The First-Due: We predicate with certain expectations that fire will travel in a defined manner in a building.

What at the Projected Operational Risks? Do they Matter? Photo:CJ Naum, 2013 Taking it to the Streets Vacant, unoccupied, abandoned and derelict buildings continue to challenge emergency response companies at incidents. It’s the buildings of Heritage – masonry construction with Heavy Timber, Mill, Semi-Mill or Ordinary Construction systems of three to six to eight story […]

Arriving companies and personnel at a structure fire must be able to rapidly and accurately identify key elements of a building,

The fact that at times, our surroundings do become a blur and fade into the background…

    Taking it to the Streets: Your Street on any given Day At times, our surroundings become a blur and fade into the fabric that defines our response district, our first-due, our neighborhood, community, city or town. We tend to focus on thos…e areas that have an immediacy or frequency that defines day-to –day […]

Take a look at this interior shot of the following occupancy:

Are you Reading Your Buildings Correctly? It’s not always that easy and looks may very well be deceiving.

Floor and wall collapse at a residential fire sends three firefighters into the basement and results in RIT rescues.

This edition of Ten Minutes in the Street TM is looking at the considerations for the first-due engine company upon arrival at a well involved single family residential house fire. Arrivals and subsequent deployments during night time periods pose ever increasing challenges to arriving officers in the ability to ascertain and recognize factors that will have a direct or ancillary affect in the developing incident action plan, tactics and task assignments.

        It always starts out this way…..a quiet Saturday afternoon. The shift tour has been fairly quiet or you just happened to stop into the fire station for a cup of coffee and some kitchen table talk in the day room. The bells/tones come in for a report of smoke coming from a building located […]