firemoose827

We carry a basic tool kit in both of our rigs, with all the basic hand tools such as hammers, hack saw, screwdrivers, pliers, a 5lb sledge and a lawnmower blade with a wrapped handle to use for cutting sheet metal, stuff like that. Than we have a crash axe, extrication gloves, and helmets. We only use this stuff for emergency access to patients. We recently had a call for an unknown medical. We got on scene and found out it was a possible CO poisoning and almost had to use the axe to gain entry. It turned out ok, but atleast we had the axe and some tools to gain entry if we had to. When I say "Crash Axe", I mean the Biel Tool. Heres a link, because I know someone will ask!! Biel Tool

Duane, Sorry for your loss, god bless you brother, may you and your family find comfort and peace from us, your second family. Let me know if there is anything I can do for you and your family. Brian

Hey brother. Could you possibly give us a link to the story so we can read about it? Just curious to see if the pumps, or another vehicle were being threatened, and why the automatic dry chem system on the canopy failed to activate. Thanks

Well, there needs to be some degree of common sense to any PPE that you wear. If you will notice in my post I said this; Meaning, if you rifle your hand into someones pocket forcefully than you are going to get jabbed with something. I dont know the procedures that all of the LEO follow, but like a few mentioned above, squeeze the outside of the pocket to see if there are bulky items inside, than proceed to check the pocket with caution. Would I strap on some latex gloves and try and catch a bullet? No. But if I am cleaning the back of the rig after a bad trauma and I use common sense and approach cautiously with gloves on I have Some Degree of protection from any stray IV needles. Thats all I was referring to brother. Personally, I think its an unnecessary risk for our officers to have to do. I think they should be allowed to just cut the pocket open, or have the subject empty their pockets slowly, anything to make their jobs safer. It seems too risky in todays world to go sticking your hands into a strangers pockets. Would an X-ray machine work to find small sharps and knives? The kind you walk through like in courts? I know they are pricey to install in every PD but it would cut back on medical expenses for tests on LEO that got stuck with sharps. And please, this is just me being concerned for the brothers/sisters who are PO's and face getting stuck with a dirty needle containing HIV or something worse, and not in any way an attempt to start something. Thanks

Our water department does this also. They travel around with shovels and clear them. Every fall they attach reflective metal flags that stick up a good 3 feet above the hydrant so it can be easily located like Joe stated. But most of our residents end up clearing hydrants on their property without being asked to. In my old dept, we used to take the explorers around and we would shovel out the hydrants to help out DPW, than go back to station and have pizza and hot chocolate. Working in the codes office, we do routinely inspect the hydrants after a snow storm to make sure they are cleared along with sidewalks.

There are gloves out there that are puncture resistant, and if the officer goes slow enough will offer them the protection they need from sharps. Heres a link for you; Puncture Resistant Nitrile Gloves I know ours is, and we even did the demonstration they used in their add, we took a fork and tried to puncture the gloves, and we couldnt. They are pretty tough!

May our brother Rest In Peace, and may his family and friends find comfort in us all.

I hope all is well with you and your recovery Chief, best of luck to you Joe.

I like this idea, and the reference made to it. The Iron Chef is a perfect way to explain it. I would love to see quality a higher priority rather than quantity. This site was created by Seth to increase knowledge and share experiences with brother/sister firefighters, Police, and EMS people everywhere. The more quality posts, loaded with information we all can learn from, the better. This site is quickly becoming a worldwide data source for us, and we should try and maintain the professional, Quality, posting that has made it so informative and educational. I Think thats what Seth is trying to accomplish with the different levels of membership; Create membership ranks so that members can try and achieve a higher ranking and gain more special features and privileges to use and make the overall experience not only educational, but entertaining as well. Thats what makes this site so much better than the rest. But ofcourse, thats only my opinion. That is totally understandable brother, and should be honored by this site. I understand due to your job you would need, or WANT to retain some privacy, with all the nutjobs you deal with at work looking for revenge!! Good Idea brother.

Heres an interesting training video on the Punch Technique used for overhaul. This technique is much easier and much faster. Punch Technique

Yah, your explanation was clear, make a hole and use the shaft of the tool to pull a larger area of lathe down by applying leverage to the floor or roof above and pulling down. Good technique for lathe.

Wow, very attentive to detail...but if you had CONTINUED to read my post I also offered further opinions to the discussion, and I didnt come into the discussion with the intent to attempt to make someone look foolish. This is the exact type of postings I am talking about, the people who for some odd reason take things personally and come into a discussion with insults and pointless one liners, like in the corny movies, do these posts deserve to be labeled "Elite"?

