Fire Department Experience in France

[GBFD111 73]

So, I am studying abroad with my school in Rouen France, which is a little more than an hour north of Paris. Last week, I went to one of the 3 fire houses in Rouen and got a tour by one of the Officers there It was interesting seeing all of the similarities and differences between departments in the US and here in Europe. In this particular department, that I got a tour of, its a paid department with at least 30 firefighters working at once, including a Hazmat Team and Rope Rescue Specialists. They are on 24/48 hour shifts with dispatchers in the firehouse.

Some of the pictures are attached.

Their turnouts, which are significantly different. Their slip on their pants over their regular clothes, but do not have firefighting boots like the ones that at least I am used to. Part of their uniform is workboots, which they wear in fires. While I was there, there was an alarm, and putting on their gear did not look very efficient, keeping their boots on and slipping into the pants.

Due to the nature of the call they will take the necessary equipment and leave others behind in other trailers.

One of the trailers that they can attach to the trucks

Our equivalent of a brush truck...the brush guards actually have holes to flow water while driving through the fire.

Some of their apparatus including one of the Aerials which can go 30 meters up

Small Aerial to go through the skinny french roads. Picture is of me and the Officer who showed me around.

On site training facility...The property also has a private gym for firefighters, which include a basketball court, sauna and weights. The property also has a private soccer field. In the main building of the firehouse, there are bunk rooms, which are nicer than my dorm rooms that my university offers, including a cinema area with flat screen tv's, and a dining hall where they have paid chefs prepare food for you.

Wanna see everyones reaction from this. Has anyone traveled internationally and have found similar departments like this?

[SageVigiles 1,194]

Our equivalent of a brush truck...the brush guards actually have holes to flow water while driving through the fire.

That's actually a pretty cool idea.

Also, I like the idea of Rolloff PODs for special ops calls. I know FDNY has used this concept for some of the collapse equipment. Connecticut USAR TF-1 also has 3 Mack Granites with rolloffs for just such a purpose.

Not a bad idea if you need to mobilize a long distance (I'd imagine they could be loaded on military transports for national/international deployments.) Probably helps with maintenance costs too. Only need to repair 1 truck. I'd imagine not a whole lot can break on the rolloff part. If the truck goes out of service, just have a dumpster company on contract to carry it.

Far be it from me to say "lets do things the way Europe does" but that is actually a pretty efficient means of operating. Its a pretty cool opportunity to see what they do outside of our Metro NYC (or American, for that matter) fire service bubble.

[lt411 145]

Just got back from 3 weeks trekking in Nepal, going up to Mt Everest base camp and climbing Kala Pathhar, across the valley from Everest (went with REI, the outdoor equipment company). Great trip!

Anyway, at the end of the trip we spent 2 days in the capital, Kathmandu. Almost one million people in the city. Fire protection comes out of ONE fire house, in Durbar square. Due to a language barrier, we didn't get too much info, but saw only 2 pieces of apparatus- an old British pumper, and a small rear-mount aerial ladder (I think they also have a tanker). These rigs had to be at least 20-30 yrs old, and were beat up and battered. There were 10 fireifghters on duty, none of them wearing the same clothing. Their turnout gear resembled 1960's style US gear, other than the British style helmets.

No fire hydrants in the city; cows roaming the streets (Hindu religion believes cows are sacred); old,old bldgs that were out-of square and looked like any type of tremor would cause a massive collapse;narrow streets;phone/cable/electric wires ( by the hundreds )overhead; and add in the fact that power is cut off twice a day,every day, for 5 hours each time in the entire city Despite all this, the Nepali people were so friendly and welcoming, and always cheerful.

As my grandfather always said: "In our country,we have much to be thankful for"!

[Pagers 197]

I have seen Indianapolis with a roll-off POD too. We had a French couple stop by our firehouse a couple years who were firefighters in France. We gave them a tour and at the end we exchanged fire helmets and snapped a couple pictures, great guys!

Firefighting is really different over there and gear as well, especially how simple and more advanced their SCBA is. Most firefighters I have seen in France where their fire boots pretty much all the time rather it's the traditional slip on's or the wildfire type zip up's.

[16fire5 693]

I have been to a few stations in Ireland. Large on duty crews, paid chef, same kind of guys. They use the booster line as much as possible. Barry seems to have been to plenty of places and has explained many of the pluses to their systems. I think their retained system would be a much better option over our volunteer system.

[Bnechis 3,961]

Also, I like the idea of Rolloff PODs for special ops calls. I know FDNY has used this concept for some of the collapse equipment. Connecticut USAR TF-1 also has 3 Mack Granites with rolloffs for just such a purpose.

18 years ago I got to see how into PODS (platform on demand) they are. At the Intershutz fire show (largest in the world) I got pics of a lot of different PODS, Once the pics were developped (film for the digitaly impaired) I found I had shot 70 distinct types of PODS. They had them for everything and the cost for a basic POD was about $10,000 so it was cheap.

[SageVigiles 1,194]

18 years ago I got to see how into PODS (platform on demand) they are. At the Intershutz fire show (largest in the world) I got pics of a lot of different PODS, Once the pics were developped (film for the digitaly impaired) I found I had shot 70 distinct types of PODS. They had them for everything and the cost for a basic POD was about $10,000 so it was cheap.

Would make a helluva lot more sense than buying a $750,000 rescue truck for every city, town, village and fire district... But I doubt it would win very many parades...

[791075 34]

I visited Italy 15+ yrs ago, same type turnouts and rigs in Rome. The brothers there were very interested in our setups as well.

[jfmuller 23]

I wonder what it feels like to roll up with the wrong POD.

[INIT915 1,119]

I wonder what it feels like to roll up with the wrong POD.

Well, if ours were labeled in French as well, that would probably happen with great frequency!

[efdcapt115 1,511]

Why am I not seeing any photos in the OP? Very strange.....

Edit: What do I have to do to get an answer, ask this in French? Very well: Pourquoi suis-je pas voir toutes les photos dans l'OP? Très étrange.....

Edited May 9, 2012 by efdcapt115

[GBFD111 73]

Love the attempted French..very close

it would be, "pourquoi je n'ai vu rien des photos dans l'OP?

Qu'est-ce que c'est l'OP?

[efdcapt115 1,511]

Love the attempted French..very close

it would be, "pourquoi je n'ai vu rien des photos dans l'OP?

Qu'est-ce que c'est l'OP?

Le PO est le poste "d'origine."

[efdcapt115 1,511]

Pardon'....OP. How do you say LOL in French...lol

[x4093k 654]

Awesome trucks! The 2nd picture is like a dumpster truck, but kept in MUCH better condition and carries more important things

Good luck to you and your study out there, stay safe!