THE WORD AGGRESSIVE has been co-opted by some who want to change our service to being risk adverse—vastly altering our very mission. Being aggressive often consists of moving with purpose. It implies a sense of assertiveness and determination and a proactive approach to achieving goals. However, equating it solely with firefighters taking unnecessary and overly dangerous risks overlooks its nuanced meaning. While aggression might imply a willingness to push boundaries, it’s crucial to distinguish between calculated risk taking and reckless behavior.
- Aggressive Fire Tactics
- Aggressive and Practical Search: It’s Still About the Victim
- Building an ‘Aggressive’ Fire Company
The Value in Experience
Experience can’t be overlooked in aggressive tactics. There’s an old saying that experience is king, and for good reason. Experience and wisdom go hand in hand, and knowing how to aggressively perform one’s job in a lethal environment is straightforward. Wisdom is knowing what to do, why you’re doing it, and the most efficient way to do it. Ben Franklin taught us that experience is the best teacher, but only a fool will learn in school alone. Firefighters must endeavor to balance training, knowledge, and experience.
Some mistakenly co-opt the term to imply an inclination toward dangerous actions without a proper risk analysis, dismissing the importance of prudence and strategic and tactical decision making. True aggression involves a calculated assessment of risks in a quest for tactical excellence and a thoughtful consideration of consequences rather than impulsive actions.
Furthermore, when individuals and organizations attack language, it is often done to manipulate narratives, obscure the truth, or advance specific agendas. As George Orwell famously stated, “But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.”
Suspicions arise when language is weaponized to mislead, control perceptions, or sow division. It is crucial to scrutinize such attacks to safeguard against manipulation and maintain clarity in communication for an informed society and an aggressive fire department. Through aggressive search training, you can position yourself and your department for success (photo 1).
1. Training for search is critical. Even when you find a victim, sweep the entire bed. Also note how the blankets diminish the heat signature of the two kids. (Photo by Nick Ricci.)
Aggressiveness is needed in relevant training, line selection, advancement, placement, and effective search. Coupling proper size-up, victim profiling, and disciplined ventilation (coordinated, communicated, and controlled) with appropriate staffing on scene to effectively control and mitigate the incident is the gold standard.
Victims have a certain amount of time to be rescued. This hourglass is nailed to the table and can’t be turned back over—even extinguishing the fire will not eliminate the risk of a toxic environment to an unconscious victim. But aggressive search cannot occur without competence and confidence—both only come with quality, realistic training and experience.
Creating an aggressive search culture starts in the academy. Do not fall into the trap of demonstrating search techniques at less than full speed, without gear, or without limiting visibility. It is effective to demonstrate in real time. Break the technique into smaller parts to encourage a better understanding. This will increase the effectiveness, as the instructor must demand speed, leading to efficiency.
Just like any practical evolution, you must train at game speed and at the level of gear you’d wear to a structure fire. When your body gets pumped with adrenaline, your fine motor skills are reduced, and your vision can narrow (tunnel vision). This is a normal reaction of the body. To reduce the effects, you must wear full gear and SCBA and get the most effective training for your body. You will always fall to the level of your training in these events. Training in your gear as much as possible is important so when the time comes you’ve experienced what your gear feels like.
Live Burns
Searching in empty rooms of a burn building often leads to empty promises. How many homes searched end up being completely empty? Yet, many burn buildings lack furniture. Unmovable metal furniture is often used, which is not ideal, as the recruits should get comfortable with the environment without being challenged. The obstacle leads to confidence on the training ground but does little to instill confidence at their first fire (photo 2).
2. Conducting a walk-through in an empty burn room. Burn rooms should resemble real life. (Photo by Ken Nolan)
National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1403, Standard on Live Fire Training Evolutions, requires a preburn planning checklist to include floor plans and predetermined exits. This isn’t something that happens in the field; often firefighters carry limited knowledge of the layout of the structures they respond to. This is where emergency medical service calls or inspections can be an invaluable opportunity to become familiar with your primary response areas.
For live burns, recruits are walked through the building. This is a consensus that should be reexamined. It was an overcorrection and an overly burdensome regulation that has harmed operational excellence. It is understood that the standard was developed with the best intention to avoid needless firefighter injury and death at the hands of incompetent instructors. However, now with the prevalence of thermal imaging, along with additional training, each instructor could still be required to enhance safety without taking away from the quality of training. The NFPA should reevaluate this part of the standard.
It is critical to have furniture that can be moved to set up rooms to ensure search competence. Yes, you can use donated furniture if you’re not burning it. Looking at the curb has been fruitful in finding beds and cribs. Nonlive fire smoke can also be used in a burn building without a walk-through with the addition of furniture. Firefighters should be taughtthat furniture should not be moved, if possible. Furniture gives the firefighter clues on room layout and increases search area coverage. There is no issue leaving a wall to search for a couch that may lead to a coffee table. Searching around the coffee table gets you to the center of the room, knowing the other side of the table leads to the couch and back to the wall.
Furniture should not be moved, as it clouds the layout and can cover a door or victim. A halligan or hook is a valuable tool to use to sweep behind doors and under beds. It extends your reach to stay in contact with a wall or door to maintain orientation. Always do this with caution. If you must move furniture, move it to a stable position along a wall that has already been searched.
Smoke machines are great for drills in acquired structures. In New Haven, CT, the housing authority drops off old, discarded furniture for us to furnish acquired structures. Line firefighters, officers, and recruits are trained in door control, radio transmissions, and victim location and removal (photo 3).
3. Searching a vacant structure in fake smoke with furniture, while the instructor uses the TIC to check progress. (Photo by Ken Nolan.)
Refresh the Training Ground
New Haven took a 50-plus-member recruit class to a vacant structure for search, line placement, ventilation, and pulling ceilings. It was determined this was too large of a group for effective training. So, it was decided to bring one squad to the vacant structure each day, decreasing the student-to-instructor ratio. This made thetraining more fun. For new firefighters, the training must be repetivive to build muscule memory. For incumbent training, once the skills are mastered, several companies should perform one quality drill for a constructive critique. This allows for numerous crews to be rotated through the drill.
Close the Door
When using a portable ladder, ensure its proper placement and train firefighters to avoid taking the glass with the ladder. Time is critical, and taking the glass creates a flow path. It is best practice to be on air when clearing the window at the top of the ladder. This will buy you a few seconds to attempt to close the door. The person who ascends the ladder first should not be determined by rank or position but by who masked up with all their PPE first. Only one member should belly into the window, staying low after sweeping the floor. A rescue should not turn into a recovery— victims are often found in exit paths.
For a corner bedroom, the first firefighter should move away from the outside corner to get to the door quicker. After reaching the door, the first firefighter should use the thermal imaging camera (TIC) to check the hall for fire and victims (photo 4).
4. Moving away from the outside conner when entering from the outside will usually get you to the door quicker. (Photo by Christine Ricci.)
The second firefighter should stay on the ladder, serving as a beacon for the exit. Once the door is closed, the second firefighter can enter and search. However, if the first firefighter comes across a victim on the way to the door, he should notify the second firefighter to enter, and the first firefighter should continue to attempt to close the door. Having the second firefighter enter before the door is closed is a higher risk operation. However, the benefit outweighs this concern. It is usually going to take two firefighters to remove the victim, and the door may not be present or able to be closed.
Training for this can be as simple as smoking up the second floor and smashing the window so it can be cleared after that first evolution. You could use plexiglass that can be knocked out repeatedly or the low-cost option of stretching construction trash bags to cover the window. It will still take a swing to clear and hold in smoke.
Begin the Search
Ideally, while you are always searching as you go, start your search in the fire room by closing the door and notifying the engine of the fire’s location. If you have a can after hooking your foot on the door frame and searching the fire room, when you get in a crawling position right next to the doorknob, close the door about 90%. This will limit air flow (energy). Discharge the can through the opening, effectively knocking back the fire.
Firefighters always must consider flow path. If you take the window and the line is not in place at the seat of the fire, you are creating a flow path. It is always best to enter the room and shut the door. This way, when the window is taken and the smoke is lifted, it facilitates an aggressive search.
How this room is searched is up to your training and preference. Some like to split, taking each side of the room. Others prefer having the firefighter with the TIC stay at the door with it closed and direct the search. It is important to remember that a TIC heat signature can be blocked by covers and can’t detect around furniture. If both firefighters are going to close the door and split, leaving a box light at the door can prove beneficial. The searchers should be able to communicate. They don’t have to hold hands. They just need to be able to aggressively find any victims.
Avoid keeping the bedroom door open to check for deteriorating conditions while the other firefighter searches because of the flow path. Regardless of if it is during training or in the field, communication is key. Declare any searches over the radio by geographic location, ensuring your team is not taking responsibility for an area they didn’t search.
Develop Vent Discipline
When venting, you must be able to isolate the location by closing the door. In most kitchens, dining rooms, living rooms, and great rooms, you cannot ventilate until the line is in place at the seat of the fire. As a rule, if you are in an area that you can’t isolate with high heat rising, and you can’t exit, you must avoid ventilation and call for a line. Taking a window will only make conditions worse. If you’re venting for fire to aid the search, the vent point should be in the fire room after you notice signs of extinguishment at the main body of fire. A crew playing water to make a hot hall is not the time to take the window. You must develop vent discipline. Vent closest to the fire and then work your way back, paying close attention to conditions.
Control the Door
Forcible entry is ventilation. Therefore, door control is vital—especially if the nozzle team isn’t ready on air with a charged line or if a truck is working ahead of the fire to close the door and maintain door control. Using a spring clamp allows the door to be closed over the opening while the line is getting to the front door. The truck or rescue’s role ahead of a line is to search and attempt to isolate the fire and their location as soon as possible. Do not open walls, knee walls, or ceilings without a line.
