CMD•FD

J O B S @ 120 N. 26th St. 1.9.12 12:53hrs

2012-01-28T12:41:00.014-05:00

We went to a fire. It went to a second alarm. There was a decent hoarding condition in two rooms. You can read my thoughts on that here if you feel so inclined. I will also post some better, more appropriate pictures since the ones I had posted at the time were apparently not intriguing enough. Digressing is a strong suit... extensive overhaul was per-formed and our members all did an out-standing job and property was saved. Precarious issues abound. Watch your self around the burned out hallway banister when the ceiling is laying on the floor. Slipping here could cause you to go for an unexpected ride. When I see a sink or tub with running water emanating from the source in a building on fire, one of two things comes to mind. 1: the homeowner was about to use the appliance, was alerted to a serious fire condition and took up rather quickly or 2: they tried to put the fire out themselves. This is a common occurrence and I tend to think that in the early hours of the afternoon, regardless of it being a weekday, it would be the latter. Im sure that I had seen any number of syringes all over occupied and vacant homes in camden city but I had never seen one come flying out of a wall we were overhauling. My guess is that it was a stash spot for a user trying to hide using. Either way, thats interesting. When you see a picture of the top of a door and your tool, and the pictures angle is not so angled, its because your standing on a huge heaping pile of hoard. Needles to say it makes hooking ceilings easier but the chance of entanglement is high one would imagine, depending of course on what the hoard consisted of. Mindfulness while operating on a condition like that towards rolling ankles and spraining knees obviously, just do what you do on a perfectly clean floor but stand on the crap instead. Its not something to shy away from unless your one of the mindless who thinks its too insane to operate near or around something other than what you have deemed normal or inside of your comfort zone. A plastic hanger as a passenger into the hallway, NBD. The first due trucks VES was more or less stifled by the condition found in the delta side second floor front of the twin we were operating in. At the time a very sound, heads-up move predicated upon nature and extent in relation to advancing hose lines and lack of a knock on the fire. This is what I mean by operating safely once a particular condition is encountered. Operating smart is safety in action. If all the services safety nazis let guys work smart there million dollar safety campaigns would be moot. Perhaps they all see a shortage of smart firemen who need to be saved from themselves? Anyway... just as the case with the likes of forcible entry we check down to the next viable option! Don't go crying to the boss or chief with some nonsense about you cant perform your assigned tasks and functions, just cope with it and find another way. From the hallway, only the uppermost part of the window could be seen over the hoarding condition and of course the door only wanted to open about 6 inches, which is typical. The collyers mansion condition could be pervasive in nature in a dwelling or confined to certain areas of the house. Again, I have more pictures to add to the other blog. A Double Hop was performed from the Bravo side and a vertical vent helped the interior operations perform the other end of the coordinated fire attack. Fire goes out. For more info click the post header.

J O B S @ 3rd & Royden 1.5.12 16:18hrs

2012-01-12T15:01:00.006-05:00

All hands operated at a vacant twin with a heavy fire condition to the C side of the fire building. Once opened up from HUD security board ups companies searched the Delta exposure and advanced interior lines while exterior hose streams to the rear knocked the bulk of fire. A partial collapse to the rear occurred prior to fire department arrival. Companies worked overhaul extensively to ensure there was no extension found in the exposure building. This was the first of two JOBS we worked on 4th platoon this shift. At the second, at around 6am the following morning, I didn't not have a camera with me.

masters of the obvious.

2011-12-21T15:36:00.012-05:00

Don't ignore the obvious. The reason your out during the day and making yourself aware of what you may be dealing with later, while half asleep and ice cold at 3am is pictured here. You see "x" amount of locks. Walking up with your tools, you think there's allot of fun to be had cutting locks or guide rails to the roll up gates in your way. The efficient fire company knows what to not waste time on. How are these locks holding it down? Take a closer look, it behooves you. We find more and more, and surely in other rustbelt cities, landlords are tired of opening ten locks to pop in and out of their buildings for 5 minutes. If it appears secure to would be thieves, and the owner can get in by unlocking less, he thinks he has the quint-essential win/win on his hands. For our people, its all about speed and efficiency. Some times the goat gets you they say but why get gotten for no reason, busting our asses unnecessarily. Take a good look at whats in your way and remember that things are not always as they seem... Another forcible entry rule can be applied here too, use the path the occupants use. That particular door may have just one cut as opposed to two or three. Why your working at opening-up in the first place obviously dictates your entry priorities. Are these locks pinning the gate are aren't they. Do not be bamboozled, the difference is clear. looking behind the padlocks built into the guides, do you see a pin stopping the gate from rolling up? If all these locks are actually locking, is it faster to attack the gate itself? Perhaps. Location, Nature & Extent of fire will help you decide, and thats where another rule comes into play slightly, maintaining the integrity of the door. In some cases its more likely a favor for the property owner than anything else. Some of these locks are not even locked onto a pin holder in the padlocks shroud, which can at least help the funk faking appearance. Other locks are just sitting in place with the shackle not on or around anything of substance. While we couldn't determine what was actually holding those in place, it was very clear that they were just for show and doing absolutely nothing. We were able to roll a gates curtain up that had four "locks" on the guides, before rust and lack of maintenance stopped its upward progression. If we wanted in for real and were jamming with adrenaline, that gate was going right up with no cutting. The door behind it yet to be dealt with, but were through the first stage of this exercise with little physical expenditure. A little try before you pry, no? Looking behind the guide where the padlock is housed, some of the curtains had the cut out for pin placement but the alignment was off. Another sign of time and little maintenance. Even padlocks holding pins in place had the coupling slot cut into the curtain off a bit north or south. If the pin is off to the side of the curtain, will it still go up? Try and find out. In nicer, viable areas perhaps this is a deterrent backed up by an electrical locking mecha-nism but on these blocks, in these towns, surely thats not the case. Post intention is for size up and efficient work expenditure, not techniques on cutting padlocks or roll-up steel gates.

Things Get In The Way.

2011-12-18T21:17:00.017-05:00

Things are in our way, do not be intimidated by them.Security is a luxury most folks try to enjoy, in the urban environ, people probably do not enjoy living in cages but have become quite accustomed to it. In an emergency situation that security from the exterior becomes a prison from the interior. Firemen can use a multitude of tools to defeat bars but may overlook some of the most familiar. A conventional attack on window bars is based on leverage, recognizing weakness, the construction of the bars themselves and their anchoring points. Knowing when to step up to power tools if it is a wiser more efficient means to an end is a size-up decision that should be made quickly. Just like forcing doors, it can at times be easier to use hand tools. A set of irons and a 6 foot steel roof hook can work wonders in older urban American cities with regards to window security bars.There are many varieties of anchoring ones security to a building. How is the thing in your way secured to the structure? Often times with window bars, you will see the horizontal members of the bar attached by lead or plastic anchor and lag bolt into masonry, lag bolt directly into wooden structural members or the bar attached to a mounting bracket that was set into the brick/block or mortar itself. Many variations of all these options exist, usually secured at 4 or 6 points.In terms of leverage, especially in older buildings at the end of their life span, the adhesion quality of the mortar is non existent and will yield to pressure easily... as seen in these pictures (apologies for grouping them like this) leverage can be applied using your tools as a fulcrum point. By inserting your hook in a fashion where you can pry outward on bars anchored into masonry, mortar or brick, the anchors will come out when force is applied. It may bend your hook substantially and a steel hook is preferred as a fiberglass shaft might lose this battle. Attack one side completely and always attack the weakest point, working with what is best presented to you.Looking at the first window practiced upon, a few options were applied, and different outcomes resulted. In a few leveraging attempts the horizontal member broke free from the anchor at the weld, others had the lag bolt and anchor ripped out. A saw was applied to an anchor point on the right side too. The higher you go the more precarious saws become, working from ground ladders only exacerbates the situation. On many first floor windows the 6 foot steel hook rules for reaching the uppermost anchors. I understand that the occurrence of window bars to train on might not be omnipresent everywhere but be on the look out for buildings set for demolition and get your company busy. If a fire is encountered in a building with lots of security bars, everyone should be removed (even long after the fire is out) to afford the members an opportunity to try different tools and tool placement.This window is fairly high but its very reachable with one of the best tools on our rig.Get yourself a purchase point from which to start your attack. Depending on how the bars sit over the window, you may need to start at a spot further from the anchor than you would have liked to. However, it will not take much longer and with patience one may get the space needed to apply the real leverage closer to a horizontal anchor point after first starting with a vertical member of the bars. Manipulation of the bars to your favor is possible and if thats what needs to be done than so be it. Once one side is freed, use the hook to push the bars away from the breached side like you were opening a door.Having been bent back on itself, the bars will usually succumb to the pressure and come crashing down. Be mindful of the bars release and your position relating to its course of travel. If working in tandem, make sure yous are aware of each others game plan and not inadvertently getting one or the other hurt. Security bars can be fairly substantial in the weight department so if you can guide it down the wall or away from you with a tool try to do so. Sprained wrists and dislocated thumbs are the order of the day otherwise. Eventually, your leverage should change from prying to pulling... once the anchor begins its path of departure, It is time to use the hook for pulling out, not prying out. once the anchor is free move upwards to the next one. Always work from the bottom up. If the height/reach of the top most anchor dictates, you may be able to free both lower anchors and try to lift the bars upwards in the same "door opening" motion, albeit vertically. Be forewarned, the bars are coming down toward you violently when they snap under this pressure. Resist the urge to use your hands for this option but look, you do what you have to do, this is not Firefighter 1.Success ensues. No ladder, no saw, not much time, little effort, big gain.Your size up is crucial for speed and efficiency. Recognize the fastest way to attack and have at it.This gate is large, covering three windows and will surely take allot of work you may think as you arrive under darkness...Its hinged side is barely held in place, and the right side is only secured by an extremely weathered lock. Bolt cutters will easily cut this shackle and this thing is no longer in your way. Proper size up and tool selection is everything.Look at window bars in your area. Think of them tactically like you would anything else and begin noticing the weak points. Hand tools or steel hook? Saws or rabbit tool/hydro-ram? Prying out or breaking away the masonry? Will a ground ladder be necessary? Is the screen attached to the bars, or is it two separate things to be dealt with one after the other? Is there a way to get them all at once if they are separate?Many times the age and condition of your objective lends itself to your favor. Just like you would sound a door or floor, give a nice firm swing to see if something gives quickly, you may get lucky. Are the welds compromised, is the brick crumbling, has there been a shitty repair made? Rust is a sign of weakness, you may be surprised at how quickly these will come out, contrary to how stout they appear.Basement windows are sometimes read incorrectly. Not that all security bars are not... Look at how far into the structure these anchors go. While manually breaking the brick or block from around these bars is obviously possible, in this case it was gong to be faster using the saw. Is there a way to know? You can attempt to break out lag bolts with a sledge or flat head by striking the horizontal anchor points on many bars you encounter. After all, its compression at play. A few strong, well placed strikes will give you taste enough to know you are making good progress or its time to check down to your plan B.Cutting the basement bars with a saw may be beneficial for a few reasons. The nature of their design behooves us in that the saw will not be run overhead or out in front of you so much. Down low near the ground with greater control over your work leads to less fear of accidents. Always watch your saw for kickback and be careful of the other members, Operate your saw carefully. Checking down to a saw first should also be considered if there is a utility box, saddle tank fill pipe or other obstruction close by the anchor point. Will these things affect your manual labor as you work to dislodge anchors from behind their protective homes? Is the brick cracked or is it solid... are the grounds around the building maintained? The same technique of cutting one side may apply still depending on the bars themselves but it might be better to cut all anchor points as trying to bend out very thick material by force could waste allot of time. Look at how much of the bars were anchored into the structure in the below photograph.An example of a straight to the K-12 saw with all purpose or metal cutting blade. Manually, this will be labor intensive but not impossible. Consider striking the welds holding the bars to the anchors and see if thats a weak link. If you do cut, try to get the anchors cut as close to the wall as possible as you never know what might be going in or out of the opening.Breach all bars before you vent the windows behind them. Heavy smoke or flames issuing out of a barred window will only make your objectives take longer to achieve, if possible at all. Window bars can be as diverse in nature as the firemen showing up to contend with them. Whether set into the window opening or placed over the whole window itself, you are going to have several ways to apply your trade attempting this task. Choosing the best way is sometimes harder than the actual work itself. Think about it before you go to do it for real. In a much broader sense, there are literally hundreds of things getting in your way when considering windows. A much more in depth piece entitled "Window Obstructions" is in the works.... Thanks to FF. Ed Frontado for helping me with the pictures. If the accompanying videos turn up ill post them as well.

Things Get Broken.

2011-12-18T15:32:00.008-05:00

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.

