Tool that should be on the engine and the Ladder

[CM36 4]

What tool beside the basic one should be on the Engine?

I think that all hydrant hook up tools ahould be on this rig. Also if you have a wet vac and also some extra bottles and a couple of extra packs. The engine should also carry a couple of ladder no more then three ladders.

What tool beside the basic one should be on the Ladder?

I think that the ladder should carry all extraction tools and ventalation tools and also the ladder should be the FAST truck i feel. Also the ladder should have ropes and also techincal resuce equimpent that the department has that is if you do not have a resuce truck.

[Guest Lieutenant6474]

Just curious... Why a wet vac on an engine... Sounds like overhaul equipment to me... Better fit would be on the Truck Co. next to salvage tarps.

FAST equipment is tempting to put on a Truck Co. however there is one disadvantage to doing this... If used correctly, the FAST team arrives and their rig is discarded. It shouldn't be used in any operations at the scene. Thus, you are taking a Truck Co. out of service in it's own community for no reason when it responds to a FAST call out of town. Most Westchester County departments have more than one Engine and thus, staffing the Engine with the FAST team is a more ergonomic way to provide help to your mutual aid companies AND continue to protect your own district with the expensive Truck that could be left behind at the station. Don't get me wrong, this isn't to say that Truck Co.s should never be used, but if it's going to sit at the scene why not make it an Engine or a Utility. To my knowledge the FAST teams that we run with use the following rigs to respond.

Mt. Kisco - Utility

Yorktown - R16

Ossining - Utility

Croton - E118 (?)

Millwood - E247

Bedford Hills - TL57

Briarcliff - R37 (Although I'm not sure they still have a team)

Mohegan - E255 (This may have changed)

[LFD171 0]

Ossining uses U51 in addition to an engine company, usually E98. Valhalla uses Rescue 9 and Peekskill uses E134, which is their rescue truck. Rescues are also good as they usually have more space to carry all of the necessary FAS equipment.

In Larchmont, we are about to "launch" our FAS team using our Rescue1. We did this for storage reasons and also to offer departments in the area the benefit of calling our rescue for both a FAS team and a cascade unit (if there is enough manpower.)

[57truck 1]

Engines should defiently have a CO or Multi Gas dector since their usually running 1st to co or gas investigations. Also, a hydra-ram would be a good tool to have on an engine to use for forcible entry, incase the truck doesnt get on the road due to manpower limitations that some departments suffer.

Personally, i like the idea of having FAST equipment on a truck, but it can be done by an engine, rescue or utility. A well spec'd rig can carry as much equipment as needed, and laddering a fire building incase a rapid escape can be accomplished by 1 apparatus if the FAST truck is a ladder, which will have numerous portable ladders.

I like Larchmonts theory of using the Rescue as their FAST unit because it also provides a cascade system at fire scene, which is always needed.

[HFD23 37]

yorktown use's engine 270... rescue 16 is the back up fast team unit...

[CG206 29]

Mohegan uses either Eng. 255 or Eng. 258 for FASTeam calls. Eng. 257 or Eng. 250 (TS-3) are the other back up rigs if 255 or 258 are tied up or out of service.

[DMA327 12]

I also agree that using an engine for FAST ops. is a good idea because you can spec your rig to fit so much equipment on it that it wouldn't matter if you used a rescue or a ladder truck. You can always use ladders off of other engines or ladders on scene as well. As long as there aren't ladders laying all over the ground doing nothing. It's nice to use a ladder as a FAST truck but around our area ladder's aren't as frequent as in big cities. So i believe that using an engine is the best piece of apparatus for FAST ops.

[Guest Lieutenant6474]

Well... I would agree with Truck57 that having the building laddered is at the top of the priority list. I would only hope that the OIC would have had the first due truck company handle this task. I just find that FAST vehicles are often parked far out of their useful range and that their equipment is usually carried to the FAST staging area. In this scenerio I've only seen 24ft extension and an attick ladder carried.... Both are on any well equiped engine.