“Relief Assignment”…
Thursday, February 28th, 2008As a Relief (covering) Lieutenant, I rarely know where I will be working the next day until the night before. Covering definitely has its perks. It is great to see parts of the City I have never worked in; people I have never worked with; and buildings I have never been to. Fortunately, I already [...]
“Drill of the Day”…
Thursday, February 28th, 2008Here is today’s drill topic… “F.A.S.T.” Truck Operations…Just be sure to sign the seat belt pledge AFTER you finish…
“First-Due View”
Tuesday, February 26th, 2008Today debuts some new technological resources out there whose benefits are only limited by the depth of our imagination. For instance, the FDNY now has the ability to download building blueprints and layouts, wirelessly. Consider the possiblities for large area search, remodeling/occupancy issues, etc. At least we could get a general idea where companies could get into trouble….My new favorite, Google [...]
“Roll Call”…
Tuesday, February 26th, 2008Google has added “Street View”to its Google Maps. The Housewatch’s City is on the list and you can see my house from my mailbox. Scary…I even found Truck 12 in quarters….
The FDNY has spent the earlier part of the week doing some empirical research on combating wind-driven fires. I attended the second stage of the research [...]
“Reach, Flow and Penetration”…
Monday, February 25th, 2008Yesterday I posted on the Durango taxpayer fire where seven Firefighters were injured following an explosion. Specifically, I mentioned the need to stretch 2 1/2″ hose at these fires. Stretching 1 3/4″ hose on taxpayer fires may allow for more maneuverability, however, often times the stream is vaporized in the thermal column (good size fire) before it even [...]
“Roll Call”….
Monday, February 25th, 2008Brian from Castle Rock sent me a great video of the taxpayer explosion in Durango, CO. STATer 911 and the guys at Fire Geezer also have some great video and info on the fire. Taxpayer close-calls always demonstrate at least a couple of universal concerns. First and foremost, the only size line that should be coming off the first due Engine is [...]
“LDH Research and Development”….
Sunday, February 24th, 2008We at thehousewatch.com understand why rural departments chide us Big City guys for misunderstanding the benefits of large diameter hose. After many hours of kitchen discussions, committee meetings and drills, I think we came up with the best use of LDH. Let us know what you think…..
Thanks to Daryl from Oakland for the photo and the great “research and [...]
“Ivan Is My Co-Pilot”…..
Saturday, February 23rd, 2008I was covering in Engine 18 yesterday….they have a neat foreign exchange Firefighter on their roster… I wonder if he supports Kosovo’s recent declaration of independence…Regardless, I’ll bet he supports arriving first due…especially from where he sits….
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“It’ll Be A Cold Day In …”
Thursday, February 21st, 2008I arrived as the first due Truck on a second alarm assignment the other day. Big fire, even decided to spread itself to the “B” exposure. It was especially cold out that day, below zero with frozen hydrants, frozen everything. I’m not writing about this fire because greater alarms are seldom events in my job, we get them all the [...]
“Behind the Gates”…..
Tuesday, February 19th, 2008John’s (FDNY) taxpayer lessons have been paying off. You have just forced the locks on the store gates and are ready to move in with the line. Or are you? Forcing the doors and gates may be just the beginning of your troubles…
behind_the_gates1.pdf