Forcing Entry: A how to?

[FFToast]

I'm part of a rather small (compared to most in the US) volunteer fire service. In our three part basic training, we are not taught any forcible entry techniques apart from 'Break glass before wood' and things along the lines of "If you need to force a door, you can use a Halligan tool/sledge hammer etc" but we were never shown exactly how.

Our appliance stowage consists of a flat head axe, six foot Pike pole, sledge hammer and a Halligan tool with a cutting claw for forced entry. We aren't divided into Truck/Ladder/Engine companies, each brigade simply has a single appliance with a minimum of four people to do all the work.

I've looked all over the internet for any kind of step by step 'How to' and have found very little that is helpful. If you guys and girls could help, it would be very appreciated.

[KenNFD1219]

Here is a forcible entry lesson plan from Firehouse.com.

One of my favorite methods on inward opening, residential type doors it the sledge hammer applied just above the lock cylinder.

Their are many techniques on forcible entry. IFSTA covers the basics in the Fire Ground Support Operations manual.

[Squad1LT]

Tom Brennan had a series of forcible entry training tapes through fire engineering that would help you out. I am sure that your state fire marshal's office would have them in their library that you could check out.

[FFToast]

The Tom Brennan videos look good but $310 US is a LITTLE on the pricey side. I'm in Australia and theres not much of a library or information repository to speak of in our service.

[Squad1LT]

Well, i havent got on there in awhile but you used to be able to do a search through old articles in fire engineering. Do a search on forcible entry you should find some good basic aritcles with pictures.

[doughesson]

Aren't there fire schools run by the state or province that you can attend?Because I knew what a learning curve I was on when I joined my volunteer department 3 years ago,every time someone breathed the word"training in Louisville or Elizabethtown(Ky)",I had my bags packed and was ready to go.The last one I went to was forcible entry which had little classroom training and lots of hands on out in the parking lot because they had mock ups that were easily repaired for the student.
Til you can go to one,try before you pry and use the fork end of the halligan for inward opening doors and the adze end for outward opening doors.

[NDeMarse]

The Tom Brennan videos look good but $310 US is a LITTLE on the pricey side. I'm in Australia and theres not much of a library or information repository to speak of in our service.

Toast, I assure you that the $310 that you (or your department) would spend on the Brennan videos will be the best $310 spent in quite some time by your department. While it is a bit expensive, you can base drills on those videos for years! I have been in the fire service for over 13 years now and still revert back to them for drills or if I have questions on certain techniques.

It is tough to give a step-by-step description of Forcible Entry because there are so many variations of doors, locks, roll-down gates, etc...out there. If you give me a specific case, I might be able to help you out a little bit.

Good Luck!

[FFToast]

Aren't there fire schools run by the state or province that you can attend?

Attended most of the courses that our service runs. The only ones I've not been to are leadership/management and Vehicle Accident Rescue. This is the reason I'm stuck for information on forcible entry. There is about 4 pages in one training manual, no practicle though.

Toast, I assure you that the $310 that you (or your department) would spend on the Brennan videos will be the best $310 spent in quite some time by your department. While it is a bit expensive, you can base drills on those videos for years! I have been in the fire service for over 13 years now and still revert back to them for drills or if I have questions on certain techniques.

Hmm... I'll have to get petitioning for some funds. We really dont have $400 to drop on videos though. Thanks for the help anyway guys and gals

[JTFIRE80]

Check out this link for forcible entry. It's a whole video and it's free. It doesn't cover everything, but it definitly useful.

www.oca.gsa.gov/firefighter/index.php