By Michael N. Ciampo
With the holiday season approaching, if you have any buildings in your response area with a compactor, there’s a good chance you will respond to a fire in one of them. Over the years, while responding to these fires, we’ve had everything from a small smoldering rubbish fire to a multiple-alarm fire eruption. In addition, there have been many surprises that have arisen from responding to a “simple” fire in the compactor. So having knowledge of the building’s and compactor’s characteristics can help you better prepare for your next compactor fire.
Responding to a call of smoke on numerous floors of a six-story multiple dwelling, we wondered if it was for food or rubbish or was even a job. Arriving with nothing showing, we entered the lobby and had a strong odor of paper and rubbish burning. Since the building was built into a hill, the lobby was just a vestibule. We had to walk up a short flight of stairs to the first floor to locate our first set of apartment and compactor chute doors. In this building, the chute’s doors were in the public hallway surrounded by ceramic tiles that ran from floor to ceiling (in some instances, they may be in a closet or trash vestibule on each floor).
Standing to the side of the chute’s pull-down hatch door for protection from escaping flames or refuse escaping from the opening, a firefighter opened it slowly and shined his flashlight into the chute, checking to see if the fire was down in the compactor room. Normally, if you open up the first available chute door above the basement, you will see the flames in the compactor unit below or smoke conditions rising from it. If that was the case, the forcible entry team would have made its way to the basement for access to the compactor unit and to see if the fire had extended out of the unit and into the room itself. These rooms can be all sizes, and additional items may be stored in them as well as numerous plastic bags of compacted rubbish. Plus, there have been many instances in which the fire has escaped from the unit—melting the pressurized hydraulic lines that run the compactor—and caused the escaping fluid to burn.
One of our first priorities should be to shut down the power to the unit. If the fire was in the actual room and out of the unit, the initial hoseline should be stretched to the compactor room itself. An additional hoseline could be stretched to the first available chute door above to flood the unit if necessary. Although many of these units and chutes are protected by sprinklers, the sprinklers have proven to be ineffective if the rubbish has blocked off their pathway to the fire or if they’ve been shut off.
As we proceeded up the stairs, a member reported that the compactor and room were clear. Meanwhile, we stopped at each floor, searching for the odor, and opened up the chute doors to check for any fire. If we had opened the chute doors and smoke had come out, it would indicate that the blockage and possibly fire were above us. Plus, if any smoke was present on the floor or a significant draft was being pulled back into the chute as we opened the door, it would indicate that the blockage was below us.
As we got to the third floor, the odor began to get heavier. The roof firefighter reported he had flames issuing from the chute (this particular chute was constructed through the roof, with an access hatch at the top). After checking this floor and still finding nothing, we made our way out of the stairway onto the fourth floor and found a solid blockage inside the chute but no fire. Quickly proceeding to the fifth floor, we saw fire coming out of the chute door, which was wedged open with a piece of furniture. Luckily, we were able to get close enough to the chute and break the piece of furniture apart with a hook and close the chute door until the hoseline arrived. Closing this door would prevent any extension of fire into the public hallway. Be aware that if graffiti-resistant paint was used on the walls, fire could erupt and spread violently when exposed to flames.
While waiting for the hoseline that was being stretched, we also went to the top floor and were surprised by what we found there: The fire was escaping from around the seams of the chute’s door. In addition, the ceramic tiles were peeling off the wall from the heat, exposing the drywall behind them. Right then a bell went off that this building was rehabbed and the compactor chute was installed during renovations. We punched an inspection hole in the wall and saw that the fire was escaping from the chute’s seams and extending into this void and into the cockloft.
We quickly gained access into the adjoining apartment next to the chute. There, in the kitchen, another piece of the puzzle came together: The old dumbwaiter shaft, whose door had melting paint dripping from it, also housed the compactor chute. We made an inspection hole in the ceiling where the two met. Immediately, orange embers began to shower down on us, and we quickly called for a hoseline.
Luckily, the chief ordered a line to be stretched to the fifth floor for the chute fire, a second line to the floor above, and a third line to the roof because of the initial reports from the roof. Luckily for us, we were able to get ahead of the fire and stop it before it engulfed the entire cockloft—a very nice gift for a holiday evening.
MICHAEL N. CIAMPO is a 26-year veteran of the fire service and a lieutenant in the Fire Department of New York. Previously, he served with the District of Columbia Fire Department. He has a bachelor’s degree in fire science from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. He is the lead instructor for the FDIC Truck Essentials H.O.T. program. He wrote the Ladder chapter and co-authored the Ventilation chapter for Fire Engineering’s Handbook for Firefighter I and II (Fire Engineering, 2009) and is featured in “Training Minutes” truck company videos on www.FireEngineering.com.
