ROOFMAN; PART 1
Ladder Companies institute a two-team offense covering their area of assigned responsibility guided by the alarm box assignment. The first due ladder company operates on the fire floor and the second due ladder company operates on the floors above. The ladder company is divided into an inside and outside team. The inside team consists of the company officer, the forcible entry fireman and the canman. The outside team consists of ladder chauffeur, outside vent (OV) and roofman (RM).
The outside team is not under the direct supervision of the company officer, and typically requires a more seasoned firefighter, part of their tool assignment is a portable radio to maintain communications with their officer.
The duties of the RM demand a motivated, knowledgeable and adept firefighter capable of decisive action. The RM’s priority is to get to the roof as quickly as possible, and perform vertical ventilation especially on typical flat roof Bronx tenements where smoke, heat and lethal gasses quickly begin to build up on the top floor suffocating anyone above the fire.
As a new member of L 38 Company officers began to appreciate my progression and began assigning me to various positions operating by myself. Tonight I will be working with Lieutenant Pat Welby, he has an unmistakable Irish brogue and oftentimes difficult to understand, he has assigned me the RM position. Lt. Welby is a War Year vet having worked in squad companies during the arson War Years. At times, he comes off gruff and likes to call us young guns in the company kids.
He’s not Mr. Warmth, but more business-like friendly, like an uncle who doesn't like kids. When assigning truck positions to us young guns that require a portable radio he forewarns us in his Irish accent “don’t be callin’ me on der radio fer nuttin’ unless ye’ar dead or somethin’”. Accordingly, the senior man piles on with witty advice, “Just get yer ass up on the roof and if you need a mask, we’ll bring it to you”.
Of all the four truck positions, Roofman was my favorite truck assignment. I appreciated the significant priority, responsibility and urgency attached to the position. During the Bronx Glory Days most of our jobs were in the ubiquitous massive six story apartment houses, many still vacant, and with consistent fire duty in these buildings the repetition afforded me plenty of opportunities to hone my skills and work the bugs out. Receiving tips and pointers from senior men was a huge advantage.
Getting to the roof of a six story tenement the RM had a few decisions and options he had to make quickly. The first option was to take a second separate stairwell in the same building that was in an opposite wing of the reported fire. However, if the two stairwells were connected by a common hallway, this option was nixed. The next choice was to dash up the stairwell in the adjoining apartment house, providing both buildings had the same height so that you could climb over a low parapet wall from one building onto the other. The third option was climbing theaerial If the building was isolated or there was a height difference from the adjoining building. If all else failed, the least desirable method was to scamper up the rear fire escape.
But this was just the start. Next I will divulge the duties, responsibilities, hazards and various procedures of roof operations on tenements, row frames and taxpayers including venting, coffin cuts, trench cuts, and much more in the following series of “ROOFMAN”. Stay tuned!
(PHOTO, RM ascends aerial to vacant apartment house job on Southern Blvd, Bronx 1983ish.)
Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed!