BY ALBERT (ALBE) BASSETT
Your engine company arrives first on scene to an occupied two-story residential dwelling fire at 0200 hours. As you read the smoke, you assess that this fire is most likely in the basement. The smoke is gray to dark gray in color and is coming from every opening. It seems to be laminar but is starting to push.
You assume formal command on the A side, assign your engine crew to place a hoseline to protect the interior means of egress, and stop extension up the stairs from the basement. You then assign the ladder company to perform the search.
The lack of interior visibility severely hampers the engine crew’s progress. Members are disoriented and turned around! Their radio transmission states, “We are having trouble locating the basement.” You see them on the B side clearing the family room window and then a flash of fire out the window on the D side. How could the firefighters have been more efficient with their line placement?
I call it mapping the layout, or “mapping.” Mapping is a small part of my overall size-up, tying together a few individual points. Mapping is seeing or drawing a mental picture and painting a picture of how the occupancy is laid out or, more specifically, its floor plan. This by no means replaces any of the size-up factors we use. Nor does mapping replace company preincident surveys. It just ties the building construction, occupancy, fire location, and life safety concerns together to more efficiently stabilize the incident.
Including good mapping with size-up can reduce the time it takes to place hoselines in key areas to either confine or extinguish the fire. In turn, it will reduce the life safety concerns in exposure areas. Mapping can also direct you to the areas that occupants will most likely be or to where they will most likely take refuge. For example, bedroom areas will be quickly identified for primary search operations. Mapping can also assist with firefighter safety and survival or rapid intervention decisions such as breaching walls into the other areas of the apartment or house vs. another apartment or to the outside of the home. Using these skills together will also allow the firefighter to find that safe haven if the fire develops rapidly, within seconds. Every firefighter performs size-up, and mapping is a crucial addition to that predetermined tactical assignment to bring the situation under control.
Mapping can start as soon as the dispatch address is given. Many neighborhoods have the same style or very similar houses. Knowing the types of homes when dispatched to a reported garage fire in an area that primarily has raised ranch houses, you can start to assume that there is a living area over and next to that garage. Along with starting the mental process of what necessary tactics may have to be accomplished, mapping will assist in determining the locations for them. Obviously, the true situation will not be confirmed until arrival.
Once you arrive, to perform mapping effectively, you will be looking for a few different characteristics during your onscene building and occupancy size-up. If it is a single-family dwelling, is there a style to it? If it is a multifamily dwelling, are there characteristics that set this building apart from others? For the most part, types and styles of homes will have common layouts.
RANCH
The front door opens close to the center of the house, usually into a living room or dining area; typically, the kitchen is just beyond one of them. The bedrooms are on the opposite side of the service or living areas. Interior basement access is from a door in the hallway between the service and sleeping areas. The bathroom is normally in this corridor as well.
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| (1) Ranch. (Photos by author unless otherwise noted.) |
| Figure 1. Ranch Floor Plan |
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RAISED RANCH
This type of house is a twostory structure. The front entry door is in the middle of the first and second floor. The door opens to a small halflanding on the Ureturn type of stairs. At the top of the stairs, on either side, there is a large open area, which is the living/family room; the kitchen is straight ahead. The sleeping areas is down the hallway on the opposite side.
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| (2) Raised ranch. |
The lower level, at the bottom of the stairs, could have many arrangements. There can be a family room, a child’s playroom, or another sleeping area. The garage and utility rooms can also be accessed from this level and are opposite the living area.
SPLIT RANCH
This is also a twostory structure, but there are some hidden dangers within. Commonly, the front door is on a small stoop a few steps up. This accesses a living room. The kitchen/dining area is directly behind the living room. Either to the left or right are stairs that go up four or five steps and a set of stairs that goes four or five steps down. At the top of the steps is a small common area that gives access to two or three bedrooms and a common bathroom. There may also be a linen closet on this level that may contain the attic access, or the attic access may be above the service area or hallway.
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| (3) Split ranch. |
At the bottom of the steps, the use of the room will vary. It could include a family room, a playroom, or another sleeping area. This area would access the garage if it has one. An exit to the rear of the house is common in these lower levels.
The lower area could also have a set of four of five stairs into a basement that is under the service area of the house. This area may be used as a computer, laundry, or utility area.
