We received this quick little reminder and training piece from David Walsh. From the emails it comes from Brothers at Miami-Dade Fire Rescue (Gustin and Garcia).
A small fire in the cellulose ended up requiring us to drop the entire ceiling in the kitchen. No smoke inside the structure or initially showing on the exterior. The lazy officer could very easily blow this off as “no emergency” call and clear, only to come back in the middle of night to a well involved attic fire.
Pass it on!
By: Brent Bronner
On this day in 1942 a fire broke out in the Cocoanut Grove Night Club in Boston Mass. This fire would claim 492 occupants and would change numerous codes dealing with exits, decorative finishes, and sub levels.
The Boston Globe file photo
A busboy’s match ignited gauze draperies in a large basement with one locked exit, due to broken panic hardware. A crowd of over 1,000 was in the club that night, despite the occupancy of 600.
Many factors contributed to the loss of life and spread of the fire. The club had insufficient exits with doors opening inward and some being welded shut. Rooms had confusing floor plans with interior decorations of cloth, paper, and simulated leather. Suspended fabric was hung from the ceiling. Revolving doors, flipped over tables. Concealed and unmarked exits lead to the death toll.
Initial firefighters on this five-alarm fire were met with a heavy fire load. Welded doors, stacked bodies, and tables flipped over lead to troubles in making entry for rescue or suppression.
National Fire Protection Association photo
With the aftermath of the Cocoanut Grove Night Club many codes were changed including:
-Revolving doors will be supplemented by an outward opening hinged door.
-An assembly area will have a minimum of two exits.
- Prohibitions on the use of sub grade levels for assembly.
- Battery powered emergency exit lighting.
- Maximum occupancy certificates are displayed.
- Limitations on the use of combustible materials for interior finishings.
- Securing tables, as well as keeping a minimum aisle width.
- Listing nightclubs and restaurants as assembly areas.
Next time you are in an assembly, take a look around. Remember the victims of this tragedy, their sacrifice, and the safety improvements of these types of occupancies. Internet searches can yield multiple readings.
Pass it on!
A good reminder about what is coming and how to combat it in this post from FF Charlie Hillman. Without a doubt we will end up seeing some crazy pictures or videos of turkey assisted fires within the week.
With thanksgiving right around the corner, it may be a good time to review some tactics for turkey deep fryer fires. Personally, I am a big fan of the deep fried turkey because everything is better deep fried! However, as we all know the turkey deep fryer can cause disastrous consequences for the careless cook.
Hopefully, most people who choose to deep fry a turkey will perform the activity outside of their home. Assuming that the cook does decide to deep fry the turkey outdoors, they sometimes exercise poor judgment in the location of where they deep fry the turkey. Fires have occurred on wooden decks and inside garages amongst other locations. A cook who is not attentive to the concept of displacement often encounters trouble. The cooking oil is heated in excess of 350o F and when a wet or frozen turkey is placed into the hot cauldron of cooking oil it causes a furious reaction between the oil and water. Compounding the problem is that an inattentive cook may have filled the deep fryer with too much oil which is displaced when the turkey is inserted into the deep fryer. With the turkey in the deep fryer and the oil running over, the oil reaches the flame from the propane burner and is ignited. The cook may not have the ability to shut the propane off that is fueling the deep fryer. Now the oil is starting to involve the combustible wooden deck (sometimes with an abundance of dry leaves) or the smooth concrete floor of the garage. If the deep fryer is inside of a garage the hot oil can shoot up to the ceiling and out from the deep fryer to involve the combustible contents of the garage. Either way the 20 lb propane tank is in serious danger of BLEVE due to the flame impingement from the resulting fire.
October is alway a busy month with fire prevention activities, so here are a few topics to get your training geared back up. Ultimately, we have to expect fire, expect entrapments, and expect to break stuff. There are a bunch of links throughout this post to help with a company drill or table top discussion.
This is also the last week for the Before The Snow Flies Giveaway. Be sure to get entered for the Mini Fire Cam HD. It’s fast and simple to enter.
We had a pretty good barn burner a little while back. As most barns, they are off the road and water supply is a challenge regardless of a long lay or a water shuttle. Think about the scenarios in your jurisdiction that fall into this category. What is your plan?
Check out Chris Huston’s presentation on LONG DRIVEWAY SOLUTIONS. Be patient, the presentation may take a few minutes to load. Other training modules from Chirs and John Schafer can be found on the new site Fire Training Toolbox.
You be the judge on this one after watching the video. The video is graphic. Andrew Brassard found this one and sent it out to an email group. Think about how you would proceed with freeing the victims hand. After watching the video you will realize the technique they used is not a very good one. Many times in machinery rescue, reversing the mechanism is not recommended.
Click HERE for the video.
For more on machinery rescue, check out a post from a while back, HERE.
During a routine call the other day, we stumbled upon a door that is a bit more fortified than most. It had a slide bolt, dead bolt, panic hardware, and a drop bar. Review your procedures for forcing these locks. Don’t be overwhelmed with the thought of 4 locks on one door. It’s just 1 lock 4 times. Blow it open.
Pass it on!
Here’s some review materials for a tabletop company drill on vehicle fires from Brent Bronner. The motivation for the review came after seeing the GM recall on the popular Cruze do to fire risk, read more here. Also check out previous posts on magnesium vehicle fires with video here and here. Pass it on! (more…)
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