Fire officer handbook of tactics chapter 15

• Multiple dwellings house three or more families.
• These buildings are also known as apartment houses or tenements.
• Varying resident sleep patterns in multiple dwellings lead to a high life hazard, regardless of the time of day.
• Firefighting in these occupancies requires a high priority search of all apartments on and above the fire floor.
• Occupants above the fire may be unaware until their egress is blocked.
• Kitchens and bathrooms stacked over each other create pipe chases, acting as vertical extension avenues for fires.
• Recognizing common problems early is crucial for effective unit deployment.
• Larger apartment buildings require officers to consider the time factor for tactic implementation.
• Illegal conversions of single-family homes into multiple dwellings pose a greater life hazard due to the absence of required fire safety features.
• Fire safety features include enclosed stairways, fire escapes, or sprinkler systems.
• Recognizing a converted multiple dwelling requires adjusting the response and requesting additional assistance.

Recognizing Multiple Dwellings

• Counting gas or electric meters on the exterior can indicate the number of apartments.
• The same is true of doorbells and mailboxes.
• Fire escapes are indicators of multiple dwellings.
• Alarm information, like "smoke from apartment four," can be useful.
• Padlocks on interior rooms usually indicate the presence of a single-room occupancy (SRO).
• Even rooms padlocked from the outside have been found to contain children.
• Low-income areas with SROs have the highest fire incidence.
• Heavy losses of life are sometimes unavoidable in SROs.

Fire Spread Factors in Multiple Dwellings

• Open interior stairways in older multiple dwellings lead to rapid mushrooming on upper floors.
• Fires in tenements in New York City in the late 1890s highlighted the need for fire-resistant separation between apartments and stairwells.
• Most apartments are equipped with fire-rated doors and fire-rated enclosures for stairwells.
• Fire-rated doors and enclosures keep fire contained as long as doors remain closed.
• Open apartment doors give the fire ready access to the stairs.
• Many codes require self-closing devices on fire doors.
• Disabling self-closing devices has resulted in catastrophic fires.
• Larger multiple dwellings use lightshafts and airshafts to bring ventilation and daylight to interior rooms.
• Horizontal fire extension across shafts and vertical extension is a danger due to autoexposure or lapping flames.
• Fire spread isn’t as rapid as it is up a staircase due to the lack of a roof over open shafts to cause mushrooming.
• Combustible materials around windows can be removed to slow fire entry.
• Opening a window or door opposite the shaft in the exposed apartment has been shown to draw fire out of an exposed apartment into the shaft.

Shafts

• Multiple dwellings contain stairwells, elevators, compactor chutes, pipe chases, and channel rails.
• Each has the potential to spread fire, heat, and smoke to the upper stories.
• Pipe chases and channel rails pose the greatest threats.
• Elevators generally have 2-hour fire-resistance ratings but may transmit smoke and heat rapidly.
• Compactors have caused serious fires when rubbish burning extended to combustibles on several floors.
• Economy of construction often results in bathrooms and kitchens being back-to-back.
• Builders usually align the kitchens and baths from floor to floor.
• Fire in kitchens or bathrooms requires checking the same location on the floor above and the top floor for fire travel.
• Find the wall directly behind the toilet when searching for fire; opening it may cut off extending fire.
• Roof members should feel each soil pipe; if hot, it indicates fire travel.
• Cutting a hole over a chase will let the fire go straight up and slow the horizontal extension into the cockloft.
• Channel rails can be found in any building with steel columns or I-beams.
• Thermal imaging cameras can help locate channel rails.
• Steel framing is generally used in Class 3 buildings over 25 ft wide.
• When fire is located in any vertical void, always check the top of the shaft and the bottom.
• Send someone who knows the location of the voids to show people where they are.

