On Feb. 7, 2016, the Raytown Fire Protection District, located outside Kansas City, MO, was dispatched to a fire that would result in the tragic deaths of a 59-year-old grandmother and her 4-year-old grandchild, but the saving of an 18-month-old child following extreme heroics and a close call by the Raytown Firefighters.
To recap last month’s incident play-by-play, the Raytown firefighters were trapped while searching after their hoseline burned through. Despite the broken line, those firefighters were able to break out a window and hand the 18-month-old child to a firefighter on a ladder. Other firefighters then helped the trapped firefighters and other apartment residents escape.
The following is my review of the incident, with input from Raytown Chief Matt Mace, as well as lessons learned.
“Super Bowl Fires”
I recently started using the term “Super Bowl Fire” to refer to a fire where all of what you know, all of what you've trained for and all of what you've prepared for comes into play. It's THAT fire. The one you warn elected officials about when they look at budgets. The one we educate the public about so they practice fire prevention and support our needs at the polls. It’s the low-frequency/high-risk event that my partner Gordon Graham speaks about.
The “Super Bowl Fire” can be, for example, the one where we respond to a working incident with people trapped, and we arrive with:
- A first-alarm assignment that matches the potential of the building reported to be on fire, be it the department alone or the department using automatic mutual aid.
- Firefighters who have trained and trained, and who now do what they've trained on flawlessly—all gear on, tools in hand, lines stretched and eyes wide open.
- Pump operators who get water instantly with exact apparatus positioning and secondary water sources.
- Officers performing a rapid and effective size-up with 360 so we have a good idea of what we are going into.
- Officers leading the crews in so that we have the most positive outcome possible, given the circumstances, conditions and our resources.
- Chiefs running the fire, knowing that they can count on the firefighters and officers doing exactly what’s needed.
- Firefighters and officers knowing that the chiefs running the fire are experienced, qualified and competent.
You get the picture? This is the best-case scenario.
Of course, there is much more to it, but there are essentially two key similarities between the fire service and the Super Bowl:
- We know that the Super Bowl is in every team’s future—we just don’t know when.
- Our performance at the Super Bowl is a culmination of everything we have done—or didn't do—up until the kickoff or when the bells go off. All the training, the planning, the effort, the seat and the sacrifices all may pay off today.
This fire was a Super Bowl Fire for the Raytown members, with some extremely emotional outcomes. Several factors are noteworthy following the challenges that the firefighters experienced and can be used to review our own operations and responses.
First-alarm assignments
It is critical for chiefs to systematically measure what is needed on a first-alarm assignment and then apply those resources through dispatch. This must be done locally, as staffing, resources and even what constitutes a first alarm is different in every town, city and district.
Consider the following tasks upon arrival and the fact that, in the best of circumstances, multiple tasks should be done as close to simultaneously as possible. For example, if you have a fire in a one-story, single-family frame dwelling of approximately 1,000 square feet in a hydranted area, you can plan ahead for exactly what is needed based upon the fire flow and the following needs:
- Water supply: One firefighter on the hydrant
- Pump operations: One firefighter on the pump
- Line stretching: Three firefighters per line x three lines to provide the needed fire flow requiring an interior attack (one line on the fire, the second protecting and the third deployed as directed)
- Command and control: At least one chief as the IC with a view of the building and a second in the rear, with the combination of both providing a 360 view.
What other tasks must be performed and how many firefighters are needed?
- Venting: Two firefighters
- Forcible entry and search: Two firefighters
- Search/rescue: Two firefighters
And what about rapid intervention, patient care and incident safety? It all adds up. Now is a great time to take a look at your first-alarm assignments and realistically plan based upon your known staffing. Sure, all of the above tasks can be performed by two to three firefighters—eventually—but you will run out of house before you are able to get it all done. The goal of any fire department is to not run out of house, thank you.
In the case of volunteer and call department staffing, you should generally know how many, who and when they will show up—so what’s the plan? There is no excuse in 2016 to not know who may or may not show up. Modern technology and systems allow leadership and dispatchers to immediately know if additional help is needed—in seconds, not minutes. Consider the incredible challenges that the Raytown firefighters had within moments of arrival and apply that to your agency.
