I want to keep the firehouse up to date with their monthly drills for the kitchen table.  Perhaps someone will print this one and throw it on the table as well!

This is a cross-post from our Facebook page.  If you haven’t added yourself to our Facebook page, feel free to follow the link and add yourself.  There are several other daily/weekly drills that are posted there in addition to class photos and upcoming classes.

This photo provides a great overview of operations in a commercial-type warehouse. Several points of discussion are present:

- The roll-down gate was able to be raised without defeating it, most likely with this type of door, it was raised by using the chain inside the building. The door must be secured open in case of failure, and since this is a large door for a vehicle, conventional methods are not useful. Here a ladder company has used a 24′ portable ladder to assure that the door does not drop down pinching hose lines and trapping members. This is a very simple solution to an often overlooked and very dangerous issue.

- A heavy fire condition in the building with little or no smoke showing from the doorway. This indicates that vertical ventilation is working well, or that the ceilings are of very high and heat and smoke is building up drastically. Communication with members operating on the roof is paramount.

Members must be EXTREMELY AWARE of this build-up. In the photo, visibility is great, even near the fire area. This “false-sense of security” can lure members into trap-like conditions. Once the ceiling reaches the correct temperature, roll-over will occur and fire will rapidly drop down on the members and overwhelm hose lines (in some cases even 2 1/2″ hose lines). The only way to guard against this is by communication and awareness. Use thermal imaging cameras (also in the photo) and 2 1/2″ attack lines. The reach and “punch” of the stream will darken fire down well in advance of the nozzle team.

- The 10′ hook on the right side of the photo is also a must if ceilings must be pulled down. A member in this building with a 6′ hook is all but useless. As a rule, I will drop the 6′ hook and take a 10′ hook at most commercial fires. This will allow me to pull the multiple ceilings typically found in these old buildings. Don’t stop pulling until you’ve reached the roof boards. Sometimes, the 10′ hook can be used as a “thermometer” of sorts in the absence of a thermal imaging camera. You can extend the hook into the smoke above you, then lower it and CAREFULLY feel the head of the hook. This may give you an idea of the conditions above you if you cannot “see” them with a TIC. This will keep you from getting too deep, too fast and getting into trouble.

- A search rope is also present on a few members in this photo. Remember to secure the search rope on the EXTERIOR (parking meter, street light, rig, car, etc…) of the building regardless of conditions inside the building as you enter. Although clear in the building presently, if conditions deteriorate, you want the search line to bring you back to the street, NOT 20′ inside the door, which is now banked down to the floor and you have to “guess” the rest of the way.

- Water run-off: In this photo there is a single 2 1/2″ attack line flowing 250-300 gallons per minute. The trickle of water coming out of the overhead door is not nearly the amount of water being poured into the building. Perhaps it is going to a harmless point in the building, a drain, the basement, out another door due to the natural slope, etc…

What if it is not running off harmlessly? In this case it was being soaked into all of those pallets filled with antique furniture and other combustible and “sponge-like” items. Those items were stacked floor to ceiling, across TWO FLOORS of this 300×300 warehouse. Simple math: 250gpms at 8lbs per gallon = 2,000lbs (or 1 TON) of water per minute PER HOSE LINE! There were at least 8 attack lines on this fire during the offensive stage. That doesn’t even account for the floor load already present.

ALWAYS watch the water run-off. If it is going in, and not coming out it is going somewhere. This is equally important during exterior operations while utilizing master streams. After the bulk of the fire has been knocked down, the tendency is to enter the building to extinguish stubborn pockets of fire. The video below illustrates why that may not be such a good idea if the building is not allowing the water to run-off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SUuBXRQyXk

In the video above in Midtown Manhattan serves as a great purpose for watching water run off. D/C Vincent Dunn had command of this fire, and would not allow members to enter the building to extinguish pockets of fire. At :53 seconds, you will see his reasoning.  The early video of the fire, you see no run-off even though several tower ladders throw TONS of water per minute into the building. If you listen to the video, the building was FILLED FLOOR TO CEILING with shoe boxes (excellent sponges).  They flowed water via master streams for ELEVEN hours.  Listen closely to the audio at 1:50 as well. “Engineers” declared this building “structurally stable” 3hrs before the collapse.

