This is why it’s imperitive to take a 45 degree approach, steer clear of the bumpers, and hit it from a distance when you can!
Car fire = no hurry! take your time, getting injured for a automoblie is not worth it…
Florida’s Professional Firefighters Announce Boycott of the City of Clearwater
The Florida Professional Firefighters today is urging its 26,000 members, along with the 280,000 professional fire fighters across the nation and Canada, to boycott the City of Clearwater for their unethical and illegal treatment of its fire fighters.
The boycott stems from several years of issues ranging from illegal demotions and firings, to sexual harassment of female firefighters by Clearwater city manager William Horne and Clearwater Fire Chief Jamie Geer.
The taxpayers of Clearwater have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars funding a personal war by Horne and Geer against the Clearwater Fire Fighters Association (CFFA). This personal war has led to defeat in every legal battle Clearwater has entered in to.
In addition to the money already spent, Clearwater taxpayers have yet to pay for the 26 pending grievances and 1 sexual discrimination case that has yet to be resolved. In tough financial times, the potential to exceed $1 Million in costs is a reality, not a dream.
In response to the way the City of Clearwater has decided to treat its fire fighters, all firefighters coming to Florida are being advised to avoid the Clearwater area as a vacation destination. All fire fighters living in the area are asked to spend their money in neighboring cities and not Clearwater. This boycott will last as long as Clearwater Firefighters are treated as second-class citizens.
For more information on the boycott, as well as the illegal treatment of Clearwater’s firefighters, contact:
- John Lee, President of the Clearwater Firefighters Association at (727) 804-5064.
- David Hogan, Secretary/Treasurer of the Clearwater Firefighters Assn. (727) 647-5659
Please take a moment to visit their web site: www.saveclearwaterfire.org
Helmet lights are by far one of the most useful pieces of personal equipment a fire fighter can have. When mounted on your lid, no matter what you may be doing, the light
is always right where you need it. The helmet light will allow you to have hands free operation. Take pulling ceilings for an example, while you are looking up at the ceiling your light is aiming right where you need it, allowing the fire fighter to use both hands and work more efficiently.
Another example and one the most important is when searching, the fire fighter can use both hands to search instead of holding a box light with one leaving only one hand to clear obstructions and search for the victim. When forcing a door using conventional forcible entry or performing the through the lock forcible entry, your light is pointing directly where your eyes are looking allowing both hands to operate with.
There are many different brands, styles and sizes of lights on the market.There are also many different ways to mount it. When purchasing a personal helmet light there are a couple of things to consider. One, how bright is the light and how well does it cut through the smoke. I have found that a light that has more of a beam when in smoke tends to cut through better than one with more of a flood type pattern.
Another consideration is the battery life and the availability of the type of batteries that your light takes. One of the most important factors in my opinion is the way that you mount your light. Obviously you want your light to aim where your eyes are looking. One would also want it to be as low profile as possible to avoid snagging on wires or other obstructions. There are many contraptions on the market today that are made for holding your light but many are not very low profile. I have found that the best and most inexpensive way to mount your light is to attach it with electrical tape to a rubber strap on your helmet, this method keeps your light both secure and low profile.
Below are just a few examples of different brands of lights and ways to mount
each. Whatever brand of light or method of mounting your light that you choose is up to you, but if you want to work smarter and not harder, it’s not an option!
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Matt Scalan ECFR E-319
The Daily News posted this story yesterday…here
I am totally bewildered about this story. Once more it is horrible press, at a time when we all are having to cut our budgets, work to prevent losing jobs, & just to keep our heads above water. All in order to meet the new tax code…
Unbelievable when this guy uses the excuse “wrote the checks out of desperation to pay personal debts” He should’ve asked somebody- I don’t know the real story, only that if he is guilty he gets what’s coming…If he’s not guilty, how come the brothers weren’t there to help a man out…reguardless this kind of press is not good for all you who work at a UNION house-
Check out the story for yourself, we’ll see what pans out of this one…
DJ Stone
MAF staff & 2nd generation UNION FIREFIGHTER
Ok, it’s been a while, life is busy aren’t we all?!…
We were on a call the other day, in 7’s area with E-1, for an alarm activation in a large commercial and ran across this door.
