You arrived fire showing, Alpha, Bravo Second story .
Often times firefighters miss the opportunity to get it right on the drill ground by failing to work on steps in small segments. In order to be able to gain proficiency we must start at understanding why we are using the hose load we are using and the pros/cons when stretching in your response area. What are the streets like? What are the dwelling sizes? What are the building types? Are you prepared for extended stretch?
Posted in Drills, Engine Tips, training-development
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
Okay, so I know that it’s been a while since I have last posted, so I thought I’d start with a short one as I dust off my keyboard. This story occured a few months ago, and I have been meaning to share it, but haven’t gotten around to it, until now. One thing that I have always advocated to everyone is the standard morning checks of one’s equipment prior to starting the shift. In addition to the standard SCBA checks of checking the bottle, turning it on and hearing a PASS device arm, I also allow my PASS to alarm after the 30 second time out. Once it alarms, I silence it, then re-activated it by pushing the manual activation button before silencing it for good. Upon completing this ritual, a “senior” firefighter came up to me and said, “You know that’s pretty loud, right?”
Of course, my reponse went something like this, “Well ya, I think it’s supposed to be, right? So when I fall through a floor, someone may hear it and help me, right?”
Thus, he replied, “Well, you don’t have to check it every morning, the things do work, and they are pretty loud in the morning. Do you really think it’s necessary to go that far in your checks, that is why we carry radios, so you can call the Mayday if you need it.”
Well, I had to leave it at that, because I was clearly not going to change this firefighter’s mindset, yet still knowing that I am in the right. I also elaborated to him that there are only 2 things on the fireground that I can control which could save my life: My PASS device and my radio, which was another thing he didn’t seem to understand. I always change my own battery in the morning at shift change, and tell my guys to get in this habit as well. This way, you know you are startign fresh in the morning, and not depending on someone else to do it for you. I know in many departments and companies have a good policy of the chauffer doing this job, but I still recommend taking the additional 30 seconds to make sure yourself that you are ready to go to work. No one else is responsible for your life, but you. Anyways, in closing, take a few extra minutes and really go over the equipment that could mean the difference between being heard and saved versus not working and being dead. We can only hope that this culture of safety will continue, and that we can contiue to lower the LODDs in this country every year we think this way.
-Ladder Jack
Often times fire departments will arrive on the scene of a building or dwelling fire and have to over come the obstacle of a long stretch when trying to reach the front door, not even including making it to the fire.
Note: Hose lines should be setup to reflect your response area and departmental policies, and not because that is what we have always done
If any has any drills or tips they use feel
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.
There is always talk of the basics and what they mean to the fire ground. Basics are the Key to preventing fire ground emergencies. Every week we will look at a fire not to poke fun or disrespect the agency in the photo or video, but in an effort to use these to open discussion about the basics and use them to identify flaws in our own fire ground operations!
What do you know?I know my weapon do youI know my weapon do you
Many times as I travel across my state and even on vacation I stop into firehouses and ask or inquire about their departments operation. One of the things I want to know is how the fire is put out. What nozzles do you have? Then I’m a little more curious does that firefighter know what type of nozzles it is and how it operates, why it operates, and the best question how does it fail? Having friends in Law enforcement a dramatic difference I have noticed; You can take the most bassakwards cop and ask them about their service weapon and they will be able to tell you, how and why the weapon works, what kind of bullets are fired and if any different can be used, they can field strip it, and best of all they know how it can fail and if they can overcome it. So why should this matter to you? Great question. I’m curious to see your answers and then I will post mine on Friday
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 Education/Training, Engine Tips, firefighting-operations, fires
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
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
Now let’s take a look at rural water supply. Some things need to come into consideration when dealing with fire flow and the needed water at the scene.
First what does your department have for resources? Is it a standardized fleet of tankers or a makeup of different size tank capacities and dump/fill times? What does your mutual/automatic aide departments have and when was the last time you trained with them?
Where are the locations for your static water sources? Are they ponds, streams or dry hydrants? Are the dry hydrants well marked and maintained? When dealing with a mobile water supply, you need to realize that this is an incident within an incident. A water supply officer needs to be appointed to handle and coordinate the operation. Based on water tables at the static source, water supply points may have to be changed during an operation. An additional engine is needed for the water supply point. All of this has to taken into consideration during a either a large or small scale incident.
