We have been sitting on this video for a while; we simply forgot to post it. It’s a video from the Maryland Fire Network of a Baltimore City firefighter having to perform an emergency bailout. Great job by the firefighter inside for “reading†the signs that warned of what was about to happen, and of course great job to the guy on the ladder for the assist.
Two quick observations that could have made the egress even quicker: The ladder just a bit lower, and the sash being removed. Regardless, it had a positive outcome because of some “dialed in” firefighters, it obviously wasn’t their first time trying the ladder bail technique.
Great video. I always wonder when I see a video like this of where the other guys are, and that they made it out safe as well. Great job on the ff on the ladder in getting him down the ladder safely.
Excellent outcome! As for where the other guys are, about 1:30 into the video it appears they are making an effective knock down on the room the bail out happened from. Stay safe.
One lucky brother coming out alive….
Kudos to the brother thinking quick to help controlling him coming down!…
One Question….Where was his partner 2 in 2 out????
Another reason to make a window a door. Don’t just break the glass, take out the whole frame.
Kudos to both for knowing when to get out and how to get out.
About the sash not being remove. We don’t take the sash unless there is a ladder thrown to that window, if its just for vent the sash stays in. This lets FFs inside know right away if there is a ladder there or not when they find a window on an upper floor.
WOW see thats what good training will do!!!!! If any one has a good training outline/info of this it would be greatly app. mike_surf69@yahoo.com
Highly trained firefighter indeed. Great Job! Training is the greatest asset we have, as experience will come:)
THAT’S WEIRD…..WHERE THE HELL DID HIS PARTNER GO???
Mike, there are a couple of ways the ladder bail can be done. I’ve sent you a link which details the “arm hook” method which is more complicated….the link is the report issued as a result of the death of Capt. Moore (Blue Gum incident) during a training incident doing a variation of the bail. There is some good info in that report. We train using the head first method…all the way down. Hands on rungs (never on rails) and feet on rungs. I’ve got a Train the Trainer RIT/FF Survival course coming up next week….I’ll see if I can scan the info and send some of it to you.
Great job by the FF bailing out…I think a beer or two is in order for his buddy on the ladder taking him down….training pays!
One of the first things I thought about when I saw this bailout was the ‘arm hook’ method of a headfirst ladder bailout. That is the method that we teach here in CT. At first blush as the member came out of the window, I thought to myself that the arm hook would have been difficult and taken longer at best, given the size of the window in question. I don’t know which method BFD subscribes to, but if they do use the arm hook, this video shows somebody that had the experience, training and mental agility to quickly size up their options and realize that ‘Plan A’ probably wasn’t going to work well.
This video is yet another example of why proactive laddering of a fire building is absolutely necessary. Run this same scenario through your mind but make members have to retrieve and throw a ladder after seeing the firefighter in the window. Then, run it again with the firefighter at a third or fourth floor window, requiring an extension ladder…more time, probably time that somebody cut off by rapidly extending fire doesn’t have.
Great job by the BFD…and a ton of lessons in that video clip.
Be safe.
The video isn’t working.
Great video and excellent outcome. Talking technique, this is a perfect window to combine both head first and “hook and spin” techniques. Go headfirst until your torso clears the window then hook, spin and slide down. It wasn’t the case in this video but you should plan on having at least one other highly motivated individual on your heels and the headfirst may not always prove to be fast enough.
Ladder bails bring up a good discussion point. Do you throw all ladders so they can be used for a bailout or is it on an as needed basis?
So could anyone say why there was only one firefighter? I just finished reading FFCloseCalls, which listed firefighter separation as being one of the main reasons for firefighter deaths, just curious what went on in the events leading up to the bail out, firefighter separation or even worse…freelancing!!!
Dave, you say in your post above that you train in headfirst bailouts “Hands on rungs (never on rails) and feet on rungs”. Could you tell me the reason for hands never being on rungs? Seems to me in time pressed situations, getting out of the building is most important, and secondly, getting off the ladder, my supposition being that there’s someone right behind you that needs the room. I’d like to hear your take of why you shouldn’t slide the rails, instead riding the rungs.Thanks
The guy who bailed out was handing his hook to someone else before bailing out, or was I just seeing things. Where was that guy when the room lit off.
whats the plug-in to view the clip?
For those of you having trouble viewing the video try copying and pasting this link: http://www.firefighterspot.com/2008/03/close-call.html
You dont ever see video of anyone using the arm hook method in actual situations. I think it is alot safer because you can control your own decent and you arent dependant on another firefighter being there to walk you do the ladder
Great example of making the window a door! Smash that whole thing out!
Videos like this should be madatory viewing for all newly appointed FF’s as well as a reminder to all that deteriorating conditions happen in seconds not minutes.
I had the misfortune of being in a room when conditions changed in dramatic fashion in what felt like 2 seconds. The room instantly got hotter than shit and felt it through my PPE. Flames lit up through the heavy smoke. Curtains, bedding and lampshade ignited, Stereo melted right in front of me. Bailed for the doorway back into the hall. MY PARTNER was at the door while I was searching the room. We got caught in the rollover and both of us thought is was lights out. Too hot to rise and move. Handline made the turn and saved our asses.
