This site is about Firefighter Rescues. But, Proper Engine Company Operations are a huge part of making rescues/saving lives at fires.
Below is a link to article on proper nozzle selection and Engine setup.
Water On The Fire!
Monthly Archives: January 2015
Exponential Engine “Fire Streams”
Fire Streams and the Exponential Engine
By: Brian Brush
As of late I have been fielding a lot of questions regarding apparatus set up and nozzle selection. It is encouraging to see such an interest in one of our professional foundations. I believe it means that firefighters are taking greater ownership in decisions which may have been more recently dictated to their departments by savvy vendors. I enjoy assisting firefighters work through nozzle studies and flow testing because I know the value of these processes to a department and its members.
In 2005 my department conducted a year-long fire stream and nozzle study; the information collected and changes made as a result of it have made our operations more efficient and our operators more knowledgeable. Since that study I have been fortunate enough to train and network with firefighters from around the country and at the highest levels of education and experience in engine company operations. I am still very much a student of the game and continue to learn on a daily basis. With that said there seems to be recurring questions in many of contacts I have had lately. I believe that I may be better able to answer them to the masses rather than one at a time. So settle in for a little bit of rambling or pick off sections that you are seeking.
Fire Streams
IFSTA will tell you that a fire stream is the “Stream of water or other extinguishing agent after it leaves the fire hose until it reaches the desired target.” To me this is too narrow of a view on the fire stream. The stream of water leaving the fire hose on its way to the target is the end result of a system from the source to the nozzle. If a group or department wants to evaluate their fire streams they must be willing to analyze all parts of that system for influence and change. If you are given the chance to lead or be a part of a fire stream evaluation process or nozzle study you will fail the opportunity if you get trapped in a smooth bore versus fog focus.
Link Below is to full article.
Fire Streams and the Exponential First Due Engine Company
Anyone looking to evaluate their current nozzle selection and Engine Setup should read this article. County Fire Tactics fully agrees and supports the above article by Brian Brush.
Brian Brush’s article on the Exponential Engine is right on the mark.
We have added an Engine Company Operations page on this site and has Dennis Legear’s articles on Hose & Nozzle Dreams. They too are a must read.
Videos below from Gallons Per Second Program
Ladder Rescues in Saginaw, MI
SAGINAW, MI — A 61-year-old man was flown from a Saginaw hospital to a burn unit at Hurley Medical Center after he inhaled smoke while escaping a burning home in Saginaw.
Firefighters responded to the call about a burning house about 8:10 a.m. Monday, Jan. 26, on Owen near East Holland, and the first responders saw two people on the roof of the porch yelling for help, officials said.
A firefighter positioned a ladder leading from the porch roof to the ground, allowing the two people, a 44-year-old woman and her 15-year-old son, to escape safely.
A 61-year-old man, who was inside the home on the first level when the blaze started, was initially treated for smoke inhalation at a Saginaw hospital and later airlifted for treatment at the burn unit at Hurley Medical Center in Flint, Fire Marshal Ralph Martin said. Officials could not give an update about the man’s condition.
Martin said the woman on the porch roof was alerted by smoke detectors going off in the house. Investigators believe she may have went downstairs to alert the 61-year-old man before going back upstairs and becoming trapped as the fire spread, Martin said.
Saginaw firefighters pour water onto a burning house at 1408 Owen in Saginaw, Monday morning, Jan. 26, 2015. The stubborn fire took several hours for the fire department to extinguish after flames made their way into the home’s attic and caused the roof to collapse. Two women who lived there were rescued from the porch roof and a third person was taken to a hospital.Filary said officials believe the fire started in the kitchen area in the rear of the house. The “balloon style” construction was one factor that made the blaze a challenge to fight, he said, noting that the studs in some older homes go from the main level to the attic, allowing fires to spread quickly in the walls.
After an initial knock down, firefighters were fighting from inside and outside the home, until the fire began again in the attic, prompting firefighters to evacuate the building.
The house, valued at about $44,000, was a total loss, Filary said.
Firefighters worked at the location for more than three hours, he said. The cause is under investigation.
A firefighter suffered a minor ankle injury while on scene, Martin said, and he was checked out by medical workers.
Firefighters always respond to get to a fire as quickly as possible, while taking weather conditions into account, Filary said, but if they learn someone is possibly trapped, it gives them a kick of adrenaline.
“Your adrenaline kicks up to a higher gear,” he said. “It helps you in a way. There’s definitely a heightened sense of urgency. Afterward, it gives you a really good feeling of accomplishment.”
Multiple Rescues in Akron, Ohio
Akron firefighters rescued two women trapped inside a burning home Thursday morning.
The women and a man who also was inside when the fire started were treated for injuries. Seven Akron firefighters were also treated for either burns or smoke inhalation.
One resident, Roberta Melvin, suffered what fire officials described as severe burns. She was being treated at the burn unit of Akron Children’s Hospital. The other residents were treated for smoke inhalation. The names and conditions of the other residents were not immediately available.
Three Akron firefighters suffered minor burns, while four other firefighters suffered from smoke inhalation.
Some of the injured firefighters were taken to Akron General Medical Center.
Firefighters were called to the home, in the 900 block of Barbara Avenue, just before 10 a.m., when a neighbor saw flames shooting out of the second-floor windows, said fire Inspector Sierjie Lash, who also serves as the department’s spokeswoman.
“The firefighters, when they got into the home, they opened up windows to get inside and the fire did flash,” Lash said. “So we have some minor burns. From what I hear, they’re doing OK at this time.”
In a 911 call released Thursday afternoon, a woman inside the house tells a dispatcher that she, her fiance and an older woman are trapped upstairs and that flames from the first floor were blocking their way to a staircase.
