A 'Take Up' on Fireground Tactics

In my first article, “A Take Up on Leadership,” I addressed how character and leadership traits develop, starting at the earliest stages of life, as well as how the potential for leadership continues to grow throughout life via the myriad experiences that bring firefighters to this profession. I also shared the concept of “taking up” in the FDNY—a phrase that refers to gathering all your members, tools and equipment in preparation to leave the scene of a fire or emergency and return to service and or the firehouse—and how that can be connected to leadership. Here, I’d like to talk about “taking up” as it applies to fireground behavior, mindset and tactics.

Safety is a discipline, not a detriment

Before firefighters begin the initial components of training, they should be indoctrinated to embrace an attitude of safety, not as a restriction in the performance of duty, but as a discipline of character. This refers to the disciplines of wearing protective devices and gloves as a barrier from infectious substances at medical emergencies, as well as the fireground practice of donning all the PPE that will be issued to them appropriate for the fire environment or immediately dangerous to life and health (IDLH) situations. These are but a few examples and not to be construed as a constraint to performing their duty but a safeguard to their long-term health and wellbeing.

This principle of safety will be further emphasized in all aspects of their continued training. When the tones of alarm sound for a call to emergencies or fire, members will board the apparatus and respond. From that moment, every thought and action will have the principles of safety in mind. Every member owns that responsibility to themselves, family and fellow members.

The most customary title for these emergency response organizations has the depiction “Fire” in its name. Yes, they will respond and be required to mitigate or stabilize myriad emergency situations, but it is the extinguishment of fire that is their foremost responsibility. If you were to review the NFPA statistics of firefighter fatalities for the year of 2015, the greatest percentage of deaths occurs on the fireground.¹ If the fireground is our battle ground, then we must educate these young men and women with everything they need to know to win the battle and not to incur injury or worse.

Developing a mindset for the fireground

We must underscore to new firefighters that structural fires pose the greatest challenge and danger. Fire is our adversary, and the structure will be its sanctuary. Key questions: How well is the structure fortified (access) and how well is it built (construction type)?² Not only is fire a threat to life safety, it has the potential and energy to compromise the structural integrity of a building. How smart and strong must we be to conquer the enemy? Being smart will enable strength—strength of mind to make good decisions.

Young firefighters must have an understanding of what fire is (pyrolysis), what initiates the process, and what gives it energy and strength. A fuel source is needed, heat to begin the process, and oxygen to sustain what is a chemical (exothermic) reaction that will produce more heat and energy.³ If we were to remove one of those three components, the fire would cease to exist. (Of course, there is the fourth component of the uninhibited chain reaction of free radicals, but we will keep this simple for now.)

When the fire service is notified in the early stages of the progression of fire (incipient stage), it may be confined and contained as a “room and contents” fire and not have progressed to a “structural” fire where the structure itself may be compromised.

From the initial notification and response to an alarm for fire, each and every firefighter will begin the thought process of analysis, that is, to scrutinize any and all information being received for the alarm. This is called the size-up, which is the initial evaluation of what is being reported and where. It should be emphasized how important it will be to become familiar with their response district with the type and size of structures, potential fuel loads, and availability of hydrant water mains and capacities.

While responding, everyone is performing a size-up of what to expect, and upon arrival, the confirmation of what is being presented—that being information from occupants/civilians or the visual presence of smoke and/or fire. The continued size-up will reveal the building type, size, occupancy and where the fire is located.

The fire may be in a small room or large open space. The size of the “fire box” (room/space/building) helps to determine the fire problem. That will give firefighters an idea of how much oxygen is available to the contents (fuel) and that will verify if the fire is capable of a long-sustained burn until it consumes all its fuel. That would be considered a fuel-controlled fire, because it is the amount of fuel that will control the burn time. If the space were to be reduced in cubic dimensions, then a fire has the tendency to reach a peak of heat release and begin to decay as oxygen levels in the space/room drop below 14 percent. This type of burning regime is referred to as ventilation-controlled or vent-limited. Firefighters will soon realize upon opening a door or other vent point that this action will breathe life into the fire’s potential energy with the remaining fuel.

