Iron Man Firefighting: Supporting an Effective Initial Fire Attack with Minimum Personnel

             

Iron Man Time

            I am a shift battalion chief for a small department situated between Sacramento and San Francisco. The department’s service area encompasses your typical bedroom community as well as an agribusiness hub with commercial food and lamb processing facilities, row and orchard crops and vast open lands that total 340 square miles. When I joined the Department 23 years ago, the daily staffing was four, split between two companies. I was one of three hired as the original firefighter paramedics, bring the staffing to five a day.  Even though extra positions were added, the minimum staffing remained five for 19 years. It was during this time that we developed what was referred to as “Ironman Firefighting”. The on-scene staff multi-tasked: fighting fire, overhauling, and performing salvage operations often without taking a break and utilizing multiple air cylinders. It is easy to recognize veterans of the iron man era: the limps and the grimaces from chronic pain.

The department is an island, with the closest cities, and fire stations well over 10 minutes in either direction. For years the bulk of the staff were volunteers, and the department was self-sufficient. The paid positions grew from a single, day-time position to a two-person paid company. The inability for the volunteers to both respond to the increasing numbers of calls and meet the ever-increasing training demands, the need for more paid positions became evident.

Today the Department operates from one station with two paramedic engine companies. The minimum staffing is six with a battalion chief as the shift commander. There are 21 fulltime line positions, three battalion chiefs, an assistant chief/fire marshal and the fire chief.

The Results

            The fire always went out, and rarely extended beyond the original occupancy. The department continued to push the members to multi-task to the point of exhaustion and injury. The decisions makers saw the results and thought all is well, “they did not need any more staff members”, that is why it took 19 years for the company officer position to be filled on the second engine.

New Era

            Both companies have an officer position filled and operate independently from each other. The chief officers worked a 40-hour five-day schedule. The assigned duty chief was coming from home and often arrived later in the incident to become a spectator vs. the incident commander. Only five members were available to perform fireground tasks. One of the company officers would default to the role of incident commander. The department has since added a shift battalion chief, but most fires are still only getting an initial attack force of six plus a battalion chief.

The Problem

            The department remains an island with delayed response times for our mutual aid engines and truck to arrive and balance the alarm. We identified the best resources to respond and began our focus on managing the modern fire ground based on evidence-based tactics. This started with identifying the problem and prioritizing actions to solve the problem.

            Simply stated, the problem is that both life and fire are occupying the same space. To solve this problem, we MUST either remove life or fire from the building. In terms of fire ground actions, this means putting water on the fire or rescuing the victim. With two. three person companies the ability to perform more than the basic fire ground operations may be impossible. We must routinely do this with six people. My department is not the only agency facing this challenge across the nation.

Solutions

Before any fire, an agency must do several things. The hardest is performing a thorough self-assessment. What can you bring to a fire in terms of apparatus and personnel. Is the first due engine in good repair and equipped to mitigate YOUR communities’ risks. Departments often just fill hose beds and cabinets without considering the construction types, water supplies and roads in their response areas.

What knowledge, training and experience do the responding staff members have? As a combination agency we have well-trained members with various levels of experience that always work together. For a volunteer department this may be a challenge. I know this firsthand as I have also been a member of my volunteer company for 32 years.

The recruitment and retention of firefighters, both career and volunteer has been a challenge. A volunteer department, which may be desperate for responders, still must choose new members who have or are willing to become trained to serve the community. I always tell new members that the only thing you did was volunteer to come through the door, after that they will be required to meet the basic standards.

Standards

            There are many standards that include job performance requirements, training requirements dictated by statute or industry standards such, as NFPA 1001 as an example. All firefighters must be able to demonstrate proficiency in the use of: PPE including SCBA, the selection and use of hose line and nozzles and ladders, rescue and emergency medical are skills, and so many others. It is on the fireground that competency in those skills will make or break an operation.

The Fireground Tasks

            On the scene of a fire there is a list of tasks that must be completed.

·       First line on the fire

·       Primary search

·       360/ C side

·       Water supply

·       Two-out

·       Scene safety- secure utilities

·       Secondary search

Other tasks include:

·       Ventilation

·       Salvage and over-haul

·       Investigation

How can your agency maximize the resources that arrive at a fire and perform even a fraction of the list, with minimum personnel. The solution starts with training and pre-planning. The training must be realistic and relative. If the nearest high-rise building is 50 miles away, then high rise training may not be relevant but, if you have many balloon frame dwellings, then building construction and fire behavior in those buildings is relevant. Departments often lose focus on the bread-and-butter operations. It does not matter if you only have one fire a year or a fire every day, the public expects that you can perform in a competent manner every time. The pre-planning process will provide crucial information that will expedite the rapid deployment of hose lines and identify any potential challenges for accessing the building and the occupants.

Maximizing Effectiveness

            The alarm sounds for a dwelling fire and the size-up process starts. If your agency has pre-plan documents, or a known history of issues with the building you can begin to create an action plan based on that knowledge. For a volunteer company, size-up may also include who is responding, and from where, has there been a delay in reporting and if mutual aid is available?

