August 16, 2010 Structure Fire, Convict Conditioning, Bike and Pack Test

This past Monday we were called out to another house fire. We arrived on scene of a single story, single family dwelling, with light smoke showing from the attic vents. We were the second due truck company, so we were assigned to the exterior of the residence. We had an extra firefighter on the rig this shift, so he and the other firefighter laddered the roof, the two engineers went up top with a thermal imagining camera and chainsaw to cut a ventilation hole if needed, and I was assigned to utilities. During fires we shut off the gas to the house for obvious reasons, and the electricity so that we don't fry ourselves as we're poking through walls looking for hidden fire. The first due truck company was assigned to the interior of the house for search and rescue. As I was getting off the rig and approaching the house, one of the engine companies announced that they had secured the utilities, so I was reassigned to help out in the interior of the residence. The fire was hidden and smoldering under the blown in insulation making it fairly difficult to initially locate. The engineers on the roof used their TIC to try to pinpoint the fire from up to, while we used one from inside. We removed the occupants belongings that were in the affected rooms, tarped the floor to minimize the mess we were going to make, and then began pulling the ceiling under the hot spots. The engine company then quickly extinguished the fire once we had opened up the ceiling.

Afterwards I took a lap around the building as a learning opportunity, and am very glad I did. The first thing I sized up were the bars on the windows and the best way to force them open. One of the other jobs truck companies are responsible for is forcible entry. Making access into the structure to allow the engine crew to go in and put the fire out. In addition to this, if the fire had really been going, we would have been responsible for forcible exit, making sure the building was "softened up," other doors and windows forced so that if the interior crews needed to bail and get out in a hurry, they would have an easy means of egress.

The next thing I sized up was the utilities. As I approached the structure from the street, I noticed that the power lines were located behind the house. Therefore, the main electrical shutoff would most likely be in the back of the house. As I continued around to the back, I located the power drop from the lines, followed it to the weather head where it connected to the house and looked down for the panel, but didn't initially see one. On second inspection I noticed that the weather head was set back about 15' from the edge of the roof. The panel was in fact inside the house. The house had a remodel where two more rooms and a bathroom were tacked on to the back of the house. The interior wall with the panel still had it's exterior stucco on it. This is important to know, because if we become trapped in a room with heavy fire, we can usually quickly punch a quick hole in the sheet rock, and wriggle through the studs to the next room. In this case having a reinforced exterior wall inside the structure could have prevented us from quickly doing this.

And the last thing I noticed during the lap around the structure was that the gas meter was located at the front right side of the house (Alpha Delta corner) away from the electrical panel. All in all a great learning experience, and we saved another bird.


Once back at the station I performed the following reps for Convict Conditioning

Incline Pushups 3x40

Bent Leg Raises 2x30

The Smith machine was set at the 6th hole from the bottom for the first set, but then moved down to the 5th hole since my wrist was feeling fine throughout the movement. I didn't have my book with me that day, and didn't remember the exact numbers for the leg raise progression standard, so just did 2 sets of 30. As with last time I kept focussing on the hollow position and pressing my low back flat into the ground throughout the whole range of movement.


Next up 15 minutes on the exercise bike

Level 11

Random interval

15:15 work sets

Distance 4.75 miles

Average speed 18.8 mph


And then I finished up the day with a Pack Test

15 minutes mystery hike

40 lb weight vest and Vibram Five Fingers

Max speed 5.0 mph

Max incline 5.0%

Average incline 3.0%

Distance 1.18 miles

Working out in the Five Fingers has made me much more aware of my foot positioning and gait. When my knees would start to hurt, I'd smooth out my gait and foot strike and the pain would disappear.