After an uneventful day tour, the fire station had quieted down for the night. The house chores had been completed and the apparatus had been refueled after a day of in-service inspections. All hands were busy preparing the night meal.

Just before “Chow's on!” echoes through the station, the alert tone sounds and the printer springs to life. “Both companies first due” reports the house watch. The members scramble for the rigs as the house watch gives the rest of the information: “Across from 545 Ninth St. — a house fire.”

As the officer on the first-due engine, what should be going through your mind when you leave the station? Proper size-up starts by knowing your district. It may be impossible to know every building in your district, but it's possible to know the general areas where you respond. It's common for like-type occupancies to be clustered together. Commercial buildings may be located on or near the main streets of your area. Apartment buildings may also be found closer to your downtown, but garden apartments and townhouse complexes may be scattered throughout your district. Housing developments usually will contain houses of similar style with some varieties in floor plans.

None of the above are hard and fast rules, but they may provide you with some information to start planning.

The tactics that you employ on arrival will be based on what is showing. Conditions may range from “nothing showing” to “fully involved” and everything in between. Options for the first-arriving engine will range from not stretching a hand line to starting off with a master-stream appliance. Department SOPs may influence or limit the options the company officer may take, but they should be written as not to limit the input of the first-to-arrive officer.

Look out BELOW

As you respond, you should be monitoring the radio for any additional information that the dispatch center may have received. If there's no additional information, slow down and use the approach to the address to check for any smoke or civilians who may be waving you in. With nothing visible and no indications of a fire, what are your options?

As you approach the scene, take a good look at the fire building. Check doors, windows and the eaves, and don't forget a look over the roofline toward the rear. If nothing is visible, a look at the interior is required. If something is showing, you have several options. A good practice is to pull the engine past the address where the reported incident is. This leaves the front of the building for the truck company and it gives the officer and crew a look at three sides of the occupancy.

The company officer should be looking for several things on arrival. The five-point BELOW size-up is often the easiest for company officers to manage:

• B, fire building and type of construction;
• E, extent and location of the fire;
• L, life hazard, both reported or expected;
• O, occupancy of the fire building; and
• W, water supply.

Although all these points are important for the engine officer, the main task of the engine is to get first water on the fire. The other items are all important and will figure into the size-up, but the engine company officer cannot lose sight of this number-one objective. Of course, if an obvious life hazard needs immediate attention, the engine company might need to address that issue first, but the proper stretching of the first hand line has saved more lives and operations than other actions on the fireground.

One thing to always consider is your department's SOPs: Some departments still require the first engine to lay in a supply line on every phone alarm; others leave it as an option for the officer. For water supply, an engine company will normally have the following options: tank water, hydrant water, drafting and/or tanker water, or tanker shuttles.

Solution may be problem

If your department is like most, the first attack line is usually a 1I-inch preconnect. The American fire service has embraced the 1I-inch hand line as the solution to almost all fire situations. But depending on nozzles, hose and pump pressures, the 1I-inch actually may be getting your department into trouble.

A preconnect limits the options available for water supply, because it means the engine is now committed. It can't move from its present location without disconnecting the hand lines stretched from it. The operator must either hand stretch a supply line to the nearest hydrant or ask the next-due engine to bring water. If the hydrant is close or if the next engine's arrival is delayed, hand stretching to the hydrant is the best option.

If the distance is more than a few lengths and the next-due engine should be on scene shortly, that engine should be tasked with supplying the first-due engine. They have the option of laying in to the first engine and just using hydrant pressure, or they can stretch from the first engine to the hydrant and either supply them or hook directly to the hydrant. With light smoke conditions, a small fire building and crews already in the building, all of these options are likely to be acceptable.

While the water supply is established, the engine should be operating off booster-tank water. How big is your tank and how long will it last with a 1I-inch line flowing? How about a 2H-inch line? A good engine chauffeur will be able to give the interior crew water from the tank, hand stretch or hook up a supply line, establish a water supply, and keep the boss informed of the status of the supply. Once the water supply is established and the interior crew has been informed that they're no longer working off tank water, a good operator will make sure that the booster tank is topped off and ready in case of an emergency.

The 1I-inch is acceptable for this scenario if the conditions on arrival don't indicate a serious fire. What fire conditions are compatible with the use of 1I-inch hand lines? What flows should you expect or need out of your 1I inch?

The use of a 1I-inch line also should be based on the experience and aggressiveness of the engine crew — both officer and firefighters. This size hand line should be used where the expected fire flow, in this case around 175gpm, is compatible with fire conditions and personnel, and where maneuverability is also a concern. Unless the fire has complete control of an entire floor or unit, fires in houses, townhouses or apartment buildings are all within the scope of a 1I-inch line. This remains true as long as the hand line is flowing the proper amount of water and the engine company is aggressive enough to advance the line into the fire area.