            There are many mnemonics to aid in the size-up process. The simplest being Layman’s FPODP-Facts, Probabilities, Own Situation, Decision Point, and Plan.

            Let’s circle back to the problem. You arrive at scene with a fire in a dwelling with both fire and people, until proven otherwise, inside. We must either remove the people or put out the fire. Which option should we use? The first step is a rapid assessment of the situation, a good size-up, including seeing all sides of the fire building to determine the best actions to employ.

            Layman again provides a time-tested mnemonic in RECEO to prioritize fire ground actions.” R” is for rescue and the priority is always life. If the victim is accessible and easily rescued, then do so. If it is unclear if a victim is present or if fire conditions warrant, then get water on the fire, between the potential victim and the fire threat. This may be considered protecting exposures or the” E” in RECEO. The CEO, or confine, extinguish and over-haul may be delayed depending on resources. Again, the focus of the initial attack force must be on either removing the victim or putting out the fire.

 

 

Break Down the Tasks

The Initial Attack Line:

Typically requires three people, the officer, a firefighter, and engineer (operator). I am un sure who said first, by I recall Chief Dunn saying ‘So goes the first line, so goes the fire”. With limited resources including people, apparatus, and water supply the timely and effective deployment of the initial attack line will make or break or break an operation. Additional lines may be needed, but to operate a line effectively requires two people, remember you are operating with a limited staff.

Primary Search:

Every building will need a primary search, even if there is no one reported in the building. The crew who is on the initial attack line may be able to search in addition to working the line. This is acceptable for a small dwelling or an isolated portion of a larger dwelling. Time is the enemy of the victim. Many fire fatalities are located far from the actual fire location, dying from toxic gas exposure. An extreme example is the MGM Grand Fire on the Las Vegas strip in November 1980, killing 85. So, the crew whose focus is on the hose line may not be the best solution to the need for a primary search. It will require at least two additional members to conduct a primary search. Our total is now five of the six task-oriented members in play.

Two-out

The two-out component of the OHSA mandate is required by statute. To meet the intent of that requirement can be a challenge for small, understaffed departments. The remaining member is the operator of the second engine, who for us is typically engaged with supporting the water supply and other tasks. Most agree that a member of the two out team may be engaged in other fire ground tasks that can be abandoned with impacting the operation. The initial attack engine operator may be able to perform as part of the two out, but it is not a preferred action.

360/C Side

A typical process is when a fire company approaches a building fire the company officer “sees” three sides of the building, this leave the back or “C Side” unseen. The need for getting a full 360-degree view of the building is reinforced in what has been called the NIOSH 5 or the five most common mistakes that have led to a fire ground injury or death. A lack of size-up or situational awareness is a proven danger and not seeing the whole of the fire building may result in a situation that exposes responders and victims to unexpected life-threatening conditions. The officer will typically get the” C Side” view and at the same time work on securing utilities.

Secondary Search

The secondary search, though not as critical as the primary search is still a standard function of the fireground. This is a more comprehensive search that is not undertaken with IDLH conditions. The caveat is that the search should be conducted by a crew other than the crew who performed the primary search.

Ventilation

I know the truck guys are foaming at the mouth because I did not add ventilation to the must do initial attack list. Remember this discussion is about maximizing efforts with a small staff. Ventilation is not passe, but if not done correctly it will have an adverse impact on the fire environment. With the UL/NIST studies demonstrating that unless you time vent operations with fire attack (within 110 seconds of each other) there is a high probability that a hostile fire event will occur. With a small force it may be preferable that the “truck” focus on searching before venting. Most small and/or volunteer departments do not have enough fire duty to be good at vertical ventilation and modern construction techniques make operating over a fire exponentially more dangerous.

Chiefs’ Role

            An old joke is what does CHAOS stand for, well it means chief has arrived on scene. As a chief, I have seen the impact, both positive and negative, that a chief officer can have on an incident. As both of my companies and myself respond from the same house, I typically let the companies respond first. My SUV with a water can and ICS vests is better arriving after the companies spot the apparatus and deploy lines.  This may be contrary to how others operate, but we have well-rehearsed operations and well-trained officers who make good decisions.

            As the incident commander I will fill in the gaps as needed. I am responsible for accountability, resource ordering, strategic alignment, and objective setting. I am the “air traffic controller”, safety officer and voice of the incident. I have the 1000-yard view and I am responsible for forecasting the needs of the crews and predicting how the incident may expand.

Wrapping It All Together

            There is no one RIGHT way to manage any fire. To be successful we must have objectives that are measurable, manageable, and achievable. When we arrive at a fire with a limited force, we must focus on what we can accomplish safely, effectively, and efficiently. Tools such as RECEO give us a jumping off point. Our primary goal is life safety followed by limiting the fire growth.

            

           Remember it is our responsibility to recognize the problem: There is a fire in the same space as

 

there are people and we must act to either remove the people or put out the fire, by mounting

 an effective initial fire attack and rescue operation, with minimal staffing