Fire in a dryer

[6739264]

MFS: *CFSRES INC69 12/03/08 17:18,RESPOND COMMERCIAL FIRE,13 IDIOT ST,YOUR TOWN MAP 69 F 16 TG182,,BRIGADE A, BRIGADE B

You and next closest brigade are responded to the above page. Upon receipt of futher information from MFS they notify you that there is a report of a fire in bank of industrial dying machines at a local laundromat.

Your brigade has a Type 2 Medium Pumper and a 34P. Your nearest other brigade has a 24P - They are a 10 minute drive away.

Regardless of what appliances you take, you have only 3 CABA operators in your initial response, with 2 others coming to the station 10 - 15 minutes later.

The incident is a 1-2 minute drive away from the station.

Upon arrival you have a two story building in a row of shops. The building appears to be of brick construction with an iron roof.

There is small amount of light grey smoke gently wafting out of the doorway and an obvious small of burning. The owner of the laundromat is outside, but speaks little english and is VERY agitated.

The main area of the laundromat has washing bags strewn across the floor, with a bank of four industrial dyers opposite the door. There is a very obvious scorch mark leading upwards on the masonite from the back of one of the dryers. There is no obvious flame, but the room has a reasonable amount of smoke in it, and leading up the stairs at the rear of the room.

So, what appliances do you take, what information should you try to glean off the owner of the laundromat and what actions do you take at the incident and why?

[bittenyakka]

ok so he is testing us to see if we obey 2 in 2 out 

Um Does the owner tell us if there is anyone still inside? 
And i take it you mean buy initial response that between both brigades you only have 3 BA?

[6739264]

They owner suggests that a family of perhaps 3-5 people may be upstairs.

There are 3 BA on YOUR brigades initial response, you don't know about the other brigade.

As far as 2 in 2 out goes, would you need it for a job like this? Would a job like this even warrant wearing CABA, let alone setting up ECO etc...?

[bittenyakka]

assume i have taken the type 2

well as there is a confirmed something burning, poissible life threat, and high chance of th fire spreading into othr shops should it possibly be in walls roves etc and due to my lack of BA i will call a 2nd alarm.

Send 1 BA crew to inspect the dryer the effort in cleaning masks is not to much to avoid breathing in the smoke what smoke there is. Hopfully they can just empty a drychem into the dryer and it will all be over.

IF the fire has obviously spread into the wall cavity get that crew up stairs with HP line pronto and appropriate tools to inspect the wall. Aswell as look for other areas of fire spread.

I have based this theory on Fight the fire first as if i send crews upstairs looking for the people first they quiet possibly will have trouble if they discover the fire has growen in size downstairs.

[6739264]

So you would be more than happy to request a 2nd alarm to the job, even though there is no visible fire, and only a reasonable amount of smoke hanging around the area?

[Cameron Yelland]

I would tend to agree with bittenyakka.  2nd alarm - if it turns out to be zilch they can be stop called.  If you do find something then you will have already gained 5 - 10mins on the response time, considering they probaly coming from 30mins away.

Inspect the dryer for obvious signs of fire also get someone to check out the back of the building as the smoke maybe coming in from outside somewhere.

If the 2nd brigade arrives while this is going on, send 1 BA crew upstairs to evacuate any civilians. Otherwise the initial BA crew could do this.

If the fire is still unfound then it may be necessary to open up the wall cavity, after considering all other options.

[bittenyakka]

the reasoning behign the 2nd alarm is somthing is or has burnt and ther is a possiblility of people and it could spread into adjacent shops quiet eaisly. not to mention low BA numbers

[6739264]

Ok. So so far you have observed no flame, no smoke issuing from a specific location and nothing to indicate A) a working fire or B) rapid fire spread. All you have is a scorch mark on the wall behind a dryer and some smoke in a room.

Would you call the 2nd alarm before you arrive or let your crew go in and investigate?

It just seems *very* premature to call a second alarm when there is no obvious fire or issuing smoke (apart from what is already in the room, and its not coming from a specific location).

Opening up the wall, or accessing behind the dryer sounds like a good idea...

[JC]

Running with your favourite tool on the truck theme, haligan tool the bjesus out of the place.

(Only wrote bjesus, cause H#ll was filtered)

[bittenyakka]

Well i was thinking that the 2nd alarm would be called when we arrive and see the smoke. Ie before anyone has even got a BA set hose off the truck. If only because if it is a going fire I don't have enought resources to do much and the next brigade that was responded is still 8 min away.

Now if the investigation found what you mention it might pay to stop the 4th due but untill then we don't really know.

Th thing is in a scenario like this and being (as i would be in real life) on an U/R 24 you only have 2 ba sets which makes myself more alert to respond more units sooner.

If i had my type 2 4 sets 4 weares i mmight be less quick to call the 2nd alarm

[OMGWTF]

crew mobiles in pumper, crew of 6, 3 BA.

arrive and after liasing with owner to establish the report of persons up stairs, disconnect power to premises.

2 BA operators to start up and enter, with the one other left outside donned.

BA operators stick there head in the dryer room, does not appear to be a significant incident, some smoke, the crew head straight up stairs and evacuate persons

after removing persons stretch a hose line in, remove dryer from wall and disconnect. check for extension into wall cavity using appropriate tools and extinguish if necessary...

request TIC to check for heat in wall cavity.

stop call other brigade and complete overhaul.

[bajdas]

...disconnect power to premises...

In a laundromat is switching the master off at the fuse box of the laundromat enough, or should it be done further within the group of shops before water sprayed around ?

[SA Firey]

I would isolate all power until safe, as some older buildings have power feeds coming from adjacent shops which may cross into your work area.Beter to be safe than sorry