firemoose827

I wish you a speedy recovery sister, may you heal and return to work and life soon. Stay Strong and keep your head up.

I was in charge of the Fire Prevention Program in my old dept for 6 years and always taught the kids to hang something from the window if they were trapped, like a blanket or coat ( Just as long as you dont hang your younger sibling out there!!) so that we know you are in there and need help. The stickers were a great idea, but people forget to change them or update them and you never know if they are real or not any more. Valuable resources could be wasted to search the room and find out its not even a bedroom anymore, let alone a child's bedroom. I think the interior stickers are nice, and they can be easily removed without damaging the paint, but again you stand the chance of the people forgetting to move the sticker, it just becomes commonplace for the sticker to be there and its forgotten. Per our SOP's, we start our search in the room closest to the fire first starting with bedrooms, then all other rooms, so if the search is done right, it's done fast and there is no need for the sticker anyway. By the way. You were up here in Albany and didnt look up the Moose? You should have stopped by brother and gotten the tour and some old fashioned hospitality!!

Best of luck to the injured on a speedy recovery and hopefully return to work as well. I wonder how it happened?

Happy Birthday Brother! Hope you have a great ( AND safe) day!!!!

New Tool For Highrise Fires, the Aerial Mule Theres a link for everyone who doesn't get the updates from Fire Engineering Magazine. The tool is called the "Aerial Mule" and the clip has a short animated video clip showing how this will work. Apparently its still being produced and wont be available untill "Mid 2008" according to the clip. I think its interesting, but the time it took the firefighters to get to the device, deploy it, and wait for the thing to return they could have humped the hose kit with them and started an attack with the air they had. Its an interesting concept though, dont get me wrong. I just thought it would be nice to share with the rest of you and get your opinions.

Agreed...And it looked as if it was a small fire that he was probably extinguishing rapidly and saving the house...

Excellent idea. Does that crack the flue of the chimney like a water spray would? We just always use the "Chimney Bombs" but that is a great idea. These are great stories...unfortunately I have none to add. Anyone have anymore?!!

The last problem I had was on thursday. The rest of the weekend has gone smoothly now with no problems.

Thank you. Thats what I was going to say after he had clarified whether or not it was Dept of Environmental Protection he was referring to. DEP sends out technical assistance and advisory supervision only. They will pick up small spills after contained and collected, like fuel spills from MVA's, and will collect the used speedy dry for disposal, but they do not send entry teams to assist with entry. Hope that helps! Moose

Just clarifying, are you asking about "Department of Environmental Protection"?

That guy is a hero...Rest In Peace.

I believe so. It might be automatically dispatched due to a trauma protocol or even EMD guidelines that could have been pre-established by the area Squad Captains and dispatch to save on time. My captain is working on such a protocol for our squad due to the fact we are always calling for one lately, and it takes time to contact the bird to see if their available and can fly. (weather factors, other priority calls received simultaneously) If there is someone from that area that can confirm or clear this up it would be appreciated, so I can take the info to my captain and share it with him. Thanks! Moose

It was a waterway from an aerial ladder that failed and fell on him. Rest in Peace brother, continue to chase the dream. May his family and friends rest assured knowing he passed doing what he loved doing the most.

Everyone take a look at this video and than tell us what you saw. Read the smoke, describe the fire behaviors, lets start a discussion here about scene size-up and reading both smoke and fire behaviors. Keep it clean and constructive. Would anyone have done anything differently or additionally? What type of construction is this? What are the safety issues with this type of construction and how will it affect the fire behavior?

We have a lot of good discussion on the ventilation aspect of it, but I have not seen too many posts on the truck placement, or any continued discussion on the handline selection and placement. With the truck parked directly in front of the fire building, ( I feel to be dangerous, but hey, since they are there...) why didnt they blitz the fire with the deck gun? Drain the tank into the fire with the deck gun while establishing a hydrant connection, than switch to duel 2 1/2" lines to attack it. I didnt see a ladder either, they could have positioned one at the end of the building ( uninvolved end) but I couldnt see it. Just curious to see what everyones thoughts were on these topics as well. Good Discussion so far, thanks!!! Moose

Bill, as always you take amazing shots!! I visit your site OFTEN and I try to take notes actually!!! I look up to you as a photographer and hope to do HALF as good as you some day. Great shots by all, thanks for sharing them with us.

Hello everyone. I found a great video on Hybrid Vehicle Operations, and their features. Its a great video that shows a fire department walk through of a hybrid vehicle, its dangers, and its safety features and was taped for a fire dept training tape to be used later. GREAT information and it actually shows you where certain standard features are located, and what not to do at accidents and fires with these vehicles. The engines on these things are amazing, both gas AND electrical engines. The electrical one starts it and keeps the vehicle on idle speed and low speed, after passing a certain speed the gas engine kicks on. When the car is idling the electric takes over and it is whisper quiet and can still be dangerous. A lot of EMS and Firefighters dont know this and we respond to a medical emergency to find a guy slumped over the wheel unconcious, we wouldn think that the engine is still on because we couldnt hear it. BUT, the engine in a Hybrid is silent when on electric, and if an EMT hits the wrong thing the car can still move, injuring or killing another responder. Pay attention to the video, and post your thoughts or any additional info you might have on these things so the rest of us can learn. Im thinking of contacting my local Auto dealer to see if they have a rep that can come out and do a course on these things for us. Stay Safe

Awesome site. I printed most of the info on the hybrids, thanks for sharing it!

