Where Have All The Ground Ladders Gone?

[ldrco195 17]

Where Have All The Ladders Gone?

It seems that a certain phenomenon has occurred to the fire service, one that in my opinion has not benefited the safety and efficiency of our personnel on the fireground.

Has anyone noticed the lack of ladders thrown at the scene of fires in recent times? How many times have you arrived on scene of a structure fire to find a single ladder thrown to the roof for Roof Division? Have you ever been told that we don’t have the available staffing to throw ladders to windows for rescue or potential firefighter egress on two story occupancies? Better yet, when was the last time your Captain took you out to throw ladders on actual buildings, or did he/she use the BS excuse, “We need permission from the building owner, I don’t want to get in trouble.”

http://www.firetowntrainingspecialist.com/...adders_Gone.pdf

[x635 4,066]

Funny, I was just thinking about this topic the other day. Everybody's so fascinated by the aerial device, and all the other toys and labels, that they forget the bread and butter.

The use of ground ladders is strongly emphasized in my department, or at least in the groups I work with. Due to manpower, we also have to be able to throw the ladder by ourselves.

A ground ladder will save a life, maybe yours, a heck of a lot faster then an aerial device, albeit the latter may be a little safer and sturdier.

[ldrco195 17]

It should be a guideline to throw them at every working fire. NO EXCEPTIONS !!!

we are in the process of replacing our aerial and we want a large compliment of ground ladders. It is interesting how the reps cringe when we say 300+.

Due to them cringing we are taking a TDA (yes, another vollie house with a TDA) into consideration. There are advantages to a TDA. compartment space, ladder compliment ability, and ability to get just about anywhere without a problem.

In regards to ground ladders, We are big on throwing them. We have riding assignments on our truck and at two recent fires, our OVM & CHAUFFER, threw all the ground ladders from our ladder and the tower along with most of the ground ladders from the engine companies. Crews made 11 grabs at the one fire and 2 grabs at the next. Why.. Aggressive ground ladder usage.

On every bldg fire, there should be ground ladders to every window on the second floor and above if possible. This goes for rural america to urban america.

Some may ask "Why?". If you have to ask go back to essentials. Out of kindness I will answer the question... If there is one at every window.. you have a way out ! What a concept huh !

My motto.. "THROW 'EM 'TIL YOU GOT NONE LEFT.. THEN LOOK FOR MORE"

[Remember585 815]

As a minimum there should be one thrown to all sides of the structure.

With that said, I agree with the poster before me about getting them to the windows. We have to think of ourselves and how are our guys getting out in a hurry should the caca hit the fan. Aerials are great but they don't reach everything.

Everyone is hell-bent on "the Truck" doing all the "Truckee" work - but in many departments around we don't have that luxury, do we? Call in a Mutual Aid Truck or assign another Engine or even Rescue company to get this important task taken care of. Many times we respond as a FAST and find ourselves throwing ladders. Some criticize us for doing it but it's for their benefit and ours should we need it.

[gss131 212]

In perfect world ,raise if ya got em ,otherwise???