Firefighting Tactics

• Operations should focus on removing those in greatest danger while protecting the greatest number in place.
• The first hoseline should protect the interior stairway.
• The only deviation should be where victims are being directly threatened by fire and a hoseline is needed immediately to keep the fire away from them.
• The person who is screaming and waving for help can at least scream and wave; those overcome need your assistance more.
• All available personnel should be committed to getting the first hoseline stretched and operating.
• Maintaining control over the interior stairway can cause delays in the actual fire attack.
• The door to the fire apartment must be kept closed until the stairway is cleared.
• Breaking windows on the floor landing or stair between the fire floor and the floor above may be beneficial.
• The officer in command of the interior search operation will have to evaluate the wind direction and speed before deciding to vent this window.

Forcible Entry and Hose Lines

• Forcible-entry techniques should maintain control of the door to the fire area.
• Hydraulic forcible-entry tools (HFTs) are well-suited for multiple-dwelling fires.
• HFTs can make entry via the side of the lock, leaving the door intact.
• With an HFT, one member can force all the doors on a floor within minutes.
• When going above a fire to search, force entry first into an apartment other than the one directly over the fire for an escape route.
• If heavy fire is showing in two or more apartments on one floor, bring out the 2½-in. hose.
• If you're inside with a lot of fire and a possibility of many occupants, don't waste time with a knockdown battle, drop it with one punch.
• The decision as to what size line is required, however, should be based on a realistic size-up.
• Multiple dwellings may require multiple staircases, and it is important to select the proper stair.
• A fast method of selecting stairways is to have two members climb to the second floor and locate the proper apartment line.
• Apartments in most of these buildings are designated with alphanumeric systems.
• Alphanumeric systems usually indicate the floor by means of the number and the apartment line by the letter.
• The layout of the ground floor shouldn’t be taken as indicative of the upper floors.
• Stairway layouts include isolated staircases and wing stairs.
• Members discovering isolated or wing stairs should relay this information.
• An alternate escape route is the exterior fire escape in Class 3 or Class 4 buildings.
• Wing stairs may be found in larger buildings and are in effect single stairs that serve only that wing.
• Isolated stairs create all the problems of wing stairs or single stairs.
• Firefighters cannot travel easily from one side of the building to another.
• Multiple hoselines may have to be stretched to each apartment in each wing by stairs, ladders, or rope.
• Transverse stairs are very helpful to fire operations, allowing several approaches to the fire area.
• Care must be taken to avoid opposing hose streams when using transverse stairs.

Stair Types

• If the stairway is nearest to the fire area, it may be remote from the main entrance.
• By dropping down to the floor below and locating the appropriate apartment line, you can get your bearings as to the location of the fire.
• Where the staircase maintains a constant location on each floor (return stairs), it is simple to count doors to the proper apartment.
• Other types of stairs, such as scissor stairs and straight-run stairs, change the location of the stairway doors and can be disorienting.
• The spare hose that will be needed to allow the nozzle team to advance should be flaked out on the floor below.
• At times, the small stair landings on the floor below do not provide enough room.
• If small stair landings do not provide enough room for the spare hose, force a door to one of the apartments and flake the spare hose out in it.
• The second line should be stretched the same way to cover any additional involved apartments or to assist the first line.
• Whenever a line goes up above, the members must let the first crew know that they are doing this.
• After the first two lines have been stretched, additional lines should take an alternate route to avoid overcrowding the stairway.
• Avoid tying up aerial devices as temporary standpipes.
• The aerial device is a defensive weapon, and if the situation demands, they must be free to maneuver.
• Haul the supply line up the outside.
• Give consideration to the possible need to supply multiple lines.
• Equip the 3-in. line with a water thief, supplying a second, third, or even a fourth line is greatly simplified.
• Team effort is required.

