I know a little about it. All buildings that are on fire have some degree of structural integrity so the scene has to be sized-up before entry is made. That happens very fast so a lot of it just has to do with standing protocols and the judgement of those in charge at the scene. Life safety priority in this order - your own, your crew members/other responders, general public. People may not like that ranking but you can't do much good if you're dead. That stated - it would be kind of hard to not attempt to rescue as many as possible when you're pulling on scene and see people jumping to their deaths from the 80th floor.

I know a little about it. All buildings that are on fire have some degree of structural integrity so the scene has to be sized-up before entry is made. That happens very fast so a lot of it just has to do with standing protocols and the judgement of those in charge at the scene. Life safety priority in this order - your own, your crew members/other responders, general public. People may not like that ranking but you can't do much good if your dead. That stated - it would be kind of hard to not attempt to rescue as many as possible when you're pulling on scene and see people jumping to their deaths from the 80th floor.