COLONIAL
This is a true twostory structure. Many times these houses also have basements and thirdfloor access. The front door opens into a foyer. The stairs to the second floor are in sight. The first floor contains all the service areas. The layout includes a combination of living/family room, dining area, kitchen, and bathroom. The actual locations vary based on the orientation of the house on the property. There is garage access if there is an attached garage. There is also a rear door to the yard off the backside. Typically, basement access is behind and under the stairs leading to the second floor.
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| (4) Colonial. |
| Figure 2. Colonial Floor Plan (First Floor) |
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| Figure 3. Colonial Floor Plan (Second Floor) |
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At the top of the stairs on the second floor are three to four bedrooms accessed from either the left or the right of the stairs. One bathroom is in the hallway; a second is possible. The second bathroom can be off one of the bedrooms. If there is an occupied third floor, the access stairs may be in the hallway or accessed from what would be a closet in a bedroom.
CAPE
A cape is a twostory structure; we refer to it as one and a half stories because the second floor seems to be the attic area. The second floor is more obvious if there are dormers. The front door opens into the living room. The stairs to the second floor are directly across from the door. The open front door can hide the possible entrance to a room on the right or left. The kitchen area is behind the living room. On the opposite side of the kitchen may be one or two bedrooms and a bathroom. There may also be a dining area.
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| (5) Cape. |
The top of the stairs has a bedroom to the left and right. If the home has a second bathroom, it is usually directly across from the top of the stairs.
| Figure 4. Cape Floor Plan |
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BUNGALOW
The bungalow is often in coastal and lakefront communities. These small structures can be one or two stories and are placed on small parcels of land. The front door is usually on the narrow wall and accesses the street. The onestory bungalows have a foyer and a living room; the kitchen is just beyond that, to one side. Bedrooms are on the other side of the foyer. However, all of the bedrooms may not be accessed from the front. Many times, there is a small hallway off the kitchen to access the rear bedrooms. The basement access can vary, but many times access is from the kitchen area.
| Figure 5. Bungalow Floor Plan |
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The twostory bungalow is oriented the same on a parcel of land. The front door accesses a living room; the kitchen is to the rear. Many times, the floor plan is open. The stair access to the second floor usually is on the side walls with a Ureturn type of staircase. At the top of the stairs are a bathroom and a bedroom to both sides.
QUEEN ANNE
Queen Anne and Victorian style houses are usually older type structures and many times vary greatly in layout. Many of these structures in urban areas have been renovated into multifamily dwellings.
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| (6) A duplex. |
The front door opens up to a foyer and a staircase. The types of rooms off the foyer vary according to the needs of the occupants. These rooms can be isolated individually by doors, but many times they are left open between rooms. Pocket doors are used frequently, making it difficult to close or search a room quickly.
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| (7) Rear sliding doors and raised sills indicate the kitchen area. (Photo by Anthony DeLucia, FirstDueFirePhotos.) |
The second floor, and many times the third floor, contains bedrooms that vary in size and shape. Bathrooms are on these floors and possibly the first. These houses tend to have a second smaller staircase in the rear of the structure near a kitchen or a family room. The third floor stairs may be hidden and might look like a closet door.
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| (8) A side view indicates the staircase midlevel window, the raised sill identifying the kitchen, and the basement windows. |
Basement access is from under one of the staircases. You will not be able to confirm under which staircase the basement stairs are under until the interior has been assessed. Also remember the potential of fire spread because of balloon construction.
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| (9) Bedroom windows are raised up from the floor, making it difficult to identify them during a search operation. |
Once I have identified the style of the home or if it does not fit one of these styles, I begin to look at the building features such as doors, windows, and exterior staircases. These indicators need to be evaluated together as you size up the structure.
Entry doors will help you determine if the structure is multifamily. How many doors are accessible to the exterior? Singlefamily residences usually have only one door on two or three sides of the building that access different areas.
Multiple doors on one side make me think about apartments in which the original living areas were made smaller. Two doors next to each other is an indicator of a twofamily house, called a “duplex.” Exterior solid doors vs. glass sliding doors on upper floors onto decks or stair landings indicate apartments.
Any of these doors will lead into a functional/common type area such as a family room, hallway, or kitchen. Solid swinging doors do not open into bedroom areas.
Glass sliding doors usually indicate an entrance to a family room or kitchen area associated with the front entry door directly on the other side. This would lead me to believe that the entire floor is the same apartment. An entry door a grade level below the window line along a driveway or a metal clamshell door in the rear indicates access to a belowgrade level.