JOBS! 1532 Baird @Park 9.27.11 12:00hrs

2011-09-28T11:08:00.007-04:00

A reported people trapped brought us to this location with a stepped up level of urgency. Companies on location included Tower Ladder 3, Ladder Co. 1 (RIC), Squad Co. 7, Engine Co.'s 9 and 1, Rescue Co. 1, Battalion 1 and Car 2. Engine Co. 11 was also added to the box on a special call. A Colliers Mansion condition in the dwelling made it difficult to navigate the heavy smoke condition. Advancing hoselines and doing primaries becomes harder but not impossible, Ill be writing more about this soon on a different project and Im "hoarding" the pictures for that post. Knowing the houses are a bit bigger on Baird Blvd. (which is named after David Baird Sr.) It made sense to follow the hoseline to the middle room on the first floor and then look for the stairs as opposed to going for them right inside the front door. It helps to know whats going on with the structures in your city ya dig? Reports of victim trapped second floor C side rear bedroom so companies were directed accordingly as the lines pushed in and controlled a kitchen fire. I sure wish I had some of these photos of the open interior stairs for UFM Issue #4 as the fire got ahold of them pretty good. Interior members worked their way past it fire and met up with members performing VES from the rear. At the 20 minute mark Car 2 reported the bulk knocked with negative primary searches. At the 40 minute mark Car 2 went under control and had negative secondary searches. Another video of us responding and radio transmissions can be seen, check the Facebook Page for that, as It was over the limit to post on blogger.

I Brake for Saws!

2011-09-26T02:14:00.027-04:00

Of all my pet peeves, firemen being careless or intimidated by saws must be at the top of the list. Since Urban Essentials back in March, the need to post this was evident. I guess what prolonged it was the thought of how to translate exactly what I mean to touch on. I think the fire service is young and predominantly inexperienced so bare with me as its clearly a minimal but well intended posting.Just look at these chainsaws, very typical of most saws on Rescue, Truck or Squad Co. Apparatus, manufacturer notwithstanding. In my opinion fire service chainsaws are dangerous in the design of the front handle or handle bar. I think this because the front hand guard only covers but so much off the handle bar, perhaps a better design will someday hit the market, but its really unnecessary to reinvent the chainsaw wheel here. If you know what your doing and are in confident, total control, a safety redesign is overkill. I just mention it to bring light to the operational deficiency of inexperienced saw users and the flat out careless ones. I realize that the bar is extended around the motors housing so that experienced operators can achieve different hand placement for different applications but from what I have seen, the unprotected area of the handle bar leads the inexperienced operator to be in a bad spot when/if a serious kickback occurs. Explaining how to operate a chainsaw is difficult like this, and while I know it might be considered ridiculous to some firemen, Its a fact that allot of the young fire service is a step away from getting seriously injured using chainsaws. Bearing witness to allot of fumbling of the hands, unsure reaching around the saw and clouded, unfocused objectives while attempting to start and run saws in training and at working fires has lead me to this. If this can give a dude a more effective and safer outlook on those things than Ill deal with experienced users thinking this is silly...
Drop starting is bad, since we all agree on that, you do whatever is comfortable for you while starting a saw on the ground. I prefer my right foot on/in the rear hand guard. My friend, Eli Hall, who was gracious enough to help me shoot these pictures is demonstrating it another way. Notice his hand positioning once the saw is running. This is where I often see the biggest problems. Firemen trying to engage the chainbrake while the saw is running and making it a circus. Was the chain brake engaged or not before you started? It should have been. (did you check it prior, and know how its set?) Switching up your hands and fumbling about the handlebar with a running saw is asking for trouble. If a saw is throttled prior to your hands being set, accidentally or otherwise, and your hand or body makes contact with a moving chain the fancy PPE your wearing doesn't stand a chance. In turn, your going to have a misunderstanding between the saws chain and your body. The way the hands are pictured here is ideal, to me anyway, and once you commit the hands to this position one need not ever move them again until its time to turn the saw off and do something else, or if the need to restart arises. Raise the running saw to either knee (I prefer my left) and rest it there. While your hands are committed and locked into place, one at the top of the handlbar (behind the guard/chainbrake) and the other on the throttle hand guard, you can hook the handlebar with your thumb and extend your four other fingers over the chain brake and pull the guard back towards you to allow the chain to move. Im speaking about this from a right hand predominant outlook, lefties can just switch it up. Once accomplished your free to throttle fully and position yourself to cut. Your hands are now set in the safest and most appropriate cutting position affording yourself the chance to activate the chain brake in the event of a kickback. Your wrist is also a forward rolling motion away from quickly locking the chain off while you move to the next objective, not running it carelessly around other members handling their business. At your next objective, go back to your knee, hook the bar with your thumb and so on and so forth. We all know that the best and safest place to cut is at the bumper spikes, where the power is at the base of the chain bar. I previously mentioned the handlebar putting users in a bad way, simply because If your hand is off to the side of the bar, holding it while your cutting, there's no safety to turn your wrist into when a kickback occurs. So what's left then to keep you or the guy standing beside you with a hook, waiting to open up the HUD board ups you just cut from getting maimed? Nothing. The last shot above depicts the hand placement Im talking about. Again, this is master of the obvious shit here, for most of us. Im not opposed to using the side of the bar mind you, Its hard not to while reaching high overhead but try to resist that application until it becomes a total necessity and really be mindful of the force you will need exert to control a kickback. Further compounding the danger of holding the saw from the unprotected side of the handlebar would be when one is running it while operating from a ground ladder. Additionally, the chain brake can also be utilized for your protection by your upper arm. If your cutting with the saw held in a sideways position to cut horizontally, squeeze your bicept a bit into the area between the handlebar and the handgaurd chainbrake as you cradle the underside of the saw. See the last picture... this position still affords you kickback protection as your arm locks out the chain brake before it would make contact with your body or hopefully someone else.Heres a few quick videos demonstrating the chainbrake working properly. Videos of bad hand placement leading to a failure to activate the safety looked too unrealistic to post. Its a very minimal production here, and I hope guys who know better don't think this is irrelevant, I saw a clear need for this. Mostly from a standpoint relative to the HUD board up but it works on the roof as well, depth gauge or not. A practiced game plan for running your saws may seem rudimentary or unnecessary to many seasoned folks but there are allot of unpracticed users out there who only get their hands on saws occasionally, and I hope this helps them.

JOBS! 28th & Polk. 9.19.11 13:39hrs

2011-09-24T14:57:00.014-04:00

Companies on location included Engine Co's 11, 9 and 1, Tower Ladder 3, Ladder Co. 1, Rescue Co. 1, Battalion 1, and Car 3. Ladder 1 had the RIC duties, several 1 3/4" handlines were placed in service as well as a 2.5 for the bulk. 3 Truck opened up and performed VES, primary and secondary searches were handled by Rescue with negative results. Truck and Rescue companies engaged in salvage and overhaul of this occupied dwelling. Apologies for the crooked photo I couldn't hold still while approaching. Rescue was about to eat lunch after we had just finished a Confined Space Operations drill aboard the Battleship USS New Jersey where we performed 1 vertical and 1 horizontal removal, more on that in another post.

Some Signs of the Times.

2011-09-20T20:15:00.013-04:00

the parallels are present if one can pick up on it. Ever notice yourself coming upon a real-ization, a moment in time when things just started clicking for you? Don't associate this with just the fire service either. You figure something out, perhaps while training, preplanning, or working a real incident, that you had been struggling with or not grasping at all prior. Then, there's an enlightenment of sorts. Your mind expands, says hello to clarity, while the information your exposed to is allowed to sink in. Its a novel premise, but its because of interest. This affords an opportunity to better behave the next time your doing whatever your doing once a given situation occurs. The biggest thing with retention of information I think is interest, then comes repetition. I think this way because for a long time I was disinterested myself, now I know better. I know how and why I changed, but I don't know how to get others too. When the mindset changes, you might think you have just gotten more brilliant, but really all you did was recognize your surroundings, adjusted your thinking, (or attitude) mentally devoting the time, energy and thought process of your brain to your job. Contemplate for a moment on how interested you are in what you do for a living. If yous would rather be in the firehouse memorizing your fantasy teams defensive line while your out training on forcible entry, what are you going to do later in the day when your carrying the irons and a door needs to be opened? More and more I realize we are in the business of state of mind. If your actually interested in your career, then applying your trade seamlessly is important and that might come natural for some but for the rest of us we need to be interested before we can get better. Focus on your fantasy team after you have focused on your job! There is time for all of it... The more you do something, the more your going to retain it obviously, but I think that if your interested in being more effective at said "thing" the next time your presented with a chance to apply it, the better off the other guys relying on you are going to be. I know all our minds are clouded with the ins and outs of our daily lives, outside interests, family... I get it. Im no different. It is frustrating however, being a fireman. Complacency is abounding. Every Department, Each Company down to Every Man. The dismissive attitudes, nonchalant stance, and inexplicable lack of giving a shit is written all over the faces of the men and women we go to the arena with. Interest is what allows you to see what's right in front of you, more so than repetition. I am not trying to say repetition isn't important, cause of course we need to practice our duties in training to perfect them in the real world. Having said that, Its the "getting" firefighters interested in the jobs they hold that fascinates me, as "making" them wont ever happen. Things hiding in plain sight that you may have either become numb too, things that you never cared to notice cause your walls are up about them (perhaps a socioeconomic indifference?) things that you don't care to train on cause the boss training you has a massive ego or is a dick, things you think you know already but in reality do not, or cant remember them when the proverbial shit hits the fan. Things that you think your above or "over it" as a firefighter...(training is great but looking like a stud in training does not in any way shape or form mean your pulling it off when your live and direct) by "things" I mean to say tactics, techniques, principles, issues or sights among other things. This post had initially started out as a why are we not noticing things on our streets we could use to our advantage. Bare with me, I haven't been writing much so Im bottled up a bit. I just had a minor rant there sorry for such digression and long winded self righteousness. Onto that post, I have some pictures here I took awhile back during on of our fact finding missions. Don't judge where you work by shutting out the reality of it, its to be embraced if your ever going to use it to your advantage, pertaining to being a better fireman. This holds true from Urban to Suburban, from Chief of Department to Hoseman. The people on your streets are very telling. At first glance you might think one had a shotgun, and maybe thats appropriate in some areas, bad example I guess but when you realize its a hacksaw he's got, you see the person who is desperate and scrapping the buildings your working fires at/in. Try to talk to that dude, he might broaden your perspective as to who's living where. Habit trails, your used to seeing at the end of the block that cuts 75' feet off of ones walking distance as they navigate off the pavement... but this one leads to a vacant structure. Its really stamped out good isn't it, Its not like one person walked this trail once a week ya know, but rather a bunch of times a day. CMD has them everywhere. You see them In and out of the dankest, most dilapidated and destroyed brick and mortar homes that are decades out from being the once vibrant homes seen in rust belt cities across the nation. What do you think about when coming across beds in vacant commercial buildings? Or for that matter, seeing three beds stuffed into a basement on a fumes call of an occupied dwelling? You try to remember the address and the conditions so that if your sent to a working fire there you can say to yourself, hell, there were folks living there in that building, in that basement. Preplanning should be happening all day every day, to the point your not even cognizant of it being preplanning. From listening to the other companies activities over your radio to putting what you see while on a run in the memory bank and understanding how to be effective if you come back to that location for something else. "Hey did you guys see how the back door was secured in the Bravo 2 exposure" while operating at a gas leak two homes away. Preplanning like all things fire is a mindset. Start with preplanning, its the easiest training you can do and surely a good way to get your company interested in more intensive training. Its usually not physical, and gets the preferred mindset flowing, turning the gears mentally for the disinterested crowd amongst us. Then, when you return to quarters maybe the mindset carries over to training on something else? Perhaps stretching lines off a pumper right afterwards seems more understandable cause the guys in your house haven't done it in awhile and your right there on location to do it. (by the way, things your looking at on a daily basis while at work are what your going to go to fires in, a rudimentary thought for some but light years away for others) then you can review the SOP's for it over lunch. Or just go get lunch instead and forget about your responsibility, all the while worried tremendously about how the Steelers are matching up with the Ravens next Sunday. When you shit the bed later at a working fire, after you make a mess of your assigned tasks and functions you can conjure up ways to try to blame it on somebody else during halftime. These same individuals will get pissy and defensive when they are called out on it. I wish I had the answer....

JOBS! Lansdown Ave. @Louis 05:45hrs-ish

2011-09-20T15:45:00.007-04:00

Jobs at the crack of dawn are enjoyable. We cut two holes on the fire building, one over the stairs and one over the bedroom. There really is nothing like the sun coming up while your on the roof... we removed a shitload of the cornice and eaves area, in turn turfed out a chainsaw and a K-12 960. We did slight overhaul in the Bravo exposure as well where I took a picture of the most narrow hallway I have ever seen in a Camden Rowhome, obviously a potential pain in the ass for advancing hoselines, quick egress or a potential RIC operation. A Company Members AV3000 face mask also came apart in a fashion I hadn't seen yet, I think in part to contact with a saw. All pictures are by iPhone as I was in between cameras

Sorta JOBS¡ 7th & Newton Ave.

2011-09-20T15:12:00.004-04:00

This wasn't really a job in a way, but we were on location awhile at this larger 3 story-ish triangular vacant commercial building. It was early on in the large warehouse fires thing I think... Neighbors were tripping. It was all spray painted the next day in red, something about no trespassing and/or no dumping. Companies went to the roof and ran saws in the cornice area to open up and suppress fire in the buildings eaves, a larger exterior fire had communicated up the side of the building and extended to some of the only burnable material in the structure. That stuff written in the books about construction, nature and extent and how fire extends... yeah thats all true. An extra ladder was thrown for another means of egress for the Ladder Co. members operating on the roof. Again I have no date or time information, if you have it email me and Ill get this straight.

