Hillbilly Ventilation Drill

So my co-worker Ian is a bit "country," and decided to trade in his old chicken coup. I haven't seen the new one but I hear his chickens love it. Anyhow, he came into work and offered to have us break out the saws and practice ventilation cuts on a real roof setting. This is what it looked like;

We obviously weren't out at three in the morning hanging off the side of a roof ladder but it was the first time I got to cut into something with layers of plywood, tar paper and shingles. Most trainings just give you a piece of naked plywood to cut into and as I found out, there's a few major details that get left out. Here's some things to look at.

The shingles and tar paper are an issue. In any IFSAC or IFSTA practical test, instructors have you verbalize ripping off paper and shingles prior to even making a kerf cut. But lets look at what that really would entail. You are at a structure fire. The fire is involved enough that you need to put a vent hole approximately 4ft x 4ft. So not only are you bringing your saw on the roof, but some other kind of claw tool. Then you have at least 30 seconds to a minute of ripping the hell out of the roof trying to pull up shigles and tar paper. That's if your a bad ass. That's also an extra minute of hanging out on the roof prior to getting a vent hole, meanwhile the conditions are getting worse inside the structure. So the simple answer is just to go for it and cut through the shingles and tar paper. It saves time, but theres more to consider.

At the OFA, we were trained to make vertical cuts starting from farthest away and then every six inches back toward you, with you or your partner striking the pieces into the roof making a louver cut. On naked plywood, it works great. When you are cutting through tar, things get sticky. As the tar in the shingles paper meet the saw, they heat up, melt and wreak havok on blades. Eventually, The blades turned useless. We never used the K12 ugly blade, but we managed to sufficiently gum up a standard chain saw blade and our K12 universal. I pity our small engines repair guy that had to clean them. Here's what our chain saw looked like.

So what we learned was this; If you are called to a roof to vent, time is of the essence. There's no need to be on a roof any longer than you have to at a structure fire. SOUND THE ROOF WITH A TOOL, LOOKING FOR SPONGE-LIKE AREAS OR OTHER SIGNS OF WEAKNESS. You will die a hero if you fall through a roof into a fire but you'll look like an ass doing it. And don't be afraid of roof ladders. They work great, and for the added safety in a really dangerous setting, they're pretty light and convenient. Make your way to the spot closest to where you think the seat of the fire is below for your cut. Also, make the fewest cuts possible. If you use a standar chain saw, or a K12 with a standard blade, you are going to gum up a blade fast. You can easily create a 4ft x 4ft hole though.

Now if you want to see a guy that really knows the ropes in ventilation, check out this video with Trey Nelms of 3 Truck, Nashville Fire. He has some great techniques and impressive tools specialized for venting in the fire service. Plus, he has a kick-ass mustache.