The Logistics of Firefighting

Writing by Sam Denby and Tristan Purdy
Editing by Alexander Williard
Animation led by Max Moser
Sound by Manni Simon
Thumbnail by Simon Buckmaster

References

[JamesH_Gp]

Firefighter here. This video was a test in my mind to see how researched and accurate your teams videos are... And wow.. Absolutely insane detail down to the initial radio report from the first arriving officer, water tender shuttling operations, offensive/defensive operations, and of course the difference between and fire engine and truck (thank you). Obviously there are more details and layers to the logistics and response of the 911 system like what different engine/truck crews can be assigned on arrival and other specialty apparatus (hazmat, rescue engines, dive teams, etc...). However for a 23 minute video this is the perfect amount of information density to cover most topics of firefighting in good detail. Really happy you focused on prevention as thats a huge part of the job most don't consider. Excellent job, videos like these are why I've been subscribed forever.

[bardicben]

I'm a volunteer firefighter with my local city up in Canada and my goodness was this video so good. I didn't realize how much research Wendover puts into these, but I was impressed with how accurate the details are.

The part talking about the ICS (Incident Response System) was really good, I know the word bureaucracy has a lot of negative connotations but it's crucial for how firefighters can have such a fast response time and efficiently fight fires. At least with my department it was one of the first things they taught us, right after how to put out bunker gear on 😂.

Also for those who found this video interesting and would like to help their community, I strongly urge you to consider volunteering with your local fire department. Over 65% of firefighters in the US are volunteers, and a lot of local departments are massively understaffed. I recommend seeing if you are legible to joining your local department and seeing if that's right for you 🚒. Great video again Wendover, and I can't wait for the next one

[ツッ]

It's truly amazing to see the coordinated efforts and bravery of firefighters in action. They put their lives on the line to protect others. Respect to all the firefighters out there

[jonathanmaestas]

As a Locksmith who routinely works on Fire doors, my biggest advise to any person is to always, always sleep with your bedroom door closed. It can be inconvenient but the difference it makes to protect your life from fire (specifically smoke inhalation) is profound. Even if your bedroom door is not fire-rated, and it likely isn't, it extends the time you have by 4-5 minutes, critical time you will need to escape.

[DOC_]

As an ER doctor, I wanted to say how wonderfully in depth and interesting this video was. Really great job. Much of what you talk about is known as a mass casualty incident (MCI). Hospitals, police departments, and fire stations train and prepare for such events multiple times per year. You never know if there will be a deadly gas, a bomb, mass shooting, fire, or etc. Having that scalability with an incident commander, command chief, designated hot zone, and so on is extremely important in order to have fire fighters, police officers, paramedics, and other medical personnel ready for anything.

[googleit]

Ah, Building Code. The often ignored but ever important aspect of building construction. I work in architecture and I can't tell you how many of my client and contractors have tried to "work around" building code, especially Ch 10 and Ch 11 (life safety and ADA accessibility).

[LtColShingSides]

My dad was a fireman for 20 years. The biggest fire he ever fought was when a local apartment building went up because someone caught a dishrag on fire in the kitchen, put it in the trash, and then put the burning trash can in the open air hall. No one was killed, but my dad and a few others went to the hospital for smoke inhalation. Most of the apartments in that building were totally ruined.

[jurottluff]

As a volunteer fire fighter from Germany, it's really interesting to see the differences and similarities in fire fighting to the US. I can explain many of them with differences in typical buildingsize, population density and building materials, but the huge difference in fire engines/trucks is just weird to me. They are so different to what I am used to in terms of shape, equipment and tasks. I can't even imagine an American fire truck fitting in a European old city street

[nawade]

I"m an architect watching this at lunch time. I was just looking at Ch 7 minutes ago. Thank you for shining a light on the importance of the building code and what we do to prevent fires from becoming big. I learned a lot about fire fighting too. Great video.

