Table Of ContentDisclaimer
The recommendations, advice, descriptions, and the methods in this book are presented
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Coleman, John, 1950-
Searching smarter / John “Skip” Coleman.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-59370-258-8
1. Lifesaving at fires. 2. Search and rescue operations. I. Title.
TH9402.C65 2011
363.37’81--dc22
2011007442
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transcribed in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
and recording, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America
1 2 3 4 5 15 14 13 12 11
This book is dedicated to Diane Feldman, managing editor of Fire
Engineering magazine. Although she has never worn “the uniform,”
she works tirelessly to help educate the nation’s fire service and to
constantly present us in a positive light. She has become a great friend
to me and my family as well as to the fire service family.
It is also dedicated to my beautiful wife Theresa. She has put up with
me and the same old jokes for more than 31 years, and I can only pray
she continues to do so for another 30 or so. To my son Toby, his wife
Victoria, and my daughter Fay.
Lastly, this book is being completed when the nation and the world
are changing at an alarming pace. God help us and be with us all! The
republic has worked well for more than 200 years; I pray it continues
on as the founders envisioned.
v
Contents
1 The Scope of the Problem......................................1
2 Types of Search Used Today ...................................7
3 The Incident Commander and the Search Group ...............11
4 The Relationship Between Search and Groups/Divisions .......17
5 The Standard Method of Search...............................23
6 Team Search.................................................33
7 The Oriented Search .........................................45
8 Vent/Enter/Search (VES) ....................................61
9 Primary and Secondary Searches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71
10 Prioritizing Search ...........................................75
11 Search vs. Rescue ............................................85
12 Reading the Building for Search...............................91
13 Where to Start and Where to Stop a Search ....................99
14 How Long Should a Search Last?............................ 105
15 Searching with a Hoseline .................................. 111
16 Searching with a Tool....................................... 115
17 Searching with a Thermal Imager............................ 121
18 Single-Family Occupancies ................................. 125
19 Multi-Family Occupancies.................................. 151
20 Low-Rise Motels........................................... 173
21 Nursing Homes and Other Health Care/
Institutional Occupancies................................... 181
22 Restaurants................................................ 191
23 Strip Malls................................................. 201
24 Places of Worship .......................................... 209
25 Industrial Occupancies ..................................... 217
26 Newer Office Buildings..................................... 225
27 Large Malls and Big Box Stores.............................. 233
28 Final Thoughts............................................. 239
Index...................................................... 241
vii
1
The Scope of the Problem
I remember starting my career as a firefighter back in 1975 and all the training that
I experienced in recruit school. When I think about it now after 32 years, the subject
of search was about as important to the curriculum of my recruit class as it was for the
curriculum of my entire fire service career.
The thing that sticks out the most in my mind about recruit training was laying and
pulling hose. It seemed that for hours on end we would connect to a hydrant, lay out
500 ft. of supply (3-in. and 2½-in.) hose, connect the hose to the engine intake, then
pull a preconnected attack line. For days and days we would pull and stretch hoseline.
We also spent many, many hours raising 35-ft. ground ladders. We did right-angle raises,
parallel raises, three-firefighter raises, four-firefighter raises. We did raises we knew we
would never use again after drill school—the dome raise comes to mind.
We spent time on knots and on self contained breathing apparatus (SCBA). We tied
them and untied them, donned them and doffed them. We did all this for hours and hours.
With all those hours we spent, it’s sad to say that my best recollection of search training
consisted of part of a single afternoon.
That was way back in 1975. In 1984 I was tasked with giving detailed training as an
instructor for a class of 64 recruits. My assignment was to train the recruits in SCBA and
search. I was given a 40-hour block of time to train each group of eight recruits in the use
of SCBA and how to conduct a primary search. Since 1984, to the best of my knowledge,
every recruit in Toledo has been given at least 40 hours of SCBA and search training. After
recruit school I can think of no formal, organized, department-wide search training that
was ever conducted before or after 1984 with one exception. While teaching the recruits
of the 1984 class the oriented search, deputy chief Robert Schwanzl sat in one of my
“hands-on” search sessions. He was so impressed with the evolution that I was ordered to
stay in training after the recruit class graduated and put all Toledo firefighters through the
oriented search training.
