Conroe FD Compartments

FF Casey Thompson from Conroe FD (Texas) sent these pictures of their apparatus compartments.  The department purchases plywood and gym floor mats for the crews to outfit the apparatus. 

Conroe FD uses gym floor mats and cuts out a place for the tools to sit. They use box cutters to make the cuts.

The crews attach plywood in the back of the compartments so they can attach various mounts and move them around easily.  This prevents the accidental drilling into wiring or the tank.  Yes, drilling a hole in the tank can happen (I was there with a previous department).

The rescue tools are on trays that slide out and down.

These tool shelves give every tool a place.  Many units out there have hand tools stacked up

requiring firefighters to move tools to get the one on the bottom.

Culture of Extinguishment

This is not a knock on safety as it may appear,  listen to the whole speech.  Challenge yourself everyday to do the things within your power to the best of your ability.  Love the part that he talks of finding your personal spark.  We can choose to be mediocre or to be awesome the difference is mostly just how much we care. 

Aluminum Wedge- Single Person Forcible Entry

Do you have any experience with metal wedges for forcible entry?  What do you think?

This video shows a couple of techniques.


If the video does not play on your cell phone try this link http://youtu.be/E2Ejb6yU2QE

We are friends with different manufacturers of these wedges.  We are not trying to sell one over the other and do not endorse any specific product.  We simply want to share ideas and start conversation.

Tailboard Size-Up

Let's size this up from a tailboard's perspective.  Assume your officer is doing a hot lap and you have another firefighter on the back with you.  If you had the choice, what line would you pull?  What actions would you take?  What would you expect to find inside?

3 alarm Tampa fire

I posted this one for a discussion on initial line placement.  I also wanted to talk about use of the blitz attack.  I thought with the winds also blowing in their favor that a well placed cut off line and lines interior attacking the main body may have worked better.  What did you see?  Good video to train on and learn from. 

Dremel Tool Putting in Work

Got this video form "Brass" shows some simple tool work with a few household items.

Nozzle Forward

This is a great class. We just finished a 3 day tour of Nozzle Forward and became a better firefighters.  When it comes to your area get some.  There will be more to come from this AFD, but here is a taste. Always remember we call it FIRE ATTACK (UH TAK) for a reason Brothers.

AFD Engine 17 Compartments

Gabe Thompson explains the set up of Engine 17, a 2011 Pierce Impel.  Notice the trash bag rack in the back compartment.

Forcible Entry Size-Up Continued

Here is the inside of the door from the earlier post.  Notice that the drop bar opens when the panic hardware is activated. 

The first picture is in the locked position and the second picture shows the closed position.  The last picture shows the continuous hinge from the inside.

Forcible Entry Size-Up

This picture was sent in by FF Gabe Thompson (E17A).  What's your plan of attack?  What's on the inside?

Inside pictures to come...

Fort Worth Fire Department Apparatus

H. Robertson with Fort Worth FD sent in these pictures of E-19, E-22, and Q-17.  These units are very well organized with all equipment having a specific place. 

This type of set up takes a lot of time and effort on the front end, but it is worth it in the long run. 

Engine 19

Quint 17

Engine 22

Rolling a vehicle back over

 

We are rolling a vehicle back over here to avoid any more fluids from leaking.  Works good less work for the tow truck driver.

Colorado Springs VES

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tkwpQ22cDFs

This video is done real well crews are working on all sides of the fire and they ATTACK.  Great truck work and team work.  Saw a lot of good hose pulls also.  Does your department Vent Enter Search? 

Officers Tool

Love this forcible entry video.  Great use of the tool and letting it do the work.  Do any officers carry this?  Look at the back side of the lock mechanisms.  It shows you how you are gonna manipulate the lock.  Thx   Search and Destroy

Q-18 Compartments

This video shows the compartments of Quint 18.  When we moved from a ladder to a quint it enhanced our capabilities but lost compartment space.  These compartments are constantly being improved as all shifts work to make it better.

Know Your First In

What do you see that's different for the City of Austin?

While on a routine call yesterday Brian Oehler noticed an out of place window opening and door.  After taking a closer look he discovered a small basement/storm shelter.  Basements are not very common in Austin but we all probably have a few in our first in territories.

Knowing this might not make a huge impact on fire ground tactics but it is a good thing to be aware of and to alert oncoming crews.

E-18 and E-8 Compartments

 These videos show the compartments on E-18 and E-8 to share ideas.  If you have a different or unique set up send us a quick video or picture.

 

Engine 18

Engine 8

Most of these concepts are not original. This video is to share what we've learned from others and what works for us.

B post blowout

This video isn't perfect but What is your tool of choice?  What is your sequence of cuts?  This blowout works great.  We will be doing a lot of vehicle extrication with our cadets so I will make some videos.

101 rules of firefighter

http://hookandirons.myshopify.com/blogs/hook-and-irons/7673999-101-rules-for-the-new-firefighter

Enjoy this share it,  Live it.