FSWFitness - Now With Video

And for your fitness enthusists out there, Brian Brush has a few ideas for us this week!

Monday Means It's Video Day

Quick Video Blog about some of the projects that are in the works here.

Coming Soon To A Blog Near You!

We have this week's video and then some details.



On Friday I will be posting a description of how we are going to be implementing our new Fitness program here at Fire Service Warrior.  We are calling it Fire Service Warrior Fitness, or FSWFitness.  Currently Brian Brush and I are doing the program as our fitness program.  Coming in June we are going to be sharing the program with you.

Video Blog Episode 11

Video Blog Episode 11

And now for something completely different...

We are moving the weekly video blog to Mondays!  I think that it will give each of us something to think about for the week, and to be honest it gives me some extra time to get everything put together.  Believe it or not shooting and editing these things takes time.  Hopefully when the new high-speed/low-drag laptop shows up this week I will be able to get it done a bit faster... but we will see.  For now, here is Episode 9 of the Video Blog.



One drill that I really like to use is the Line of Duty Death Book Report.  I learned this from my fellow instructors at the Illinois Fire Service Institute.  I have used it in classes and find it to be a good tool for learning lessons.  Simply chose a firefighter fatality and have a member or two from your crew research the LODD.  Have them put together s brief report and a 5-10 minute presentaion on what occured, and the lessons learned.  Try to attach the NAME of the fallen Brother or Sister to the report.  I think we take these reports more seriously when we can put a name and a face to it.  Honor our fallen by learning from the events that brought about their deaths.  Strive to be prepared every day for this job.

Cheers.

Here's Episode 8 of our Video Blog. 



Remember you can follow www.twitter.com/ChrisFSW and participate in the discussion of #FSWFitness and #FSWTraining.

This is my 99th post on here.  I'm not sure yet what post number 100 will bring, so if you have thoughts or suggestions please send them my way.  Also if you aren't already please "like" our Facebook page facebook.com/FireServiceWarrior

What Did You Do Today?

So, first big news is that PennWell/Fire Engineering Books has made my book The Combat Position: Achieving Firefighter Readiness available for pre-order!  You can order it here for a mere $49.00.

Also, with today being Friday we have a new video blog.  Episode 7 - Training.


Like I said in the video you can follow me on Twitter www.twitter.com/ChrisFSW
If you want to participate in the conversation about fitness or fire training just including the hash-tags
#FSWFitness or
#FSWTraining

Video Blog Episode 6

Here is this week's installment of the Fire Service Warrior Video Blog! Tell your friends.



Be sure to check back here Monday to see the cover and read a bit about my book The Combat Position.

Too Long for YouTube!

So I sat down and put together the fourth episode of the Fire Service Warrior Video Blog.  Problem is it was 5 minutes too long for YouTube.  So it is up on GoDaddy.

Hope you enjoy the discussion of points 3 and 4 in our Ethos Statement.


Make sure you check out Gabriel Angemi's blog for some great photos and discussion about inner-city firefighting.

Also, make sure you get registered for FDIC coming up in March.

Cheers and have a great weekend.

Achieving Relative Safety

Well, it comes to Friday and time for another video blog.  Today I tackle the second point in our ethos statement:  Fire Service Warriors acknowledge the dangers of their vocation and do everything possible to minimize those dangers except shirk our duty.

Check it out.  Check out the guys over at Forged Clothing (whose shirts I wear each week).  Tell your friends to visit us.

Frank Brannigan Was Wrong...

Bold words from some random guy blogging, I know but I think I am onto something here.  Francis Brannigan, a Fire Protection Engineer who many of us know from his writing on building construction and his classic text Building Construction for the Fire Service, used to say, "The Building is your enemy; know your enemy!"  He was wrong.  The Building is the battleground, it is the terrain in which we and the enemy do battle.



Fire is the enemy and fire behavior is a predictiable indication of how the enemy will behave.  If we look at line of duty death and injury statistics we see far too many of our brothers and sisters being injured or killed because of fire development.  Just last week Mark Falkenhan-FF/Medic, Lutherville Volunteer Fire Company, Baltimore County FD was killed after being trapped in what sounds like flashover conditions. On Sunday a woman and three firefighters were injured at a building fire in Springfield, Virgina.

The video below show us the progression of the fireground.  Dave Statter has some good comments about this over at his blog.



We can get into a debate (I suppose) about exactly what fire behavior we are seeing.  It is not a backdraft.  It is not a smoke explosion.  This is a rapid spread of fire because of (probably) ineffective ventilation techniques. I'm not going to launch into some Tactics diatribe here because I do not know exactly what occurred at this fire.  I don't know if this was a townhouse type building where the second floor was a different occupancy.  I don't know if they pulled up with a two person Engine and one person on the Truck.  Something different did have to occur for that fire to be vented in a way that prevented the spread of fire over the heads of the attack team.

What we can talk about is the fire progression and why the fire spread was predicable.

Look at the smoke conditions at the start of the video.  This entire building is heavily charged.  The structure of the building is involved.  The fire is deep seated.  Based on info from http://www.wunderground.com the temperature was in the low 20's(F).  The somewhat "lazy" nature of the smoke once it is outside the building is due to the temperature. The key factors though should be the volume of dense smoke we see and the color.  We have to recognize that if it was 65 degrees outside this smoke would push away from the building with great velocity.  In this case it is "pushing" out pretty hard but then hanging more than we would normally expect from a hot fire.  WHY?  Because the "fluid" that is unburned products of combustion carried by heat contracts and slows when it hits that cold air.

