Not many firefighters like the term “slab savers,” as it seems to go against everything we are trying to do—save lives and property. Saving lives and property from fire is the foundation of the fire service, and it has always been taught that we will risk our lives to achieve this goal.
In the fire service today, however, there has been somewhat of a culture change about when we will risk our lives to save lives and property. New terms have emerged such as dynamic risk assessment and survivability profile. These concepts have created a divide between us and some members of the public—and even a divide among ourselves as to what constitutes “too much” risk.
Should a firefighter risk their life to save another life? The answer to this question for most firefighters is “yes.” If it is a “savable life,” then we should be risking our lives to save that life. Should a firefighter risk it all to save someone’s property? This is a question that you as an individual and as a fire department must answer. The bigger question is, are we willing to make that sacrifice?
If you have an opportunity to talk with firefighters who have been involved in a firefighter fatality fire, most of them will have a different outlook on calculated risk. I can guarantee you that any fire department that has been involved in one of these incidents has new or updated policies, training programs and different ways of operating on incidents. It tends to initiate a cultural change throughout the entire department.
And what about the public we serve? Is the public prepared for us to make that sacrifice? Do they expect us to risk our life to go inside and attack a fire? Are they prepared for the firefighter funeral that will follow and a cross to be placed in front of their home or business? Even after that home or business is repaired or rebuilt, something will still be there reminding them of that firefighter’s death.
This has led the fire service to come up with the idea that we will take a “calculated risk.” What is calculated risk and how do we determine this calculated risk factor? Calculated risk is based on good size-up and situational awareness. This size-up process is the “calculated” portion. It requires a good 360 or walk-around of the structure as well as a good condition report from the first-arriving unit. This must then translate into selecting the proper strategy and deploying the correct tactics. The strategy and the tactics is the “risk” portion of the equation. In todays’ fire environment, this risk analysis is complicated even more with modern building construction and new fire behavior.
Let’s now return to the term “SLAB SAVERS” that I used earlier, so we can determine how to embrace it. First, we must begin to look at the piece of property that is on fire as a slab. I know that this sounds callous, but it is that slab that is trying to kill you. It is the home or the business that will be repaired or rebuilt. It is the home built with new truss construction and particle board that does not perform well under fire conditions. It is the tile roofs and solar panels of newer homes. It is the business that has the fire exits blocked or storage stacked up to the sprinkler heads, the pre-1933 construction with an arched roof or the new big box that takes more than one SCBA bottle to search for fire and occupants. These elements of the slab are all trying to kill you.
SLAB strategy
For our purposes, we can reimagine the term slab as a useful acronym—SLAB, which stands for Safety Profile, Life Profile, Air Track and Building Profile. SLAB is how we can determine how much risk is involved and what we are willing to invest. In essence, SLAB becomes our strategy. This strategy can be either offensive or defensive in nature. Are we going to send crews inside based on the calculated risk or should we stay outside and not allow the slab to kill us today? This will, in turn, decide the tactics that will follow later, to be identified in Part 2 by the acronym SAVERS.
Safety Profile
The Safety Profile includes those general items that would decide the strategy for you. In other words, if these safety items exist and cannot be mitigated or avoided, then you will probably be choosing a defensive strategy. These safety issues may include energized powerlines, hazardous materials, drug labs, ammunition, collapse potential or previous partial collapse, explosions, backdraft conditions and hoarding scenarios. In any case, it is something that will cause this fire to have more risk than gain. When these hazards are identified, they must be located and communicated and then either isolated or mitigated.
Life Profile
We decided that we would risk our life for a savable life. This means that if you have a rescue or possible rescue, you would likely be choosing an offensive strategy. This is based on a few factors, and it is once again a calculated risk.
The first thing to note is if this is a known rescue or a possible rescue. What is the difference and how do you know? This is often based upon how we receive the information regarding a rescue, either through a visual or verbal transaction. If the manner in which we receive the message is visual, then it is a known rescue. This means that when you arrive on scene and see an elderly woman hanging out of a second-story window or during your 360 walk-around, you see an unconscious victim through a window. These are obvious rescues that require immediate offensive strategies.
In the verbal setting, the person reporting the victim and what they say will determine if it is a known or possible rescue. I break this down into a few categories.
