Saving Lives & Protecting Property
What if you could tackle your next high-rise fire with the confidence of a New York expert and I need confirmation from him saying “Okay I got it, I got it good.” In this episode of Fully Involved, the crew is on a mission to find out exactly how a New York crew reads each phase from water supply to the stairway.
Phase 1: Water Supply
To the apartment door, suppressing the fire and ventilating the room, you see a massive difference. These guys see it all. I’ve had people try to bring scooters down—we’re going up with our standpipe bundles and they’re coming down with scooters and their belongings. You’re like, dude…
[Applause]
Like, here’s some quick facts about Yonkers: it borders the Bronx, and they routinely work together on calls. Population: 211,000, and there are 12 stations in the department. The crew is in luck today. This is national instructor Mike Giroux and experienced firefighter Steve Peteani. They give us expert color commentary that you can only get from a New York pro over at the Westchester County Fire Training Center. Here’s the scenario: you’ve got a rapidly developing fire in a high-rise. How does Yonkers coordinate water supply?
So we arrive on scene, realize we have a standpipe building. Part of our crew—the Bravo and Charlie guys—are going to head inside with the officer with two standpipe bundles and our standpipe kit. The driver is going to be taking the supply line to charge our system, starting with the left side. I would only take one line initially just so we get water into the system. If I’m still by myself and I don’t have another driver to assist, I’m gonna get my supply line, get a hydrant, supply my pumper, which is then supplying the standpipe system for the guys inside that are going and stretching a line to attack the fire.
Phase 2: Stairway Strategy
Charlie’s carrying the one pack of 100 ft, Bravo’s carrying the second pack of 100 ft, not connected, and also your standpipe bag. More below the fire. The officer is going to go find the fire, find out where they’re going, how many lengths of hose they need, talk to the crew, say if they need all four, if they need two, three, etc., and then they’ll stretch accordingly. Okay, so Charlie is going to be stretching, advancing towards the fire. Bravo will stay at the riser. Depending on the conditions, they may or may not have it charged already, so he’s just unbundling. We have two lengths here, so 50 ft each, they’re pre-connected—100 ft. So now we’d be talking to the boss. The boss is going to be finding the fire, finding the apartment, he’s going to let us know if we need two lengths, three lengths, or four lengths. There will be another bundle here. If there’s any connections that need to be made—obviously, see it’s a little smoky in here—if it’s a real fire, and depending on if the doors are controlled or not, we do not want to make any connections in the hallway. They have to be done here, ’cause all of a sudden if someone opens that door, changes that environment, then all of a sudden we’re trying to make connections in an IDLH environment—and that’s not going to happen. So we make our connections here in our safe place, and then we advance to the fire. Bravo will stay here as the control. He’ll open it when they’re ready or at the door—be opening it up, making sure we have water, any nasty water per se, garbage in the line. You know, sometimes there’s no cap, stuff in it, so he’ll open it up. Even if he’ll make a mess in this little vestibule here, make the connections while Charlie is advancing.
Here it comes. So, and then you bleed it real quick and then let it build up pressure too, to get all these kinks out. And then Bravo comes up and backs them up. I’m checking for kinks, I’m checking to see what we got, maintaining control of the door, and I’ll come up behind him and back him up.
Phase 3: Coordinating Search at Apartment
The engine company meets the truck company at the apartment doorway. Right, you’ll have another company—basically you won’t be able to get on to the landing. That truck company will be on the landing, three guys, maybe four guys. They’re going to pop this door. Okay, once they pop the door, first thing they should do is take the camera, look through the camera. Okay, what do we got? Now we’re going to go in and start searching. Okay, they’re going to try to get to the fire as soon as they can—beeline it right to the fire. So if you’re taking your camera like this, you’ll be able to hopefully see a heat wave with your camera so you’ll know—hey, listen, if the heat wave is going from right to left, they know the fire’s over to the left. They’re going to beeline over there, locate that fire, try to get a quick search, shut the door to the room. All right, if there’s a door and it’s isolated in a room, they want to shut that door, isolate it, confine it, get the engine company—”Hey, we located it. It’s in the back here on the three or four…”
Phase 4: Suppression
Corner. With the battle plan in place, time to put out the fire. And for a full deep dive on angle of attack, check out Episode 1. Now the crew needs to ventilate the room—and wait till you see the results from four different angles.
Phase 5: Ventilation
Or we put the fire out, right? We’re still surrounded by all these cars and jack stuff—we have to get out, get better vision, lower the heat, all that stuff as we’re going through. That’s the purpose of doing this kind of hydraulic ventilation.
Massive. Do you see a massive difference with that? With the ventilation, you can see how the smoke was coming straight out. Once you did the hydraulic ventilation, it just pulled right to that window and out. What a difference.
Angle one—so all he’s using is the movement of the water through the air to help pull some fresh air out, to get rid of all the smoke and air, using the Venturi effect and pulling that stuff out.
Angle two.
Angle three.
Angle four.
Inside and outside—want to weigh in with your opinion? We’d love to hear it. And if you have an idea for an episode of your own in your city, check out the Fully Involved homepage: tft.com/fullyinvolved
In this episode of Fully Involved, we head inside the high rise game plan with Captain & FDIC Instructor Mike Giroux, firefighter Steve Peteani, and Deputy Chief Chris Johnson. From water supply to ventilation, this crew shows how they handle each phase of high rise firefighting with speed and precision.
The crew from Yonkers breaks down their process into five tactical phases that start before they ever open a door. Here’s how they think through each one—and why it works.
As soon as they arrive and recognize a standpipe building, the team goes to work:
I would only take one line initially just so we get water into the system. If I'm still by myself and I don't have another driver to assist, I'm going to get my supply line, get a hydrant, supply my pumper, which is then supplying the standpipe system...
Charlie: 100 ft. hose pack, advancing towards the fire
Bravo: 100 ft. hose pack (not connected) + the standpipe bag, stay at the riser
The officer goes to find the fire and calls back how many hose lengths are needed—two? Three? All four? Then, they’ll stretch accordingly.
If there are any connections that need to be made, depending on whether the doors are controlled or not, we do not want to make any connections in the hallway, they have to be done here (stairway). Because all of a sudden, if someone opens that door and changes that environment, then we're trying to make connections in an IDLH environment, and that's not going to happen.
Bravo: Makes the connection, and then follows Charlie to check for kinks
Charlie: Advances
In phase 3, the engine company meets the truck company at the apartment doorway.
The engine company won’t be able to get onto the landing because the truck company will be on the landing.
Three or four guys are going to pop the apartment door. Once the door is open, the crew immediately uses the thermal camera to identify how they can get to the fire as soon as they can.
You'll be able to hopefully see a heat wave with your camera. So you'll know, if the heat wave is going right to left, they know the fire is over to the left. They're going to beeline over there, and try to get a quick search.
Then, the crew shuts the door to the room to isolate and confine the fire. The truck company can then call to the engine company so they know exactly where the fire is located.
With the battle plan in place, it’s time to put out the fire.
Looking for a deep dive on fire suppression? Learn about angle of attack and more by digging into Episode 1 of Fully Involved.
We put the fire out. We’re still surrounded by all this carcinogenic stuff. We have to get it out. We get better vision, it lowers the heat, all that...
The crew used the Vortex® for ventilation—and the impact was immediate. It pulled smoke fast and changed the environment in seconds.
You see a massive difference with that. You can see how the smoke was coming straight out. It just pulled right to the window and out. What a difference.
No one fights fires like your department. This is your chance to highlight your crew's aggressive tactics and unique responses.
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