Fire departments team up to train for dangerous fire scenario, try new blaze-battling technique

AVON, Ind. (WISH) — About 3,000 people die each year in house fires. 

“When we’re called, it’s obviously the person’s worst situation,” John Shafer, Division Chief of Training with the Washington Township – Avon Fire Department said. 

But when the flames are in the basement of a home, it puts firefighters at a higher risk too. 

“It’s one of the few times that we’re actually operating above the fire,” Shafer said. 

A basement fire quickly compromises the floor where firefighters have to enter the building. Just last year, an Indianapolis firefighter fell through the floor at a house fire on Vermont Street and was injured. Also, a Maryland firefighter was killed in a basement fire last month. 

“Basement fires have a tendency to have a high heat rate and it’s difficult for the firefighters to find a stairwell to get down in there, because a lot of the smoke and heat products coming up out of the stairwell,” Rob Frank, Assistant Chief of Greencastle Fire Department, said. 

So, departments from all over central Indiana teamed up in Avon to try out a technique from Sweden that could help save people inside and protect firefighters responding to the blaze. 

The live fire happened at a vacant property in Avon. It’s a training exercise, but the challenges are real, including the deteriorating building, the danger and definitely the heat. News 8’s Nina Criscuolo went inside with the crews 

“The temperature was right at 900 to a 1,000 degrees for the entire time that they were coming in,” Lt. Daniel Hendry, Floyd Township Fire Department, said. 

Normally, those thousand degree temperatures would be damaging the home for more than 10 minutes before firefighters could begin the battle. That includes the initial 911 call to report a fire and the travel time for firefighters. 

“You know that takes some time to get your line all connected up, get your hose charged, find the fire and getting to it. With all the time, you’re burning more materials, creating more heat and creating since it was an evolution of a basement fire, you’re creating more hazards potentially for the firefighters going in,” Hendry said. 

During the exercise the crews started and battled two fires. One in which the flames were left untouched until fire crews could enter the tradition way. And another in which firefighters used a fog nail, which is a type of piercing nozzle for a faster fight. 

“It basically is like a sprinkler, so they would shove it in, turn it on and let it operate while they’re pulling off their hose lines and then going interior,” Shafer said. 

“It kind of splayed outward and it just took away the heat and the rain droplets and everything the mist that it created took care of the fire not just directly below where it entered the building, but throughout the room where it was,” Tania Daffron, Battalion Chief of Training at Bloomington Fire Department, said. 

Within seconds, the 1,000 degree temperature dropped to right around 100, which is a safer environment for both the victims inside and firefighters. 

“Immediately difference. Being at the seat of the fire, I mean, not having that temperature that high and taking down the flames is definitely going to make it so that it’s a lot easier for the firefighters coming in with a hand-line to finish putting it out. A lot safer, a lot cooler environment when they go and do that,” Hendry said. 

The fog nail does cause a lot of smoke, which decreases visibility. I could barely see in front of me and that’s when I was lead out of the home by a firefighter. But for the crews training, the Swedish technique opens up options for future fights. 

“Seeing what benefits it has, it’s definitely a tool for the toolbox.”

While the firefighters at this training exercise did favor the scenario with the fog nail, this isn’t something the departments can implement immediately. The leaders of training said the departments will have to budget for the equipment, make protocol changes and do additional training before the fog nail could be put into use.