Arire chief asked me if he was being overcautious when he evacuated a warehouse at which fire had twisted the steel that was "frozen" by the hose streams. The steel had been in a designed array that properly transferred loads from unit to unit. Although the steel may be okay, the connections may be broken. The evacuation order was proper. No rapid intervention team is going to operate successfully if firefighters are trapped under a mass of twisted steel. In these days of multiple ambulance and rescue calls punctuated occasionally by a "real fire," firefighters may let their enthusiasm to hit the fire overcome logic. The attitude of "Gee, Chief, we're hitting the fire" must be overcome by command awareness of hazards unknown to the nozzle team, which is focused on "boring a hole through the smoke to hit the fire."
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