fire science filed report responding
Our department responded to a residential structure fire reported from a neighborhood near our headquarters station. Upon arrival we were faced with a heavily involved garage fire that was spreading into the attic of the house. We started a fire attack on the burning garage from the exterior with a 2.5” hose and a team consisting of two firefighters and myself. During the attack, our team positioned themselves on the empty driveway and had moved to within several feet of the burning garage. Our assistant fire chief was functioning as an operations manager from the front yard, giving direction to crew members entering the front door. As he was doing this, he noticed from the side of the garage the brick veneer wall above the garage door had begun to bow out and was leaning towards our location in the driveway. From our vantage point we could not see that the structure supporting brick veneer had burnt away. During our initial attack the extent of damage to the structure was somewhat hidden by the flames and smoke. As we began to knock the fire down, the assistant fire chief recognized the signs of an unsupported brick veneer wall that was in imminent danger of collapse. He immediately came over and moved our attack team back roughly 15 feet away from the garage. Not more than 30 seconds after we repositioned, the entire brick veneer wall pulled away from the destroyed framework and collapsed onto the driveway with debris tumbling right up to the feet of the hose team. Both the chief and I ran up to the firefighters checking for injuries and found them to be ok. From our vantage point in the driveway the wall appeared flat and gave no signs of potential collapse.
Lessons Learned
The importance of recognizing the potential for structural collapse during a fire cannot be overstated. Adhering to the principle of knowing the collapse zone and staying clear becomes critical. Residential structures built using brick veneer should always be suspect to failure when a heavy fire condition exists in the area of the wood framing adjacent to the wall. Always play it safe and keep personnel away from these such veneer walls should you discover those significant conditions and consider the time the fire has acted upon them. Acting immediately and not waiting to see what happens is the final step. Step in, use a "lean forward" attitude and correct the situation before something goes wrong.
Demographics
Department Type: Paid Municipal
Job or Rank: Captain
Department Shift: 24 hours on - 48 hours off
Age: 34 - 42
Years of Fire Service Experience: 11 - 13
Region: FEMA Region IV
Service Area: Suburban
Event Information
Event Type: Fire emergency event: structure fire, vehicle fire, wildland fire, etc.
Date and Time: Dec 14 2011 1:02PM
Hours Into the Shift:
Event Participation: Involved in the event
Weather at Time of Event:
Do you think this will happen again?
Contributing Factors? Command, Communication, Individual Action, Situational Awareness
What do you believe is the loss potential?: Life threatening injury, Lost time injury
