If you look at the data and the NIST studies on exterior "reset", "transitional attack", "hitting it hard from the yard, it works best and is only designed to be a 20-30 second application at a high angle off the ceiling into the fire compartment - followed by a rapid movement of an interior line into the original fire compartment. Thes studies show that after 90 seconds, the fire that was hit hard from the yard or reset, will grow back to its original ferocity. So while it can be advantageous to give it a quick spritz in a first floor window before advancing the line another 60 feet into the building and finishing up from inside, its a whole other realm in H Types, projects, or tenements involving 300-600 foot stretches into wings, up multiple floors and down long hallways. Fire escapes all deflect and block streams from the outside. so the default mode of attack changes in different jurisdictions and with the available manpower. In FDNY the default mode is interior advance and attack. Some old sayings that still hold true today. " as the first line goes, so does the rest of the fire(job)" " The hallmark of a good engine company is to rapidly advance and quickly get water on the fire"
