wraftery

And one day somebody made the quote longer. I think it might have been Dennis Smith. "Nothing . . . certain but death, taxes, and when you pull that red box, Firemen show up."

Seriously, from time to time NYC hydrants have been known to sneak out of the city in search of a better life in the suberbs. To address this issue, the City decided to paint all their hydrants black so the escaped hydrants are easily spotted by the Watershed Police and returned to the city.

Because hey are.

Oh, Capt, just so you know, that formula isn't real. I made it up as I was typing. Also the NFA formula isn't the real one either but it was just a tongue-in-cheek example of the real world. As I said however, I want a guy like you at the CP to advise the IC of how much foam he needs (+ a safety factor), what kind of foam, and to make sure the incoming foam is compatable.

A word to IC's: If you are anywhere near New Rochelle and get a run requiring foam, special call Capt Nechis as a Technical Specialist. (And I am not kidding or being sarcastic either.)

Ah, yes, the Math. Forget any complicated formulas, you will be too shaky to punch in the numbers correctly on to your iPhone, and you will wind up with numbers like a million gallons. Try this: Do a few foam drills and get a feel for how much fire surface area 10 gallons of foam will cover. (Use 10 gallons because it's easier to do the math in your head) When you get to the real fire, wing a guess at how many times your 10 gallon drill would take to fit into this big fire and multiply. If your fire is 10 times bigger than your 10 gallon drill, then you would need 10x10gal, or 100gal of foam. (Of course if the real fire is smaller than your 10 gal Drill fire, then just use the two cans that are on the rig....Duh!) Now, take that answer you got and multiply it by 10 again. It sounds like over-ordering foam but you will surely have enough to do the job. Even if you over-ordered, you will have to re-stock anyway because you used a lot of foam. It's like the old NFA Fire Flow Formula. If you have a 2ft x 2ft couch cushion burning in a 1 1/2 residential dwelling that is 25 x 35, by using the formula, you will need about a gallon of water to complete extinguishment. This is normally done by the Can Man with 1 1/2 gallons left to cover rekindle. However, to put this fire out, and to comply with standards we must amass 1- 1 1/2" attack line, a backup line, a 5" supply line, and 17 people. While you guys were out working on the hurricane, I had time to think this up. Thanks for all your hard work.

A few comments through this post lead me to review rule #1 for foam ops: DO NOT COMMENCE A FOAM OPERATION UNTIL YOU HAVE ENOUGH FOAM ON--SCENE TO FINISH THE OPERATION If you run out of foam before the fire is completely out the fire will overcome the foam you have put down and you will have wasted your time and money.

Tim Finnegan did that years ago

Hartsdale has two FF's who maintain the system for a stipend, They are called Alarm Superintendent, and Asst.

Here's a picture of the number plate I described above. It's dark, but my flsah was giving me a hard time If you find the right cog wheel where you can massage it to the number you want, a guy that's really good with a Dremel tool might be able to change the cogs for you. I would shy away from the guy in your house that says he can do it with a gasoline powered saw, but a guy that's really good with a whizzer saw might get away with it.

Izzy FYI, I took a piece of aluminum flat stock, wire brushed it in one direction for the right look, and cut it to the size of a number plate and drilled mounting holes. Then took1" press on vinyl numbers and put them on the plate. Next, I painted the plate black and removed the vinyl numbers. To change speed on a box, there is a little "T" shaped bar with weights on it towards the rear of the mechanism. The bar "wiggles" when the box operates. Sliding the weights inward makes the box faster, silding them outward makes the box slower. Systems without Horns are usually times at 1 second. With horns, the timing has to allow the horn to reset itself for the next blast. This is often timed as high as 2 seconds depending on the horn.

Sorry for the apparent misunderstanding. I was saying that if you get an auto alarm in say, a taxpayer, with no apparent cause for alarm, it is a simple "alarm system malfunction" and the presence of an RP is not required. A bad compressor on a dry system is a different story. Now I would call for an RP. It's a command decision. That's why they pay us the big bucks. On a side note, many of the small national chain stores have store managers that don't last too long. They change managers more often then I change my socks. When you call for an RP, you find that the RP doesn't work there anymore. In this case,(or even for private residences or places without lock boxes) We use a "while you were out form" that we leave in plain sight. It just says something like: Time...Date...We responded for a reported_______. We made/did not make entry. Entry was made via Knox key/forced entry at________with damage/no damage Situation found________________Action taken_________________ Building Secured/not secured, turned over to PD For more info or a copy of the incident report call 555-1212

Yes, Grasshopper, we would TURN the knob on the side of the kerosene lamps thus raising the wick and giving us more light.

