"After a firefighter is killed or injured, people outside the fire service often question why firefighters must go inside burning buildings to extinguish fires. There are several reasons why firefighters enter burning buildings, the most important of which is saving lives."

Reasons for Interior Firefighting
"During the first few minutes of a hose line attack inside a smoke filled building, unconscious men, women, and children are tripped over, stumbled upon, bumped into, crawled over, and rescued by firefighters. These victims would die if firefighters fought fires—more safely—from outside burning buildings. Many lives are saved accidentally during interior firefighting. Most fire victims are discovered by chance, when firefighters are performing routine firefighting tactics, such as searching for the fire origin, advancing a hose line, and venting windows from inside a building. Each year 6,000 to 8,000 people die in fires."

"Another reason why firefighters attack fires with portable extinguishers and hand-held hose streams inside burning buildings is because it is safer to attack a fire while it is still manageable. If a fire is allowed to grow and spread outside a building, the dangers to firefighters actually increase. When fires spread outside buildings, brick walls collapse, explosions—caused by flammable gases and liquids used for cooking and heating—occur, and nearby high-voltage wires burn and fall from utility poles."

Injuries During Interior Firefighting
"Each year 100,000 firefighters are injured at fires. One of the most dangerous moments on the fireground occurs when a large fire, beyond control of personnel and equipment on the scene, has extended outside a burning building and is spreading rapidly to adjoining exposures. At this instant firefighters, attempting to remove people in the path of the fire and to set up initial attack hose streams, are extremely vulnerable to fireground injury."

Interior Firefighting Equipment
"Finally, firefighters go inside burning buildings to attack fires because the equipment they use is designed for interior firefighting. Once flames spread outside a burning building, it is often beyond the capabilities of the firefighters' equipment. Radiant heat spreads fire to nearby buildings. These large fires (conflagrations) are stopped by natural barriers such as rivers and ocean spaces or by man-made barriers such as streets, highways, or solid brick walls. Firefighters move in after the fire spread has been stopped and supervise the controlled burning."

"America's fire service is equipped primarily for interior firefighting. "…small-diameter (six inches or less) water mains, mobile water supply tankers, small-diameter hose, and SCBA are effective during inside firefighting."