Smoke on the Third Floor
At 10:15 a.m. a lobby security officer in a seven-story New Orleans office building hears the fire alarm and sees smoke drifting from the third-floor electrical room into the elevator lobby. The building has about 220 occupants, two stairwells, and four elevators. Stairwell A is clear. Stairwell B has several boxes of stored files on the landing. A tenant on the fourth floor uses a wheelchair and is waiting near the elevator. The fire alarm is sounding but no voice evacuation message has been given. The officer has a radio, a fire extinguisher rated ABC, and a printed floor-warden list. The fire department has not arrived; dispatch says the nearest engine is six minutes away. A delivery driver at the loading dock asks the officer to sign for a package.
1. What are the officer's immediate priorities, and what should he do about the elevators and the wheelchair user?
Read the worked answer
Life safety comes first. The officer should confirm the fire alarm, call 911 or confirm dispatch, and start evacuation without waiting for the fire department. The smoke is near an electrical room, so the officer should not assume it is a small fire. The delivery driver can wait; signing for a package is not a priority.
Occupants should not use elevators during a fire alarm. The officer should direct people to Stairwell A, which is clear, and keep Stairwell B from being used until the boxes are removed or the fire department clears it. For the wheelchair user, the officer should use the building's planned area of refuge or a stairwell landing if that is the building plan, and request fire department assistance. The officer should not attempt an unsafe solo carry down stairs. A voice announcement, if authorized, should be calm and specific: use Stairwell A, do not use elevators, proceed to the assembly area.
2. How should the officer communicate and manage the evacuation?
Read the worked answer
The officer should use the radio to notify the building engineer, floor wardens, and other guards. The message should be brief and factual: smoke on the third floor, Stairwell A clear, Stairwell B obstructed, elevators out of service, fire department en route. Floor wardens should check their areas and report occupancy, but no one should re-enter to search for people once the fire department arrives.
The officer should meet the fire department at the main entrance with keys, access cards, the floor-warden list, and information about the electrical room and the wheelchair user. The officer should keep the loading dock clear for fire apparatus. If the alarm stops sounding, that does not mean the building is safe; evacuation should continue until the fire department gives an all-clear.
3. When should the officer use the extinguisher or allow re-entry?
Read the worked answer
The officer may use the ABC extinguisher only if the fire is small, he has been trained, he has a clear exit behind him, and the smoke is not heavy. An electrical room fire may involve energized equipment; water-based or improper extinguisher use can be dangerous, and the power should be shut off by trained personnel. If the smoke is spreading or the fire is beyond a small incipient stage, the officer should evacuate and leave firefighting to the fire department.
Re-entry is not the officer's decision. No one should re-enter until the fire department declares the building safe. The officer should document the alarm time, smoke location, evacuation actions, stairwell conditions, assistance given to the wheelchair user, and fire department arrival. If the officer used an extinguisher, the report should note the type, amount, and result.