I guess it's whatever floats your boat. I don't recall any complaints after we closed up. We just lock up the reverse of the way we unlocked. For most stores only the front door gets unlocked, so it's a no brainer to re-lock. And, in all my time, I don't recall ever turning lights on for an auto alarm investigation.

1. An "all clear" is probably a civil defense signal after an air raid drill. The signals were always air raid drills because the US mainland was never attacked by air until 9/11/2001. Never forget that 2. Not every code number has a box at that location. The numbers are assigned to intersections and for calls to these intersections, the dispatcher would look up the code for the nearest intersection to the inciident and manually dial it into the system. The fire whistle would send out the code for the intersection. Boxes and box numbers are also assigned to places like schools or factories. Theose boxes are owned by the property owner, not the FD.

Another example of wording is the Town of Greenburgh Code Sec100 See Greenburghny.com. It appears under Town Code on the left hand menu. Greenurgh Code.doc I found that business owners and managers were against the institution of this ordinance because of their security concerns. Once we explain all the whys and wherefors of the law, especially that we can make entry using the "Big Key", they often see the light. You might want to use this scenario on your store managers: It's 2am on a December night. The weather is 20 degrees, windy, and just starting to snow heavily. Your fire alarm system activates and you are the responsible party for the business. We call you as a contact and request your presence so we can make entry without damage. What do you want to happen? A. You get in your car and drive to your store, hoping that the snow doesn't get worse and you may not be able to get back home. B. We break the door to get in. (The PD will call in a few minutes telling you that you must secure the premises) C. The FD calls you and says the alarm activated, we made entry via Knox Key and found it to be an alarm malfunction, we reset your systems (both fire and burglary) and secured the building. There is no need to even get out of bed. AS one lady said "You mean I don't have to come down here in m Jammies anymore? Where do I sign?"

Very interesting. And all these years we've been told how far Europe is ahead of us in firefighting tactics. I think I'll stick with America's Bravest. http://youtu.be/LkMgThASuBQ

I like Jflynn's "QTIP" As the Godfather movie says "It's not personal, It's just business." JFlynn has another one-word saying...."Crawl" Nobody in that video seemed to have any intention of going into that building and crawling around except for maybe one guy who was packing up at the end. Lucky for the Europeans that they used up all their wood building ships, There was no wood left to build buildings.

Thanks DC Benz. I find it hard to believe that no one else saw what we did. No line into the front door at this point in the incident indicates to me that there was no interior attack, and I didn't see any activity even in the vicinity of the front door. Granted, the camera wasn't on the front door all the time, so some firefighters might have snuck in, but I doubt it. We all have heard of the "post incident critique," but if I had pulled up as a DC at the point that the video ended, I believe that I (or DC Benz or Jflynn or EFDCapt115 or many other chiefs I respect) would have conducted a "mid incident critique, probably containing a few explitives. My immediate questions would ask about the lack of an interior line and was there a primary search in progress. Screw your blitz...this wasn't a blitz fire. It was a one-room bread and butter fire and if you can't handle that with an inside attack, it's time for you to re-take proby school. Proby school is also where they teach you the priorities of any incident, the first being Life Safety. I saw no indication at all that a primary search was even being considered, much less in progress. Ah, yes, then we have the post-incident critique. Mine would have been done immediately upon return to quarters. I believe I would have started this particular critique with the words "Captain...In my office...Close the door."

Housemen's situation is probably much the same as those communities who "allow" their DPW people to respond to alarms without loss of pay or time owed back to their employer. The FD is more or less suubsidized by the DPW.

Even Canaries have to be recharged daily or they don't work.

As you know, Cap, only because Civil Service allows it to happen. Even if they do not fight fires (which they do) it should be a job hired from a list like every other government job.

We use companies, engines, trucks, etc. so we have accountability and maintain a span of control. That's one hell of an important point, Bnechis. Mind if I make it bigger? We use companies, engines, trucks, etc. so we have accountability and maintain a span of control. Thanks

Come on, now. What do you think? Take a guess

Bird's nest, squirrels, ivy growth will also constrict the chimney and give CO readings. A side note on chimneys: Older houses had chimneys without a tile flu. Combine this with deteriorating mortar and joists placed in the masonry too close to the flu and fire in the fireplace equals fire in the walls and ceiling. Pull the ceilings and hit it quick, when you get this kind of fire it's probably "rippin'. Don't forget that some older houses had chimneys with lime mortar. The main chimney has been repaired and is operational, but use was discontinued in the second chimney because of the deterioration of the mortar. But this discontinuation may have been done by a previous owner. Now, the present owner wants a fire in that "other"fireplace.