FDNY Ladder 45 showing that sometimes shortjacking is not an option. This is better than a supply line through the window any day!

It’s 04:00… Battalion arrives on scene of a working fire in a multi-family dwelling, people hanging from windows…What would you have done?

We know these pictures are already all over the internet, but we couldn’t resist. Unfortunately, we don’t know who to give proper photo credit to. We will however, be glad to buy the next few rounds for the Chauffeur of Ladder 45!

It’s that time of the year again, it’s hard to believe that time goes by so quickly. Today is VES’s Birthday! Six years ago this website was created as a neutral, unbiased and un-intimidating medium were we could share ideas, methods, and techniques of this great profession. We truly believe that Truck Company functions are an art, and have become The Lost Art of The Fire Service. It is imperative that we protect this art for generations to come. The fire service is changing right before our eyes, we need to take it back! The avenue to a safer fire service is by being proactive rather than reactive in both our training and our tactics. We need to bring back the aggressive yet safe attitude to the fire service, in order to continue to protect each other on the fire ground. This can only be accomplished through sharing the knowledge and educating each other.

We can honestly say this site has been much more of a success then we could have ever possibly imagined. This website was started with the intentions of sharing some information on the local level. Thanks to each of you, it quickly became so much more than that. We have gotten emails, comments, and material from people all over the world! The overwhelming success of this site would not be possible without each and every one of you. No amount of thanks could possibly be enough. It is because of you, our loyal readers, that this site is what it is!

Since VES started, there have been so many other sites that have come and gone, but we are still here! Thank you for the contined support, you all rock!

We have made no secrets around here that we are not big believers in PPV, but that discussion in itself could be an entire post. This post is more about equipment, equipment readiness, and the importance of daily equipment checks. Garret Rice from Rowlett (TX) Truck 4 sent in this information of an incident that occurred while performing multi-agency, multi-company drills. During the drill another one of the agencies involved placed a PPV fan at the front door. Once the fan was in operation, the fan suffered catastrophic failure. When the fan blade disintegrated, one of the pieces of the blade broke thru the shroud and hit one of the firefighters in the arm. Fortunately, the firefighter was wearing full PPE, so he did not suffer any injuries. You can see from the photos below the pieces of blade on the bottom of the fan shroud. Upon closer investigation it appears that a bolt got loose from the handle and got sucked into the rotating fan causing the blade to come apart at full velocity. It is worth mentioning that this fan is normally stored on the outside of the rig, secured to the tailboard. Texas undergoes significant temperature swings throughout the year, so the composite blade is constantly expanding and contracting which may (or may not) have been a contributing factor.

With that being said, the importance of equipment readiness needs to be mentioned. All equipment on the rig needs to undergo a daily check, and a comprehensive weekly check at a minimum. When we are checking the equipment we should be much more concerned about the operational readiness of the equipment, then only the simple fact that the equipment is accounted for. When issues are discovered with our equipment we should take it upon ourselves to repair (or see that it gets repaired) in a timely fashion. Leaving equipment in service on the rig that is not 100% operationally ready to go can lead to disaster. Perhaps during the check, the loose bolt would have been discovered, or maybe stress cracks in the blades would have been noticed, or perhaps neither. This could have been a total fluke, or maybe it could have been prevented, we are not trying to point a finger. Either way there is a great learning opportunity here. Equipment stored outside the rig is certainly more subject to failure due to being exposed to the elements. We need to make sure that we are throughly checking all of our equipment all of the time!

For the more than five years that VentEnterSearch.com has been around, it has always had the tag line “The Lost Art of the Fire Service.” While most of you understand exactly what we are trying to get across with that tag line, we realize we have never addressed it directly. So here goes, below are a few of our thoughts on exactly what The Lost Art of the Fire Service means to us…

Truck company functions have quickly become the lost art of the fire service. Many firefighters are being trained how to perform tasks, but not why. This is preventing them from truly understanding the art behind many truck company functions. Truck company functions have become a lost art for a number of different reasons. One of the main reasons is a result of the decreasing level of actual fire ground experience among personnel. Unfortunately this is creating less situational awareness on the fire ground. While education can never replace actual experience, a firm understanding of why we perform each task is essential. Furthermore, truck functions need to be performed at every fire regardless if a truck company is present or not! Changes in building construction have had a significant effect on how we operate on the fire ground, and have made the need for effective truck functions more important than ever. The energy efficiency or tightness of modern buildings coupled with the increased fuel load make ventilation a necessary and critical time sensitive operation. In addition, the execution of effective and efficient search techniques is going to increase survivability of both firefighters and occupants! It is essential that everyone on the fire ground in the fire service understand the importance and the art of effective truck company functions.

It’s that time of the year again, it’s hard to believe that time goes by so quickly. Today is VES’s Birthday! Five years ago this website was created as a neutral, unbiased and un-intimidating medium were we could share ideas, methods, and techniques of this great profession. We truly believe that Truck Company functions are an art, and have become The Lost Art of The Fire Service. It is imperative that we protect this art for generations to come. The fire service is changing right before our eyes, we need to take it back! The avenue to a safer fire service is by being proactive rather than reactive in both our training and our tactics. We need to bring back the aggressive yet safe attitude to the fire service, in order to continue to protect each other on the fire ground. This can only be accomplished through sharing the knowledge and educating each other.

We can honestly say this site has been much more of a success then we could have ever possibly imagined. This website was started with the intentions of sharing some information on the local level. Thanks to each of you, it quickly became so much more than that. We have gotten emails, comments, and material from people all over the world! The overwhelming success of this site would not be possible without each and every one of you. No amount of thanks could possibly be enough. It is because of you, our loyal readers, that this site is what it is!

