On December 9, 2014, at approximately 1730 hours, Clark County (NV) Fire Department (CCFD) Engine (E) 21, E24, E66, E11, Truck (T) 11, Rescue (R) 22, and Battalion 6 were dispatched to a building fire. En route, dispatch notified the responding companies of a 67-year-old female resident of limited mobility (she was recently released from the hospital for back surgery) trapped in an upstairs bedroom.
At 1735 hours, E21 arrived first on scene and initially considered a rapid knockdown and aggressive search and rescue. Heavy fire was blowing from three downstairs windows on the A and D sides of the two-story single-family home. Fire extended to the open upstairs window-where the victim was previously seen-and into the eaves above her head. A neighbor reported to E21 that a woman was in the open master bedroom window screaming for help.
The woman disappeared from sight just before E21 arrived. Because of the volume and location of the fire and the report from the witness, E21’s captain quickly changed tactics and initiated a coordinated attack and search using vent-enter-search (VES). Two E21 firefighters were ordered to place the 24-foot extension ladder in the window one room over.
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