Positioning is just as critical for mobile water supply as catching a hydrant is. In the event that the first in engine positions wrong and does not have good access to the incident itself, not having good access for the tankers to come in and drop their water and be able to turn around or make a loop can be just as devastating to an incident as large diameter hose blocking the road. Stagger your tankers if at all possible. Have at least one of them at the water supply point with that engine to help set up the site, while the other one is at the fire scene. This will help to start a loop of a never ending water supply. As additional tankers arrive the water supply officer needs to place those in the loop as needed. The determination needs to be made early if you are going to do a truck to truck supply. Again, plan ahead and be thinking of that mobile water supply and how to transition from truck to truck to the mobile water supply.
Posted in Engine Tips, firefighting-operations, fires
Does your department lay its own line from a hydrant or do you bring it to the scene via Tankers? Each has its own challenges. First let’s look at laying a supply line. Some departments require the first in engine to lay a dry line and the second due charges the line. Others require the first in engine to establish their own water supply. While other departments have the second due catches the hydrant and secures the water supply. When catching your own hydrant, some issues arise.
Does the hydrant:
1. Sit on the same side of the road as the incident?
2. Located on the opposite side of the street?
3. Located across the intersection?
The second and third points listed can cause some major problems if not identified early. These can cause access for additional companies (engine or truck). In the event that the points number 2 & 3 are in a subdivision with a dead end street this can be devastating to the cause. Understanding these choke points in the initial stages of the incident is critical and the information needs to be relayed in the event that the first due decides not to catch their own hydrant and requires the second due to accomplish the task at hand. Making sure that the second due engine is aware of the situation can simply be accomplished by having them acknowledge the radio transmission.
Another point to bring up, does your department dress the hydrant or just make a single connection? We respond to fire alarms, expecting the worst. Why not dress the hydrant and allow for multiple connections at the hydrant to allow maximum flow (not pressure) to the fire attack engine. A few extra seconds on the front side, will allow things to run much smoother ten, fifteen or thirty minutes into the operation when things go south and “big” water is required.
Engineers or apparatus operators need to understand how much water can truly be flowed through the pump when dealing with low pressure or crappy hydrant pressures. Understanding what type of hydrant system you are on also helps in making the decision to catch multiple hydrants (loop or dead end main).
Have you practiced for those situations where you have a large house or a “big box” in your first or second due, establishing a water supply with hydrant locations/poor water pressure. Have you discussed this with your officer riding the seat or shift supervisor in any contingency plans? Does your department allow you to make those decisions? Or do you respond and lay line because that is the way it has always been done? Does your department have a contingency plan for a “dead hydrant” scenario? You are on the first in engine, catch the hydrant and lay 800ft to the scene. Your hydrant man radios to the officer and states the hydrant is dead. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, this should be expected. Nothing ever seems to go right on a fire scene. The engineer and officer do not need to allow frustration to set in. This will make the scene go from bad to worse. Communication with the second or third due engine companies will help make this bad situation better. Without communication or a plan in place, things will not go as planned. We as firefighters like things to go as planned.
Now let’s take a look at rural water supply. Some things need to come into consideration when dealing with fire flow and the needed water at the scene.
First what does your department have for resources? Is it a standardized fleet of tankers or a makeup of different size tank capacities and dump/fill times? What does your mutual/automatic aide departments have and when was the last time you trained with them?
Where are the locations for your static water sources? Are they ponds, streams or dry hydrants? Are the dry hydrants well marked and maintained? When dealing with a mobile water supply, you need to realize that this is an incident within an incident. A water supply officer needs to be appointed to handle and coordinate the operation. Based on water tables at the static source, water supply points may have to be changed during an operation. An additional engine is needed for the water supply point. All of this has to taken into consideration during a either a large or small scale incident.
Positioning is just as critical for mobile water supply as catching a hydrant is. In the event that the first in engine positions wrong and does not have good access to the incident itself, not having good access for the tankers to come in and drop their water and be able to turn around or make a loop can be just as devastating to an incident as large diameter hose blocking the road. Stagger your tankers if at all possible. Have at least one of them at the water supply point with that engine to help set up the site, while the other one is at the fire scene. This will help to start a loop of a never ending water supply. As additional tankers arrive the water supply officer needs to place those in the loop as needed. The determination needs to be made early if you are going to do a truck to truck supply. Again, plan ahead and be thinking of that mobile water supply and how to transition from truck to truck to the mobile water supply.