To those that are armchairing the video with “partner” comments, When it goes to shit, you lose all sense of up vs. down, right vs. left. It is fight or flight and you are fighting to save your own life. It is not the training trailer, drill ground, or your fire academy.
I have 20 years of experience and my “partner” at that job has 30. We both work(ed) in busy shops in ghetto firehouses. I was very humbled by old man fire that night and getting separated can happen in an instant.
Just because ONE brother is jumping out a window does not mean the others he may have been with were not safely continuing their search with the protection of the advancing handline.
James, I believe most of the training courses up my way (Ontario) train/teach the “hands on rungs” method. The reason being that by the time you are heading for the window you are most likely suckin your facepiece pretty hard….gloves soaking wet….and most likely looking to get out as fast as possible. Once you’ve cleared the window and are on the ladder, controlling the descent will be the next deciding factor on whether or not you have supper with your family that night. Hands on the rungs will give you a more controlled/safe descent. Thats the mindset behind making it the preferred method up here. You may or may not have guys waiting for you on the bottom of the ladder to guide you down. By using your feet on the rungs (keeping them perpindicular to the rails and tight together) you can actually take most of the effort off your hands/arms and it gives you even more control on the ladder. There is a video floating around with some good fire footage of some of the guys from Toronto Fire using this method.
Again, this is just the way we’ve been trained….not the only way….maybe not the best way for some depts.. Getting your dept. to train you on some kind of ladder bail technique is the key here….I think in legal terms they call that “Due Dillegence”….take care!
Dave, thanks for sharing your insight with me, I think your method shows that your department has some good truck work, or at least a sharp truck chauffeur banging on the letters, making for multiple points of egress. sounds like you guys know what you’re doing up there! cheers brother
“On the fireground, if you become involved in a crisis situation, you will not rise to the occasion but, rather, default to your level of training.” -unknown
practice like you perform, right?
I think they didnt show the first guy coming out since it wasn’t as much fire when he was bailing out. It just make it look more intensie
I think it was a great video,on the subject of 2 in 2 out if you look in the window before the firefighter comes out you can see two people in the fire room, you can clearly see that the video has a relapse time so i think the first fireman got out and that part of the video was either deleted or shortened. Anyway good video of good trained firemen.
I was wondering what was the purpose of venting those windows. Obviously this video has been edited so there maybe something I am missing but it seemed like the guys where searching that room but it was NOT the fire room therefore buy breaking the windows the fire was drawn right to them. Just wondering if that was what happened or if this possablity was ever discussed.
wow some real action there. no big deal right, just what they were trained to do in a situation like that to avouid making it a big deal.
peeleout;
In my area, we vent under two circumstances.
Venting For Fire…Once handline is in operation, take appropriate vents.
Venting For Life…Life Hazard made known and therefore ventilation is immediate followed by aggressive search.
Dangerous and potential fire spread as you point out? Absolutely.
Depending upon the details of this fire, they may have been made aware of a life issue and therefore took the windows.
Good observation though brother.
A question was asked about where was the firefightes partner?
We operate in Baltimore City with only 4 men assigned to a truck company. Each man has an assignment and typically results in all 4 men working independently of each other. 2 in 2 out is a luxury we don’t have typically.
Another question was asked about ventilation and why did they vent the front?
If you are familiar with rowhome firefighting, you vent vertically and horizontally. As soon as the engine is advancing through the front door we open up but not until than. This was a 2nd floor fire, we had to open up the front windows for adequate ventilation. You do not have windows on either side of the house to open up, only front and rear. The point to take note of more importantly is when searching CLOSE THE DOOR of the room you are searching to prevent the fire from being drawn on top of you but you still better vent!
VES is a common practice used by our department, we usually take the entire window out and have at least 2 ground ladders thrown to the windows on the front.
Rowhome fires are a different animal than single, family dwellings and one mostly encountered by large urban FD’s predominantly on the east coast. Baltimore City is known for its aggressive interior tactics, at a glance they could be seen as cavalier or not needed but there is a reason for everything we do, don’t be to quick to judge unless you have been there.
Remember, we have 24 firefighters attacking a building that is typically 2-3 stories in height, 14 feet wide and 60 feet deep……you throw ladders, vent, search and put water on the fire all at the same time. But remember, no fire is a typical fire, this fire here was a clear example of it.
Thanks for the inquiries and stay safe.
A few thoughts on the video itself: There appear to be 2 critical video splices, after the windows are vented until the bail out and the entire bailout of the first fireman. Without these segments the timing of this incident is impossible to know.
That being said I think this video demonstrates a dynamic of ventilation that we usually oversimplify with the vent for life or fire mantra. Venting for fire is generally thought to be performed in coordination with hose advancement to permit the escape of steam and reduce fire gasses rolling over the heads of the engine company as they enter the fire area. The key to this is that it is performed prior to entry of our personnel into the fire area and with the understanding that the fire will intensify if water is not promptly applied. (I will ignore vertical venting for fire in this discussion)
Venting for life is different as it is divided into 2 distinct types of ventilation 1) The removal of smoke from victims and 2) That ventilation which is unavoidable while entering to search for victims. Most of the time the first form of venting for life involves vertical ventilation of stairwells and other vertical channels to reduce mushrooming and clear egress routes.
