Fighting the Cold

Various cold-weather calls & the lessons my department learned from them

Global warming may be wreaking havoc on many parts of the country, but during the winter months, those of us in Minnesota still experience the joys of firefighting in sub-zero-degree weather. Given a choice between wildland firefighting in 90-plus-degree heat and fighting fire in the bitter cold, Minnesotans will always choose anything other than the cold. It makes for simply the most miserable conditions. And once the temperature drops below -10 degrees, forget it—everything freezes solid within seconds.

When browsing through my department’s files on cold-weather calls, I realized just how many incidents we’ve responded to from which we can extract some useful information. Following is a sampling of some of our cold-weather calls and tips from each.

Residential Storage Fire
Between Jan. 13 and 18, 2005, hearty Minnesotans endured temperatures ranging from -22 to -4 degrees F. On Jan. 15, my department—the Spring Lake-Blaine-Mounds View (Minn.) Fire Department—responded to a large detached garage in a part of our district that’s not protected by a municipal water system. Most of our city has hydrants, but we still operate a tanker, which was the main line equipment to arrive on scene. The crew successfully deployed the dump tank, mutual aid was requested, and two engines were en route.

Due to snowy conditions, the length of the driveway to the fire, the bitter cold and the fact that the fire had a pretty good head start and a substantial fuel load, we were only able to darken the fire before we ran out of water. During the re-supply operation, we attempted to pump water from one engine to the tanker; however, the cold caused that line to burst, resulting in no transfer. The line probably had some pre-existing damage that caused it to burst once pressure was applied in the cold.

The fire was eventually extinguished but, including overhaul, we were on the scene for almost 3 hours—about twice as long as normal, due in large part to obstacles presented by the elements.

Lesson learned: Prior to this incident, our department conducted annual hose testing in the spring; however, we now conduct this testing in the fall, before we’re hit with a large number of cold-weather calls.

Some other issues with this call—and really all cold-weather calls: frozen PPE, frozen equipment and re-packing hoselines.

For people who complain about bunker gear being too hot to work in, we Minnesotans welcome such toasty apparel during the cold weather months. Tip: Have your members carry extra gloves and helmets. Once gloves freeze or get covered in ice, you must replace them; you can’t thaw them on the scene.

It’s also common for pump control levers or lines to freeze shut. Tips: Keep the lines cracked open, put fresh grease on all the connectors and fittings sometime in the fall, make use of the circulating valve or pump heater, all of which will keep circulating water as much as possible at the scene. The downside of this is the runoff freezes and can create additional hazards.

Finally, the ride back to the station can be cramped, as the hoselines don’t roll and have to be “packed” into the crew cab in a haphazard manner. Tip: Once you drain the line, you need to move fast to roll/fold/condense the line into as small an object as possible.

Slippery Roads
In March 2005, a car traveling along one of our city streets lost control due to icy and snowy road conditions—it also didn’t help matters that the operator was driving under the influence. When a vehicle loses control like this, it typically comes to a rest against a mailbox, vehicle or some other object in the road. However, this vehicle was traveling at such a high rate of speed that it ended up crashing into a structure and—true to something you might see in a sensational Hollywood flick—burst into flames.

The eight-plex was safely evacuated, the vehicle operator suffered no injuries (and received free housing and meals courtesy of the local county jail), and fire crews were back in service in less than an hour.

Although the weather had minimal impact on our response and firefighting tactics with this incident, we used this call as a reminder to our crewmembers that they must be vigilant when driving, whether they’re en route to the station in their personal vehicle or in a fire apparatus on the way to a call.

This is an especially important point for new recruits on volunteer fire departments who often share a heightened level of eagerness and a diminished ability to exercise restraint when the call comes in.

Lessons learned: Since being promoted to chief, I’ve made safe apparatus driving and operation a priority. Using a combination of in-house training, guest speakers, test track courses and our recently purchased driver simulator, we have nearly eliminated motor vehicle crashes or incidents. We find it especially beneficial to send our people to the track in the winter. The driving simulator provides numerous options for slick and icy road conditions; however, nothing beats actually driving large rigs in poor winter driving conditions.

Water Main Break
Fighting fires and responding to emergencies in cold weather climates is full of challenges and twists. Take the case of a fire we responded to in January 2008:

We received a report of smoke showing from a small neighborhood grocery/convenience store. As much as any call can seem “routine,” this one was: The store was close to the station; it was a relatively small structure, measuring less than 3,500 square feet; the structure had masonry walls and a bar joist roof; we were aware of the store’s contents; there were few hazards; and it was late at night, limiting the number of cars, people and traffic. But as we all know, just when we think things will indeed be “routine,” Mr. Murphy bursts onto the scene.

Just after setting up our lines and while in the process of making our initial attack, our hydrant pressure plummeted due to a 16" main feeder water main break about one-quarter-mile down the road. Our pump operator immediately switched back to the booster tank and notified command, who requested our tanker and mutual aid from a neighboring city for tankers.

Crews were able to knock down a portion of the fire, but the water supply break allowed the fire to get into the roof, resulting in prolonged salvage and overhaul operations.

Water mains break on a regular basis in cold weather climates, as the ground is constantly freezing and thawing throughout the day and winter. In a typical winter, the city might experience three or four breaks. And when they break, it’s a mess! However, this was the first time we had to deal with a break that directly impacted our water supply during a call.

Lesson learned: This incident reinforces the need to have mutual-aid partners with whom your department can work on a regular basis; that way, when the unexpected happens, your fire department can still perform in a safe and efficient manner.

Other Obstacles
So what other issues do departments face when responding to emergencies in cold weather climates? Although Minnesota is not the tundra, we’re sometime portrayed to be; scenes from “Fargo” and “Grumpy Old Men” are more accurate than inaccurate.

Yes, we do drive on the ice. No, we don’t drive fire trucks on the ice—at least most of us don’t—but some ice will more than support a fire truck as well as several additional apparatus. Ice in the Twin Cities area is typically more than 2 feet thick, and the closer you get to the Canadian border, it’s common to find ice that’s 3 feet thick.

During my travels around the state, I’ve had the opportunity to talk with numerous fire chiefs about their unique experiences on cold-weather calls. Following is just a sampling of what we must be prepared for in the winter:

• Drilling holes through ice that’s 2 or 3 feet thick in order to draft water in the more remote areas. More and more departments are getting dry hydrants (pre-plumbed hydrants to the lake or pond) installed throughout their districts.
• Responding to snowmobile crashes in which the driver has broken both legs. This happens when riders are traveling fast, hit an ice ridge, snow bank or some other obstruction, and are launched off and over the sled.
• Housing large numbers of students and teachers if bomb threats or other emergencies make evacuations necessary in sub-zero temperatures. You may need to consider housing them in vehicles until the threat is cleared.
• Requesting buses from the local operator to house victims of multi-residential fires. Such residents always want to wait out the suppression efforts in hopes of returning or at least obtaining some of their personal belongings.
• Fire at a garbage transfer station when, after all operations were completed, the district chief did one last walk-around and came too close to the dumping chute, which was covered in ice from all the hose spray, and he fell 18 feet into the chute. He broke several ribs and his arm. He recovered from the injuries but retired shortly after.

Nyle Zikmund joined the Spring Lake Park–Blain –Mounds Views Fire Department in 1982 and was promoted to chief in May 1995. He has a bachelor’s degree in secondary education, as well as fire science and administration, and a master’s degree in public administration. He’s an adjunct instructor at the NFA, a CFO, the vice president of the IAFC Great Lakes Division, and is active in the Minnesota Fire Chiefs Association.