1
2 Searching Smarter
Where We Are Today
When I think of every evolution that we do on the fireground, search is the most poorly
performed. Most fire departments are great at pulling and stretching hoseline. We can
stretch line forward, backward, upstairs, downstairs, through windows, and out windows
to buildings next door. We can take hydrants with forward lays and reverse lays. We can
tandem pump, draft, inline pump, and pump from the tank.
Today when we can’t think of any more pump drills for the morning drill session, we
go out and throw ladders up against the station: three-firefighter raises, two-firefighter
raises, four-firefighter raises, both parallel and right angle. We do all that, but I guarantee
you that most officers and firefighters never practice searching. Many leave the firehouse
without even a basic plan of how they are going to search the building in front of them at
their next fire.
As I said, we perform search the worst of all our evolutions on the fireground. I don’t
think most of us are searching the way we would want someone to search for us or for our
family members. When we search, we often miss the center of a room. We miss corners.
Sometimes we miss rooms altogether. Other times we search where only dead people
could be. In most instances, especially in larger buildings, we take way too long to search.
One of my concerns in writing this book is a general lack of defining who will be tasked
with conducting a search. Many proposals for classes and seminars cross my desk. Some of
these are directed toward search evolutions. Many of those proposals directed for search
include the words “truck company.” A high number of others focus on “large area search.”
I have concerns with both of these groups of seminars and training classes.
First off, not everyone has a truck company. In the past and with larger fire departments,
it was standard operating procedure that truck companies conducted searches. There are
200 metro departments recognized by the International Association of Fire Chiefs. That’s
200 out of 32,000 departments in the United States. The vast majority of fire departments
in the United States today respond to a typical house fire with 13 or fewer firefighters.
Many of these departments don’t respond to a house fire initially with a truck. Of those
departments that do respond initially with a truck company, many may respond with two
or fewer firefighters on board.
Second, the concern I have with large area search centers around the aspect of time.
This will be discussed in greater detail later in the book, but let me emphasize here that
preparing for and conducting a search in a large area, for example a large chain restaurant,
may take a single crew from 45 minutes to an hour to conduct. How many viable victims
do you believe you will pull out of that restaurant after 45 minutes in an immediately
dangerous to life and health (IDLH) atmosphere?
Chapter 1: The Scope of the Problem 3
Common Search Mistakes
Let me start this section by stating that no one individual or department is perfect.
Additionally, there is almost always more than one right way to fight a fire or to conduct a
search. But after reading countless accounts of fires in trade magazines along with OSHA
and NIOSH reports and on the Web, I believe many mistakes are made while conducting
searches. These are happening not only in large commercial occupancies, but in single-
family residential homes as well.
Lack of prior planning
One of my biggest concerns in the way searches are conducted is that as today’s fire
officer walks toward a fire building preparing to conduct a search, the furthest thing from
the officer’s mind is developing a plan. I have asked literally thousands of firefighters
during training sessions and seminars if they first developed a search plan before they
approached a building on fire with the intent of conducting a search. Unfortunately, I
didn’t get too many answers in the affirmative.
I don’t understand this. As firefighters, we are trained to think on our feet and develop
action plans literally in seconds as we prepare for a specific evolution. If assigned to fire
attack on the second floor of a two-story wood frame house, most officers will have
developed a plan including the size of hose to be pulled, where the hose will be stretched,
and the type of knockdown application to be used, all before getting out of the jump
seat. The same holds true for an officer tasked with ventilation. Again, glancing at the fire
building, the officer quickly evaluates the type of ventilation—horizontal or vertical—
and a means of opening up the building, if required. Additionally, the location of any
opening is evaluated prior to the pulling and positioning of ground ladders.
Again I ask you the last time you were assigned search, what type of plan did you devise
prior to entering the building with your crew? Hopefully, by the time you finish this text,
you will learn to develop a plan for every search you are required to conduct.
Lack of focus!
If you’ve heard any of my lectures or read any of my previous books, you’ll know that
a word that I often refer to is a “focus.” I believe the incident management system is built
on focus. It is the incident commander’s job to focus on the entire incident. It is the job of
group and division officers to focus on their specific assignment.
As a search officer, you have several areas of focus that must be maintained in order to
conduct an efficient search while maintaining the safety of your crew. An officer assigned
to search must maintain focus on the following.