The first is “Help Me.” This is the victim inside the structure yelling for help but you cannot see them. The second is what I call the “Front Lawn Person.” This is someone who meets you out in front of the structure and tells you that someone is inside. This could be a family member stating that their baby, grandfather, wife, etc., is inside and needs saving. This could also be the neighbor who meets you on the sidewalk and tells you that this is “Joe’s house.” It could also be a passerby reporting that there is someone inside or they believe someone is inside.
The last verbal transaction is through your dispatch center. The dispatcher will come over the radio and tell you that they have a report of victims trapped. Now remember, the dispatcher is not on scene; this is just a relay of information from one of the people who we described above. It could be the “Help Me” person who cannot scream for help but is doing it over the phone. It could also be the family member who ran next door to call 9-1-1 instead of waiting to meet you at the front doorstep. This could be the passerby or the neighbor who tells you it is Joe’s house. And of course, it could be the police officer using their radio with a bunch of 10 codes to describe people trapped in a burning building, which somehow gets translated into plain English by your dispatcher.
It is not only who is saying that someone is inside but also what they say that will determine if it is a savable life and how much risk should be associated. It may also lead to choosing an overall strategy and the tactics on the fire. Take for instance two of the front lawn people. If it is the family member stating that someone is inside the house vs. the neighbor, would that be different? The family member should be able to tell you where that victim is located. They can tell you if it is a child or an elderly relative. Would this change your search patterns and where you would look? If the neighbor tells you that this is Joe’s house, are they able to confirm that Joe is home and what is it based on—the last time they saw him, the car in the driveway? This may help you determine whether this is a possible rescue vs. a known rescue.
So what is the difference? If you pull up to a residential house fire with pressurized smoke down to the floor, then you have already begun your size-up of savable lives. Then it gets compared to the probability of a rescue. If a mother tells you that her baby is in the crib in the back bedroom of the home, you would probably consider attempting a rescue along with an offensive fire attack to support it. If it is the neighbor or other reporting party that does not know the exact location of the resident, or if they are home for that matter, it may create a transitional attack that waits for two-out or your rapid intervention crew to be established before going interior. Maybe it will be decided that it will be a defensive strategy and the risk outweighs the gain.
Air Track
With the enormous amount of research being done by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Underwriters Laboratories (UL) on the movement of smoke, its contents and its characteristics, the idea that air track will change your strategy and tactics is becoming a greater reality. This is also coupled with Dave Dodson’s program on the art of “Reading Smoke,” which brings home the fact that smoke is fuel. These training concepts are changing the mindset of fire attack. New terms have come about, such as transitional attack and attacking from the burned side. Whatever concepts you subscribe to doesn’t matter. It is still apparent that the strategy on many fires is determined by the amount of smoke and fire inside the building and how it is exiting.
The air track should go hand in hand with the Life Profile and the Building Profile to determine if we should be going offensive or defensive. Is the smoke dark, pressurized or dense? How many openings are there to allow it to escape? How low is it to the ground?
We must also consider the size of the building when looking at air track. We commonly go interior on residential fires with smoke at about 3 to 4 feet off the floor. If you have those same smoke conditions at a large retail store or a warehouse, then the size of fire is much larger. This is also going to require greater ventilation efforts to exhaust that smoke, especially when using mechanical ventilation fans.
Building Profile
The building profile takes into account factors such as building construction, age, size and arrangement.
The construction features of a building are becoming more prevalent in terms of risk vs. gain. There are many construction features and materials that could be listed here that will help you in deciding your strategy. Some of the most common are bowstring or arched truss, lightweight materials, balloon framed and heavy timber. The age of the building will also play a key factor, especially when dealing with pre-1933 construction with unreinforced masonry.
The size of the building may also come into play in determining if you will attack from the inside or remain exterior. This can include everything from large mansions, to mid-rise or high-rise buildings, to big box retail, storage or manufacturing.
The arrangement of the interior walls or contents could be a virtual maze and deathtrap for firefighters. The interior layout must be considered in deciding the strategy and, if possible, should be done during the preplan phase. Too many preplans only diagram the outer walls or layout of the structure without too much emphasis put on what it will look like on the inside, under fire conditions.
The building profile should also take into to consideration how much fire the building has been exposed to and for how long. It may also be appropriate to look at how much building is left to save or, in other terms, left to burn. How much fire load is inside and can you apply enough gpm to overcome the heat release?
