On January 22nd the department was dispatched to a structure fire on the outskirts of the city. The weather was clear and calm with ambient temperature of -8°F. The first arriving engine company arrived to the home with light to moderate smoke showing, predominantly from the C-side, from a basement garage. The home was a 26×40 single story home with a full, finished, walk-out basement, part of which was a two-stall garage, facing the C-side. There were no reported occupants inside at the time of call, and two residents had escaped after being alerted by their smoke alarm. The initial company stretched a hand-line to the C-side to attack the fire in the garage/basement area. The second engine and rescue companies arrived about 3 minutes later and stretched a second line to the front of the house (floor above the fire) to start pulling walls and ceilings and attack any extension on the first floor. A third engine arrived soon after and established a water supply to a hydrant. Moderate smoke was still pushing from the first floor front door and attic eves as 5 firefighters entered through the front door. As the crew pushed down the hallway, conditions began to rapidly deteriorate. As the crew began to withdraw, two firefighters got briefly separated from the hose-line and found their way to a window near the front door and escaped through it. Another firefighter’s regulator was pulled from his facepiece during the escape, which he was able to replace within seconds prior to finding the hose which led him to safety.
After the crew escaped, an accountability roll-call was made to account for all members operating at the scene. Of the four-man crew making the attack on the first floor, two sustained second degree burns to their forearms. One sustained second degree burn to his face, at the edge of his face-piece, and the member who’s regulator became dislodged encountered moderate smoke inhalation. Four members were seen at the emergency department and released the same day to return to work.
LESSONS LEARNED:
The origin of the fire appeared to have started in the basement garage area, which coincided with the original caller’s report of smoke in the basement and first arriving engine company’s report. There was a fairly heavy fire load in the basement from it being finished with wood paneling and the caller reported opening the basement door prior to escape. One member of the crew stated he broke out a window close to the front door soon after entering to ventilate smoke and heat they began to experience.
The department is a full-time career department with the 5 affected members having varying levels of experience from 1 year to over 20 years and was overseen by a lieutenant who was equipped with a thermal imager.
The incident commander was a captain with 24 years on the job. He performed a 360 size up and determined that the conditions warranted continuing the offensive attack.
The chain of events seem to indicate that the fire was still free burning in the stairs and back room of the basement when the crews entered through the front door. By this time the garage door in the basement had collapsed which led to an open intake-flow path to the fire. When the crew opened the front of the house, and with the basement door left open by the occupant the fire had a chimney of available air to increase its speed of burning. The extreme cold temperatures compounded the event, leading to a larger temperature differential between the fire building and the ambient temperatures.
The firefighter whose regulator became disconnected had his facepiece examined and found it to be operating correctly. It is possible that the regulator was not seated and snapped completely prior to entry.
A better understanding of fire dynamics as well as the effect that weather can have on structure fires could have reduced the chances of this incident leading to injuries. The habit of going through the front door may have played a role when the fire was more akin to a basement fire. After opening the front door and/or windows, the basement crew should have continued to push into the structure while the hot smoke and gases vented through the first floor.
