THE PEAKED ROOF
STRATEGY & TACTICS
Two firefighters carry a roof ladder toward the burning house. Flames are shooting out of the front attic window. Approaching the house, the lead firefighter stops momentarily, lowers the ladder from his shoulder, pushes the spring-loaded hooks on the end of the ladder inward, then turns them at a 45-degree angle until they lock open.
Replacing the ladder on his shoulder, the two firefighters start to climb up another ladder to the roof of the burning building. They slide the roof ladder on the sloping surface of the peaked roof. The hooks are secured over the roofs ridge. Climbing up the roof ladder, they step on the rungs to keep from sliding down the sloping roof. One firefighter carries an axe, the other a pike pole.
“Start water!” a firefighter in the front yard below them yells to the pump operator. The hose stretched into the doorway suddenly jumps off the ground as the water pressure surges through it.
Crash! Crash! Heavy black smoke suddenly flows out of the top-floor windows that a firefighter has broken.
The firefighter with a pickhead axe makes his way across the roof, straddling the roof ridge as he walks, while his partner with the pike pole waits at the ladder. The firefighter stops at a brown heat stain on the roof and starts to pry up the asphalt shingle and roofing paper with the axe. Smoke pours upward between the roof boards as they are exposed.
He carefully takes several steps down the slope of the roof and raises the axe above his head to begin cutting the roof. Suddenly, his right leg plunges through the fire-weakened roof deck. As the firefighter loses his balance, the axe flies out of his hand. He fells backward. His back and head slam into the roof, knocking his helmet off; it rolls down the roof. He’s flat on his back with his head toward the edge of the sloping roof—only his right leg, stuck in the smoking roof hole, keeps him from sliding off the roof. He tries to sit up, but the weight of the mask cylinder on his back makes it impossible.
“Help! Joe! Get me out of here!” he yells to his partner. He feels the heat of the attic fire on his right leg. If he pulls it out of the hole he might roll off the roof. He tries to sit up again. The heat from the burning attic directly below him is being conducted upward through the roof deck, bummg his back. Because his leg is hooked into the roof, he feels pain in his „ twisted knee, and his foot is getting hotter. He tries again to lift himself up out of the hot asphalt shingles; his gloves push down into the hot melted tar. It’s no use. His head slams back down on the roof.
(Photos by Hugh Adams.)
Almost upside down, looking up into the black night sky, he feels something hard hit his chest. He looks up through the smoke and sees his partner standing on the peak of the roof, holding an outstretched pike > pole down toward him. Quickly he grabs onto the metal ends with both hands and is pulled upright. In a crouch, holding onto the hook, he pushes down on the free leg to pull himself up out of the collapsed roof deck hole.
Suddenly, his other leg plunges through the roof. He loses his grip on the pike pole and falls through the burning roof up to his waist.
“Help! Joe!” he cries again. Smoke and heat rise up around him. Holding onto the roof with outstretched arms to keep from completely falling through the roof hole, he feels the deck around him crumbling. His legs move beneath him as he desperately seeks to find an object to step on so he can boost himself up out of the hole. There is nothing. He feels pain in his lower torso from the heat of the fire below.
He feels himself being pulled upward suddenly. His partner, standing above him, has grabbed the backplate frame of his SCBA and is pulling for all he’s worth. Now halfway up out of the roof, he is able to grab onto the roofs ridge. With a last-ditch effort and the help of his partner, he pulls himself up out of the burning hole.
Half crawling, half being dragged, he makes it back to the roof ladder. His partner calls on the handie talkie, “Roof team to command post. We need medical assistance. There is a burned firefighter. There was a roof collapse!”
QUESTION 1: To safely operate on a peaked roof, a firefighter should be familiar with what element (s) of the roof construction?
- The roof rafter system.
- The roof deck below the shingle.
- The slope of the roof.
- The shingle or roof covering.
- All of the above.
QUESTION 2: Which will safeguard a firefighter against a peaked-roof rafter collapse?
- Walking on the roof ridge.
- Walking on the rungs of a roof ladder.
- Walking flat-footed, bending the legs at the knees.
- Operating from an aerial ladder or aerial platform.
ANSWER TO QUESTION 1: The correct answer is E. A firefighter’s size-up should include knowledge of the rafter system, the roof deck, the shingle or walking surface of the roof, and the slope.
ANSWER TO QUESTION 2: The cor rect answer is D. Only operating from an aerial ladder or aerial platform will protect a firefighter if the roof rafters of a peaked roof collapse.
The most dangerous roof on which to operate is a peaked roof. The dangers of such operations have been greatly underestimated. A sloping peaked roof requires a firefighter to perform acrobatic feats of climbing and balancing while simultaneously carrying out urgent firefighting tactics. Most fires in America occur in residential buildings, and most residential buildings have peaked roofs.