Posted in Engine Tips, firefighting-operations, fires
How often do we think about the line in the hosebed of the engine? The answer for most of us is not enough, unless you are among the lucky Brothers that drop line on the ground on a regular basis. Even if you do, how much attention do you pay to the loads, size of hose carried, forward lay, or reverse lay, or both, what are your options, how will you adapt? Many of us only deal with the hosebed come hose testing or on the occasional job, where maybe a few hundred feet of hose hits the ground.
Drill Time: Get out on the floor, every member must know how much of each hose is carried in that bed. The size, the name of the load your department uses, how to hook a plug, etc. Try setting up a small mock hosebed in the apparatus room, young guys teach the old guys. Our younger members know or should all about repacking hose, they are the newest out of the academy right? Make sure your folks know the difference between an intake and a discharge, seriously, it just might save someone’s behind literally. Learn your hosebed so you take guess work out of this equation. Bosses try this, you might just end up scared. Drivers you should be watching and helping where needed, if you have to ask about your engine, hosebed, or hose carried,maybe you should be on the backstep! Use this to train. Tweek this any way you want, but use it to ensure our professional performance on every tour. Train hard Brothers, be safe!
Posted in Drills, Engine Tips, hose, training-development
Ok folks, here we go. We all or most have been hit by less manpower, because we all know we can do more with less. For those of that run with a 3 person company, (Driver, Boss, and a Firefighter) no real challenge here. For those who have 5 or 6 member teams here is the challenge. My company just went through this, we had an acquired structure, through a neighboring FD, but be creative! Three member company as RIT, now take one out to be the victim, two out right? Mayday called, the two member team, equipped with a TIC, RIT bag, and at least a tool, goes in after the downed FF, this downed FF is on the second floor or basement, ours was on the second floor. Drill and Challenge Time!!
1. Do your members know how to call a Mayday and When to call? You might be surprised.
2. Building construction and layout of the structure, confusing?
3. Can two members handle this job?
4. Composure, think about it
5. Radio Traffic
Bosses need not be a victim! Train your folks, show some leadership ability or don’t see what happens. Brothers will more than two members, try this with two, as they say, see how the other half-lives!
Enjoy, can’t wait to hear from all ranks, Be Safe, this is to make us think, not get us hurt!
Posted in Building Construction, Drills, Education/Training, Engine Tips, Truck Tips
Many of us have heard the phrase, “As the first line goes, so goes the fire”. But how did that first line get there?
Certainly handline operations are something that we could discuss for hours and there are many different hoseloads and techniques that exist to accomplish the same goal. But what is that goal?
That goal should be to arrive at the fire area with the nozzle and 50′ of hose, enough for the fire floor. The hose should be flaked out so that it can be advanced easily into the fire area, and so that it is free of kinks. The un-stated part is that you must have enough hose to get that 50′ there. What techniques were you taught to estimate the stretch? I was taught 50 for the fire floor, 50 for each floor to get there and 50 from the truck to the building. Of course in my area 50′ might not get you halfway tot he front door anymore, as the lots are bigger and the houses set further back.
Like so many of the basics, I think we are losing some of the skills we need when it come to stretching lines and estimating the stretch. Crosslays or mattydales have taken some choices away from us but have also simplified some operations.
How many have seen the “grab and go”? Where the nozzle firefighter grabs the nozzle and then runs to the front door, the result being a taut line from the truck to the front door. Or the “spaghetti pile” where 150′ of hose is pulled from the crosslay and dumped in a pile on the ground while the nozzle is stretched?
We load our crosslays with two sets of loops or ears? 1 ear is set in the bottom 50′ length so that the bed can be cleared easily, and the other is in the first 50′ so that the nozzleman can grab the nozzle and the first 50′ and stretch it to the fire. It makes no difference in time to set our hoseloads up this way, but makes a huge difference when time is of the essence on the fireground.
So the next shift go out and look at your hoseloads. Are they set up so that you can easily stretch your attack lines? Practice pulling them, not only does this give you the practice, but it also allows you to determine how long it will take. That time can be crucial when your officer is trying to think where the fire is going, not just where it is now.
Posted in Engine Tips, Thoughts
Well, since this is a site about basics, let’s have a quick discussion about responding to alarms. I’m not talking about confirmed fires or medical, or car collisions. Just responding to the “alarms sounding in a building” or central station, hooked boxes type responses. Just a quick primer for Engine and Truck ops, make sure to follow your SOP/SOG’s and drive like a professional.
