Golden's Bridge Fire Department Forcible Entry Training

[RES24CUE 168]

Golden's Bridge Fire Department Foricble Entry Training on the Friction Force Door at the Westchester County Fire Training Center:

Enjoy

[DM 46 0]

Nice video! Has a lot of good tips on forcing an inward swinging door. Thanks for sharing.

Edited January 30, 2012 by DM 46

[M' Ave 1,466]

Nice video. Shot well and explained well. All I might add is that: 1) You can start with the bevel facing AWAY from the door at first. Sometimes on a really tight door, you might need that curvature facing the other way so you can slip passed the initial gap. Once you've got that(this might save you from driving the forks into the frame), flip the tool the conventional way to complete the job. 2) Leave the axe, bring a maul. That extra heft might save you a lot of effort and time.

Again, nice job on the video.

Edited January 31, 2012 by M' Ave

[Guest alsfirefighter]

Pretty darn good drill with familiar faces and some terms and comments I think I've heard before. He must have had some pretty good instructors along his path.

Couple of things also to remember...and again...he did a great job. Always be ready to deal with or have in place a way to secure the door. There will be times when you shock load it or gap it..that it may open at that point. If you're in a common hallway...do not open the door without a charged handline in place.

Also peel back your glove..you're not going to feel heat through it and you'd be shocked when I teach if I ask..if the door is hot do we open it? and students say no. The answer is yes..but you have to be prepared for what can occur...be it have a handline...just open it to take a peak if your searching and control it. We're firefighters...its to open a hot door under the right circumstances.

[BigBuff 27]

Very well done and put video. Officers like that turn out to have a great department.

[BBBMF 158]

Nicely done!

A couple other ideas to add...

1. If you have a really tight door-to-jam situation, slide the adz of the haligan from the middle of the door into the jam as this will help get your tool in between the door and jam quickly so you can set up to gap.

2. Also, bring a couple door chocks, if you're limited on manpower and just have a haligan tool, you can gap the door, set the chock to save the gap created and reset the adz to further gap. If you gap it enough to get the fork in, go ahead and set the fork to force the door.

3. Some areas of town may have many multi dwellings with multiple apartments. Many of these apartments may have angle iron. Size up your building and do bring a flat head axe if necessary...Using the blade, you can create a gap between the angle iron and the jam so as to get your tool in place to force the door. Otherwise like M-Ave said, Bring the Maul!

4. Wood door, wood jam, use the pike of the haligan to spike the jam and push the locking mechanism out of the keeper. If this fails, go conventional

Also, always use your legs for leverage if possible when you're gapping. Obviously easier with a right swinging door because the way the pike is situated on a haligan. And always keep a firm grip on the adz end and the fork end. This will keep your tool going in the direction you want it to and not popping out of the jam.

Like the captain in the vid said...keep your eyes on the prize; once your past the jam, your past the door!

[Spartan052 43]

great video great as a refresher on forcible entry

[BFD1054 1,552]

Nice video RES24CUE, thanks for sharing. You did a great job of explaining the step-by-step motions of forcing a door Captain.

My FD has a forcible entry simulator that we use quite often. We will set it up in front of the door to our training tower when we are conducting search or truck op's drills. This way, the 1st in crew has to force the door before they can begin to execute their tasks. Its a great tool to keep sharp on a basic skill.

Again, great video and some great tip's from the other members.

[ex-commish 490]

Well done!