Last November, an awful tragedy struck the fire department of Coos Bay, Ore., while fighting a blaze in an automobile supply store. This being a combination career and volunteer organization, both sides got it when the roof collapsed — one career and two volunteer firefighters lost their lives. How sad that is.

There will be no judgment on this matter by this writer, but I do think that all of us in the fire service should study what occurred, for there are facts that show the same thing can happen to us as easily as someone else. Businesses like the one that burned are all over the country, and most of them are in masonry buildings. They all seem to be large and loaded with a mix of combustible contents that could blow so bad your helmet would fly off your head before you left the station.

Some of these fires start the same way: small and hidden, but progressive. This is bad because there are so many unknowns. If you arrive at one of these and a small fire is showing, you know that you can take the simple offensive stance and it's done. Or else you can arrive on location with a lot of smoke and flames, where you know you'll go on the defensive. It's those fires in between these extremes that can suddenly turn right over and change from a mouse to a monster.

Let's kick this thing around a little to see what we can observe and put together, and maybe we can then make suggestions. Why? Because matters like firefighters getting killed on the fireground should be our number-one concern. After all, we're supposed to protect our citizens, but how can we convince them of this if we can't save our own?

Evacuation signals

A good many years ago I wrote a story that asked the question, “How big can a fire get?” The answer: “As big as the building.” [Ed.: See “Think Big,” December 1994.] This story detailed a fire in a 4-story building loaded with children's toys.

I arrived on location early and had to look hard to find any smoke. Because I wasn't a member of this fire department, all I had to do was watch and photograph. Before it was over there was a flashover and the fire took off on all floors. Fortunately the evacuation signal sounded and all hands exited the fire building. However, four firefighters were trapped on the roof. Two escaped on a ladder platform, and the other two were brought down on an aerial ladder.

I don't intend to write all the steps and complexities of this type of fire. There are too many complexities and unknowns to do it justice, as it is a nationwide problem. Just remember that when you ask yourself how big a fire can get, the answer is as big as the building. Don't forget that.

Instead, I intend to examine the evacuation signal that so often precedes a collapse or fire escalation. Is what we do now the best way to empty a fireground? One of the most common methods is to blow the apparatus sirens for a given period of time. I once heard about 12 sirens sound for one minute, and you could hear that in the next fire district. Other methods include blowing all the apparatus air horns or sounding a combination of horns and sirens. It goes without saying that you would put it out on the radio.

Unfortunately, reports are that, when in a structure working a fire, firefighters can hear the sirens and air horns of incoming apparatus and construe that as the signal to get out. Do we need a specific sound, unlike any other, to be universally accepted? Such a signal could be developed, studied and approved by the National Fire Protection Association, the Occupational Health and Safety Administration, the International Association of Fire Fighters and the International Association of Fire Chiefs.

The spirit factor

There is another matter that fireground commanders should consider when they have to decide if it's time to withdraw. Believe it or not, it's our spirit. As science has evolved, our personal protective gear has grown to be better than it ever has been, which allows us to get into ever more hostile environments.

It's now acceptable practice to get up close with the fire, and that generally works well. We want to take the offensive, but we must remember that we can't take the offensive every time we go out. Our annual death toll shows that.

I photographed a two-alarm night fire in Queens, N.Y., awhile back. A 2-story building with three stores on the ground floor and apartments on the second floor was burning pretty well. The fire had started at the rear of the first floor, spread up to the second level, and found its way into the cockloft and through the roof.

The safety officer and the chief in charge conferred and decided to pull the cornice and turn a tower ladder stream down the rafter channels to kill the fire. They ordered the building evacuated during this phase of the operation, but I can say that I thought they all never would get out. I had the feeling that these firefighters were reluctant to leave their work and do what they were ordered to do, but they hacked out all lines, carried out all their tools and stood fast.

A reluctance to leave can be one of the problems at a good-sized structure when crews are working in multiple locations. Oftentimes one group is in good shape and making progress while another group is in dire danger and losing ground. This disparity can result in the safe group not seeing the big picture when the evacuation signal is given, but they should respect it.

As for other evacuation issues, there might be crews inside when the horn blows that can't get out as quickly as the fireground commander would like them to because they want to back their lines out. This isn't entirely bad because they might need those lines to fight their way to safety. Another situation is what I call, “Where's Harry? He came in with me and he was right behind me a minute ago.” So we tarry for Harry.

The gist is this: The evacuation will not be completed as quickly as the incident commander wants it to be.

Three conditions

There's much to be said about those fires in which our people lose their lives, such as building construction, mixed contents within the structure and involvement on arrival. All can come together to make a big boom, which is why we need to set a condition at fires.

This process can be broken down into three phases. If you arrive at a run-of-the-mill situation, you can announce that the condition is green. In other words, firefighting at the normal level can be done in the general attack mode. On the other hand, if the fire looks like it has a fair potential to blossom, set the condition to yellow. This means that a straightforward aggressive attack can commence as long as everyone stays alert for the evacuation signal.

If you have to go all the way and order condition red, that would trigger the evacuation signal for all hands to vacate the premises. Backout should be expected, and no one is allowed to re-enter until either condition yellow or green is set again. If you arrive at a job that's so far in progress that you choose not to issue an interior attack, then you can set condition red in the very beginning.

It's our duty to stop fireground deaths, which means that the signals to announce our commands should be distinct, audible and like no other. Let us collectively do this so that no firefighter should have to shout to another, “Do you hear what I hear?” If we get it right, no one can possibly miss it.

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Prior to his retirement, Donald L. Loeb served the Dunkirk (N.Y.) Fire Department as a volunteer firefighter, assistant chief and chief. His experience spans six decades of military and civilian firefighting, teaching, and writing.