Training Tips, Tricks, and Proven Shortcuts

[ex-commish 490]

Great topic with alot of good tips. One training tool I used to do in my former department was you get a bunch of index cards and write on each card a piece of equipment, it's use and where on the apparatus it is kept. You hand it to a member and he/she has to find it than explain it's use. Helps remember where stuff is. Simple but it works.

[Remember585 815]

How do you go about inspecting your tools for fatigue or damage? Regularly replace the tape?

The tape tends to peel off at least once a year, so when the time comes to replace the tape we sneak a peak to make sure everything is OK. In addition to the irons, we've done the same thing with our 6' & 8' steel hooks, closet hooks and even the rubber mallet for the MPO.

[xchief2x 79]

Hey TCD0415, I was at that seminar with Captain Dugan too and that is the way to do it, too bad the ground ladders on engines have been on backwards since I joined back in 1972.

[demps121 39]

Remember 585

did you guy's add the rubberized grip stuff?

I was concerned about tool inspection with all the rubberized grip material.

[dragonrescue 28]

I thought of a couple more.

When possible, have different colored hydraulic lines for your hydraulic extrication tools. If you have only one color, use different colored tape on the ends of each line so you can ID which one is which.

Always open your SCBA cylinder all the way.

Carry a spray bottle of a soap and water mix to help find gas leaks.

Remember to zero out gas meters before turning them off after each use!

When searching with a Halligan, keep the tool down with the adz and point on the floor. The gap will leave room for your hand without it snagging on the floor.

Fiberglass and even wood and some metal handles on hand tools can be a pain in the arse, try putting a D-handle or wrap small rope around it then cover it with hockey tape. Works great.

(Here's a picture of some of our tools.)

Taping the haligan also prevents sliding the axe along the shaft for striking purposes in really bad visibility situations. The haligan needs to be squared off at the shoulder of the fork end to accomplish this task. It's part of tuning up the the irons. It's imperative to keep all tools, especially the irons, clean and sharp. You wouldn't eat with a dull knife and dirty fork!

[wraftery 1,275]

My all time favorite training tip:

"The rabbit came out of the hole, around the...

Well, you know the rest

Sorry

[Bnechis 3,961]

My all time favorite training tip:"The rabbit came out of the hole, around the...Well, you know the rest

Sorry

I was teaching that to some probies when one of them said: "Im from the city, no rabbits, no trees but lots of pot holes"

So I said; "the drunk firefighter came out of the bar, staggered to the curb where he grabbed on to a street sign. He saw his wife driving up the road. He started to run, but forgot to let go of the sign, until he had spun around it and saw the bar. He let go of the sign and ran back into the bar......."

He no longer had a problem with the bowline.

[Guest alsfirefighter]

I've also come to appreciate a technique you actually started to deliver when donning your PPE. Taking your helmet with the chin strap over your arm while donning...once your mask and hood are on you hook your regulator in and bring the helmet up on your head and the chin strap is right there.

Some others..

the first number in the height of a ladder equals the floor it can generally reach.

Operating on a flat roof with heavy smoke and your the back up man...take your hook and stick the handle out behind you so it slides on the ground. Gives you at least 6' warning if your coming close to the edge.

Partner saws...don't lift it off the deck..wheel barrel it on the blade for better safety.

Last tip...practice what you preach...

[robert benz 344]

seeing the pic of the hydro ram in the bag, put a strap on it and it can be carried over the shoulder freeing up a hand and get rid of the rubber mallet and train your members how to finese the tool where you want it to go with the halligan to gap the door for a purchase point or "tapping" the back of the ram with a flathead axe. Also the dump valve on the hydro-ram has a tendency to stick, you should always give it a push closed everytime you use it. It will work fine until you put it under a load,and in a smoky condition you might not notice that it isnt working.

[robert benz 344]

rubberband for your helmet is a must, wood chocks, get the carpenter in your dept to cut up a bucket full and they should be readily available for the members. Keep the chocks on your helmet where you can get to it, WITH A GLOVED HAND. next time you are training in full gear, crawling around see how difficult it can be to reach into your pocket with your gloves on to get ANYTHING out of your coat or pants.

Along with that thinking, so guys I know carry a knife and or cutters on the outside of their coat, same reason as above.

[antiquefirelt 994]

Keep all your personal items/tools in the same place in your gear, all the time. You develop your senses to reach for the tools without having to paw around pocket to pocket. Once in a while at our morning shift brief we ask guys what they carry and where? Then we go see if they're right. As time goes on, it becomes instinct.

