Aggressive Firefighting Tactics

Aggressive Command and Tactics for Life

• Increased access to information, research, and evidence-based practices has changed the fire service significantly in a short period.
• The term "aggressive" now means anticipation, assertive decisions, and proactive actions.
• Education leads to a deeper understanding of environmental dynamics, helping with anticipation and proper tactical positioning.
• Advances in technology, funding for research, and efforts from organizations like UL FSRI provide new tactical considerations for the fire service.
• Training can save seconds, leading to saving minutes, which leads to saving lives.
• Time is of the essence in saving lives, with the window of opportunity shutting faster than before.
• Firefighters, engineers, apparatus operators, chauffeurs, company officers, and chief officers must reduce time off their evolutions and operations.
• This includes factors like turn-out time, response routes, on-scene staging, deployment of tactics, personal protective equipment (PPE), and self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA).
• Training is the means to shave time off tasks and tactics like hose stretches, SCBA donning, laddering, VEIS, etc.

Fire Dynamics

• The focus should be on the chemical inputs of fuels, the comprehension of ventilation impacts, and the influence of fire-site containers.
• Changes in fuel packages at the chemical level have transformed the pace and byproducts of fire.
• The traditional fire behavior curve is based on a fuel-controlled fire, like an outdoor campfire.
• Realistically, fire behavior inside a structure involves a dynamic of supply and demand.
• Only more recent generations of firefighters have fire dynamics as their initial fire education.
• Accurate understanding is crucial due to the shift in fire dynamics; synthetic materials are increasingly present in products.
• A clear message should define that differences in fire dynamics arise from the nature of materials, not different decades.
• The law of conservation of energy helps compare natural and synthetic materials; energy can only be transferred, not created nor destroyed.
• Synthetic materials are mainly petroleum-based, utilizing supplemental energy and converted oils.
• Synthetic materials cause rooms to reach flashover much more rapidly than natural materials.

Heat Transfer and Heat Release Rate

• Fire's most destructive element is heat.
• The movement of fire starts with the type of fuel and ventilation.
• Fuel is controlled in stand-alone fires, where ventilation is unlimited.
• Fuel availability is impacted by heat transfer in contained fires, ventilation profiles dictate heat transfer within fire's development.
• Heat transfer exchanges thermal energy to fuel through conduction, convection, and radiation.
• Heat release rate (HRR) is the rate at which heat energy is generated by burning; the operational fire service began taking note of it in the early 2000s.
• Synthetic products involve high-energy investment that becomes a high-energy release and rapid breakdown upon burning.
• Heat release for exterior fires does not impact environmental temperatures.
• Heat release increases environmental temperature because of containment; temperatures lead to higher gas pressures and convective currents, breaking down solid fuels to gases.

Oxygen and Combustion

• A shortsighted approach to fire is to think of ventilation as just air.
• Fires in houses do not become vent-limited and create a vacuum.
• Oxygen is consumed while heating and expanding gases; there may be plenty of air in a container, but not enough oxygen.
• UL-conducted burns determined that while 21% oxygen is complete combustion for natural products.
• However, the same percentage is insufficient for combustion for synthetic materials.
• Even a couch burning in a wide-open parking lot can be vent limited.
• The addition of supplemental oxygen leads to a clean burn and complete combustion, while acetylene is a petroleum-based fuel, like plastics in homes.
• HRR describes fire hazard; toxic materials require supplemental energy in production, releasing more intense energy and byproducts when burned.
• Incomplete combustion results in particulates and gases.

The Exposure Problem and Advancements

• Byproducts of incomplete combustion and smoke were the cause of a child's death in a residential fire.
• Fire burns and smoke kills indicates the thermal and toxic threat inside structures and their relationships.
• Research began on tactics' effects on the survivability of unprotected occupants in 2015 using interior and exterior streams.
• In the 2020 Search and Rescue Studies, UL FSRI became the first to measure hydrogen cyanide concentrations in live fires.
• The cumulative, compounding, dynamic thermal and toxic exposure throughout the structure are driving tactical decisions.
• These decisions are all to mitigate thermal and toxic threats and move away from only focusing on extinguishment.

Simultaneous vs Sequential Operations

• Knowledge of fire dynamics has resulted in placing a greater priority on simultaneous threat mitigation compared to traditional sequential extinguishing procedures.
• The term "simultaneous" means considering and addressing threats together.
• New UL FSRI studies have the tactical advice that with sufficient resources, interior search and rescue operations are initiated regardless of selected fire attack.
• Unintended consequences arise from prioritizing extinguishment paired with procedural sequential assignments.
• In such cases, tactics are not initiated until the checklist is complete.
• Shifting the language to "when resources permit," is more flexible, placing great emphasis on search operations.
• FDNY rescues more civilians per year than any other department, owing to the vast resources they serve.