Feel free to jump in with any comments or questions.  I also want to extend a warm welcome to the members of the firehouse that are keeping up with the current events of Brotherhood Instructors, LLC.  ;-)

Stay safe,

Nate DeMarse
Brotherhood Instructors, LLC.
ndemarse.broinstructors@gmail.com

I’ve heard many firefighters while discussing a door with multiple locks say, “I’ll just go for the hinge side.”  If this is not something you have ever done before you are in for a real surprise when you try it.

I was going to write about: when and why to force the hinge side, sizing up the hinge side, and door control when forcing the hinge side but I think those items are better left for the discussion portion of this drill.  This drill will cover the technique of pulling the hinges using only the irons and then we’ll discuss the rest to make it more interactive and interesting.

Once you have decided that you are going to force the hinge side of the door you will typically have three hinges to pull.  Start with the top hinge.  This a good idea because the smoke will be pushing from the top of the door and taking the top hinge will allow you to take the middle and lower hinge below the smoke and heat.  Also, anyone who has done any construction or mechanical work will tell you that working with your hands above chest level for any period of time gets tiring very quickly.  Taking the top hinge first allows you to work in this difficult position at the beginning of the operation while you are still fresh.  Place the fork of the halligan under the bottom of the top hinge with the bevel side towards the door.

Next, the striking firefighter will hit the halligan with the axe as directed by the halligan firefighter.  The objective of hitting the halligan is to loosen up the hinge and hopefully break the screws holding the hinge into the door and the jam.  Be sure to “cross your tools” while striking the halligan.  The striking surface of the axe should come in contact with the halligan perpendicular to the adz, this increases surface area and lessens the likelihood of missing.  As you can see from picture 1 this is not a normal striking position that we are used to with the irons which makes accuracy even more important to avoid injury.  After loosening or breaking the screws by striking the halligan pry up on the halligan to pull the hinge from between the door and the jam.

Make no mistake about it, this is not easy especially on the top hinge.  Usually the hinge will pull about half way out using the halligan in this manner.  Next flip the halligan over and place the fork under the bottom of the hinge with the concave side toward the door this time to increase leverage and pry up to pull the hinge completely out.  One down, two to go!

Next, attack the middle hinge.  If you put the fork of the halligan over the top of the middle hinge the adz will be roughly where the top hinge was, which is too high to strike down on.  (Let the short jokes begin)  If you place the fork of the halligan under the bottom of the middle hinge the adz end will be roughly where the bottom hinge is which leaves only about a foot between the adz and the ground.  This is not enough space to strike the adz with the required force to loosen or break the screws holding the hinge in place.  For the middle hinge the adz is placed on top of the top hinge and then struck with the axe by the striking firefighter at the direction of the halligan firefighter.

Once the hinge is loosened up then place the fork of the halligan over the hinge either from the bottom or the top with the bevel towards the door and pry up.  As with the top hinge this will usually pull the hinge about half way out.  Then you can flip the halligan over and place the concave side against the door to increase leverage and pry the hinge completely out.  Two down, one to go!

The bottom hinge (I think) is the easiest which is part of the reason it is saved until last.  Place the fork of the halligan over the top of the bottom hinge with the bevel side against the door.  The striking firefighter then hits the halligan with the axe at the direction of the halligan firefighter just as was done for the other hinges.  This is the most natural striking position so it is best saved until last when you are fatigued from striking and prying the other two hinges.  After the screws are loosened or broken pry down on the halligan to pull the hinge.

Just as with the top and middle hinge once the hinge is pulled half way out flip the halligan over concave side towards the door and pull the hinge completely out.  Now that all three hinges are pulled the job is not done!

