Engineer George Humphrey from Gary Indiana Fire (Engine 7) sent in these photos of a dollar store in his first due. It’s hard to believe that a Dollar Store would go through all of these additional security measures. We’ll give you a sneak peak of sides A and C but you’ll have to go to the supplemental page to see what we are talking about.
It “appears” by the pics posted of the Armador that if you were to shear the bolt heads on the skin just as you would a fox lock, this door security hardware seems like it would fall to the floor.
Yes, you are exactly right (facetothefloor). That is what I teach the guys I work with to do. Otherwise, you are there much longer than you need be. You are also wasting too much energy on the typical forcable entry methods.
You would think that a nice quiet town like Gary wouldnt need things like this on the doors of their businesses…HA..HA
But seriously,finding things like this in your first due will only lead to safer operations…
George…does Tony B work with you???
Hey Steve, Yeah, Tony and I use to work together on the Squad. He got promoted to Lt. and is now floating. I got promoted to Engineer and was floating but then they stuck me at 7’s. I was really embarrassed to print that I was from engine 7 when I wrote this but oh-well, hopefully that will change. I am sure Tony will see this as he is a frequent visitor of the site. Take care stay safe. And if you get a chance, somebody is video taping some of our fires and submitting them on youtube, check em out.
Tony came down to where I live a few years ago and taught a class that some of the guys are still talking about…I have seen some of the Gary fire videos…good stuff…..you get a chance check out Lawrenceburg Fire on youtube…Feb 10 we had a good one…
I ran into a similar incident at a dollar store down here except they didnt have the panic hardware just a bar and two 1″ slide bolts with padlocks…
Just call for the saw. Why waste energy on a property that contains Chinese garbage? You will need it for the roll down anyway. One of our Deputy’s wrote a great article on a 5th Alarm we had in a dollar store. Bottom line is: Heavy fire load, usually stock to the ceiling. And remember, if its late at night the only life threat is MOST likely US!
Stay Safe!
I am going to have to agree with Jon here. Why waste the time when you have a saw sitting on the truck. Besides the fact that we would be saving “junk” which could be replaced with oney out of a pocket. That door is probably the most expensive thing there.
Totally agree on the saw, that’s the point I was trying to make when I wrote this. Saw the bolt heads and let the bar drop. Trying to save it is useless. The benefits of having more than one point of attack provides a great advantage.
SHEARING IS EASY (KINDA REQUIRES TWO PPLE THOUGH.) BUT HOW ARE YOU GUYS PLANNING ON USING THE SAW? 4 KERF CUTS AROUND THE BOLT HEADS? THATS THE MOST I’D DO. IT SHOULD DO THE TRICK.
Cut the bolt heads, but with the bar extending into the jamb you may be required to cut into the doorsthen cut the bars, hitting the bolt heads will most likely do nothing as the transfer of energy will be dispersed from a lack of a solid point. Perhaps making a dutch door by cutting across would be the good move, then just hit the panic bar. You might not even get that much smoke pushing through cause of that roll down gate.
It comes down to just remembering all the tools we have available to us and using them to our advantage.
Work Smarter, not harder.
These are the kind of pics I show to guys and tell them this is why we check and run the saws every shift!
George
Do they keep the rollup door in the down position after hours? If so, it looks like this thing would be cookin off pretty good in no time. And I agree with you Patrick! Saws and any other power equipment should be a daily check!
I’m still learning but couldn’t I make one cut with the saw in the middle of the door then use a framing square to trip the panic bar? This is not my idea but one that I picked up here on V.E.S.
Quote:
“It’s hard to believe that a Dollar Store would go through all of these additional security measures.â€
You obviously haven’t been to Gary!!! lol
Last year while I was at the FDIC I took a day and went to Gary Squad 2, what a great bunch of guys! I can’t remember the name of the guy that showed me around but he was detailed to the squad by himself because the rig was out of service. Gary is one of the roughest places I have ever been (and I have been to a lot of rough places).
As for the doors, the first door should be fairly easy to open. The roll down gate has a chain hoist next to it with an angle iron housing that is padlocked shut. These are usually locked (in my area) with hockey puck locks, American 747, or the American 700 series padlocks, the duckbill lock breaker could be used on the American 700 but the saw will work on all of them. Force the padlock off and roll the gate up. After the gate is up use a Rex Tool to pull the cylinder out of the door, once the cylinder has been removed a key tool can be used to unlock the door. If the fire has reached the back of the roll down door then you should cut the door with the saw, the heat from the fire will warp the metal making it difficult to roll the door up. These roll down gates look fairly new so they probably have secured slats stopping you from sliding the slates out, so go with a “door within a door†cut. If you go with the saw for the roll down gate you can use the saw to force the store front doors by gapping the door and cutting the pivoting dead bolt. The door on the right will open right up where as the door on the left will have slide bolts into the floor and top of the frame, once the right door has been forced reach in and unlock the slide bolts to get both doors open.
The rear door is going to be fairly easy as well, cut the exposed carriage bolts on the rear of the door with the saw (45 degree angle to cut the top of the carriage bolts off), and after the panic hardware has been removed pry the door open. Then cut the roll down gate the same as you would cut the front gate. This is a perfect example of why it is so important to get out in your community and be familiar with your buildings.
Just my $0.02
Stay safe Brothers.
Quote:
I’m still learning but couldn’t I make one cut with the saw in the middle of the door then use a framing square to trip the panic bar? This is not my idea but one that I picked up here on V.E.S.
I don’t think the framing square will work here because it looks like when the gate is rolled down there will not be enough room to fit the framing square between the roll down gate and the panic hardware.
During work hours (while the store is open) the framing square could work because the roll down gate should be up (fire code). To be honest I don’t think a framing square would be coming off a truck in my hand, I like to bring tools that work “all the time†and not just “some of the timeâ€. Irons, Saw, Roof Hook, and Rex Tool, there shouldn’t be anything that you can’t get into with those.
We are all still learning!!!
Stay Safe Brothers,
Brass
Thanx Brass. I didnt think of the space between the roll up and the panic bar. I too am in favor of using tools that work all of the time. However the area that I work for is very liberal and dont like their stuff torn up.
Checked out the arm-a-dor web site. Both single and double doors are sold all over the world. Sargent and Greenleaf, (Creators), have been around the security world for over 150 years. They sell to companies like: Burger King, KFC, Circuit City and Sam’s Club. Not sure if you get the added bonus of a roll up door with the purchase. I haven’t seen them in my area, yet! But will pass it on when I do. Thanks. Good Stuff!
Cant you just slip G-Ron under the door? Ha see ya in Seattle brother. Nice add to the site George
Excellent example of knowing the hazards in your district. Saws are the first thing that comes to mind for me with a hazard like this. Great post George from Engine 7.
Stay Safe