SWP - Roof and Vertical Ventilation Operations

Going to, working on and leaving a roof at a fire: vertical ventilation (cutting), inspection holes, checking for extension, rescue from a roof, and defensive operations from a roof position. It applies at incidents and in training on roof props. It does not authorize roof work that the size-up rules out.

• Fall through a fire-weakened roof, especially lightweight truss, engineered I-joist and panelized roofs, which fail early and without warning (NIOSH, n.d.-b).
• Fall from the roof edge or through a skylight, hatch or vent opening.
• Fire and flow path: the vent opening becoming the exhaust for a fire the crew is standing above; backdraft or rapid fire progression.
• Saw injuries; kickback; cutting into conductors, gas lines or the crew’s own egress.
• Falls from the ladder or the aerial tip during access and egress.
• Collapse of parapets, chimneys, HVAC units and solar arrays; energized photovoltaic systems.
• Ice, snow, moss, wet membranes, steep pitch.

1. Elimination. Do not go to the roof: use horizontal ventilation, positive pressure, or an exterior attack where the tactical benefit does not justify the roof; never work over fire-involved lightweight or engineered roofs; a size-up that cannot establish the construction type and the fire location is a no-go.
2. Substitution. Work from the aerial platform or tip rather than the roof surface; cut from the roof ladder rather than the open deck.
3. Engineering. Roof ladders; the aerial as a working platform and escape; saws with working guards and chain brakes; thermal imagers for fire location (not strength); rated anchors on training props (CSA Z259.16:21).
4. Administrative. This procedure; the construction and burn-time size-up; a roof sector or division officer whenever members are on a roof; the incident safety officer per the Emergency Operations Safety Program triggers (NFPA 1550, 2024); sounding ahead of every step; two means of egress; a time and condition limit set by the roof officer; the no-cut-over-fire rule.
5. PPE. Full structural ensemble with SCBA on air when cutting or when smoke is present; helmet with chinstrap; eye protection; gloves; hearing protection for saw operators where practicable; in training, fall arrest or travel restraint to the prop’s rated anchors.

Structural ensemble, SCBA, helmet, eye protection, gloves; roof ladder; a second ladder or the aerial for the second egress; saw (and a second saw or axe as back-up) with fuel checked; pike pole or hook; thermal imager; radio on the roof officer and on every member; a charged line on the ground or the aerial ready to protect the roof crew where the fire is below them.

Minimum two members on the roof, one of whom is the roof officer or in direct contact with the roof officer; a sounding member ahead of the saw operator; the roof officer and the members trained in roof operations (construction recognition, sounding, egress, saw safety, the no-go rules) with an annual refresher (Working at Heights and Fall Protection Program section 7). An aerial operator at the lower controls where the aerial is the access.

1. Size up before anyone climbs. The incident commander and the roof officer establish: construction type and roof system (conventional joists and rafters, lightweight wood truss, engineered I-joist, steel bar joist, panelized, concrete); roof covering and loads (gravel, HVAC, solar, snow); time the fire has been burning and where it is; what the roof is over (attic, cockloft, occupied floor); access points and two egress routes. Decision point: is the roof lightweight or engineered and is the fire in or near the roof space? If yes, no member goes to the roof. Is the construction unknown? Treat it as lightweight until proven otherwise.
2. Assign the roof officer and the ISO. The roof officer stays at the access point or on the roof with the crew; the ISO monitors from where the roof can be seen; the commander sets the time limit for the task.
3. Access. By the aerial tip or platform, or a ground ladder placed to the standard with a heeler; the roof ladder goes up with the first member and is hooked over the ridge on a pitched roof; the second egress (a second ladder, the aerial) is in place before the second member climbs.
4. Sound ahead of every step with the hook or an axe; feel for sponginess, sagging, hot spots, melted tar, bubbling membrane, smoke pushing from the deck; stay on structural members where they can be found; walk on the roof ladder on a pitched roof.
5. Check conditions on arrival: smoke colour and pressure from vents and the deck; the thermal imager for fire location only. Decision point: is fire or heavy smoke pushing from the deck where the cut is planned? Move the cut or come off.
6. Position for the cut. Members between the cut and the egress, upwind where the wind allows, on the roof ladder or a sound part of the deck; the saw operator with a guide member; the cut planned so the opening does not sever the crew’s path back and does not put members downwind of the exhaust.
7. Cut with the saw at full revolutions before contact, the depth set to the decking only, hands on the controls, the chain brake or guard engaged between cuts; no member in the kickback plane; the hook used to louver or pull the decking; nobody reaches into the opening.
8. Punch the ceiling below with the hook from a position that keeps the member clear of the opening and the flow path; expect fire and smoke to vent.
9. Leave. When the task is done, the time limit is reached, or conditions change, the roof officer orders the crew off by the planned egress; the last member off confirms the count; the ladders stay in place until every member is down.
10. Report the roof condition and the ventilation effect to command; the roof officer confirms accountability.

• Member through the roof: mayday per SWP - Mayday; the roof crew does not follow the member through; they mark the location, protect the opening and guide the RIT and the interior crews; the aerial or ladders brought to the member’s expected location; the line below protects the member.
• Member falls from the edge: mayday or medical per Emergency Operations Safety Program; the aerial crew’s suspended-member rescue if the member is caught; do not move except from immediate danger.
• Fire breaks through under the crew: everyone off by the planned egress; the roof officer counts; the line protects the retreat.
• Saw injury: stop the saw; bleeding control; evacuate the member by the aerial or a ladder with a rescue method the crew has drilled; medical.

Any fall through or from a roof, any roof collapse with members on or near it, any saw injury and every near miss are reported before the end of the shift and reviewed (Tier 2 for a fall-through, a collapse with members near, or a saw injury; Tier 3 for death or critical injury). Every roof operation gets a Tier 1 AAR with the roof officer, including the size-up record (construction, burn time, decision) which is written into the incident report.

Initial roof operations training and an annual refresher on a prop, with fall protection to the prop’s anchors in every evolution; saw competency signed annually; the roof officer role practised in the annual company evolution. The Technical Rescue and the Fire Suppression Program Improvement Teams review this procedure jointly every three years, after any event in section 8, and on any new construction type appearing in the district; the JOHSC is consulted.

Working at Heights and Fall Protection Program; Emergency Operations Safety Program; Policy - Working at Heights; SWP - Ground Ladder Operations; SWP - Aerial Device Operations; SWP - Mayday; SWP - Two-In Two-Out and Rapid Intervention; Checklist - Working at Heights and Fall Protection.

This chapter relies on the following legal requirements, which differ by province and territory. Check your jurisdiction’s section on each topic page before adopting it.

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health [NIOSH]. (n.d.-b). Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program [Program website and investigation reports]. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/firefighters/fffipp/index.html