Transcript Basement Fires - Fire Training Tracker

Introduction
From a firefighting standpoint, basement/cellar fires are
one of the most dangerous and challenging fires
encountered inside a building.
 They have limited ingress/egress, limited ventilation, and
drainage problems for the attack water.
 Interior suppression crews face significant heat during
ingress to the seat of the fire while operating in an
environment where minimal ventilation causes retention of
that heat. This heat in basement fires tends to radiate
back on the attack crews.
 In addition to being hot, challenging, abusive-type fires,
basement fires should be considered as possible hazmat
incidents. Basements are notorious for being the longterm storage place for not only normal combustible
storage items, but for paints, solvents, varnishes,
insecticides and cleaning solvents.

Intro (cont.)

It is also the main area of the structure
where water heaters, dryers and HVAC
units are stored and generally fueled by
natural gas, propane or fuel oil.
Because of this, it might be wise to
consider some type of gross
decontamination for interior attack crews
after a basement fire.
Significant Impacts

All of these problems cause significant
impacts on the ability to deliver fire
attack tactics during the evolution of a
basement fire. These additional impacts
include fire suppression tactics, search
and rescue, ventilation, and rapid
intervention.
Significant Impacts (cont.)

Tactics for fighting basement fires begins
with responding. If there are numerous
reports from interior occupants, let this
drive your initial fire ground operations.
Get that water supply established as
rapidly as possible. Remember that
basement fires are generally self-contained
until they generate enough heat and
pressure to cause window failures in those
structures that have basement windows.
Significant Impacts (cont.)

Light smoke coming from the interior of
the structure should lead you to believe
that a much larger volume of smoke
awaits you in the basement. A rapid
size-up is critical to identifying the fire
location in the basement as well as
locating alternate entrance and exit
points.
Significant Impacts (cont.)
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
Remember that a large majority of basements are
unfinished, which exposes the structural floor joists
and their support structures to flame contact. Newer
structures with engineered floor supports or “silent
floor systems” will burn and fail quickly. Consider the
possibility of extension of the fire into the support
structure of the floor you are operating on.
The first attack crew will be challenged by having to
position themselves at the hottest area at the top of
the stairs into the basement area. A second line
should be established at the top of the stairwell to
protect the structural integrity of the stairs.
Steam Burns

Nozzle selection should consist of a solid
stream nozzle of the straight stream setting
on the fog nozzle. With minimal ventilation,
more water surface area will cause steam
generation and steam burns to the attack
crews. Rapid establishment of ventilation
will be the best tactic to reduce the heat
and smoke from the fire, which will greatly
enhance access and supervision for the
engine crew.
Steam Burns (cont.)

Initial attack crews must perform a rapid
risk/benefit analysis regarding the initial
attack strategy. If an interior attack is
selected, the attack crew must move to
the basement entry point quickly and
down the stairs as rapidly as possible to
reduce the punishment from the heat
and smoke while moving through the
“chimney” and into the basement.
Steam Burns (cont.)

The initial commander
should have a strong
accountability process
and establish a formal
RIT as soon as
possible. An RIT should
be in place before an
initial fire attack.
Steam Burns (cont.)

Keep in mind that an open basement
door will also allow for rapid
fire/heat/smoke spread throughout the
first floor while the attack occurs in the
basement. Keep a strong grasp on the
total timeline of interior firefighting.
Steam Burns (cont.)

If dealing with a truss or engineered
floor system, keep your interior attack
times to a minimum – 15 minutes at the
most! If interior attack teams are not
making progress on the fire within five
minutes of arrival, consider making a
switch to a defensive attack.
Construction
Underwriters Laboratory Study
UL did a study with 2 separate
basement floor assemblies:
 #1 – a 2 x 10 wood joist floor with
hardwoods on top (common to older
homes).
 #2 – a lightweight floor assembly (new
homes) with carpet on a subfloor.

UL study (cont.)
Both of the floors had no ceiling assembly
so it would resemble the unfinished
basement, which simulated the working fire
directly under the floor.
 For the entire duration of the test a T.I.C.
was aimed at the 1st floor, which would be
similar to us walking through the front door.
 They placed 2 firefighters in full PPE, one
standing and one crawling directly above
the basement, on top of the two different
floor assemblies.

UL study (cont.)
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Here are the results: for the 2 x 10 floor
-1:45 minutes in : 845 degrees in basement / 74 degrees on 1st floor
-5 minutes in : 1383 degrees in the basement / 75 degrees on 1st floor
-8.5 minutes in : 1296 degrees in the basement / 86 degrees on 1st floor
•
It should be notes that the nail heads used to nail the floor onto the
subfloor are the only items showing a heat signature.
•
The floor collapsed sending the 2 FF’s into the basement at
approximately 19 minutes from ignition.
UL study (cont.)
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Here are the results: Lightweight floor
-1:45 minutes in: 1196 in basement / 71 degrees on 1st floor
-3:30 minutes in: 1330 in basement / 73 degrees on 1st floor
-5:30 minutes in: significant 1st floor deflection and smoke emitting
-5:55 minutes in: 1286 degrees in basement / 85 degrees 1st floor
* The floor catastrophically collapsed sending 2 FF’s to the basement at
5:55 minutes from ignition.
What Does the UL Study Teach
Us?
TIC’s – Are only a tool to aid us. We must
not allow them to take us away from
employing those vital basic firefighting
skills.
 The TIC only picks up surface
temperatures in the room and not a 1300
degree fire in the basement below. If you
sweep the floor with the line before you
went in, the temperature that the TIC is
reading is the surface temp of that wet
carpet or hardwood floor.

What Does the UL Study Teach
US?

Time: While we know that time is never
really on out side, we now have actual
data to support the belief that when we
go to fires in older homes that we do
have longer to fight fire. Conversely,
when we go to fires in newer homes that
have lightweight components, we now
know that window of time is much
smaller.
Size-Up
Tactics

Your tactics are going to be dependent
upon what your operational guidelines
are and based on what you find during
your size-up. Don’t get caught up in a
“cookie cutter” mentality. If you feel that
something different needs to be done to
be successful, then do it. Think and act.
Use your experience and best practices.
Tactics

Don’t rely totally on a TIC to determine if
you have fire below you. Studies show
that the camera will only read the
ambient temperature of the room and
materials. With fire below you, the
subfloor, padding and carpet can show
much lower temperatures than what
actually exists.
Tactics

We have a responsibility to search for
victims whenever there is any question
about the occupancy. In some
instances, it may be more appropriate to
make access to the basement from an
exterior access to directly attack the
seat of the fire while a search crew
makes entry on the floor above.
Tactics
This must be determined from the sizeup, and communication is key. This
simultaneously puts water on the fire,
improving conditions while victims are
being searched for.
 Sounding floors is paramount, but with
todays building materials, you have little
to no notice prior to a collapse. Have a
backup crew ready at the door for the
protection of the first crew.

Tactics

Heading down the stairs will be
challenging. It will be hot at the top of the
stairs, but you must be cautiously quick
getting down them. Feet first, one foot at a
time sounding the stairs and feeling for
stability. Have the hand line ready to knock
back any fire that may want to vent up the
stairwell. At the bottom, use the same
skills as you would for any other fire.
However, speed is your friend here. Fire
the fire and get it knocked down!
Final Remarks

These thoughts and considerations are
merely snapshots of what to look for on
a basement fire. This is in no way the
ultimate or final list of how to handle all
basement fires.