Now you have to force the hinge side of the door just as you would the lock side of an outward opening door.  Normaly you would begin by setting your halligan six inches above or below the lock but in this case there is no lock so go six inches above or below where the middle hinge was.  Place the adz of the halligan against the crack between the door and the jam.  Then the striking firefighter hits the halligan in at the direction of the halligan firefighter until it hits the door stop.  You will know you hit the stop when the halligan stops moving and you should be able to hear the halligan deaden out when it hits the stop.  Next the halligan firefighter pries up and down with the halligan to crush the door a little bit.  Then the halligan firefighter pulls back (away from the door) on the halligan so the adz clears the door stop and the striking firefighter drives the halligan the rest of the way in.  Finally, pry out away from the door with the halligan to pry the door out of the frame.

Quite a few steps and a LOT of effort are required to perform this operation.  It is a valuable and basic tactic that can be done with hand tools and a little determination.  There are certainly other tools usually available on the fire ground that can make this operation faster and easier.  Knowing how to get the job done with basic tools and basic skills can never be over emphasized and will never fail you.

If you are prepared, you will be confident, and will do the job.

The Prop Shop- Forcible Entry Door Simulator

By: Andrew Brassard

Forcible entry door simulators have been around in some shape or form since there was a need on the fireground to force a door. Most of these door props where spawned in the stuffy old basements of many firehouses, where most of these props still stand today. Props were built by welding the steel directly to the structural supports of the firehouse, where they were used to drill the firefighters in the true art of forcible entry, by challenging everyone who used them from the probie to the senior man. These props offered the most realistic training that could be provided without using an acquired structure.

Construction

Door props like this are very basic in construction, typically pieces of heavy gauge “C” channel or tube steel where used to create the door frame and a heavy piece of flat stock metal was welded on to create a door stop. The door hinges can be constructed in a variety of different ways, the key with hinges is that you make it very easy to change the doors that will be forced in and out of the frame. An easy way to construct a basic hinge set up is to weld a piece of ¼” sheet metal onto three standard door hinges. Drill rows of 1/4 inch holes into the sheet metal; this will allow you to screw the doors in at various heights and in various places to get around damage of the door, windows, etc.

To lock the door, use a piece of “C” channel and drill three evenly spaced out ¼ inch holes in one side and seven to nine  10/32 holes into the other end. The end with the 3 holes will bolt to the “C” channel frame using two or three 10/32 machine screws and other end will be screwed into the door using 1 inch self tapping metal screws. When building the frame, screw the same hole pattern that is on your “C” channel resistance bracket onto the door frame at various heights, this will allow you to place the “lock” at various heights and it will also allow you to lock the door in multiple different spots at the same time to simulate multiple locks on the rear of the door. Having the ability to lock the door at any level will also allow you to use the entire side of the door and get more evolutions out of each side of the door.

A Prop Variation

In my department there was absolutely no way that they would allow me to weld a forcible entry prop into the structural components of the firehouse so I set out to find a way to make a prop that would hold up to the abuse of constant forces and I also wanted to be able to convert it into a wall breech prop. I searched around on the internet, looked at different props that people had made, talked to people about different things they liked and did not like about ones they had made, etc. One of the biggest things that I noticed was that a lot of these portable door props that I saw where very flimsy and would be moving all over the place when you tried to force a door in them. I used channel steel and ¼ inch diamond plate to make the base. I then used 4×4 metal tubes to make the uprights and the header. One inch steel tubing was then used to make the braces that supported the “C” channel that made up the frame for the door.

Doors

The biggest complaints that I hear about this type of door prop is that it is very material and labor intensive, in this case both complaints are very true. This type of forcible entry training is requires a lot of material to put on. You will need a steady supply of doors coming in since you will only get about 10-15 forces out of a door, the best places to look for doors is at the following places:

Ø      Demolition Sites- Stop by and talk to the Forman, most of the time they are more than willing to give you any of the doors that they are going to be throwing away.

Ø      Door Factories- If you have a door manufacturing facility in your city or town pay them a visit and see if they will give you some doors the have “manufacturing defects”.

