Accessed from FDNY – Remembering the “23rd Street Fire” October 17, 1966, Facebook Page On October 17th, 1966, Manhattan Dispatch recorded an alarm from a resident at 7 East 22nd Street for smoke on the 4th floor of a brownstone. Box 0598 was transmitted at 2136 hours. Engine 14, 3 & 16, Ladders 3 & […]

The Thirty-five year anniversary of the FDNY Waldbaum’s Fire and Collapse: Do you know the lessons learned?

Before Making Entry, while in the street; Has someone completed or assigned reconned a 360 of the building? Have you looked at the Building and its Profile? Made a Rapid Risk Assessment? Assessed the Building’s Anatomy? Considered the Compartment? Considered the Fire Dynamics? Assessed the Predictability of Performance? Scanned for Situational Awareness? Considered the MELT? […]

“Firefighter Falkenhan was a well-respected and experienced firefighter. He died performing his duties during a very complex incident with severe fire conditions and unique fire behavior coupled with the immediate need to perform multiple rescues of victims in imminent danger. It would be easy if one particular failure of the system could be identified as the cause of this tragedy. We could fix it and move on. Unfortunately it is not that simple. No incident is “routine”. Mark’s death and this report reinforce that fact”. From the Baltimore County (MD) FD LODD Report.

This incident appeared from the onset to be a routine “room and contents” fire that the SFFD encounters on a regular basis. As the Companies were performing standard fireground operations, the incident rapidly deteriorated due to a hostile fire event. The failure of a window in the fire room allowed fresh oxygen to enter the room, providing a fire that was deprived of one of the key elements of combustion to rapidly intensify.

Knowledge and proficiencies related to building construction are formulative to all strategic, tactical and task level assignments. Without understanding the building-occupancy relationships and integrating; construction, the compartment, occupancy risk, fire dynamics and fire behavior, fluid situational awareness and risk analysis, the art and science of aggressive and smart firefighting with well-informed incident command management, company […]

The New Rules of Combat Fire Engagement: How do You Measure  Your Effectiveness on the Fireground? What are Your Rules of Engagement Based upon? Are Your Operations SOP Driven? Are they Aggressive or Measured? What is Employed in your Size-up? How is Risk Assessed, Monitored, Adjusted? Do Company Officers Manage Tactical Objectives? Is Tactical Entertainment […]

FDNY Brooklyn Box 4080: 17 Vandalia Avenue 12.18.1998

FDNY Multiple LODD 1966-2011 45th Anniversary. On October 17th 1966, Manhattan Box 598 was struck at 21:36 hours for the report of a building fire at 7 East 22nd Street, an art dealer in a four story brownstone. At 22;39 hours, twleve FDNY firefghters were trapped due to fire conditions and a floor collapse.