You respond to a fire in a semiattached private dwelling, and you’re assigned to search the floor above the fire. As part of the search team, you size up the fire floor along with all members of your team. The initial hoseline is in place and operating. Based on current conditions, your officer decides that a search of the floor above is a viable option. This happens in the fire service worldwide every day.
On the fire floor, you start your search immediately, looking for the fire. You find the fire and alert the engine company as to the location of the fire and the best access to the fire area. As you search, you are always looking for a secondary means of egress. On the floor above, you search toward a secondary means of egress. If you or your unit places a portable ladder to a window, porch, or porch roof, you should communicate that ladder’s location to units inside the building.
At this fire in Staten Island, New York, the assigned units operated as per the Fire Department of New York’s standard operating guidelines and proceeded to the second floor in a two-story semiattached private dwelling. The members were informed of the fire’s location and the status of the attack line and made their move to search the floor above. While they were on the floor above, fire conditions deteriorated and the situation changed rapidly. A member was making his way to the secondary means of escape from the second floor: a portable ladder thrown to an elevated porch.
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