Ø      Door Instillation Companies- I you talk to the owner allot of the time they will be more than willing to help out with getting you some old doors.

Ø      Hardware Stores- Talk to the store manager and see if he will put aside all the doors that get scratched, dented, water damaged, etc. Most of the times these doors will be going into the garbage anyway they will usually be very happy to give them to the local fire department.

Ø      Scrap Yards- most scrap yard come by metal doors quite frequently, if you make the arrangements (case of beer) with the scrap yard manager they will probably put them aside for you.

This type of forcible door prop will require a large quantity of the self-tapping screws and machine bolts.  Consider purchasing these items in bulk from a wholesale distributor instead of from your local hardware or “big box” type store to save money.

Another big thing that I see with doors is the fantastic opportunity for forcible entry saw training. After both sides of the door have been used the door can be taken out of the frame and then used for forcible entry saw training.

Wall Breach Option

Another great option for having a very sturdy forcible entry prop is setting it up for a wall breach scenario for rapid intervention operations. You can utilize two hardwood skids bolted into the door frame secured in place with two long pieces of threaded rod (similar to a H.U.D. window) and depending on how difficult you want to make it, the pallets  could be covered by plywood and drywall.

There are many fantastic forcible entry training props on the market today but nothing will compare to forcing real doors if you have the resources to do so. Forcing doors with traditional forcible entry tools (axe and halligan) is a dying art, it is a skill like any other we posses it must be practiced often to remain sharp. The more realistic that we can make training for our members the more we can help to ensure that they will go home to their loved ones at the end of their tour.

Things are not always what they seem, this door is a good example of that. This door is on a private dwelling on the side of the house. The door is hollow core metal and the frame is wood. What looks like a fairly easy door to take with conventional forcible entry techniques may cause some unexpected delays during forcible entry operations.

The interior view reveals that the door has been covered over with plywood and then drywall. Covering doors in private dwellings is nothing new but what makes this one different is the fact that they kept the window of the door present and are using it as an interior window. This door would still be very “doable” with conventional forcible entry techniques, but it may be tougher than you may think when you go to force it. This is a great door to show the firefighters that always say “just smash out the glass and unlock the door”.

This door is a great example of the fact that you can never take anything for granted, you must always be prepared to force the toughest door of your career every time you get off the rig at a fire because the day you are not fully prepared is the day that you will encounter a door that will test your skill, knowledge, experience, and preparation…….. and all of those things come back to your level of training!!

As the forcible entry and nozzle teams ascend to the second floor, they are met with a heavy smoke condition.  As they near this apartment, heavy smoke and fire are pushing from the cracks in the door shown above.  The paint is peeling, the top one third of the door glowing and distorted.  Time to go to work!

Destroying the integrity of this door during a forcible entry operation will certainly spell disaster for anyone (civilian or firefighter) operating or caught above the fire floor.  Many uninformed firefighters will opt to simply “bash” the door out of the frame (usually from the hinged side) with a sledge hammer/maul.  This technique is dangerous and unprofessional, and in many cases will not work!

If you are a firefighter that likes to “bash” the door in like a SWAT team, ask yourself these questions:

- What is the plan for door control if the engine is on a frozen/broken hydrant?
- What is the plan if the engine loses water?
- What is the plan if the fire cannot be controlled?

We are professionals, and our forcible entry operation should reflect as such:  This door (as should all doors) should be taken with the Irons, using conventional forcible entry techniques.  Gap the door, set the forks, and force the door ON THE LOCK SIDE.  Then CONTROL THE DOOR by grabbing the door with the Halligan or reaching in with a hook (pike pole) to close the door until a charged attack line is in position.  If any of the questions above surface during our operation, members can withdraw to the safety of the public hallway, and close the door until the problem is rectified, then resume the attack.

Note the cable wire (held in place in the ceiling corner by a plastic cover).  This plastic covering melts with very little exposure to heat, dropping the cable onto members entering/leaving the doorway below.