With this knowledge, the approach to extinguishment must incorporate an understanding of ventilation (opening doors/windows/other) and how it will help or hinder the effort. Any ventilation on the fireground must be coordinated with teams operating exterior and within the structure performing extinguishment, search, rescue, and vent-enter-search (VES) operations.

Building “strength and compromise”

When fire has progressed to full involvement of a space/room or building, the integrity of the structure becomes a priority of analysis. In the performance of their duties, every firefighter, officer and chief is performing a size-up, which is continuous until leaving the scene and returning to the fire house/station/hall. Every set of eyes on the fireground observes vital information from their perspective. So every firefighter entering the fire service should be educated on the different types of construction and how well they perform when subjected to direct exposure of fire.²

It has been postulated that the weakest link in any type of construction will be the point at which they are connected.⁴ That has been the case in many structural failures while fire operations were in progress where firefighters were killed in the line of duty, with truss construction being a major type to fail, whether it is steel or wood-type truss. Yet even dimensional wood has burned through when subjected to prolonged exposure to fire as well as steel I-beams elongating, twisting and failing from prolonged exposure.

As such, time becomes a factor in size-up and the pre-burn time (before arrival) must be taken into consideration. These factors will help determine if it were safe to enter a structure that may already be structurally compromised.

It is vital that all members operating on the fireground remain cognizant of the fire conditions as they see it and warning signs of impending structural failure before it occurs. Individual units in the fire area or units/members operating remotely should provide progress reports to Command during operations. It is possible that those units in the immediate fire area heavily engaged in battle are not aware of dire conditions that surround them.

The efficiency of water

In ancient times, water was considered an element along with earth, wind and fire. Yet we know it as a liquid compound most efficient to quell and defeat our adversary fire. It is a chemical substance that controls and extinguishes fire in multiple ways. Water absorbs energy (heat), and as it changes state from a liquid to a gas (steam), that steam will further absorb more heat, and this expansion of steam will displace oxygen in the space.

As we introduce water into a space, it will function to extinguish a fire by reducing the energy of the fire gases (smoke), causing them to contract back to their source, cool the walls and ceiling of the heat they radiate back into the space, reduce the temperatures of fuels not yet involved in fire, separate the flame from the fuel source burning and, finally, cool the burning fuel for final extinguishment. So it stands to reason that water will be our first choice to fight fires because of its availability and low cost, if any.

Every firefighter from the rank of recruit to chief officer must have a keen understanding of the delivery of water from its source to the fire and how to solve water loss/pressure issues that arise. That encompasses hydrant systems, engine (pumper) apparatus, hose, nozzle appliance and standpipe/sprinkler systems.

On arrival, it is important to determine the volume or potential volume of fire (energy capable of being produced) to use the appropriate appliances and techniques that will be effective to extinguish the fire posthaste. The more energy produced will require more water (gpm/lpm) to be successful. In North America, the fire service will choose the placement and use of handheld hoselines for flows under 300 gpm and manageable or master streams for flows greater than 300 gpm.

Skills of performance

The development of this knowledge base will be accompanied with training to master physical skills and techniques of handling and operating the tools and equipment used in the performance of our duties. Each firefighter should become proficient in forcible entry with both conventional and hydraulic tools, transporting and raising ladders, and the tools and equipment to perform vertical and horizontal ventilation safely and efficiently.

When these young firefighters become confident in their abilities of performance, they are furthering their path to leadership. As these young men and women enter the ranks of the fire service, they will be further mentored and coached by more senior members, officers and chiefs. They will establish intellectual connections with likeminded individuals who will inflame their passion for the profession and strengthen their self-pride. The basis of instilling positive encouragement to be part of a successful team instills pride of accomplishment and achievement to belong and be accepted by their peers and leaders. This is what we hope to achieve to captivate their soul. They will be the future leaders of the fire service until the day they “take up.”