Forcible Entry and house updates

This month, as part of my probation with Edmonds Fire department, I was assigned to teach a short class on Forcible Entry. It’s when we have to break into a structure through doors, windows, walls or whatever is blocking our way. If we have to go in for a known rescue we are not as delicate as when we have to go in to put out a fire or secure a means of egress. (See: http://www.vententersearch.com/) It is an art form at times and we are using tools that don’t lend themselves to intricate work. Often times we will be forcing an exterior door and in the process rendering it useless if not in pieces. The goal is to keep the door in one piece so, if we need to, we can close it and keep the fire behind somewhat contained. It doesn’t always work out that way. Especially with some of the older wooden doors or the heavy gauge metal doors set in concrete walls. The wooden doors have a tendency to splinter on impact leaving you with a pile of over sized toothpicks. The metal doors are set in an unforgiving wall and are so reinforced that we have to deform the door to get the lock to break and oftentimes it takes a large radial saw to just cut the lock out. Windows tend to just get broken. The problem with all this is when we are dealing with a fire. Air holds 32BTU’s per cubic foot (see post on June 27, 2009) and if you allow air to reach a confined fire it gets fed and grows. So controlling the ventilation profile of the structure can be crucial. This exact thing is what caused the deaths of many Firefighters in a South Carolina furniture store last year. They had uncontrolled ventilation allowing a lot of air to reach a starving fire. The fire grew explosively engulfing the Firefighters.

As firefighters it is our job to make every effort to learn these skills and understand their effect on fire behaviour. So to help me teach this class I build a visual aid with the assistance of my 2nd grader, Gabe. As you know Cops like donuts and Firefighters like ice cream. But who in their right mind can deny a gingerbread house.

The pretzel ladders were an added touch. But for the sake of the class I added one factory and one double hung window, outward and inward swinging doors, a slab type overhead door and a roll-up door. The marshmallow dude on top with the chainsaw ventilating the roof was a bonus. It was a great visual aid and kept the attention of my class.

On to house updates......... Cheryl and I picked out cabinets(link to business), granite counter tops and a few other detail items yesterday during a whirlwind tour of Georgetown in South Seattle. The granite color/pattern is called "New Venetian Gold". It is a lighter color with tons of accents. The color compliments the rest of our kitchen really well and as an added bonus it hides dirt and water marks too. The cabinets will be faced with a knotty alder similar too this sample but without the center raised part.

We are going with a butcher block top for the island. We have seen a few and really like the look. Most of the doors are hung and the electrical should be done this week. I will be creating a video of both floors to document the wall innards so I don't cut anything important or dangerous in later years if I need to get inside a wall.

.........See Ya, Tony