JOBS! Mulford @Tioga 6.4.11 early am

2011-09-20T14:32:00.012-04:00

If you hadnt noticed, Im trying to catch up on a bunch of stuff I never got around to posting all summer. I thought this job was on Charles St. I honestly cant remember much aside from I know I was the Rescue Chauffeur. I also know this job was what caused my S95 to shit the bed after it got soaked. almost $200 dollars later the nice people at Canon sent me a re-furbished one, as good as new. That camera was actually a re-placement by a friend who knew my S90 had been stolen. I have had the new one two weeks and almost promptly destroyed in a job yesterday. Sorry for the lack of info and/or pictures on this fire, and apologies for the jobs I have even less info on and wont even bother to post, its been a long summer.

JOBS! 997 Haddon Ave 7.29.11 09:30Hrs.

2011-09-19T00:25:00.009-04:00

I thought I posted a picture on the FB Page of a milk crate being used as a step up to the back door of this obviously wide open vacant structure, but I couldn't find it just now. Squatters or Scrappers were clearly inside the building and while our company was there to do some training on barred windows months prior to this fire, I took a few shots of the D side door and the roll up gate. One thing about being the RIC is that you learn what other fire companies on your shift are capable of and how fast they overcome obstacles. It wound up being an exercise in futility for us, meaning that your preplanning was lost in that, you knew the door was nailed every two inches but you just had to stand 60 feet away with your pile of tools and watch another company work to get it open. That blows, because you knew how you were going to do it and didn't get the chance. We also talked about how the roll up gate may have been pulled off in one monolithic piece with a few steel hooks but I think we were bullshitting ourselves, it seemed anchored in pretty good while another company ran saws on it. RIC work is monotony at its finest usually, but there is literally a ton of things to learn while you stand there observing from the sidelines. Recognizing tendencies of individual firefighters to whole companies. Listening to the ensuing radio traffic while visualizing the interior and who's where, doing what. Moni-toring for the mayday that hopefully never comes. Looking for the best places to work from if that trans-mission is sent out. One could get very in tune with the workings of the entire shift or battalion or first alarm box. Who's Johnny on the spot. Who's shitting the bed. How quickly is the water supply being secured. Who throws ladders like a stud.... who couldn't punch there way out of a wet paper bag. Im not saying that I learned all these things from this particular fire, but that while I was assigned to a RIC I was looking for these and a myriad of others... Click the post header for more information.

JOBS! 1033 S. 5th St. 8.2.11 22:20Hrs.

2011-09-19T00:13:00.006-04:00

I was called "asshole" at this working fire for experiencing a legitimate SCBA problem. Im going to resist the urge to say anything more... We went to a fire, we put it out. Click the post header for further details, and take a look at a before picture on the FB Page.

JOBS! 6th & Liberty Streets 7.30.11 06:00hrs.

2011-09-18T08:47:00.008-04:00

Listen, if your not going to the scene of your last fire or the scene of another shifts fire, after its all said and done to see what was goings on then I have two words for your company. YOUR LAZY. A 24 hour shift and you cant devote time to learning your craft? "I dont care about fires"... I would easily mis-construe that to mean you dont care about your job. Or for that matter, my safety. With an attitude of dismissal or one of non-chalance your putting the dudes that do give a shit in jeopardy. Laxi-dasical attitudes are the prevalent order of the day with firemen anymore. It really doesnt take much... But I have come to this conclusion, The Fire Department I work for is maybe the best in the nation at this new approach to Firefighting. "figure it the fuck out when we get there" And I am not using this particular fire as the example for that, I just happen to be stating it now with this post. It was a long summer for us in CMD and we went to a bunch of fires, in between the few big ones the news was always talking about. So instead of preplanning, Ill call it replanning. just cause to me it sounds more fun then post planning. Get off the recliner and go out and do something that pertains to your job. Even if its just for a half hour. You wanna see steel expand that 1" per foot. Do you not wanna see that there were mattresses and clothes strewn about in an unoccupied building, or that drug paraphernalia was present? If you ever studied for a promotional exam or just read because you give a shit, Its nice to see the stuff in real life. Tangible, like it was taken from the black and white text of a literary backdrop and dropped into your lap in full color. I dont even want to talk about this fire, get what you can out of the PFN post by clicking the post header, then you can also follow the link to www.newjerseyfireground.com as well.

"Stop the Fucking Truck"

2011-09-17T17:11:00.004-04:00

We like to yell that from the back of our cab while were out taking in the scenic views of our fair city. Easy on the eyes it is not, but it can be highly educational if nothing else. That is, if your looking at your response areas as your canvas and earning the position you have. Trucking to and from your runs or chores, dont just sit and watch the world passing by, look an see whats goings on...I enjoy a good vacant building collapse. Did you ever come across a new one and get up close, taking in how nuts it can be? Theres a smell to it, an uneasy energy is absorbed by your body and upsets your chi. Well, mine anyway, but looking at the twisted concrete, rebar, brick and mortar and how its some sort of reversed pangea makes me want to piece the puzzle back together. Seeing in my head where it started at and what caused it. This was a one story saw tooth roofed vacant commercial building on Kaighn Avenue tween' 7th and 8th. Take a good look at it and think how it would feel if you or one of your friends was under it. While in and/or around these gems of urban renewal, anxiously waiting and forever on the cusp of helping out the city's construction officials... we must do everything we can to see a collapse like this coming, and avoid it. We had received a a tremendous amount of rain, mind you, this happened a few months ago before Hurricane Irene and the earthquake-light. Added live loads created by mother nature may slip our minds as we begin to operate in a building like this. Forget about a working fire for now since thats considered faux-pas by many anyway... This building was being cleaned and deconned by the Unites States Environmental Protection Agency as well a County Level Agency. They had half a dozen people in an around this and an adjacent structure for the better part of a month or more. If fire companies were dispatched with the intent of putting search cameras in service, hailing, possible feedback assisted searches (by gaining control of the aforementioned agencies portable radio) or perhaps they get into more involved rescue and/or recovery operations like setting up shoring, any sort of lifting/moving or breaking and breaching operations we must be uber sensitive in regards to further collapse. An aerial device can help assist with recon of the remaining sections of roof while a in depth ground level survey is completed.The last two shots here are of the A/D corner, look like its all that stable to you? By the way, squatters are known to be in and out of the building.

JOBS! 24th & Federal St. 5.15.11 02:30hrs

2011-07-07T01:24:00.005-04:00

Its an older job now but if I remember correctly most of the city companies were on the street, when Three Truck discovered this returning to quarters. Originally assigned the RIC we were sent to the Delta Exposure roof to make an inspection cut and check on extension. On the Blog's Facebook Page, Im going to post a few videos about how saws sound and how to take that into consideration while you size up, so take a look at that if your so inclined.

Some Vacant No-Go

2011-07-06T22:21:00.015-04:00

Upon the recent re-alization that there are not many examples on this project that talk specific-ally about structures that should not be entered (although there are plenty pictured) This post is about not entering. Clearly, Im a proponent of putting out fires in vacants from the interior, and there's allot of writing on here about when to and when not to. Most posts are about the former, so look at this shithole... Its ripe for fire spread huh? It is a wood frame duplex or twin, thats seen a few fires already and has sat abandoned for quite some time. Firefighters should not be seen operating from the interior of this building. As urban firefighters go, each one of us needs to take the time to recognize and understand nature and extent of fire and how it relates to structural integrity. The second we do not think it out for ourselves and let the Chief or the Company Officer do the thinking, it deprives us of a chance to absorb and understand some very basic fire ground knowledge. I don't mean that firefighters should be questioning the supervisors authority or judgement. I mean that if we let them make the decisions and not think about why they made the moves they made we will never fully understand the theories with which we may one day base our own decisions off of. Reading books does not put out fires. Experience is really only gained if you let what's happening register and take it in, instead of just going through the motions. Slow your mind down and allow yourself to see and hear... and get it. We are we going defensive and protecting exposures, why? Seemingly, some newer and veteran guys alike just show up and do what they are told. Thats appropriate but its not a good habit to get into in regards to thinking for yourself. Yes you need to listen to your boss, thats not my meaning here. To grow and understand the experiences your seeing on the street you must be using your mind efficiently, comprehending the things your seeing, not just seeing them. The stairs to the front door are sunk into the ground and several walls are bowed badly. The place is wide open, exposed to every element mother nature has to offer year round and allowing fire to spread rapidly. If ever there was an unsafe structure to work a fire in, Id say this qualifies nicely. I was worried the thing was going to collapse on me while I was taking pictures, and barely stepped foot inside. However, and this may or may not influence your judge-ment, there was proof of life in the building. I saw signs and heard that there was a person in the structure. So then, what do you do? Fireground decision making is an amazing thing and it usually makes those that are good at it notice how badly other people are at it. Of course this is a no brainer, but other times its much more difficult. As an aside, this building burnt to the ground several months after these photos were taken with no fatalities to speak of. Click the post header...

Some Vacant Legwork.

2011-07-06T16:18:00.011-04:00

Backing into quarters a few months back, I spotted what looked to be a water pumping operation by a familiar city business going on up the street. Staying on radio, I approached the man working for said company and inquire... Yes he was pumping water out of a building but the leak was not controlled in a building next door to the property and since he did not have access to it, he was packing it up. Why bother pumping it out if its gonna fill right back up right? Agreed. However, after talking to him briefly about how squatters were stealing metals for scrapping and what not, I talked him into re-raising his ladder to the roof of the adjacent building and showing me the inside. Like the squatters scrapping metals, this is a sort of a precious materials hunt for myself. I like being hip to the ins and outs of the urban opportunist. Anyways, up to the roof we went and the nice man and I unsecured what he had re-secured on the roof, the squatter entry point was a bulkhead door. From what I could tell it was made possible from entering another building on the side street and breaking out the glass brick windows to get the roof access. This should come as no surprise, this shit is rampant in ours and other cities for decades now, expounded by the current difficult financial times we face. Crossing roofs and porches, scaling trees and fences, defeating doors and other obstacles like they were previously assigned to Truck Co.'s these folks will do whatever it takes to get the jam they are looking for and boy are they very bold indeed. In these pictures you can see the walls torn up for piping, electrical boxes ripped apart, plates with fresh remnants, (not the months old and crusty shit but the weeks old and recent kind) Plenty of drug paraphernalia scattered about (they took up residents awhile) and even some tools used to accomplish their tasks. In one picture you can even see that the overzealous operator broke a hammer while working diligently to acquire his or hers objective. Its also sitting in the area near where the water was flowing in, right next to the electrical panel. It sure would not have been the first time we have seen a person mining wire while in standing water get fried. I suppose the point of this post is to show another avenue to get you and your company more aware of what's going on around you in the buildings your required to fight fires in. Please don't just sit in quarters and let the world pass yous by. Most construction workers, utility provider employees, landlords and tenants will usually be quite accommodating to you and the boys trying to conduct your investigations. Click the post header for a direct link to Urban Firefighter Magazine Issue #5 that has an article on this sorta thing and more...

Mad Zistos Ops.

2011-07-06T14:42:00.010-04:00

Click the post header for a link to the Zistos website. This is one of our two search cameras, the other being the Delsar Searchcam 2000. Often times in our city the need for these devices is huge, buildings at the end of their lifespan are collapsing all around us and you never can tell if a tenant, contractor, squatter or even children may have been in or around a collapsing structure. Initially we get dispatched to put our cameras in service, or maybe our listening devices but once its all said and done our other shifts can make great use of these situations for training purposes. Cameras are hugely beneficial to rescuers on the fire ground these days, tech-nology can aid our plight much if members in command of such tools get their hands on them and train. Searching voids in collapsed structures may sound like an easy thing to do but I can asure you that it is not and it takes allot of practice and playing with these devices to understand what it is your trying to train your eyes on. The Zistos is a more of a two man operation, one can direct the cameras head and another can try to decipher the images transmitted to the video screen. Switching up the position like you might on a set of irons is a good idea, as is having another set of eyes go over what has been covered by the previous set. A FEMA tech search class this is not but key into things you see as it relates to what your searching for. Can you see newspapers that may give you a date for relevance? Can you see furniture or appliances that dictate what type of room you may be looking into, if say, your objective was last seen in the laundry room seeing washer and dryer machines tell you your in the right place. Chairs and a table with plates and utensils may assure you your in the kitchen or dining room. If a body is discovered or parts of one, get as much info as you can. If you see a hand, is it a male or females... does it have a wedding band, painted nails or dirt under them? Is it left or right handed? Drawing maps and logging as much info as possible will help you to set your rescue team up for their best chance for success. You can tell them if its a pancake or lean to collapse and the best way to tunnel in and start shoring. A picture on the wall can be a target to shoot for that an objective might be lying under or near. You should be able to tell them what tools they will need to navigate the materials in their path... Creativity, like all things fire service helps get the job done. Utilize all your resources at a collapse like you would the fireground. Skill with your search cameras doesn't just happen. Some members may be better at it from the jump, recognize who in your company is good with them and start them off first as time may be of the essence. Recognizing conditions and what your seeing at very far and close ranges coupled with camera orientation and manipulation will all help provide you with a successful outcome.