Difficult choices
Firefighters are promoted to officers because we need people to make difficult choices and, in this case, there were some major challenges facing the crew and the officer.
As you will recall, at this fire, the captain had lost contact with his other firefighter. As the heat and smoke rapidly billowed up the staircase, he knew that anyone without protective equipment wouldn’t survive—a tough but realistic acknowledgement. He struggled to drag the woman but quickly realized that she was too heavy for him to move on his own. He directed his other firefighter, the one holding the baby, to ascend to the third floor and move back toward the front of the building.
They approached the north stairs with the intention of descending them to the front door. As the captain looked through his thermal imaging camera, he saw temperatures of 800 degrees coming up the north stairs. The smoke and heat were heavy and visibility was minimal. Realizing that this stairwell wasn’t an option, he and the firefighter went into the third-floor apartment that faced the front of the building. They called a mayday on the radio and broke out the front window of the apartment, yelling for someone to bring a ladder.
The separated firefighter made his way back along the hose and found that it had burned through. Water was still flowing from the ruptured hose. He didn’t know what else to do, but wanted to suppress the fire to protect his other crewmembers. With this thought in mind, he dragged the hose back to the south stairs and used it to pour water on the fire.
How does this apply to your department? Drills and training. Drills and training. Drills and training! I'm not being a wise guy here, but the ONLY solution is drilling on a realistic scenario where you have multiple victims, not all of whom can be saved, and then a loss of water. What’s your plan?
Some other suggested drills: establishment of water supply, size-up, prioritization based upon size-up (consider the immediate tasks with your immediate resources), stretching the initial handline, search and rescue under adverse (realistic) conditions, mayday training, and secondary handlines.
In this real-world scenario, the separated firefighter made his way back along the hose and found that it had burned in two. Water was still flowing from the ruptured hose. What did he do? He used the burned-out line to flow water to protect his crew!
EMS on your first alarm
Only calling for EMS once you know you need it is like holding off on a ladder company for a reported structural fire until you “know” you need it. So many alarm assignments use EMS as an afterthought. EMS should be considered an integral part of a first-alarm assignment. They should be dispatched right along with the companies, arriving ready for possible victims or rehab as needed. They should also be part of drills and training so that everyone on the working fire scene clearly understands what to expect.
The fire and time
Clearly this was a fire with significant life issues—one where the Raytown firefighters had to take extreme risks and were able to save a life. Whether that kind of fire happens once in a career or once a year, preparedness is critical for the three primary aspects that we, as firefighters (and fire departments), are responsible for: 1) life safety, 2) water on the fire and 3) property savings.
As mentioned above, staffing must be preplanned in order to accomplish multiple tasks quickly, in a coordinated and simultaneous fashion. In the case of this fire, the time from when the firefighters made entry to the time they were in a mayday emergency was less than three minutes!
By sizing up our first-due area and then determining what our goals are, we can then determine whether or not we are able to attain the goals. In the cases where we cannot, and there are no fiscal options, we then need to consider automatic-aid programs. Actually, automatic aid should be considered even when there are fiscal options. If there is a firehouse closer to your fire, but not in your jurisdiction, consider what’s best for the people having the fire and make your decisions base upon that.
Automatic aid requires planning and communication between all the involved departments—meeting BEFORE the “Super Bowl.” And these plans and agreements cannot be “personality based.” In other words, you cannot dispatch the departments you “like” over the ones that are closest or most appropriate for the incident.
When people have “their” fire, they don’t care who we like or don't like, who is career or who is volunteer, who has blue trucks and who has purple or whatever other irrelevant excuse we may have. It is incumbent upon leadership to set up assignments that focus on the needs of those having the fire and the needs of your personnel to get that fire handled. Not much else matters.
In sum
In the case of this close call, the Raytown Fire Protection District practiced and planned for the Super Bowl. And while the outcome was not what they or any firefighter would desire, there is no question that their preparedness before and their heroism, ingenuity and bravery while operating clearly made a difference.
Our sincere appreciation to Chief Matt Mace and the board, officers and members of the Raytown FPD. Additionally, thanks to the departments that responded through mutual aid, as well as police and EMS for their contribution on this incident.
