Tactical Considerations for Basement Fires, Part 2

By Jerry Knapp, Rockland County Fire Training Center

Basement fires are especially dangerous because often we are forced to work above the fire, a very bad place to be. One of the key tactical points noted was to get water on the fire quickly. A blinding flash of the obvious here … fires burn up much faster than sideways or down.

The first floor is the most immediate exposure and that may be where the victims are and where you may be operating. If it is a balloon frame home, the entire house above the basement is exposed. Expect fast-moving fire up the exterior walls that can break out on all floors and certainly in the attic and behind knee walls.

Another key tactical point is to fight the fire on its level if possible. That means the best option is to get water into the basement windows from the outside or if there is a walk-out exterior door use it to get water on the fire. This means the worst option is trying to push down the interior stairs and should be used only if no other option exists.

Knocking down the fire before we enter is always a good idea. Water on or even near the fire will take temperatures down below flashover transitional temperatures of around 1,100 degrees. At about this temperature, the CO2 in the smoke is chemically broken down into CO molecules that are flammable and help drive the flashover. CO2 helps create the slow rollover before we see the rapid flames of flashover. Better that this happens if you and your crew are not down there to experience it. Prevent flashover with water application.

In multiple live burns done by Underwriters Laboratory, they proved that water did not even have to be directly applied to the burning fuel to cool basement temperatures to below flashover levels. See FSRI: Understanding and Fighting Basement Fires for more great free info and training. It could save your life.

A really great way to get water, and lots of it, on a basement fire is to use a Bresnan, or cellar nozzle. If you can’t get water on the fire because there are no windows or walk-out door(s), try this.

Cut a hole in the floor about 1 foot by 1 foot and drop in a Bresnan. It throws water far and wide, about 500 gpm (100 psi) from a 2.5-inch line. A 1.5-inch Bresnan will discharge 140 gpm at 100 psi. What is really impressive is the 2.5 will fling water in a 36-foot circle or 18 feet from the nozzle. The 1.5 flings water 20-foot diameter, 10 feet from the nozzle.

To keep members safe, drop a ladder across the floor where you are operating to distribute the load in case the floor is getting weak under the fire load. If you know the building is lightweight construction, be especially careful working on weakened structural members. In fact, you probably should not even be on it. The building did not just land from Mars an hour before the fire.

There is no reason you should not know that it is not safe to operate above if there is fire below. Plunging into hell with no way out is never fun, so through the door and through the floor is not the place to be.

Jerry Knapp is a 40-year veteran Firefighter/EMT with the West Haverstraw, New York, Fire Department and is a training officer at the Rockland County Fire Training Center in Pomona, New York. He is the Chief of the Rockland County Hazmat Team, a former nationally-certified paramedic and author of the Fire Attack chapter in the FF1-2 manual published by Fire Engineer and author of numerous articles on house fires. Battalion Chief Knapp is the author of the tactical and scenario-based reference book titled, House Fires. He is on the technical panel for the latest UL Study on Fire Attack at House Fires. He recently retired from the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, as the Plans Officer, Directorate of Emergency Services.