The use of VES or any window venting during a search is NOT intended to clear smoke from the building and must focus on preventing oxygen from reaching the fire. As such VES includes closing the bedroom door and venting from the interior requires that the door is already closed before the window is taken. A primary responsibility of the searcher is to actively close up the building to limit fire spread and use isolated window venting of small uninvolved rooms only when they can be isolated from the rest of the building by closing a door.
In this video the outside man does not appear to be performing VES so I will assume that he is venting for fire. The time lapse makes it impossible to know but there must have been poor coordination with the nozzle team since they do not appear to move in promptly. This may be the result of a burst length, or any number of unplanned events but regardless the ventilation without a prompt attack causes the fire to intensify significantly.
My question is why a search team was in this particular room? If they were in the room prior to the hose team arriving they should have withdrawn prior to the engine calling for ventilation and if they entered after the nozzle team called for ventilation and then was unable to advance (for whatever reason) they seam to have chosen to take a great risk for a rapidly diminishing gain.
Every time a man bails out it is a failure. Something went wrong and poor decisions were made. That being said fires are dangerous and “stuff†happens, thats why these men clearly trained on bailouts and were ready for things to go wrong.
I have bailed out before myself and I can say without a shadow of a doubt that it was because I failed to follow correct search procedure and inappropriately ventilated. Thankfully I knew how to bail out and was able to survive my mistakes.
This video does show the importance of bail outs but lets not lose track of the real issue: Why the “heck†did these men need to bail out?
this video put a lump in my throat
Nice job on the ladder placement, venting and helping hand. When training, dont just put ladders up and down. Climb the damn things too. Good hard training will pay off greating later. A good Truckmans work is never done.
Wow…. things must get done a whole lot differently in seattle.
In reference to the arm hook technique, we teach the same method at our training center. The idea is staying in control of your decent. The last thing we want to do is go down the ladder head first and out of control. We should be making the effort to get just a few feet out of the window and get turned around into our typical climbing position. Once that’s done we’re oriented and we’re on our way to bottom. If there are more brothers coming out behind you, then you are in good position to assist them coming out, just as we see in the video. It’s easy of course here on the screen but the more it’s practiced, as with any of our procedures, the beeter we become. Give it a try and as the proficency builds add some speed into it, not diving out the window uncontrolably, but with some quickness and practice it with more guys following close behind.
Wow talk about monday morning quarterbacking… maybe they should make nomex convers for the ifsta manuals for all of you who follow them into fires… grabbing the rail grabbing the rungs who cares HIS LIFE WAS ON THE LINE… so what if the way he did it wasnt in line with training in a CONTROLLED enviorment… what if the ladder had not been there? do you think he was gonna wait? anyone remember black sunday?
jay….no one is criticizing the way the ff came down…he made it safely and his training paid off. The discussion on rails vs rungs was for training purposes.
Man, call me crazy, but I thought the reason we learn and practice these methods is to be proficient in them in case the need to use them arises. I certainly hope that when learning this type of self rescue it is learned in a controlled environment. Obviously for the BCFD that is the way their members learn it because it shows exactly that, CONTROL, no panic, no further injuries and excellent help from brother firefighters. Could this situation have been different? of course it could have. Did we forget Black Sunday? of course we haven’t, but did we forget the brothers that have been seriously injured and even killed while learning this truly important technique? We practice slowly,deliberately and in controlled environments so that if the time ever does arise, we don’t make mistakes. What would the outcome have been if this was the first time this firefighter had to do this? He and the others involved obviously reverted right back to their training in this incident.
That is one like firefighter. We see a good bit of fire out this way. We are lucky that we dont have to see our own brothers and sister jump out windows…Good luck to all you out there. Play all you want just be safe about it.
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-Nick Palmer
I beg to differ with Tom from Seattle in regards to bailing out as a failure. A failure is having to make that split second decision to burn up or bail out with nary a ladder or escape rope or someone getting burned because of poor tactics or dying because of a breakdown in tactics. A failure would have been the outside man not getting the ladder to the window the truckie inside came out. To me this looked like a textbook horizontal venting of a tough rowhouse style home, coordination when things went bad inside and a successful bail out. Remember this was on the 2nd floor. Where else are you going to vent? front windows Where are you suppose to search first? fire room, floor above top floor and then subsquent other floors. Textbook in my book. This is no doubt a success since everyone went home. As for the OVM clearing out all of the frame, I don’t know what else that man has to accomplish, being he is one of four truckies, I know if time permits I clear it all out. And I thought making a window a door also involved cutting the rest of the window frame to the floor, more helpful for removing a victim or unconcious guy during FAST ops, this was get out and get out quick. Be safe and keep up the aggressive tactics Baltimore.
A fellow truckie up north