The double hung window is one of the most encountered ventilation points available for urban fire departments. Not that it is the only one... but the horizontal ventilator has a fairly easy task to contend with be it vinyl or wood. Attacking from either the exterior or interior, many firefighters may just be mindlessly going through the motions because they know it has to be done. The lackluster work they do is noticeable on the fireground. Others however, are doing it because they understand the theory behind coordinated fire attack and furthermore have the foresight to make their brothers jobs that much safer in an emergent situation. This work is also very noticeable. We do not break windows to just break them. Members pushing in on operating lines are dependent on these openings so there is a place for fire, heat, smoke, and steam to go... thus making their lives much less miserable. Beyond that, just breaking the glass is not good enough. In the event the window needs to be used for egress, consider adding firefighters and/or occupants to the list of things using the window to escape. If you are in position to vent windows for horizontal openings, every one of your finished products should be a wide open, glass, sash or other obstruction free opening in the side of your fire building. This is one of those objectives not to be slighted as cutting corners here can come back to haunt you.
The first three pictures show a dwelling that had a heavy fire condition where quick horizontal ventilation is warranted. If a jam-up of some kind occurs, and a disoriented firemen in this building wants out using a window his transition could be much less difficult than it would be here. Yes I know the front door is right there. Keep telling yourself you will find that if your disoriented. Under high heat and zero visibility, a firefighter needing to be elsewhere for whatever reason will do so using the first available egress point they find. Look at how alligatored the meeting rail is, why is it still in place? Why is there a child restraint bar still between the jambs? Moreover, why is the upper window still in tact. We should be chomping at the bit to remove these things, not shying away from them. Situation always dictates how much we destroy property of course... Location and extent being the major variables. Hesitation to open up on the premise of damaging the home should be trumped by the potential fire damage that may result. In this case, there is no reason for firemen to be salvaging anything on the fire floor and everything pertaining to the first floor windows should be free and clear. Things happen at fires that may distract, detain, or be more pressing, leading us astray from a task we may be in the middle of. The next man along should look at unfinished work and want to polish these off.
A possible situation where the window may not even need to be broken. Time and place notwithstanding, your judgment is vital to endearing yourself to the public (if your even the slightest bit concerned). Ventilation was necessary here, but could the window have been slid down and the curtain moved aside? Are you standing at this window burning up or are you easily able to remove a glove and lower the window? Is this a rubbish fire on the first floor that you saw the engine getting the knock on while you went upstairs or did you pass this window while doing a quick search under heavy smoke? By the way, that curtain need not be there any longer. If things go bad quickly and you or another member find yourself forced back to this window having to exit hastily, the curtain will be all over you, rip it down please.
This window was boarded up with several pieces of plywood and secured with a bunch of wood screws. You can see where a member hit it dead center from the interior. Take this personally, if you need to get it done or not. leaving this in place says that it beat you, and that you didn't care it did. If you sprained your wrist or tweaked your shoulder I get it, but again, the next man along seeing this should clear it. Feel free to finish up what another started. Like dressing your knots, a dressed window is preferred. Be a purveyor of openings, hopefully its never needed as an egress point but if it becomes an area we need to use for removal of our own or otherwise, its already waiting for you in the best condition.
Above, a pretty heavy smoke condition is shown. Think of it as a smoke recognition class... the walls may tell you to break rather than open. Was this a mattress fire or room and contents on the same floor? The wall opened up around the baseboard dictates a check for vertical extension stemming from a heavily involved first floor fire. Opening the bottom window here is not as effective as the top, everyone benefits more by pulling the top down if you decided against breaking this window. However If you think your going to tear the wall out to check for extension, then leaving the window intact should not be the result of a damage limiting mindset. Always think about what's coming next while you go thru the motions of your assigned tasks and functions. If your tearing apart the wall for extension then the job was serious enough to break the window. This shows that not everyone on the fireground is on the same page... The below shot is a dangerous way to leave your work. Glass left to precariously hang, perhaps falls on the unsuspecting member or pedestrian after the fire is placed under control. If VES was done into this opening, we, or our "grabs" are susceptible to serious injury upon exiting. The gloves we wear are nice but will not help much if you feel like using your hand to break a widow. If that becomes necessary than good luck with your stitches and try to keep a tool with you next time. Regardless of the tool your using, It does not take an extra 5 minutes to clean a window out completely. Finishing the job the moment you start venting is a matter of mere seconds. Start from the top down if you can help it and once your windows glass is breached, break all of it and/or the muntin in the sash, remove the meeting rails (the horizontal member of the sash) and run your tool along the openings edges to get all the broken glass as tight to the rails and stiles as possible. Develop your own clearing technique. From the interior, try making a hard initial impact on the center of the meeting rail and go from there. See what presents itself after your first contact and work accordingly. Keep in mind the cause and effect of your next destruction (as it relates to breaking, not venting). Pushing in or out becomes the question. Do you dump glass to the exterior where falling pieces become projectiles, or inside the structure where it can become a slipping hazard? Is there a trapped occupant on the other side to contend with? Is it even possible to control where the glass goes in every situation? Does your department have an SOP/SOG stating you transmit your venting the "A" side, or do you just do it? Use your tool to your advantage... either type of axe or a halligan can hook meeting rails in as well as make good driving contact out. Once the meeting rail is broken the stiles will usually drop out, leaving you more usable space and no sharp edges to deal with. In older cities like CMD, many windows are original and the wood coming out will often be followed by the counterweight, sash cord and pulley, no big deal. While difficult, try to make certain your not hitting another firefighter on the opposite side. Members can easily get harpooned by 6 foot hooks or get struck by smaller hand tools with allot of force. This happens when two gentlemen are simultaneously performing the same task from opposing sides. Maybe a few taps first so one of you knows to back off, the member doing the tapping is yielded too, unless not in better position. Obviously its always easier to vent windows from the interior with sound footing. Preferably, the whole window comes out leaving your opening outlined by the head and sill vertically speaking and the stop or jamb to your east and west. If it becomes necessary, removing the mullion between side by side windows can also be done but is surely more labor intensive unless a chainsaw is at play.
