by BILL NEMICK
Nearly 20 years ago, as a young company officer, I responded to a fire that was nearly disastrous for my crew and me. Now referred to as a “near miss,” this fire forever changed my outlook on attic fires and ultimately led to my adoption of the piercing nozzle technique. That night, a fire had started in a second-story apartment in an older, eight-unit building. The first-in engine company attacked the fire and seemed to have extinguished it without issue.
I was the company officer on the second attack line, and the only thing we encountered when we entered the building was light smoke. While we were overhauling, we noticed that it was getting uncomfortably hot. At first, I attributed the temperature increase to the length of time we had been in the building, rationalizing that the heat was finally permeating our bunker gear. As we continued to overhaul, the incident commander (IC) reported that there was still a considerable amount of smoke exiting from the roof eaves. In that moment, I realized there must have been a sizable fire in the attic directly above us.
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