Similarly, get used to masking up on the fly by always putting your helmet and gloves in the same spot as your kneeling down. Personally I put my helmet between my legs and gloves under my knee. This way if someone passes you on the steps, deck, or landing they won't accidentally kick your helmet or gloves away.

Edited February 6, 2010 by antiquefirelt

[ny10570 745]

If you don't use it for more than 30 days, stop carrying it. Of course there are exceptions ie:bailout rope, but if you're not using it take a minute to consider how important it is to have on you at all times. Dr. Murphy will ensure that anytime you need something out of a pocket in a critical moment it will be blocked by something else if available.

[wraftery 1,275]

If you don't use it for more than 30 days, stop carrying it. Of course there are exceptions ie:bailout rope, but if you're not using it take a minute to consider how important it is to have on you at all times. Dr. Murphy will ensure that anytime you need something out of a pocket in a critical moment it will be blocked by something else if available.

If we all thought like that, we would get rid of deck guns, ladder pipes, fire hydrants (except for the one we used last week). We would then get rid of fire engines and us.

There is certainly a criteria to figure out what you are going to carry, and you can't carry everything, but the 30-day rule is not the way to go about it.

Let's save the "freshness label" for our salad dressing.

[Guest Firediver]

FF gloves. WEAR EM as much as you can doing as many things as you can (fire related). Get rid of that cute glove holder on your coat and wear your gloves. When going over your rig wear them so it will become second nature to do things with limited dexterity. Start the saws, check SCBA, knots(as someone stated),clean your tools etc. Practice putting your SCBA,mask ,hood and helmet on with gloves. That little kneeling on them to mask up trick will work until you ave an aggressive truck crew barreling by you at the front door and thats where you might stay b/c you glove is gone.The more you do with them on the less you will have to take them off. Tool should be keep clean! A clean tool is a working tool ( nobody really cares about the "saltyness" of the tool!). Take care of it it will take care of you. For the MPO's out there, when pumping in freezing temps(winter months) put a few 3/8" self tapping hex head screws in the LUGS of your boots for a little extra grip when its icy around the rig. They will not compromise the shank of the boot if done right. Pocket tools, make yourself a small pouch by cutting some old duece and a half hose and riveting one end. Presto!!! a nice pouch to keep all your pocket tools in.

What pocket does everyone keep their tools in and why? I keep mine in my right jacket pocket b/c if for any reason I have to remove my SCBA my left hand will be holding the left shoulder strap and low pressure hose.

Edited February 6, 2010 by Firediver

[COMMANDCHIEF 4]

High Rise equipment. When you arrive at a high rise assigment you have a lot of extra stuff to carry. For extra SCOTT bottles. Take a 3 foot lenght of rope or webbing. Tie clips like you would use on a flag pole at each end. When drawing the extra equipment. One FF clips a bottle on each end either using the harness mount or wraping the valve and then drapes the bottles across the top of his pack frame leaving his two hands free for the climb up the steps. Or to carry more equipment. You can keep the pre made straps in the same compartment as the stand-pipe bag, or high rise packs.

Good topic. Proper use of the site. Nicely done Bobby.

[spin_the_wheel 460]

One of my pet peeves is seeing a water can sitting in front of a storm door keeping it open, or when using a fan the storm door sitting against the fan because it cannot stay open on its own. I would say half the storm doors we encounter do not stay open correctly, the door closer or springs do not work right. I carry a bungee cord and have used this to secure the outside storm doors in every case. You can hook it around the door handle and hook the other end to almost anything..the step railings, the mailbox, hook it under siding on the house, even stretch into bushes to keep the door open and doorway clear.

Another trick u can use in snow conditions is for the Chiefs who almost always arrive before the rigs to keep a snow shovel in the car with you...spray paint the upper half a florescent color....when the Chiefs pull on to the block and spot a hydrant, and if possible, jump out and put the shovel in the snow where the hydrant is. The incoming Engine can now spot where the hydrant is, especially if its partially buried, and also the hydrant man can use the shovel to dig out the hydrant more if needed. Of course if all our residents made sure the hydrants in front of their homes were shoveled the right way this would be a moot point I guess.

