MORE ON MYTHS
RANDOM THOUGHTS
I’ve always been frustrated with myths—those things, facts, and traditions that are so costly to dispel yet continue to hang around our necks like yokes and millstones. In the past we have had some fun with many of them. From time to time, others come to mind, and I’d like to share some with you. Many of these statements arc heard in firehouses, informal discussions during social hours, and — unfortunately—some courses and seminars. I’ll give you the quote; you take the time to figure out your answer, and then I’ll try to respond with my warped truck mentality.
“When searching, I prefer to use my weak hand on the wall so my strong arm and hand are available to probe the area for victims.”
Oh well, it sounds great, yet the answer is so simple. The hand that you use is a strict function of the direction in which you want to go and what side the trail is on!
“Search is a buddy system. I always keep my buddy in physical contact or in sight.”
I nbelievable! If you can keep your buddy in sight, you are not searching— you are looking! Either that, or we aren’t going to the same fires. Visibility is a luxury that interior structural firefighters never have. Also, our victims are mostly in dwellings. Dwellings may have 36-inchwide hallways; how wide are you? The bedrooms—from largest to smallest — don’t have enough room or floor space around furnishings for two fully clothed firefighters to get in. check, and get out.
The buddy system means working together and maintaining occasional contact —both verbally and physically. There are a lot of uses for buddies, depending on where the fire is, the type of building construction, the objective, and where the danger is.
“In our department, our engine company always responds first, before our ladder truck, in every double station.”
Now this one needs some thought. This is a myth that is held in a stranglehold of tradition. For a truck to be effective, it must be able to pick the best possible position—not the best available! If it is out of position because of poor size-up procedures, that’s a function of critique and training. If it is out of position because it is the fourth or fifth piece to enter the block, that’s a matter of policy change. As a general rule, the truck never should enter the block of the fire building later than second!
A simple solution for response from multistation quarters is: If the engine is assigned first to arrive (this changes with the status of other available apparatus), then the engine must go first. If the engine is not going to arrive first, then the truck must go first. Simple? Sure.
“We like to store as much equipment as possibly will be necessary on the top sliding section of our aerial ladder.”
This really is silly and ineffective and eventually will cost some lives. First, w hy do you have an aerial ladder in the first place? If your answer is “for an elevated stream device,” it means you bought it planning to lose (defensive operations) every structure you respond to, and there is no sense reading any further!
Still here? Good. Second, the top fly section is the narrow est of the set. Vi e have so little movement. If you are using it for an objective—either a victim showing or to get to a vent, enter, and search location—your eye is on the objective, and you’re moving as quickly as possible (at least if you work for me). Now you run into the two hooks, the axe mounts, the stokes basket, the rope reel, and (I’ve seen it myself in affluent communities) an extra hydraulic rescue tool setup.
Set up your aerial ladder for its most important function: impacting human life —getting you to it and, more important, getting it down to safety. All those other things you have time for. You can bring those things with you when you need them. Speaking of storage, how about this one?
“I have a lot of room between the boom of my tower ladder and the top of the truck. It’s great for saw boxes, stretchers, foam containers, lights, and more.”
Only if you don’t care if you crush them before you need them. It is a common practice, and I see it wherever I go. Tower ladder operation is valuable when it is aggressive. Its aggressiveness comes from its ability to operate also at low and, in some cases, depressed angles. The only thing that prevents it is usually the cab of the truck (and I’ve crushed a couple of them, too). The point is that anything stored above the walk area on the rear of the truck will inhibit low-angle operations. Plug that in to the funnel vision one gets at fire operations, and you’ll easily see that the equipment will be replaced by requisitions for lost or damaged property at the fire scene.
“We have lots of hazardous materials in our district.”
Remember, a material adequately stored w ithin its designed container is safe! It is a hazardous material only when “the juice is out of the can.” (Thanks to Greg Noll for this one.
