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Boston’s Ladder Culture

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Why does Boston throw so many ladders?

 

Mainly because it’s better to have them and not need them.

If you ask around Boston Fire you will get 4 common answers.  Most likely after they ask you why a firefighter would even ask a question like that.

1. Why not?

2. It’s a good practice

3. We have to.

4. The Engines can be more aggressive because they know ladders will be in place.

 

The number one answer was no surprise to me.  But I’ll mix 1 & 2 as essentially the same thing.  Why not throw a lot of ladders? It’s good practice.  Throwing ladders at a fire that is under control gives the real world practice that cannot be duplicated on the training ground.  If the fire is not under control there is no Manpower lost bringing a ladder to the building when the crew is already walking up .  The worst outcome would be the ladder gets laid on the ground near the front of the building so the company can go right in to work.  That ladder will be placed as needed later or put away after the fire.  If the building has sustained a good amount of damage, and you have the manpower, there is no reason to leave the portable ladders on the truck.   You can tell good companies from “not-so-good” companies in the actions they take in the support role. Why does the last engine in bring a big line to front door?  If you need it, it’s there and if you don’t need it, it’s good for the practice.  The companies that show up empty handed or say “we’ll grab it if we need it” don’t do as well as the “we do it every time” companies when it’s time to perform.  In Boston the same thing applies to Truck companies.  If a truck consistently shows up without a ladder they are hard pressed to grab one and throw it when needed, granted they will get it done.  One of the main truck company rules is “If you cannot get your aerial into operation you bring a ladder and put it to the building, your company will have a ladder to the building”.

The 3rd answer “We have to” is not as obvious if you have never been to Boston.  The layout of Boston does not lend itself to having aerials wherever you want them.  The roads in Boston are essentially paved cow paths that meander around terrain features and public grazing areas like Boston Common.  Just like many old cities, Boston’s housing stock  averages 100+ years old, and they were built as close to each other as possible.  The result of that are vast neighborhoods where there are only narrow walkways to access tiny backyards.  These houses have large back porches stacked on top of each other for tenants to hang laundry out and enjoy some fresh air.   Just inside the porch on one side or the other is the rear egress, so when the wooden porches would light up, one means of egress would be taken with it.  Another part of this is that no firefighter wants to be in a building with only one way out, throwing many ladders became a necessity.

Many areas of Boston are made of reclaimed land; hills were scraped down and used to fill in low laying sections of the city. This is not unique to Boston and is very common in other parts of the USA.  The first floor in the front is street level and the back is an additional 1-2 floors down.  This was done so the fill they had would go further by not having to bring all the elevation up, just the street level.  That in itself does not make a difference, but Boston decided that more units would be better than having alleyways or access to the rear of the buildings.  So getting to the rear became a real chore for firefighters. I recall an old timer telling me “We would grab the 40’, go 2 doors down and walk through that unit to get to the rear”.  The idea being the fire may be in the exposure unit but hopefully not extended into the 2nd unit down and it would be quicker to walk through someone’s house than trying to found a way around the buildings.

The average street in Boston usually only allows for 2 aerials to make it to the building, many times, less than that.  Not many sections of the city have the electrical utilities underground, there are not many driveways or garages causing vehicles to block corners and congest the street, these are just a couple of things that make successfully placing an aerial difficult in any city but a particular nuisance in the North East because of the narrow roadways.  When more than 2 aerials can be put into operation, the scene looks like an aerial party with every aerial on scene attempting to get their stick to the roof. Even then you will still find extensive ground ladders to the building.

 

As for the final answer “Engines can be more aggressive knowing ladders will be placed”, this contributor is on the fence.  I’m not a gambler.  How would an Incident Commander explain to someone’s family if a firefighter got hurt because a ladder was not in place in time?  How do you explain we USUALLY have ladders up pretty quickly, but THIS time we didn’t?  I’m not against this mentality, and know people who have benefited from and firmly believe in it.  A friend was on the first due truck searching the 3rd floor of what turned into a 4 alarm, 3 building fire when things started to look bad.  The stairway started to look like a less attractive option so his boss said “let’s move to the front windows, there should be a ground ladder up by now”, and there was.  So yes, Boston can be more aggressive knowing the ground ladders are on the way and the engine companies can be bold because they know the trucks will be also.

For Incident commanders in Boston throwing ladders is not an option, getting water and getting ladders to the building go hand in hand.  Many times at fires in Bostonyou will see a guy rolling a ladder from one window to the next or watch someone else move a ladder from the side of a building to the rear.  Do you know why they could do that?  Because the ladders were already there.  You cannot redeploy something that is still on the truck.  Running down the street to get a ladder that you desperately need now only adds time and potential delays.

I enjoy looking at pictures that were taken at fires and asking questions about what I see.  Not Monday morning quarterbacking, learning from what others did.  Sometimes you will see a roof ladder in a window or to the second floor porch at a very low angle.  Why?  One guy threw it while the rest of his crew was running the line, or it was the only ladder available on the nearest truck.  It may not be perfect but it is a usable and redeployable ladder.

If that is not enough to strengthen the case for excessive ladder use, let’s consider a few other things.  The best RIT crew is the one you never need. Boston’s RIT SOP calls for proactive RIT crews to ladder for secondary egress. How better to get quickly familiar with a building than to walk around and place ladders based on the conditions found in case you or a company inside needs them.  With the big push on flashover awareness how can a department say they are aware and concerned about firefighter’s safety and in the same breath say there are too many ladders to the building?

Construction styles have changed just like construction materials.  It is now not uncommon to find Philly style apartments in Boston (Middle floor of a 3 story shared between 1st and 3rd floor units) where this never used to be the case.  Even recently there was an upper floor fire and the only way to get to the seat of the fire was from an exterior staircase in the rear, a staircase that burned out.  Some homes and buildings just have confusing layouts and odd stairway patterns that cause longer hose lays and further travel distance for egress if needed.  Why not throw more ladders?  If a stairway gives out during a fire you cannot just give up that egress, it’s easy to find and firefighters will be attracted to it, you have to get a ladder in there to prevent firefighters from falling and getting injured.  The closer the ladders are to the point of need the quicker they can be put into use and the potential for injury will be lessened.

I’ve heard people complain about excessive laddering and the drawbacks,  get over it.  The only drawback I can put any stock into is the fear of firefighters getting hurt deploying ladders that will not be used.  If injury is a valid concern on your job then maybe you need to do more training, whether it is physical or ladder operations.

During the Boston Fire Academy recruits will climb over 2,000 stories on ladders, all ladders combined; roof ladders, 24, 35, 40, 50 and aerials.  They will each have to throw the ladders dozens of times and also have to prove to themselves the biggest ladder they can personally deploy on their own.  The recruits will also deploy Pompier ladders individually and as a group in the form of chain Pomps.  With a start like that there is no question about the importance Boston puts on laddering a building.  Recruits that start the fire academy afraid of heights still have a healthy respect for heights after but have no reservations about working from a ladder.

So the bottom line is the same as for everything else on the fire ground; call for the equipment, put it in place, if you don’t need it you can put it away.

I’d rather have it and not need it.

Photos courtesy of The Legendary Billy Noonan  http://www.billnoonanfirefotos.com

Photos courtesy of Stephen Walsh     http://www.box714imaging.com/

 

 

Posted in Aerial Operations, command-leadership, Education/Training, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, Motivation, Training, Truck Tips

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May 8, 2013 • 1 comment

SCBA Familiarization

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Do you know your SCBA? Really, REALLY know it? I do…mostly, I’m ashamed to admit I could know the numbers and pressure levels a bit better.  My current position as Fire Academy Instructor has really opened my eyes to some of the basic tasks of this calling that I may be lacking adequate skills in. Granted, I could tell the recruits that I could pump water from the East coast to the West coast and they would most likely believe me. But if they challenged me to prove it I would be hard pressed to demonstrate it. I don’t generally talk about things I don’t know or that I cannot demonstrate.

