The Book Shelf
TRUCK COMPANY FIREGROUND OPERATIONS, Harold Richman; Robert J. Brady Company, Bowie, Md. 20715; 206 pages, $10.95.
Truck company work, which is vital to fireground success, is described in detail from forcible entry and rescue to aerial streams and overhaul. In addition to the information about standard operating procedures, there are numerous safety tips and suggestions for making the job more effective.
The special problems presented to the truck company by different types of buildings, ranging from single-story residences to high-rises, are described with suggestions on how to handle these situations. The chapter on checking for fire extension rounds up information on an important truck company duty that generally can be found only by looking at a number of sources.
GROUND LADDER OPERATIONS, John L. Smith; Robert J. Brady Company, Bowie, Md. 20715; 125 pages, $6.95.
Ladders are considered in all their aspects from construction to special uses in t his book written by a senior instructor at the Delaware State Fire School. The author takes a realistic approach to climbing ladders and offers alternatives so that everyone can feel comfortable while on a ladder.
In addition to chapters on carrying and raising ladders, there are discussions of ladder maintenance, types of ladders, and the inspection and test ing of ground ladders. The book is profusely illustrated with photos detailing the subjects discussed, and safety is a constant theme in the descriptions of ladder handling.
FIRE OFFICER’S GUIDE TO DISASTER CONTROL, Charles W. Bahtne; National Fire Protection Association, 470 Atlantic Avenue, Boston, Mass. 02210; 404 pages, $16.50.
The first few chapters of this book provide the necessary information for a more extensive understanding of the rest of the hook by describing how to attain disaster control capability through planning, organizing, coordinating and providing adequate communications. The author, a retired deputy chief of the Los Angeles City Fire Department, then points out the necessity for disaster control training and relates lessons learned from large-scale operations.
The remainder of the book is devoted to various types of disasters—fires, chemical disasters, floods, storms, earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, riots and enemy attack. Specific disasters of these many types are told so that the lessons learned from them provide the reader with useful knowledge that must be learned from others because true disasters fortunately are seldom experienced more than once by any one fire officer.
TECHNIQUES OF FIRE PHOTOGRAPHY, Robert Lyons; National Fire Protection Association, 470 Atlantic Avenue, Boston, Mass. 02210; 224 pages, $14.50.
While the title of this book indicates that it is aimed at photographers, the book should interest anyone interested in looking at fireground photos. There are plenty to look at as the book is filled with views of a wide variety of fires, rescue activities and general fireground operations. In many cases, the exposure information is included in the photo captions.
There are chapters on photography fundamentals and equipment as well as discussions of what the photographer needs to know about working on the fireground and how to protect his own life. The author also describes the many ways in which photography can be used to advantage in the fire service—from training to investigations and public relations.
AIRCRAFT FIRE PROTECTION AND RESCUE PROCEDURES, 2nd Edition, edited by Connie E. Williams and Jerry W. Laughlin; Fire Protection Publications, IFSTA Headquarters, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Okla. 74074; 229 pages, $7.00.
The background information about aircraft, including engines, hydraulic systems fuel tanks and canopy and seat ejection systems, that is necessary for crash-rescue fire fighters to know is well covered in the opening chapters of this manual. The next section discusses crash trucks, forcible entry tools and protective clothing, and then the manual turns to airfield operations and fire prevention on the ground.
The last half of the manual starts off with pre-incident planning and communications, including even hand signals for crash fire fighting. Then extinguishing agents, types of aircraft incidents, explosive cargoes and nuclear weapons are considered. Methods of attacking aircraft fires, including positioning apparatus and the establishment of escape paths, are the subject of a separate chapter. Gaining access to aircraft and removing personnel are discussed in relation to rescue work at both civilian and military plane crashes. In the appendix, there are line drawings of 22 types of aircraft that show items of specific importance to crash-rescue crews.
FORCIBLE ENTRY, ROPE AND EXTINGUISHER PRACTICES, 6th Edition, edited by John D. Peige; Fire Protection Publications, IFSTA Headquarters, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Okla. 74074: 191 pages, $5.00.
Forcible entry, to which half of this manual is devoted, is described in chapters on forcing doors, opening locked windows, opening walls and ceilings, opening roofs and opening floors. The first chapter discusses the use of various forcible entry tools.
The rope section includes a discussion of types of rope and their use, and then the more useful knots for the fireground are described and amply illustrated. There is also information on whipping and splicing rope.
The chapters on fire extinguishers cover ratings, installation, use and inspection.
F.D.N.Y., Gus Johnson; Western Islands, 395 Concord Avenue, Belmont, Mass. 02178; 234 pages, $9.95.
The subtitle of this book is “The Fire Buffs Handbook of the New York Fire Department 1900-1975,” and that sums up what this book is all about. It is a year-by-year account of the major fires and departmental changes through those years.