NYC Fire Department Forcible Entry Manual (2006) [pdf]
Interesting seeing this posted here.<p>I&#x27;ve spent the past decade+ as a firefighter with the FDNY and this is always a go-to book (at least for monday-morning-quarterbacking how somebody did something).  It&#x27;s one of the few times a book does a good job at mirroring actual practice.  We have a lot of other books on tools and procedures, but this one is more interesting to a hacker&#x27;s mindset.<p>Some notes:<p>- trying the doorknob is indeed important advice. I think the ones I&#x27;ve forced have always been locked, but there are plenty of times I can&#x27;t guarantee 100% that I checked the doorknob first.<p>- always good to jiggle the door before you attack it to see just where the locks are locked on the inside.<p>- the halligan tool is perfectly made, but the different ways of increasing leverage are always useful (like marrying it to another, or chocking the door with an axe (or wooden chocks) to maintain progress and you &quot;work your way up&quot;).<p>- breaching a wall is sometimes an option.  Sometimes a $1000 door has a $10 sheet of drywall right next to it.  Only needed to do this a few times but makes you look like an animal when you do it.<p>- no matter how hard a door is, the hydra-ram is almost always guaranteed to open it. but we usually use this as a last resort or for emergencies where you can&#x27;t waste time &quot;d&amp;$*ing  around&quot;.<p>- never give up your tool.  basically, if you are working to force a door, but it&#x27;s taking some time and someone says &quot;let me give a try&quot;, don&#x27;t take the bait.  If someone else pops your door for you, you will never live it down.<p>- on my first run ever, a gentleman from my company showed me how to twist off padlocks like in the example on the bottom of p.122.  An obvious trick, but worked well though my career and I got to show it to a bunch of people.  Trivial example but I only mention it because he died last year of WTC-related-illness.<p>- I always had a tool like this: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.homedepot.com&#x2F;p&#x2F;Estwing-10-in-Pro-Claw-Moulding-Puller-MP250G&#x2F;202033612" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.homedepot.com&#x2F;p&#x2F;Estwing-10-in-Pro-Claw-Moulding-P...</a> in my coat pocket (a little better model though).  Worked great for lighter doors with minimal locks (staircases, internal offices, closets etc.)