So when one of the recruits challenged me in a race to assemble and don an SCBA, I accepted. The challenge is to mount the bottle, attach the lines, turn on the bottle, don the face piece and start air flow. But of course I had to handicap it in my favor. I told him the only way I would race him is if we put flash hoods on backwards first. I won.

With that in mind today’s drill is SCBA familiarization. This floated to the surface after watching the recruits struggle with the maze confidence course. There is nothing life threatening in there. It is a chance for them to work through a search and negotiate some obstacles. Some obstacles require the removal of the pack, and there are some entanglements but nothing that should be too difficult to work through. The recruits had a difficult time, which is to be expected. We also ran a couple of seasoned guys through during that same time and a couple had SCBA issues that I can only attribute to lack of familiarization with the equipment, but  they did make it through without “dying”.

My opinion is that training should be harder than any expected reality. Anyone can kneel down and assemble a bottle and harness. Try to make it harder.

Start with all necessary equipment laid out in front of you however you like, some guys kneel on their gloves  etc… The standards I used for a successful finished product in this drill are; Mask on flowing air, pack on your back fully opened cylinder with straps adjusted and seatbelt on, 2nd PASS activated, gloved hands in the air.

The levels I had the recruits do are as follows.

1. No restrictions

2. Gloves on

3. Gloves on and a flash hood on backwards.

4. Gloves and reversed hood on, equipment messed with.

For the “Equipment messed with” the instructors would go around and rearrange the layout, randomly tighten straps, buckle the seatbelt, turn the bottle or even the harness around. For the recruits that were really good we would tangle lines and straps.

I wish I had pics, maybe I do….

Good luck to you, and stay safe.

 

Posted in Drills, Education/Training, Training, training-development

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March 12, 2013 • 2 comments

The Test

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The recruits have graduated, they will be moving into their first assignments.  They have a lot of things left to learn but they have the basics of fire behavior and attack to build from.

Towards the end they started asking questions about firehouse life.  Some of the questions had to do with when exactly will they be expected to drive and operate the pump.  That is not a set answer.

 

We still have a patrol desk and a member on “watch” 24hrs a day.  So naturally the Probies are expected to learn that first.  They are supposed to use the pit as their base of operations, whenever they are done with a task they return to the pit. I personally believe the apparatus has priority over everything else.  So my Probie will help check the piece and also their personal equipment first.  Other officers think they should do housework first, I think that is a narrow minded view as I believe that teaches the most important thing in the firehouse if mopping the floor. It’s not.

After they learn the pit and get themselves in the watch rotation it’s time for them to start driving back from runs and also practice driving around the district.  We do not have a driver or operator position so everybody takes turns driving.  From the time they are in the watch rotation and driving back from runs map tests will start in earnest.  When they show competency in the district and a few special responses we have then it is time for “The Test”.

Most of the apparatus in our city run a 500 gallon tank.  Not a lot.

We Nose into a hydrant and when the probie says go this is what happens:

1: Open up the deck gun

2: Charge a 100′ section of 2 1/2 so we can play water.

3: Hook up the hydrant and get water into the tank before you run out.

It usually takes a couple of attempts, but after they get it they feel confident in their abilities, and we do too.

Questions? Comments?

Posted in Drills, Engine Tips, Training

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March 6, 2013 • 1 comment

What about the Brother’s Collyer?

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We hear the term “Collyer’s Mansion conditions” thrown around a lot.  As soon as you hear it visions of crap piled floor to ceiling pop into your mind.  With good reason, the Collyer brothers really set the bar in the hoarding game.  If you want to know more about them go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collyer_brothers

This type of hoarding really didn’t start getting properly identified until the turn of this century.  It was mostly thought of as a form of OCD, which most often it is not.  The diagnosis of hoarding is still being determined.  The current diagnostic criteria for hoarding is still just a proposal for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders , or DSM-V which is due in May this year.  It is a VERY complicated mental issue, but, that is not our concern.  Our concern as firefighters is the well being of the neighborhood first and the hoarder’s well being second.

There are more ways to classify hoarders than anyone can imagine: Pure Hoarding, Hoarding plus OCD, organized hoarder, Common hoarder, animal hoarder, etc, etc… Just to show that this phenomenon is still not understood.  Either way 3-5% of the population can be diagnosed with some type of hoarding disorder (#1)

When we come across a property that looks like it’s occupied by a hoarder the first thing to remember is that  this is a private residence and it is not up to us to dictate how someone should maintain their home. It is first and foremost a legal minefield that we just stepped into.

DO NOT JUDGE.  The Mayo Clinic says many hoarders have limited social interactions (#2) and we most likely will put them on the defensive right away and reduce any chance of remedying the problem.  The 2 that I have had to deal with I walked through the property and acted like it was normal,  asked them about social interactions and family.  I also asked them if they had smoke detectors and what was their plan to exit in case of a fire.

Asking around the firehouse I’ve come up with 8-10 stories involving hoarders.  Most of them did not end well for the homeowner.  Most of them involved the home owner dying and the neighbor calling because of the smell.  A couple of the stories involved fires, one of them the occupant was not found until a week after the fire, buried under the stuff she had acquired.

If you have to write them up for something remember to not make it an issue about them or the stuff, but make it about the threat to the neighborhood.  Our most recent hoarder lives in a single family home.  We got called to the house because of a repair man he had at the house called 911 to complain.  I advised the homeowner to make sure all exits were easy to use in case he had a medical emergency or if there was a fire.  Honestly there is very little benefit in writing up an 81 year old man for hoarding. mainly because there is no law, and secondly because it will not accomplish anything.  I also reported him to the “Hoarding task force” that the city runs because they are better equipped to handle these things.

  I have joined my city’s Hoarding Task Force and I’ll have more info shortly.

 

#1 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jclp.20797/abstract

#2 http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hoarding/DS00966/DSECTION=symptoms

Posted in fire-rescue-topics, Thoughts, Uncategorized

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February 26, 2013 • 1 comment

“He writes his own headlines”

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What does “Writing his own headlines” mean?  That’s when someone spends so much time thinking about how this is going to look in the news they forget they have to do the work before the story gets written.

Example:

“Hey Lt Can I borrow one of your guys for this medical call?  My guy is cooking supper.”

“Of course, no problem” was my reply.

1/2 hour later both companies get a call for a Central Station Alarm, and the cook shows up on his piece to go.  When we return the cook asks my guy to cover for him again.  I say No.  He says “But how can you let US run short?”

I understand the cook is doing something for the benefit of everyone in the house that’s why I have no problem running short if his boss does have a problem running short.  My guys are not here to fill in so you can cherry pick your calls, either we cover you or we don’t.  So, in order to prevent digressing into an all out rant, let me be a bit more positive.  Or try.  All companies are equally important in the fire service.  If a company was not needed believe me the bean counters would close it.

If you think that chasing the beeping boxes all day downtown makes you a more important firefighter than the firefighter that works in the retirement firehouse in the affluent neighborhood, you are wrong.  It’s just your job, volunteer or paid.  For the paid guys who think they are more important than the vollies ask the residents of Breezy Point about how important their volunteer companies are.

What makes a company more important than another one?  Nothing on a day to day basis. No resident cares as long as someone shows up.

Knowing your job and doing your job when it matters makes you a BETTER company, more PREPARED Company.  I’m sick of hearing about the “Elite” companies that just drew a short straw that one time. EVERY TIME. Wow, the “Elite” company has a straight up figure eight in the feeder….. that IS awesome.