For both company types, responding to alarms should not be at the same speed or urgency as a “confirmed fire” or “working arrest”, or other confirmed emergency. Yes, the condition at the scene is unknown and there could be something horrible going on there, but, alarm calls are high frequency and low rate of true emergency. One of the greatest hazards on these calls is the streets en route to the call. Distracted drivers, more sound deadening in cars, kids and TV’s people are going to have a hard time hearing you no matter how loud you think you’re being. With that in mind drive with extreme caution, like usual, and think about how it’s going to look in the paper if you get into an accident en route to kids fighting with dry Chem extinguishers. It doesn’t matter how fast you go if you end up in an accident, any little scratch or ding and you’re out of the game.
For hooked box or a call for alarms in the area, start looking for the building in question a block or 2 away. Remember, people are just concerned enough to call from their cell phone, not concerned enough to waste their time and stop, so they may see the intersection a block away and use that in the call. Also look down the side streets before passing them. You don’t want to have to back up to make a turn, reversing is dangerous, and if you drive past it and the company behind you sees the call they are going to jump on it. Rightfully so.
So, congratulations. You drove like a professional and made it to the scene with the apparatus and crew in one piece. Now park like you would if it was a fire, gear up like it’s a fire, and for god sakes act like you’ve seen whatever it is before.
Posted in Engine Tips, Truck Tips
Tank to Tank method while being the back up firefighter. These two firefighters are using 2.5 inch line.
Posted in Engine Tips
How many times have you been on the nozzle and been using the pistol grip only to have the nozzle end up in your arm pit? This can waste time and energy when you have to try to stop and reposition to get a better hold on the line. If you hold the line just behind the nozzle, place the line through your arm and hold it between your arm pit and your knee you will be able to control the line a little better. Holding the line like this will allow you to free the nozzle so that you are not trying to control the nozzle but instead you will control the hose. Think about it for a second. What part of the attack line is the most flexible? The nozzle is usually made out of some type of plastic or metal. Not the most flexible material in the world. The hose, made out of a cloth or rubber jacket around a rubber liner. Now that is where you have the most flexibility. Even at pressure you will still be able to control the hose and still be able to control your nozzle. By holding the line here you can move your nozzle in all directions more easily than if you were to hold it by the nozzle. When you hold the line by the nozzle, you will at some point in time have to move your entire upper body just to point the nozzle where you want it to go. If you were to change your method and hold the line just behind the nozzle, you can just “push” the nozzle in the direction you want it to go. This picture was taken from a joint training session and two great instructors, Mr. Jeff Shupe, and Mr. Dave Karn, from Strategic Fire Training, were able to show us some good ways of handling hose lines and streams. We are looking forward to more training with both Jeff and Dave in the future.
Posted in Education/Training, Engine Tips, Thoughts
Laying a supply line is a critical element to fire ground success. When fighting fires that require more water than the booster tank holds; It is vitally important to get a continuous water supply established. When laying a supply you first have to establish which type of lay is to be conducted. Which lay will you conduct? A Forward Lay, which goes from the water source to the fire. A Split Lay, where the hose is dropped from a certain point (i.e on the corner or 1st and Kinswood) and then is tied into and taken to the water source. A Reverse Lay, which is from the fire back to the water source. The key element is for the Driver/Operator to be trained in how to do all of them and your departments procedures on conducting them. Mistakes that are often made on the fire ground are Driver/Operators that lay their line down the middle of the street or block intersections that other apparatus need to come through. Driver/operators have to figure out a way to get the hose to one side of the road. I do understand there are times it is not possible. The mindset of the Driver/Operator has to be on establishing water supply quickly and other incoming apparatus and the roles they play in achieving fire ground success. One of the tips that I will offer is when laying a line to one side of the street if there is firm ground and/or a sidewalk I will put my tires on the edge of it and lay it. I have found this practice to be very helpful when laying supply lines to other apparatus. Some Driver/Operators take laying a supply for granted, but I encourage you to practice and train on these skills. Don’t be the firefighter who jammed up the scene because of a poorly laid supply line.
Image Courtesy of Fire Protection Publications/IFSTA
Posted in Education/Training, Engine Tips
The next time you go out on your apparatus to the grocery store or just sitting around the fire station take out your TIC and start learning to read the contrast in the pictures. Take one hot and one cold item and sit them in a room of a different ambient temperature. While at the grocery store scan the store learn to make out shapes and sizes as oppose to temperatures. You will be amazed at how much better you become reading the picture on your TIC. This drill was inspired by the instructors from Safe-IR who conducted a Thermal Imaging Class for my department last year. Thanks to Bob Knabbe, and Tom Decker.
Posted in Drills, Engine Tips, Truck Tips
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