  Here is a video out of FDNY where there isn't.

There is no yelling.  There is no screaming.  Still, the job is getting done!

Based on the info this was a 2nd alarm fire.  We can see that the First and Second due Companies are already at work.  The main is to the roof, and two lines have gone in the front door.  The Rapid Intervention Crew is staged in the front of the building with their tools and packed up ready to go.  The Engine Company that is stretching looks to be advancing a third line into the fire.  The Firefighter with the nozzle takes the working length, each successive member has a length of hose to advance.  No screaming, "Give me more line!"  They just lead out.
For you Engine guys do you see how the Brother with the Nozzle ascends the fire escape rather than crowd another line in the stairwell?  What does he do?  He gets up there and brings up his length of hose, then he gets out of the way and lets the back-up firefighter pull up the next length and so on.

It's a big building, who did the 360?  That's right the Roof Team, you see one of the members get a look over the side at about the :40 second mark.  If command cannot make a 360 because of the size/complexity of the building, or because of that dreaded SOG of Immobility that forces the IC to sit in the front seat of the buggy, then someone has to get the rear.  It may not be possible (or good tactics) for the officer of the first Engine to do it.  What has to be known is WHO is going to do it.

Why does this work so smoothly in the video?  Of course there are the choruses of "Because it's FDNY!" They do a really good job most days, no doubt.  The real reasons it works there is because 1) they have defined expected actions and priorities in their SOGs: the Nozzle Firefighter of the 1st Engine knows what to do, and what EVERYONE else on that first alarm will do and 2) there are enough people!  If you try and streach a line 300' down the block and up a fire escape and into a fire floor with two people, guess what, YOU WILL START SCREAMING!!!! Why?  Because you do not have enough people to do the job smoothly.  You will get hung up on obstacles, you will have to fight the hose... it's inevitable.  The lesson is know how many brothers and sisters it takes to make those lead-outs happen.  Define who is responsible for which Fireground Operational Priorities.  Have riding positions and tool assignments that are filled by required functions is a well developed manner.  In other words: Do Your Job and Do Your Best.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Well Done Long Beach!

So, at roughly 1:30 a.m. Pacific time this morning the Long Beach Fire Department, CA, responded to a reported house fire, and were greated with the terrible words, "My baby is in there!"  One member deployed a line to cover and contain the fire while a second member began to search the second floor.  During his search a portion of the floor gave way, causing 4 year member Charles Hakopian to fall into the hole.  He pulled himself out, continued the search, found the 2-year old toddler not breathing and removed the child to EMS who got him back in the ambulance.  The little guy is in critical condition and his mom is under arrest.

Watch this video for more infomation.


All I am going to say is well done!  This is why we search.  This is why we have to be trained to deal with the high-risk environment of the fireground.  Remember every time we respond to a fire it is like walking into an ambush.  We may have the strategic knowledge that fires will occur, but the fire always has tactical surprise and gets to pick the battlefield.  When we arrive on-scene we have to make critical decisions in a time sensitive environment without 100% of the desired information. We have to be prepared to deal with the situation when things go wrong.  Ask yourself this, what would you have done if that floor had partially given way on you?  Would you have continued the search?  Why?  Would you have aborted?  Why?  Either option is perfectly viable depending on the conditions you find. 

Do you want the first time you have to think about that to be when it happens though?  (hint your answer is supposed to be "F&^$ No!")  Of course not.  That is why mental reharsal is a critical tool for firefighters.  If you look into all the reaserch Gary Klein and his team have done on Recognition Primed Decision Making you will see the importance of developing "action scripts."  Take it a step further and in his book Intuition At Work, he talks about "decision games" as a way of developing felicity with intuitive decision making skills.  That is mental rehearsal.  I like the way Paul Howe, MSG USA (ret) describes Mental Rehearsal's in his book Leadership and Training for the Fight. 

For the firefighter, fire officer, fire chief who strives to be a Fire Service Warrior the need for mental rehearsal is obvious!  It gives you a chance to work through all the "what ifs" before you find yourself there.  You develop your decision making skills in the firehouse or on the drill ground so before you have to make that "Go/No-Go/Abort" Decision you have a pattern to use as a guide.  That's what Fireground Tactical Decision Making is all about!

Once again well done to Firefighter Hakopian and the Brothers and Sisters in Long Beach.  You saved a life, you saved a neighbor, you did your Duty.  Chuck, if you're at FDIC come find me and you get a free copy of the book, and a beverage.  Cheers!

Saturday, December 4, 2010

More Fire Video & Updates

 Well we have a new title for the book.  In March at FDIC you will be able to buy your copy of The Combat Position: Achieving Firefighter Readiness.  The new title will hopefully give people a better sense of what the book is before they pick it up.  It's not surprising, but people do judge a book by it's cover.

I came across the video below today.  This is a pretty good first line attack.



My only major complaint might be the Driver speeding up with the two vehicles in the way.  I like the officer (I assume) telling the driver to pull forward to leave room for the Truck.  It takes about 2 minutes from arrival before we start to see some steam conversion.  All in all a good attack.  Not knowing the still area my only concern based on the three sided view we see on arrival is IF this is a lightweight roof assembly we may have rapid truss failure... there is fire in the attack.  We get a ladder thrown for secondary egress (the angle is a little steep but at least it's there).  All in all this is a good fire attack.

Enjoy the snow this weekend.