You know what, I’m going to go negative.  It’ll be more fun this way.  Here is a short list of ways to tell if your company is spending more time writing their own headlines then they are making the story worth reading.  Please feel free to add your own.

1. Oh jeez!  I thought Stedman Court was off Stedman Ave, why would it be 3 blocks away?

2. If you can get to the address, but not to the fire.

3. If you can get to the roof, but dog gone it that guy yesterday didn’t fill the saw.

4. If you know what every other Fire Company did at the incident.

5. If you know what every other Fire Company did WRONG at the incident.

6. What the hell is he checking that tool for?  We never use it.  He must be new.

7. I didn’t know they were building this massive apartment complex in my district.  Those lazy Fire Prevention guys should have told us.

8. We don’t need training, they do.

9. Look at them wearing their equipment while investigating.  Are they afraid of fire or something? It’s just an alarm.

10.  Its not our fault the piece is all beat up.  It’s too big for our district, the city should have thought of that.

Maybe you should have a look in the mirror and see what is really there.  You cannot be that unlucky, maybe you just suck at this.  There is hope, and training is the light at the end of the excuse tunnel. If something is going wrong every time you go out and it always seems to be someone else’s fault, um, sorry but it’s not them…it’s you.

Let’s do the Jeff Foxworthy thing; “You might be writing your own headlines if;”….

 

Posted in Motivation, Thoughts

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January 16, 2013 • 1 comment

10,000 Hours?!

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How do some firefighters get really good at their job and some, well, not so much. I was just perusing Malcolm Gladwell’s book “Outliers” and one of the focuses of the book is the 10,000 hour rule to become an expert or successful. I don’t plan on reading the book, but I’ve heard this 10,000 hour number before.

10,000 hours….

5 years full time employment (40hrs a week)

10 years part time

For the average firefighter that may take an hour a shift to check the piece; 64 years, if you do 3 shifts per week

OUCH! And that is just operating the piece and the equipment on it, not RIT training, not roof operations, not EMS skills, not fitness all of which a firefighter should be an expert at. Or is it 10,000 hours of “firefighter job related stuff”? Either way, I’m nowhere near it.

Now Gladwell is far from THE authority on the subject, having written about other people’s research and weaving in some interviews for flavor, but the idea is interesting.

I may have brought this up before, but have you ever watched someone at an incident farting around with a power tool like a monkey fornicating a football? Don’t you just think “Come on guy, the switch is still off”? How much time has he spent with that saw? How many hours? Minutes? He is acting like it’s his first time.

We ran a 2 1/2″ line in an attempt to fill our local pond on my last shift. The crew was all experienced and professional and I would consider a most of them to be experts. I asked for a solid stream (built into the nozzle) we had an issue finding it, when the hydrant was charged it gave the line too much pressure, We had a difficult time with apparatus placement to have an easy escape in order to stay available for responses.

The placement issue was all me. It was a silly new officer mistake. I try not to micro manage so I let the driver pick the placement based on my requirements, now I know better. The line problems were just rust. Not equipment rust, but firefighter rust. I know they are good at their jobs, it was a good refresher for all. The total delay or inconvenience was negligible and barely noticeable to anyone watching but everyone involved knew what happened and how to fix it.

When we were harassing each other about it later one of the younger firefighters ask what we were talking about and why it was an issue. So I see we need to do it again and get him a little closer to the 10,000.

Every time you put your hands on that piece of equipment you are learning something about it. All those little things that make checking the piece faster and easier for you also make you more familiar with it. The more familiar you are, the better you are but also the more complacent you become, not getting into that today.

Do I think the saw needs to be checked every day to be maintained? No. I do think it needs to be checked every day to maintain our readiness and competency with it. I can understand getting rusty with a 2 1/2″ line, 75% of our work is handled with an 1 3/4″, but there is no excuse for not knowing your saw, ladder, EMS equipment.

Are you going to get 10,000 hours of training and become an “expert”? I doubt it. Most of us have long passed the expert level at sleeping or channel surfing, maybe Grand Master level for some. But the general idea here is that you need to get your hands on that stuff. Get your face in the books.

Become a student of the fire service.

 

Posted in administration-leadership, command-leadership, Drills, Education/Training, Engine Tips, Motivation, Thoughts

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June 28, 2012 • No comments

Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment

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I was trying to teach my children about doing quality work and making sure you can put your name on everything you do.  Of course one of them asked “But isn’t that a lot of work?” Yes, yes it is.  But the effort is the biggest part of any job well done.  Like Ghandi said.  Most of the time it’s the struggle that determines if the outcome is desirable or not.  In the fire service if you do good training and drilling you will do good work.

I thought of Rocky Valentine for some reason.  Rocky was the main character in an old 1960’s Twilight Zone episode called “A Nice Placeto Visit”.  Rocky was a career criminal that was gunned down after robbing a pawn shop.  He wakes up to Pip, his new person assistant for the afterlife.  Pip grants every wish Rocky has.  Rocky has amazing luck in this new afterlife, everything works out for him.  He doesn’t have to struggle with anything.  He wins at the casino every time, the ladies love him, his every wish is granted etc…  After a month of this Rocky gets bored and frustrated with everything working out all the time.   He tells Pip “I don’t belong here in Heaven, I want to go to the other place or I’ll go nuts!”  Pip asks him “What makes you think this is Heaven?”

In my new firehouse I go out with the guys and we do a little drill every day.  I’m not a ball buster and I am not trying to test anyone.  We go out as a crew and do something.

The last time we went out was to run the deck gun.  Nothing fancy, run water and play with tip sizes and talk scenarios and water flow.  One guy has been on for 3 years and that was his first time operating the deck gun.  I have to wonder when the previous officer expected this firefighter to learn this basic skill.  I can guarantee if they went to a surround and drown and that firefighter could not get the deck gun going the officer would lose his mind.

A firefighter I worked with months ago called me to complain that a firefighter that just transferred in ran the line around the stair case instead of up the center; they ran out of line short of the fire.  Tragic.  So now if we are out on a call and see some funky access or architectural oddities I ask the crew how they would handle it.

I’m not an engine guy so I am most definitely learning while we do it. But we are doing it.  When it comes time for us to work, we will work and hopefully it’ll work out right.  Other companies that I have worked at like to sit back and talk about the fires they had.

You are only as good as your last fire, right?  What about your next fire? What about the satisfaction of a job well done?

I think the deck gun qualifies as a basic firefighter skill.  I think shagging a line qualifies as a basic skill also.  Do you really want to be known as the company that messed up a BASIC skill?  Advanced stuff and the once in a lifetime things are fun to prepare for but if you mess up a basic skill on the fire ground you will wear that mistake forever.

 

 

Posted in command-leadership, Drills, Motivation, Thoughts

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June 7, 2012 • No comments

D.E.R. Deep Environmental Retrofit

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D.E.R.  Deep Environmental Retrofit, the process of adding large amounts of insulation and wind proofing to older buildings.  The concept is simple; Add more layers of insulation and wind proofing to cut down on the amount of energy needed to heat or cool a building.

The layers are:

1. Blown in cellulose insulation in the original wall cavity.  Most turn of the century homes in this area didn’t have any insulation.

2. Wrap the entire inside wall with Tyvek, then fur out the walls and add another layer of blown in cellulose.

3. On the exterior wall add 8+ inches of rigid insulation with staggered seams. All seams are taped on each layer and another layer of Tyvek is added.