Horizontal vent makes advancing lines easier, gives trapped occupants more usable time and air, enhances our interior visibility, allows the fires seat to be found quicker and gives us escape options as well. These openings should be completely cleared the first time if possible with an emphasis on making the opening as big as possible. This is NOT a post about horizontal ventilation, but rather an effective way to ventilate
windows commonly found in residential dwellings, there is a huge difference. This post is also not about specialty windows made for intense weather, soundproofing, bulletproofing or otherwise so do not take it as such. A future post about Type 2 or 3 windows in urban areas may happen, but this is not it.
The double hung window is one of the most encountered ventilation points available for urban fire departments. Not that it is the only one... but the horizontal ventilator has a fairly easy task to contend with be it vinyl or wood. Attacking from either the exterior or interior, many firefighters may just be mindlessly going through the motions because they know it has to be done. The lackluster work they do is noticeable on the fireground. Others however, are doing it because they understand the theory behind coordinated fire attack and furthermore have the foresight to make their brothers jobs that much safer in an emergent situation. This work is also very noticeable. We do not break windows to just break them. Members pushing in on operating lines are dependent on these openings so there is a place for fire, heat, smoke, and steam to go... thus making their lives much less miserable. Beyond that, just breaking the glass is not good enough. In the event the window needs to be used for egress, consider adding firefighters and/or occupants to the list of things using the window to escape. If you are in position to vent windows for horizontal openings, every one of your finished products should be a wide open, glass, sash or other obstruction free opening in the side of your fire building. This is one of those objectives not to be slighted as cutting corners here can come back to haunt you.
The first three pictures show a dwelling that had a heavy fire condition where quick horizontal ventilation is warranted. If a jam-up of some kind occurs, and a disoriented firemen in this building wants out using a window his transition could be much less difficult than it would be here. Yes I know the front door is right there. Keep telling yourself you will find that if your disoriented. Under high heat and zero visibility, a firefighter needing to be elsewhere for whatever reason will do so using the first available egress point they find. Look at how alligatored the meeting rail is, why is it still in place? Why is there a child restraint bar still between the jambs? Moreover, why is the upper window still in tact. We should be chomping at the bit to remove these things, not shying away from them. Situation always dictates how much we destroy property of course... Location and extent being the major variables. Hesitation to open up on the premise of damaging the home should be trumped by the potential fire damage that may result. In this case, there is no reason for firemen to be salvaging anything on the fire floor and everything pertaining to the first floor windows should be free and clear. Things happen at fires that may distract, detain, or be more pressing, leading us astray from a task we may be in the middle of. The next man along should look at unfinished work and want to polish these off.
A possible situation where the window may not even need to be broken. Time and place notwithstanding, your judgment is vital to endearing yourself to the public (if your even the slightest bit concerned). Ventilation was necessary here, but could the window have been slid down and the curtain moved aside? Are you standing at this window burning up or are you easily able to remove a glove and lower the window? Is this a rubbish fire on the first floor that you saw the engine getting the knock on while you went upstairs or did you pass this window while doing a quick search under heavy smoke? By the way, that curtain need not be there any longer. If things go bad quickly and you or another member find yourself forced back to this window having to exit hastily, the curtain will be all over you, rip it down please.
