Written by: Lt. Brad Dougherty

You are the driver operator of Engine Company 15 you are operating your apparatus at a working apartment fire at 1233 Impeller Drive. The fire is a room and contents fire in the bedroom on the 5th floor located in apartment 502. You have connected two fifty foot sections of three inch line to the stand pipe from your number one and number three discharge. The officer has taken a fifty foot roll of three inch with a gated wye attached  and the two firefighters each have (1)  one hundred foot 1 1/2 inch high rise pack which are carried to the stair well below the fire floor and connected to the stand pipe they will be flowing the 1 1/2 lines at one hundred and twenty five gallons per minute out of an (2) 1 1/2 adjustable gallonage nozzles. Figure your friction loss using your organizations SOP for all pieces of hose involved in this operation.

Authors friction loss calculations to follow.

Written By: Lt. Brad Dougherty

You are the engine company officer who’s engine has been assigned the RIT function at a two story wood framed residential dwelling the fire is located on the first floor “A” side of the structure. The remainder of the assignment includes Engine Companies 4 & 5, Tower 1, Rescue 1, Medic 1 and Battalion 4. Engines 4&5 are operating two 1.75 hand lines while Tower 1 and Rescue 1 conduct primary searches of the fire floor and the second floor. Additionally a 1.75 inch line has been stretched to the front porch for RIT . (Utilize your organizations SOP’s for the questions below.)

1.) What type of tools will you utilize to perform RIT operations ?

2.) As the RIT officer what functions do you need to complete on the fire ground prior to the receipt of a MAY DAY !!?

3.) As the RIT will you complete another scene size up and why?

After completing the exterior functions of RIT you and your team hear a MAY DAY ! ! called over the fire ground channel from Engine 4 to command.

“Engine 4 to command two of my personnel are unaccounted for. Last known locations were the bravo/charlie corner. Command also the interior conditions are deteriorating rapidly and we have had a partial collapse on the alpha / bravo side.”

What other information should be obtained from Engine 4′s officer and what other actions may be taken be for RIT Deployment?

RIT has now been deployed to search for the missing firefighters from Engine 4 describe where you will deploy to and what will be your course of action to mitigate this situation.?

Sidenote: “RIT located both Firefighters exterior of the structure “C” side they escaped from a window after recognizing deterioration of the interior conditions and assumed their officer had followed.”

The image used is from http://www.firstcoastrentalads.com/ and all other items and art work are from the author. This incident is completely made up and only created to encourage critical thinking among the readers.

HAZ-MAT OPERATIONS TACTICAL SCENARIO
Written by: Lt. Brad Dougherty

INCIDENT: Your engine company has been alerted to the area of Route 35 at the Interstate 95 on ramp to investigate a report of single vehicle MVA. The communications officer was unable to get any further information about the incident. Upon your arrival you see an MC-306 low pressure cargo tanker, the tanker has a red and white placard with the number 1203. It appears that the tanker has impacted the jersey wall causing a large tear in the bottom of the tank. You also notice that the tanker’s product is free flowing down the ramp and is beginning to create a large pool on the road way. A victim is noticed lying face down on the ground next to the tanker the victim appears to be unresponsive and saturated in the product.

1. ) What will be your initial tactical consideration for this incident :

2. ) How will you approach the incident scene and where will you place your apparatus:

3.) At the Hazardous Materials Operations Level can your company successfully mitigate this incident and remove the victim from the product.

4.) What resource do you have available to reference the placard and the MC-306 and how long is this resource good for in a hazardous materials incident :

5.) What is the maximum product capacity of the MC-306, What hazards may responders operating at this incident expect and what does the MC stand for :

6.) What will your isolation zones be for a large spill of this product:

7.) What type of PPE is recommended in the mitigation of this product and does this product react with any other product react with any other products. What will be your considerations for decontamination of the victim and responders:

8.) What additional resources will you need to mitigate this Incident:

9.) Is this tanker correctly placarded if not how should it be placarded:

photo credits: tanker.jpg is from atlantic-tank-trailers.com and placard.jpg is from tanktrux.com.

SIZE UP AND TACTICAL SCENARIO/ ACTIVITY
COMMERCIAL STRUCTURE FIRE
Written by: Brad Dougherty

DISPATCH: Possible commercial structure fire with possible entrapment at 9071 Arm-field Drive located at Wal-green’s Pharmacy caller has reported a large fire in the paper products isle. Attention Engine Companies 2, 56 & 55, Tower 1, Rescue 1, Medic 4, and CAR-1 all companies respond on fire ground 1. Time of alarm 1747hrs. While responding, additional information is received the store’s sprinkler system is out of service due to repairs. One employee the loss prevention manager is unaccounted for he was last seen in the area of the fire with an extinguisher all other employees and customers are outside and accounted for.

ARRIVAL/ SIZE UP: The structure is a 100×200 light weight truss masonry structure with a roof that is comprised of metal decking and covered in tar and gravel. The fire location is on the bravo side and can be accessed through the stores loading bay. The fire conditions are beginning to deteriorate rapidly with zero visibility and on arrival heavy dense smoke was issuing in a turbulent manner from the “Bravo” side bay door.
ASSIGNMENT DIRECTIONS:

As a company your members can sit down and answer the eleven questions listed below or you can divide up and assign each member a function for example IC, Fire Attack using your organizations incident command structure and SOP’s. If you would like to share your answers and ideas with me, you can E-mail me at Firstn251@yahoo.com

TACTICAL SCENARIO DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Placement of primary attack line and what diameter may you consider?_________________________

2. Destination of second hose line?_________________________

3. Placement of RIT and RIT considerations?________________________

4. Portable ladder position?_________________________

5. Primary ventilation location and type?_______________________________

6. Aerial ladder position?_________________________

7. Possible life hazards_________________________

8. Interior fire spread problem?_________________________

9. Possible exposure problem?_________________________

10.Collapse hazard?_________________________

11. Will additional alarms or resources be considered?_________________________