4. Indicates the 2 layers of Tyvek inside the house, 1 of which is wrapped under the floor.

The end result is 16+ inches of insulation with very little chance of air infiltration.  All of the areas that cannot be filled with blown in or rigid insulation is filled with spray foam.  Even the windows are triple glazed to prevent air infiltration.  The vendor says you could heat the finished room with a hair dryer.

You can see the before and after mock up  in the picture.  In the before picture there is no insulation and plenty of cracks and voids for air to permeate the building.  These leaks help heat from a fire escape and allow fresh air to be sucked in, which is great for firefighters but bad for heating bills.

Firefighters are all too aware of what happens when fresh, oxygenated air runs out at a fire.  The fire darkens down and the temperature continues to rise until something fails or something is opened by a firefighter.  When this happens you get a back draft or a smoke explosion.

We have all been taught that building contents are far different than they were for previous generations of firefighters.  Flashover is being reached at a shorter time than a couple decades ago, and I can post a side by side video if you’d like.  The lower times are caused by a combination of better sealed buildings and the composition of the contents.

So after that overview, how long would it take to starve a room and contents fire of oxygen when the room is sealed and insulated this well?

A couple side notes:

The floor joists were notched during the original construction.  That’s pretty common in these houses.  But you can see in the after picture that the floor is still notched.  How much extra weight has been added to this building and it remains on the original inferior construction?

The vendor indicated they have done dozens of houses in my area and the biggest concern they heard was from electrical inspectors who wanted the power lines from the solar panels to be candy striped.  PV power too?  I think that is a discussion for another day.

Stay Safe.

Donovan

Posted in Building Construction, Education/Training

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November 28, 2011 • 1 comment

Size up this fire.

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The point of view in this video shows almost everything that is happening so you have to imagine yourself showing up at street level and the limited view you would have had.  The first arriving companies thought it was a fire in the rear porches.  They were right, but, the fire was already inside the second building when they arrived.  

 I spoke with the officers on scene and from their point of view upon arrival they thought it was back porches and they thought they may have inadvertently pushed the fire into the second building.  The officer on the first line to the rear was wondering why the fire was going to 3 alarms, let alone 4.   It was obvious to command what was going on, but from the rear it was a different story.  You can see the rear was a floor lower than the front. 

I wish we could just get a couple second video from the front when the first arriving companies got on scene, but that’s not going to happen.  Too often when someone posts a video the commenter gets to watch the whole thing and then decide what they would have done.  It would be better to just get a few seconds and then watch the comments, to keep everyone honest.  But comment away. 

Was going to the rear with the first line a good choice?

Would going in from the front then making a basement attack have worked?

What size line are you going to bring?

Are there any other issues that should be brought up?

I may sometimes sound like a stickler for rules because a firefighter should at least know the procedures that way if they do something that isn’t in line with the procedures they have to provide reason instead of “I didn’t know”.  My only critique is that at least one of the trucks arriving on the subsequent alarms should have looked at the roof instead of just putting the stick up.  This would have minimized the chance of a guy alone on the roof, especially a relatively new guy.  That’s just my opinion and I have had that opinion since this video was taped almost 9 years ago.

Stay safe.

Posted in command-leadership, Drills, Education/Training, Engine Tips, firefighting-operations, training-development, training-fire-rescue-topics, Truck Tips

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September 22, 2011 • 1 comment

I’m on the Radio.

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I was checking out some of the other firefighter blogs looking for something entertaining.  Lucky for me I stumbled across Lt. Lemon at ELAFF complaining about Radio Redundancy.  http://elaffhq.com/2011/08/19/radio-traffic-redundancy/

I suddenly have the urge to complain about the way some people use the radio.  For entertainment purposes only:

Push and hold the little button before you start to speak, and hold it down until you are finished speaking. Nothing is better than getting the middle and the end of a message. “…teen update for the EMS, patient is not….conscious…”

You aren’t in the military anymore.  “Roger, Wilco” and you don’t have to worry about the enemy tracking you so you don’t need to do the 5 second rush.

On the 5 second rush note, don’t think with the mic on.  Think, THEN speak, and make it short.

Don’t over lawyer it.  Yes you are being recorded, but you still have a job to do.  Don’t start changing protocols or common phrases at random.  For example; MVC or MVA, not giving updates if the patient/incident status changes, don’t hide things that should be broadcast.

Speaking of lawyers; you are being recorded, be professional.  “applyin O2″  classic.  “Patient is disorientated”,”It’s just a bum-he’s moving on”.

You aren’t a Doctor (If you are why are you reading this?). In my department we are only authorized 1st responder level care, EMT-B or P doesn’t matter so-”This guy is drunk” I prefer “altered mental status”.  “Heroin overdose” unless there is a needle nearby I usually go with “respiratory arrest”. 

If you aren’t first to the scene, you don’t need to call off, especially if you have no intentions of leaving the piece, thanks. Exceptions; it is a working incident, you are the chief, the ambulance we are all waiting for, or you are positioned out of sight and ready to provide a function from there. “E12 to dispatch, we are investigating on High St” …3min later…”Ladder 3 is on High St” Good job, the engine is already inside investigating, maybe even done already, they’ll see you when they are done.

Last but not least. DON’T EAT THE DAMN THING!  Keep it away from your mouth.  Did you know you may actually be able to leave it on the clip and speak? That’s 2′ from your mouth!

Posted in Drills, firefighter-safety-health, technology-communications, training-development

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September 1, 2011 • No comments

Door Chocking

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I know we’re called Firefighter Basics.  I was actually wondering if this subject was TOO basic to cover.  It’s not.  We went on a run the other day and the officer told the 5 year guy to chock the door.  The 5 year guy reaches up to his helmet and lo and behold the 2 chocks that he wears to balance out his helmet were missing.  He says “My chock is missing”.  The way he phrased it made it seem like it’s not his fault made my mouth drop.  (He didn’t say “I don’t have one.”). The second reason I stared at him like he was and idiot was because we were in a crappy building with litter, debris and CRAP everywhere.  I carry a chock block and have only used it once, to help pop a car door, I only have one chock and I know it’ll magically disappear if I use it somewhere.  So here is a quick primer on “chocking” that door. 

Remember; the Fire Service is goal oriented.  When we do a job there is a mission to accomplish and steps that need to happen along the way.  What are the goals of chocking the door? 

  1. We can get out easily if needed, no locked doors behind us.
  2. Others can get to our location easily, no locked doors in front of our back-up.
  3. Cause no damage or as little as possible if appropriate.
  4. Walk out with all of our equipment.

There are 2 basic ways to chock the door, the first is so its wide open with unobstructed access, and the second is to prevent it from securing.  Preventing the door from securing is usually pretty simple; obstruct the frame, wrap the latching hardware or some sort of complex remove the cylinder process (I’m not a fan).  Preventing the door from securing is the most reliable, the door will usually hold these things in place, they may fall out the first time the door is used but that may be all that is needed.  Propping the door wide open is actually more complicated because whatever you use has to be heavy enough or wedged in adequately to hold the door open reliably

Honestly the highest demand for propping a door open is on the routine medical calls where the apparatus arrives before the ambulance.  An example is a semi-secure building with a desk guy or a buzz to enter building.  The goal is to allow the door to be opened without someone there.  All of these will work and I prefer to use a magazine or flyer of some type at these places.

Everyone loves to talk about chocking a door at a fire. “Door control is paramount” true, but at a legit fire I don’t give a shit about the door, put the Adz end of the halligan behind the hinges and pop the bottom ones free, the door will shift and sit on the ground.  If you need to shut it the top hinge is still in place and the door can be closed if needed.  Understand I’m not talking about forced entry here.

Stay safe

At a tech rescue call where all the other options to chock the door were more of a problem.

Cord, rope or inner tube with 2 holes wrapped around door knobs.

