Imagine that you’re riding in the first-due engine after being dispatched to a local school early one weekday afternoon with a report of heavy smoke on the upper floor. The dispatcher reports the building has been evacuated but two students are unaccounted for. You’ve driven by the school many times, perhaps entered briefly during an alarm investigation a couple of years back (you recall the layout was confusing), but that’s as much as you know about the building. The officer tells you and your partner to prepare for a primary search.
Now imagine the same call, except that this time, as the truck rolls toward the school, you’re picturing in your mind the two sets of double doors on the A and C sides of the building and the three sets of stairs-one at either end and one in the middle-that access the upper floor. When you and your partner are assigned primary search, you can instantly visualize the upper-floor hallway and the classrooms that line either side-including the windowless bathroom on the C side.
Which of these two situations would you rather be in? I think we’d all agree that the second situation is likely to produce a more effective, quicker response with less risk. Being familiar with a building-knowing details such as the floor plan, exit locations, stairways, the location of the fire department connection (FDC), the nature of the occupancy, nearby sources for water supply, special hazards, and construction type-can’t help but stack the deck in your favor, enabling you to operate more effectively, make better decisions, and maximize safety.
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