FDNY Fireground Success

• FDNY's success comes from quickly extinguishing fires and rescuing victims through first-line operations.
• If a truck company locates the fire before fire attack, then prioritizing the action of controlling the door to the structure has a huge impact.
• This impacts mitigates the spread of toxic and thermal exposure to all other areas, especially to the occupants.
• The department has procedures for reinforcing units and supporting tactics.
• Extinguishment and rescue are prioritized simultaneously in practice and training, establishing an "aggressive command and tactics for life" culture.

Firefighter Rescue Survey

• The Firefighter Rescue Survey (FRS) launched in 2016, collecting information on civilian rescues by firefighters.
• The FRS is the only collecting and reporting fire saves; this survey has compiled details from thousands of rescues, mostly with survivors.
• The consistency of firefighters saving lives acts as a beacon of hope.
• Beyond research, the FRS shows data from real-world experience.
• The FDNY's successful civilian rescues highlight simultaneous actions of dedicating crews to fire attack and primary search.
• Increased speed of care results in improved outcomes of such events.

Golden Hour of Survival

• Civilian fire victims survive for about 10 minutes; the FRS data states victims needed to be located in that timeframe.
• Utilizing the FRS implements EMS principles and expedites definite care for trauma victims.
• The UL FSRI tactical advice provides context for allocating interior teams to allow clear conditions for rescue.

Tactical Strategies for Survivability

• Fire attack locates and removes victims.
• Search locates fire before the attack, and vice versa.
• Secondary roles will not be as effective as a primary assignment.
• When properly prioritized with needed resources, first engine companies engage in attack and suppression, while second engine companies ensure water supply.
• In addition, truck companies prioritize ventilation.
• Improved time to task is essential to saving interior parties and limiting damage.
• "Speed is taking ownership of the time you can control”.

Life Safety Priorities

• The National Incident Management System lists the priorities as: save lives, stabilize the incident, and protect property and the environment.
• NIMS and the International Fire Service Training Association both prioritize life saving and safety, though they differ slightly.
• Collecting data on fire incidents that highlight injuries and death serves USFA and NFPA.

Firefighter Fatalities

• Firefighter deaths at structure fires have decreased 80% since 1977.
• In the late 1970s, traumatic deaths among firefighters were 2.5 per 100,000.
• Since 2015, the deaths are under one per 100,000.
• This trend can be tied to the fact there's been an increase for civilian death at the expense of firefighter deaths.
• The fire service has become better at preventing fires, yet the nature of fire still threatens life.

Civilian Deaths

• Civilian fire deaths have seen a decrease, and the rate for one and two-family homes was even higher.
• The fire service must save the lives of civilians, establishing a rescue mindset to prevent deaths.

Execution of Tactics

• The main objective must be to fight the compounding effects of exposure.
• Prioritizing initial resources is integral.
• Every task and tactic must be orchestrated in response to exposure threats and dangers.
• Rigs must be checked beforehand, radio batteries ought to be ready, and PPE must be easily accessible to be an effective command.
• According to FSRI, the speed and awareness to take control of time is a factor in effective control with a compressed timeline.

Clear Rescue Mindset

• The fire service must work towards a rescue in conjunction with suppression efforts.
• Single firefighters should not be locating dummies with no follow up.
• The rescue cycle entails removal, transport, and resumption of search, with pre-plans set in place.
• Fires with a rescue operation have an average of almost 2 victims.
• A rescue operation is only complete when areas are cleared, as long as they can take down victims, treat people, and transport.

Objectives and Tactics

• Four objectives will give the victim a fighting chance: fire attack, rescue, ventilation, and medical.
• Not every task is essential, like checking utilities or even hooking up a hydrant.
• When there is a lack of an attack line or water available, then those are prioritized.
• Every objective must be a priority when limited, and there are different settings to do so.
• Coordinated tasks, tactics and fireground strategies must have a balance between top-down objectives and rapid, ground-based actions.
• The key is to improve survivability by deploying simultaneous objectives through task interactions and effective interactions, while accounting resources.

Water and Fire Control

• Interior advancement tactics and safety measures must focus on removing heat and creating areas of refuge; the UL FSRI analysis supports such actions.
• Fires ought to be controlled where safe, and when safe, the interior may be ventilated, suppressing flames and eliminating hazards.
• Flow direction must respond to what is possible, such that there is both elevation and speed to improve safety.
• If the occupant is compromised, consider the heat being transferred, and whether elevating is an option to preserve safety.

Firefighting Methods

• The priority needs to be water and removal.
• Water deployment with the victims in mind provides safety to everyone in the vicinity.
• A two-person crew is all that is often needed for fire control.
• There is no need for lack of effort, but focus on confining and extinguishing.
• Dedicated searches and rescue can be key for a successful, rapid removal that saves lives.

Tactical Considerations

• Primary and quick actions are dependent on good knowledge of available resources.
• The overall presentation must free up burning to account for channels, so that there is a lifting of smoke.
• This can involve support and more.
• There is an intense passion to help those in need, and training, planning, and assertive action ensure tactical success and help protect life.