Cockloft Fires

• Some of the most challenging fires in these structures involve fires that either start in or extend to the cockloft.
• Cockloft fires are extremely fast-spreading affairs.
• Use the cockloft nozzle to get water into this void to get ahead of the fire spread.
• The cockloft can extend over multiple apartments, requiring at least one hoseline inside each apartment.
• A system of communicating one’s position within the structure is essential.
• Structures are segmented into wings.
• Preplanning should certainly be a key element in developing such a picture.
• Digital pictures are a great tool.
• Be sure to include an aerial view, which helps people understand the spatial relationships between wings.
• A common system of communicating the type of structure as well as the location of fire and personnel within the building is critical.
• All personnel should be familiar with the most common shapes of structures in their response area and the neighboring response areas.
• They should understand what an H-type building is, where they are located in an E-shaped or a double-E structure, and what extra difficulties will be involved with an O-shape.
• The simplest system that I have seen so far for identifying locations with large buildings is to designate the far left wing (as viewed from the command post) as the A wing, the next to the right as the B wing, and so on.
• The wings of these large structures are usually joined together by a relatively smaller section called the throat.
• The throat is usually where you will want to make a defensive stand if severe fire conditions prevent your advance down the hall toward the fire area.
• Heavy fire is present in two or more apartments and has entered the cockloft area in the throat.
• Interior handlines may be driven off the top floor or out of the building entirely by the volume of fire.
• The aerial platform and the trench cut form the best defense here.
• Position the platform with the turntable in line with the throat.
• A telescoping boom platform enables members to operate at the top-floor window with a master stream.

Roof Operations

• Several factors that we have discussed in this chapter require the immediate commitment of personnel to the roof in multiple dwellings
• The most critical tasks the roof team can perform is to perform a size-up of the structure and relay their findings to the IC.
• The members on the roof should report any trapped occupants or fire extension.
• The roof team should commence a search of the stair bulkhead (if a bulkhead is present).
• The roof team must search the bulkhead at all multiple-dwelling fires, even lower-floor fires.
• The roof team should immediately force open the door to the stairway (bulkhead) and quickly search for any overcome occupants on the landing or the staircase to the roof.
• Venting the bulkhead creates an exhaust flow path through the fire apartment, interior hall, and stairwell.
• If there is no one trapped there needing rescue, the roof firefighters retreat to the roof and close the bulkhead door.
• Once the roof team receives word that the interior team wants ventilation, or that the hoseline is advancing into the fire apartment, they should then reopen the bulkhead door and vent the skylight atop the bulkhead.
• When breaking glass in skylights, remember that firefighters are likely moving up the stairs.
• Break a small pane first, pause a few moments as a warning to those below, then continue to clear the entire skylight, trying to pull as much back onto the roof as possible.
• Members ascending the stairs below should move close to the walls when skylights are being taken out.
• A folding attic ladder secured to the top section of the aerial ladder or elevating platform boom will help in gaining access to skylights located on top of high bulkheads.
• The benefit gained by sending members to the roof for vertical ventilation far outweighs any other possible duties that they might be assigned
• The aerial device is the preferred way of reaching most roofs.
• Most fire escapes don’t go to the roof, only to the top floor.
• The interior stairway of the fire building is definitely out unless there is a separate wing remote from the fire area with either wing stairs or isolated stairs to the roof.
• The adjoining building should be the first choice for reaching the roof, even over the aerial device, since it is usually much faster and safer unless it is a row of wood frame buildings that share a common cockloft.
• Members should report any trapped occupants or fire extension.
• Row frame buildings that share a common cockloft should not be used as a means of reaching the roof.
• Once the roof team members have vented over the stairways and other vertical shafts, the duties that they will perform next depend on the location of the fire.
• If the fire is on a lower floor, the roof team may descend to help in the search.
• The three greatest areas of danger to the occupants, in order, are the fire floor, the floor above, and the top floor.
• What floor should they search?
• Generally, the three greatest areas of danger to the occupants, in order, are the fire floor, the floor above, and the top floor.
• Any intermediate floors come later.
• Sometimes, the roof team can make a rapid descent down the rear fire escape, which can put the members in position to reach trapped victims much sooner than any other method.
• If there is a rear fire escape, they should use it.
• FIRE ESCAPE SEARCH CONSIDERATIONS: The fire floor, the floor above and the top floor
• It may be possible to breach a hole in the common wall between the two apartments to gain access to the rear.
• This same technique may be used to provide an escape route in an emergency if firefighters find themselves cut off from the normal exit.
• A fire in an apartment on the top floor has a different scenario and may call for a change in tactics.
• Roof team should speed up the search of the top floor and the overall attack by venting the top-floor windows from the roof.
• Conditions on the top floor can be relieved even more by cutting a vent hole in the roof and pushing the top-floor ceilings down.

