Defensive Fire Attacks - Master streams are the tool of choice for defensive fire attacks

摘要

One of the first, and most important, decisions the first-arriving company officer faces at an incident scene is whether to initiate an offensive or defensive fire attack. Later-arriving officers will affirm or change the operational strategy as they assume command. Most structure fires occur in dwellings, where firefighters rarely need more than one or two standard pre-connected lines to attack a fire. When first-arriving units encounter an early-stage fire confined to a small area, a quick attack on the fire's main body from an interior position may succeed in containing it. When units confront an advanced fire in a large, undivided area, however, larger fire streams are needed to meet rate-of-flow requirements. When it is safe to conduct an offensive attack on a larger fire, larger-diameter handheld hose streams are normally deployed. On rare occasions, master streams are brought inside a building as part of an offensive attack.