SOP Manual - Cleveland Fire Department

Cleveland Fire Department
Operations Manual
As a precaution, attack lines should be charged and ready for use during the ventilation of the
building. Crews on the lines should be in safe positions, protected from flying glass, and ready to
enter the building as soon as venting is completed. Likewise, if there is any possibility of a back
draft, apparatus should not be positioned in a direct line with the building, especially if there are
large glass areas at the street level. Once the fire is ventilated, it will burn freely. It can then be
attacked in the same way as any other free-burning fire, although its size might not immediately be
known.
Checking Fire Extension
Exposure protection is second only to rescue. Exposures, structures, or parts of structures not involved with
a working fire but in danger of becoming involved, must be protected to minimize the danger to their
occupants and to contain the fire.
The major contribution of Ladder/Truck Companies to exposure protection activities is to check carefully
and thoroughly for fire spread.
A. Interior Fire Extension
Truck Companies must check interior exposures to determine where the fire is located and to keep
it from spreading to uninvolved areas.
Truck Company personnel must move just as quickly to find spreading fire and, where necessary,
to open up building features to check the extent of the fire and to provide access so Engine crews
can hit it with their streams.
The protection of interior exposures must be a coordinated effort between Ladder/Truck and
Engine Companies. Ladder/Truck crews check for spreading fire, and Engine crews extinguish it.
Ladder/Truck personnel need not wait for lines to be advanced before they begin to check fire
extension. They may be able to get into position much more quickly than those on the lines; if so,
they should begin checking immediately. Engine crews on hand lines might be assigned positions
in the fire building as a result of the efforts of Ladder/Truck crews. If fire is found in a particular
location, lines will be necessary there. If not, the lines can be better used elsewhere.
1. Fire in Concealed Spaces
The opening of concealed spaces and ventilation of involved areas must be done by
Truck Company personnel in exposure protection operations.
2. Vertical Fire Spread
a. Indications
Upon arrival, Ladder/Truck Company personnel should be looking for signs that
fire has gotten into vertical channels within the building.
Effective: June 1, 1997 Revised: 5/14/2009 Page | 211
Approved by: Chief Chuck Atchley