There are five types of peaked roofs found on houses throughout the country. A gable roof is the most common. It has two sides sloping up from two bearing walls meeting at the top ridge rafter. A shed roof slopes upward from only one side and is supported by two bearing walls of different heights. A hip roof has four sides sloping up from four bearing walls. A gambrel roof, often found on barns, has two slopes on each of two sides, with the lower slopes steeper than the upper. A mansard roof, named after French architect Frances Mansard, has two slopes on each of four sides. I’he lower slopes are steeper than the upper.
A peaked roof is more dangerous than a flat roof in several ways:
- There is no stairway, fixed ladder, or adjoining building that can provide safe access to a peaked roof—fire department ladders are always needed.
- There is no parapet around the edge of a peaked roof to keep you from walking off or falling off at night.
- The surface of a sloping peaked roof with slate tile or wood shingles is too slippery to walk on when wet, icy, or covered with wet leaves or moss.
- It is built to support less weight than a flat roof because it is designed to shed snow. Peaked roofs sometimes have flimsy 2-inch by 4-inch roof beams, and the roof deck sometimes is furring strips nailed to the joists, two or four inches on center. This type of roof deck serves only to fasten shingles—it will not support the weight of a firefighter.
Despite these dangers, firefighters must operate on peaked roofs to overhaul roof shingle fires, extinguish chimney fires, wet down wood-shingle roofs for protection against nearby exposure fires, and cut roof vent openings. You can follow some safe operating procedures to help prevent you from losing your balance, sliding and rolling off a roof or plunging through a burned-out roof deck, and becoming trapped in a burning attic.
SIZING UP THE DANGERS
Before a firefighter climbs onto a peaked roof to operate during a fire or emergency, he must conduct a roof size-up to evaluate the four common dangers associated with a peaked roof: the roof deck (the layer of wood surface between the supporting roof rafters and the roof shingles), the roof rafter support system, the roof slope, and the roof shingle surface.
Roof deck. A burned-out roof deck is the most common type of peakedroof collapse danger. A firefighter walking on what appears to be a sturdy roof with a new shingle covering can suddenly plunge one leg through a fire-weakened roof deck. Then if he uses the other leg to push himself up out of the hole, he can collapse a nearby area of roof and sink deeper into the crumbling roof. He either will be caught up to his waist or will fall through the roof deck between the rafters and be trapped in the burning attic.
To protect yourself from such a roof-deck collapse, use a portable roof ladder. The safest possible execution is to have a roof ladder long enough so that when the hooks are over the ridge, the base of the ladder reaches to and rests on the bearing wall. Then if the roof deck collapses, a firefighter standing on the rungs of the roof ladder will be safely supported.
Modern building codes require solid roof decks of ½to ¾-inch plywood or tongue-and-groove boards. This type of deck will provide some stability for those operating on a peaked roof during or after a fire. However, if the stability of the roof deck is in doubt, operate from the rungs of a portable roof ladder.
Roof rafter. At some fires the entire roof collapses, not just a portion of the roof deck. The roof rafter, the ridge rafter, the portable roof ladder, and all the firefighters on the roof collapse into the top floor or attic fire. A portable roof ladder, hooked onto the roof ridge and supported by the bearing wall beneath the eaves, will not protect a firefighter when the entire roof rafter system collapses during a fire.
To safely operate on a peaked roof, a firefighter must know the type of roof rafter support system that is holding up the roof. The three most common types of roof rafter systems used to support peaked roofs are timber truss, plank-and-beam, and rafter construction spaced 16 inches on center.
The most dangerous roof rafter system from a collapse standpoint is the truss. If one truss suddenly collapses, a large area or the entire roof may collapse as well. One single timber truss can support one-third of the roof. Firefighters are used to only a small portion of a roof collapsing during a fire—not such a large area of roof deck. When one timber truss collapsed during a Brooklyn supermarket fire in 1978, a 4,000-squarefoot section of roof deck caved in with 12 firefighters on top of it.
A timber truss may be spaced 15 or 20 feet apart. Most of the roof will be unsupported roof deck. Whether a firefighter operating on a peaked roof plunges through a burned-out roof deck and becomes trapped in the fire below depends on the spacing of the roof rafters that support the roof deck. Most of the roof above a truss is unsupported plywood deck or tongue-and-groove one-inch board. If the roof collapses, there is little chance to grab onto a truss or purlin (a longitudinal beam connecting the timber trusses together).
A plank-and-beam system has the next largest area of unsupported roof deck. The safest roof support system on which to operate is a rafter system spaced 16 inches on center. If the roof deck gives way beneath a firefighter, the chances of him becoming hung up or grabbing onto a rafter are good. He then may be able to pull himself back up out of the burning hole in the deck.
