ECN Forum Forums Safety Discussion and News Occupational Safety Discussion Re:Firefighters Thread

I assume it's a troubleshooting truck called out when the feces hits the oscillating rotator?

Edited to add - if you're on call for PoCo, and you're required to respond in their truck to faults, then why would they complain about your taking the truck to the FD, since you would (assumably) take it to the store, the movies, etc? (unless of course you live next to the only other faultsman in the area, and you time share it )

We had a case a few years ago where most of the Public Works (street/water/sewer) guys at my VFD were on the FD - they used to take one of the "reserve" engines, and their turnouts, to the PW garage, and respond from there to fire calls during the day. Made for a nice "extra" crew, during a usually meager response time.

Then the bean counters got involved - started clocking them out of their $12.00/hr jobs when the pager went off and clocking them in at the (then) $3.50/hr VFD rate, and waiting until the call was over to resume "normal" pay... even though they were working for the Village the entire time.

After the Village refused to change it's stance, most of the PW guys quit the FD. But hey, what does some stuffed shift chair polisher care about FD response and fireground staffing anyway, right?

[This message has been edited by DougW (edited 01-31-2004).]

DougW,
Over here there is a certain situation of "give and take" with respect to us Volunteer FF's.
Being an Officer, there aren't many call-out's that I miss and considering that I am employed by a firm, the fact that I am still on the payroll when I "turn-out" just goes to show the high esteem that Community service has over here.
That is apart from the weekends, where I am usually on call for both the Fire Service and the PoCo as a Faultsman.
I enjoy my Fire Service work far more than I ever would the PoCo stuff, at least you don't go to a fire on your own!.

DougW, and anyone else that cares to chime in,
We just got brand new BA gear recently.
New Draeger SP-550 sets and masks, built especially for the New Zealand Fire Service.
Using the same size BA Cylinder as the older Steel HP Cylinders, but with a 1/4 the weight.
We took the sets into a local Blast Chiller in temperatures of -45C and the Regulators never even froze up, even under Positive Pressure settings and Negative Pressure too!.
I like the Draeger sets, I've used them since I first started in the Fire Service, and apart from Re-Generative Oxygen(That I used as a Paid FF) they are the best!.

May I assume you're referring to demand mode (non-positive pressure)?

At the Navy Base FD I worked at, we used to have Scott 2A's - they were a chest mount regulator, that had a toggle switch - you could select "demand", or "pressure-demand", which maintains a +10psi to the facepiece, and then supplies inhalations as needed.

Back in '92-93 or so, the NFPA decided that we couldn't use demand masks anymore - reportedly, too many guys weren't switching over to positive pressure mode when going into structure fires, and were getting smoked. The switchable rigs had their lever pinned in place, or were retro'd. Now they're all pressure demand.

I miss the "old" demand masks. Going in for food on the stove (or other such jobs) with "nuisance" level smoke, they were nice. You could charge the system, and leave the mask clipped on your shoulder.

Take a hit of air, go into the kitchen, turn off the stove, open the window (or turn on the sink), extiniguish (or remove ) burning breakfast, take another hit of air, and by the time you're done, the kitchen's starting to air out. And the best part, you didn't have to refill the cylinder when you got back to quarters.

Oh well, I suppose it's safer. I just miss being able to make the call myself.

Doug,
Sorry about the conflicting terms there,
I was referring to Negative Pressure as demand use, not a fully pressurised mask as in Positive pressure.
The Regulator on our BA sets is connected to the mask itself and has a knob that we turn, to change between Demand and Positive Pressure.
We also have a very strict SOP (28) here in the NZFS about the use of BA sets by Volunteer Fire Crews, using a BA set at an incident, the Cylinder is required to be recharged to thier original pre-response pressure of 190 atmospheres, before that BA set even leaves the Station again.
BTW, Doug, how quickly can you don a BA mask, if something does go wrong?.
WE are told that either you are wearing BA or you aren't, there are no half measures over here.

Pretty darn fast, if I have to!

Seriously, though - it comes down to experience, and size-up. Obviously, I'm not going to leather-lung a house job, unless I'm doing the "hero" bit pulling out the neighbor's kids off-duty. I'm also not going to send a rookie in w/o SCBA, because I feel he doesn't need it. We pack up (don our SCBA) on all alarm calls, but only go "on air" (aka "masking up" here) when we confirm a fire (or, in the case of some of our larger buildings, when we get close to the area of involvement - otherwise, we'd burn our pack just getting to the fire!) We also wait to go on air because we don't have big enough crews to designate a hydrant man - I've had to tag many a plug wearing a pack.

I've yelled at junior guys who didn't pack up on alarms, despite their excuses that "the Commander didn't" or "it's just an alarm". I simply counter with "You do what you practice".

[shortstory] I almost got "caught" by a "TV set sparking" call at the base. We literally have navy guys who marry (Philipina) wives, who come from villages w/o electricity - when they plug in an appliance, it might spark, especially of it was unplugged in the "ON" position (duh). We went over in the engine, and packed up en route out of habit. We knocked on the front door, got no answer. When we opened the door and looked down the hall, the whole entertainment center was burning. We called for a line, (and a full structural response) and went on air. In the short time it took us to do that, by the time we made the door, we really had to push to overcome the overpressure from the heated atmosphere, and the fully involved living room. Got a good hit on it, and had it mostly darkened down by the time the 2nd engine showed up. (BTW - turned out the wife was a torch, and set a 2nd fire the day her insurance company showed up to issue a check for the first one. Oops.)[/shortstory]

The "hanging mask" bit I was referring to was for a "pot-o-meat" job, i.e. saucepan on top of the stove with burnt eggs, sausage, baby bottles, that has not communicated to the cabinets, due to no open flame. In fact, the few times I did this, there was hardly a haze in the apartment - more of a noxious smell that made me taste burnt eggs the rest of my shift.

As I said in my post, I just like being able to make the call myself.

Doug,
We have been caught in the same way, too.
A few years ago, we "turned-out" to a small kitchen fire.
I told the FF's in the back to "Don-up" heading down the road to the address of the incident, there was nothing showing when we got there.
I gave the Pump Operator a hand to ship the Standpipe and instructed the Crew to enter through the front door w/ a FA reel.
Within seconds of saying this, all Hell broke loose, half the house blew out the front, taking a FF with it.
As an Officer I take my FF's Health and Safety fore-most and that was why I asked that they Don up.
The FF had only small injuries (bruises).
But it could have been worse.
A BA mask offers a certain amount of protection to the face though.

[whine&moan] <<AMBULANCE MONTH SUCKS>>

Last year, our department switched from "rotating" medics through 24-hours tours on the "bus" to month long rotations (9 shifts).

It's great for the guys who are off, and is usually manageable for those of us one it - but we've had a spate of 12+ call days, with numerous calls 0000-0700 (shift change).

We normally aren't this busy in MARCH.

C'MON, PEOPLE. the EASTER BUNNY isn;t even risin; around yet.

GO BACK INSIDE. IT'S WINTER!

[/whine&moan]

Hey Guys,
I just earned myself a jump in Rank today!.
I am now called Station Officer Trump, or just Trumpy as before!.
The leap from Senior Fire-Fighter to Station Officer is cool, but also scary, turn-out on the first Pump and you have the whole Fireground to control, no matter the type of incident!.
But, I'm at most musters, so at least I'll earn my NZ$5000 gratuity.
That's almost $0.50 an hour!.
Wow!.

[This message has been edited by Trumpy (edited 04-03-2004).]

Congrats, Mike. No doubt it is a well-earned promotion.