Emergency Ventilation Policy

[Jeffrey S Austin FF EMT-FR]

Every firefighter, career or volunteer, knows (or should know) the proper
procedure. Truck company on the roof ventilating while the engine company at
the front door with a charged hand line waiting for the forcible entry team
to pop the door.

Picture youself, a company officer, arriving to a single family residence at
about 2 in the morning. A car or two is parked in the driveway giving a good
indication that the occupants are probably home and asleep. You find smoke
coming from under the eves of the house. The next due company is
approximately 4 to 5 minutes away because of other factors that are not
relevant right now. The windows are the standard double hung with the six
individual panes per sash. Knowing that the occupants might now have 4 to 5
minutes left, could you pop out just the very top panes of each window
throughout the house or just part of it to provide ventilation to the
residence and lessen the chance of a backdraft? The key word is just the top
panes. I haven't gotten around to running the senario through my server with
FDS, and such to see what the workstation says. But, given that just those
panes of glass are removed should, in my estimation, provide enough
ventilation to release the gases and heat to allow safe entry through the
front door.

What do you think? No, I'm not rehashing something that happened locally but
trying to think ahead and do "what ifs" in advance. So, the questions are as
follows:

a) Would you popping out just the top panes provide enough ventilation to
lessen the chance of a backdraft/smoke explosion?

b) Do you do the whole house, just where the bedrooms are or just where you
see flames?

c) Do you just wait for the next due company for assisstance in ventilating
the roof?

Please note that I didn't state what type of company was first due. Reason
is that no matter what company arrives first it requires a coordinated
effort from the entire team, engine, truck and rescue, to affect a prompt
extinguishment of the fire. Sometimes, no matter how hard we try, the fire
service gets a first due company that has to go it alone for a few mintutes.
Plus, if your department is like most, you're running short staffed.

--
Jeffrey S Austin FF EMT-FR
Chesapeake VA

"I fight what you fear, the Red Devil."