This window was boarded up with several pieces of plywood and secured with a bunch of wood screws. You can see where a member hit it dead center from the interior. Take this personally, if you need to get it done or not. leaving this in place says that it beat you, and that you didn't care it did. If you sprained your wrist or tweaked your shoulder I get it, but again, the next man along seeing this should clear it. Feel free to finish up what another started. Like dressing your knots, a dressed window is preferred. Be a purveyor of openings, hopefully its never needed as an egress point but if it becomes an area we need to use for removal of our own or otherwise, its already waiting for you in the best condition.
Above, a pretty heavy smoke condition is shown. Think of it as a smoke recognition class... the walls may tell you to break rather than open. Was this a mattress fire or room and contents on the same floor? The wall opened up around the baseboard dictates a check for vertical extension stemming from a heavily involved first floor fire. Opening the bottom window here is not as effective as the top, everyone benefits more by pulling the top down if you decided against breaking this window. However If you think your going to tear the wall out to check for extension, then leaving the window intact should not be the result of a damage limiting mindset. Always think about what's coming next while you go thru the motions of your assigned tasks and functions. If your tearing apart the wall for extension then the job was serious enough to break the window. This shows that not everyone on the fireground is on the same page... The below shot is a dangerous way to leave your work. Glass left to precariously hang, perhaps falls on the unsuspecting member or pedestrian after the fire is placed under control. If VES was done into this opening, we, or our "grabs" are susceptible to serious injury upon exiting. The gloves we wear are nice but will not help much if you feel like using your hand to break a widow. If that becomes necessary than good luck with your stitches and try to keep a tool with you next time. Regardless of the tool your using, It does not take an extra 5 minutes to clean a window out completely. Finishing the job the moment you start venting is a matter of mere seconds. Start from the top down if you can help it and once your windows glass is breached, break all of it and/or the muntin in the sash, remove the meeting rails (the horizontal member of the sash) and run your tool along the openings edges to get all the broken glass as tight to the rails and stiles as possible. Develop your own clearing technique. From the interior, try making a hard initial impact on the center of the meeting rail and go from there. See what presents itself after your first contact and work accordingly. Keep in mind the cause and effect of your next destruction (as it relates to breaking, not venting). Pushing in or out becomes the question. Do you dump glass to the exterior where falling pieces become projectiles, or inside the structure where it can become a slipping hazard? Is there a trapped occupant on the other side to contend with? Is it even possible to control where the glass goes in every situation? Does your department have an SOP/SOG stating you transmit your venting the "A" side, or do you just do it? Use your tool to your advantage... either type of axe or a halligan can hook meeting rails in as well as make good driving contact out. Once the meeting rail is broken the stiles will usually drop out, leaving you more usable space and no sharp edges to deal with. In older cities like CMD, many windows are original and the wood coming out will often be followed by the counterweight, sash cord and pulley, no big deal. While difficult, try to make certain your not hitting another firefighter on the opposite side. Members can easily get harpooned by 6 foot hooks or get struck by smaller hand tools with allot of force. This happens when two gentlemen are simultaneously performing the same task from opposing sides. Maybe a few taps first so one of you knows to back off, the member doing the tapping is yielded too, unless not in better position. Obviously its always easier to vent windows from the interior with sound footing. Preferably, the whole window comes out leaving your opening outlined by the head and sill vertically speaking and the stop or jamb to your east and west. If it becomes necessary, removing the mullion between side by side windows can also be done but is surely more labor intensive unless a chainsaw is at play.
Horizontal vent makes advancing lines easier, gives trapped occupants more usable time and air, enhances our interior visibility, allows the fires seat to be found quicker and gives us escape options as well. These openings should be completely cleared the first time if possible with an emphasis on making the opening as big as possible. This is NOT a post about horizontal ventilation, but rather an effective way to ventilate windows commonly found in residential dwellings, there is a huge difference. This post is also not about specialty windows made for intense weather, soundproofing, bulletproofing or otherwise so do not take it as such. A future post about Type 2 or 3 windows in urban areas may happen, but this is not it.
Interesting post about on a subject I've been discussing with a member of the local volunteer department. As a member of the public and not of the fire service, I completely understand there are things that I, well, don't understand. But I've heard a few stories about small fires that have been contained to a single room, yet every window in the house was broken out, and in one case had the roof vented. It didn't sound right to me, but as I am not a member of the service, not on the scene, nor responsible for another firefighter's safety if things go bad, who am I to second guess it as excessive? Thank you for a little bit of insight. I still am not second guessing these guys, but now do see that maybe there are times when things are done that may not be needed (or safe). I am going to try to pass this along, and maybe it will give them a bit of a gut check to think about not only if they are doing things for the right reason, but also in the right way.
ReplyDeleteGlass is cheap, breathing air is not. Try it once you'll see
ReplyDelete