The ADULTS size-up

When is a 1I-inch line not acceptable? In several instances, the engine company officer should seriously consider stretching a 2H-inch hand line or using a master stream as initial attack. Many officers use the acronym ADULTS as a guide:

A is for an advanced fire condition

An advanced fire condition should always be considered for a large-flow attack, regardless of the fire building. This is especially true in wood-frame buildings, where the longer the fire burns the greater the chance of structural failure. When fighting fires in wood-frame buildings, it's always wise to try to stop the fire's growth or break even as soon as you can after arrival.

D is for any defensive operation

If you've given up on the offensive attack and have gone to a defensive operation, shut down all the smaller hand lines and combine those into larger streams. Again, it's about reach, volume and penetration. Big lines just have more of those three items.

U is for unable to determine the fire area

This is probably one of the most common mistakes committed on the fireground. Companies pull up to a commercial building with heavy smoke showing but no visible fire. Because the fire location and severity are unknown, firefighters rely on the standard “preconnect” mentality and stretch a 1I-inch line to the front of the building.

As the doors are forced and ventilation commences, they realize that there's a serious fire somewhere inside the building. Is it a fire in a storage room, or is a delivery truck inside at the rear of the building? Is it a fire in a paint spray booth or a pile of plastic pallets?

One possible clue is the smell of the smoke. Paper smells different than plastic. A truck burning inside a building smells different that a cockloft fire. Although it may not tell you how much fire you have, it might tell you what's burning. The bottom line is if you don't know what's burning in a large-area building, stretch a hand line that will not only give you greater reach and flows, but also will offer the crew some degree of protection. If it takes two engines to get one line in service, then assign two engines to the task.

L is for large, uncompartmented areas

These include bowling alleys, supermarkets, factories or any other facility where the total floor area or parts of the floor area will lead to a fire load that may be more than the 1I-inch line can handle. Supermarkets may have sales areas that are 100 by 75 feet, all undivided. Big fire areas require big water to offset the heat release.

Fighting fires today is about overcoming the tremendous heat release from all the plastics that are used. Look at an older 1,200- to 1,300-square-foot ranch-style home. Room sizes will vary from a 12- by 16-foot bedroom to maybe a 20- by 25-foot living room/dining room combination. Even if these areas are heavily involved, a good engine crew can handle this fire with the 1I-inch hand line. But in a newer 7,000- to 8,000-square-foot home, room sizes start at 20 by 25 feet, and the family room (complete with home movie theater) measures 2,000 square feet. These “great rooms,” as they're now called, have fuel loads that may match that of a small commercial building.

T is for tons of water

This is a catch-all category. It covers large flows of water for any reason. For heavily involved entire buildings, water curtains or even flowing water to disperse a vapor cloud, the 2H-inch should be chosen over the 1I-inch.

S is for standpipe operations

This is another area where the American fire service has a problem. Time after time, we read about companies that couldn't make the fire floor because of insufficient flows. Fire officers need to understand the requirements for supplying water through a standpipe system as well as the fire load that might be encountered. High-rises have open floor plans so that the entire floor becomes one large fire area. What flows and reach will be needed to overcome that fire load?

A 2H-inch hand line, three lengths, equipped with a 1J-inch tip, will flow more than 225gpm at an outlet pressure between 65 and 75 pounds. A 1I-inch line with an automatic nozzle that requires 100psi at the tip for maximum efficiency will require at least 160psi at the outlet to flow approximately 175gpm. Less flow, less reach and penetration, less protection, less heat absorption — and all at greater pressures. If the 2H-inch is hard to manage, join companies together to stretch and operate the line.

If your district has buildings with standpipe systems, find one where you can charge and pump the system to get a benchmark for engine pressures and flows. Take three lengths of hose and different nozzles and go to the roof and the uppermost system outlet. Charge the system and flow the different hose/nozzle combinations to find the maximum fire flow that your first-alarm assignment can put in service.

The engine company's job on the fireground might seem simple: Just put water on the fire. But the variables and unknowns can make this a very difficult task. It's our job, through training, to try to overcome these obstacles. Become proficient in all aspects of engine work and be prepared for the unknown. Know your nozzles and hose loads; know the flows that each “system” will give you; and above all, never underestimate your opponent.

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Bob Pressler, a 23-year veteran of the fire service, is a retired lieutenant from the Fire Department of New York. He created and produced the videos “Peaked-Roof Ventilation” and “SCBA Safety and Emergency Procedures” for the video series Bread and Butter Operations. Pressler has an associate's degree in fire protection engineering from Oklahoma State University.

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