The same can be said for any handline you use to attack fire. If the temerature is too high than the stream will not handle the BTU's and be overtaken and therefore ineffective. True, high heat will break down the foam quicker but you do still have water in the line too, and if applied correctly it can still do the job. I have to disagree with you there brother. Foam also helps by sticking to structural members and smothering the flames, whereas water hits and drips off or gets turned to steam. I used to think like you, but I watched several tests in aquired structures during control burns and I have a new respect for CAFS now. They had a room fire, working good, and they opened up a CAFS line from outside, played in in the room for a few minutes working it in circles, and the room was knocked down in 2 minutes allowing the crews, when they arrived, to enter and overhaul. They then lit up 2-3 rooms and did the same thing and within 5 minutes it was knocked down...both tests were run off the same 500 gallon tank without refilling...TWO working fires with less than 500 gallons and one man on the nozzle from the exterior of the building. Now, for those of us who experience manpower issues and have large areas void of hydrants, these CAFS systems seem to be effective. I do however agree with you on this topic. Before anyone looks into purchasing any equipment you should realy look at your response area, what types of fuels are prevalent, what type of emergency does your dept handle on a regular basis, would this equipment serve its purpose and be used, or is it just to fill an ego. Bragging rights at the next parade should be the least of your problems...purchasing equipment your dept AND the county you serve would benefit from should be priority. I also agree with you on not duplicating resources and using County Wide resources more effectively. Good Point ny10570!

Excellent idea! I have used the length of hose. I think of how many 50' lengths of hose it would take to cover the side of the building and make a rough guestimate of the building length and width based on that. Good points though and I thank you for sharing them! Moose

Everyone makes excellent points here, especially ny10570, alsfirefighter, and Chris192 as usual I always enjoy reading your posts! I am so happy you brought that up Darock98. You have no idea how much of a sore point rehab is in our dept and its starting to get worse. At first, our Ambulance responded initially with the first due engine with a full crew, they grabbed two coolers one filled with water and the other with Gatorade or the equivalent and went to the scene. They would assess firefighters as they came out, took vitals, offered them cool drinks , basically the Proactive attitude. EMS Approached Firefighters and didn't wait for them to decide if they wanted rehab or not. When you exited the IDLH atmosphere, there was an EMT waiting to give you a drink, check your BP and pulse, and make sure you weren't about to keel over with a massive MI. If you refused to have your vitals checked they left you alone. But at least they gave the firefighters a cool drink and had the chance to assess their behaviors and appearance to check for signs of any impairment. BUT...A few months ago, the fire chief approached the EMS captain and advised him to no longer respond in that fashion. Too many firefighters thought of the EMS' actions as "Annoying" and wanted it to stop. So, the Chief advised the Captain to no longer respond immediately to the scene, instead, he wanted them to hang out for 5-10 minutes and see if there was any additional manpower that needed a ride to the scene, than when they got there to just sit in the rig and the fire dept would call them if needed. No more active rehab, just an ambulance should something happen. At least, that's what I have been told by the EMS Captain and other members. I have been involved with personal and family issues since summer and have not been around too often. But, Firefighters like myself who are also EMT's, actually WANT EMS to carry on the way they used to, and continue to offer any of us who AREN'T the macho type the rehab we all need. I have extensive cardiac history in my family and do not want to end up another LODD statistic. A few more thoughts about using fire dept resources for rehab is another agency that often gets overlooked, and would be an ideal resource to use for rehab, and thats Explorers, or Junior Firefighters, even your exterior firefighters who are not allowed to pack up. They could be trained in rehab, and set up the rehab sector and run it with the aid of an EMT from EMS. Just another thought. Also, like in our dept, we have the Ladies Auxilliary that brings additional water, juice, coffee and food to the scene that could also aid in rehab along with Explorers. Any other thoughts on these ideas? Great Topic Vacguy!

The reason I brought up trench cuts was for more of a warning as to fire spread. I was taught that a trench cut can be placed in between the involved portion of a strip mall and the uninvolved portion so you know when the fire has reached your trench cut, allowing you to reposition your resources and attempt to contain it from spreading any further. Am I correct at all in this thinking? I do not get the chance to use trench cuts all that often, and can only remember my training from a while ago, so if I am wrong please tell me! We also learned the trench cut was used to prevent fire spread from one building to another where the buildings share a common cockloft which is what I assumed this to be. But I couldnt realy gauge the dimensions of the building from the video, how did you figure out the dimensions? Just curious and wish to learn more about this style of ventilation so anything you can share would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. Moose

Dept10, I found it on a firefighting training video website, it was labeled as a "Scene Size-up" video that was good for drills. It had a little blurb after the video, but other than that thats all I know about it. I just wanted to make everyone think and come up with some size-ups and maybe spark a good discussion about size-up, which I hope I did! Also, I am moosecfd368 Abaduck, you made a good suggestion with the trench cut, its probably what I would have done almost immediately, followed by inspection holes to attempt to locate the fire and cut a decent size vent hole as close as I could get it. Definately called for 2 1/2" attack lines, maybe even a quick blitz attack with the deck gun to start things off. How about truck placement? Aren't they too close to the building for this fire? Looked like the smoke was pumping through cracks and holes in the mortar and bricks on side 2 like mentioned earlier, so I wouldnt feel comfortable with positioning the units that close. Anyone else?

Excellent size-ups! Keep them coming. My first thought when I saw the flashover was a deep seated fire in the cockloft as well. Interesting smoke patterns initially though, so I thought I would share it with all of you. Keep going...

I just noticed that also, I guess they cleaned out some of the skins, but EMTBravo Orange does not have the clutter problem. I guess the Irish theme was for the holliday only! My page is still congested though, and only the BravoOrange works for me.