I believe this is for sheetrock, with plaster and lathe it goes fast thanks to the lathe. I have never run into the plaster and wire mesh but I would guess if you knock out the plaster you could hit the fire through the wire mesh, not too sure though. But yah, this is a great technique and its so much easier.

My condolences to the fallen and their families. May their brothers find comfort and peace.

Here is my point exactly about the 1000 post idea. Nothing wrong with these members, just using their posts as examples, but someone could make a thousand of these style posts and be considered Elite? I would like to see some type of "Quality" of posts be put into play here as well, not just "Quantity".

Good question, but does everything always work 100% of the time? Reason I ask, at a fire a few years back I went to the roof with a Quick Vent saw to vent, the saw was running, I started to cut and the saw quit. There was fuel, it just quit and wouldnt start again. I took the axe from my belt and started to cut while my backup man fiddled with the saw. He never got it running, but I got the vent hole anyway. Just thought this was an interesting technique to avoid getting the axe caught in the roof with every cut.

What I am worried about here is, if this passes and NY adopts the paid County Depts, a lot of us volunteers will no longer be able to do what we love any more, help people and fight fires. I think if they keep a "Paid-per-call" roster as well than it would not look like you are trying to just get rid of all of the people who busted their humps to get the training on their own time and give up lots of their free time to help their neighbors. Im torn, because I know that we need better response times and better staffing requirements like training, but I also want to keep doing what I love doing. Its easy for most of you to respond to this because you already have a FT or PT job doing what you love. What about guys like me? Who are dedicated and devoted to firefighting, and believe we need higher standards, or higher levels of service for the people of our communities but dont want to be just swept asside and forgotten about? In the end, Im for adopting the law and providing a better service to the people, but its gonna hurt.

Did anyone else notice that so far its all administrative staff and mods who are responding to this? I agree about Quality over Quantity. I have seen some posts lately containing two words, little jokes to friends, or pointless jabs at other posters, so the 1000 post count is definately out. I agree with making the membership of people who contribute quality posts loaded with facts and information and continue to speak constructively, not destructively. Those who use their names are good candidates also. If you use your real name you are more apt to talk with someone more respectively, rather than take pointless jabs at them and hide behind your screen name. Just my opinions.

Pretty soon we will have a "Sticky" Overload!! No, I think it would just be easier for the individual making the post to "Spell It Out" the first time, it wont kill anyone to have to type a few extra letters! Besides, you start the sticky topic and you have to keep adding to it, which creates more posts in the sticky, and before long you have to read through 4 pages of abbreviations before you find the one you want. You wont be able to alphabetize the abbreviations, atleast I dont think you can, so searching for them will be difficult. Good idea, but I dont think its too much to ask the poster to spell things out first. Stay Safe Moose

Just some more food for thought on this topic. But first, I want to express my condolences to the fallen and his family and that I hope his children are ok and not taking it personal. God bless you all. Second, and correct me if Im wrong, but when Im working my PT gig with EMS on weekends, and Im eating my lunch, if a call comes in I have to respond. I cant sit there and tell dispatch "Sorry, Im off duty eating lunch, tell them to hold on another 20 minutes." If this brother was at work, eating lunch, hes on duty...correct? Thirdly, and correct me yet again if Im wrong, but with us vollies, our insurance covers us from the moment the tones go off and we respond, untill an hour after we call back in service at the firehouse, allowing us time to get back home from the call. They capped it at an hour after calling in service so that no one could monkey around and do crazy things and say they were on their way home from a call and get covered.

Excellent post brother, and it points to the ever popular problem of depts not having basic drills on basic techniques. Why? Because their members think that the "Basics" are beneath them, and they should be drilling on more elaborate topics.... yah...right. Basics Basics Basics, you practice those and everything else falls into line. Good Post.

Thank You Brother!! Now hopefully everyone like me understands the post a little better!

Just a quick request here, and I will post it somewhere in the Groups Page as well, but when you use Abreviations, can you please Spell Them Out the first time you use them( With something similar to what I just did) so people who dont know can understand the post better? THANK YOU!! Moose PS- What is a "REP" and an "SOD" ?? For those of us not privy to the info.

Way to go bud! Welcome to the brotherhood and good luck!! Moose

If it gets to 100% you have to go and wash everyones trucks this summer...(jk) vacguy, no one is singling you out brother, we are just attempting to keep it clean. When a moderator takes action against a member they usually send a message to you and explain why, but the mod doesnt have to send it. As far as deleting posts, we will notify everyone why they have been deleted in the future, fair? Send one of us a PM if you feel you have more questions and we will do our best to help you. Thanks Moderator Moose