fire science filed report responding
Units were dispatched to an apartment fire reported "in the area of” with no address. The Battalion Chief arrived on scene and communicated a working fire. I was the officer on the first arriving engine. We found 4 apartments with heavy fire involvement and command advised us to hit it from the other side. Not knowing where the other side was, we changed from pulling a 3" attack line to establishing a hose lay attacking the fire with a 1 ¾” line. Command advised we had a second crew coming in behind us. We attacked fire on the 1st floor, knocking major portions of fire in the first two units. My crew advanced the line to the second floor for fire attack. During this time the fire began to intensify. The second crew was delayed in advancing the second line to the first floor units.
While completing attack on the second floor, the floor collapsed causing me to fall into the first floor. My two firefighters, who were exiting the building, advised command of the incident. Command continued communicating over the radio. I was unable to call a MAYDAY because of the radio traffic. I rescued myself out of the first floor and attempted to locate my crew. Command had advised them to go get me. One went inside and one went around the back. After not finding my crew, I found command and advised him I was out and trying to locate my crew. We exchanged words and I called a mayday declaring a lost crew. There were no RIT or back-up crews. I also advised command to go "defensive mode” and call for a PAR report.
After several tense moments, my crew was located. There was a failure of an on-scene report advising crews of location and conditions. Failure to identify, properly state task assignments, and a failure on my part to question command on my assignment to "attack from the other side."
The first crew was aggressive making it to the second floor; I did not check to insure fire was in control prior to advancing above.
Lessons Learned
There was a failure to have a RIT or backup units in place to assist. A good command system should have been established from the beginning. Staging should have been established with the amount of fire we had and the building construction. There was no department review or critique of the incident. Command believed it was a lack of proper actions by the first officer. I accept my mistake and have taken action to improve my abilities. The department should have conducted an investigation and a post incident analysis so everyone could learn from the incident.
Demographics
Department Type: Paid Municipal
Job or Rank: Battalion Chief / District Chief
Department Shift: 24 hours on - 48 hours off
Age: 34 - 42
Years of Fire Service Experience: 17 - 20
Region: FEMA Region V
Service Area: Suburban
Event Information
Event Type: Fire emergency event: structure fire, vehicle fire, wildland fire, etc.
Date and Time: Feb 13 2000 10:00AM
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
