FD "racing teams"

[helicopper 1,050]

The below post was in another thread and I'm starting this one to ask some questions without taking the other thread off-topic.

What is the purpose of these "racing teams"?

How many FD's have them?

Who funds them?

Who insures them?

What does this have to do with actual firefighting?

I'm asking out of genuine curiosity so don't go crazy on me for bringing it up!

Hey you forgot about racing! Cause you know we do this all the time at fires, you know jump from a hot rod at 50 mph with only a hockey helmet and kneepads while simultaneously throwing a ladder and climbing it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUnIpENdwF0...feature=related

[Guest alsfirefighter]

Chris:

This ended up being a table discussion at the fire house and academy after a while ago Channel 11 News showed a LI team doing the ladder off a truck demo, skill (if you would call it that).

The obvious thing for me is the safety factor...then the what does this really have to do with firefighting when I see so many people on a regular basis whom cannot put up a ground ladder in a normal operational manner.

[Beekman 5]

The fire department racing team is a big thing on Long Island (go figure). On one of my trips to Long Island last summer I saw a brand new training course that is specifically set up for training of the racing team built behind a fire station. It's like a firefighter challenge but just with muscle fire trucks and insane firefighters...more insane than us "normal" firefighters.

I remember growing up and the local department practicing about a mile away during the summer time. Kinda neat to watch.

http://www.nysdrillteams.com/areas/linkpage.htm

Just looking at the list, there are a lot of departments that did away with their teams as none of the current "drill" teams are from my old neighborhood. Also, back in the day, they at least looked a little like fire trucks. Can't say that looking at some of the teams now.

Edited June 5, 2009 by Beekman

[Beekman 5]

Motorized Drills: The Events

This description of events is provided by NYS Drill Teams the ultimate web site for Nassau/Suffolk Drill Team information.

Three Man Ladder

Three men start at 50, 75, and 100 feet from arch. Men must simultaneously climb a 25 ft. ladder (secured to the arch). First two men must touch top rung, last man must grasp and hold top rung.

B Ladder

One driver, three ladder men and one climber, using a class B fire vehicle equipped with a 25 ft. speed ladder, start 150 feet from arch. Vehicle and personnel race to arch. Vehicle stops an the arch. Ladder men and climber must get off and raise ladder to arch. Climber then scales ladder. Climber must grasp and hold top rung.

C Ladder

One driver, three ladder men and one climber, using a class C fire vehicle equipped with a 25 ft. speed ladder, start 475 feet from arch. Vehicle and personnel race to arch. Vehicle stops at the arch. Ladder men and climber must get off and raise ladder to arch. Climber then scales ladder. Climber must grasp and hold top rung.

C Hose

One driver, one hydrant man, one nozzle man, one break man and one slack man, using a class C fire vehicle equipped with 200 ft. of hose, (150 ft. usable and 50 ft. unusable) start 475 feet from hydrant. Vehicle and personnel will race down track, stop at hydrant to let hydrant man and slack man off. Hydrant man will connect hose to hydrant. Vehicle and remaining personnel will continue down track to target where they will stop. Nozzle man and break man will get off. Break man will then break connection between the usable and unusable hose length's. Nozzle man will then attach a nozzle to the usable length's and trip the target with water.

B Hose

One driver, one hydrant man, one nozzle man, one break man and one slack man, using a class B fire vehicle equipped with 200 ft. of hose, (150 ft. usable and 50 ft. unusable) start 150 feet from hydrant. Vehicle and personnel will race down track, stop at hydrant to let hydrant man and slack man off. Hydrant man will connect hose to hydrant. Vehicle and remaining personnel will continue down track to target where they will stop. Nozzle man and break man will get off. Break man will then break connection between the usable and unusable hose length's. Nozzle man will then attach a nozzle to the usable length's and trip the target with water.

Efficiency

Eight men (with three 50 ft. lengths of hose) will start 50 feet from hydrant. At start signal men must connect hose together, connect a nozzle and connect to hydrant, run down track and pass water through hose to trip a target.

Motor Pump

Eleven men and class B fire vehicle will start 75 feet from hydrant. Men may not get off vehicle until it crosses the 25 ft. line from hydrant. At this time the vehicle will stop at hydrant and men will jump off. Hydrant man will connect inlet line to hydrant and another man will connect one end of hose to pump outlet on vehicle. Water will pass from hydrant through pump on vehicle to hose connected to outlet. Nozzle man will then trip the target with water.

Buckets

Twelve men will start 75 ft. from arch. At start signal , five men will climb a 25 ft. ladder secured to the arch. The first man up the ladder will go to top of the arch and will dump water into a 55 gallon barrel. The remaining four ladder men will position themselves on ladder to enable the passing of buckets to the top of the arch. The remaining men will draw the 5 gallon buckets from the tub and pass the buckets to the ladder men.

[JFLYNN 681]

Motorized Drills: The Events

This description of events is provided by NYS Drill Teams the ultimate web site for Nassau/Suffolk Drill Team information.

Three Man Ladder

Three men start at 50, 75, and 100 feet from arch. Men must simultaneously climb a 25 ft. ladder (secured to the arch). First two men must touch top rung, last man must grasp and hold top rung.

B Ladder

One driver, three ladder men and one climber, using a class B fire vehicle equipped with a 25 ft. speed ladder, start 150 feet from arch. Vehicle and personnel race to arch. Vehicle stops an the arch. Ladder men and climber must get off and raise ladder to arch. Climber then scales ladder. Climber must grasp and hold top rung.