Rug, Mat or some item of clothing thrown over the door.

Old reliable

Floor mat, Magazine, Newspaper under/opening side of the door

Floor mat, Magazine, Newspaper Hinge side of the door

Trash can, furniture, Flower pot as a chock on an open door or agaist the frame.

Some purchased hinge hanger, could also us a wooden Dowel 3/4"X3" with a bent nail for this.

The inverse old reliable, watch out, it falls, but it has it's application.

Posted in Drills, training-development

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July 18, 2011 • 7 comments

Mother-in-Law is back in town

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 Well, my wife’s mom is back in town.  My kids are excited that they would now get more help with their homework.Grandma was an elementary school teacher for 40 odd years before retiring to focus on her true passion; making my life miserable. 

 I found it interesting that they would look forward to her arrival because last time she was here they actually asked me “When is she leaving, nothing is goood enough for her?”.  I can only imagine they LIKE her high standards.  They really do want people to ask more of them. 

So, in an attempt to make this relevant to the fire service….I went to my next assignment as a rental officer the other day.   No big deal I know these guys, and they know me.  I’ve worked with them at incidents before and done training with them.  Before I could get through my first cup of coffee one of my new, and temporary, crew asked me about elevator incidents.  I told him we could go out that day and see a few different types and go over some basics.  He said “That’s why I asked you.  I knew you’d take us out and show us.” 

 The boss of the house also seemed pleased to have me on his company.  He hinted at the fact that I did not get the best group in the house and that others may have refused the spot because of the crew.  I could care less who I get, I have a job to do and they are part of it.  I partially believe that a “bad” crew is a reflection of the officer. 

We took the chain saw apart and visited the elevators at the nearest mass transit stop on the first day. The next tour we went to a high rise under construction for a preplan, a couple of the guys didn’t know the site was going on, let alone in their district.

We will see how long before they get tired of me and ask “when are you leaving, nothing is good enough for you?”

Stay Safe.

Posted in Thoughts

June 17, 2011 • No comments

Tech rescue rant…

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Ok, let’s talk technical rescue for a minute.  High risk/low frequency. 

 Will you get one in your town?  Yes.

Will you be able to identify it for what it is?  Probably not.

Will you get hurt at this incident?  If you’re lucky, yes.  If unlucky, you’ll die.

I’m not good at drama, that’s as close as I can get.  My gripe and or whininess stems from training with people FOR YEARS and the minute they get a technical rescue they forget most of their training.  I don’t care if you can tie a knot.  I don’t care if you know a good way to attempt the rescue safely.  I do care that you at least give a crap about your own safety and wear your damn safety equipment the same way you do EVERY TIME WE TRAIN.

Fire helmets are not for tech rescue they are bulky and extremely top heavy, your neck muscles wear out fast if you are not standing upright the entire time.  Hell, your neck gets tired if you ARE standing up.  When you are in a hole, on a wall or have climbed into some odd place you want a lighter helmet, and my department has them available.  Yes, my favorite line from guys is “I’m a firefighter, I wear a fire helmet”  Awesome, go over there, distract the cameras by modeling your helmet and wait for a fire to break out near here, because you aren’t going anywhere till this job is done.

Command staff, do me this one little favor; TAKE COMMAND!  That’s right, you spent half of your lifetime to get that white coat, now use it.  You know your men.  You know better than to send the best guy over the edge leaving you with second best to get him and the victim out.  You know better than to leave your guys in a hole for 2 hours while 20 guys wait around the top.  Make it happen.  Rotate your men, a decent technician will not quit until forced to. 

What about this zone thing, what is it called.  Oh yeah!  Hot, Warm, Cold.  Get the men/women back.  They are professionals, they can handle it.  The crew should not look like a bunch of rubber-neckers that stopped and got out of their cars to stare.  Things need to get done, lots of things.

OK, let me stop and move onto something informative. 

 Thanks to Wikipedia we have this: 

Technical rescue refers to those aspects of saving life or property that employ the use of tools and skills that exceed those normally reserved for fire fighting, medical emergency, and rescue. These disciplines include rope rescue, swiftwater rescue, confined space rescue, ski rescue, cave rescue, trench/excavation rescue, and building collapse rescue, among others… Often involving multiple jurisdictions.

Hmmm, sounds bad. Lets see the numbers here.  Are you trained to the “would be rescuer” standard or “professional rescuer”?

Confined space 60% of deaths were “would be rescuers”.

Swift water 50% “would be rescuer”

Trench 65% “would be rescuer”

Not to beat history to death but from Mexico City in 1985 on through Oklahoma city 1995 and through more “modern” times like Katrina, ”would be rescuers” die frequently at technical rescue operations because they don’t know the dangers.

So I wonder, if you are a “professional rescuer” shouldn’t you act like it?  Sure you’re a macho tough guy, but really? Are you more concerned about “saving” a dead body than protecting your own life?

 60% of  ”would be rescuers” are killed in technical rescue operations.  Don’t you owe it to your family or co-workers to at least know when to set the brakeand wait for the knowledgeable guys to show up?  Even if they SUCK to deal with, you live and get to continue working.  Tough guy get’s to show off, and everybody gets to go home.

Fires= go fast

Tech rescue= wait a minute…

Stay safe.

Posted in command-leadership, Education/Training, major-incidents, rescues, Thoughts

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April 18, 2011 • 4 comments

Sliding Across the Seat

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  We have a brand new Lieutenant on my company filling in while our assigned boss is out.   I can see the Jr. Lt struggling with his new role and trying to find his place in the chain of command.  He came from a slower district with very few EMT-B’s and a company without a specialty (Hazmat, Tech Rescue, CAFS, Tower etc…) to a Technical Rescue house where you can’t throw a rock without hitting a paramedic. 

  We do our daily training and we don’t expect him to get involved because he is just passing through.  He wants to get involved but he thinks he needs to be the boss during the evolutions.  When we are on medical calls he tries to coach the crew through treatment protocols but he is the only current member of the crew that has never worked for a private ambulance service.

  I suppose I’m not helping very much.  The boss across the floor omits our new Lt every once in awhile.  I don’t know a good way to approach him to offer help with the computer programs, he’s behind on reports, possibly because he’s not familiar with the system.  He can’t access information from the mobile computer while we are responding.  And he won’t get off the damn Federal while we are responding.

  He is a great example of the need for an officer training academy or something similar.  I know it sounds like I’m just busting on him, but I really want to help him out.  He, like every other new officer on my job, is handed a set of bugles on Monday and shows up at a company on Tuesday without any advice, training or mentoring. 

  I’m currently a part time officer.  I fill in for a few weeks here and there, but not permanent.  Don’t think I’m jealous either, I’m not, he got the spot before me fair and square.  I’m sure he’ll be fine after he adjusts.  But why isn’t there a “minimum standards” class or something to that effect?

  I’m going to try to talk to him next tour and see if we can get him up to speed on the computer at least, then we’ll work on his Federal addiction.

Any advise would be appreciated.

Stay Safe.

Posted in command-leadership

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April 11, 2011 • 3 comments

Am I My Brothers Keeper?

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I’ve been spending some time training the probie lately.  What a good time.  Where does that motivation go?  What should I teach him?  At what point does my “teaching” become “storytelling”? How long before he becomes the next whining lump on the couch?

My goal: Prevent him from becoming a couch creature, ever.

