Forcible entry look at the top pic only first.

 

We made a small fire at a dry cleaners in our neighborhood.  After I found this door.

Ask yourself and your crew some simple questions. 

Which door is the majority of travel through?

How would I force either door?

Look for these things in your territory they are out there and are easily handled with some thought and planning.  If you flip the door pic around it will match the inside pics?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Haligan Tuning

Video from Inforcer about taking care of your haligan.

The Pig forcing an inward swinging door w_ baseball swing

http://www.youtube.com/v/pdzQoLtxmcI?version=3&autohide=1&autoplay=1&autohide=1&feature=share&showinfo=1&attribution_tag=3vou6w8twugQjxNcG6WtAA

PigHold

http://www.youtube.com/v/_JGD2j71hgg?version=3&autohide=1&autoplay=1&attribution_tag=QQdTmGYrbZs4QwqnCViB-Q&autohide=1&showinfo=1&feature=share

Roof Remodel

Engine 26A stopped by a building remodel to check out the roof construction.  This was a great opportunity to see two types of roofs and extended to a discussion of parapets, void spaces, and forcible entry.

The construction crews were removing a "gravel roof" and replacing it with a "TPO" (Thermoplastic Polyolefin) roof.  The gravel roof consists of metal decking, foam (about 2"), tar, and gravel.  This particular roof had two layers from a previous remodel.  The foreman on site said city code only allows for two layers so they had to remove both layers before installing the new roof. The building across the parking lot only has one layer so they will put the new roof directly on top.

The TPO roof consists of metal decking, insulating foam (3.3" in this case), and the TPO membrane. The foam may be thicker in other applications.  The foreman said a 1/2" of foam adds 6 to the R-value.

 Old roof, two layers.

 New foam layer, the TPO membrane is being pulled back.

  Stacks of foam insulation.

So what's your plan to cut?  Will you handle the gravel roof differently from the TPO?  The rotary saw probably will not go deep enough on one pass.  If you use a rotary saw you will likely have to make one cut remove the material and them make a second cut inside the first.  The chain saw will work on many of these materials but you have to be careful about hitting metal beams as they can throw or break the chain.

 10' drop off behind parapet.

 From the inside.

 Void space in the parapet.

Interior of building.

 Forcible entry discussion.  How would you handle this door?  We discussed starting traditional but it probably would not work.  With a good size-up and prior knowledge you might realize this is a panic/drop bar that is most always engaged.  It is not removed everyday like a traditional drop bar.

We discussed cutting the bolts or completely cutting a rectangle around the pair of bolts.  Last resort might be a doggie door (horizontal cut, edge to edge under the panic hardware.

Take a look around out there after your next call and see what you find.

Basic Level Forcible Entry Size-Up

These videos show basic level forcible entry size-up for various types of doors.

Inward Swinging Door

If video does not play click here http://youtu.be/OoqILNWmavs

 

Outward Swinging Door



If video does not play click here http://youtu.be/v8ak7Pk7twg

 

Slatted Steel Overhead Door

If video does not play click here http://youtu.be/tvg6gQjNfYk

 

Commercial Door Size-Up

If video does not play click here http://youtu.be/JmLcNNwMLkM

 

Aluminum Wedge- Single Person Forcible Entry

Do you have any experience with metal wedges for forcible entry?  What do you think?

This video shows a couple of techniques.


If the video does not play on your cell phone try this link http://youtu.be/E2Ejb6yU2QE

We are friends with different manufacturers of these wedges.  We are not trying to sell one over the other and do not endorse any specific product.  We simply want to share ideas and start conversation.

Forcible Entry Size-Up Continued

Here is the inside of the door from the earlier post.  Notice that the drop bar opens when the panic hardware is activated. 

The first picture is in the locked position and the second picture shows the closed position.  The last picture shows the continuous hinge from the inside.

Forcible Entry Size-Up

This picture was sent in by FF Gabe Thompson (E17A).  What's your plan of attack?  What's on the inside?

Inside pictures to come...

Door Size-Up Continued

This door appears to have pins that hold the door in place if the hinges are cut.  Thanks Randy Denzer for sending the pictures.

Door Size-Up

What's your door size-up?  What's your plan of attack?

Inside picture to come later...

More Security Screens

After making a recent video and post about security screens we starting hearing from other crews who also had these screens in their territory.  We went back to the apartments and made a few more videos removing these screens. 

Do you have these in your territory?  If so, where? Any other effective techniques?

Part 1- Introduction and 1st floor removal

Part 2- 2nd floor removal

Part 3- Removal from the interior

Entire video

Overhead Doors

How do you cut overhead doors?  The first video shows one technique, of many, to cut a panel or sheet curtain overhead door.

The second video, by Joshua Materi, shows an overhead rolling steel door with slats.

 

If you decide to roll the door up instead of cutting, be sure to pin the door open.  Watch this video of a garage door coming back down during a fire as the springs heated.  Skip to 1:40 to see the door come down.

Forcible Entry from FF Norman

Thank you FF Norman (Station 17) for this forcible entry write-up.

Engine __ was first on scene and had a fire in the garage. It was the leasing office, which looked like a house approximately 1200sqft, with an attached two car garage. Engine __ pulled a rackline and started attacking the fire in the garage. Quint __ was first-in truck and saw they had active fire, and the garage had just closed on Engine __. Luckily the crew was still outside when the door closed. We grabbed the saw (diamond blade) and hand tools. The garage was on the Alpha side. We saw an additional door (metal clad residential) that was on the Alpha side about 8 feet from the garage door. This door looked to have access into the garage as well. By the time we got to the door Engine __ had the garage door back open. My officer walked into the front door and saw that conditions were fine, and the fire had not made its way into the living area of the structure. Quint __ was ordered to force entry into the metal clad door (second entrance) into garage on the Alpha side.

I sounded the door and it looked as if it was catching about 1/4 down. We tried using hand tools to attack the deadbolt the traditional way. The door flexed past the frame, but didn't open. We tried attacking again 1/4 down between the handle and the top of the door, again it flexed, but didn't open. At this time I grabbed the saw and began to make several cuts (seen in picture) to the exterior of the door. I initially tried to "doggy door" it, but it still wouldn't budge. I eventually made an inspection hole and found that there were shelves that had been placed against the door. The structure was inaccessible from that door. We decided our efforts were not going to gain us access, and we re-directed our strategy.

Lesson learned: I was able to apply a tactic learned from roof operations and use it to find out what we had behind a door. When you can't figure out why you're not getting in, try cutting a quick inspection hole to see what is keeping you from gaining access.

These pictures show the exterior and also the conditions we had on the inside on the garage.

Steve Norman

In addition to this, Q__ ran into another challenging door about a week earlier. It was a commercial door with drop bar, but there were no visible signs from the outsdie. They worked through their process and defeated the door.

The pictures below show the doggy door and the triangle cut.  These are not initial tactics but are used when the traditional methods fail.  These pictures are from a class by Lt Mike Ciampo (FDNY) presented by Travis County ESD 11.