Edited February 6, 2010 by spin_the_wheel

[Guest Firediver]

Dear Captain Benz,

Climbing a ladder can be awkward for some. Add tools to the equation and it can be really awkward. Both hands on the ladder is obviously the safest way to go. What I like to do is hook the tool(s) to the rung at my furthest reach, then proceed up the ladder and repeat the process until I reach my destination(you vertically challenged guys will have to repeat the process more than I will). If your have a tool that cannot be hooked securely (ie. flat head axe), I carry an over-sized aluminum carabiner clipped to my flashlight strap. Just slide the tool in, handle first, and viola'- hands free again. You can also use a 20'- 24' piece of 1" tubular webbing and create a sling. You would still need the over-sized carabiner.

Love Dragon

Also, if carrying a Halligan up a ladder along with hook and axe as M.D. described here, you can slide the fork of the halligan between your left shoulder strap (must by less than snug) and back with adz and pike pointing away from neck. Now you can have 3 tools 2 hands.

[robert benz 344]

Also, if carrying a Halligan up a ladder along with hook and axe as M.D. described here, you can slide the fork of the halligan between your left shoulder strap (must by less than snug) and back with adz and pike pointing away from neck. Now you can have 3 tools 2 hands.

Good point Mike.

[JFLYNN 681]

Bob, nice topic! Allright, I'll contribute...I wonder if I can manage to not get acccused of being a big, bad, bully???

First of all, my compliments to you all. A lot of great tips on this thread.

In no particular order:

When you can't see where you are about to put your foot due to somke or darkness you should be, you guessed it....CRAWLING...or, ok do the duckwalk if you're on the nob (nozzle)...I'm aware of two incidents in my own department during the last month where guys fell through a floor or down stairs and were injured. I have no idea if they were crawling and I don't know for sure if it would have made a difference but I'd be willing to make a bet (see? now I've even most likely pissed off guys on my own job...I don't just pick on defenseless women, children, sneior citizens, etc.)

When raising a ground ladder to the roof, just raise (extend) it all the way every time- saves time looking up and trying to figure whether or not you've raised it enough to have 3 or 4 rungs above the roof line, and then possibly having to raise it all over again if you come up short once you drop it onto the roof...who cares if you ahve 5 or 6 rungs above the roof instead of 3 or 4?

Before entering a room for a search in low or "zero" visibility, put your head right on the floor and turn your head sideways to get as low as possible...in pretty much every room, even those which seem to have "zero" visibility, there will be a couple of inches at least at the bottom of the room of fresh air and thus visibility...if you take the time to do this, you may be able to make out furniture, doorways, drop down fire, or even victims, giving you valuable clues to aid your search, or even to help you make the decision whether to begin a left or right handed seacrh.

Going above the fire in an interior stairwell? Keep your shoulder up against the outside wall. This will give you protection in the event that heat, smoke or fire vents up the stairs from below and will also minimize the chance of being struck by falling skylight glass in the event it is being vented as you ascend the stairs.

During overhaul when pulling walls or ceilings with a charged handline present, try to open up as much as possible before opening the nozzle. Once you start spraying water, we have to deal with all that steam which makes it not only more uncomfortable but much more difficult to see.

Don't crown the nozzleman! Give him and his Officer and/ or nozzleman room to work. If the line isn't advancing fast enough for you, go back down the line and help to dekink it and move it around corners as necessary.

When forcing a bulkhead door, pop off the top hinge so it won't close inadvertantly. Don't chock it. Take the hinge so it definitely will not close. It really sucks for the guys below to be operating on the firefloor or floors above with decent stairwell ventilation and then to have it go to s$#t because someone bumped into the already opened bulkhead door and knocked the chock out.

Please, please, please, DO NOT vent windows from the outside unless you have coordinated this action with an engine company which is advancing toward this window and there are no strong winds blowing in the direction of the window, or if you plan on entering the window for a search.

On the fireground, when it's really cold out, please don't say, "I hate the cold!" Same goes for the "man it's hot!" comments in the summer...we all know this already and you're just annoying us.

Did I mention, CRAWL?

And by far, most importantly, please QTIP.

[KCRD 6]

"(see? now I've even most likely pissed off guys on my own job..."

This has to be a joke. Everyone on YFD knows this isn't possible...

[Guest USAFvet]

All are great tips. Now, about that 3 tool carry up the ladder... I will have to work

on that. Thanks!

[791075 34]

One quick one ....How many of you out there check your SCBA waist-strap buckle on a regular basis? If you need to use your scba as a "rescue" harness and the buckle doesnt hold, you could be in trouble......

