Make Sure You Have Tools Needed to Complete the Job
departments
The Volunteers Corner
Getting tools where they will be needed before they are needed on the fireground can help reduce the fire loss and shorten the time we spend on the fireground.
When we say “before they are “needed,” we refer to anticipating the various tools each fireground operation will require. The company officer should not start an operation and then find himself making up a shopping list and sending a fire fighter back to pick up the necessities for completing the job.
It is likely that every fire attack will require the use of one or more of the basic tools—ax, pike pole and combination claw and prying tool. That’s why a ladder company man is assigned to accompany the first-in engine company and provide the tools for forcible entry and immediate opening up of walls and ceilings when necessary. If your department does not have a ladder, or truck company, then a member of the second-in engine company should assume the forcible entry responsibility. Remember, ladder company work exists on every fireground even when your department doesn’t have a ladder company.
Think ahead: A good way to make sure that the required tools are on hand when they are needed is to first think of all the tools needed to handle a specific assignment. For example, if you receive an order to open up a roof, you should make a quick mental list of such items as a roof ladder, power saw, axes, pike poles, claw tools and rope. It is the company officer’s responsibility to see that the fire fighters under his command take these tools to the roof. All of them may not be needed, but they will be on the roof and not the apparatus if they are needed.
No fire fighter should climb to a roof without at least one tool in his hand. It is better to have more tools than needed at the job site than to have to go back to the ground for a forgotten tool. It doesn’t make much sense to put a hole in a roof and then wait for a pike pole to push down the ceiling that is holding back the venting of fire gases from the building.
A good way to make certain that tools get to the roof on the fireground is to insist that no one climb to a roof in training without carrying tools. Taking tools to a roof then becomes a habit that will continue on the fireground.
Lining in: When you stretch hose, first give a thought to what will be needed to line in efficiently. If your hose is packed for a reverse lay, think of the double female you will need at the start of a straight (or forward) stretch and the double male required to put the nozzle on the hose at the fire.
One part of this problem can be eliminated by finishing off a reverse-lay hose load with a double female. This fitting can easily be taken off when it is not needed and it will always be there when it is needed.
Think ahead and determine whether you might need a 2 ¼ X1 ½ X1 ½ wye. If your engine makes a reverse lay, it will be some distance away from the fire if you later need the wye. You won’t have to go far for the wye when you need it if you take it off the engine and put it on the ground before the engine stretches back to the hydrant or other water source.
Reverse lays also call for stripping the engine of all other equipment that might possibly be needed at the fire building. These tools and appliances will be close at hand when needed instead of hundreds of feet down the road. It’s no problem to replace unused equipment on the apparatus, but it’s embarrassing to have to take a long walk to get tools you should have had right at hand.
Associated accessories: When the use of major equipment is required, think of the associated accessories required to put that equipment into operation. A chief officer may order, “Get a smoke ejector to the third floor.” He won’t tell you everything you need to put that smoke ejector into operation. It’s your job to remember that you need some means of holding the ejector in an opening (hopefully, hangers are attached to your ejector), sufficient wire to connect the ejector to a source of electricity, and some canvas to block the open space around the ejector. If domestic power is available, you should have an adapter with a female twist-type connector on one end for your electric cord and a straight-prong make connector for a building electric receptacle.
When putting smoke ejectors, power tools and lights into operation, it is one thing to take power directly off the apparatus, but a couple of fire fighters have to be assigned to setting up a portable generator. The job will be done much quicker if detailing fire fighters to set up the generator is an integral part of the payoff part of the operation—getting power equipment or lights into use.
In paid fire departments, tools are assigned to ladder company members at roll call. It is then each fire fighter’s responsibility to take the assigned tools into the fire building. In volunteer fire departments, similar results can be attained by assigning tools to each riding position on the ladder truck. It is insurance that the basic tools will be where they are needed on the fireground.
Engine company members generally have their hands full getting lines into position. However, everyone who is not on a line should always carry one or more tools when entering a fire building. Remember, the fire that is in a wall or ceiling does not wait while you walk back to the apparatus to get a needed tool.
