More Forcible Entry Videos

Good Enough

By: Pete Sulzer
From www.fireservicewarrior.com

As many in this community say, some of us can never turn “it” off. We are always searching for parallels between events in our lives and our careers in the fire service. We find ourselves performing size-ups while running around our neighborhoods and mentally forcing entry on our friends’ houses. We run through scenarios as we shop in the grocery store, or even as we drive down the road, but “it” never really goes away as we live our lives. Occasionally, this trait takes us beyond the more obvious similarities and I find myself drawing comparisons from unlikely and seemingly unrelated sources, like comparing an athlete’s performance in the Olympic Games to a firefighter’s performance on the fire ground.
The passing of summer’s 2012 Olympics brought the world’s attention upon many feats of athleticism, executed for both personal and national pride. Numerous records were broken in various events, including the 100-meter sprint, the premier event of track and field. The New York Times produced a video infographic displaying every Olympic medalist in the 100 meter since 1896[i]. The data presented some interesting facts, including that despite a century of advancement in technology and training, the gold medal time only improved by 3 seconds. Some would find similarities to the fire service in that statement alone, but the article presented other information of relevance to our profession.

Forcing Slide Bolts and Drop Bars

Mayday and Bailout Caught on Helmet Cam

Now watch the video below showing fire and smoke conditions. What is the smoke telling you? Could this Mayday have been prevented. The rapid change in smoke color, density, and velocity said loud and clear that flashover was imminent. The smoke coming from the eaves was a pretty good indicator that fire was in the attic space. If you think you might have fire in the attic, make an inspection hole in the ceiling as you enter; don't continue to advance into the structure if you have fire above you.

The video also illustrates the importance of some of the things we have been training on recently. Notice how quickly the smoke conditions changed after the door was forced. This drives home the point of controlling the door and being ready to advance the line quickly. How could the engine company have flaked their line for a quicker advance? The video also illustrates the need for constantly reevaluating the situation. Their initial incident action plan (IAP) quickly became obsolete as conditions rapidly deteriorated.

Backdraft Caught on Video

Gloving Up for the Firefight

by Ryan Pennington

from www.firehouse.com

 

Good afternoon from the Jumpseat. It seems like today’s firefighters are struggling with a tried and true method of operating: with your fire gloves on. Whether it's something that I have witnessed, someone shared a story with me about or I saw a photo of, it seems to be a struggle for many firefighters.

Often when I am teaching new firefighters, they seem to grab rescue gloves or leather gloves to perform their firefighting skills. Back the truck up! This is a huge problem; do you fight fires with your rescue gloves on? The answer should be a huge no! Rescue gloves offer dexterity that fire gloves do not, but they do not protect you from steam or fire at all.

Why is this blog article even needed?

SCFA Course catalog

Here is the link to the new SCFA course catalog.

http://www.scfa.state.sc.us/PDF/January-June(FY13)Public%20Fire%20Service-dates.pdf