•The size up
•360
•Tools and equipment
•Fire hose selection
•Fire streams and nozzles
•Fire control
•It begins when the tones go off: Time
of day, address, etc.
•Catch 3 sides, building size, layout,
cars in the driveway, smoke/fire
conditions.
•Make the routine jobs, such as
pulling a handline, second nature so
you can direct your attention to
what’s going on with the fire building.
•Radio, right TAC channel?
•Flashlight: it will be dark inside, even
in the day time.
•T.I.C. – I hope the driver checked the
batteries.
•Axe/halligan: to get in, and to get
out.
•Pike pole/truck hook: you will end
up pulling ceiling.
•Paint a picture for the DC.
•Hazards: pools, dogs, power drop,
propane tanks, clues on the building’s
contents, FIREFIGHTER EGRESS !
•Fire conditions: involvement,
location, where’s it going, use the
imager, where are we going to enter?
•Location of utilities.
•Is quick ventilation possible to the
fire room?
1 ¾” – attack hose
2 ½” – offensive / defensive attack
• courtyard lays
3” – supply line
• dumping the tank
• highrise pack
• FDC for standpipe and sprinklers
5” – supply line
• relay pumping
• FDC for standpipe and sprinklers
• master streams
6” – capacity hookup
•Typically the 1 ¾” with a fog nozzle at 125 GPM
•150 gpm is the national standard for minimum
acceptable handline flow for residential fires.
•250 gpm is the national standard for minimum
acceptable handline flow for commercial occupancies.
•The fire dictates the size of the hoseline.
•Think about GPM vs. BTU’s, is the fire load
the same as it was 40 years ago?
•One pound of ordinary combustibles
gives off 8,000 BTUs when burned.
•One pound of plastics gives off 16,000
BTUs when burned.
•As the first line goes, so does the fire !
•How much hose will you need to get
to the fire building?
•How much hose will you need
once you’re in the fire building, did
you catch 3 sides?
•For multiple floors add at least one
section of hose per floor.
•Preplanning for courtyard and
extended lays.
1 Gallon of water is 8.35 lbs
Per 100'
Volume
Weight
1 3/4”
13.9 gallons
104 lbs
2 ½”
29.2 gallons
213 lbs
3”
42.1 gallons
306 lbs
5”
116.9 gallons
849 lbs
•The driver is generally in charge of the first 50’
•The nozzle man is typically in charge of the rest.
•Start flaking the hose you will need inside at the front door.
•Bleed the line, check your pattern, check your pressure.
•EVERYONE check for kinks – never walk past a kinked
hose!
•You will not see fire on every fire call !
•If your not the nozzle man, if your not the lieutenant,
you should be advancing hose!
•Hose management is one of the most important
and one of the most forgotten functions on the
fire ground!
Good communication between all the members on
the attack team is imperative for smooth hose
advancement.
•Reach
•Penetration
•Less thermal layer disruption
•Less nozzle reaction
•Limited foam capabilities
•Poor hydraulic ventilation
•The first United States patent for a fog nozzle was granted to Dr. John Oyston in 1863.
•In the mid-1930s, Elkhart Brass introduced the first production periphery jet fog nozzle
to the American fire service known as the "Mystery" nozzle.
•Despite their long history, fog nozzles were virtually unknown through the first half of
the 20th century and then came Mr. Lloyd Layman .
•Lloyd Layman was a chief in Parkersburg, West Virginia and also in charge of the
Coast Guard's wartime firefighting school at Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland.
•In 1950 Chief Layman presented a paper entitled "Little Drops of Water" at the FDIC in
Memphis, Tennessee which introduced what he termed the indirect method of attack to
suppress interior building fires which used large amounts of steam for extinguishment.
•Most of the theory and methodology of indirect fire attack was based on his Coast
Guard experiments and the February 1945 issue of Fire Engineering entitled "Coast
Guard Conducts Tests on Ship Engine Room Fires“.
•Laymen stated, "An indirect attack should always be made from positions that will
enable personnel to avoid injuries from super-heated smoke and live steam.” Layman
continued by stating that "if possible and practical, an indirect attack should be made
from positions outside the involved building by directing fog stream through window
openings”. He discouraged the use of doorways for fog application because the
outflow of scalding steam would be extremely debilitating to the nozzleman.
•In the 1960s and 1970s improvements in firefighter protective clothing and SCBA
allowed fireman to make interior attacks and the indirect attack method went inside
with them. Fog should only be used in a straight stream pattern inside.
125 GPM
150 GPM
175 GPM
200 GPM
250 GPM
300 GPM
Nozzle Reaction
fog nozzle = 63 lbs
fog nozzle = 76 lbs
fog nozzle = 88 lbs
fog nozzle = 101 lbs
solid bore = 66 lbs
fog nozzle = 126 lbs
solid bore = 95 lbs
solid bore = 117 lbs
- A 15/16-inch solidbore nozzle flowing 180 gpm
moves approximately 510 cfm of air.
- A typical 1 3/4-inch nozzle on a fog setting flowing
150 to 180 gpm will move 6,000 to 10,000 cfm of air.
- LFR's 24" electric PPV fan on S38
moves 10,500 cfm of air.
The Indirect attack
•Water converts to steam at 1,700 : 1 at 212 degrees Fahrenheit.
•Water converts to steam at 4,000 : 1 at 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
•Example: 10 X 10 X 8 (800 cubic foot) bedroom on fire.
•Wide fog at 125 GPM into the ceiling for 10 seconds.
•20.83 Gallons X 1,700 = 35,411 gallons of steam
•1 gallon= is approximately 0.13368 cubic feet.
•35,411 gallons = 4,733 cubic feet of steam
The direct attack
•Applying water directly to the fuel/fire interface.
•Stay low and let it blow.
•Put the genie back in the bottle.
•Use as little water as possible , “pencil” technique.
•Strive for minimal thermal layer disruption.
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Pre-arrival information - what building are we
responding to, warehouse or mobile home?
Size up the building and read the smoke, what
size and how much hose will you need to get
the job done? – As the first line goes…
Did you bring a halligan, axe, pike pole, truck
hook, flashlight, radio, T.I.C.?
Did you stack enough hose at the door while
the officer is doing a 360, check the nozzle
pattern, GPM setting, ensure proper pressure?
Force the door, stay low let it blow, knock the fire
back – don’t cause fireman soup, advance until
you find the seat of the fire and extinguish it.
Open the ceiling and walls checking for
extension, preserve evidence for determination.