16fire5

If you have your facepiece adjusted right you can do it with the regulator in already attached to the facepiece just keep the thumb of your hand holding the regulator on the purge the chin strap won't snag on the purge valve. I have heard complaints that all chin straps are not long enough to do this with ease. Stay orientated always think which way is the front of the building while ascending. Quiz you probies on this on responses especially minor stuff like CO and gas leaks to keep their heads in the game. As a truck officer if you are estimating how many lengths of hose it will take to reach the fire on the way up it keeps you cognizant of how long the stretch will take.

The picture I see shows two seperate outriggers on each side of the apparatus. How is that better than just one? My concern is that you need 2 separate openings between cars to place the outriggers. I'm not familiar with E-One towers do the outriggers have to be out on both sides or is there a shortjacking option?

No SOP. We train to clear the whole window and the sash if entering through the window. Some of those windows are not completely taken which I would venture to guess that on the fire floor members were conducting their primary as fast as possible knowing there were confirmed victims.

There have been a number of discussions about recent structural fires. I think we get the drift that there are a number of members unhappy with those discussions. I think it's important to keep in mind that adequetly staffed apparatus with trained personnel responding quickly is of great benifit to firefighter safety and obviously those we are sworn to protect. Staffing and its relation to firefighter and civillian safety is obviously important enough of a topic for Homeland Security security to fund a study by NIST on the topic. Additionally I have seen a number of NIOSH firefighter fatality reports that list staffing/# of responding personnel as a contributing factor in the death of a firefighter during interior firefighting. With all this being said why should this board shy away of this topic? Life Safety is our primary concern we should highlight the inadequicies if we have any hope of improving these tough issues.

The scrub area issue can be minimized by angling the cab 15 degrees away from the objective if street width allows. Also for private dwelling fires if you pull the cab slightly past the house and line up the turntable to cover two sides the cab is totally out of the scrub area needed. But your point is good because situations can present themselves where the scrub area is less than optimum. I will point out that the addition of the enclosed cab the scrub area became further diminished when the apparatus is parallel to the objective. I mention this because some departments are refurbishing old single rear axle tower ladders which include new enclosed cabs which will reduce the scrub area they were used too. I also percieve and I could be wrong on this but it looks like the turntable is higher off the ground on rearmounts. The lower turntable is to the ground the easier it is to operate under the ever present obstructions namely wires.

If your trying to line up the turntable with the objective its only a few feet behind you (the driver) as opposed to 35 feet away. I know someone is going to tell me that you line the bucket up with the victim but that is a far more infrequent occurance than trying to line the turntable up between the trees to get the throat of a building. antiquefirelt I'm with you the new rigs have quite a bit of distance behind the rear wheels and make the art of driving them much different than a rear mount.

It seems form IAs that westchester departments are calling FAST teams on a regular basis. Continually I point out that the FAST is put to work for non FAST duties. If this is happening its probably points to the fact that the first alarm assignment is not adequete. The IC should plan to have crews in reserve on scene to perfom the tasks needed to avoid using the FAST. Depending on the department in addition to calling for a FAST on the working fire simulataeously requesting an extra engine and truck would provide this reserve. If you operating at a working fire and all hands are working and no one is there in reserve you are not prepared. I could understand the arguement of limited resources or mutual aid being too far away if this was Wyoming but we are talking about Westchester County. The NFPA 1710 recomendations are the minimum resources needed to combat a fire I think adding an extra engine and truck to that is being adequetly prepared for the realities of the fireground. There are many added benifits like giving the first due guys a blow and think of the experince the the probies from mutual aid get doing the washdown and getting to find out how first due handled the fire they were confronted with. I am continually impressed with our chief officers abilities to stay ahead of a fire and request resources before the need arises. That is the benifit of and experienced incident commander and why one is invaluable.

DC Manix on 710 AM right now speaking his peace.

I wish they would publish the tests so people could see how easy they were. More than 500 and I'm sure close to 1000 got a perfect 100 on the 1999 test. I'm sorry the job is technical and and you need some ability to read and put that to work for you. The FDNY possibly has the most extensive set of procedures and part of a probies training involves reading them and making notebook entries. Everything in technical now be it window blankets, pro pressure govenors, gas meters. I think those written tests with the older more strenous physical gave us good firefighter canidates regargless of race or sex.

A hoseline to protect a rescue may be important but using the FAST probably takes them away from the their primary duty of getting the brother in distress. I think it's real important for the IC to have companies in reserve so when the need occurs the IC has engines ready to stretch additional lines and trucks to check for extension and provide relief. Having the companies in reserve eliminates the all too often practice of putting the on scene FAST to work to do other than FAST duties. We have a cordless rebar cutter that helps with window bars especially when they are higher up and need to operate off a ladder. It's important to the teams heads in the game while standing fast. I always try to go over based on the fire we are at the most probable mayday and how we will address it. I ask the first due engine chauffeur how many lenghts the first line is and then i count how many to the do so I can gauge how far in companies are operating.

J-E-T-S!