This photo shows two side-by-side doorways, typically both apartments will share the wall that runs between the doorways to an exterior wall.  A firefighter entering the right door to perform a search should know that there are probably no rooms on the left wall, and probably all of the rooms will be on the right wall.  The apartment on the left will most likely be a mirror image of the right apartment.

This fire was on the second floor of a 6 story brick apartment building.  Several civilians were trapped on the floors above, including 6 unconscious civilians (an entire family) that were trying to make their way to the roof, but were trapped behind a locked steel gate in the bulkhead.  The civilians were actually found by the first and second due Roof Firefighters performing a sweep of the bulkhead (after forcing the bulkhead door to vent). All six civilians survived.

Although some departments may not have H-types or 6 story apartment buildings, the rules above also apply to garden apartments, “Main Street type” apartment buildings or private houses converted to apartments.

Feel free to leave your comments or questions.

In every firefighters career they will encounter a forcible entry problem that will test them both mentally and physically and put their training and experience to the test. The following account of one such door comes to us from Gabriel Angemi of Camden Fire Department Rescue 1, below is the story of the door and the forcible entry operation in Gabriel’s own words.

In my last ten years on the job, this is one of the most bad-ass doors I have encountered. This business had been robbed several times over the years and the means by which the thieves got in was thru an opening in the construction of the roof, so apparently this door is more to keep you in than keep you out. This was the scene of a smaller working fire in an automobile salvage garage with a light to medium smoke condition issuing from the roof at about 2am, and our company was given orders by Battalion 1 to gain entry through this particular outward opening door. This door was thought to be the door that occupants/workers normally used to enter and exit the premises, Rule #3. We were told a keyholder was in route, but were not about to wait for him…

Although these pictures do not show it, (I had forgotten to bring the digi to work and went back to take these the next day) we originally cut a triangle into the door after having observed rule #1 (try before you pry) already. Rule #2 had us not ignoring the obvious, since we saw a pattern of bolt heads three quarters up from the bottom of the door and then the same pattern a quarter up from the bottom, we were sure there was a set of drop in bars to deal with here….

…The last two pictures show the backside of the door and allow you to realize what we found out the hard way. The initial triangle cut was made for speed, in an attempt to push up and out on the top drop-in bar and pull out the bottom drop-in bar, leaving the door primarily intact (rule #4: maintain the integrity of the door) and easy to repair cheaply.

Once the presence of the chain was discovered, we enlarged the hole to the size you see it in the pictures, in an effort to use bolt cutters on the chain and still accomplish what we set out to do. However….

…the chain itself was attached to the top drop-in bar and went up and over a steal I-Beam attached to a framework erected inside the building leaving no visible marks on the buildings exterior for us to notice. Once over the I-Beam the chain was then padlocked to the bottom drop-in bar and the drop-in bar holder, which was drilled out to accommodate the padlock and all fit snug together. The presence of the undetected I-Beam would have foiled any manual attempt to remove the top drop-in bar as well since reaching around it was not going to happen. Attacking the hinges and trying to pry the door out of the frame would have been useless, as would have been cutting the bolt heads that were holding the drop-in bar holders thru the door.

Upon the arrival of the keyholder to the scene, members were led thru a series of other interior doors with varying types of locks, one of which was even more beefcake than this one pictured, proving we had attacked the right door at least. The padlock holding the whole deal together was opened by the keyholder, releasing the chain and the drop-in bar system was then removed from the inside and our fire suppression attack began on a small fire in a big pile of scrapped engine blocks. Our next step would have been to enlarge the opening further to allow for better lighting and space to cut the padlock, and attack the rest of the obstacles until we were successful. This just goes to show how time consuming forcible entry can be, and although this didn’t take all that long to finally get thru and the fire was out quickly, it could have been much more serious under different conditions and breaching the wall may have become an option had the keyholder not responded so quickly.

