LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Keep the Random Thoughts coming
Don’t ever stop publishing Random Thoughts by Tom Brennan in your magazine. His articles are fantastic. I’ve been a member of a paid fire department for 10 years and look forward to his articles every month.
I’ll never see the fires he has seen in his career, so I must study and learn not only from my peers and mistakes but from people like Brennan who have the experience and desire to share their experiences. His hints (e.g.. breaking windows from the inside while doing S & R lets the outside people know of your progress…besides, they can’t feel the heat you’re feeling) ring true time and time again! Thanks to Tom Brennan for what he does.
Ed Barnes
Firefighter
Shoreline Fire Department
Seattle, Washington
Training tragedy preventable
I read “New Jersey Training Burn: RealLife Lessons” by George A. Wendt in the March 1994 issue with great dismay. My anger and concern grew with each paragraph. This tragedy was entirely preventable and thoroughly unnecessary. Wendt did an excellent job of making these points and analyzing the incident.
The exercise was so ill-conceived that I find it difficult to believe that chief officers would consider sending their firefighters into that type of situation. The lack of protective lines, with the exception of the dismally inadequate booster line, and the total absence of on-site emergency medical personnel are unforgivable. Live fire exercises are a necessary part of our training and an excellent avenue for giving less experienced personnel exposure to actual conditions. But these drills must be carried out professionally and, above all, safely.
I commend Wendt for his willingness to address a situation that reflects so negatively on some of our “brother” officers. But, would a true brother show so little regard for a sibling’s safety and well-being? My thanks to Wendt for his dedication to making our job safer.
Chris Sterricker
Captain
Western Emergency Medical Services
Western Illinois University
Macomb, Illinois
Preventing LDH accidents
I read with interest the article on largediameter hose (LDH) by William C. Peters in the April issue. It brought to mind some incidents that occurred when I was with another department.
In the first instance, a firefighter was positioning a manifold valve after the LDH had been connected but before it had been charged. The firefighter was still gripping the valve handles of the manifold when the water arrived. The relief valve functioned, and the manifold and firefighter were spun 180 degrees by the hose as it lengthened and straightened itself. The firefighter escaped with minor injuries; the five-inch discharge valve handle was broken from the manifold. Upon investigation, it was determined that the apparatus that had laid the line had turned a comer, causing a twist in the line that went unnoticed. The line was coupled fiat, as Peters points out it should be.
In the second instance, the five-inch line became as twisted as in the first. It. too, was unnoticed. When the line was charged, it rotated and disconnected itself from the piston intake valve. This caused some immediate excitement, since the water system in this particular city supplies well over 1,000 gpm at approximately 120 psi.
To avoid similar occurrences, my current department has retrofitted all LDH intakes with locking storz couplings that swivel under pressure and also have screens. This seems to have virtually eliminated problems associated with twists in LDH. We have not retrofitted discharges with swivels, since to us that seems to be unnecessary. We have found that the twist straightens as the line is charged, causing problems at the end where it couples to an intake.
The components to make these modifications were readily available from the manufacturer of our LDH equipment and were easily installed in-house to the manufacturer’s specifications.
R. Gregory Showalter
Lieutenant
Ceredo (WV) Fire-Rescue
Correction: Please note the following error in our March 1994 issue. Page 88, paragraph 2, sentences 3 and 4 should read: “The shore is constructed of aluminum and has a hollow shaft perforated with holes that are 3/4-inch on center. After the shore has been extended to the required height, a pin made of high-tensile, heat-treated alloy steel is inserted into a set of these holes, and a doubletapered collar is rotated snug against the pin to provide lockout