Here’s what I’m telling him;

  1. You are going to hear a lot of different things from different people.  Don’t argue, just agree with them and do it their way for that day.  You will find your own methods, you just aren’t allowed to right now.
  2. If someone doesn’t answer your questions adequately go to your officer or me.  I’ll have time for you; I’ll get you the best answer according to our SOP’s.
  3. Until you prove yourself and/or you are off probation your priorities are as follows; getting here early, checking your personal gear, checking/washing the truck, then house duties, finally you will be the last one to leave at the end of shift, sorry.
  4. When we do drills ask questions after the evolutions, not during.  Then ask for clarification if needed, get it done right during training.  Also during training is when we have time for mistakes and redo’s, not during incidents.
  5. Stay away from the coffee table until you know the first and last names of everyone there, and then sit there quietly until invited into discussion.
  6. Listen to the war stories, but try to find the truth in them.  Try to figure out what was done incorrectly to end up in that situation.  Ask you officer if you have questions, don’t ask the storyteller.
  7. I know you want to learn tech rescue, we’ll get there.  Learn the pump and medical protocols first.  We will get to the rest later.
  8. Make your own opinion about other people and other companies.  Worry about doing YOUR job correctly first.
  9. No naps, don’t park/wash your car in the firehouse, keep your butt in the radio room.

10. These guys are not going to be around when you are 80 years old sitting in a rest home.  Hopefully your family will.  Be Safe, always remember your family when you are at work.

11. Wear your equipment.  Let the “salty dogs” get caught with their pants down, they will have some excuse that makes it someone else’s fault that they weren’t ready, you have none.

12. Always have promotion in the back of your mind.  Find an officer to emulate.  Study, study, study there is a lot to this job and plenty of nationwide opportunities for knowledgeable and motivated personnel.

I’m not a mean guy and there are exceptions to everything, but I think if he follows this general outline he’ll be just fine.  Even if he does make some mistakes I think he’ll be better off then the probie on another group who asked the officer to move his car out of the firehouse so the probie could wash his own car.

Good luck all you new guys.  This is the greatest job.

Be Safe.

Posted in Thoughts, training-fire-rescue-topics

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March 8, 2011 • 1 comment

Real Advice to Probies

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I’ve been spending some time training the probie lately.  What a good time.  Where does that motivation go?  What should I teach him?  At what point does my “teaching” become “storytelling”? How long before he becomes the next whining lump on the couch?

My goal: Prevent him from becoming a couch creature, ever.

Here’s what I’m telling him;

  1. Until you prove yourself and/or you are off probation your priorities are as follows; get here early, check your personal gear, check/wash the truck, then house duties, finally you will be the last one to leave at the end of shift, sorry.
  2. Wear your equipment.  Let the “salty dogs” get caught with their pants down, they will have some excuse that makes it someone else’s fault that they weren’t ready, you have none.
  3. Stay away from the coffee table until you know the first and last names of everyone there, and then sit there quietly until invited into discussion.
  4. No naps, don’t park/wash your car in the firehouse, keep your butt in the radio room.
  5. When we do drills ask questions after the evolutions, not during.  Then ask for clarification if needed,we will get it done right during training.  Also, during training is when we have time for mistakes and redo’s, not during incidents.
  6. Listen to the war stories, but try to find the truth in them.  Try to figure out what was done incorrectly to end up in that situation.  Ask you officer if you have questions, don’t ask the storyteller.
  7. If someone doesn’t answer your questions adequately go to your officer or me.  I’ll have time for you; I’ll get you the best answer according to our SOP’s.
  8. You are going to hear a lot of different things from different people.  Don’t argue, just agree with them and do it their way for that day.  You will find your own methods, you just aren’t allowed to right now.
  9. Make your own opinion about other people and other companies.  And put that off as long as possible, worry about doing YOUR job correctly first.
  10. I know you want to learn tech rescue, we’ll get there.  Learn the pump and medical protocols first.  We will get to the rest later.
  11. These guys are not going to be around when you are 80 years old sitting in a rest home.  Hopefully your family will.  Be Safe, always remember your family when you are at work.
  12. Always have promotion in the back of your mind.  Find an officer to emulate.  Study, study, study there is a lot to this job and plenty of nationwide opportunities for knowledgeable and motivated personnel.

I’m not a mean guy and there are exceptions to everything, but I think if he follows this general outline he’ll be just fine.  Even if he does make some mistakes I think he’ll be better off then the probie on another group who asked the officer to move his car out of the firehouse so the probie could wash his own car.

Good luck all you new guys.  This is the greatest job.

Be Safe.

Posted in command-leadership, training-development

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March 2, 2011 • 1 comment

Advice to all Probies

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The latest crop of future leaders emerged from the physically and mentally demanding fire academy 1 week ago.  First off; Congratulations, and great job. Welcome to the best job on Earth.

Now that we got past that “LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING KID…“:

1.Forget EVERYTHING you learned in the academy.  Those book smart idiots don’t know shit about how real firefighters work.

2. Top priority everyday is to make sure the coffee is made.  Get your equipment ready after that.

3. Learning your streets is your second priority after the coffee.  I know you aren’t allowed behind the wheel for a year but you need to know all the streets right now.  Where’s Action Court?  Ha, Wrong!  It’s a street off Action Road that doesn’t have any buildings on it, actually it’s just a named driveway, learn your streets kid.

4. Never leave the truck without a tool.  if it’s a minor car accident bring the pick head axe.  The ambulance drivers can do the medical crap, that’s beneath us.

5. Always carry the pick head axe when investigating alarms.  It looks cool as hell and you can hit things with it.

6.If you wear your tank while investigating an alarm you are a punk and/or scared.

7. Take that suspension and ear flap crap out of your helmet.  You look stupid.  As a matter of fact we could put in the oven for a couple of minutes and take that shine off.

8.In order to be a more streamlined and effective firefighter you have to control your weight.  Dump the search rope, pliers, cable cutters.  Take the liner out of your Bunker pants.  You already have an integrated pass so get rid of that stand alone nonsense.  Now let’s get some cake and watch Wheel of Fortune.

9.Those guys down the street on the west side are so caught up following the book that they forgot they are supposed to be aggressive firefighters.  If you see them stop to catch a hydrant drive around them and we’ll run a line off the tank.  We’ll be alright but if we run out they can fill us.

10. I’ve been on this job so long that I don’t need to check my equipment or the truck.  Besides, the guy yesterday should have done it all.

11. I don’t care if you are a grown man who did 3 deployments to Afganistan as a combat medic.  You don’t know what you’re talking about, I’m a better medic than you’ll every be.

12.  “There I was at that 4 alarm fire……Just me….against the Red Devil…..”

This is advice I’ve heard people tell Probies.  Most of these are direct quotes.  The caliber of leadership can sometimes be astounding.

Stay Safe

Posted in command-leadership, Thoughts, training-development, Uncategorized

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February 7, 2011 • 4 comments

Inmates running the Asylum.

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We have a “tradition”  based firehouse in my city.   It is in a busy area with lots of good work to be done.  Keeping it “traditional” requires the chain of command to continually assign new recruits (relatives) to this house.  So as time has gone on it has developed an “us versus the rest of the department” attitude.  A high percent of the firefighters have a small amount of time on the job.   The firefighters actively run officers out of the house if they feel the officer is not adequately qualified (related).

So….This is my question to the 3000ish people that read this.

If you as an officer get assigned to this house how do you handle the following:

1. The firefighters in the house.

2. The chain of command that will be overly involved in your day to day business.

3. The overall atmosphere involved.

My answer:

Classic start tight and then go light theory.

We will follow “the book”  word for word as much as possible.  Document every stupid little infraction.  I believe doing this will help keep the in-laws at bay and also have a written history of my and the firefighters actions incase this becomes a bigger issue, which it may.

I would like to go out training as much as possible within the constrains of the written rules.   The high frequency of training, pre-fire planning, district familiarization will hopefully keep them focused on the real reason they are at this firehouse 2X’s a week.

