garage fires

[firemansac]

O.K. Brothers and sisters here we go. Here is the long contested question. Do you attack a garage fire from the side mandoor or through the kitchen. Now there are many what ifs here. Scenario:::::

U/A Light to medium smoke from the front door of the house. Good working fire in the attached garage. Lightweight fence unobstructed with fire from one of the windows and garage door is closed. NOW most people have a clear path from kitchen to garage but do you open the kitchen door and possibly spread fire into living space or attack it from the side mandoor? We all know that the attic will need to be checked but where do we go first, what to do, what to do. Post up Remember we can what if it all day but those are the conditions you get. Thst size up is alot better than ENGINE ------- WORKER

[baldy]

From the kitchen...everytime! You must treat the rest of the house as an exposure, and get the hand line between the fire and the exposure.

2nd, you pull a little ceiling on the kitchen side of the door. If it's clear..you're good to go. But if you drop the ceiling and you have fire above you're in a better position to get after it.

Use extreme caution when entering these mini "Home Depots". We had a garage fire where a bowling ball dropped from the scabbed in overhead storage area and fell right in front of us. Luckily, we did not push in past the man door in the kitchen. Had we, the ball would have hit one us on the head.

Hand lines through the roll up or side door is not a very good option and you really not doing much for the interior conditions except making things worse.

Not to mention we see a lot of these garages converted into bedrooms. They may look like a regular garage from the street, but the roll up door doesn't work and the side man door has been nailed shut.

Someday, I will make an Orange Peel out of this subject. (I've been saying that for 2 years now).

Stay Safe
Baldy

[admin1]

A highly regarded and heavily tattooed captain in the Third Battalion once told me that he liked to have a hoseline in the house just in case, but would prefer to hit the fire with a second line coming in the side man door.

This reduces smoke damage through the rest of the house.

Of course, if the fire has a good headstart, this may not be the preferred method.

[barker]

The house is the exposure and we do need to attack the fire to protect the exposures, but with zero lot lines we may force fire to the adjacent home through a failed window or exterior man door. We must assess conditions at hand have plans A,B C etc for any changes we may encounter. One option I have heard of, but used yet, is to place a PPV fan at the font door, pressuring the house to keep the spread of smoke limited when you open the kitchen door ( of course you have checked the over-head and attic before starting the fan.)

[HANKINS]

Regardless of the point of attack, and I have feelings on both methods mentioned, always remember that most, if not all, garages these days are "mini" Home Depots. Line selections is AS if not MORE important to the success of the firefight.

A single 1 3/4" line may not be a strong enough line to overcome the massive BTU's being put out by that "nothing" little garage fire.

[baldy]

Boyz:

It seems that this topic is just as about as hot as smooth v fog. But lets not over-think this.....

If you put out the fire...all of your problems go away.

If you go from the side or from the roll up..where is all of that fire going to go when you push it? Inside the house.

If you go from the inside, hold it there, pop up the roll up, you're going to push it away from the inside.

We must remember that there may be occupants home, and we must protect their path of egress. You cant do that from the side yard or from the driveway. Time is of the essence and we MUST get that line between them (the occupants) and the fire ASAP!

Yes we do all we can to protect property, but where is that in the ol priority list..2nd I think. We did not cause the fire, but we must be sure that everyone gets out alive.

Baldy

[firemansac]

this is good,

I don't have that many years under my belt so take what I say with a grain of salt or whatever else you want to take it with. Remember I said Light to medium smoke in house with a good working fire in garage. I like to attack the fire from the man door on the side if I can and have my second line go inside to the kitchen and protect occupants as well as the truck team doing their search. I would almost never OOOOOOH he said never, go in through the roll up unless it is d**n secured. I like my life too much. I feel that we can at least knock down a majority of the fire from just within the man door on the side, not going in too far. The interior crew should definately be checking the attic for extension. I agree we have to protect the occupants and our search team it just seems to me that if we open the kitchen door then we are allowing even more bad stuff in. I am just trying to learn here.

frank

[Billy Lewis]

I agree with attacking this fire on the house side, or inside. I am sure there are times when attacking a garage fire that taking it from the side or man door. Knowing when to do this takes a lot of experience to recognize. The fire service is very young right now, so keeping with a good standard of taking these fires from inside the house will help solve a lot of problems. Another good thought about this is that with reduced staffing nowadays and each of our second dues get further behind, it is of essence that we get a hose line between the fire and any victims that may be home as quick as possible. Also start to consider that due to this economy that multiple families may be sharing housing nowadays, and using these garages as storage units…not that that’s any different. But we could be dealing with more than normal occupants. Do check that ceiling just inside the kitchen, like Baldy stated, if it is clear relay this to the IC, this may info needed for the truck on whether to vertical vent or vent by taking the garage door. Just my two cents.

[CAP 603]

I guess I'll jump in and say something. I would go into the house and save the big end. With that being said most homes have a one hour fire wall between the house and garage. I do not see anything wrong with taking some heat out of it from the exterior as long as your ducks are in a row with a line inside the house and someone is checking for extension into the attic space. With some off the heat knocked out of it and ventilation started the house doesn't get trashed and we all go home safe. Thats my take.