Firefighter Jonah Smith from Charlotte (NC) Engine 12 sent in these pictures taken at a warehouse fire they had a few months back. While conducting interior search operations the rescue company came upon some roll up doors. Then they transmitted a request to have the door on side D opened from the outside.
The picture above shows the view from side D, no roll ups are visible. Look back at the first picture, you can see through the windows that the entire opening was closed-off and bricked over. To make matters more interesting, the door was still in operational order.
that’s probably the scariest photo I’ve seen posted on here….I have visions of an inside crew in trouble calling for assistance via that door….outside crews can’t find it and end up wasting time looking around the building thinking that the inside crew is disoriented and have mistaken their location in the building and are actually at another door….they may eventually put two and two together but it may take more time that the inside crew has. I know the door opens and the inside crew could probably discover the brick wall on the other side….but if conditions were really bad and the door was blocked on the inside with skids etc they wouldn’t be able to try to roll that door up….or breach it.
“The building is your enemy. Know your enemy.”
For whatever it’s worth, at least the outline of the former bay door is visible so they could at least breach it were it to have been a mayday situation. Thanks for passing this along, very informative!!!
RFD185,
Good pick up brother I was thinking the same thing. Worst case they would know where to breach and it hopefully wouldnt be that difficult. Another great example of the importance of knowing our buildings and how they may be altered to kill us.
Good Stuff
Stay Safe Brothers
Is that brick layered or cinderblock with brick?? Not that it matters that much for breaching, it still sucks either way!!
This is another argument for taking the maul instead of the axe. You lose too much energy with an axe when trying to breech a wall. If its a $hits on situation, roll it up, feel the nogging and start whacking, but usually at that point you are low on air and its getting hot, like very hot. Hopefully the OV would see the new mortar and give the heads up to the guys inside. But then again its a warehouse fire, WE ARE THE LIFE HAZARD!
Nice catch. Thanks for sharing. Scary photo indeed. Makes one wonder how someone can spend the money to brick up an access area that probably wasn’t being used anymore, and not take the time to remove the old door.
We hope we don’t have to do this, but if we do get out the maul and start whacking. The only good thing about the bricks covering the door is that they give you an idea of where that door is via the outline of new bricks vs. old brick. The OVM should catch this on his 360 and alert the interior crews of what they might run across. It would be a good idea to give them the exact side this door is on so they know when they get their that it is not an exit. Besides the outside of the door being a problem it also looks like this door is somewhat blocked by concrete blocks stacked up.
PRE-PLAN! if this is not a motivator I don’t know what is!
Not sure where the light is coming from that is shinning on the wall but, If it wasn’t there, how many of us would just walk on passed the new brick. I agree that we need to preplan and understand the layout of our first due, but we also need to make sure that the fire inspectors and building inspectors are doing their jobs as well. That door should have been removed as soon as the last brick was layed. Just keep in mind, not everyone is on the same page as us. They may not even think of the danger this creates for the firefighter. This is a great find. I hope the door has been removed. Be Safe All.
brickcity, To answer your question, I would say it would appear to be all brick. Looking through the window in the door, we can see brick as well as on the inside wall. If the door was raised, we would know for sure.Be Safe.
Thanks capt. After I posted that I looked harder and saw the same thing. All I can say is that is one long ass delta side with not a window in site!!!!! O/V walk around and the fire is either out or through the roof!! It appears metal truss too,,, what a friggan death trap !!!
Another great example of knowing your first due. I make a point to notice changes such as this in my first due. I actually have a building I just noticed two windows and a large door have been blocked in. I try to visit buildings when I see changes such as that. (Thanks for reminding me to go see the building I noticed)
Just driving your first due on a regular basis can teach you so many things. Or you will find items to investigate further and learn from. I also notice driving on different days and times I can learn access issues, truck placement issues, etc..
Glad no one got hurt here and thank you for sharing so the rest of us can learn from it.
Stay safe.
I am thankful none of you were injured during this observation. Great job, Charlotte, on finding this and sharing it with us.
I agree with driving your first-due for building “updates”. By the way, do your fire inspectors communicate with your companies on these changes?
I HAVE SEEN THIS BEFORE, AND I GOT
TO TELL YOU THAT IT SCARED THE LIVING
S**T OUT OF ME
THANK GOODNESS THE PLACE WANT ON FIRE!!!
BEWARE OF YOUR DISTRICT
this makes a good point for prefire inspection it
always helps to know you first due area also this
imformation should be shared with mutual aid companys
and units from your dept not first due in this area
should they or out otown companys be covering your
quarters. Good job spotting that it would be hard to see
in a heavey smoke condition
stay safe
Bob McGowan
Ex Firefighter