We would check the apparatus and do firehouse maintenance as a crew, all members involved, no excuses.

If this plan does not work I’m sure I’ll hear about it.  If  it does work on the other hand then we can lower the frequency of the additional training.

It sounds a bit romantic and overly simple.  Let me know your thoughts.

Posted in administration-leadership, Thoughts

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January 11, 2011 • 7 comments

Remember the Horses

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When it’s my week to be the operator, I have my own routine. Just like everybody else has their own. I wash the truck and scrub the hard to reach areas that others don’t do. Then I check the oil, the medical equipment and the rest of the equipment in the cab, then I pull it out front and run the pump. By this time the truck is mostly dry and I get a towel and spend the next 30min or so polishing all the chrome and stainless steel.

Well, during the polish time today a junior firefighter comes up and tells me “you don’t have to put so much effort into washing the piece”. What? Did he seriously say that?

Do you remember the horses? Strong, dedicated, fearless and outdated. Horses had a shaky start in the fire service, just like every new technology does, but they took over and dominated for 60 or so years. There are stories of horses dying in the harness. Horses that were sold that still race towards fire alarms. Horses that would find the fire and the hydrants for the firefighters. Great animals. But it came time for them to go. Guess why? Financial reasons. Don’t think you are exempt from that reason, you are currently allowed to be at the firehouse because your city has not YET cut the staffing to you. You are allowed to be here because the current technology that your city has decided to afford requires the current staffing level. So, yes I do have to put so much effort into maintaining the truck because I am grateful to have this job.

Here are a few other reasons I put so much effort into making the truck look good.

1. The neighborhood\d LOVES to see us out in front of the firehouse washing the truck. Far more people stop and look. Far more people bring their kids to look, and more people ask questions about what we do. Hmmm, customer service? Community relations? You pick the category.

2. Cities will cut staffing as they see fit. Not too many of us have to look very far to see evidence of that, right Lawrence Massachusetts, Wilmington Delaware Rescue 1?. If the neighborhood loves you they will fight for you, you can ask Boston Engine 50 about that. So making friends in the neighborhood is a good thing.

3. New sprinkler heads (not so new now) that turn off by themselves have the potential to make the down and dirty job of firefighting all but obsolete. Much like what happened to the horses. Sprinkler heads like Grinnell’s F920C and others may still be working the kinks out, but when they get these things figured out they will change our job. Also sprinklers may eventually be required in ALL properties. Real estate developers are currently fighting sprinkler installation in new construction, but even if they succeed in postponing it, it’s still only a matter of time. By the time a new firefighter today gets near retirement age the job will be far less dangerous, have far fewer members and have a higher scope of practice than it currently does. It will be a different job.

I polish the truck for me, my crew and for every member of my community.

I polish it for the horses.

Stay Safe

Posted in Education/Training, Thoughts

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January 6, 2011 • 4 comments

Hello VPS!

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I heard these were coming to my city.  The department said they would be put on some vacant properties in the “less desireable” areas of the city.  Imagine my surprise to see it 2 blocks from my house.

Moving on.  Cruising the neighborhood DOES count as training.  I let a few truckies in the area know about this and now my street looks like a parade route.  Either they are interested in the VPS security system or someone is giving away free lunch.

These are not easily defeated.  They do not help with ventilation.  They do not help with access or egress for us.  The properties involved are arson targets and as you can see in one of these pictures the rear porch doesn’t have decking on it. What does that imply about the rest of the building?

My thought is exterior ops, then send minimal crews in for overhaul.  Your life safety should not be risked for an obviously vacant building.   Get in touch with the company that is managing the property and take a tour, figure out how to defeat these things.  I’ve heard they have steel cross bars inside just like the wooden models that board up companies put up.  If that is the case you’d need a diamond blade on the demo saw.  I would recommend the standard abrasive blade but I think that would dissolve quickly and you might only get 1-2 cuts at the needed depth.

Let me know if you have a trick to getting these off safely.

Stay Safe, and good luck with these.

www.vacantpropertysecurity.com

Posted in Building Construction, Drills, Education/Training, training-development, training-fire-rescue-topics, Truck Tips

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November 11, 2010 • 17 comments

1st Due Hydrants….Check ‘em out.

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hydrant 1
hydrant 2

hydrant 3

I was out for a walk with Mrs. Anchorpoint the other day and I saw these hydrants, in a row.  1,800′ of industrial area with these hydrants.  Imagine this.    This is yet another reason to cruise through your district.  Drills don’t have to be labor intensive to be effective.  Knowing this about an area would really help you out in the event you needed a water supply in the area.

We do hydrant inspections every year.  Each work group is assigned a small section (80-100 hydrants) to inspect.  Part of the fun is finding them as you can see in one of these pictures.

Traditionally each group was married to a sub district.   Shift A has the 3 streets near the waterfront down to the park, for ever.  Shift B only does the streets near the business area etc….. My Captain had a great idea; every year we rotate hydrant inspection areas.  Now everybody has to inspect all the hydrants….eventually.

In case you can’t tell by the pictures one hydrant is too close to the walkway to get a feeder on, might work but it’ll be tough.  One of them the bonnet “lost” all it’s bolts.  And the final one is playing hide and seek.

Keep an eye out, you never know what you’ll see.  Be Safe

Posted in Engine Tips, firefighting-operations

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October 27, 2010 • 3 comments

Show up Ready to Work.

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httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOeUeKi5hG4

Lowell Massachusetts got quite a surprise the other day.  They showed up for an alarm and ended up taking 7 people out via ladders.  The roof collapsed.  The conditions were so bad 1 person jumped, and 1 fatality.

This is a a sad story but a good lesson for firefighters all over. They showed up at 4AM with nothing showing  and then all hell broke loose.  Lowell did a great job with what they were handed.  I wasn’t there, and I cannot say otherwise.  But the lesson here is Show Up Ready to Work.

I have 5 reasons for you.

1. Lowell Mass.  You DON’T know what’s going on in the building.  If you get upstairs and meet a smoke condition what are you going to do?  Make the residents wait for rescue because you weren’t prepared?  Very unprofessional.

2. It looks professional to the public.  Nothing pisses me off more than when we are in contract negotiation season,or any time for that matter, and guys are going in to investigate alarms carrying a pike pole and wearing a T-shirt.  I understand you are a salty dog with 3 years on, but at least make it look good for the public.  Show them we are ready to work and that we do work hard.

3. It’s in your SOP/SOG.  If something happens to you because you were too lazy to wear your gear your department does not have to cover you.  NFPA, NIOSH the list goes on and on of agencies that will say it was your fault.   Don’t do that to your family.

4.  IT’S YOUR JOB!  If you call AAA for a jump start and they show up without jumper cables what are you going to think of them?  Same thing here.  If you get a call for a fire, alarm, etc..and you come running out to get your gear, what is the public going to think of you?  Are they going to support any activities your department sponsors, support  the city’s purchases of new equipment?

5.  If you treat every alarm like it’s a fire one day you’ll be right and everything will go smooth.  If you treat every alarm like it’s nothing one day you’ll be wrong and it’ll be a nightmare for all involved.

My take:  Show up ready to work, at least put on a show for the locals.  If you need your equipment you’ve got it.  If you do too many runs to do the job right maybe you should go to a slower house.  If the gear is too heavy you should find another line of work.

Good job Lowell, Be safe.

Posted in Thoughts, videos

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October 13, 2010 • 3 comments

Building Inspections

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This inspection post is going to be based on the 1000+ inspections I have done for insurance companies.  Yes I was an insurance monkey, and I learned a lot doing it.  Namely; Don’t trust a home owner to do what’s right. Keep in mind that you will be bound by your local codes and fire prevention division.

