A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

Our friend Rhett Fleitz from VAFireNews.com sent in this story that was written by Captain W.W.Wines Jr. from Roanoke (VA) Fire. Capt. Wines and the crew from Station 9-C recently encountered a little situation that they wanted to share. We're sure each one of you have run into similar situations, so it should make an intersting discussion. From the outside, the house pictured below is a normal looking ordinary construction ranch home. From a Company Officer’s perspective, the initial size up of this structure would find no major hazards.

The home is single story, has no basement (built on a crawl space), and is covered with brick veneer. The exposures located on side 2 and 4 are also brick and spaced an adequate distance. As far as a training example, think of this structure at night with smoke and / or flames showing from the front right window and most any Officer would approach it as a “bread and butter” fire. That is until you attempt to force the front door. Take a look at what you would find.

This home was literally piled full of trash and junk. When I say full, I mean FULL. Our Medic unit responded to this location for a subject who had fallen. He was inside the house and family members couldn’t get the door open to reach him. They thought the pt was lying just behind the door and was afraid to force it. Needles to say, it was not the pt that was keeping the door from opening, it was the trash. Here is another picture of the living room (taken from the front door).

Notice a few things here. First, I had to duck to keep my head from hitting the ceiling. Second, notice the window behind me. Trash is covering more that half it. Let’s go back to not being able to force the door. Where would you have gone next? Would you have taken a window? If you answered yes, and tried it, the trash / debris would have rolled out onto you. I’m sure some of you are thinking of the back door, well take a look.

That’s the back door in the left corner of this picture. The bottom line here is that there is no easy or safe way into this structure and if you knew its interior condition, you wouldn’t want to (nor NEED to) be inside anyway. So, what is my training angle here? KNOW YOUR TERRITORY! I often see the disappointment in the faces of young firefighters who transfer into our station only to be assigned to the Medic Unit that day. My reply is simple; the Medic Unit is a great opportunity to learn your area. Our Medic runs more than double the Engine so they are inside twice as many houses. Not only are they inside these houses, they are in there while it’s NOT on fire! Take some time to notice building construction, the floor plans etc. Most houses on a given street in our territory were built around the same time and more often than not, by the same contractor (resulting in the floor plans being similar). Notice the stair location on two story homes. Are they located to the right or left? Speaking of stairs, how about attic access? Do you notice scuttle holes or are there stairs in the closet? Was the kitchen located in the rear left? Is the house on a slab or over a basement? Open your eyes and learn all you can when you can. Don’t get bitten by a wolf in sheep’s clothing, the information you learn just may save your (or a brother Firefighters) life.

Now, to let you off the hook, the pt was successfully removed from the structure and transported to the ER. Social Services were contacted due to the unhealthy living conditions etc as well as our Fire Marshall and Code Enforcement Officials. The home was condemned and flagged for future responses as for exterior firefighting operations only.

Our thanks go out to Capt Wines, Rhett Fleitz, and the crew from Station 9-C for sharing the story.