I had to get a picture, this door is on the 1 side near the rear, on a very large construction supply store on Racetrack Rd. This door is located by the Bathrooms and opens to a small foyer type area before entering into the hallway. and the building is an older converted grocery store with wide open spaces and a couple of 2nd story areas as well as office area inside the middle of the store. The entire store is stocked with home improvement items.
This is the door with the security bar in place…nothing to it right?…look closer
The bar is unique in how it is attached to the door, check out the spacing and where it is secured to the door frame…
This is the kicker, the door/bar is also secured with a pad lock(from the inside) note the arrows…we discussed as a crew on how to force this door. So now the scenario…
It’s 2:30AM, “light smoke” from the front and eaves and your crew is tasked to “open up the building” and force all the doors…Your size up is a metal door incased in concrete with pin bolts to tip you off on a cross bar type of security, go to work!
What would your crew do? what tools would you bring? Alternative means of ingress?
Check out local OCWFCD Lt. Ryan Christen’s interactive training site. It’s up and going & quite impressive. Ryan’s site will surely change how we learn and share information!
Check it out @ Fullyinvolvedfire.com
Here is some food for thought.
Just imagine that you and your crew were sent to take the attack line in through the front door of a commercial occupancy, you have now penetrated over half of the way into the structure when things go horribly wrong! Your officer opts to exit through the rear and you now encounter one of these(click above pix). Moral to the story; always take the rear when interior operations are taking place. Stay safe brothers!
Matt Scallan
ECFR Engine19 C
To bail or not to bail…that is the question…Actually the question is do you TRAIN on this procedure?…It’s dangerous but…check out this video on the head first, it’s pretty intense,let’s not forget to ALWAYS ladder the building while our crews are working on the 2nd floor(D/E’s). Moreover how about laddering at a lesser angle for this very reason?
Check out this link to Ocean City Md. FD commercial fire in a T-Shirt shop. This email has been forwarded around locally & Chief Grace of ECFR made some good observations on the rapid changing conditions below. First check out his link here, check out the time stamps on each picture and join in on the discussion!
I’m speculating that there may have been some dynamics involved there that let the situation get away from them like it did.
1. That location is possibly an automatic alarm frequent flyer & the companies had become complacent with regard to apparatus placement. In other words: “Let’s just drive up the boardwalk right to the front door so we don’t have to walk as far. It’s probably another false alarm anyway.”
2. The private fire protection system (if there is one at all) had to have been out of service. One working sprinkler over the point of origin would have nipped that thing in the bud.
3. When a Fire Inspector comes down on shop owners about aisle space, ceiling/sprinkler head clearances, and general over-stocking, they do so to prevent fires like this one from happening.
4. If your department has a tower ladder, always consider using the bucket’s nozzle as a portable master stream device. Had they lowered the bucket to it’s lowest possible setting, they could have, from their set up point in front, knocked out the back wall of that shop with a high flow, high pressure, great reach straight stream.
They underestimated the fire’s existense and or growth potential & they were behind the 8 ball from the start.
I’m glad that you’re sharing someone else’s bad day experiences with the brothers & sisters that are truly interested in learning more about trying to do the best job possible.
Stay safe!
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Patrick T. Grace, Battalion Chief
Escambia County Fire Rescue
It is ALL of our duties (up & down the chain of command) to make sure our environment is safe. This one of the first of many installments of “situational awareness” topics coming in the near future. This one was found on you tube under close calls. It is your responsibility to look out for your “brothers” and keep them safe…if you see something speak up!(even if you have been on the job 1 hour)
