By Michael N. Ciampo
With the evolution of the Internet and various Web sites, it's very easy to watch a fire video and begin tearing it apart even though you have no idea of what the crew was faced with. Then there are those videos that you sit and watch in awe of the procedure, tactic, or tip being shown. All of this is part of the learning curve, but we need to be careful with just using this as a learning mechanism. We must take what we watched out to the apparatus floor or to the training tower and let our mind coordinate with our hands and perform the tactic. Doing it in a practice run is much better than trying to teach yourself in a pressure situation.
Arriving as the second-due truck at a predawn top-floor fire in a five-story multiple dwelling, we made our way to the top floor. Our primary concern was to search the adjoining apartments for life and for any fire extending into the cockloft (the area above the top-floor ceiling to the bottom of the roof sheathing) or adjoining walls. We also focused on searching the large public hallway for victims. Forcing the adjoining door with multiple locks engaged made us think that there still could be endangered occupants inside the heavily smoke-filled apartment.
If you are a current subscriber,login hereto access this content.
If you would like to become a subscriber, please visit ushere.