Edited February 6, 2010 by 791075

[dragonrescue 28]

Here is a good quick Engine Company drill: ( The 3 minute drill)

In less than 3 minutes an engine should be able to:

• Stretch and flow 1 line over 150' long with a flow of at least 150 gpm
  
• Stretch and flow a 2nd line over 150' with a flow of at least 150 gpm
  
• Lay a supply line from a hydrant of a least 300' in lenght.
  

Here's what makes it challenging, NO TANK WATER. The first water to the attack lines must come direct from the hydrant. It takes some team work to pull this off in under 3 minutes but once you've done it it's easy to repeat.

[16fire5 693]

I've also come to appreciate a technique you actually started to deliver when donning your PPE. Taking your helmet with the chin strap over your arm while donning...once your mask and hood are on you hook your regulator in and bring the helmet up on your head and the chin strap is right there.

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.

[wraftery 1,275]

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.

Speaking of front of the building. Apparatus operators, fast guys, etc should light up the front of the building as soon as reasonably possible. Concentrate on the fire floor and floors above. An interior FF or company in distress is going to look for windows, especially the front. Of course you should liht the rest of the sides up later, but the front is the most important.

If fire is in a rear apartment, inside guys should consider gaining acess to a "clean" apartment on the front side of the bldg. Do this before opening the fire apt door. This will give you an emergency escape route with a door and a ladder truck in front of the bldg. (Because the TRUCK ALWAYS GETS THE FRONT OF THE BUILDING)

Edited February 7, 2010 by wraftery

[efdcapt115 1,511]

All members who have fought a working fire in the upper floor/s or on the roof of a multi-dwelling know what a challenge it can be to get equipment to and from the fire floor; especially if you lose elevators and need to utilize the stairwells exclusively.

This problem is exacerbated within departments that have limited manpower, during prolonged operations, as members grow weary from fighting the fire. The last thing a firefighter feels like doing is humping more equipment up nine or ten flights of stairs after having already gone up those stairs to battle the blaze, then down those stairs to take a blow and have a drink of water. Yet, fire floor command is calling for more spare bottles, additional hose, more hooks, tarps, fans, portable radios, fresh batteries, fresh handlights, etc.

We came up with an efficiency evolution simply called "Stairs Support." You take a company or combined group of firefighters. All of the equipment being called for from the rigs or on the street is gathered by this team, and placed at the bottom of the stairwell to be used. When ready, one member stays with the equipment cache, and the other members ascend the staircase, each one positioning themselves on every other landing going up; levels 3,5,7,9, etc. The number of firefighters can be expanded or contracted to suit the number of floors.

To start, the member on the ground at the cache takes a tool or spare SCBA bottle in each hand and ascends two flights and hands off to the member on the level 3 landing, who ascends two flights and hands off to the member on the level 5 landing and so on, until the equipment has reached the fire floor or the roof. Through testing at the training center tower, we found this to be a very effective and efficient way of moving gear up ten flights using 5 members, rather than having the 5 members each take two items and each ascending the full ten stories, time and again. The need to only ascend two flights once in place, gives each member a blow as they descend for their next load to carry up.

This company is dedicated to the stairs support ops and stays in place. Now as more and more SCBA bottles are exhausted, or whatever further equipment needs arise, it all can be moved both up and down the stairs efficiently by this dedicated op.

For volunteer or combo depts, being that the stairs are usually not part of the IDLH environment, this can be a very useful way of utilizing "exterior" members.

Edited February 11, 2010 by efdcapt115

[efdcapt115 1,511]

Another equipment efficiency technique I've seen is for the FAST company to gather all of their equipment, place it in a stokes basket, and deploy it all together to the front of the structure. This saves time; instead of having each member carry individual tools for their deployment, and possibly having to go back and forth to the rig multiple times until all FAST gear is available and at the ready. A rapid checklist at the rig also ensures the team takes everything they might need.

[robert benz 344]

found this to be a easy way of tracking when our scba's need to be tested. I didnt think of it just passing it along

scba colors.pdf

[PFDRes47cue 653]

Excellent post!

One thing that I am a fan of is to carry a can of shaving cream on all apparatus that have extrication equipment. In particular equipment for removing windshields and rear windows. When removing the window with a saw, a lot of dust is created, this dust can affect both the firefighter and the victim in the car. If you spray shaving cream around the windshield where you are going to cut and then cut through the shaving cream with the saw, a lot of the dust will get caught in the shaving cream. Easy fix for what, a $1.50.

[dougeng41 1]

Remember 585,

Are you saying to allow the meter to clear before turning off or actually zeroing the meter by fresh calibration?

Remember to zero out gas meters before turning them off after each use!