We know the posts have slowed down quite a bit, but we’ll be picking up the pace again shortly. We have some big things in the works for the future. In the mean time, take an opportunity to look back at some of the great information in the archives. We have over 340 posts contained in there all the way back to day one. Thank you for your continued support an understanding as we continue to expand the site. Stay safe, and train hard!

VentEnterSearch’s own Jimm Walsh was recently featured in the Firefighterspot.com 10 Questions Series. They have a pretty interesting column where they ask various people throughout our industry the same ten questions and post the responses. Click here to take a look and see what Jimm’s responses were.

It’s that time of the year again, it’s hard to believe that time goes by so quickly. Today is VES’s Birthday! Four years ago this website was created as a neutral, unbiased and un-intimidating medium were we could share ideas, methods, and techniques of this great profession. We truly believe that Truck Company functions are an art, and have become The Lost Art of The Fire Service. It is imperative that we protect this art for generations to come. The avenue to a safer fire service is by being proactive rather than reactive in both our training and our tactics. We need to bring back the aggressive yet safe attitude to the fire service, in order to continue to protect each other on the fire ground. This can only be accomplished through sharing the knowledge and educating each other.

We can honestly say this site has been much more of a success then we could have ever possibly imagined. This website was started with the intentions of sharing some information on the local level. Thanks to each of you, it quickly became so much more than that. We have gotten emails, comments, and material from people all over the world! The overwhelming success of this site would not be possible without each and every one of you. No amount of thanks could possibly be enough. It is because of you, our loyal readers, that this site is what it is!

We have some big things in the works for the future. Thank you for your continued support an understanding as we continue to expand the site. Stay safe, and train hard!

Prince George’s County (MD) had a fire in the University Park area last night. The crews were met with heavy smoke and fire upon arrival. Apparently they had some water supply issues that resulted in the fire getting ahead of them. Eight firefighters were said to have received injuries and transported but it appears the injuries were minor. But while watching the news this morning, the following picture (from MyFoxDC) of the fire was shown, which brings up a great subject.

Are we bringing pounds of aluminum or actual ladders to the scene? Ladders are only going to do us good when they are in position, not stored on the rig. The picture above is a perfect example of good laddering. At this point we are not sure if any of those ladders had to be used for rapid egress, but that’s not the point. They were in position and not stored on the rig. The picture below from an unrelated call demonstrates what could happen If ladders aren’t thrown early.

The Engine (if positioned improperly) could block the ladder compartment. But look close at that ladder compartment… All of the ladders were already in position! Ladders are nothing more than pounds of aluminum if they are not in place on the fireground. Take the time to discuss Truck and Engine placement with the rest of the crew, emphasizing the importance of throwing ladders early.

Not sure if anyone noticed but over in the sidebar (right-hand column) there are a few new ways to stay informed of what’s going on at vententersearch. If none of this stuff means anything to you, don’t worry, were are not changing anything. These are just convenient ways for people to stay updated about new posts. We have had numerous requests to set these options up, so below is a link and short description on what these new options are:

The RSS feed: You can subscribe to our RSS feed to get notified of new posts. New post notifications include the title of the post and a link straight to the full post. You must use one of the many different RSS feed readers that are available.

Twitter: You can follow us on twitter. Our twitter feed will be updated with a new post’s title, first few words, and link to the full post. Special thanks goes out to Chris Martin from Bryan(TX) FD, who set up and tweaked the vententersearch twitter page for us.

The Facebook fan page: You can become a fan of vententersearch on facebook. The vententersearch wall will also include notification of a new post with the post tile and link to the full post. There are already over 400 fans checking it out! Special thanks goes out to Jack Hessmer from Cayuga Heights (NY) FD for offering his assistance in setting up our fan page.

Email subscription: With this option you will be emailed via our feedburner update whenever a new post is put on vententersearch. The emails go out once a day, so you may not get a new post emailed to you until the next day. The email includes the full post witha link back to vententersearch to read all of the comments.

These new options work if you only want to be notified whenever a new post is put up, however, they don’t update as comments are made. The only way to stay up to date with the comments (educational and humorous) is to come check out the page itself. Thanks again for your continued support!

Most of the tools used in the fire service today were developed in the firehouse based on the needs of a particular area. Many of these tools have stood up to the test of time and are currently being produced and utilized across our industry. There are many great tools and quality tool manufacturers out there, however, there are also many gimmick tools on the market. These gimmick tools lack true functionality or durability to hold up the abuse found on the fireground and end up being a waste of time and money.

This post is not to bash any company or any tool that is currently on the market, it’s simply a discussion of firehouse ingenuity and its role in our business. Simply put, making or modifying tools to fit your specific needs is a great idea. Here are two examples of what was developed at two different firehouses, to fit their specific needs.

Brian Brush from West Metro (CO) Company 10 sent the photo below of his department’s modification on the roof hook. They wanted a roof hook combined with a rubbish hook on the other end. So they removed the chisel tip from one of their roof hooks, inserted a plug, and fabricated a rubbish hook from 5/8″ round bar. They felt the rubbish hook provided a good footprint for sounding the roof and a large purchase for opening up drywall. It’s their take on a east meets west roof hook.

Robert L. Doucette from Meriden (CT) Engine 4 sent in his fabrication pictured below. He wanted a customized “heavy” rake hook with a chisel tip on the opposite end. His custom hook is fabricated entirely out of steel with forged working ends. The tool’s heavy weight helps it get through the thick plaster and lathe construction found in his area. What makes this tool’s rake end unique is the added scoring spine. The spine assists in getting the initial purchase point needed to open things up. As a final touch, a link was welded on the tool for the floor above vent technique.

These tools may not work for you, but they work for them, and that’s what it’s all about. Make your tools work for you!