The Burn Trailer

Sultan Fire Department, Snohomish County Dist. 5 As part of our weekly training we have the opportunity, a couple times a year, to use a converted semi-trailer for fire suppression practice. It is a very effective tool in demonstrating what it can be like entering a burning structure. As we train we discover the difficulties and challenges in making entrance, working in low to no visibility, supporting each other, communication and safely exiting. Oh yeah, and did I mention the heat? For those of us who do not get the opportunity to fight live fires very often the trailer is a valuable experience. My team of three stands atop the trailer, in front of us is a large black metal door, its surface steaming as the heat from the internal fire turns water to steam. Smoke escapes and billows around the edges. We are running a scenario simulating a basement fire. We will be descending a flight of stairs to find and extinguish a fire. This is a very dangerous scenario as we will be entering into the fire from above, essentially the ceiling, where all the smoke and superheated gasses go in a fire. The plan is for us to first descend the flight of stairs through the layer of heat and gasses, regroup at the base, asses the situation and then extinguish the fire. I will man the nozzle, the second person will guide and support me and the third will feed and control the hose. I test the hose; opening the gate to release any air trapped in the hose and to assure the nozzle is set to spray the water in a very wide pattern of heavy mist, called a fog pattern. Chief opens the door and we step into the wall of heat descending the stairs into the darkness. A faint orange glow can be seen from the back of the structure. Fire! The first few steps are awkward as I catch the rhythm of the stairs. I am wearing full bunker gear: jacket, pants, boots, gloves, SCBA, mask and helmet. In all it totaled about 60 lbs of lifesaving gear, heavy for sure, but also very bulky making walking on a flat surface difficult and descending stairs a real chore. I open the gate on the nozzle and a full fog pattern cools the air and stairwell protecting us as we descended. The air at the base of the stairs is a not so cool 350 degrees compared to the 600 or 700 degree air, steam and smoke billowing up the stairs. When we make it safely to the base of the stairs I adjust the nozzle pattern to about a 30 degree stream to fight the interior fire. We drop to our knees and advanced, making a 180 turn to the left around the stairs, to the middle of the trailer. The fire is climbing the back wall of the structure and rolling over the ceiling spanning the 30 feet to silently vanish just above our heads. Time seems to stand still as we assessed the fire. The orange yellow flames climb the back wall with deliberateness. Although we know the walls are metal and fully contain the inferno, there is still an edge to the situation; a feeling that we are in an environment where things could go very wrong in a hurry. The heat is engulfing. It has a feeling of pressure to it like the squeeze feeling of diving deep under water. I reopen the nozzle gate and hit the seat of the fire slowly working the stream up to the ceiling and back down to the floor in a waving pattern to extinguish all the flames. And just like that in a matter of seconds the fire is tapped. Then the real heat hits us. The heat created by the blaze was converting the water into steam, a heavy dense penetrating steam. Within seconds the steam fills the trailer fogging our masks and seeping into our gear reaching our skin. The temperature seems to scream up inside our bunker gear with the introduction of the wet air. This is when the heat feels the worst. We radio to Command that we have a tapped fire and we will be making our way out. As soon as the transmission is received and confirmed by Command the back and side doors of the trailer are swung open releasing the super heated air. A huge plume rises from the trailer in a perfect mushroom cloud climbing 100 feet into the cool night. It all took only three to four minutes from entrance to exit but the fire, heat and steam made it feel like a lot longer. We were the eighth of eight rotations in the Burn Trailer. So as our evolution is complete we spray water on the walls and ceiling to cool the entire rig down as we were done for the night. Sharing stories and insights into lessons learned in a fire scenario, we pack the hoses back onto engine and make our way to the station. Another drill night complete. Tony