I would like to thank Gabriel for allowing us to use his pictures and story. Please check out Gabriel’s Camden Rescue Company 1 web Blog at http://cmdfd.blogspot.com/

Door 1

This door appears to be a wood door with a metal door bolted/lagged it, this will cause serious issues with a proper size up due to the metal door hiding bolt patterns. The door has two substancial security bars and a small hasp and padlock. This door could cause serious issues for even a seasoned forcible entry team.

Door 3

The two brackets that house the drop bar are welded to the door, the drop bar is also secured with a padlock on the hinge side. One additional issue that you may have with this door is the space that you will have to work, in the first photo you can see a railing and a wall on either side which may cause issues.

Door 5

As you can see the door is equipped with a surface mounted Mul T Lock, it is also equipped with a mortise key in the knob lock and deadbolt.

Door 7

As you can see from the interior view of the door it has been heavily fortified from the inside, all of the hardware (including the hinges) have been welded to either the door or the frame. It is a double hung inward swinging door which will make it very difficult to force by conventional methods, it also has no real indication of locking mechanisms from the outside. The metal strip that protects the middle of the doors on the outside is welded to the door also, this will make getting a prying tool or a saw blade in the middle of the two doors very difficult. Better bring a saw and a couple of blades!!

Door 8

As you can see this door also has a surface mounted Mul T Lock.

Thanks to Walt Lewis, Ryan Royal, and Nick Chapel for their responses to the post, very insighful brothers!! great job!! I would also like to apologize to Josh Materi for the spelling of his name on the photos.

There appears to be a current trend for Incident Commanders to keep their RIT/FAST team standing in the front yard like a piece of ugly lawn art. Most firefighters have an inherent nature and work ethic that is not conducive to standing in front of the building, and watching everyone else work. All of us know the feeling that occurs when responding to a confirmed fire. You are struggling to listen to the radio, adrenaline flows, you from a loose game plan….building layout…..type of building. As you pull out of your first due response area continuing towards the fire, you hear over the department radio, “Ladder XX, you are responding as the RIT team!”

The members in the rig immediately feel “deflated”. In addition, groans and sighs immediately follow the transmission, and typically members will again start talking about ESPN or dinner plans. This is very common in today’s fire service, as these highly motivated firefighters feel that they will most likely be standing in the front yard. The “deflation” is a very dangerous condition and may be considered one of the rawest forms of complacency. Why not give these firefighters active tasks that correspond with their RIT assignment, and improve the safety of members operating on the interior? These tasks will be completed on the exterior of the building, and still allow the RIT team to remain available in case needed.

Of course there are members of “management” who will resist this or similar operations. Those individuals will most likely hide behind the word, “freelancing”. In reality, the RIT team is not freelancing. They have been given assigned tasks and locations by their officer and are conducting those tasks to PREVENT a “mayday” situation. In fact, they are proactively starting or accomplishing their job! In the event of a “mayday” transmission, the RIT team members will return to the designated RIT area (where they would have been standing), and deploy to assist the stricken member(s).

Example:
A RIT company arrives to a fire in a single family or small apartment building. Upon arrival, the company officer locates the incident commander to confirm his arrival, and gather a briefing on the incident. The officer may even perform a quick 360 degree walk-around while the firefighters gather equipment and transport it to the designated RIT area. Upon the officer’s return, he/she may assign them to tasks that will aid the RIT team in case they are activated for a downed firefighter. These tasks WILL NOT include suppression operations, and will be conducted on the exterior of the building.

Example tasks:

- Perform forcible entry on rear and side doors
- Remove window bars
- Placing portable ladders under sills of upper floor windows.
- Clear out sashes of windows taken by interior companies

ALL tasks mentioned above provide egress for members operating within the building. ALL tasks mentioned above provide access for the RIT team, in the event the RIT team is activated. Finally, many of the aforementioned tasks can be accomplished in a few minutes, and usually with little exertion by the RIT team.