A firefighter might ask, “How can I possibly know the type of roof rafter system or roof deck beneath a shingled peak roof?” The answer is that he better know this information. You can find out by studying your local building code, by inspecting buildings during the construction phase, and by examining the roof supports and decks from the underside every time you overhaul an attic or top floor after a fire. If you don’t know what the roof construction of a building is, you’d better not be standing on it during a fire.
If you are responding to a fire and are ordered to operate on a peaked roof above a serious attic blaze and do not know the construction supporting the roof, raise an aerial ladder or aerial platform to the roof and work from the safety of an independently supported ladder. Even if the entire roof suddenly collapses, you will have support. However, if you cannot position the aerial on the roof due to obstructions, if you do not know the type of roof construction, and if you climb up on the peaked roof anyway, you must realize that you risk plunging through a fire-weakened structure into a dark, smoky attic or top floor.
Roof slope. The chances of a firefighter losing his balance and falling off a sloping rooftop are greater than those of a firefighter being injured in a collapse. In roof operations, firefighters are sometimes required to leave the safety of the ladder and walk on the sloping roof surface. On a lowpitch roof (at a 30-degree angle or less from the horizontal) a roof ladder may not be required, as the chance of losing balance due to the slope is not great.
There is, however, a safe method of walking on a sloping roof that all firefighters should know: the flat-footed method. Do not walk using a normal heel—toe foot action. Also, in order to quickly shift your body weight and to compensate for the uneven surface of the roof, bend both legs at the knees. You should not walk straight down the slope of a roof but rather walk across it at an angle.
Walk toward the edge of a roof very carefully. At normal walking pace, the weight of a mask and protective clothing (almost 50 pounds) can increase your forward momentum and prevent you from stopping at the edge of the roof.
Roof slopes of greater than 30 degrees are too steep to walk on. You need a portable roof ladder to move up and down such a sharp slope. If it is absolutely necessary to leave the ladder, walk straddling the ridge. If you trip or lose your balance, grab onto the ridge of the roof—it is your only sure handhold. Do not rely on chimneys, television antennas, and soil pipes. They may collapse under your weight.
Roof shingles. Always size up the surface of the peaked roof before climbing on it. Even if the slope of the roof is low, the surface may be too slippery to walk on.
Slate and tile shingles are more dangerous than asphalt shingles. Slate is extremely slippery when wet. Tile shingles can crack when you walk on them, slide out from under you, and cause you to fall. Even asphalt tile, which has fairly good traction, can become heated by fire and melt, turning into a slick, oily surface.
Wood shingles sometimes develop a fungus or moss near the bottom edge of the roof deck when the house is located near a lake or ocean. Also, avoid any type of shingle surface located directly underneath a large overhanging tree. Sap, leaves, or seedlings dropping from the tree will ‘create a dangerous roof surface. Any type of wet sheet-metal roof will cause a firefighter to lose his balance no matter how gentle the slope of the roof.
Some roofs in northern climates have asphalt shingles, which provide good traction on most of the roof, but at the edge of the roof the asphalt changes to sheet metal. This metal edge prevents the buildup of snow accumulation. At night, unseen by a firefighter walking to the edge of a roof to relay a message to the command post, this sheet-metal edge could be deadly.
OTHER ROOF HAZARDS
Even if the size-up of the peaked roof reveals that the collapse danger, slope, and roof shingles are not great hazards, there are other dangers to a firefighter operating on the roof above a fire.
Climbing from a grou nd ladder to a roof ladder. Firefighters have fallen and been injured when climbing from a ground ladder placed against the side of the building onto a hook ladder placed on top of a peaked roof. This can occur when the ladder placed on the roof has an overhang extending beyond the eave of the roof. If a firefighter transferring his weight from the ground ladder to the roof ladder applies downward pressure near this section of the overhang, he will lift the other end of the ladder off the roof ridge where it is secured. Both the firefighter and the roof ladder will fall to the ground.
To prevent this type of fall injury and to make the transfer from ladder to ladder as safe as possible, the ground ladder should extend four or five feet above the eave of the roof, tools carried should be placed on the roof hooked onto the roof ladder, and the firefighter should hold onto the ground ladder for support as he steps onto the roof ladder. He should place his weight only on a rung of the roof ladder that is resting directly on the roof and avoid stepping on any part of the overhang of the roof ladder.
Roof rotting. A deck below roof shingles may be rotted away from moisture accumulation over the years. Poor roof drainage causes a wood roof deck to rot. In many instances the roof deck is not repaired—only a new shingle covering is placed over the rotted and decayed roof boards, concealing the danger.