Some Interior Gas.

2011-06-10T21:54:00.015-04:00

A routine response for the ghetto firefighter that can quickly jam you up. A call comes in for a gas leak, we show up and start assessing the situation. As firefighters we know all about the intrinsically safe stuff, the expensive non-sparking tools, the static electricity that can be generated by dragging your feet on carpet. We are aware (I hope) about tactics like pulling past an effected explosion area with your apparatus, stretching and charging lines and securing a water supply, contacting the utility provider, understanding the intensity of a leak, monitoring the air with meters, the potential of the leak and how long its been actively leaking, if and how far evacuation may be required... ultimately leading on up to finding the source and stopping the products flow and ventilating. It is and can quickly become a very dangerous atmosphere to operate in. Once on location we need to be really observant. Consider radios and flashlights potentially blowing you and the boys up, Understand the vapor density is lighter than air (.60) We need to be thinking in a manner consistent with finding the source quickly and the points to look for controlling the flow ie: appliance and meter cocks, and helping the utility provider locate and shut the curb valve. Understand the interior gas lines size and how much can fill up an interior space while flowing at 1/4 psi. Has the leak been flowing heavily for long enough periods of time to make it a serious emergency? or is it easily shut down and ventilated. Urban areas such as Camden surely are dealing with unpre-cedented levels of scraping metals for profit, so much so that it is not just the squatters and junkies anymore you dig? It very well could be the cat who actually has a job and is behind on his bills. A person that may live next door to a vacant structure who just says screw it, Im going to go and do this. Take a look at the pictures, what's going on in here? Understand the seriousness of the situation or lack thereof. Don't just go in and try to handle your business haphazardly. When a gas line is vandalized by a scraper trying to cash in, you would be hard pressed to find one that shuts the gas off first. If it is a dire emergency and occupied exposures are not yet evacuated take the steps to mitigate the hazard as safely as possible and deal with the obvious. If its not posing a threat, why put yourself in harms way? A leak in a structure is much more difficult to discern the seriousness of, then when a car smashes into an exterior high pressure reducer and you can hear and "smell" the problem easily. We had two out of three houses in the middle of a row of 10 plus broken into from the c-side and attempted theft of water heaters and pipe. Making entry you should try to tune into the sound of flowing gas under pressure, tools or fashioned tools used to remove the "take" and anything else you might want to concern yourself with. Make yourself into an all seeing and noticing fireman, Its all right in front of you. Preferably, the utility company will be on location, let the pro's handle the issue if its possible. In some cases however you can deem a building safe if you have the appropriate meters to allow your company to make entry and secure the gas yourself. Its not ridiculous to think you might actually encounter the individual or indi-viduals trying to score so be on your guard, they will treat you like the police and assault you if they feel threatened by your presence. In this particular dwelling the weight of the hanging laundry was eventually going to cause a leak if it hadn't already but the amount of gas flowing through that opening in the compromised pipe where the appliance was once attached was very quickly making the dwelling approach an untenable atmosphere, ripe for disaster.
Exercise extreme care if your forcing your way into an interior gas leak. If a heavy odor is present expect the worst. Utilize combustible gas detectors and understand the theories behind the lower explosive levels (LEL). The explosive range for natural gas is between 4-14% in air, operating in this atmosphere can be deadly. The mercaptan additive allows us to smell 1% of the gas in the air. That 1% is still 25% of the LEL and only 3% more gas is necessary to enter into that 4-14% range that can be explosive. If this range is found all ignition sources must be kept as far away as possible until the levels are more manageable. Be mindful of your harmless cell phone you left in your pocket, silly firemen who want to turn on the lights or the insane homeowner who's nerves are so shot that they want to light up a smoke to ease their pain.

Some Doll-ing Up.

2011-05-25T13:45:00.012-04:00

The file I was using was declared to have "the bastard cut" by the tools man-ufacturer... I thought that was very fitting of its user. Anyway, Im not here to explain what was done to this and a few other sets of Irons on the rigs in our firehouse, and please don't think the first picture is indicative of how our tools look, this one was in a closet for awhile so it got a bit rustier than the ones on the rig are ever allowed to get. Continued ramblings on about knowing your tools and what they can and cant do for you as it relates to the user or users. Some guys in your firehouse may look at you like your a crazy person for doing this to your tools. If you want an explanation for what I was doing, you can check out Traditions' take on it, or Irons & Ladders. Either way doing this leads to training and table talk amongst your company, guys happening by in the firehouse or companies that might come in to fill bottles or change equipment. We have forced more doors in real life then were ever going to in training, but I routinely look at literature about the best ways to do it, since it is a part of my job and Im always nervous I've forgotten something or Im not as hip as I used to be. I want the irons position to have a nice set to do work with. I keep the axe squared and flat, every so often cleaning up the mushrooming that occurs from striking. Ill do the same to the adz end of the pro-bar and the axes blade as well since either may be used to shear something. Were not looking for sharp here by any means, but free of dings, dents and dullness... yes. The thinned out forks will and do make a difference. You say the bar will still work fine if you don't doctor up the forks and your correct, it sure will but gong-ing out on the tools on your rig is a good hands on exercise from senior to junior members. The squared off forks? They may never come in handy, but I like knowing that If Im in a smoke condition so much so that I cant safely have someone swing my tool, or if Im presented with a tight spot and we cant get a full swing off, or even worse, if Im alone, there's other option to check down to. Forcing doors is all about options and creativity, much like the fire service as a whole. So what if you never use it, its there if it has to come to that and its not hurting the tool any now is it. I took a break from filing with my bastard cut, and yes I did eventually use a dremmel tool because I had other shit to do, (people may be spazzing but thats ok, I don't consider it grinding at all, its much more controllable and way faster if you haven't got all day) I was sipping on a cup of coffee, talking to one of the guys assigned to the cities Squad Co. about training and how to make it so that guys want to get involved and do it. He seemed indifferent, and then, the very nature of our discussion of how to get guys more involved, got a guy a bit more involved. Go Figure. Apologies for the iPhone pictures.

5 Story Tenement.

2011-04-29T20:45:00.038-04:00

Of all the directions this working fire presented one to critique it, I will naturally go with something the guys from the 2nd Platoon came across the shift after this fire was placed under control. I actually worked this fire, but was not committed to the interior as my duties change depending on which truck Im on at the time, another post in and of itself. Obviously, things at my job have drastically changed for the worse and conversely things will not be the same on this blog... but its not because I don't want them to be. Having said that, its another vacant building and another occurrence of squatters inside. I feel like its one of the main issues concerning todays urban firefighters and the main question to me, is that of "is it or isn't it". I would be remiss at this juncture if I didn't state that the tag NOPE, to the lower right of the A side, is a writer I know from way back in the day, good shit.Most fires are started by vagrants inside structures for warmth or to cook. The above shot shows a small fire on the ground level. I guess that could have just spontaneously combusted too... The fire had a good hold on the third floor, in a vacant 5 story Type 1 building on 6th Street tween' Kaighn and Atlantic Avenues. For nearly 13 years I have seen this building from the highway as I exit off into the city's mean streets. Its one of those you always think "when we get this place"...Most of the fire was burning cardboard left behind by the structures last occupants. Likely used for packaging and shipping nickel plated materials, which is as far as I know the last usage of the building. There was also a ton of drift wood laid about, I believe there was an attempt to sell driftwood tables or wood cut stencils out of the place somewhere along the line... either way the building has not been producing anything for a few years. The smelting/nickel operation that was scaled down to operating in the adjacent sawtooth-roof ground level building has been gone for close to 5 years maybe.The above and below shots are the last that I will post of the job. They were taken on my shift on 4.28.11. We went back our next shift to see what our guys had missed. You can see a piece of plywood covering the window right below the room on fire. This would be indicative of occupants, its the only window covered like this by the way. Little did we know at the time that it was in place to keep Springs cool night air out of an occupied area of the building... A few shots are posted of how bad the smoke was pushing out of the building but you can imagine that if these folks were set-up on the floor above this fire they most likely would have become victims of the by-products of combustion, without any fire department intervention.Now that we know there are people living in the building, what was done about it? Oh wait, nobody knew about their presence the day of the job. Why? After some water had been poured on the building from the outside a crew of two companies was committed to the interior to see what the conditions were. Searching for conditions, or the nature and extent of fire is surely not searching for victims, both can be done simultaneously however but I don't think the primary got much attention in this case, for a number of reasons. I don't mean to say that these crews did not do their job, but perhaps they were not looking for squatters at all. The signs and clues squatters are subconsciously leaving should be telling us that the building is, or could be, occupied. Listen, a Ladder Captain shows up second due and walks around the building and first thing he advises to the Chief via portable radio is not to put anyone in the building and his attitude sets the tone for the whole job. under an hour later, a higher ranking Chief shows up and starts talking about administrative staffing to the Battalion running the job over the radio while members were committed to the building. Clearly, this was distracting the Captain sent to the interior to see what was going on inside, I assume as much because of the ensuing comments and language but I could be wrong. Maybe this unnecessary radio traffic Im eluding to happened while these crews were on the second floor, allowing the distraction to aid in the missing or dismissal of a closed steel sliding door to a room with at least two occupants? Im not sure, I haven't asked the officer yet if that door was opened and that room searched or not, but I happen to have taken a picture of this building on my way home from work two weeks prior to this fire to use in a powerpoint because to me, this building is ripe for squatters. My point is that at this particular JOB, nobody was really acting unselfishly like firefighters are supposed to be, not enough people were focused on their jobs or the signs presented to them. Were all guilty of con-spiring to miss these people, mainly because of an improper attitude. If they had become victims of the fire and expired, would they have been found at all? In previous related posts you can read about how that can quickly give your department a black eye, If your of the sort that cares about that kinda thing. I made relief on the fireground a bit after 7am (this box came in at 5:30am or so) and because of my current riding position, working from two different rigs, (L-2/R-1) I could have really cared less at that point. I was doing my job with my company, placing a master stream in service. My shift had come to an end and I was going home and it was to become someone else's job to pack it all up. My job was not searching this building but had it been, Ida been noticing things like the hanging barbed wire blocking only one of the doors in the buildings open interior staircase. Just in case you didnt realize it during your search, the one on the second floor was the only one barricaded, albeit rather mildly. This obstruction does not just get there, it gets placed there. The rope on the second floor C side of the building with nots tied every 2 feet (give or take) thats anchored off to an old drainage pipe did not just materialize, it was put there for escape or maybe for hauling up supplies. The piles of human shit and the shopping carts next to the front entrance... these things are screaming at you saying "hey idiot, we might not be successful, well groomed productive members of society but were people all the same and were in here". These people are still our responsibility aren't they? Protecting life and property is still a fundamental aspect of the service we provide is it not? As it turns out, "Cliff" and "Mary Ann" are very nice humans. They were hiding from the firemen because they felt like if they had been discovered they would have been arrested or "in trouble" leading to their eviction. Cliff lost his job as a carpenter. Im sure you needn't be reminded of how tough times are for people right now. These folks had their home foreclosed on them in a suburban area about a half hour from Camden. With their possessions stolen, they have been living in Camden since last April. They even knew a few dudes on the job. I'v seen them pass our firehouse. In very poor health and struggling to eat, they have aged tremendously. I didn't see much by way of drug paraphernalia scattered about, some alcohol bottles here and there but I think they were just scrapping metal with their carts and trying to eat. Three people were present during our visit, one cat seemed highly disinterested and even a bit pissed we were there touring. The fire was apparently started by another couple, who just recently started staying on the floor above them, which was the fire floor. They argued a great deal and fought each other physically, quite often Im told. A broken knife was seen nearby outside and they had noticed it as new... Cliff jokingly said he thought "she killed him and started a fire to hide the body". In the one picture here you can see the makeshift plywood window from the other side. Just another vacant building thats not as vacant as the term tends to imply...

Some Saw Bullshit, Volume 1.