[lxi]

it’s incredible how simple yet complicated putting a fire out is

[morrisonben]

5:40 shout out to the writers for that "hinges on" line

[DanFlorio]

I read a psychology report ages ago that was generally about "How do people make decisions in emergency situations." The researchers hypothesized that an expert would gather as much information as they could in the time span they deemed sufficient and then choose the best option that they had.

To test their hypothesis they interviewed and watched fire captains at work in large cities. What the captains did was gather information and as soon as a plausible plan was conceived that had no obvious failure points they would proceed with that one immediately without waiting to come up with better alternative strategies.

I've always thought that was interesting and backs up the addage: a good plan today is better than a great plan tomorrow.

[Firesword]

I'm a paramedic and work with my firefighter and law enforcement brothers and sisters every shift. Excellent overview of some of the basics of fire attack and command and control of an incident. The thing about NIMS, is that it doesn't just apply to fire emergencies, but any kind of emergency. For example on a medical emergency with one patient, the highest licensed responder on a transporting ambulance will often be designated as the Incident Commander. In the case of a multi-casualty incident, like a bus rollover, what might happen is instead of a single IC there will be what's called Unified Command in which specific Fire, Medical, and Law branch commanders form a command post. Those three direct their respective branches, but because they're all, supposed, to be be together communication flows easier. At least that's the idea. Working from a common framework does help a lot. It takes a lot of the guesswork out since roles are pre-defined and thus we can get on with the job of mitigating a crisis.

[ShoshinManga]

Thank you Wendover for teaching us all the difference between a fire truck and fire engine 👍

[TrialzGTAS]

I was lieutenant of my fire company for two years. Over watched many fires and incidents. So many moving parts and ensuring their are boots in the ground, span of control, accountability and so many other variables are there. Best job ever. You put in more research into your video essay and have a better grasp on the subject than many firefighters fresh from the academy. Hope this brings attention that we need all the manpower we can get with rapid changes in standards (Atleast in NJ)

[dalegaliniak]

I used to be on a board for a condo I lived at. It's completely CRAZY how often there is fires in units. We probably saw at least four or five a year in a 400 unit complex. But the fire suppression system worked, and if you weren't in the unit, or maybe a couple of units around them (or below them) with flooding damage, you never knew.

[greenpointfirephotography]

