We recently received an email from Chris Johnson, the Vice President of the Fire Instructors & Officers Association of New Hampshire with information for this extremely interesting product. The pictures speak for themselves:

photo: whitneybros.com

While these cribs were originally intended to be used in day care centers, it would not be unreasonable to find one in a residential setting for a family with twins. In fact, there are a number of websites geared toward marketing these cribs specifically to parents of twins. One of the available options for these cribs is an acrylic gate as shown below. The acrylic gate is a special concern because in a low visibility environments, the crib could certainly be mistaken for a bookcase, dresser, or some other piece of furniture. Another interesting situation created by these cribs is that unlike a common crib were the child can simply be lifted out, these have to be “un-latched” to remove the child. Some of them have some intricate latching systems, obviously we could get it open in no time, it’s just another thing that we’d have to deal with. This once again proves the point that we never know what we may come across out there.

photo: daycareuniverse.com

Here is another interesting place to find a roll-up door. Lieutenant Brice Reynolds from Augusta (GA) Aerial Truck 1 sent in this picture (taken by Sergeant Bobby Fleming) of something they ran into during a smoke removal operation after a cooking fire in an apartment building. This bedroom closet had a storage building style roll-up door complete with slide type padlock assembly. The occupant stated the roll-up was present when she rented the apartment, and the building owner stated that it could used to keep roommates from disturbing personal items. (Perhaps re-reevaluating your choice in roommates would be in order if you felt this was necessary…)

It’s another example of something unexpected we may come across during the primary search. The fact that this is present (and behind an outward swinging door) should be enough to justify passing it and not searching it during the primary. An announcement of its presence may be appropriate on the radio (depending on department procedures,) and special consideration of checking the area during the secondary should be in order.

Tim Ransom from Charlotte (NC) Engine 11 sent in this photo of another interesting door set-up. This business converted a standard roll-up door into a 36” outward swinging door. As you can see the original roll-up was left in place and concrete poured to fill the remaining opening making the new door flush with the building. This installation poses two potentially challenging situations: The first being the need to force the roll-up after forcing the outward swinging door. The limited exposed surface area of the roll-up leaves few options and will undoubtedly require some saw work. Not extremely difficult, but will require some time, and serves as another reason to always have the saw when operating in the rear of a commercial occupancy. The second issue could be conflicting reports from inside and outside crews. If a MAYDAY situation occurred, the crews on the inside might report that they are at (or near) a roll-up door on Side C, but the outside crew would only see the 36” outward swinging one. Hopefully, the outside crew would not waste much time and quickly discover the double door setup. As we have shown so many times in the past here on VES, when it comes to building construction and forcible entry, we always need to expect the unexpected.

Engineer Brandon Roark from South Bend (IN) sent in these pictures of something they recently ran across at a local strip mall. The business was secured with a chain link fence and rolling gate, inside the store. The fence sat approximately two and a half feet inside the entrance. The fence covered the entire store (all four walls had a fence.) The rear door was also blocked by a fence, but it did not have a gate present. Now this fence would be nothing more than a slight inconvenience to anyone with a tool, but it could certainly catch you by surprise. Simply another reason not to drop your tools at the door.

Since the fence sat 2.5ft inside the front windows, it may initially go unnoticed if the store was charged with smoke. After the door is forced, and the push begins, it would become obvious. It goes to show you that in these tough economic times business owners may not be securing their occupancies in the more traditional fashions we are used to seeing (these methods may cost them money.) These “non-traditional” homebrew security devices will undoubtedly become a more common item we’ll run across. As with every forcible entry situation we are faced with: slow down! Identify and Visualize what you are trying to defeat… work smarter not harder.

We have shown interior security bars on the site before, but these are a bit different, they are actually being installed during the initial construction of the building. These bars were found and sent in by the crew of DCFD Engine Co. 27 (Firefighter J. Stapleton, Firefighter A. Pumilia, Technician D. Mungo and Lt. K. Kline.) Interior security bars pose an interesting hazard to our operations. It’s worth mentioning that the ones shown here may not actually be noticeable from the outside. They are set far enough inside the window that window blinds would obscure them. So it’s possible that the inside team may be the first to discover them. The issue with this particular instillation is that the window needs to be taken out before the bars can be attacked and removed. These bars don’t look to be too substantial, but they need to be discovered, and removed early in the operation.

*The picture below has a piece of plywood being held behind the bars to show contrast for the photo.

Imagine doing a quick search of this room. Either from the doorway, or even as a VES operation. Ask yourself a few questions… How long should it take? What would you expect to find? Did you take notice to the size of the furniture. …And most importantly would you have found this?

John Jeniec from Fairfax (VA) Rescue Engine 433 sent in these pictures of an interesting find he and the crew discovered while operating on scene of an automotive upholstery repair garage fire. The fire building was a single story building (300’ x 50’) containing multiple occupancies constructed with masonry walls and steel bar joist. Undoubtedly. many of our areas have very similar buildings with a wide variety of different types of businesses in them.

Another crew member, Joe Tutt found something unique as he opened the roll up door of the Delta exposure (not the fire occupancy.) Look close, the occupancy owner had rigged up a system to haul and suspend a snow blower, storage box (with unknown contents), treadmill, and a sofa above the entryway using 3/8 nylon rope. All four of those heavy items are merely suspended by the rope. We all know what could have happened if the fire had extended into this occupancy. A moderate smoke condition would have obscured this, and would not take much heat to defeat the 3/8 rope and bring this down on one of us. These buildings are just like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna’ get. Keep your eyes open out there!

Timothy Papp from New Haven (CT) Fire Dept sent in these photos of something he found while replacing some decking at a friend’s house. The house has the bilco basement doors completely covered by the deck. Fortunately the deck had an access panel built into it, but this may not have been noticeable on the initial 360 of the structure. If this was the only basement entry point, this could certainly lead to a delay in access during operations. Of if crews were making a push from the inside, this secondary means of egress may even be known about. Another thing to consider is that these doors would only be able to be opened from the outside. When performing your 360, make sure your are not only looking at what the building is telling you, but you should also take notice of what the building is not telling you.

AC Robert Fling from Dix Hills (NY) Fire sent in these photos of something we will all probably begin to see more of in the future. This discovery was made while on a residential automatic fire alarm. It seems that the homeowner decided to covert the garage into a studio apartment. The access door for the apartment was cut into the existing garage door. A quick look from the street, or even the front yard may not make this appear so obvious. Up until recently it would not be uncommon to find garages that were sealed shut and converted into additional living space to increase the square footage of the house. However due to the recent economic times, and increased foreclosure rates, it may be more common to find garages converted into these stand alone studios. The interesting thing about the “new style” of these renovations is that they may be totally sealed off and undetectable from the inside of the main structure. This turns the traditional single family residential structure into a duplex situation. So while on that next alarm, don’t forget the garage!

Matt Stelle and Rick Dunn from the Loveland-Symmes (OH) Station 61 sent in these pictures of something they recently found during a pre-plan of a new building in their first due. It’s simply an interior outward swinging door. A general tip is that doors swing toward life. So more than likely an outward swinging door like this leads to a mechanical or storage room.

Once the door is opened, it becomes obvious that it is an attic access door. But look close at the floor; there is nothing more than blown-in insulation and the drywall ceiling below, there is no floor. Under smoke conditions the floor surface, or lack thereof, may not be noticeable. Hopefully the vertical 2×4 (part of the truss assembly) would alert us that something wasn’t right.