Modifications

Proactive RIT operations may be modified to various building types. In the event of a fire in a multiple dwelling/apartment building, the RIT team may add a lower floor reconnaissance to their list of possibilities. This will provide a layout of the fire apartment above. A radio transmission stating, “I am trapped in a rear bedroom” will no longer leave guesswork to the RIT team that is going to get the stricken member. Those members now know that they enter the apartment door, move down a hallway passing two doorways (a bathroom and a closet) and will then enter the third doorway to the bedroom. If an exterior route is chosen, they will know which windows to start placing ladders. If a fire occurs within a warehouse or other large commercial building, the RIT team may be utilizing search ropes or a LAST (Large Area Search Team) to rescue the stricken member. The RIT team may proactively look for objects to secure the rope, points of entry, etc…

Possible Obstacle and/or Problem

The proactive RIT assignments that are discussed above are all completed while in direct communication of the RIT officer. At any time, RIT team members performing proactive tasks can drop what they are doing and report to the RIT staging area for deployment. The proactive RIT concept is not an excuse to “freelance”. If a team has a plan of attack, known assignments and are being supervised by their officer (either directly or via radio), it is not considered freelancing.

Advantages of Proactive FAST/RIT Operations

One advantage of the proactive RIT team lies in the fact that there will be a crew operating on the exterior of a fire building constantly performing a size-up and providing feedback to the RIT officer and the incident commander. While crews perform this size-up, they are gathering information on building construction, smoke conditions, fire travel and the progress and location of crews operating within the building. This information may allow crews to “predict” when and where a problem or “mayday” may occur and plan for those issues. The best “mayday” is one that is resolved before the RIT team is in operation.

Imagine a ladder company operating on the floor above the fire. A charged line is aggressively being advanced in the fire apartment and things appear normal. The ladder company above is conducting searches and opening up to check for fire extension. Suddenly, conditions change and the crew cannot exit from the entry point that they used. Conditions worsen, heat continues to increase rapidly while smoke banks down, and “maydays” are transmitted as they work their way to the rear bedroom window. Seconds later, the RIT team, (deploying to assist the stricken members) round the corner into the rear yard. They witness two members descending the ladder and the last member, an officer, stepping out of the window and onto the portable ladder. Over his head, heavy black, velvety, churning smoke is pushing under pressure from the window. The room lights up as the officer descends the ladder. The officer notifies the incident commander that all of his members are accounted for in the rear yard, and that his “mayday” can be cancelled.

This tragedy was averted because of proactive RIT/FAST team operations. Minutes before, the RIT team had placed portable ladders to several windows in the rear of the building. In the above case, the members on the floor above would have most likely resulted to jumping from the upper floor windows, unable to await the assistance of the RIT team. Proactive RIT/FAST operations turned a tragedy into a mere “close-call”.

Brotherhood Instructors, LLC. believes in “Proactive RIT/FAST Operations. If you are interested in the concept, or would like to host a class centered on this topic, please feel free to contact us at brotherhoodinstructors@gmail.com. As always, feel free to add comments or questions to the article. We appreciate your feedback, and your continued interest.

Stay safe!

Dusty joined the Appleton City Volunteer Fire Dept (Appleton City, MO) in 1996, In 1998 he started as a part-time firefighter with the West Peculiar Fire Protection District(Peculiar, MO) Dusty was hired as a full-time firefighter with the Southern Platte Fire Protection District(Parkville, MO) in 1999 and later in 1999 left South Platte when he was hired by the Kansas City Fire Department(Kansas City, MO) In 2001 Dusty transferred to a rescue company and is currently assigned to Rescue 31 where he has been since 2005. Dusty also serves as in Instructor for the University of Missouri Fire and Rescue Training Institute.

Size up of forcible entry operations is one of the most important functions of forcing entry into a building. Being able to identify what exactly is locking the door is half the battle, knowing your locks and secondary locking mechanisms are paramount. The best way to know your locks is to get out in your area and visit hardware stores and locksmiths and see the types of locks that are being purchased and installed in your area, and the other way to see the forcible entry problems in your area is to get into the buildings you will be responding to.