Some more information for this fire with a breakdown.
The actual report for fire department came in over the Radio at 10:49, units likely received the notification on their MDT about 30 seconds to a minute and a half before the radio transmission. The fire was reported to be in 3 Eddie.
At 11:01 they received a second phone call for fire in 3 Eddie, with a reported person unconscious at an unknown report. At this point 3 Engine Companies, 2 Ladders and a Battalion Chief are responding.
In the same minute, Engine 48 transmitted the 10-77 (Working Fire in a High-rise Multiple dwelling.) On the 10-77 a total of 6 Engine Companies, 6 Ladder Companies, 4 Battalion Chiefs, a Deputy Chief and a whole array of Special Units.
At 11:07 bronx dispatch reported a family w/ a new born sheltering in apartment 3B. Engine 42 reported heavy fire out the rear of the apartment.
At 11:05 Division 7 transmitted the 10-77 2nd Alarm (Additional Alarm for more Manpower and Resources.) This brought in an additional 7 Engine Companies, 2 Ladder Companies, 4 Battalion Chiefs, and even more special units.
At 11:09 Division 7 reported that they had (3) 10-45s No Codes (Fire Injuries, not given a code/tag pending ems to give it.) The Assistant Chief of Training Car 15A at this point was responding.
At 11:10 they received 4 more apartments for smoke, including apartment 15E reporting they were trapped. Apartment 6F reported a frantic female, along with apartments 6C & 3M (not known to me.) Apartments 9E and 6C also reported being trapped, and 15G for smoke. Apartments 18N reported smoke, and 12G for people frantic.
At 11:15 Division 7 reported (6) 10-45s No Codes (Same as before.) At an unknown time Bronx Dispatch notified Division 7 that 12C in the rear has people jumping out the window (I am unsure if 12C was jumping or someone else.)
At 11:17 Battalion 26 transmited the 3rd Alarm (Likely the orders of the chief of Division 7.) The 3rd Alarm brought in an additional 4 Engines, 2 Ladders and 2 Battalions. The dispatcher then notified D7 of apartments 15H, 12A, 15E, 19S for smoke.
At 11:20 Division 7 special called two additional ladder companies, followed shortly by the transmission of the 4th Alarm again by Battalion 26. The 4th Alarm brought in an additional 4 Engines, 2 Ladders and 1 Battalion Chief. They then received apartments 12F for people trapped, 9K for smoke and 15M sheltering in place with 5 People. They then received 12G again for people frantic and 19S with 6 people in the Apt.
At 11:25 Battalion 14 special called two additional truck companies.
At 11:29 Division 7 requested that the Engine Companies on the 4th Alarm to come to the fire building with their CFR-D (First Aid) Equipment. They then received 9J for smoke.
At 11:32 Division 7 reports a total of (10) 10-45s, with (7) of them being Red Tags (Critical.)
At 11:39 Field Comm requested 4 additional trucks.
At 11:40 Field Comm reported one additional 10-45 no code.
Between 11:40 and 11:44 Field Comm transmitted the 5th Alarm orders of Car-15A. This brought an additional 4 Engines, 2 Ladders, 1 Battalion Chiefs and multiple Staff Chiefs.
At 11:44 Field Comm reported a total of (15) 10-45s, with 11 being Code 2 (Red Tags.)
At 11:58 Field Comm reported fire was on the Second and Third Floors, primary searches were in progress and that the fire was Doubtful will Hold.
At 12:04 Field Comm requested an additional Ladder Company to carry out Ventilation Support Duties. Shortly followed by 2 additional Battalion Chiefs.
Between 12:05 and 12:16, Field Comm reported a total of (39) 10-45s, 31 were Code 2, 3 were Code 3 and 6 were Code 4s.
At 12:16 an additional RAC (Rehab) unit was requested.
Between 12:16 and 12:25 it was reported that Primary Searches between the sixth and eleventh floors were complete and negative.
At 12:25 Field Comm reported that they had a total of seven engine companies acting as CFR-D Engines.
At 12:33 Field Comm reported that the fire was Probably will hold.
At 12:38 Field Comm requested 4 additional engines, 3 Ladders and 1 Battalion Chief.
At 13:25 Field Comm reported that the fire was Under Control.

There was a total of 63 10-45s - 32 Code 2s, 9 Code 3s and 22 Code 4s.
For just the "fire side" alone atleast 300 Firefighters responded.

[azkon]

I'm always happy to hear about systems that work.

That Bronx Apartment Fire is really unfortunate but all information points to poor maintenance and negligent building owners. Both the Fire Fighters and the Fire Fighting System did the best it could. Respect for Fire Fighters.

[macauleykolonko]

As a Fire Marshal on a ship, this is so amazing. One incident that would’ve been awesome to have been discussed during this video, was the fire on board the USS Bonhomme Richard. It’s the most notorious shipboard fire in history, and is a really amazing case study for both shipboard and structural fire fighters, especially regarding the National Incident Management system. There were major failures in that case, and everyone in this field can learn from it.

[matthewcantrell]

I do facilities maintenance for a big radio company. We put SO MUCH effort into fire safety. Partially because we want to ensure we don’t go off-air due to a small fire, but obviously to protect staff.

My boss tried to ignore some fire code stuff regarding type and placement of fire extinguishers and I nearly lost it on him because NFPA 1 (fire code) is the facilities man’s Bible. Secondly, if someone gets hurt or dies because of a fire code violation, I’m on the fast track to an orange jumpsuit and some new bracelets.