MOBILE HOME FIRES
STRATEGY & TACTICS
Small residences can account for large life-safety problems.
A MOBILE HOME burning in the middle of a trailer park can become a major problem in terms of exposure protection and, more importantly, life safety concerns for the firefighter. The hazards and obstacles in mobile home fires can be placed into two categories: those of the fire itself and those associated with the configuration of most trailer parks.
Because of the national shift in population to the Sun Belt and the search for affordable housing, mobile and prefabricated homes have become one of the fastest-growing segments of the housing industry. Mobile home parks have been known to spring up within a matter of months. A fire department that’s unfamiliar with them may suddenly find itself with one in its district. It is for the benefit of those departments that we review the reasons why a trailer fire may end up being more than anyone bargained for.
Mobile and prefab homes are fast, intense burners. Their typically lightweight structural members and thin ceiling and wall coverings provide the surface area for rapid fire spread. Twoby-two-inch interior studs are the norm; cheap, thin plywood paneling, common in many interiors, will quickly delaminate, spread flame, and contribute to early flashover conditions. Also, many modern mobile homes are tight, wellinsulated, energy-efficient structures; this provides confinement, which can drastically reduce the time for a fire to reach flashover.
All photos by Metro-Dade County Fire Department.
Most inexpensive mobile homes use particleboard floors that will fall apart from a water leak, not to mention fire conditions. This means there is the added danger of a floor giving way under the weight of a firefighter trying to gain access to the fire.
The thin aluminum skin of a trailer, though noncombustible, provides negligible fire resistance. It does, however, melt readily, and in doing so will regain molten drops of aluminum that easily burn through our modern synthetic hose jackets. Molten aluminum and jagged metal surfaces can cause painful and disabling injuries to firefighters, even those wearing the best of protective clothing. Aluminum siding also conducts electricity.
MOBILE HOME FIRES
Expect liquid petroleum gas cylinders, commonly used for heating and cooking in mobile homes, to present a BLEVE hazard. These warrant priority exposure protection. My company is finding a frightening new practice in our poorer trailer parks: the storage and use of up to 100-pound LPG cylinders inside of trailers to prevent theft. (See Fire Engineering, August 1988, “BLEVE: The Propane Cylinder.”)
Getting an 8-foot-wide apparatus down a narrow drive in a trailer park can be a real nightmare, especially when maneuvering around corners and parked cars. The narrow drives, extremely close spacing of lots, and inadequate water supply of most trailer parks would never be permitted with conventional structures under building and zoning laws of most communities.
Most trailer park layouts are confusing, like little cities unto themselves. It can be very difficult to find the right lot even with a map. The narrow drives between trailers can make it difficult to pull transversely mounted hose off the sides of pumpers.
Electrical service is usually provided by cable at floor level from a nearby pole that feeds a cluster of lots. An intense fire will often burn off the service entrance cable or overhead wires and, like a snake in the grass, lay there, ready to inflict harm on firefighters who tread too closely. The electrical service of most parks is easy pickings for thieves of electric power. We often have to deal with the hazards associated with such theft (for instance, ‘jumped’ meters and services joined or bypassed with extension cords) at parks with a transient clientele.
Of all the problems that trailer parks can pose, the most significant is the serious lack of separation between units. The only consolation of having two or three trailers involved when you arrive is that you probably won’t have much trouble finding the lot, no matter how confusing the park layout.
How do you deal with the fire problem if and when you “inherit” a trailer park in your district? The keys are familiarity through prefire planning and awareness of the hazards of mobile home firefighting. Here are some lessons that we have learned over the years which may improve your safety and efficiency:
I. Before the fire
When a trailer park or development of manufactured homes is planned for your community, get involved in the review process for the plans. If the fire department doesn’t voice its concerns over lot spacing, street width, and water supply, it is doubtful that anyone else will. A mobile home community doesn’t have to be a firefighter’s nightmare. There are many nice developments which reflect their planner’s concern for fire protection.
Get out, preplan, and map the trailer parks in your district:
- Are there parks that are notorious for narrow drives jammed with parked cars?
- If the residents are using LPG, is it from individual cylinders or piped to each lot from a large central tank?
- Check and note water-supply considerations.
MOBILE HOME FIRES
II. On arrival
If no hydrants are available inside the park, consider the option of the first-in engine dropping a Siamese and laying a supply line in from the entrance gate. It may be faster and easier for later-arriving companies to connect to the Siamese and pump the supply line from a hydrant or tanker positioned on the main road.
If the first-arriving unit is a large tanker or aerial apparatus, you had better think twice before entering a trailer park that you aren’t familiar with. Your apparatus may end up being jammed in a narrow drive and blocking smaller, later-arriving units from reaching the fire.
Regardless of the size of your apparatus, it’s a good idea to send someone to run ahead and check for clearance. It can be unnerving to turn a corner and find that awnings or parked cars have made the drive ahead impassable.
Stick to the wider and less congested main drives. It is usually faster to stop the apparatus on the main drive and hand-stretch extra hose to reach a remote lot than it is to creep along on a narrow drive at a snail’s pace to get within preconnect range. I would also be very careful about spotting the apparatus close to the fire — it may become another exposure in the path of fire dancing from trailer to trailer.
III. Firefighting
Expect bottled gas. Assign someone to circle the trailer(s) to locate, check fire exposures, and shut off LPG cylinders, if possible.
Use at least a 1 ‘/2-inch hoseline. A trailer’s insulated construction, lightweight finishing, and combustible furnishings can change a light smoke condition to flashover just as you’re gaining entrance with your booster line.
Tread lightly. A particleboard floor will fail from fire or firefighting water. Ihe practice of probing ahead of yourself with a t(X)l is a good idea, especially when darkness, smoke, or carpeting conceals the weak floor ahead. Shift weight to your forward foot only when stability is assured.
Wear full protective clothing and SCBA. This should be mandatory at all fires, but a mobile home could be an unprotected firefighter’s last fire. Watch out for:
- exploding LPG cylinders
- dripping, molten aluminum
- jagged metal
- sudden, early flashover
- plastic foam insulation present in wall cavities, making SCBA a must during overhaul.
Mobile home fires must not be taken lightly—there are too many things that can go wrong. Good prefire planning, hazard awareness, and regular drills can make the difference between a “good stop” and a dangerous, deteriorating situation.