Something worth considering is the inherent relationship between temperature and pressure.

How well do your firefighters understand Boyle's Law and Charles's law of fluid dynamics?  I know, I know, that's HazMat... right?  Maybe I'm biased to looking at this through a lens of Chemical and Physical properties because I just got back from a validating committee for a HazMat Technician Text Book.

Charles's Law simple says that as temperature increases so does pressure in a closed container.  Boyle's Law tells us that if you keep temperatue constant as pressure doubles volume halves/ as volume doubles pressure is halved.  In other words if you give a fluid more space the pressure is lessened, if you give it less space pressure increases.  Here is where they come together. As temperature is building because of unrestrained fire the pressure in the building begins to increase.  If the building was perfectly sealed that increase in pressure would eventually smother the fire by consuming oxygen.  If it cools off the fire goes out and all the unburnned products of combustion just congeal on surfaces.

However, once we allow the building to ventilate (in any manner) we create a place for that "fluid" to go.  However because it is a small opening relative to the amount of product temperature and pressure continue to build.  The exiting "fluid" is heated but to rich to burn (I know, more HazMat).

At the 1:45 mark you can see flame in the C/D corner window on the D side (if you call the front door side of the building where the truck is parked A).  In 15 seconds heavy fire is venting out the window.  30 seconds after the flame is viable we can see through the A/D corner window the fire is extending.  Three seconds later (2:14) the unburned fuel that is exiting the front lights up.  Once it lights up you will notice that the smoke is moving a lot faster up and away.  That's because the heat is now outside and overcoming the slowing/contracting effect of the ambient temperature.

We MUST study these fires and understand what is happening in the building.  I was in Tulsa over the weekend and spent a few minutes talking with Ed Hartin who teaches extensively about Compartment Fire Behavior Training  Ed is a Fire Behavior guy.  We talked about how it is the lack of knowledge about Fire Behavior that is getting us hurt and killed on the fireground.  While fire behavior may not be predictable with 100% accuracy I venture to say if you are a student of this trade we can get close to 95%.  We don't know until we are inside the compartment what effect the layout may have on fire growth and spread.  However we should understand intuitively what the smoke conditions are telling us about the growth, stage, and location of the fire.

The building is the battleground, and warriors going back as far as Sun Tzu have taught us how important it is to understand the terrain. The ENEMY though is the fire.  You can know all you want about the terrain but if you do not know what the ENEMY is going to do you will still end up killed.  The Fire is Your Enemy, Know You Enemy; The Building is the Battleground, Know the Terrain.

On Duty....

Here is Episode 2 of the Fire Service Warrior Video Blog. 

Today is a discussion about Duty.  It's focus is on the first point in our Ethos Statement.




Thanks for checking out the video blogs.  I hope you're enjoying them.  Please keep up the comments and feedback.

Please Allow Me To Introduce Myself....

Video Blogging Comes To fireservicewarrior.com
That's right folks after messing around with recording, editing, and uploading for two hours or so, I am happy to tell you that my first Video Blog is now right here!

In the coming weeks I am going to take up each of the points that are on the Ethos page.  Give those a look.  For now, our first video blog is a bit about introductions.



Next Friday we will take up just what our duty is as Fire Service Warriors

Check This Out

Fire Engineering posted an article I wrote titled, "Why We Need Firefighters."  It's a piece that is really written for the lay-person to understand what this calling is all about.  I would love to see everyone out there print it out, and send it to the editor of their local paper (please just make sure you include the link so they can cite it properly if the print it) as an example of why fire department staffing is a critical issue.

In other news I am planning on debuting Video Blogging here tomorrow.  For the next ten weeks I'm going to post a little bit of my thoughts on  Ethos of the Fire Service Warrior starting with the ten points I discussed here.

Thanks to everyone for reading, referring the site, and being part of the discussion. 

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

The Exception to the Rule

I have said and written here that you should not vent behind the Engine, because you will pull the fire on top of them.  That rule is 99.9% effective in preventing injuries to our Brother and Sister Fire Service Warriors.  Of course every rule has it's exceptions.  Take the video below.


November 17, 2010 Newark, NJ

So the front door is open, the line is ready to enter and then some Truck guy pops the front window.  Come on man! Right?

If you notice the picture window was already open, the Truck popped the side window which gives the Brother with the nozzle a chance to darken down the fire venting from the window reducing the chance of it wrapping around behind them.  Then the Engine makes their push into the building.  At the :17second mark we can see into the fire room, which is the living room just to the left of the front door.  Dollars to doughnuts the stairs are right in front of the Engine as the lead in.  I'm going to assume that when the Team gained entry to the front door they saw the fire was in the living room.  Rather than lead out to the rear (which would take time to go down and back) they quickly enter the front, get the line between the fire and and potential victims on the second floor and have a vent opening (the front window) to get the bulk of the products of combustion out.  Outstanding Job!

The only complaint I have is the Engine position right in front restricting the options for the Truck.  Remember Hose Stretches, Ladders Don't! 

Take this one and sit down with your crew for a quick drill one day.  What are do your SOG's say about making this attack?