“I just woke up and the bottom story of my house is on fire,” the woman tells the dispatcher.
The woman coughs several times during the call while the dispatcher urges her to get as close to the floor as possible in order to breathe cleaner air.
“This smoke is ridiculous,” the woman is heard saying.
At one point, she tells her fiance to avoid going outside.
“You can’t go outside. You’re not jumping outside,” she says just before fire trucks arrive.
District Fire Chief Dennis Stoneman said firefighters arrived to see the man standing outside on a porch roof. Behind him, flames were stretching outside two upper-floor windows, and heavy smoke was billowing into the frozen rain falling outside.
The man was rescued with a fire department ladder. Firefighters then made their way inside to the two women, who were trapped on the second floor amid the thick smoke and heavy flames.
“The firefighters went inside to get them out, and there was a [fire] flash before they could take them down the ladder,” Stoneman said.
Firefighters say the heat inside was so intense that it penetrated one firefighter’s jacket, causing burns to his back.
An official cause of the fire has yet to be determined. Stoneman said it appears to be accidental. The Northeast Ohio chapter of the American Red Cross said it will be assisting the family.
Boy Rescued from the Ice on the Bronx River
A young boy who became stranded on a frozen river as the ice began to crack under his feet has been rescued by a team of firefighters.
Fire Department New York City were called to the Bronx River at just after 4.30pm yesterday after reports a ten-year-old boy was trapped on the ice.
The youngster had gone out onto the treacherous ice with a girl when she fell through the ice. The girl was able to pull herself onto nearby rocks and climb out of the river.
Rescue in Riverhead
A 30-year-old man was airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital for serious injuries sustained in a late-night house fire on Middle Road last night.
A woman and two children escaped without injury from the second-floor apartment in the two-family house at 394 Middle Road, but the occupant of the first-floor apartment was found unconscious by firefighters, who pulled him from the burning dwelling, Riverhead Police said.
One of the children who lives in the upstairs apartment called 911 at 11:24 p.m. to report smoke coming from the first floor of the home, police said.
Police found Shanon Garcia-Donis, 32, with her 7-year-old child and 6-month-old infant standing outside the two-story wood frame house on fire. She told police the first-floor apartment was occupied and the resident may be inside.
Riverhead firefighters found flames burning at the rear of the house, where the fire started in a kitchen stove, First Assistant Chief Kevin Brooks said. A hose team knocked down the fire so that two search teams could enter the house and search for occupants, he said. A fourth team climbed onto the roof to vent the fire, the chief said.
Search team firefighters J.R. Renton and Kevin Burgess, both ex-captains, found the unconscious man on a sofa in the front room on the first floor and pulled him from the burning home. Brooks said. Police identified the victim as Matej Petrak.
Firefighters found Petrak in less than a minute and got him out of the house, Brooks said.
“They did an amazing job. They really struggled because he was a big man. But they got him out of there very fast,” he said.
Ladder Rescues in PA
Date: 01/28/2014
Time: 12:50 AM
Town: Whitemarsh Township
County: Montgomery
Address: 491 Bethlehem Pike
Type: Two Alarm Apartment Fire
Details: Capt. 88 arrived on scene with fire showing from the second floor rear of a four story apartment building with people trapped on the upper floors. Ordered truck companies to go ladders to make rescues. Special call two additional ladders companies. Interior crews reported fire in one apartment on the second floor. EMS requested additional ambulances to assist.
Fire extended to the third floor and had a partial collapse of the floor about the fire apartment. Multiple hand lines in service on the interior.
EMS transported three people to the hospital, one with smoke inhalation. Crews made numerous rescues from balconies via ladders.
Photo and Story from Philly Fire News:
http://www.phillyfirenews.com/2015/01/28/montco-firefighters-makes-numerous-rescues-apartment-fire/
Dramatic Footage of Rescue of 3 Children in Fresno, CA
Rescue in Greensboro, NC
GREENSBORO, N.C.– Firefighters rescued a small child from a burning building on Monday morning.
According to Chris Wilson with Guilford County Emergency Services, the young boy was transported to Moses Cone Hospital shortly after 10 A.M.
He is currently listed in “serious” condition, according to Wilson.
Battalion Chief Pat Henley said the fire broke out in an apartment in the 1400 block of Glenside Drive.
Henley confirmed that the young boy was trapped inside and firefighters had to rescue him after arriving on scene.
Neighbors like Terrence Lynch watched anxiously.
“I can only imagine, if it was my little boy, I would hate for him to be in that situation where he has to face life and death,” said Lynch. “I’m sitting here in my own window as I’m watching before I came outside, I’m just like, ugh, I really hope he’s okay.”
Henley said the fire was extinguished within a matter of minutes. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Rescues in Worcester, MA
WORCESTER – As the blizzard raged on, Worcester firefighters battled a blaze overnight that destroyed a home on Alvarado Avenue and sent some people to the hospital with minor smoke inhalation issues.
Firefighters rescued one pregnant woman from the home. Fire officials officials did not have an update on her condition Tuesday morning.
Just after 2 a.m., Worcester firefighters responded to a two-alarm fire at 20 Alvarado Avenue.
City Manager Edward Augustus said a large family was living in the home. Seven people, including children, were rescued, he said.
“Firefighters did a great job,” Augustus said. “Luckily everyone was safe.”
According to the Worcester firefighters union Twitter page, the attic of the home was fully engulfed in flames when they arrived.
After a quick battle hampered by blizzard conditions, firefighters had to be evacuated from the home due to a roof collapse.
Wind gusts proved to be a problem for firefighters as they tackled the fire. As the wind whipped through the air, the fire would reignite. Officials said the cold temperatures left firefighters caked with ice.
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