Value of the structure or contents may also be regarded. I understand that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure and that we are there to save property no matter what the value. However, this is tough when a firefighter has lost their life for a vacant building or something with a low commercial value. An analogy I commonly use is a thrift store full of “thrift.”
Traffic signal approach
One of the ways I like to translate these concepts into real-world training is to embed the SLAB profile into the 360 walk-around of the structure. A useful approach is the traffic signal methodology of red light, yellow light and green light.
The red light obviously means stop or halt. If any of the four SLAB profiles has a red light status, then the strategy is clear—defensive.
A yellow light in any of the profiles means take caution. It does not mean that you cannot proceed or go offensive, but you must look at the hazards and risks involved with getting close to being a red light. These are hazards that must be located and communicated as well as either isolated or mitigated.
For a fire to be truly offensive without doing a little risk management first (all green lights) may be rarer than you think. If it is all green lights, it is probably a small fire in an easy box.
Let’s now review three scenarios with the SLAB strategy in mind.
Scenario 1
Safety Profile: Multiple occupancy and multi-family structures come with their own set of hazards. One to include in the safety profile for this building would be the mansard if there is fire involvement.
Life Profile: Although there are multiple occupants they will likely have time to exit the building. The rooms are relatively small but may only have one exit point. People inside this type of occupancy may be sleeping during the daytime.
Air Track: It is hard to tell from this vantage point if the fire on the first or second floor? This should be assessed upon arrival as it will affect tactics. Based on the characteristics (VVDC) of the smoke showing this fire meets IDLH criteria.
Building Profile: This structure is lightweight construction with a common attic and has potential for fire spread. The best thing that you have going for you in this multi-occupancy building is that it has exterior exits to the walkway as opposed to a center hallway configuration.
Scenario 2
Safety Profile: This fire appears to have some type of explosion with fire. There is debris burning in the front yard. Check for structural damage to the home and get good intel.
Life Profile: There is a patient lying on the front lawn. This will take priority over the fire. You can begin patient care while still maintaining the fire utilizing a master stream. The life profile may be low inside the main structure. There may also be rescue potential in the exposure on the D side.
Air Track: This fire is well involved. The probability of savable lives and savable property may be minimal. It is also important to note that this is a structure fire and not just a contents fire. This should be part of your risk profile. Extension to the exposure should be mitigated.
Building Profile: This house is conventional construction so it will hold up to fire conditions longer than new lightweight construction. However, there may be structural integrity issues due to heavy fire involvement and the possibility of a previous explosion.
Scenario 3
Safety Profile: The small windows and window construction are preventing rapid escape for the firefighter, as opposed to a house where we could just breach the entire wall if needed. The RIC will need to do some softening of the building.
Life Profile: This is a large commercial occupancy with multiple exits. There are fire alarms, sprinkler systems and more exits in many cases. For possible occupants, there is also more of a mentality that there is insurance and that it is not “my stuff.” There are “For Lease” signs on the side of this building, which could be taken into consideration.
Air Track: This is an IDLH fire, with windows that have self-vented. We need to determine if the fire is just in the office area up front or if it has reached the warehouse. The construction will also hold in a lot of the heat making it more difficult on the attack crew.
Building Profile: This is a large warehouse with a two-story office at different ground levels. Construction is poured in place concrete with an add-on in the back that is unreinforced masonry. If the fire has prolonged burn times or gets larger, the collapse potential will increase. This is also a large building which comes with its own unique hazards for firefighters including air management and disorientation.
Scenario 4
Safety Profile: The glaring safety concern is the burning trash can. It is a hazard that is easily corrected through extinguishment or by simply moving the trash receptacle away from the home. If not, this could lead to additional fire problems or even a RIC activation.
Life Profile: The Life Profile on this incident is good. Most people would consider it a green as there is plenty of survivable areas in this structure. I might consider this to be a yellow depending on where the reported victims may be and the tactics being utilized for rescue. VEIS can be a good option, but it does not come without risk. It requires previous training, good communication and coordination. This is also a good fire to separate the tasks of primary search and fire attack between two different resources.
