[Rant Boss]

On April 16, 2007, a 24-year-old male career fire fighter (the victim) was fatally injured while trapped in the master bedroom during a wind-driven residential structure fire. At 0603 hours, dispatch reported a single family house fire. At 0609 hours, the victim’s ladder truck was second to arrive on scene. Fire was visible at the back exterior corner of the residence. Noticing cars in the driveway, no one outside, and no lights visible in the house, the lieutenant from the first arriving engine called in a second alarm. A charged 2 ½” hoseline was stretched to the front door by the first arriving engine crew. The engine crew stayed at the door with the attack line while the cause of poor water pressure in the hoseline was determined. The victim and his lieutenant, wearing their SCBA, entered the residence through the unlocked front door. With light smoke showing, they walked up the stairs to check the bedrooms. The victim and lieutenant cleared the top of the stairs and went straight into the master bedroom. With smoke beginning to show at ceiling level, the victim did a right-hand search while the lieutenant with thermal imaging camera (TIC) in-hand checked the bed. Suddenly the room turned black then orange with flames. The lieutenant yelled to the victim to get out. While verbal communication among the crew was maintained, the lieutenant found the doorway and moved toward the stairs. He ended up falling down the stairs to a curve located midway in the staircase. The lieutenant tried to direct the victim to the stairs verbally and with a flashlight. As the wind gusted up to 48 miles per hour, the wind-driven fire and smoke engulfed the residence. The incident commander (IC) ordered an evacuation and the lieutenant was brought outside by the engine and rescue company crews. The ladder truck lieutenant received burns on his ears and right index finger. At 0614 hours, the rescue company officer issued a Mayday followed by the victim’s Mayday. With protection from hose lines, several attempts were made by the engine and rescue company crews to reach the second floor. On the third attempt the stair landing was reached but the ceiling started collapsing and flames intensified. At 0621 hours, due to the intensity of the fire throughout the structure, all fire fighters were evacuated, operations turned defensive, but the incident continued in rescue mode. At 0657 hours, the victim was found in the master bedroom partially on a couch underneath the front windows.

The NIOSH Report of this incident should be of tremendous interest to all firefighters. You can read it here: Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation Report F2007-12 | CDC/NIOSH

[21code2]

It's scary how fast things can go wrong in our line of business. RIP brother.

This almost happened to my department at a house fire in Bay Park. As the hose team was making entry in through the front door, some genius from another department started taking out windows on the side of the house facing the wind. The hose team was blown out the front door. Luckily no one was seriously injured but another 30 seconds and they would have been well inside the house.





The Fire Behavior class at the academy does an excellent job of demonstrating the different phases of fire and the types of smoke each generates. It also covers the warning signs of backdrafts and flashovers.

[xpdfd]

This is a very unfortunate incident that ended a Firefighters life. This fire was wind driven and conditions in the fire room changed in a instant. They were lucky that the officer made it out to the stairs, or it would have been two lost lives. I would not Monday morning quarterback a fatal fire, but I will encourage all Officers and Chiefs to use this tragic incident as a reminder to train your members on blacked out facepiece drills to rapidly exit rooms by either using hose line recognition or finding a doorway to exit the fire room. Two many times we are loosing Firefighters to high wind driven fires where temperatures change rapidly from low heat to FLASH-OVER in a second. To the Brother Firefighter who gave the Supreme Sacrifice my prayers go out to your family and friends RIP BROTHER.

[Rant Boss]

The full NIOSH report (link at the bottom of the article) is very detailed in its description of the incident, and provides their recommendations as a result. I urge everyone to take a few minutes and check it out. A lot of it is likely stuff you already know -- I'm sure the brothers who responded to that fire knew it too.