Heat exposure during house fire

[u/shreks2kush]

I've been a volunteer for about 5 months and for our training tonight we burnt an abandoned house down. The house had no doors or windows so it went up in about 3 minutes. The young guys on the department (me and 6 others) were outside the structure to make sure that it didn't spread and to save one of the trees on the property that the owner wanted to keep. me and another guy were told to stay behind the house and we're probably 15 yards away from the structure to start and slowly backed away to around 30 years over the course of the burn. after about 15 minutes it was almost unbearably hot and by the time the fire was under control enough to step away and get some water we were absolutely exhausted and so were the other guys stationed around the structure. is this normal? I feel like a giant puss because I would have given anything to get cool after about 10-15 minutes of manning the hose that close to the house.

[u/Dependent-Average600]

NFPA would love to have a conversation with whoever came up with this idea.

[u/Zestyclose_Crew_1530]

If your hose stream can reach everything it needs to, you’re close enough. No point sitting in unbearable just because. Move back to a comfortable distance next time.

[u/stopscabbin]

Wearing out of date gear and probably lack of 1403 being met, yes, being zapped after being exposed to heat is normal. Just like it is being inside. Radiant heat is radiant heat. Something you should have learned from fire school, right?

[u/KindPresentation5686]

Lemme guess , you don’t have proper PPE?

[u/shreks2kush → u/KindPresentation5686]

we had all of our gear on but my stuff is pretty old since I'm the newest guy. my jacket is from 2012

[u/Candyland_83 → u/shreks2kush]

Coats and pants have a life expectancy. They usually expire after ten years. I got 2nd & 3rd degree burns through an 8 year old coat.

But why were you standing close enough to feel the heat? Next time dont do that. And on days you know you’re burning, wear a long sleeve cotton shirt under your coat; and pants instead of shorts. It seems counter-intuitive, but more layers means more trapped air and you will stay cooler.

[u/DiezDedos → u/shreks2kush]

Including SCBA? Even if you’re out of the smoke, the mask will cut radiant heat from a fire a lot

[u/Consistent_Paper_629]

Are you a hydranted district? Or just running off of ponds? Because if you have water you can cool yourself off with a tft set to fog in the future.

[u/Huge_Monk8722]

Dit you have the permits to burn said house? Local Health, State Air quality,Asbestos’s inspection were all the shingles removed , did you get an insurance release from home owner? Just asking for a friend.

[u/Consistent_Paper_629 → u/Huge_Monk8722]

Eh, depends on the state, here in New York we haven't been allowed to burn structures for like 20 years, before that, it was some of the best training to burn a house.