BY TIM THOMPSON
I AM CONFIDENT that the number of storage unit fires is going to increase substantially over the next several years, and our tactics must evolve in the way that we work and respond to these scenes.
In my previous article, “Fires in Storage Units Pose Risk of Victims and Using Code Enforcement to Protect Your Community,”1 I shared my belief that leaders, both fire service and political, are obligated to recognize the severity of homelessness.
- Fires in Storage Unit Facilities Pose Risk of Victims
- Protecting the Community Through Code Enforcement
- The Value of Fire Inspections
- Community Involvement and Outreach for Fire Departments
Homelessness is no longer just a big-city issue. The knowledge of this reality needs to be incorporated into every fire we have, none more so than fires at storage unit facilities. With increasing homeless populations in our communities, you must prepare for the fact that people are using storage facilities for shelter. Our mindsets must change. The tactics you deploy at storage units must include the understanding that a victim could be inside.
And even before the fire happens, you need to prepare. The best way to become familiar with local storage units is to walk the facilities. Preplanning is always a vital step for success.
Preplanning to Assist in Tactical Preparation for Storage Units
The following steps will help you plan ahead so you’re ready when a storage unit fire happens.
1. The Value of Quick Access
Storage unit facilities are typically secured with large metal or chain-link fencing surrounding the perimeter of the property. Most of the time, there is only one way into the property, and a key code is required to enter the site. We have been able to work with individual property owners to get a code placed in their systems for our responses, which saves valuable time when every second counts (photos 1 & 2).
2. Responding Through Narrow Aisleways
Once you’re through the gate, the extremely tight conditions will make maneuvering the apparatus around the facilities especially challenging. These properties generally consume most of the footprint of the available plot of land and have fencing around the perimeter. This adds to the narrowness and difficulty you may associate with responding to these fires (photo 3).
3. The Black Sheep
At storage unit fires, hydrants are not going to be readily available as they are in most commercial areas firefighters respond to. You’ll usually find them at the entrance and spaced sporadically throughout the complex. While most hydrants will be at the end of the aisleways, this is not always the case. You may not always know the reason for the placements, and placement will be different at each unit.
If you’re at a new facility, have the fire marshal follow up with the contractor to assist in mapping out hydrant locations. Our fatality fire was a newer complex, where a hydrant was located halfway down the last aisleway. The hydrant was still coated with black, overdue to be painted per National Fire Protection Association standards for gallons per minute (gpm) (photo 4).
Luckily, our team checked to make sure it flowed water and did not assume it was out of service like a black hydrant normally indicates. The mislabeled hydrant presented a difficult obstacle, and simply finding the hydrant proved challenging on its own. If the complex was surrounded with a black wrought-iron fence, it would camouflage the black hydrant.
4. Distinguishing the Indistinguishable
As you approach, the view can be deceiving, especially with the units all looking the same. You will see seemingly endless rows of units that are all similar in size and shape. Some storage facilities have units on both sides of the same row, while others have units just on one side. The best way to find the fire is to use the command vehicle and make a quick sweep through to see if you can locate the seat of the fire.
Searching for Evidence
Each time you respond to a storage unit, assume someone is inside. Be sure to consider specific indicators of someone inside the unit. Is there a lock on the door? The lack of a lock could be an indication that someone is inside—especially if the door is closed.
Are there water jugs or other impromptu water collecting devices? Do you see extension cords plugged in and running under the doors? Many of the older facilities have plugs outside of the units, which make it easy to get the electricity that people staying in the units need (photos 5-7).
Rapid Considerations for a Storage Unit Fire
Once you navigate through the gate and the maze of aisles and find the location of the fire and a water source, you’ll need to deploy the following tactics right away.
1. Projecting the Fire’s Progression
Where will the fire be once hoselines are in place and operating? You must project the fire’s progression and place hoselines ahead of the extending fire. A miscalculation can lead to the fire spreading past flanking positions, kicking off a game of catchup. Firefighters will never catch up. Instead, they’ll find themselves on an endless chase for the fire.
2. Navigating Narrow Supply Lines
Finding a water supply and hydrant locations can hinder operations. In addition, having a supply line you can bring to the attack pumper can also prove challenging, simply due to the stacking of apparatus in the tight aisleways. If you do not have access to the attack pumper, engine companies will need to team up and hand-stretch a trunk line connected to a wye connector or manifold, supplying two or more handlines that flank the fire. This operation begins with turning an engine around, so the apparatus hosebed is facing the direction of the stretch. Finding a proper water supply takes time, and the fire will quickly spread past firefighters if you miscalculate.