I’ll try to keep it brief.

1.  Photos

Some departments frown on photography.  The main reason is because when you go to court they will try to prove that you don’t know how to take pictures.  Been there, done that.  But the fact remains: If you can prove that those pictures were taken at that place AND at that time the defense comes to a screeching halt.  I’ve gone to court to represent land lords and just the fact that I was there with photos ended the case.  Take a picture of the building when you are walking up, then take one of the building number with as much of the building as possible in the picture, this proves where you are.  Make sure your camera is set to record the time with the picture info which is very common, and make sure the time is right.  Now you are timing your inspection.  A lawyer will have a hard time proving that you went somewhere else during the few minutes between pics.  DO NOT edit the pictures.

2. Approach

Get a good look around.  Are there any power lines in the way, are they being pulled off the building?  Is the building straight? Do any questions pop into your mind as you look at it.  Can an engine and truck operate as they need to? If not it’s time to document it.  Is this the most commonly used entrance to the building?

3. Greeting

“Hi I’m Anchorpoint, I need to do a quick walk-through of your building.  Do you have time now or can we make an appointment?”  Remember, nothing is wrong, yet.  Explain about how pre-planning helps everybody including tenants and the fire department.  If we can find the utilities we can shut them down quicker if needed.  If it is an inspection let them know what you will be looking for.  Don’t leave without an appointment.

4.Outside

Now that you have the landlords attention, take a walk around the outside.  You know what to look for; exits, building falling apart, trash piles, fire hazards, etc…

5. Alarm System

Is it in Trouble Mode?  Does it actually function or is it still there from the previous tenant?  What does it protect and are there smoke detectors attached to it?  Maybe it’s a burglar alarm and the tenant doesn’t even know.

6. Interior Hazards

Trash buildup, living in filth is very common.  Hoarders are a HUGE hazard.  This has to be documented and addressed.  Falling ceilings, structural damage, gas tanks in the house, welding operations in the house, poorly made repairs, the list goes on and on.  My advice is don’t waste your time looking at every detail, the issues will probably present themselves, unless of course you are the fire inspector.

7. Utility Locations

You need to know if they are secured, hidden and just where they are so you can find them later.

8. Special Hazards, Special Services Required

Commercial cooking requires a vent hood, and vent hoods require cleaning.  The funny thing here is the law required “cleaning as needed”  but the insurance companies required every 6 months.  There are dozens of things involved with cooking.  Day cares require permits, painting booths require vents and paint storage.  I won’t bore you with that but keep in mind special hazards require special services.

9. All Areas Inspected?

Did you miss anything? What about roof access? Adjoined buildings? Tunnels dating back to the civil war?  Did you look in the crawl spaces?  Open all doors that you are allowed to, make sure they work and where they go, you’ll get a surprise one day.

10. Wrap Up

Tell them what you think.  Tell them what they need to fix.  If you are giving them a break on something you NEED to follow up on it.  File an abatement or call the chief and let him know what’s  going on there, now it’s his problem.  If you don’t document or follow up you can get sued for breech of duty.  If something goes wrong and they have a financial loss they will say the fire department knew about it.

11. Reporting

Tell whoever walked around with you, tell the chief, enter it into the CAD, File an abatement.  Whatever is appropriate to do, you need to do.  Then follow up.

12. Legal

Oh yeah, legal.  If you do what your are supposed to do you won’t have any problems. If you forget to follow up or file the abatement do it NOW.  If you get called into court you can review your notes.  It’s ok. Remember it’s not personal.  Too many people take this personal.  The property owner thinks it’s cheaper to go to court than install a sprinkler system, so what.  You have to do your job, and you also have to look out for the other firefighters.

Posted in Building Construction, fire-prevention-education

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October 6, 2010 • 1 comment

Pre-Planning, Where to start.

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In my current capacity as a rental boss I don’t have the privilege of having my own crew.  Where ever I get sent is the crew I have.  It’s sort of like taking care of brothers grown kids; they know what to do, your just there for occasional guidance.  Here is one of those instances.

We were responding to alarms sounding in a building and I hear one of the guys in the back say “I hate this building, It’s confusing and if we get something here we are going to look like crap”.   Well that’s just ducky, thanks for instilling confidence in me.  We run the call and the crew wants to hurry out. I ask them “since we are here and we have the maintenance guy, let’s walk the whole building”.  No problem.  We drew a little map, found the utilities and then found roof access.  10 min well spent.  .  We also realized if we parked on the side of the building we could run a line directly to 3/4 of the building instead of just  the 1/4 when we parked out front.   When we got back to the barn I showed them how to put it into the CAD

2 drills for the day.  They loved it.  The reason they never did it before was because they thought it would take too long.  Now they know, and with the info in the CAD the whole city can know if they want.

In our line of work avoiding things usually makes them worse.  If there is a building in your area that you “don’t like” get on it.  Make an appointment and walk through it.  Find the utilities, roof access, any little secrets you can.

Next time  we’ll talk about the actual pre-planning process.

Be Safe

Posted in Drills, training-development

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September 30, 2010 • No comments

Elevated Master Streams

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Sooooo, my mouth got me into some trouble the other day.  Again.  I was working at one of the Tower units in my city and they started talking crap about how they get called into all the big fires because the towers have the “Master” of Master streams.  I noticed that the tip on their monitor didn’t look very “Master of Masters”.  Nope, 1 3/4″ smooth bore.  What is the discharge on that?  Right  800-ish GPM.  Wow, impressive.  NOT.  The Captain of the company had decided that a solid stream is better than an adjustable nozzle for surround and drown operations.  And I full heartedly agree.

But if you are being called to the scene because your apparatus is equipped to deliver 2x the elevated stream punch as any ladder pipe, why, oh why, would you put the same tip on your elevated stream as every other one in the city?  Dunno.

“But, But, But!!!  We have a 5″ waterway.  We need an engine dedicated to us at a fire.  But we can just increase the pressure to get more water.  But all those reducers we had to put on the monitor to get the pipe down to size does not restrict the amount of water that can go through it.  But, fog nozzles need 100psi at the tip, sometimes it’s hard enough getting 80psi up there.”

Oh I’m going to need to do some work  here, or just drop the whole thing all together.  Yeah right, I can’t let this go unchallenged.

So I ask them for the fog nozzle that they had removed.  They had it nearby.  Good for them.

Written right on it “1000gpm @ 50psi, 2000gpm @ 80psi”.   That was 1 “but” out of the way.

The average pump in our city is rated at 1250gpm @ 150psi.  Generally we need just under that to get the 80 at the tip.  If you raise the psi anymore the GPM’s go down.  “You mean to tell me MORE psi means LESS water?” Yes, but that’s a discussion for another day.  Look at the chart on the pump. Dammit, another “but” off the list.

I asked them where the reducers and tip came from. “An old ladder pipe” was the answer.  Really?  you’re using the same equipment as everybody else and expect it to do something different for you?  You have a 5″ waterway and you squeeze it down to a 2 1/2″ so the tip will fit.   I think that “but” took care of it’s self.

I’m no master of hydraulics, and I may have told them some outright lies.  But the idea that command staff believed the towers have a large capacity to deliver water to hard to reach areas, and they do.  To handicap your ability to perform that function is a great disservice to everyone on the scene.

After that little drill and associated research(5 hours) all of us have a better understanding of the capabilities of the tower and now they are looking for a siamese for their intake and starting to tell co-workers that 1 pumper just isn’t enough for their “Master, Master Stream”.

Tip of the day; Don’t arbitrarily change something because that’s the way it used to be.  New technologies can make some pretty cool things a reality.

Posted in Aerial Operations, Engine Tips

September 16, 2010 • 5 comments