Apartment fires that originate on exterior wooden balconies or walkways, and subsequently advance rapidly up exterior walls into the soffit and into the attic are becoming more commonplace. The Omaha (Neb.) Fire Department experienced eight such fires between October 2011 and June 2012. Post-incident analyses for these fires showed that in each case the fire was well-advanced before the first fire unit arrived. Those reports went on to document that the traditional firefighting tactics employed failed to suppress these fires. Although initial fire officer size-ups reported that the fires appeared to be interior fires that had burned outward and upward, an investigation later determined they were exterior fires from the beginning.