By John “Skip” Coleman, Technical Editor
I would like to think that in today’s fire service there are very few rules that are hard-and-fast. Many departments have developed over time a hard-and-fast rule to not turn on a positive-pressure ventilation (PPV) fan until after they have located and darkened down the fire. Your department should have a hard-and-fast rule about never allowing firefighters to enter a building that is involved in fire without wearing and placing in service self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA). Why would you? Some hard-and-fast rules have evolved over time and trial, and others have evolved because we know better.
When I came on the job, every pumper (engine) had a booster reel–one-inch rubber hose attached with a combination nozzle. It was used primarily for trash, dumpster, and automobile fires and overhaul at times. On occasion, a crew would pull it as the initial attack line. This was frowned on by the administration, but its use lived on as one of those “dirty little secrets” in our department until about 1980 or so.
A full-alarm response was dispatched to a restaurant/bar located along the Maumee River. It was a late-morning fire, and the first-in officer, seeing only light smoke and a pretty long stretch for such a small fire, decided to “allow” the booster to be the first line pulled. Well, a very short few minutes later, the fire drove personnel from the building.
No pumper (engine) was ever ordered new with a booster reel on it, and all existing reels were incapacitated. Now, in my opinion, you punish the perpetrator, not the tool. The booster had (and in my opinion still has) a place in the fire service.
Roundtable: Does your department allow the use of a booster line for initial attack in structure fires? To respond, go to fireengineering.com/roundtable.html.
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| PHOTO OF THE DAY: The Knoxville (TN) Fire Department found smoke bellowing from the eaves of this home and fire at the rear. A neighbor confirmed a man in his mid-60s was inside. Personnel quickly pulled him from the smoke-filled environment. (Photo courtesy of Captain D.J. Corcoran.) See more photos at http://emberly.fireengineering.com/photo-of-the-day.html. Send Photo of the Day submissions to Peter Prochilo (peterp@pennwell.com). |
WEBCASTS
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FIRE LIFE
Cook along with Kipp Rix in his latest cooking video, and learn how to make Chicken Al Carbone. You will find Kipp Rix, Engine 2 Diet book author Rip Esselstyn, and Firehouse Foodie Frank Vaerewyck–three unique cooking talents in one place–only on Fire Life.
FEATURED ARTICLES
Michael Hennigan, battalion chief (ret.), San Francisco (CA) Fire Department, in “Developing Leaders,” writes: “There are several givens in the fire service today. One, because of the vast number of recent retirements, is that our departments have gotten young very quickly. Two, the traditional way of doing business in the fire service does not lend itself to developing leaders. There are no shortcuts. Building leaders is time-consuming, is labor-intensive, and requires a new paradigm in an organization that prides itself on tradition and is reluctant to change. But no organization needs good leaders more than today’s fire service.” (http://bit.ly/QmJW2B)
Ray McCormack, lieutenant, Fire Department of New York, in “Live Burned,” writes: “The proliferation of instant news and viral-circulation videos can cause quite the buzz. The fire service has many examples of popular videos showing us at work. Some of these videos, of course, are not very complimentary. Anyone with a smart phone can become a documentarian. The video of the live action is often accompanied by an uninformed narrative. Still, in many of these cases, there is much to be learned from these moments in time.” (http://bit.ly/PbeCp1)
David DeStefano, lieutenant, North Providence (RI) Fire Department, in “Small-Fire Mentality,” writes: “Many fire departments across the nation respond mainly to fires that are suppressed with the operation of one or two handlines after an aggressive, but brief, interior attack that is coordinated with appropriate ventilation and a simultaneous search for life and fire. Not that these fires are simple or lack danger, but we run the risk of falling into a routine based on frequency. We have grown confident in our success and comfortable in our tactics.” (http://bit.ly/O29Rkd)
Stefan Svensson, professor, Lund University, Sweden, who is no stranger to controversy based on his previous comments about the U.S. fire service, in “The Only Way to Safety Is Through Knowledge,” writes: “Everyone seems to be very concerned about how to make firefighting safer and to reduce injuries and fatalities. But as soon as someone suggests something radical or something that is a little bit out of the ordinary, a lot of people get very upset.” (http://bit.ly/PbeIwE)
COMMUNITY MEMBER OF THE MONTH
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Name: Jason VanDewater. Department: Seneca (NY) Hose Company. Title/rank: Firefighter/EMT. Years of public service: 20. Agency structure: Volunteer department. |
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