Our friend Rhett Fleitz from VAFireNews.com sent in this story that was written by Captain W.W.Wines Jr. from Roanoke (VA) Fire. Capt. Wines and the crew from Station 9-C recently encountered a little situation that they wanted to share. We’re sure each one of you have run into similar situations, so it should make an intersting discussion. Check out the supplemental page for details.

Well that’s not normally a title you’d expect to see on a truck site…But apparatus placement is a very important aspect of truck work. Everyone who has been in the fire service for any length of time understands the old saying “you can stretch hose, but you can’t stretch a ladder.” While this saying has merit, we must also take into consideration our objective and compare it to what the fire conditions dictate. It seems that people frequently take building collapse into consideration when it comes to placement, but how about a rapid change in fire conditions like this? There certainly is a time when we may be too close. Here is one of those videos that have been floating around the fire service. We certainly don’t have the full story, but we’re confident the apparatus operator will position differently next time.

It is natural for us to assume that every property we respond to has the possibility of being occupied, but what about the not so conventional dwellings? Scott Lyons from FDNY TL-79 has an interesting story to share. Check out the supplemental page for details.

Along with the new logo, we are tying up some other loose ends on the site.

We finally updated our bio page, and most importantly added a somewhat presentable photo of the website’s founders. In the near future, we will be adding some additional bios for some of our contributors that are working on some full length articles for us.

In addition, we just did another update to our links page. As always, we would like to take a moment to thank everyone who has taken the time and emailed requests to exchange links with us. If you have emailed us with your request, please sure we have not unintentionally missed your link. We would also like to have everyone stop in and check out these links and visit these newly linked sites.

What the heck??? Yup, we changed our logo. We have been kicking the idea around for a while now and we finally decided to make it happen. We are very exited about our new look, more details to come….

If you remember last year we featured an example of someone bypassing an electrical meter. Click here for that post. Samuel Hittle from Wichita Fire recently ran into the same thing. They responded to a cooking fire in a home that “supposedly” did not have power.

The on-scene Safety Officer Capt. Wenzel quickly realized the irony of that statement. He alerted command, and since the circuit at the meter appeared to open, began looking for extension cords from other structures or other signs of the source of the utilities.

A look behind the cover of the meter shows us what’s really going on. The bypass wires are the red and black wires ran on the sides. These wires are covered by the front cover of the meter box, making it very difficult to see them with the cover in place. It’s also worth mentioning that the occupants had even gone to the trouble of placing the lock out tag back on the assembly, now that’s classy!

Lt. Pat Gallagher from Martin County Fire has an interesting idea for hurricane windows. He has found that a pruning saw makes quick work on them, and caries a small folding saw in his pocket for that purpose. Check out the What’s in your pockets Page for details.

We’re sure many of you have seen this video before, but it’s always fun to see it again. Watch closely as the ladder truck rounds the corner. Of course we all know this wouldn’t have happened if the Engine would have left the front of the building for the Truck Company! Just kidding.