When the line moves in, the nozzle firefighter can move the spring clamp from the edge of the door by the lock to the hinge, ensuring the door will not close over the line (photo 5). After the door is forced, sweep behind the door and begin the search. Victims can be found behind the front door or in the general vicinity, as it’s the primary means of egress. Make sure the door doesn’t cover another door or closet. On all secondary searches, always check the wall behind any door (photos 6 and 7). When operating inside, a door that opens toward you is the door to the outside, closet, or basement. Inward opening doors typically lead to bedrooms and bathrooms.
5. Using a spring clamp to close the door over the hinge prevents the door from locking and controls the flow path until the line makes entry. (Photo by Christine Ricci.)
6. Bedroom door open-covering closet. (Photo by Christine Ricci.)
7. A bedroom door showing a closet. If this door was chocked open on the secondary search, the area behind and the wall has to be searched. (Photo by Christine Ricci.)
Search and Advance the Line
Flowing, advancing, and communicating are all fundamental skills of successful engine company operations. The initial attack line is deployed to the primary means of egress and protects the interior stairs for fleeing occupants. Search this exit path while advancing without hindering the stretch. The tempo for the search while advancing the attack line is quick and always along the path of travel.
While life is the highest priority, the search cannot hamper or slow down the advancement of the line to the seat of the fire. The officer in charge or the backup firefighter can search the immediate fire area rapidly once you find the seat of the fire. Take a moment to pan the floor area before you open the line. You could have enough visibility to see any victims on the ground or on furniture. After extinguishment begins, the firefighter or officer can do a quick search of the room of origin as well as the adjacent rooms should staffing or distance be factors in responses.
Defensive Operations
Many departments announce their mode of operation over the radio, stating whether they are going offensive or defensive. It is important to train your members. Even if a defensive operation is called for, it does not hinder moving with purpose and continuing a size-up. In North Haven, CT, a crew arrived to a fire spreading through the roof of a small ranch-style house. The crew was ordered to stretch a 2½-inch hoseline. The officer conducted a size-up, considering victim survivability. Crews forced the front door and found a victim after taking a closer look under the smoke and deteriorating conditions. This changed the risk vs. benefit analysis, and they were able to aggressively transition from defensive to offensive. This operation is a prime example of tactical excellence
Prioritize Life Safety
Life safety will always be the top priority. In the fire service, it is often required to make nearly perfect decisions based on imperfect information, but it is a gray area. At times, there are situations that there’s no policy for. One example includes arriving as the first engine. You will have obvious rescues and an obvious fire within the same vicinity. Most policies give guidance to make the rescue, but what comes after that? What happens when you commit to the rescue and that initial line is delayed? If you have the staffing and can split the crew, attacking the fire and simultaneously making the rescue is the ideal scenario, but this may not be possible. There’s also the possibility that if you put the fire out, the person needing to be rescued may no longer be in danger.
A second option involves split crews, with a nozzle team going for the fire and a driver using the ladders carried on your engine. This will allow for the rapid removal of victims and the fire to go out. Consider the time of completion of any task if you choose to ladder. If another crew arrives, can they finish the rescue as you pick up your line and get it in place?
Any deviation from your department’s policies will require communication. Strategically, it will affect every unitresponding and change the strategies of the command officers responding. Communication and direction to the next-in engine will need to be relayed over the radio. Your command officers will need to know this, as they may need to redirect units and changes assignments (photo 8).
8. A crew effects a rescue, coordinating with command. (Photo by William Cripps.)
REFERENCES
“Killer in the Attic: Fire Operations in Half-Stories.” Fire Engineering, 1 Dec. 2017, bit.Ly/3ZMun 1X.
NFPA 1403, Standard on Live Fire Training Evolutions. NFPA, 2018, bit.ly/49y7AKE.
Ricci, Frank, and John Twohill. “Training Minutes: Clamp for Door Control.” Fire Engineering, 4 Aug. 2020, bit.ly/3Br4lbk.
Ricci, Frank, and Josh Miller. “Training Minutes: Effective Search Operations.” Fire Engineering, 22 Jul. 2020, bit.ly/4g9c8tg.
MIKE NASTI is a lieutenant with an urban career department in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. Throughout his 17-year career, he has been assigned to the emergency operations command and has been involved in suppression, technical rescue, and hazmat operations. Nasti began his fire service career in 2001 with the Huntingtown (MD) Volunteer Fire Department. Additionally, he is the host and creator of The Tip of the Spear Leadership podcast.
FRANK RICCI is a retired battalion chief, drillmaster, and union president for the New Haven (CT) Fire Department. Ricci is also the author of the leadership book Command Presence and an advisory board member of Fire Engineering and FDIC. He is a current contributor to the Daily Caller. He works as a fellow at Yankee Institute, one of the nation’s oldest think tanks, working on state and national labor issues.