Renovated Buildings

• Some of the most dangerous multiple dwellings to operate in are those that have been renovated.
• Renovated buildings, (or rehabs, short for rehabilitated) are often the cause of multiple alarms despite efforts to make them more fire-safe.
• These are generally older buildings that have sound structural bearing members—walls, columns, and such—but whose interior partitions are in such disrepair that it is cheaper to rip them all out and start fresh than it is to repair them.
• In effect, what has happened is that a cockloft has been created on each floor.
• Collapse of multiple dwellings during interior firefighting efforts used to be unusual; this is no longer the case.
• There is the threat of partial collapse from the metal cornices on many buildings.
• Fire in the cockloft or cornice could result in the structure falling to the street.
• A collapse zone must be established beneath any cornice that shows heavy fire.

Fireproof Multiple Dwellings

• Fireproof multiple dwellings have many of the same problems as nonfireproof versions.
• The building is designed to restrict both the vertical and horizontal spread of fire.
• The building can cause some unique problems, since it holds tremendous amounts of heat.
• Apartment doors are, in most cases, of sturdier construction.
• Even recognizing the building as a Class 1 fireproof building may not be so simple.
• Fireproof buildings aren’t required to have fire escapes, and their cocklofts are noncombustible.
• Scissor stairs pose a common problem in Class 1 buildings.
• Scissor stairs create problems for firefighters.
• Fires in these structures are generally confined to the apartment of origin.
• The interior public hallway is most often windowless, but there is usually no danger of extension, collapse, or severe life threat to anyone outside the fire apartment.
• One hazard that is increasingly seen in these buildings is cable TV/Internet wires strung along the public hallway in plastic wire–molding.
• Every firefighter should carry a good wire cutter or multitool in an accessible location to free them from this hazard.
• The most punishing affairs likely to occur in these buildings involve fire that is vented to the outside with the apartment door open and a stiff wind blowing into the fire apartment.

Severe Wind-Driven Fire

• New York City firefighters have experienced severe wind-driven fire conditions in Class 1 buildings periodically since the 1970s.
• In the late 1990s, four NYC firefighters and numerous civilians were killed in these extreme wind-driven fires.
• The cause of this condition is high winds blowing flame back into the building through windows that have vented.
• The wind striking the side of a building funnels through an involved apartment, increasing the amount of oxygen in contact with the fuel, resulting in a dramatic increase in the burning rate of an object.
• The resulting flame is then pushed ahead by the wind, venting out of the apartment door and filling the public hall with flame.
• FDNY, in conjunction with the Chicago Fire Department, Toledo Fire Department, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and UL, have done numerous full-scale, live fire, test burns in a series of high-rise buildings to document this condition and test a variety of tactics for dealing with them.
• From 2006 to 2008, the FDNY (New York City Fire Department), in conjunction with the Chicago Fire Department, Toledo Fire Department, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and UL, have done numerous full-scale, live fire, test burns in a series of high-rise buildings to document this condition and test a variety of tactics for dealing with them.
• This is primarily a cold weather phenomenon.
• In New York City, all of the most severe instances of this type have occurred between November and March, typically the coldest time of the year.
• Any time and any place where winds over 10–15 mph are present, so is the danger of a wind driven fire.
• Once the building exceeds eight stories, the height of the building does not play a major role, nor does the floor of the fire.
• Analysis of weather data from the time of these fires indicates that several have occurred with only 15-mph winds.
• Airflow through the building is the culprit.
• Airflow over the burning fuel creates temperatures in excess of 2,500°F from standard residential fire loading.
• A fireball must have an exhaust outlet or the airflow into the hallway cannot continue.
• It is critical to evaluate the effect that any ventilation efforts will have prior to breaking any windows.
• If any wind is blowing toward the affected windows, don’t vent until the fire area is well under control.
• When venting from inside the building, more information is needed.
• Make a small experimental opening on the fire floor first.
• When venting from the floor above, be sure to position all doors as they will be found on the fire floor.
• Usually the opening of a door or window on the downwind (low-pressure) side of the fire building, which allowed air to funnel in through the fire apartment and out the other side caused a sudden massive intensification.