2011-04-29T10:23:00.019-04:00

It doesn't matter much to me if your cutting HUD board-ups all day long or clearing trees from an area that your aerials or master streams need to be operating in, the saws get used and then the saws get inspected and cleaned. Anything other than that is a lackluster operation as far as Im concerned. There is no reason whatsoever to be pulling enough saw dust out of your saws to enable your company to press a sheet of particle board. Often times the debris thats left unchecked clogs up with chain bar oil and then leads to other unwanted areas of your saws. And for what? You were to tired after the job to loosen a few screws and do the right thing? A company thats taking great care and maintenance of their tools is an outstanding company. Pride in todays fire service is not what it used to be, but those companies that still have it show it when they are called upon to do their jobs. Looking squared away on the fireground begins and ends with how you clean and maintain the inanimate objects you really upon to handle your business like a pro. when inspecting a saws chain, the saw is OFF and brake bar safety feature is released to allow the chain to spin freely while I pull it along to examine the tips. When I find 1 bad one, whether its the cutting tip badly damaged, very dull or missing altogether, (which is the case as seen in these pictures) I can maybe leave it in service because these things are not just laying around by the dozen or falling off trees at my fire department, but finding 5 or 6 in that condition is unacceptable. I wont pretend to tell you I know how many cutting tips are on each chain, thats a bit to gonged out for even me but with each bad one you find your cutting capability is becoming worse and worse... easy enough to assume I think. Are your spark plugs clean? Are your tips sharp? Is the chain sagging off the guide bar? Do you know how to tighten it? Assigned a position on the rig to utilize a power saw of any kind, the said guy should be pretty well aware of how to troubleshoot in the field and make minor adjustments as well as just safely operate. These things should all sound asanine to you if your a guy liable to be running saws but the truth is the fire service is young all over and experience with using saws at working fires isn't what it used to be, just like the pride I was just speaking to.Look at how filthy the inside of the engine compartment of this saw is and how jammed up the plug has become. This can be indicative of firemen that would rather be doing something else other than their jobs and in the day and age of firefighter layoffs we should be trying harder than ever to earn our position on the rigs we ride to fires on. Sure, this saw may start up fine and take your next board-up out for you or perform your next sill cut, making an enlarged opening for a downed firefighter removal but why would any self respecting chauffeur allow it to stay this way? As you look at the final two shots that lead us into part two, understand that they were taken on separate days and who knows for how long they have been bouncing around like this, doing possible damage to all parts of the saw from breaking expensive blades to cracking fuel cells. Indeed, the streets where I work look like bombs have exploded upon them and since our saws are right behind the rigs rear axles the possible damage incurred is surely not being overstated. The straps securing them break, shit happens but this particular strap is fine. Not re-securing and properly stowing our equipment shows a disregard for all on the fireground if the saw doesn't start when its dearly needed. Focus on the job of apparatus checks like you do your size up on the fireground please.

Some Saw Bullshit, Volume 2.

2011-04-19T18:24:00.024-04:00

Jesus Christ. For starters excuse the language and bad clarity with these pictures as they are all from the iPhone. Now then... each pictured issue occurs on separate occasions, or on different days. Our Chauffeurs rotate monthly and checking the rig is pre-dominantly the chauf's responsibility. Not being one to take that lightly, I like to be pretty thorough and do my job. We use our saws allot. The Rescue has 4 that regularly get used; a 20" Stihl chainsaw, a 16" VentMaster chainsaw, neither of which are ready for use with the depth guard on them but the latter has its guard nearby in the compartment if need be. We have two K-12's as well, one set up inboard with a 12" Warthog Blade for roof work and the other set up outboard with a 14" all purpose metal/wood/concrete cutting blade for everything else. The first two pictures are to show you how one might miss the obvious, but if you spin the blades around with the saw OFF to check for cracks and bad tips you should be able to turn-up this problem waiting to happen. Actually, there was two piles of rope or string, each the size of the one in the photos but the wind took the first pile out of the apparatus bay, across the apron and proceeded on down Broadway. Will the saw still run? Im sure of it but I want them tip-top if Im going to be using them for the shift. the same can be said of the blades themselves. Why would you leave a front line saw on the rig with every single blade tip marred terribly with tar and other roofing material. Again, will it cut? Force and velocity will tell you hell yes it will cut but why in the world would I not take this blade off, scrape all that shit off and clean it up real nice, leaving it as pristine as possible for the next challenge? In the pictures the difference to me is clearly evident, further proving that a little pride and love of your tools will reward you when the time comes to apply your trade. Lastly, it is possible to perhaps miss the spring loaded wire that operates the safety mechanism on the saws throttle. Honestly Id like to tell you I believe that, but the very nature of doing a saw check should have caught this. The funny thing about doing your job in todays fire service is that the guys who are not, get all balled up at you for doing yours. When shit like this gets overlooked they feel shamed I guess and put their pissy pants on when you break balls about it. Do things get overlooked? Sure they do, Im guilty of it as well. Hitting the street first thing in the morning happens, and the apparatus check routine gets disturbed... I get it. To me, some things are more obviously glaring than say a more slighted and rarely used tool on your apparatus. Others however are more vital to our success, saws being one of them. ALL firemen should be complete and total masters of the obvious and we ought not be leaving tools on our rigs in this fashion. Partner saws do not have chain breaks like chainsaws do and this spring loaded throttle check is really the only safety feature on these types of saws. Its not even much of a safety, but I still want the one Im using to have it functioning properly and its a quick fix so why let it go... In the last picture the outside pulley has been tightened down upside down and believe it or not this is a common occurrence with the K-12 saw as well.This shot below shows the cleaned off tips and again, apologies for the bad photos. There is a ton of good information on fire service saws by Kevin Legacy, start with power saw tips, then dig the outboard blade conversion and also troubleshooting flooded saws, all are nicely done and informative.

Some More Preplanning.

2011-03-10T21:38:00.033-05:00

it goes without saying that this is the kinda shit that the ghetto fireman sees. Working the arena without spectators we are quite accustom-
ed to seeing this sorta thing on the streets of our socioeconomically challenged urban areas. Regardless of whether or not building codes are met, or if a standard is circumvented, we who fight fires in our disinvestment, post-industrial cities have come to expect that the occurrence of this kind of rehabilitation is commonplace. Like the last post, it is by chance I have the before pictures. Needless to say I am not in contact with any of the owners or builders, I just happen to have documented particular buildings for whatever reason and then as luck would have it some folks come along and start to rebuild structures that have sat vacant for decades. The reason my computer runs as slow as it does is because I have these old as hell files on it, but it enables a post such as this about time, materials, work, construction... all that which is relevant to the rebirth. Notice if you will that the end of the row towards the delta side still sits vacant and is occupied by squatters to some extent or another. When these buildings happen to "spontaneously combust" (since vacants are really vacant right?) at a future date, it may or may not extend to the newly rehabbed homes towards the b side of the row. Now that cause has been mentioned, we must realize that homes rehabilitated in the urban landscape are hardly built proper. The responsible parties are not throwing tons of bread at these buildings to make them exact or perfect. What they are doing is mixing the old and the new, or under fire conditions pinning the old against the new. When they verse one another, the outcome is never a matter of winning or losing but living or dying and we'll be lucky if a tragedy has been abated. Firefighters who for years, charge into the ordinarily constructed row homes of the American ghetto will become terribly disadvantaged when lightweight building materials and lackluster construction techniques are encountered, easily giving way during a firefight thats considered a bread and butter operation but is indeed much more hazardous. I could post photos of the shoring (haha) holding this stuff together all day... Its as much a miracle to me that no builders are killed in a collapse as it is that Charlie Sheen is still alive. Back to the point, preplanning is such an essential aspect of firefighters being hip to their environment that we do it subconsciously. When I was a kid riding a skateboard, I used to size-up terrain around homes and buildings to go and slash it up on... Now I look at the same things homes and buildings but in terms of playing a different tune, the tune of fire suppression. We all know that not everyone is particularly motivated to physically train every shift. We have lives, kids, moods... or perhaps layoffs affecting us adversely. Issues such as these cannot lead to irresponsibility amongst ourselves or one another. On a day when the boys aint feelin' like throwing ladders or setting up a tripod, take a rig-ride around and find something going on building wise and talk it up. Note construction thats reusing old bricks, removing stairs and entrances, or whole parts of the structure altogether. Perhaps there's a rebuilding with lightweight materials being utilized, such as the wood composite I-beam or osb board. These will not be easily known to the responding firefighters by way of an exterior size up. Catching this sort of rebuild in the process is generally the best way to achieving knowledge paramount to your safety, and the only way to know is by getting out and finding it, stopping to look at it, and in turn passing it along at the next roll call.

Some Preplanning.

2011-01-31T10:38:00.011-05:00

Andy Warhol said something to the effect of: "I never read, I just look at the pictures"... While I think he was a total genius, he would be able to figure out what Im about to talk about just by looking at these pictures even if he was a complete dipshit. Preplanning makes allot of sense, but sometimes takes long periods of time to fully come to fruition. I happen to find a few very old pictures buried under my attention deficit, that are relevant to some I had taken awhile ago, and in the next few days Ill go take a few more to show you the finished product.The first two shots here are of an end of the row 3 story ordinary constructed row home. They must be from one of my first cameras, and at least 5-6 years old. The Delta side of the row of these once gorgeous homes has long since been leveled, and the dwellings attached to the rear in said first few shots are now long gone as well. Documenting this was pure luck of course, as you never know what's going to happen to any given structure in your local, district or city, but this post can give us some insight into knowledge gained over time, through photography.I almost had a fat shit when I saw this, the entire first and second floor's "C" side of this long standing vacant, and now under "renovation" structure is missing. Im no construction aficionado but the fact that there is no substantial supplemental shoring in place to support this building while one whole side of the structure is missing makes me wonder how the whole damn thing didn't come down injuring or killing whoever was "working" on this property.Seeing alcoholic beverage cans and a posted placard about work stoppage, I wonder how this activity even goes on. Then, I think about where Im at and It comes clearly. I always like to say, why are you asking questions to things you already know the answers too, something most firefighters in an urban environment can relate to. Regardless, I now know that this structure has been gutted, and aside from already losing its lateral strength from the missing rest of the row, the new lighter weight construction you see inside will be concealed and an unsuspecting fire company may go charging into the interior thinking aggressively and perhaps pay for it. Preplanning. It is one of the best training tools a Fire Department can offer its firefighters. Please hit your streets, and see what's goings on out there...Just look at the B and D side walls, they are easily bowed. You may find it difficult to visualize it from these pictures but even if you cant see it, how could you think otherwise once you saw photographic evidence of them supporting a load like this. By the way, it sat opened like this for several weeks.I may have even posted some of this previously but I don't feel like going back to look and find out. I will get pictures of the finished building and put them up, along with another similar post from some stuff that went down across the street...
It took me awhile longer than I wanted to, but this is what the finished product looks like. In the next post I will have before and after shots of a preplan documentation as well. Complacency is a horrible trait for firefighters. Some of the easiest training you can accomplish is to hit the street and get in touch with your local, your district or city... and bring a camera.

3 Story Tenement.

2010-12-27T23:47:00.036-05:00

This project talks allot about squatters and the resource-fulness and creativity which they have attained. Todays harsh economic times notwithstanding, I know that there are a group of folks who may in fact squat by choice and live "off the grid" so to speak. Regardless of if they maintain employ or not is not always the issue as some people, for any number of reasons prefer to squat. They choose to oppose joining the rat race of mortgages, home maintenance, rental fees, monthly bills or what have you and simply go about their business in a well thought out, carefully picked place to set up the homestead. Some months back, I was off on holiday when Rescue Co. 1 was clearing from a small working box assignment and had gotten special called to this location. At 1451 Federal Street, just west of and right along the Cooper River, lies the old Camden City Incinerator. While patrolling, Car 3 came across a column of smoke rising from the old smoke stack. The Deputy Chief had Elevens Dispatched to the scene, and when a small fire was discovered in a confined space (for lack of a better term) at the bottom of the stack, the Chief special called the Rescue and a Ladder Company. Hook & Ladder 2 responded since 3 Truck was still on a box assignment. A small mattress fire was extinguished and several squatters were encountered while operating at this location. At the bottom of this mile long post there are some pictures of the mattress area, but it was clear there were several people living in this building and these pictures focus on one of their setups. A few squatters were ascending what is left of a partially collapsed second floor, making their way upwards as can be seen in the pictures of a collapsed concrete floor reinforced with rebar. We did not attempt to go to the "upstairs" area but the basement level however had plenty for us to look at. We startled the man residing at this urban posh living establishment. Having scenic views, a loft, close to transportation and plenty of nearby recreation... The boss and I joked about that lots but the fact remains; vacant buildings are not as vacant as the term tends to imply. This cat has been here quite awhile, and his layout and design bear that out. The shopping cart for traveling with resources was parked out front and draped with rain gear, stowed for its next mission. There were several habit trails leading to and from the squat in all different directions. Walking planks are in place, probably for when the river floods the place after a rainy high tide. The bed and night stand appear right inside the main entrance and are riddled with drug paraphernalia and used condoms. An office partition door sits at the ready to cover said entrance. We had to use a collapsable ladder to descend into his abode. There were a handful of different means of egress scattered about the squat at all ends... One of which our guy used to split before we could talk to him. These openings were covered by wood, some were held in place by used tires and others were just barely covered at all. When darkness falls the unsuspecting person, say police or firefighter, would step on or in one and perhaps sustain injury. This fellow was well stocked and prepared for most anything from sickness to intruders, mosquitoes to laundry. Never have we come across such a squared away squatter. He (or they as the case may be) had cases of water bottles. Laundered clothes hung from clotheslines strung throughout the area. Enough medical supplies were present to run a half assed EMS unit. The pantry rivaled ours back at quarters. I did see him picking up some syringes before he made off. Its a shame, we would have liked to speak with him to gather some intel for if and when we came back to this place for another incident. If your company is examining vacants for your preplanning pleasure, be mindful of sharps, liquids, lice, mold, bedbugs, scabies, piss, shit and vomit or any other myriad of infectious issues you are exposing yourself to once you enter these places. Although rare, some squats are booby trapped, usually minor in nature as opposed to vacants being used for clandestine drug operations or sales, which may have more serious and elaborate measures. Sometimes the occupied ones have tenants present when you come around, they may not discern between you and the police and react accordingly. These people are known to use drugs and there is no telling if you may have to defend yourself or not as you are encroaching on their turf. Its better to announce yourself and give them ample time to leave uncontested. Finding squatters in commercial or residential vacant structures is pretty common these days in urban and suburban areas alike but it is not the only thing to note obviously. You must also be on your toes for the building itself is often times dilapidated and screaming for gravity to finally put it out of its misery. Older buildings may be at the end of their lifespan and the moisture content of the lumber and the adhesiveness in the mortar used in the construction may be suspect at best. Preplanning these buildings can be just as deadly as fighting fires in them, especially during the winter months when an added live load of snow or ice may be just enough weight to compromise the structures integrity. If they are to be entered at all caution is a must and pay close attention to your surroundings. Do not let the cameras flash fool you, it was very dark inside this mans home! Flashlights help but it is a good idea not to commit yourself to far inside the bigger buildings in your local unless you have good reason and plenty of daylight. Always be on radio to quickly report any problems you encounter and have something to defend yourself with. When something like this happens we try to go back and show the member that was off exactly what they missed so were all on the same page for next time. We consider it re-conning, and learning our city is one of the best ways we become more effective firefighters. Posting all the photos I have of this place is just not practical unfortunately, there are some good ones and the place was pretty impressive. The last few pictures posted are of the small space where the fire had originated several months before. Again, an object (old fuel tank) was being used to close off the entry point and a tree limb gets positioned to keep it in place. Down a walkway a bit and dropping a level down there was a mattress or two which was burnt to the springs. Did it spontaneously combust, or was it an accident lit by a smoker? Were children playing in there or was a drug users candle knocked over?... I don't have the answer. How does one know if its righteous or not to commit personnel to the vacated structures in the urban cities of America that may or may not have occupants. This question is clearly relevant right now to the fire service... By clicking the post header you will find a link to a page about the old incinerator and a website full of great information on Camden NJ.

