By Frank C. Montagna
The truck lieutenant led his team into the smoke-filled second floor bedroom. His forcible entry (FE) man searched right as the lieutenant searched left. The can man played his 21/2-gallon water extinguisher onto the burning bed, quickly knocking down the fire. He then ran his gloved hand over the surface of the mattress and swept his leg underneath the bed, relieved not to find a victim.
The officer called out to his FE man. “John” he said. “Over here,” John replied. Just then, another firefighter vented the bedroom window from the exterior. A few seconds later, the entire room was engulfed in flame. The officer grabbed the can man and dove for the door, which was just a few feet away. John dove out the now-broken window onto the roof of the first floor porch. No one was hurt.
Why Did the Room Light Up?
The mattress was a made of foam rubber. The water from the extinguisher had cooled down the mattress enough to stop flaming combustion, but the mattress was still hot and giving off flammable vapors as the heat broke down the foam. When the window was vented, these flammable vapors mixed with oxygen as the smoke rushed out and fresh air rushed in. A spark in the room ignited this flammable mixture of gases. Luckily, the firefighters were close to a means of egress and escaped injury. Their PPE protected them for the few seconds they needed to escape.
How Should a Mattress Fire Be Handled
The can man should use his whole can to extinguish the fire and to cool down the mattress. This might stop or slow the generation of the flammable gases, if it is a foam mattress. A hoseline should be stretched and charged, even if you think you can get the fire with the can. It should be used to thoroughly cool the mattress. The window should not be vented until there is a charged line in place and operating on the mattress. If the officer wants the window taken sooner, he can request it via radio.
For a stuffed mattress, use the line to wet down the interior after the mattress is cut open. Moving these mattresses creates a billows effect inside and, as a result, the smoldering fire inside can burst into flames as it is manhandled toward the window or door. Truckies should first cut the mattress open and allow the engine to wet down the interior of the mattress before attempting to remove it from the building. The engine, however, must not use too much water because it makes the mattress heavy and difficult to handle.
Mattress fires may be one of our “routine responses,” but if they’re not handled properly, they can give us trouble and even cause injury to unsuspecting firefighters. Paying attention to basics will help keep you safe. Don’t forget to make sure that you look out the window before tossing the mattress out, and post a guard to keep firefighters, civilians, and especially the chief out of the path of the falling mattress.
Frank C. Montagna, a 32-year veteran of the fire service, is a battalion chief with the Fire Department of New York. He has been an instructor at the FDNY Probationary Firefighters School, the officer in command of the FDNY Chauffeur Training School, and an adjunct lecturer at John Jay College in New York City. He is a member of the FDNY Chief’s Association and is the author of Responding to Routine Emergencies (Fire Engineering, 1999). Montagna has a bachelor’s degree in fire science and lectures on firefighting-related topics.
