Today is the 5th Anniversary of the death of FF Mark Falkenhan of Baltimore County. As we do every year on this day, we want to remind those of you tasked with searching above the fire to keep doors closed behind you.
If you’ve not read about this LODD, please take a minute to read some of our thoughts on it as well as the NIOSH report. There are also several fire models done by the ATF that show how the fire progressed. One interesting note: A sharp eyed reader of this website noticed a PPV fan in one of the pictures while the fire was still going on. He had asked if that had any bearing on the rapid fire spread. After reaching out to the ATF agent who did the modeling, he replied that the fan was never turned on and thus had no bearing on the fire spread.
We want to thank you, the readers, for picking up on stuff like this as well as the ATF for responding so quickly and candidly.
A link to our original article:
http://www.rescue2training.com/?p=127
NIOSH report:
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/fire/reports/face201102.html
Keep the door closed!