If you identify a means of entry for the apparatus, be sure the subsequent-arriving companies have access. Like mobile-home parks, self-storage complexes present ideal conditions for engine companies to split-lay their own supply lines, dropping their first coupling at the entrance of the complex and laying in to the fire.
In anticipation of a subsequent-arriving company connecting to the supply line at the entrance, and then proceeding to a hydrant outside of the complex to keep the roadway open for other apparatus, personnel must walk behind the apparatus laying a supply line and carefully pull it to the side of the roadway. When roadways are narrow, be careful not to overcommit apparatus inside the complex.
3. Forcing the Doors
Regardless of whether someone is inside the unit, you must open the door. You can force the door by popping the lock and raising the door. Your best bet is to take a few seconds to cut or bust the lock. Open the doors of the adjoining units to look for extensions. This is a critical step as well, as it is imperative to the operational success of the scene.
4. Understanding the Destructive Expansion
Newer units will most likely have a wall that goes all the way to the ceiling to prevent fire spread. But some older units still lack a buffer, and many of the walls are damaged and in a state of disrepair. This causes heat and fire to spread. Don’t expect walls dividing storage units to provide any resistance to fire. In many storage units, the walls between units do not reach the underside of the roof and, for security, chicken wire or other impromptu security measures block the tops of the walls.
5. Gaining Access from Above
When someone opens the door, smoke will continue to fill the unit. To aid in a potential rescue, someone must get onto the roof to completely ventilate the unit. The metal walls and ceiling hold heat like an oven, so the quicker the smoke and heat lift, the better it is for the firefighters. It’s also better for an individual who is inside without the benefit of personal protective equipment.
Most self-storage facilities are classified as Type II: noncombustible construction. Although the structure will not contribute fuel to the fire, it is far from fire resistive. It’s also prone to collapse. Roof decks are typically extremely light gauge metal decks. You can find Type II buildings with plastic skylights. These cannot support the weight of firefighters. These skylights have the same corrugation as the roof deck. You can easily overlook them in the darkness of night. Incident command must use the main access door to aid in the ventilation efforts, as putting someone on the roof is a risk that may prove fatal.
6. Combating the Hoard
Determine if the depth of storage units is equal to the depth of the entire building, as measured from front to rear. Storage units are often so densely packed with contents that firefighters cannot see the back wall. As a result of the clutter, firefighters may be unaware that there are front units accessed by overhead doors and rear units accessed by an interior hallway.
Each of the three storage unit fires we have had in the past few years had wall- to-wall and ceiling-to-floor accumulations of materials, a large percentage of them being highly flammable. Think of a garage or attic: How many items do people cram on shelves or on the floor of typical storage areas? Many people even struggle to park in their garage because of all the items they have stored. Now imagine not having a home and squeezing all of your possessions into a 10-foot x 10-foot storage unit.
You can apply training for managing hoarder homes to handling fires at these facilities. In one of our fires, our crews had to switch out because of the time it took just to reach the rear of the fire unit and find the victim buried under fallen materials. Once the initial crew located the victim, the conditions of the unit forced them to evacuate and have the backup crew go in and pull him out, which took additional time.
Consider the use of distributor and piercing nozzles to flank a fire and to extinguish deep-seated fires in densely packed contents. One department deployed a 2V2-inch Bresnan distributor basement pipe, flowing more than 300 gpm to effectively flank a fire rapidly spreading across the underside of the roof of a self-storage facility. It is important to avoid putting a live load of firefighters on a lightweight roof. Instead, cut a small opening in the roof and insert the distributor while standing on a ground or aerial ladder or from the basket of a tower ladder.
This Can Happen Anywhere
I regret never prioritizing storage unit facilities. Three fires in three separate structures over the past few years, all having occupants inside and one ending in a fatality, have changed my outlook completely. As a chief, I now prioritize tactical plans and preparations for storage unit facilities.
When I started my fire service career in 2005, I never imagined that homelessness, and the subsequent storage unit fires, would be such an issue in my community. I am a firm believer in sharing information to allow other departments to understand issues that are coming to the forefront of our communities. Some may read this and think that it could never happen in their community; others may think that I am behind the times because big cities have dealt with this for years. We are a city of 45,000 people, three stations, and 51 firefighters on the line over three shifts. If it can happen in Georgetown, Kentucky, it can happen anywhere.
ENDNOTE
1. Tompson, Tim. “Fires In Storage Unit Facilities Pose Risk of Victims.” Fire Engineering, March 2024, bit.ly/3N2XEhG.
TIM THOMPSON Is a 19-year veteran of the Georgetown (KY) FIre Department, serving as a firefighter, captain, fire marshal, assistant chief of prevention, and chief. He is a member of the Kentucky Association of Fire Chiefs, where he is a district vice president and chairman of the Health and Safety Committee.
