At the risk of a civilian Monday morning quarterbacking an expert in the firefighting profession there a few things that confused me or I thought was inconsistent with your other videos. First, the bring the ax don't bring the ax debate. If you are unlikely to need the ax than that is a debate. But in this fire someone had already broken a pane of glass and determined that it was a double lock door so the need for an ax was already known, not having an ax wasn't bad luck it was failure to anticipate needs or a failure to communicate. Second, why are you opening egresses from the interior? The firefighter who broke the window and realized it was double keyed should have finished the job, instead of leaving his brothers and sisters inside without an egress You are probably thinking my criticism is overly harsh. It was an easy door. Any firefighter with lick of skill can open any door in under 20 seconds even without an ax, did you see how quickly we got through it? And you are right. And you were right on every other fire you have been on. It will probably work on the next fire too and the one after that. Might work fine for five, ten, twenty , thirty years... Then on one bread and butter room and contents fire gone sideways and you will encounter a door that is ten times harder to open than it looks. And there will only be 19 seconds between the time the IC commander orders an evacuation and the roof collapsing. And then you will be back at the station crying your eyes out, "how did this happen to me?" Also having a house with a door like that and many friends who do as well. Everybody has a key hanging from a hook near the door. (we all realize those locks are fire trap waiting to happen) Not visible from outside nor close enough to grab with a bent coat hanger, but one that is visible and easily accessible when standing in front of the door to go out. So if you are in that situation (which I don't think you should be) take a quick scan after trying the door handle and before smashing anything. It is highly probable I am missing something. You are the professional and I am just a bystander. But my gut reaction is these guys are putting themselves in unnecessary risk by doing force-able entry from the interior rather than the exterior.
At the risk of a civilian Monday morning quarterbacking an expert in the firefighting profession there a few things that confused me or I thought was inconsistent with your other videos.
First, the bring the ax don't bring the ax debate. If you are unlikely to need the ax than that is a debate. But in this fire someone had already broken a pane of glass and determined that it was a double lock door so the need for an ax was already known, not having an ax wasn't bad luck it was failure to anticipate needs or a failure to communicate.
Second, why are you opening egresses from the interior? The firefighter who broke the window and realized it was double keyed should have finished the job, instead of leaving his brothers and sisters inside without an egress You are probably thinking my criticism is overly harsh. It was an easy door. Any firefighter with lick of skill can open any door in under 20 seconds even without an ax, did you see how quickly we got through it? And you are right. And you were right on every other fire you have been on. It will probably work on the next fire too and the one after that. Might work fine for five, ten, twenty , thirty years... Then on one bread and butter room and contents fire gone sideways and you will encounter a door that is ten times harder to open than it looks. And there will only be 19 seconds between the time the IC commander orders an evacuation and the roof collapsing. And then you will be back at the station crying your eyes out, "how did this happen to me?"
Also having a house with a door like that and many friends who do as well. Everybody has a key hanging from a hook near the door. (we all realize those locks are fire trap waiting to happen) Not visible from outside nor close enough to grab with a bent coat hanger, but one that is visible and easily accessible when standing in front of the door to go out. So if you are in that situation (which I don't think you should be) take a quick scan after trying the door handle and before smashing anything.
It is highly probable I am missing something. You are the professional and I am just a bystander. But my gut reaction is these guys are putting themselves in unnecessary risk by doing force-able entry from the interior rather than the exterior.