Chock that Door!

Recently, NIOSH released the report on the LODD of Allan Roberts (BCFD) that occurred on 10/10/06 in Greek town neighborhood of Baltimore City. FF Roberts died at a fire in the middle of the group row home in which, due to numerous factors, he and his crew became trapped inside the dwelling. The report is [...]

“Inductive Loops” – Forcing Entry Through Electric Gates

In many areas, gated communities are becoming more common.  We frequently encounter mechanized gates that are chain-operated or work off a swing-arm, preventing us from accessing whatever it is we need to access.  When presented with these, we have a couple options…

Have the key.  If we’re pro-active about our box alarm district, the manager might give us [...]

FE: Sledgehammer vs. Flat-Axe

In the truckman’s world the debate between the sledgehammer an the flathead-axe has become equivalent to the age old smoothbore/fog nozzle debate.  Over the past few years, the sledgehammer seems to have gained popularity – buy why?  Personally, I had a brief affair with the sledgehammer (admittedly, because it was the “in” thing) but after some experimentation [...]

“First-In” Company Operations: West Bradford, PA

This past weekend TT Instructors Nick Martin (DCFD E-11), Chris Birch (DCFD R-1), and Danny Doyle (PBF T-8) traveled to West Chester, PA to train with the West Bradford Fire Company.  
The topic of this 16-hour class was “First-In Company Operations”.  The course is designed for those departments whose initial operations may have limited equipment [...]

Open-Enrollment Class 1/17/09: Downingtown, PA

We will be presenting our Fighting Fires in Residential Buildings curriculum on Saturday 1/17/09 in Downingtown, PA (30 miles west of Philadelphia).  For more information & registration please click here.

So far, we have over 100+ attendees attending.  There is still plenty of room and registration will be open until the day of the class.

Elevator Operations at High Rise Part II

Fire Department Operations Using Elevators:  Part II
 Battalion Chief Al Mullins
High Rise Operations:
 You are the first due company at a fire in a high rise and because the fire is on an upper floor you make a critical decision to take the elevator.  Good choice, but you need to insure things are working properly.

Fire Department Operations Using Elevators

Fire Department Operations Using Elevators
Part One:

Battalion Chief Al Mullins 
Every day we respond to calls in high-rise buildings where we need and choose to use building elevators.  Of course, if you run a fire alarm or GOD forbid an actual fire in a high-rise building using elevators will make our job much easier.  The use of [...]

Two Fires Worth Looking At & Thinking About…

On April 16, 2007, 24 year-old Kyle Wilson was killed in the line of duty while operating at a house fire in Prince William County, Virginia – just south of Washington, DC.  Just over a year later, on May 25, 2008, seven firefighters in Loudoun County, VA  (just northwest of DC) were injured, two critically, [...]

Make the window a door…

Most firefighters really enjoy breaking things (productively, of course), so this has always been a phenomenon I can’t understand:

Of course the issue I’m talking about is ladders/windows/ventilation/egress.  This has always been one of my biggest pet peeves, but more than that its a safety issue (egress) and an operational issue (reduced ventilation…  Read on for [...]

Building Construction and Basement Fires

Quite often, we find websites to share with you that have some great info, which is the case with UL University. They have conducted a study on fires in Single Family Dwellings, in particular “Structural Stability of Engineered Lumber in Fire Conditions”.  I recommend that you log in and view this presentation with your shift, on [...]