On a working fire the Truck Company may be faced with multiple victims hanging in windows awaiting rescue. How do you prioritize who gets the bucket (or ladder) first? What are some of your considerations? Remember the loudest victim may not be the one in greatest distress. When teaching tactics, I always use this video to put it all in perspective. -Jimm-

Here is yet another cool use for the Halligan. Jeff just showed me this one. It’s so basic, but I had never seen it before. It’s a method to keep your saw in a safe place when performing roof ops. Burry the pick end into the roof decking with the saw hanging from the adz. Don’t forget saws and equipment should be hung on the unburned side of the roof operations out of your means of egress, but close enough for access. This method along with many others will be updated in the Tips from the Bucket section real soon. So many uses for a single tool, remember to think outside the box. -Jimm-

Hopefully your departments are all participating in the stand down this week. It’s not a bad idea to take a day out and touch base on all the safety issues we sometimes forget about. The focus this year is on emergency vehicle safety. Over 25 firefighters die each year in vehicle related accidents… That’s unacceptable! If you can’t get to the scene, you can’t do any good. There are some great resources on the net from the IAFF and IAFC including PowerPoint’s and case studies. Take a look, stay safe, and dare I say it wear your seatbelt! -Jimm-

IAFF Emergency Vehicle Safety Program

IAFC Stand Down Information

Back in April we had a post titled Proactive RIT featuring photos from a job in Toronto. We have found a video clip from that incident. Check out those smoke conditions! Thanks to VentEnterSearch.com reader Todd C who took the time to point this out to us. Apparently the video was found on firefighterclosecalls.com. Thanks Todd! -Jimm- 

Just another quick thought about controlling utilities. For some reason I have found that sometimes crews are a little reluctant to shut off gas to the building. Especially when presented with a gas meter setup like the one pictured below. If you have time you can trace the pipe and try to isolate the specific meter needed, or you can do my favorite and just shut them all down. I understand that this may make things more difficult for the building owner and gas company, but it’s a little bit of piece of mind to the outside team to be able to confidently say “utilities secure.” Beware of the meter bypass line that may make it appear the line has been secured, again when in doubt, turn them all off! You can’t see it in the picture but their may be one valve (behind the milk crate) that would shut the entire riser down at once. -Jimm-

Controlling utilities is an important outside truck function. Regardless if your department uses inside/outside truck teams or not,(or dare I say no truck company at all) outside functions need to happen at every fire. This first picture was from a call my truck company recently ran on. It was in another department’s first due so the arrival of the truck company was delayed. En-route we hear an engine company announce “utilities secure.” Once my truck got on scene we went to work: first job 360 the structure (which should always be done!) and verify utilities. During the 360, it was noticed that the utilities were still operational! It was pretty easy to notice, most of the lights were still on. Moral of the story: When multiple breakers/shunts/switches or what ever are present… Shut them all off!

Apparently this building owner wants his structure to burn down. Try getting these utilities when the dumpsters are full and heavy. -Jimm-

Whadda think?

We at VentEnterSearch.com understand that many Truck Companies are also tasked with handling Special Operations incidents. So we figured we’d start to include some Special Ops stuff. How many safety issues can you find in this one? -Jimm-

Here is a link to the five minute version of The Ring of Fire Video. The first 2.5 minutes are the same, the last 2.5 minutes are worth watching. Thanks to Brother M. Stallings of Orlando Fire “the Pride” and The Fraternal Order Of Leatherheads Society (FOOLS) for the link.-Jeff-