Judging by the FDNY/NYPD response time to inwood and the heights for jumpers and people in the water I think that time would be inadequete to the Tappan Zee area. Other posters may be on to something with the regional response. A Westchester River Rescue type agency combining the multiple resources would probably be more effective than every small department on the river trying to have their own boat.

The attendance of funerals by outside departments was very helpful and much appreciated. I can't agree more the 343 and their stories will live on at least in the fire service.

As important as knowing how to carry the can is how to use it. In most situations we use the can the fire is real minor and the member places their finger over the nozzle of the can to disperse the water and not blow the burning material all over the place. When the fire is going and we are using it to buy time or get a door closed i'd use it full blast in spurts. On lots of runs this stuff seems trivial but when the engine is making a long stretch and the can must be used to facilitate a search under tough conditions its essential for the guy (or girl) with the can to use it to its full potential. Once the fire has flashed over the can is usually not much use in absorbing the tremendous heat being generated. The firefighter with the can can use it for ventilation, but hold on tight it wants to go out the window, and when its empty it bounces off the window and makes you look silly. The can can also be applied to a burn patient to stop the burning process. I've seen the can used to cool metal be cut.

I'm pretty sure it's up to the individual companies. We (truck) have stuff we use infrequently up there. The squads and tech engines have had them for years and keep their Level A's suits in them.

I think they got rid of the Hi-Ex unit a year or two ago. Satelites have hi-ex generators and carry 5 gallon cans.

A 360 is nice and hopefully can get done ASAP. It's easy to get fooled with balloon construction because smoke and fire will show early from the eaves with basement fires. Failing to recognize the fire originated in the basement can put crews in greater danger if they fail to realize they are operating above the fire. As for advancing hoselines with private dwellings its best to flake the line out in the front yard and charge the line before comming in the front door. And for going down to the basement an option to consider depending on conditions is to have the nozzle firefighter quickly decend the stairs feet first without the line and have the backup hand the line down as soon and the nozzle man is down. It is extremely difficult to go down head first with the line in your hands and not get pushed down the stairs because at best you have one free hand. If the fire is advanced to the point that there is doubt in making it down the stairs consider having the first line maintain the first floor and have the second line get the fire or hit the fire from the exterior with the line before going inside. I am not advocating operating hoselines through windows but for an advanced basement fire operating the line for a minute to knock it down a little and take some heat out of it may be the difference between being able to make it down the stairs. Our engines don't have TICs but as a truck officer if I get a chance I give the engine officer and nozzle firefighter a look with the camera. Hopefully in the future the engines will be equipped with cameras. Engines are frequently on scene prior to the ladder companies and at fires the truck officer does not have the luxury to stay with the engine after finding the fire since they must complete the primary search.

Last Saturday I stopped at a fundraiser for a volunteer fire department made a quick purchase and was on my way. While completing my purchase I was handed a flyer. While cleaning up today I came across the flyer and had the chance to read it. The flyer was the typical description of the VFD and then the request for donations. It stated the department operates almost entirely on donations and receives no tax dollars for support. The department in question is a fire district so all apparatus and equipment is in fact taxpayer supported. In the flyer there is no explanation of the difference between the department and district and that a district in fact exists. If you ask me the district/department difference to the general public is semantics. How is this not an outright lie? Why would you even portray yourself this way since the public has to know it is a false statement if they see their tax bill since the fire district is listed on it? Funny thing is I was only slightly shocked since I had seen flyers and claims like this before from other departments. I guess some will argue that this is a legally factual statement but my point is this is very misleading advertising and probably pretty widespread.

Pickups are not too expensive. The Battalions carry so much more than they did 10 years ago. There are some places where these may not fit according to the shops.

Any departments use the web based software to make their decisions?

I like the look of the rig but think that the distance between the rear axle and end of the bucket would be problematic in many of our neighboorhoods. The current 75' are at the limit of what fits down the streets.

We knew this was comming they have done this before and the staffing comes back when the numbers drop. The tough fact is that medical office is directing members with flu symptoms not to even show up to the medical office to prevent getting more members sick. So steps being taken because of H1N1 are driving up the medical leave rate. The other bad side to this is that FDNY minimum manning is only what they start the tour with. When medical leave occurs during the tour the 5th firefighter is detailed from engines to bring other engines and trucks up to minimum. With only 11 engine companies at 5 firefighter staffing and winter upon us a couple jobs will create a situation with ladder companies reduced to 4 firefighters for the remainder of the tour.

The one part of the car that held the most integrety was around the driver very lucky indeed.

NYS Town Law does weigh in on the issue. The firefighters elect the chief (this includes the career firefighters if I remember an opinion correctly) then the Commisioners confirm the chief. If the commisioners do not confirm the chief it gets kicked back to the company. Commisioners can go career and hire a chief but thats a different discussion.

One engine? We just had a discussion about how important water supply is and the direct correlation between loss of water and firefighter fatalities in the City of NY. We are heading into the cold weather all it takes is one frozen hydrant and disaster will strike. The Volunteers should make it clear that the city must ensure their safety by keeping two engine companies open at all times. Why should the firefighters in Beacon accept the increased risk that would be incurred by these risky cuts?