Lessons learned from a flashover 

By Lt. Robert Edwards

Let me tell you about my flashover experience, maybe someone can learn from it. Myself as the officer , a probie ff, and a ff entered a burning 1 story duplex apartment that had been re-connected to form a single family dwelling. The smoke was down to about 3ft above the floor and we entered the front door, you could look under the smoke and see the glow from the rear of the house across from the living room. We moved across the floor, the probie on the nozzle then me and the ff about 5ft back. As we crossed the fire "waved" across the room and I directed the nozzle to be pulsed into the atmosphere in a narrow angle fog. This cooled the atmosphere and we move farther in, the fire waved again and we did the same thing and proceeded. The fire then waved and lit, the ff was able to make the door, and received some minor burns going through the doorway. I put my arm over the probie and as I pushed him to the floor told him not to stand up.  As the atmosphere was burned  it raised up from the floor and we again pulsed the ceiling with the fog and brought the heat down on us in earnest.
There are several items of note: The fire was vented from the eave vents, but clearly not enough. The DC stated that when he arrived he saw fire coming out of all of the windows and the door and an 1-1/2 line going in. (pre 1-3/4 days). As an officer I made several mistakes in judging the fire involvement. We had just received our nomex hoods and this was of great benefit. The fogs, that we were always taught would protect us actually caused more harm than good. Lastly, me and this probie (who is no longer a probie) have since written several articles as proponents of smooth bores (or at least straight streams) for interior attack, based on this and several other experiences