Window types and locations can identify certain rooms in the structure and functional areas such as the kitchen, family room, or bathrooms and will allow you to identify the sleeping areas on the opposite side. A small window, usually narrower than the other windows, identifies the bathroom. Many of these windows are frosted. Bathrooms on a second floor of a structure are commonly in the center of the layout and have bedrooms on both sides. Firstfloor bathrooms are often attached to the kitchen.
Windowsills that are noticeably higher than the other windows identify the kitchen. This windowsill is higher to allow for the countertop to be at a comfortable working height. This is often a bay window in the rear of the structure.
Large picture or bay windows in the front identify a living or family room. Rooms off the rear or a side with many windows frequently are family rooms, playrooms, or home office work areas. They will lead into the kitchen area.
Offset windows or a decorative stained glass window on the side of the structure indicates the location of the interior staircase. Also, groundlevel windows indicate the structure has a belowgrade level.
I get a bit nervous in one area of my city. The builder, many years ago, used tophinged projected windows in all of the bedrooms. These windows are five feet off the floor. A firefighter or an occupant would have a difficult time trying to identify the locations of these windows in fire conditions. Mapping and identifying these bedrooms may prevent a tragedy.
Exterior staircases will assist in confirming a multifamily structure. Staircases to decks are designed usually for recreational purposes. Even in a twofamily structure, there are two rear decks, one for each living unit. If only one is present, it should lead you to believe that the entire floor is the same apartment.
Staircases with just small landings at swinging entry doors indicate either an entrance to a smaller apartment or a secondary means of egress from the unit. Many times a staircase to a thirdfloor door is the main point of access to an apartment. Metal fire escapes confirm a multifamily occupancy. Fire escapes can commonly access bedrooms or even a hallway to multiple apartments. Fire escapes can also help account for the number of apartments on each floor. A fire escape on one side accesses two apartments on the floor. Two fire escapes on either end will likely indicate four apartments with a centerhall stairwell.
MAP LAYOUT FOR SUCCESS
Now, let us tie the building features together to map the layout for success in accomplishing firefighting assignments.
Your company arrives at a threestory woodframe structure. There are two entry doors in the center of the A side. Both doors have large picture windows to the sides of them. The secondfloor windows on the A side are all double hung. The third floor is just a dormer with a doublehung window. As you perform your 360° walkaround, you see gradelevel windows and find a common wood deck on the C side with slidingglass doors and a raisedup windowsill. As you look up, there are two noticeably smaller windows in the center sidebyside and a doublehung window closer to each corner. Finally, you notice an exterior staircase to a single entry door on the top floor.
This structure is identified as a multifamily dwelling that includes a sidebyside duplex and a thirdfloor apartment. The first floor is a family room up front; the kitchen is in the rear. The access stairs to the secondfloor bedrooms are directly behind the front door on the common wall between the units. Knowing there is a belowgrade area and not noticing any exterior basement doors, start to think that the basement stairs are under the stairs to the second floor. The thirdfloor apartment probably would only be accessed using the exterior staircase.
Mapping will not assist with identification in some structures. As always, a large residential structure can be remolded into a multifamily home with four, six, or even eight singleroom units, and there will be no logical layout. Any economically built garden apartment/townhouse with the same size and style windows all around the building will also pose difficulties. These structures many times use the interior common walls to run utilities, and the kitchens and bathrooms do not have exterior views. The modern or contemporary residential structures are laid out based on the architect’s desire.
Mapping techniques can be perfected, and confirmation of the various layouts can be determined by formal preincident/company surveys, responses to alarms, or even emergency medical runs. Just take a minute to look at and evaluate the layout after the incident has been stabilized.
By using skills such as mapping, company officers and firefighters can perform their assigned duties more effectively, efficiently, and safely. The incident can be stabilized more quickly, preventing additional property loss and possibly reducing the impact for our citizens.
● ALBERT (ALBE) BASSETT, a 17year veteran of the fire service, is a captain with the Norwalk (CT) Fire Department, where he is assigned to Truck Company 2. He previously was assigned as a lieutenant and a firefighter on an engine and the rescue company. He has proboard certifications as fire officer 3 and fire service instructor 2. He has a B.S. in fire administration from the University of New Haven and is an adjunct instructor with the Connecticut Fire Academy, teaching in the firefighter recruit, fire officer, rescue, and hazmat technician programs.