JOBS. 1214 Mt. Ephraim Ave. 12.9.10 20:30hrs.

2010-12-12T21:26:00.016-05:00

A heavy fire condition on the second floor front of a 2 story ordinary dwelling attached to a taxpayer. Seemingly under ren-ovation, there really was not a lot of fuel for fire to consume in this house. The nature and extent of fire was a bit sur-prising for how little there was to actually burn in here. How con-siderate was the contractor, home owner or squatter who was kind enough to leave a big fat shit in a cooler that the boss found instead of on the floor for us to go crawling or walking in. Sevens arrived and placed two inch and three quarter hand lines in service with help from Engine Company Eight. Ladder Co. 1 Laddered the buildings A and C sides and performed some ventilation as the Rescue took care of forcing entry and the primary and secondary searches with some ventilation mixed in. Car 3 and Battalions 1 and 2 were on location as well as Engine Co. 10 and Tower Ladder 3 which fulfilled our RIC needs. Some of the videos I got were over bloggers 100MB limit and are going to be posted on the CMD•FD Facebook page, you can find a link to that on the lower left hand side under the list of links or click on the writing right before the last comma. You do not have to be a FB member to see the content there.

JOBS. 41 S. 28th St. 12.9.10 07:15hrs.

2010-12-12T20:31:00.008-05:00

Obviously I have been slacking on posting the happenings round' my way lately, I had been off a few shifts in November and of course I missed three jobs. Between that, and not having a camera some days I have been in a lull with this project. These pictures are all taken by iPhone, since the job came in right after roll call and I hadn't placed the camera on board yet. A middle of the row occupied dwelling with a moderate Collyers Mansion condition, The first due Engine Company to this working basement fire was closed for the tour. Pushing a handline to the interior past a Christmas Tree blows, It always makes me feel sad. The first due truck, Tower Ladder 3 tried to hold it with a few cans but to no avail. Engine Company 11 is normally second due here, and wound up operating behind the eight ball so to speak. Its a real shame that the cities fire protection is compromised. These folks would have had a good shot at maintaining a decent holiday season had their Engine Co. not been shut down. Other Companies on location included Squad Co. 7, Engine Co. 6, Rescue Co. 1, Ladder Co. 1, Car 3 and Battalion 2. Later in the day, Engine Co. 8, which was amazingly open on our shift, changed over to Nines Apparatus so the 150 hour service could be done on Eights. Why yes, it has been closed for months but Eights apparatus has been being used by Tens...

Some Troubleshooting.

2010-12-11T23:14:00.013-05:00

To me, the ideal torch for fire service use is clearly the Petrogen Oxy-Gasoline System. In Camden we have had one on our collapse trailer for years. Ideally we will have a PCS Unit on our rig at some point as well. We are not going to be welding as firefighters, but we will be cutting. The Petrogen torch blows away any other torch on your rig for ease of use, safety and cost effectiveness, not to mention it flat out out performs other cutting torches for speed and power. I have posted on training with this tool before but this one will be about repairing it... Our system has been leaking fuel at the pump shaft screw cap for a long time now. An attempt at repairing the problem was made by changing out the leather pump cup which sits at the bottom of the pump shaft and compresses air into the fuel tank when pumped by hand. This was not the cause of the issue, but compounded the problem when it was reinstalled upside down and more or less pressurized the pump assembly backwards, jamming the shaft in place. The following shift attempted to use the pump until it was so jammed up it would not budge up or down. Upon removing the shaft the leather cup was torn badly and replaced with the one previously taken out, which was actually fine. Digging deeper, the pump cylinder assembly was missing a vital seal. The pump seal check valve, which is spring loaded and keeps fuel from flowing back up the pump shaft was not present. Obviously this missing part was the cause of the leaking problem. After the new seal was in place and the leather cup was installed back on the shaft properly, the torch should have been working perfectly. However, while running the torch it started popping violently and running extremely hot which is a clear indicator of a problem. Since the gasoline vaporizes inside the torches tip, this torch runs remarkably cool, which is the reason why it can operate for so long in hot environments. Further inspection revealed bad silicone applied to all the fittings, perhaps applied in an effort to stop the now fixed leakage from the pump shaft screw cap. This left huge chunks of silicone material in the gasoline as seen in the pictures, and did in fact find its way past the fast flow check valve and thru the fuel line to the torches tip. The tips are a two piece assembly of a brass inner core and a copper outer shell (this torch tips inner core had extremely dirty flutes, jammed full off carbon soot which can be and was cleaned out with a razor blade, before the silicone ruined it). The passage of silicone thru the mixer damaged the tip in two areas and made it near impossible to get the outer copper shell off the core. Will it still work, most likely but it will never run properly again and should be taken out of service. The dirty gasoline was dumped in a bucket and plenty of debris can be seen in it, waiting to destroy another tip had it not been removed. The fuel lines and fuel cell were then pressurized with an airline to remove any remaining debris. All the silicone was removed and a fuel appropriate teflon tape was applied to the threads. Our Heavy Rescue Outfit is now running perfectly again and is back in service on our collapse trailer.

Some Trench.

2010-12-11T22:11:00.010-05:00

Back on October 18th the Rescue Company was tasked with performing a very basic trench operation for the special operations companies of the department. A tool lab and quick class room sesh on a previous shift was followed up on the next shift by a live trench, dug out at a site in East Camden. Twice a day for four days, each platoon trained with trench size-up, air monitors, ventilation of the trench, moving spoil piles, placing ground pads, means of egress, setting panels, shooting paratech struts and other tactical and logistical objectives of trench work duties to get everyone on the same page. Trench Rescue is vast and can be a prolonged effort and must be done safely while training or real world. This was a very basic operations training we did and I apologize for the lack of quality photos as all I had this day was my iPhone. Our shift had the trench first and it came complete with toe-in and slough in collapses, with water slowly filling in at the bottom. A safety officer was in place and we all got plenty of hands on time.

Forcing Trash.

2010-12-11T18:20:00.008-05:00

Trash chute fires at Northgate are a pain in the ass. Somewhere along the chute trash gets jammed up, blocking water flow from upper floors downward to the compactor. Dodging roaches and curious tenants, we force a padlock off the sliding barrel bolt lock that's securing an inward swinging trash room door. The idea is to spread the shackle vertically from the locks body, accomplished easily with the duckbill tool but without one its onto plan b. Our halligans pick was not an effective wedge for the previous technique to work, which happens more often than not. Sizing up the actual hasp we figured we would pull the lock out of it. Driving the halligans pick into the locks shackle, using the adz end against the door to force the lock out of the hasp. Just an option here that worked for us, be careful not to damage the bolt to the point where it will not slide out of the door jamb insert.

Chiselers.

2010-12-10T15:32:00.012-05:00

Our fine friends at Camden EMS called us over to quarters to take a look at something they wanted a hand with. The shelving in one of their trailers needed to be gone to make room for new usage. We like to "play with our equipment" so a training sesh was made out of removing some steel shelving with our Quik Kut Air Hammer, my personal favorite of our pneumatic tools. This pneumatic cutting tool operates between 150-300 PSI and hits about 2200 times per minute. It is very mobile and versatile as it can operate off your departments SCBA bottles using the regulator provided with the kit. The overal length is 10 inches and it weighs in at 6 pounds, making it easy to use and small enough for many tight spots one may encounter at the scene of a motor vehicle extrication. It can quickly cut through trucks, buses, cars and Nader pins with ease. A structural collapse operation is another option as it can also cut reinforced concrete.The trailer was backed into Engine 8's bay cause' of course they were closed and we leisurely cut away the welded shelving, being mindful of the delicate areas. Not puncturing thru the actual trailer itself was a good skill builder as many of the welds were located in precarious positions. A win/win for all parties involved, city EMS gets a fresh canvas to work with and we get live training on our tools. Bliss.

Some Door Security.

2010-12-10T14:30:00.010-05:00

EVERY THIRTEEN SECONDS A HOME IS BURGLARIZED!.... Ha Im just bullshitting, but I was digging thru some old pics and I found this little dude from a South Camden Residence's back door. After you have made your way past the puppy and thru the rear "screen door" You get to play with this...This thing is apparently made by the same folks that have brought you the club locking device for your motor vehicles steering wheel. These pictures above and below show the "door club" stowed, ready to be quickly placed into action and also set in the floor mounted insert. An advert I found online says it is brass plated solid steel and can withstand 1 ton of force.The Door Club leaves no exterior sign of Its presence so your size up will not be indicative of what your truly dealing with. This lock can be used to secure a completely shut door or set back a bit so you can see which neighbor of yours is asking to borrow some sugar... When they try to come in and take your sugar after the door is cracked open, the lock says no to your neighbor for you.I have never forced one of these real world. After sounding the door (Which looked flimsy to me before this lock got involved) Id probably want a K-12 saw setup outboard to try to get under the door. The floor insert sits back 2 inches, per the directions so reaching it with the blade should not be a problem. I suppose you could also cut around the brace thru the door as well but like the first method, you must know what your dealing with first. As is the case with most things, this is not the only floor mounted security device on the market... Click the post header to go to the website I found it on, Scroll down a ways till you see the picture posted below and you can find the directions from there.

JOBS 46 Marlton Ave. 21:16hrs 10.26.10

2010-11-01T16:10:00.017-04:00

Dispatched at 21:16 hours and clearing at 22:03, the Rescue operated at a structure fire in East Camden performing some VES. Primary and secondary searches of the fire building and delta exposure were negative and we assisted in some overhaul as well. Other companies on location were Engine Co.'s 9, 11 & 1. Ladder Co. 1, Tower Ladder 3, Battalion 2, and Car 3. This job was no murder mystery, several spot fires thru out the building and a gas can in the back room, go figure. This dwelling had a layout more foreign to me than the majority of the row homes we operate in and appeared to be possibly under renovation or between tenants.

Some Preplanning.

2010-11-01T14:28:00.014-04:00

Firefighters are a pretty inquisitive lot from what I know... at least the good ones are anyway. So sure, on our shift we go into buildings under renovation. We go to look at new construction. We go check out vacants. We try to make ourselves as hip as possible to what's waiting for us out on our playing field. That being the case, when we see this old gem being fixed up and the back is wide open of course were going to go see what's goings on inside. Its rare to see the whole structures architectural plans hanging up, in Camden especially, but it was a nice treat to stumble across. Cut floor joists, relocated stairs, crumbling interior walls about to be covered by sheetrock, additions being added to the structure, missing sections of floor, mistakes in framing... This sort of thing is what we wanna see and know about for future reference. How far into the future is an unknown obviously but if you come back later the night of your investigation, you know where the floor decking is open. If you come back three years later, and you ascend the open interior stairs for your primary, you remember the stairs were moved from the original location and the joist were cut to make room for that alteration. Its this sort of information that can help you decide on your tactics, and keep you safer. So hit the street in your locals, districts or cities and see what the hells going on out there.

Jobs 10.6.10 1590 Mt. Ephraim 18:24hrs

2010-10-07T13:10:00.030-04:00

Companies on location included Rescue Co. 1, Ladder Co. 1, Hook & Ladder 2, Tower Ladder 3, Squad Co. 7, Engine Co. 1 (using E-8's apparatus), Engine Co. 10, Battalion 1 and Car 3. The Rescue conducted primary and secondary searches and performed some ventilation at a vacant taxpayer with a second floor middle bedroom fire with extension to the hallway and then some.
This building should look familiar as its the second time our companies caught work in it. Looking around the base of the steps leading to the second floor rear entrance turns up condom wrappers and drug paraphernalia, proving once again that drug addicted squatters are using a vacant building for shelter and drug usage. One firefighter went to the hospital after he injured his knee while falling into an open set of basement stairs, which was well camouflaged by debris scattered about the floor.Excuse my camera for the blur as It took on some water... there's enough evidence present to show drug usage in this vacant is most likely the main reason this building was on fire again. Lackluster security measures will not discourage a motivated vagrant who may be partial to a particular building or section of town from gaining access to a structure. It could be because the dwelling is close to the dealer or that the area provides ample means of sustaining a scrappers lifestyle. Perhaps there's a sentimental value attached to a particular squat house, either way these fires continue to jeopardize occupied structures.

