Security/Burglar Bars

[cosmo]

Anyone had any dealings with these at fire scenes?? They are quite common place in my city and i'm sure are elsewhere in Canada. If they are installed without any quick release mechanisms it turns into a death trap for any occupants that are trapped inside. Nothing worse then encountering these when you have informnation that people are unaccounted for at a working fire. We have the tools to get through them but it takes up precious time to do so. Any comments??

[TheMightymouse]

Your RIT team Leader/Capt. should be doing his/her own scene size up, recognizing these shortcomings and reporting it to command.

The bars/security grates can and should be cut off in advance to ensure that this exit point's usable. Your point of entry to a structure may not be the quickest way out when you're in need of a bailout, or when RIT's dealing with an injured /lost FF.

RIT has their own tools to do it, and is generally available for this service. Others may get tasked with the job, your SOG's should be the rule. Point being you can't expect to get it rapidly opened up when FF's are trying to use.

It might be as simple as cutting off a lock, or you might have to cut the bars off completely.

[cosmo]

Your RIT team Leader/Capt. should be doing his/her own scene size up, recognizing these shortcomings and reporting it to command.

The bars/security grates can and should be cut off in advance to ensure that this exit point's usable. Your point of entry to a structure may not be the quickest way out when you're in need of a bailout, or when RIT's dealing with an injured /lost FF.

RIT has their own tools to do it, and is generally available for this service. Others may get tasked with the job, your SOG's should be the rule. Point being you can't expect to get it rapidly opened up when FF's are trying to use.

It might be as simple as cutting off a lock, or you might have to cut the bars off completely.
All excellent points, however the SOG's can change very fast when your first in to a basement fire and the people trapped are looking at you from behind these bars(believe me). Cutting these bars off "in advance" and having RIT doing size up are great but in a situation where people are trapped and you have to act right now you have to think outside the box sometimes to get the job done...................

[TruckCo11]

The bars/security grates can and should be cut off in advance to ensure that this exit point's usable. Your point of entry to a structure may not be the quickest way out when you're in need of a bailout, or when RIT's dealing with an injured /lost FF.

I guess I’m a bit confused by what you’re saying here, are you saying that all bars and security gates should be removed before entering a structure?
I can honestly say that that has never happened in my career. Removing bars and other security barriers is an ongoing task at any fire, and it is important, but it is not more important than getting inside, locating and confining the fire, and ventilating. Most often here, it is a simultaneous activity conducted with entry. Obviously in dealing with security doors, forcing them is most likely needed to gain entry for hose lines.

Now as far as RIT, that depends on how your department takes on that task. My house responds city wide on all 2nd alarms of fire in the capacity of RIT. We shut down our engine company, and respond with our truck and rescue, with a total of 10 people. Once at the fire scene, we split our resources basically in half. One half stages with tools at the front of the building, while the other sizes up the structure and basically continues to open up the structure. Two members also enter the structure to size up interior operations, and try to identify the potential for hazards. During this size up, we will continue to ladder all windows above the first floor, and remove any and all burglar bars that haven’t yet been removed.
This set up is never cast in stone, either. If it is a tax payer, for instance, or it is a building that has a large amount of these bars on windows, we may all go to work at removing them, or we may all be tasked to interior operations. After all, the worst place for a RIT company is out front watching.