This following drill will show you several different forcible entry problems and then we will ask you to add your comments and ideas for forcing entry into the following buildings. On some of the doors only the exterior will be shown initially, this will allow you to make your forcible entry decisions based on only your knowledge, experience and training. Not on what you know is there because you can see it. The back side of the door will be shown at a later date to allow you to see if your forcible entry procedure would be effective or not.

Door 1

What type of door construction are we dealing with?

What are the primary locking devices?

What are the secondary locking devices?
What forcible entry tools would you want to have with you?

What forcible entry techniques would you use here?

Inside of the door will be shown later

Door 2

What is the primary locking device?

What are the secondary locking devices?

What forcible entry techniques would you use here?

Door 3

What way does this door swing?

What locking devices are on this door?

What additional forcible entry issues might you have?

What forcible entry techniques would you use here?

Inside of the door will be shown later

Door 4

This is an interior view of a double door in the rear of a commercial building.

What forcible entry techniques would you use here?

Door 5

Answer the following question without the use of a power saw.

What way does this door swing?

What are the primary locking devices on this door?

What are the secondary locking devices on this door?

What forcible entry techniques would you use here?

Inside of the door will be shown later

Door 6

What are the primary locking devices on this door?

What are the secondary locking devices on this door?

What forcible entry techniques would you use here?

Door 7

This next door is located at the rear of a supermarket in Clinton, Ontario. Clinton is a very small rural community in Southern Ontario, as you can see having heavily fortified doors in your community is not just a problem for large cities.

What are the primary locking devices on this door?

What are the secondary locking devices on this door?

What forcible entry techniques would you use here?

Inside of the door will be shown later

Door 8

What are the primary locking devices?

What are the secondary locking devices?
What forcible entry tools would you want to have with you?

What forcible entry techniques would you use here?

What would your back up plan be if your initial forcible entry plan failed?

Inside of the door will be shown later

All of the questions can be cut and pasted into your answers. The Interior views will be posted in a months time so you can see how close your tactics where.

Special thanks to Josh Materi from Seattle Ladder 3 and Chris Collier FDNY Ladder 49 for the use of their pictures.

All answers must be posted with your full name and department, no unsigned posts will be posted.

Wayne Benner (Port Colborne, Ontario FD) sent us this photo compilation video of several of our class photos taken from our website.  Wayne took our “Back to Basics” Engine & Ladder Company Operations class in Oakville, Ontario last year and has been in contact ever since.  Thanks Wayne, nice work!

In addition, there are two other conventional forcible entry videos uploaded to Youtube as well.  Feel free to subscribe to the Brotherhood Instructors, LLC Youtube channel, and you will be notified when other videos are posted.  We hope to post an Engine Operations video in the very near future.

Class Announcements:
We have several class announcements that we would like to make everyone aware of.  All class announcements are always posted on our “Upcoming Classes” page.

• July 6th-9th:  MABAS Division 10 (Western Chicago Suburbs):  3-hour Power Saw Operations discussion/demonstration
• July 26th:  Beeton, Ontario - Basic Forcible Entry Operations at FFAO Training Weekend
• August 21st & 22nd:  Frankfort, IL - ‘Back-to-Basics’ Engine & Ladder Company Operations (open enrollment)
• September 17th: Wildwood, NJ - Basic Forcible Entry Operations at the NJ State Firefighter’s Convention (open enrollment)
• September 19th: Centerville, MA - Basic Forcible Entry Operations (open enrollment)
• October 10th: Hughsonville, NY (Dutchess County) - Basic Forcible Entry Operations (open enrollment)

Past Classes:
Our “Past Classes” page has a new look.  Now all photos are uploaded and can be viewed as a slideshow instead of the multi-click that we used to have.  We are working to upload all of our classes to the new format.

Facebook Page:
The Brotherhood Instructors, LLC. Facebook page has nearly 400 members.  If you are a Facebook member, we invite you to join us.  All of our class announcements are posted in the form of events, class photos and videos are posted.  Facebook also allows the members who took the class to post their photos as well.  In addition, we have some quick-drill training videos, and discussions.