Storage on Apparatus–A Continuing Nightmare
BY TOM BRENNAN
Portable ladders on engine companies. How many of you have given thought to this concept? If a grossly understaffed engine company arrives at the scene of an occupied structure fire, when would it need the portable ladder? Correct if you said, “when, on arrival, life hazard is showing at an upper floor (within reach of ladders carried) AND the victim is in imminent peril.” Maybe someone can be spared to raise the ladder to the victim. Maybe, in the rarest of cases, the victim showing is in such peril and would definitely succumb should hoseline operations not be momentarily suspended while a ladder is placed and the victim removed. (This is one situation that should be driven home to the manpower decision makers. How many of you can do that in civilian language?)
Now, the decision moment: What ladder do you take, and where is it? This is the time of most stress for engine company personnel operating in a life situation with an evolution that is rarely thought of or practiced. What ladder do you want? Sure, the 24-foot, or better, the 28-foot extension ladder carried on the side of the unit. You have only a few seconds. Can you put your hands on that ladder and remove it first–by yourself?
The answer today usually is no, and this is unfortunate. Why can`t it be done? Because our pumping apparatus and some of our trucks are set up for parades and according to what fits instead of what is necessary. The structure fire portable ladder you need is mounted at the bottom of the pile! It goes on the rack first. The smaller (too small) extension ladder is placed next because it fits inside the fly section of the 24- or 28-foot ladder. Then follows the 14- or 16-foot roof ladder in case hoselines must be stretched to a peaked roof…and then comes a folding attic ladder, and then…, and then….
You need the portable ladder that would be most useful in removing life from the exterior of a structure fire in YOUR response district or area. That ladder should be ON TOP. Don`t make the exciting moment fraught with unnecessary decisions.
In Waterbury, Connecticut, we reversed the bracket construction at no cost so that if the ladder needed is the roof ladder, the longest extension ladder on the pumper must be removed first. Conversely, if the longest extension ladder is needed, it is the first and only ladder the firefighters put their hands on.
Portable ladder storage on truck company apparatus. If the ladders are stored on the side of the apparatus, the same problem usually exists. As a truck man needing a portable ladder in a hurry, I can remember many times tossing the smaller ladders to the ground while vainly trying to get at the one I needed.
What portable ladder to take? Those of you out there who say this is not a real personal problem for you on the fireground either don`t go to fires or are lying to yourselves. I always second-guessed myself–especially if the ladder location was not in sight of the ladder truck`s location. The answer is simple and worth repeating here–and often in company drills. You take the portable extension ladder with a height label that begins with the number of the story of the structure you wish to access–14- or 28-foot portable ladders for the second floor, 35-foot portable for the third floor or roof of two-story buildings. Simple? Sure.
More about storage on apparatus:
1. Are the tools that work together stored together–axe married to halligan, padlock wedge (duckbill lockbreaker or hammerhead pick) stored with the 10-pound maul? One firefighter should be able to pick up–and deliver to the point of operation–both tools in a set. Too basic, you say? The greatest vision an instructor can get of where a fire company is in relation to training and operations is to look first in the pockets of the turnout coats and, second, at the tool and equipment on the truck (not the chrome parade tools, but the tools workers use in the night). Are they clean? Are the tools that work together stored together? I continually see halligan-type bars stored alone or in a compartment remote from the flathead axe–sometimes on opposite sides of the truck! Talk about a waste of manpower!
2. Where is the suction connection for the apparatus? Today, we seem to have lost sight of the basic function of things. When at conventions and parades, take a look at what new apparatus looks like. Why are the soft- and hard-suction connections on pumpers located eight to 10 feet in the air? Strange!
3. Why are hosebeds so high in the sky that a firefighter needs a ladder so he can “take a length” off the back step? Why are hosebeds so shallow? We have taken delivery of hosebeds that cannot carry anything but a few hundred feet of larger-diameter supply hose that is so far off the ground you cannot check on its condition without using a step ladder. You need alternative hoselay capability on the fireground–that means 10 to 16 lengths of hand hose up to three-inch in the hosebed. Crosslays are good 90 percent of the time, not 100 percent of the time!
4. While we are at it, why are side compartments of pumping apparatus designed strictly at the mercy of an “already designed too big” booster tank? Compartments located on the sides of today`s apparatus are barely six or more inches deep. To store what? Do you really need all that water in the tank on arrival? Have you no hydrants? Is manpower so depleted that hydrant hookups or relays are impossible? Can`t water tanks be designed in alternative shapes for your customized needs–especially on a $300,000 vehicle?
You get the picture. Apparatus should be designed by a committee of department members who are the best at using, repairing, riding, commanding, and accounting for safety–not by politicians` assistants and former full-duty cowards who never attended a fire from the inside. I`m taking up now! n
TOM BRENNAN has more than 33 years of fire service experience. His career spans more than 20 years with the City of New York (NY) Fire Department as well as four years as chief of the Waterbury (CT) Fire Department. He was editor of Fire Engineering for eight years and currently is a technical editor. He is co-editor of The Fire Chief`s Handbook, Fifth Edition (Fire Engineering Books, 1995).