Wind Driven Fire Tactics

• The use of positive pressure ventilation fans to pressurize the attack staircase may stop the airflow through the fire apartment.
• Stopping the airflow at the inlet rather than the exhaust is a more positive approach.
• The FDNY has been carrying a variety of wind-control devices.
• FDNY’s wind-control devices involve draping a fire-resistive curtain in front of the window that the wind is blowing into, from the floor or roof above.
• The FDNY currently uses two models of curtain.
• The first, larger, is 10 ft high × 12 ft wide.
• This comes with 20-ft long Kevlar ropes sewn on each corner.
• There's also a second, smaller version, the K.O. Fire Curtain that is carried by every ladder company in the city. It is 6×6 ft.
• Handlines have virtually no effect on this gas flame.
• If the fire is within reach of an outside stream, it may be best to knock the fire down from outside.
• The FDNY’s Research and Development unit has developed a floor-below nozzle.
• Before applying the stream, clear all personnel out of the halls on the fire floor (they probably haven’t gotten out of the stairwell, anyway), then close the stairway doors.
• The floor-below nozzle can be connected to any handline on the floor below the fire.
• Place the nozzle out the window, directly below the window on the fire floor into which the wind is blowing, and start the water.
• Remember, if you put the fire out, everything else gets better.
• breaching a hole from the stairway into the adjoining apartment might be possible.

Duplex, Triplex, and Sandwich Apartments

• Buildings with duplex and triplex apartments can severely challenge fire forces.
• Duplex apartments have living space on two floors of a building, while triplexes have space on three floors.
• There is a stairway within each apartment from floor to floor.
• This is an open, unprotected stairway as opposed to the stairway within the fire-rated enclosure that serves as the building’s exits.
• Apartment layouts typically have the entrance on the same level as the kitchen and living room.
• The bedrooms are on the other levels.
• Fire beginning in the kitchen or living room quickly cuts off escape for occupants.
• It might be possible to breach a partition wall from an adjoining apartment to bypass the entrance floor and rescue the trapped occupants.
• Sandwich apartments are similar to duplex and triplex apartments in that they have an interior stair within some of the apartments, but they differ in that all the living space for each apartment is located on a single floor.
• Sandwich apartments eliminate the public hallways on two floors, using this space for extra living space.
• The public halls are only found every three floors.
• Sandwich apartments have stairs directly behind some of the entrance doors.
• Fires in the down apartment in a sandwich layout is the equivalent of trying to enter a cellar fire from the top, and can be very serious.
• A wall may need to be breached from an adjoining apartment to knock these fires down.
• The public hall is often lined with windows
• Building management should paint the stair side of the stairway door the same color on floors with the similar layout.

Other Firefighting Considerations

• One of the biggest problems at many of these fires is the large number of tenants who attempt to flee the fire,
• People would almost always be far better off if they were to remain in their apartments or hotel rooms.
• Floor wardens would advise the other residents to stay in their rooms whenever the fire alarm sounded.
• This can be augmented in other premises where a public address system is available in the lobby, announcing directions either to selected floors or to all of them.
• Address occupants at windows in a calm, reassuring tone while.
• Uninvolved floors can often be searched by less damaging methods, such as by using a master key.
• Ventilation of light to moderately charged hallways can often be accomplished by blocking open the hopper door to either a compactor or an incinerator chute on the floor.
• This avoids contaminating the staircases with smoke.
• Take a close, critical look at all phases of your operation.