C Ladder

One driver, three ladder men and one climber, using a class C fire vehicle equipped with a 25 ft. speed ladder, start 475 feet from arch. Vehicle and personnel race to arch. Vehicle stops at the arch. Ladder men and climber must get off and raise ladder to arch. Climber then scales ladder. Climber must grasp and hold top rung.

C Hose

One driver, one hydrant man, one nozzle man, one break man and one slack man, using a class C fire vehicle equipped with 200 ft. of hose, (150 ft. usable and 50 ft. unusable) start 475 feet from hydrant. Vehicle and personnel will race down track, stop at hydrant to let hydrant man and slack man off. Hydrant man will connect hose to hydrant. Vehicle and remaining personnel will continue down track to target where they will stop. Nozzle man and break man will get off. Break man will then break connection between the usable and unusable hose length's. Nozzle man will then attach a nozzle to the usable length's and trip the target with water.

B Hose

One driver, one hydrant man, one nozzle man, one break man and one slack man, using a class B fire vehicle equipped with 200 ft. of hose, (150 ft. usable and 50 ft. unusable) start 150 feet from hydrant. Vehicle and personnel will race down track, stop at hydrant to let hydrant man and slack man off. Hydrant man will connect hose to hydrant. Vehicle and remaining personnel will continue down track to target where they will stop. Nozzle man and break man will get off. Break man will then break connection between the usable and unusable hose length's. Nozzle man will then attach a nozzle to the usable length's and trip the target with water.

Efficiency

Eight men (with three 50 ft. lengths of hose) will start 50 feet from hydrant. At start signal men must connect hose together, connect a nozzle and connect to hydrant, run down track and pass water through hose to trip a target.

Motor Pump

Eleven men and class B fire vehicle will start 75 feet from hydrant. Men may not get off vehicle until it crosses the 25 ft. line from hydrant. At this time the vehicle will stop at hydrant and men will jump off. Hydrant man will connect inlet line to hydrant and another man will connect one end of hose to pump outlet on vehicle. Water will pass from hydrant through pump on vehicle to hose connected to outlet. Nozzle man will then trip the target with water.

Buckets

Twelve men will start 75 ft. from arch. At start signal , five men will climb a 25 ft. ladder secured to the arch. The first man up the ladder will go to top of the arch and will dump water into a 55 gallon barrel. The remaining four ladder men will position themselves on ladder to enable the passing of buckets to the top of the arch. The remaining men will draw the 5 gallon buckets from the tub and pass the buckets to the ladder men.

This seems like a lot of fun! I would love to try it some time. Can any of our Long Island brothers tell us who funds and insures these teams? I'm sure that the monies wouldn't come from tax dollars or 2% monies, or contributions which were solicited for or given to the volunteer fire department and it must be kinda expensive, so how do you guys come up with the money for this. Just curious, thanks!

[efdcapt115 1,511]

Edit:I found this video after I checked the above link to youtube and it just goes to their homepage. This is just a silly one of a dad and his kid having fun with some little battery powered cars and a firetruck. The kid is priceless if you fast forward to where he runs to the firetruck to respond and rescue his dad.

Edited June 6, 2009 by efdcapt115

[helicopper 1,050]

Thanks for all the information... Now maybe someone can answer the even bigger question: WHY?

[ny10570 745]

Didn't Yonkers have a team a while back? I use to see someone practicing at Yonkers Raceway, thought it was YFD. There are worse wastes of money that many of these depts partake in. So long as its funded as its own line item in the budget, then the commissioners at least doing their job and being transparent with their spending.

[efdcapt115 1,511]

Thanks for all the information... Now maybe someone can answer the even bigger question: WHY?

Hi Chris,

I'll take a crack at it, although my knowledge of FF racing teams is limited. But I've been to Brentwood FD on the island in years past and that's where I first learned about this competition, and checked out Brentwood's race-truck. Years ago they started this racing competition as a sort of "muster" that took on a very competitive life of it's own.

The objective as shown by the rules starts with firematics, but the "sport" became a test of teams going up against each other; combining acrobatics, firematics, speedomatics, and you can imagine, many kegs of beer were consumed during the event.

This is how it was. They used to get quite a turnout for their events; maybe they did fundraising, charged admission and what not. But I saw video in Brentwood, it took place at a racetrack with grandstands that were filled with hundreds of people.

It looked pretty crazy. The "evolutions" border on the danger zone, and any smart Chief or BOC has probably taken steps to curtail the danger. I know I would if it was in my lap. They would literally line up just like a couple of race cars on a quarter-miler, with a full crew hanging on; the lights would drop and they'd nail the accelerators, scream out of the hole and come to a dead stop like 100 feet down the track; the crew would be jumping off the rig as it was stopping, make a hydrant, then race forward laying a supply line, stretching a handline, charging and flowing water. Ding; winner.

The other race had a ground ladder on the rig; same take off, then they'd throw up the ladder to a tought rope and a guy would climb it. Ding; you get the point.

How do/did they finance these rigs, I have no idea. Nor do I know if they are still very active with that stuff anymore. That's about it.

Edit: So the WHY part would be, this was/is a form of "practicing" evolutions; with a little Barnum Bailey circus type danger thrown in to make it into a performance for the crowd.

Edited June 6, 2009 by efdcapt115