Some Bullshit 10.6.10 11:30hrs

2010-10-07T12:30:00.004-04:00

Rescue Co. 1's crew split bringing Haz-Mat 1 along with Squad Co. 7 and Battalion 1 to a vacant structure at 1213 Jackson Street. Occupied exposures were found upon arrival as a fuel oil tank leaking product left heavy fumes in the area. Companies metered, ventilated, secured a leak then worked to absorb product from a water filled basement, deconing after mitigation. Scrappers made use of copper piping in the vacated structure leading to between 4 and 8 gallons of product escaping from an old basement fuel oil tank. Companies cleared in a little over an hour.

Some Board Ups.

2010-09-26T21:59:00.013-04:00

Looking at this vacant structure one should not assume that the board ups are all sagging down a perfect distance from the lintel accidentally or by gravity but rather that a squatter needed some light and ventilation in his or hers illegally occupied slice of heaven. These board ups in the city can also double as a doorway or stash spot. They have been used by firefighters to cover holes in the floor decking during fire operations and can even assist us climbing into lower level windows... Its pretty versatile just like the city firefighter. Squatters use them for all kinds of shit from bridges to tables, to hang-dry clothing on or to conceal entryways. The picture below shows a doorway board up laying useless in a pile of debris after it was defeated by squatters once they had gained access thru a first floor window, via the gutter and old electrical box.Further proving this building had been scrapped and occupied by vagrants is this NFPA 1932 compliant ladder leading into the basement. It looks like a lean-to collapse of the first floor has occurred in a section leading to the second floor stairs.These two views (above and below) show the stash spot. Its a pretty well concealed opening and may have been an entryway at one point but this vacant is wide open now on the C side. As you can see, ducking into the bushes to retrieve a drink, drug paraphernalia or even exchange money or drugs is not uncommon. Were not in the business of ruining the public works departments fine work otherwise a whole step by step post on the "Camden Shutter" or venting/removing the board ups at a working fire would be in order.In most cases venting/opening-up gets accomplished with a plunge cut into the center of the board up from top to bottom with a 24 inch chainsaw. This effectively releases the tension between the 2x4 and the plywood. The tension is created when carriage bolts secure the plywood and 2x4's together, while the ends of the 2x4's overlapping the interior window frame. Tightening down the carriage bolts as seen in these few pictures is what holds the HUD window board up in place. Once the cut is accomplished a roof hook can be used to pull each remaining half of the board out of the window or door frame in a shutter movement, hence the nickname camden shutter. There are a few variations of the board up... sometimes they are more heavily fortified by way of an extra 2X4 or a thicker gauge of plywood, leaving them a bit more labor intensive to remove. [A few pictures just added to this for relevance, (10.9.10) a close up of the above picture. I wanted to go all out on how to defeat board ups in this post but these tie in as its right on a sill you might be operating on... Click on the picture below to blow it up and see if you can spot that sharp on the syringe. This is one reason why we wear full PPE at a working fire. While it may not keep you from getting stuck thru your gear, gloves especially, it can surely lesson the chances of a puncture and a possible contraction.]When the plywood is screwed directly to the frame and not the HUD set-up, you may have to follow the window or door frame around with the saw. This involves more time cutting with a saw obviously but to get a good opening its necessary. If the wood is old it may be possible to cut vertically and pull the plywood off in the aforementioned shutter fashion but it depends on the amount of screws involved and how secure it really is. An over zealous PWD employee or home owner may have sunk a hundred screws and your better off cutting all the way around instead of trying it and failing then finding you need to restart your chainsaw and finish cutting. Conversely, sometimes the board up is so old it may fall right out of place. When this is the case the wood will look old and shitty obviously and a cut may not even be necessary to pull it away from the structures opening. Sounding it like you would a door you were about to force is advisable akin to the try before you pry rule. Recognizing your best option quickly comes with experience and by not ignoring the obvious. Creativity in dealing with what comes at you on a case by case scenario is necessary. Once inside a structure you can usually defeat the board up without it being cut by beating on one side of the 2x4 with a maul or flathead axe in an up or down motion to free it from the window frame and then push it outward. Any kind of sparking or resistance while cutting can mean possible reinforcement and you should always have plan B and C ready to move on to. Click on the post header for a PDF of Board Up Procedures by the US Fire Administration. More pictures will be added to this post soon, hopefully along with a step by step of forcing some HUD board-ups with conventional force tools (irons). Similar to how you would on a door you were forcing, the pike of your Halligan would be placed directly over the bolt and struck with the Flat Head Axe to drive the carriage bolt thru the board up, releasing the tension holding it in place. If an exterior 2X4 is present as well, this can still be accomplished but may be a bit harder. You may also drive the Halligans pike directly into the 2X4, splitting the wood and removing the 2X4 altogether to then attack the carriage bolts. This also holds true for when you have gain entry and are defeating the board-ups from the inside out.

Some Size-Up.

2010-09-26T19:11:00.004-04:00

Rest assured, these first two pictures are of the same property. A tenant was out and about cleaning and I didn't really get a chance to take a better picture of the meters and the mailboxes in the same shot. Johnny or Eddie noticed this, but as a company when were out doing recon and learning our city, everyone chimes in and we get hip to more and more things about size up. Upon further investigation only four of the meters were running, but that still leaves another apartment inside the structure doesn't it. Maybe it was converted to a larger one or maybe its unoccupied but whatever the case may be you shouldn't be surprised when you do or do not find 5 apartments instead of 4.
When this door is lifted into place it looks nice and tight and you would never know its a doorway unless you notice the little cutouts to grab the board up from each side and remove it. From the street, even the way it is shown in the picture makes it look tightened up. The porch has been removed and there's clearly some markings on the walls from neighbors... maybe its being renovated or maybe its being used for some other activity.

Jobs. 1258 Sycamore 02:52hrs 9.20.10

2010-08-21T23:33:00.033-04:00

A row of four type 5 wood frame vacant houses caught fire for perhaps the fourth and final time this month at the 1200 block of Sycamore Street. Box #191636 was dispatched at 2:52am. On location at 2:56am, Rescue Co. 1 conducted searches of the Bravo and B-1 Exposures before helping out with mostly engine company operations. The Box went to a second alarm upon the chiefs arrival and defensive operations were set up with exposures in mind to the Bravo and Delta sides. Companies on location included Rescue Co. 1, Squad Co. 7, Engine Companies 8, 1 (using E-6's rig) 10 and 11 (using E-9's rig) Ladder Co. 1, Tower Ladder 3, Battalions 1 and 2, and Car 3 Tour Command. Hook & Ladder Co. 2 & Engine Companies 6 and 9 were all unable to attend because they were FUCKING CLOSED. Nearby Gloucester City Companies were on location to fill out the 2nd alarm. The County Canteen and Cascade units were also on location and we thank you all for coming out to help.
CENSORED has made conscious efforts not to go to greater alarms in the City of Camden to keep from proving that closing companies is detrimental to the safety of city residents and its firefighters. Although many injuries were incurred only two firefighters were transported to the hospital. The boys did a fine job of saving life and property once again putting themselves at risk while operating extremely short staffed. Apparently the State of New Jersey has changed their minds on operating under NFPA and OSHA guidelines since we worked this whole job WITHOUT a designated Rapid Intervention Crew. Why, just look at the pictures to see... nobody. Working a fire of any size, let alone one this big without a RIC is the most unsafe tactic a fire department can allow to happen and even though I keep saying it cant get any worse, It sure has. Rescue cleared the job at 6:40am.

Some Vacant W/ Fatality.

2010-08-21T21:14:00.009-04:00

By clicking the post header, you will get a link to Philly Fire News' (PFN) website coverage and some great pictures by Dave Hernandez. This job occurred back in March of this year and the reason for posting this now is to reinforce the fact that vacant buildings do not just spontaneously combust and that squatters, vagrants and drug addicts are using these structures in urban environments everywhere. This is not the exception in our city, it is the rule. While we go to plenty of occupied structure fires, we engage in quite a bit of fire suppression in vacant structures as well. This incident is case and point for why we try to aggressively attack and search burning vacant buildings. Doing it safely and thoroughly can and should be done before clearing any working fire.The B side of this dwelling looks like it has several different kinds of material used for siding over the years and that at one time there was a probably another row home connected to it. Keeping in mind that row homes are laterally dependent on each other for stability, and given the extent of fire that was present here its no wonder this building looks ready to collapse on the D side.That pile of shit on the delta side is from a front porch roof that collapsed off this structure a month earlier under the heavy snows we had endured in winter. This now standing alone corner property is clearly not structurally sound... looking at the A side you can see how bowed in the delta side wall is. Take note of how the construction looks like some sort of hybrid. Type 3 ordinary perhaps originally but with an addition on the C side and the A side looking more like type 5 wood frame, the building looks unstable at best and conducting an interior fire fight with the fire conditions presented upon arrival is clearly not the right move. However, just because we do not enter the structure does not mean it cannot be searched as best as possible.The sill cut in the A side right front bedroom window is clearly visible, and very after the fact. Apparently the State Police had called Fire Administration about a missing person that was last seen in that area. Some ten days after the fire had taken place, a body was discovered at this location and removed from the dwelling. Found right inside the window and half under a mattress, the victim was plain as day to the members of the Ladder Company who cut the board up off the window and removed the body via aerial. A Tower Ladder could have been utilized to remove the boards and peer safely inside the structure with hand lights or flood lights from the bucket while no member was subjected to crossing the threshold into the structure. A fire condition that will leave no viable victims inside a structure is no excuse for leaving behind undiscovered fire victims. This sort of thing is uncommon for good reason, we should not be doing it.

JOBS. 829 Pearl St. 1100hrs 8.3.10

2010-08-04T23:40:00.012-04:00

We were preplanning a high rise thats under renovation at the corner of Broadway and Cooper Streets downtown when this box came in. We were first due by a long shot and had light smoke upon arrival. I am trying to bite my tongue on this post but I will say that I personally witnessed allot of fire ground bullshit at the second alarm fire at 829 Pearl St. Companies on location included Rescue Co. 1, Engine Co.'s 1,8,9 and some other ones. Ladder Co. 1, Hook & Ladder 2, Tower Ladder 3, Squad Co. 7, Battalions 1 and 2, Car 3, Car 1, whatever car the Chief FM drives and a few other FM's too. No Union Guys Anywhere. Rumor has it the C.O.D. didn't want to go to a second alarm cause there would be nobody left available. I know you have to read the books that tell you to strike extra alarms when the heat index is at or near 100º to get promoted... In my opinion, the state of our fire department has never been worse in its 141 years of existence. Moral, Leadership, Safety, Operations, Training and Experience... all lackluster and in need of serious attention. Someone is going to get seriously hurt if things keep going the way there going.

Some Troubleshooting.

2010-08-04T22:41:00.005-04:00

What a pain in the ass this is. There's always some guy who thinks the harder he pulls the starter cord, the better the saw is going to start. Most likely, he's the same fireman that drop starts like a fuck tard, never puts fuel in the saw, couldn't explain what the benefits of a 2 stroke engine are, doesn't engage the chain bar brake after he makes a cut and then goes carelessly walking around guys trying to cut their arms off.... and doesn't let his saws idle and warm up before he throttles them up at the start of his shift. Trying to tell a guy not to do that to his equipment so that when you need to, you can get on the saw at a fire, is like talking to a wall. At any rate, fixing this is pretty simple and by clicking the post header you'll get a link to some good info in PDF format.Getting the knot undone will be the hardest part! Banging on it with a hammer or something will help loosen it. If your careful you can use a needle nose plier but try not to damage the cord. Feeding it thru the pulley is tricky. Shaking the starter unit is easier to get it thru then pushing it.Once your tied you can put the cord in the cord cut out in the pulley and wind it 7 turns clockwise. This too can be a pain, just use your thumb. Place the starter unit back on securely and tighten it down with the 4 screws. Sometimes even with the 7 turns the cord will have too much slack. You can kinda compensate by retying a knot further down on the cord so the pull cord handle sits lower. This may or may not work for your taste, it depends on how obsessive you are really. A little slack isn't the end of the world and it will still start and run just fine. If you want the pull cord handle tighter to the starter unit you may have to open up again and wind the pulley tighter.

Some New Toys.

