Collapse considerations at Row Frame building fires
- Rear walls can pull away and collapse in 1 section
- Heavy cockloft fire can cause roof to collapse onto top floor
- Corner buildings and stand alone buildings have an increased danger of collapse particularly if the fire bunted out the entire 1st floor
- Indiscriminate removal of structural members during overhauling can cause a partial or complete collapse of the building
Construction features of Row Frame buildings
- Common cockloft form 1 foot high to height of a man
- Light & air shafts are found in some buildings of longer length
- Lack of fire stooping at cellar ceilings may permit fire travel to an attached exposure
- Wood cellar beams from adjoining buildings resting on a common wall may spread fire to an exposure
- Fire may spread from the roof of one building to the roof of an adjoining building
- In the old law tenement type layout with 2 apts per floor the partitions that separate the apartments are NOT fire stopped between the ceiling of one floor and the underside of the floor above
Line placement at a fully involved occupied row frame with smoke showing in exp 2 and fire showing in exp 4. Both similar attached buildings
- 1st line - into the fire building
- 2nd line - top floor of most severe exposure
- 3rd line - top floor of opposite exposure
Concerning Row frame buildings if a floor is fully involved from front to rear it is
Advisable to call for an additional engine and ladder above the full 1st alarm
Concerning Row frame buildings if 2 buildings are fully involved we have a
2nd alarm situation
Concerning Row frame buildings if a top floor fire has extended into the cockloft a
2nd alarm must be considered
Concerning Row frame buildings when fire extends beyond 2 buildings
Promptly consider transmitting a 3rd alarm
At a 3rd alarm cockloft fire involving 4 buildings the correct tactics are
- Set up a perimeter of lines consisting of heavy caliber streams in the front and rear and 1 3/4 lines flanking the sides of the fire and moving toward the center of the fire
- Pull ceilings on the top floor after charged hand lines are in position and IF POSSIBLE after the cockloft has been vented from above
- As the fire becomes more controlled 2 1/2 lines operating in the front and rear can be converted to 1 3/4 lines and advanced via the rear fire escape and the front entrance of the center fire buildings
