Tim Ransom from Charlotte (NC) Engine 11 sent in this photo of another interesting door set-up. This business converted a standard roll-up door into a 36†outward swinging door. As you can see the original roll-up was left in place and concrete poured to fill the remaining opening making the new door flush with the building. This installation poses two potentially challenging situations: The first being the need to force the roll-up after forcing the outward swinging door. The limited exposed surface area of the roll-up leaves few options and will undoubtedly require some saw work. Not extremely difficult, but will require some time, and serves as another reason to always have the saw when operating in the rear of a commercial occupancy. The second issue could be conflicting reports from inside and outside crews. If a MAYDAY situation occurred, the crews on the inside might report that they are at (or near) a roll-up door on Side C, but the outside crew would only see the 36†outward swinging one. Hopefully, the outside crew would not waste much time and quickly discover the double door setup. As we have shown so many times in the past here on VES, when it comes to building construction and forcible entry, we always need to expect the unexpected.
That probably isnt concrete. Should be metal studs and stucco board underneath. You can blast through that and give it a few yanks and pull the lathe right with it, totally expose that whole door. It is amazing what people will do isnt it!
Stay Safe!
Awesome. once again, another amazing “home remedy”. You have to wonder what the point of leaving the roll up door would be…maybe it’s still a work in progress? Great find by Engine 11…they obviously care about their “duty” to the taxpayers and are out there making the most of it! Way to go! You cant find these obstacles sitting on your ass 16 hours out of the day munching on dorritos! Excellent reminder to take the saw with you to the rear. Hopefully youre not a “one man truck co.” and will have some help going to work(although one guy can accomplish a ton!). The door opens outward, so you have access to the hinges. Also interesting is that the locks are visible on the outside only…a little different than what we typically find, so possibly a clue to something “not quite right”…. The good news is that the door appears to be light weight and really shouldnt impede us for too long… Nice job Charlotte FD Engine 11!
Another big worry would be, what if you entered there, under fire conditions and the roll up door was up. You would never realize it was there until the springs stretched and it closed behind you, blocking your egress or cutting off your hose.
Steve
What a great point to bring to light. Another good reason to make sure you not only look above before you enter but also that you know your local.
What’s with the handicap markings? It’s an outward swinging door that in my opinion isn’t very handicap accessable?!? That might be flag that something else is going on here. Great find guys.
This reminds me of that Wile E. Coyote episode where there’s like 100 doors of every shape and size that the coyote keeps having to open, even though the roadrunner only ran through one.
D.K.
Maybe it’s painted on, and only the roadrunner can go thru it.
The wires are a nice touch and they, like the door may be an indication of other problems.
Just goes to show you people don”t think when they do something