Air Track: Where is the main fire and where is it spreading? There is obviously a working fire on the second floor in the A/D corner. The smoke coming from the window toward the B side is what would need to be examined. The Volume, Velocity, Density and Color (VVDC) should be identified. It is also important to look for signs of smoke in the eaves, vents or gable to see if the fire has breached the attic. Based on the probable construction of this home, the ceiling is probably lathe and plaster, so it will take time for the fire to get up in the attic if the ceiling is intact.
Building Profile: The building has a few risks associated with it due to the age and construction. It has a raised foundation, probably a basement. This needs to be verified through a proper 360 of the structure. The house is also balloon-frame construction. The fire will have an opportunity to spread vertically through the walls without fire stops. If you arrive on scene and find smoke or fire coming from the upper floor or the attic, it might be a fire in the first floor or even the basement.
Scenario 5
Safety Profile: The first safety consideration is access and egress. The structure has roll up doors and bars on the windows. Forcible entry/exit procedures should be implemented as soon as possible.
The large concern with this type of occupancy is what is inside. Commercial buildings must be checked for hazardous materials prior to engaging in fire attack. The NFPA 704 placard would be a good indicator of haz-mat and if you can make entry. This building has hazardous materials and combustible metals (metal plating shop). This will cause a severe reaction with water application. You may need to let the metals burn themselves out and contain the fire to its current building.
Life Profile: There is limited egress if occupants became trapped inside. You should verify areas that workers may be inside the structure and conduct a risk analysis for known rescues.
Air Track: The smoke on this incident tells the story of a medium sized fire in a medium sized box. It is difficult to determine the location of the fire due to the laminar smoke flow through varied openings. The roll up doors can also be opened or kept in place to assist with locating the fire, controlling the fire spread and applying water to certain areas (Water only after hazardous materials are mitigated). Water flow must also be calculated on commercial structures to make sure that enough is being applied. There are several fire flow formulas out there that can be used.
Building Profile: This building is probably cinderblock based on the age of the building but may be concrete tilt up. Collapse zones should be established if the fire grows larger or is impending on the roof structure. This is very possible with this building as it probably has no attic space and open rafters which can be exposed easily to the fire.
Scenario 6
Safety Profile: The safety concerns for this incident include determining what is the occupancy on fire and what are the contents? The adjacent units will also need to be checked as well. One inherent danger of strip mall fires is the use of drop ceilings (T-bar ceilings). This tend to weaken under fire conditions and collapse. Along with the flexible ducting for the HVAC and numerous electrical wires that will come down along with ceiling create an extreme entanglement hazard for firefighters.
Life Profile: Cars parked in front of fire unit will tell you that there is someone on site but does not necessarily increase your life hazard profile. Life profile will usually be lower in commercial occupancies than residential. Fire alarms, (possibly) sprinklers and exits usually decrease the need for rescue.
Air Track: This is a well involved unit with high potential for lateral spread through common attic. Strip centers can be divided in retail, office or industrial. This is retail space with the possibility for high fire load and small aisles between product. Once again, fire flow should be calculated to get enough water flowing. If you do not apply enough water on the main fire unit you will never be able to keep it from spreading into the adjoining units.
Building Profile: Again, this is lightweight construction with a common attic. There could be fire walls depending on the length of strip mall and local fire codes. The overhangs, façade and parapet walls will influence fire spread and may cause hazards. Newer strip malls may use Styrofoam to create some of these features or to create artistic additions. The building may also have numerous dead loads on the roof (HVAC and solar panels).
In sum
You as the incident commander who made the decision to go “offensive” that day must also be prepared to tell the family, media, the crew, the fire chief, mayor or public officials that we lost one of our firefighters in a building that will inevitably become a slab. Further, you must also be prepared to live with the decision. We never want to say that a firefighter died in a structure in which we knew there were no savable lives or property, all because “It is what we do; we are an aggressive interior attack fire department.”
Jesse Quinalty
Jesse Quinalty is the owner of Red Helmet Training Inc. and SLAB SAVERS.com, both of which specialize in table-top and digital fire simulations. He is a captain with the San Bernardino County Fire Department and was the operations and training captain at his previous department. He is a master instructor and a certified company officer. Quinalty has been the incident commander for multiple structure fires and other incidents, including city-wide flooding during two monsoon storms. He was involved in a burnover during the Sawtooth Incident and is credited with saving the engine crew with his command presence. Quinalty has presented on strategy and tactics, crew resource management, and cultural safety at workshops and conferences.
