All Clear?

It's frequently heard on the fire ground that "it's not clear until we say it's clear." That is a great mentality to have, we should always do a good primary search as soon as conditions allow. We should always assume that every property we respond to has the possibility of being occupied. However when is it safe to assume that no one could possibly be inside? What about the not so conventional dwellings or other , shall we say, shelters that may be inhabited? Well Scott Lyons from FDNY TL-79 has an interesting example to share with us. He and his company went to do some recon on a "vacant lot" after receiving a complaint from a local business owner. Here's what they found:



What they found was two abandoned vehicles, one an old box truck and the other a commercial truck trailer. The box truck was converted into "living" space with three beds. The trailer was also converted into a space for living and even had a television look close at the bottom picture and you can see the guy laying in bed watching it.