If a firefighter walks on a section of roof that has seriously rotted and decayed and it suddenly collapses in a small area, the firefighter may trip or fall down the sloping peaked roof and roll off the roof edge to the ground below. Firefighters must know the danger points on a sloping roof where deck rotting often occurs and avoid walking near them whenever possible. They are found near the edge of the roof, where the roof changes slope, and where a sloping roof abuts a vertical plane such as an additional story or a parapet separating row houses.
Skylights. Flat, low-profile glass skylights are installed in many older private dwellings. During a smoky fire or at night in the dark, firefighters may not see these skylights, may step on them, and may crash through the glass opening and fall into a top-floor fire. When a skylight is installed, the roof beams are cut away, creating a large opening in the roof through which a firefighter could fall.
Walk near the roof ridge for protection—a skylight will be located several feet down from the ridge of a sloping roof. If your vision is obscured by smoke or darkness, crawl on your hands and knees along the ridge, feeling for shingles in front of you. Never walk blindly on top of any roof.
Scuttle covers. Some peaked roofs have square or rectangular scuttle covers (hatch openings). They enclose access openings and ladders that provide access to the roof from the top floor of the house. Firefighters should be careful not to step on them. The cover could collapse and the firefighter could fall through.
Scuttle covers are not designed to support the weight of a firefighter. Unlike the rest of the roof, there are no roof rafters below them. Treat them as you would a skylight. In fact, some scuttle covers are actually old skylights that were covered instead of fixed when they leaked or broke. Sometimes the material used to cover the skylight is roofing paper or thin wood and shingles. The owner may reason that sincVfhe original skylight was not designed to support the weight of a person walking on the roof, the replacement cover does not need reinforcing. Stepping on a roof scuttle cover is an unsafe act that could lead to disaster.
Disorientation. It is easier to become disoriented and lost on a smoky roof than in a smoke-filled room. “How could that be?” you might ask. There are fewer guides on a large open roof to help firefighters reorient themselves. For example, on a roof there is no hoseline to follow back to safety; there are no partition walls to touch or brush against to maintain a sense of direction.
On a smoky roof, unlike the smoky rooms below, the firefighter often is working alone. There are no voices of other firefighters to lead him in the direction of safety.
A disoriented firefighter on a peaked roof is exposed to many dangers: the roof edge, skylight, scuttle opening, roof vent opening just cut in the roof and, most of all, slope of the roof. If you are on a peaked roof, momentarily blinded by smoke or darkness, and there is no immediate danger, remain in place and don’t move. The wind that brings the enveloping cloud of smoke often changes direction and clears the smoke.
If there is a danger and evacuation is necessary, get down on your hands and knees, carefully feeling the roof deck, and crawl up to the ridge of the roof. At this point, cross over to the other side of the ridge. Chances are the smoke will not be severe on the other side of the sloping roof and visibility will be better.
If the smoke is still obscuring your vision, straddle the roof ridge and carefully crawl to the edge of the roof to signal for help. When blinded by smoke on a peaked roof, never crawl downward on the sloping surface. Stay at the roof ridge, straddling the highest point.
Fire cuts off escape. When the fire size-up indicates that roof venting can be safely carried out on a large private house, place the portable ground ladder and roof ladder at the opposite end of the roof from where cutting is to take place. A firefighter can then climb up to the roof ridge, where the roof is most stable, and walk to the other end of the roof along the ridge to the area above the fire.
You can make the roof cut for venting while straddling the ridge rafter. However, during operations on a peaked roof above a fire, you should continually be aware of the path of escape back to the ladder. Never allow flames or smoke billowing out of a roof vent opening to cut off your escape route. Realize that immediately after you cut a roof vent opening, it is possible for flame heat and smoke exploding out of the opening to block your path to the roof ladder and even reduce your visibility so you cannot see the ladder. Thus when venting a roof above a serious fire, just before completion of the vent opening position yourself between the escape ladder and the opening.
Ladder placement. Standard operating procedure that requires firefighters to climb up on a peaked roof to extinguish, ventilate, or overhaul fires should also provide members with an aerial ladder or aerial platform to work safely. An aerial platform or ladder provides the safest and most efficient method of getting to the top of a peaked roof.
Training firefighters in the safest techniques of walking and using ladders on peaked roofs will only protect them from some of the roof dangers, mainly falling and a local roof-deck collapse. But it will not protect against a roof rafter collapse.
When the entire roof collapses, the rafters, roof deck, and shingles cave in to the top floor fire. Any firefighter walking at the ridge or supported by a roof ladder will tumble into the topfloor fire. This type of peaked-roof collapse has occurred, and an aerial ladder or aerial platform is the only means of protection. A firefighter venting a roof while standing on the rungs of an aerial ladder or the basket floor of an aerial platform is independently supported by the truck parked in the street or yard below. The entire roof can suddenly collapse and the aerial platform or aerial ladder will support the firefighter.*