2010-08-04T22:16:00.003-04:00

Rescue Co. 1 placed a set of Paratech TVS struts in service. Sweet looking and user friendly, the set consist of the TVS 100 and 200 stabalizers. the 100 has one extension and collapses down to 47 inches while extending to 60 inches, weighing in at 30 pounds. The 200 has two extending lengths with full extension at 96 inches and collapses down to 68 inches, weighing in at 42 pounds. Each strut comes with a set of tie down keys. Haven't used em' on the street yet but its a matter of time. A further report to follow...The base articulates 90º with an integrated ratchet belt. The collar twists to extend then twists back to lock. The head of the strut incorporates 3 types: V Base, Cone Base and a Wedge Base. Fully extended it can support up to 10,000 pounds with a built in 2:1 safety factor. Click the post header for the link...

Some Kinky Shit.

2010-08-04T22:10:00.004-04:00

Dude wanders in off the street, says he and his grandson were "playing around". Anyway, the police said it was cool so...

Well, Well, Well....

2010-07-13T22:25:00.003-04:00

Hey Now... I showed up for a night tour with the 2 group fellas and the rig was back in service. from Sept. 4 2009 till July 12 2010. Thats the longest two weeks I have ever experienced! 10 months and two weeks of riding in the 1992 Ford and I am thankful the Seagrave is back. Hopefully, people will think about the financial situation the department is in before they run lights and t-bone us again.

JOBS. 900 block Collings Road 7.12.10

2010-07-13T22:16:00.006-04:00

We went to a basement fire. The first due Ladder Co. was closed for 24 hours. Not Cool.

JOBS. 1210 Yorkship Square 6.24.10

2010-06-25T23:00:00.014-04:00

Engine Co. 10 was previously dispatched to the area for a smoke investigation with nothing found and was dispatched again a while later for another, this time discovering smoke from a two story taxpayer in Fairview Sections Yorkship Square. A box was transmitted at 2341hrs. bringing Hook & Ladder 2, Squad Co. 7, Engine Co. 8, Rescue Co. 1, Ladder Co. 1, Battalion 1, Car 3, and a Special Call for Tower Ladder 3, (R.I.C.) and Engine Co. 11. We were on location at 2346hrs. and operated with forcible entry to the rear fire apartment and the A side of the bravo exposure. Primary/secondary searches of the building of origin and the delta exposure were conducted as well as opening up and some overhaul.

This job looked to us like it burned itself out and got some air later on bringing it back to life a little bit. Had this happened on our last shift, Ladder Company 2 was closed for 24 hours and the first due truck company would have been Ladder Company 1, a center city truck out of headquarters and more or less would have come clear across town... the second due truck would have been Tower Ladder 3 from eastside, an even longer run. The company closures we are presently dealing with have and will continue to bite our safety in the ass and compromise the safety of city residents and the protection of their property.

Sorta Jobs 722 Washington 6.20.10

2010-06-25T20:23:00.009-04:00

A box was broadcast for 722 Washington St. at 1558hrs. Rescue Co. 1 was on location first at 1602hrs with a small porch fire and made quick work of it along with Engine Company 8, which was first due since Engine Co. 1 was closed for 24hrs. We forced entry to the front and rear of this vacant structure to check for extension and cleared quickly at 1620hrs as the 1st Battalion held it to 1 and 1 with Eights and Ladder Company 1.In the rear a fire escape exists very close to a tree growing inside of the structure, pushing out and working against the c side wall. Under a good fire condition collapse of the rear wall would be an almost certainty as the load of the fire escape combined with the tree pushing the wall outwards would be too much for the old brick and mortar to handle. Gravity is acting on this all the while and a collapse will occur eventually even without the presence of fire. The iron web structure of a fire escape added to a building may seem like an obsolete urban icon, usually contributing more to firefighter injury than rescues of trapped occupants as most are now just used as makeshift balconies and others should be condemned due to lack of maintenance as they are unable to support weight and perform the task for which they were originally designed. It just may be the last chance though for people fleeing from a working fire.If your considering operating from a fire escape determine whether or not the fire escape is an imminent hazard based upon some visual indicators such as missing pieces, deformation of joints due to rusting, loose or missing connections between pieces or degraded connection points to the structure... all of which you would see in the case of this fire escape.Utilities appear to still be serviceable to the dwelling, and an opening to the interior is just a short fence climb away for a squatter or addict looking for shelter. Noticed the bunches of cut tree material along the bravo side, maybe this house is about to be renovated as it is in a good spot for it. We will go check up on in in a month or so.

"this used to be a beautiful block"

2010-06-17T12:41:00.062-04:00

We stop and look at vacants, The boss calls it sight seeing. I see fires in vacants as the newest trend in the fire service but in CMD we have been doing this for years. Our "war years" have slowed but gentrification isn't a word commonly associated with Camden and fire in vacant structures happens regularly. listening to a woman tell you how nice her block used to be and that shes been trying to get the city to tear down the vacant next door to her for over a decade is disheartening. She has been living there over 45 years and like plenty of other residents in the city, is stuck living next to a vacant home. This is one reason why we aggressively seek to put fires out from the interior of vacant structures, to protect property. On Princess Avenues 1000 block, starting at Walnut and running South towards Park Blvd, there's a row of 29 houses on the left side of the street minus one that was demolished, and there are 30 give/take across the street... thats about 60 homes. 25 or more are vacant. This is a typical city block in Camden. Looking at the first picture under the map of the area, the board-up on the window in the alley tween' houses will be tuff, its a tight spot to use a hook to get the board off, and while we normally go chainsaw on these the metal screen behind it was stout and would most likely kick the chain right off the bar. It might be better to skip and get it from the interior unless the situation dictates it needs to be open a.s.a.p. Note the hole in the basement window, looks like a manmade enlargement of a hole at a weak spot in the brick, perhaps to throw drugs into while running down the alley from the front to the rear.
Taking a walk round' back you can see some neat stuff, from the back alley you cant see the openings but as you get up closer you see the basement is wide open. If you look closely you can notice the habit trail thru the weeds to the back door with a broken lock... or that the weeds are cut even. Just like foot prints in the snow during winter, high weeds in summer can tip you off to people using a vacant house. High weeds and trees help conceal activity as well, perhaps thats why this one property is trimmed, to keep vagrants away. Dogs prohibit fiends from using a vacants yard to do their thing, they want privacy and you cant get high or turn a trick if a dog is barking away, giving the owner a heads up to the spot. The quiet yards without dogs or lights nearby is where there's lots of drug usage and plenty of leftover paraphernalia scattered about. Most times it will be these vacant structures that are more susceptible to catching fire from illegal drug users or vagrants.
Not highly visible from the back alley, but walking up half way to the dwelling the opening at the bottom of the back door board up becomes more prevalent. In the picture below, if you look closely you can see an example of the habit trail thru the higher uncut weeds leading up to a forced rear door.By forced I don't always mean broken or damaged, squatters are much more stealth and crafty than you might think... this lock looks beaten by a screwdriver or maybe a butter knife used to unscrew the door from the general use hasp. Seeing and photographing many weapons and tools fashioned by the homeless I cant reiterate enough the resourcefulness and daring that these folks represent.Look at the room pictured above, just inside the rear door, a piss bottle is present and several other items that are clearly out of place. The color of items/things left in this room for years is surely different from the color of newer things/items left more recently. In the event of an upper floor fire at this structure, peering into this room in the smoke/darkness with a flashlight, one can notice these clues and might think that a primary search has just become more relevant as this vacant house is maybe not as unoccupied as the term vacant leads you to assume.

Some is it is, or is it aint.

2010-06-17T11:51:00.007-04:00

Is this dwelling occupied or not... Its partially boarded up and pulling up on this you might think its occupied. The delta exposure is clearly vacant. Or is it? Does the Cable Dish line actually go to something or is it cut, what about utilities? Looks like someone is taking care of the property. If I could speak spanish I would have asked the nice lady on the front porch of the D1 occupied exposure. However I did catch the mailman at work... A pretty valuable resource for sizing up a block like the one posted above. He's there everyday seeing what's goings on here, who would be hipper than him to ask about squatters or the habits of the occupied homes tenants.This pile of trash was in the rear yard. Looking at the wood it looks like a small fire has taken place in this house and its being renovated. Lots of rehabs in Camden fall by the wayside, like any other urban economically depressed city. You see the materials piled up covered in dust or trash, left by an overwhelmed do-it-yourselfer or a home owner out of funding or foreclosed on.
The second floor window board up on the left in the rear or C side, slid down and covered by cardboard... by squatter or by renovator?How about this for an entry point, did you see this in the larger photo of the C side? Vacant homes are occupied more often than the term implies.

Some Vacant Before & After.

2010-06-05T12:42:00.032-04:00

Targeting vacant structures in your local is important if not a must. About a month or so ago we were round' the way, checking out these structures and low and behold, it was hammerin' for 2 group just the other day around 6:15 am. We knew this was going to happen, and we knew why because our company had preplanned it. The top shots here are from when we were here weeks ago and the bottom two pictures are taken after the job. The rest of the post will be before and after shots with some insight into squatters, a common problem in many urban cities like Camden.The next 4 pictures are the reason this fire happened. Vacant structures burn more often than not because they are not as vacant as the term might imply. The second floor front bedroom pictured was barricaded with a dresser which we see very often, and secured with a 2X4 rig which to me looked designed to butt up against dudes bed so if there was an unexpected visitor he might be awakened by his bed shaking, even if he was high as a kite. Drug usage in this house is very obvious. A neighbor I spoke too confirmed it, but its no murder mystery... looking at the pictures I needn't explain what's going on here.

Ill spare you the shit bucket pictures, the post is to damn long as it is but be mindful of crawling around in these places, most of them have the shit bucket if not several and its not cool when you knock it over and crawl thru it. Squatters don't care about you, but that does not mean we should not do our job. I don't have the answers, but when I hear firemen saying that "its a dumpster" and to "let it burn" and, who cares if someones inside... this is not the answer in my mind either. Property comes after life and most of these vacants are in rows along with occupied houses and letting them burn puts other folks who own property in jeopardy. This is one of the great debates of the fire service and with the economy the way it is, fires in vacants are occurring more frequently for departments that may not have dealt with them much in the past. Granted, they may not have the drug element involved or even squatters for that matter but just because a property is vacant doesn't mean its righteous to let it burn down...The above two shots are the same room taken from just inside the front door facing the rear or C side. The next two below are towards the front or A side. This house was structurally pretty good accept for the rear...These three shots show the rear, in the third one down notice how the window is sitting in the window frame, its the only straight thing about this room which is clearly ready to collapse off the back end of the structure. You can see the mattress under the window, you think its vacant? While touring it before the fire we knew it was occupied and that if we were to go inside, the rear of the structure was not for us. Inside and out there are signs telling you people are inside or could be. Most times squatters scatter when they see they have started a fire but reporting it isn't on their agenda so much. Writing on the walls, drug paraphernalia, tampered with utilities, missing public works boardups, booby traps and forced door locks are just a few signs to pick up on. leaving behind fire victims is a black eye on any fire department, primary and secondary searches must be conducted. Our safety is the highest priority, but not an excuse.More shots of the job before and after are below. You can see the lock still intact on the front door prior to the fire and one of the many void spaces for fire to extend freely between floors. Further down you can see more drug paraphernalia.Above and below... same spot, different day. Looked to me like the fire had started near this area around the middle of the first floor, the staircase obviously took a hard hit, they are destroyed now and were perfectly fine when we were in there. There were couches in this middle area, possibly where careless users started a fire. I have no pictures of the second floor as we had to split to take in a box before we managed to get up there but you get the idea. A Fatality was discovered in an exposure to the Bravo side. Soon Ill post pictures of an even more interesting vacant with a fatality that was missed and sat for 10 days undetected.
If you get out and go into these structures, your going to see this stuff. The more familiar you are with vacants in your local or city before they burn, the more prepared your going to be to effectively and safely operate at these fires. Does your company target hazard these dwellings on a regular basis? Is there an SOP/SOG to check up on them every few months to see whats going on? You will be amazed at the changes... time, gravity, the weather, squatters, thieves, neighbors in occupied exposures, previous fires, ferrel animals, renovations... the list of possibilities that can affect a vacant structure is endless. Heres a few more shots of one of the bedrooms of a vacant dwelling.

JOBS. Park/Vesper 6.4.10 13:30 hrs.

2010-06-05T11:56:00.007-04:00

Not a whole lot going on here. Batt. #1 Chief Johnson kept it to a full box cause it was super hot outside. This building houses the Camden High Football Field concessions and locker/bathrooms along with some storage. Companies forced entry into all parts of it, located fire, and put it out.

Some Pin Job 6.4.10 1400 hrs-ish

2010-06-05T11:42:00.005-04:00

While picking up from the Job posted above, we were special called into neighboring Collingswood on Route 130 to help out with an extrication. Funny thing is our tools took a shit too, thats what happens when your using a rig not even suitable to be a spare as your front line rig. After a Hydraulic line burst we were in service quickly with portable power and the victim was extricated and transported. Didn't get allot of info but it was a scion vs. an ambulance. The metal on those scions sucks for cutting, Juss Sayin. Ill be driving all month...

Some Miracle.

2010-06-02T18:11:00.008-04:00

Well this finally happened... Almost 9 months to the day, a sure sign of how bad it is at the Camden Fire Department financially speaking of course. One would be inclined to think this is a good thing but Im guessing the repairs and body work will take the next three months to complete. The rig will probably be parked outside the whole time too. I left my camera at Liberty and FF Brian Beach was nice enough to take some shots for me, Thanks.