Here’s a little light humor for the holidays… Bill Schnaekel from Fairfax County Firehouse 30 sent in the first photo, and we are sure every firefighter in the world has seen the second.

On a more serious note, the sign should remind us that the fire lane is typically the best spot in the lot. There is a good chance it may be taken when we get there. All of the pre-planning in the world isn’t going to change the fact that you may not get the desired spot to set up the rig. Always have a plan B.

We at VentEnterSearch.com hope each one of you and your families have a safe and healthy holiday season.

Hydraulic Ventilation, Truck style that is! Firefighter Chris Johnson from City of Concord (NH) sent us this link. They don’t teach this method in any red book, that’s for sure. Ok, before you watch this video, keep an open mind. This tactic will without a doubt be unpopular with some, and that’s OK, we don’t need to agree with each others tactics to learn from each other. It’s still an interesting video that needs to be shared. We are sure that many departments would not allow this method, and many chiefs would come un-glued if they ever saw this happen on the fireground.

Whether you would do it or not, there is one thing for sure, it got the job done! Remember, this method is what saved Capt Abbt’s life in Houston.

Lt. John Bannon sent in the latest Tip from the Bucket. He credits Walt Caber, President of the Reliance Hook & Ladder Co. 61 for the creation of this tip. They welded tabs on the ground pads (or jack plates depending on where you are from.) The tabs make it much easier to get the pads in the right place. Lt. Bannon pointed out that the pad can be slid on from the opposite direction in situations where the outrigger would have to be right up against an obstruction.

Obviously, any crew worth even being on the truck should be able to throw the pads in the right place every time, but this tip is still quite useful. In a situation when manpower is limited, or if the truck crew breaks into teams prior to the rig getting set up, the “tabbed” pads will make the setup much quicker.

Where have all the jalousie’s gone? We found them, they are all right here. This particular setup could create some interesting situations of the fireground. Undoubtedly, if some (or all) of them are open in the fire room, it could create some interesting fire behavior due to the pre-existing horizontal vent. Scanning this room with a TIC would sure look interesting, due to the reflection of a partially open and partially closed set-up. Also, the texture of this “wall” could feel confusing during a traditional search. None of this is a big deal as long is it’s kept in the back of your mind while working in this structure.

We went ahead and added the Bungee Cord trick from a few weeks ago to the What’s in Your Pockets page, and figure we’d include another submission while we were at it.

Lieutenant Brad Dougherty from Navy Region Mid-Atlantic Fire & Emergency Services sent in this latest what’s in your pockets update. The irony is that his submission is about what’s not in his pockets. He took an old army ammo bag and placed some of the items that firefighters typically carry in their pockets. The bag has a large interior compartment which has some organization slots on the inside. It also has exterior compartments for other items. These compartments allow the bag to be organized without being too cluttered. He uses the bag to eliminate the excess weight in his pockets. While responding to an alarm, he reaches into the bag to retrieve what he may need on that particular alarm. He even pointed out that he has taken the whole bag on a few special occasions.