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Permalink Reply by Mike Schlags (Captain Busy) Retd on April 11, 2011 at 1:52pm

so tell me Mike, why do you have a police car avatar? are you LEO or fire service or EMS? or all of the above? my wife was a 911 dispatcher for 20 years, which means for 20 years she told me what to do at home and work, now that I'm retired, it's just the home stuff... :D welcome to the FFN brother.

CBz

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Permalink Reply by Norm Tindell on April 11, 2011 at 2:07pm

Welcome back to the fire service, Mike. Next order of business is changing that black and white to a red truck. LOL

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Permalink Reply by Norm Tindell on April 11, 2011 at 2:08pm

When I was a dispatcher my wife still told me what to do. Bet my honey do list is longer than yours!

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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on April 11, 2011 at 11:21pm

Did you ever do ship-based firefighting? What's it like? I'm curious about how the navy fights fire miles out to sea during damage control & general alarm

In short, aggressively, very aggressively, there is no "defensive" ops, surround and drown means you sank.


Fire is a real threat on ships and the U.S. Navy takes it very seriously. Every recruit in boot camp undergoes some very basic firefighting and damage control training. When they report to a ship, they have to get training. Even those who have been in for years undergo firefighting and damage control training every time they report to a new command. There are fire drills daily and when at sea, typically a general quarters drill weekly.

There are several fire suppression systems on ships and lots of redundancy. HALON was a fire suppression choice for years, but I believe there is now a clean agent alternative. You would find such flooding systems in engineering spaces, generator rooms, fuel transfer, paint lockers, etc. There is AFFF systems that provide both a sprinkler system and firefighting hose reels. For any space with AFFF, one foam station would provide the hose reels, while a different one would provide the sprinklers.

Weapons magazines would have CO2 flooding systems and typically sea water sprinklers as well. You would also see sea water/AFFF sprinklers in hangar bays and flight decks. pe systems for fryers, griddles, etc. Galleys (kitchens) had hood systems and restaurant tyThere were multiple "firestations" which consisted of fire hose and nozzle every so many feet so there was always something available, as well as portable CO2 and dry chem throughout the ship.

That is just the firefighting aspect. Damage control also consisted of flooding, and hull repair, etc. For any emergency there are repair lockers located around the ship. These lockers would contain the firefighting and damage control equipment. Personnel are assigned a battle station and for many it would be a repair locker. In port or at sea, you would also have a fire party which are considered a bit more "elite" when it comes to firefighting....typically Damage Control personnel. They would respond to an emergency first and try and mitigate, but if it got beyond their control, the ship would go to general quarters, where all personnel would get involved.

There is more to it, just a gist of Navy Firefighting/DC.

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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on April 11, 2011 at 11:24pm

Mike where were you stationed in the Navy?
I was in from 94-99 as Damage Control, I was on the USS Aubrey Fitch FFG-34 in Mayport, FL from 94-97 and then commissioned the USS Harry S Truman CVN-75 in Norfolk/ Newport News, from 98-99.

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Permalink Reply by Michael A on April 12, 2011 at 7:06am

I was in the weapons department on the USS Dwight D Eisenhower (CVN-69) stationed in Norfolk. Aircraft carrier for those who don't know

I actually received an award for saving the ship during a flooding. I worked duty shifts in damage control, we were in the shipyard for upgrades and they had a massive hole cut in the flight deck and hanger bay so the cranes could get into machinery space. Massive storm rolled through and we began taking on large amount of water. We spent all night battling flooding. Which on a ship is pretty much as dangerous as a fire.

Shipboard firefighting is totally different beast than land based fires. You must attack the fire and get it under control quickly. Where are you going to go? Its not like you can surround and drown a fire. Other big thing is you don't crawl you duck walk, steel gets very hot very fast and if you crawl you will burn hands, knees. Everyone on board is a fire fighter and will start an initial attack till damage control gets there, so you fight fires in you uniform.

Like I said I was in weapons so I worked mainly in the weapons magazines. You went down there with in the back of your mind the Navy has written you off. Meaning if there was a fire or major event, they will not spend a lot of time trying to save your life. I'm not saying they wouldn't but its not the top priority if that makes any sense. Basically in the magazines there are sprinkler which will flood the entire magazine in a matter of minutes.

Yes I know I have a police car as an avatar. It is the new Ford police car on a Taurus chassis. Its the police interceptor. Beautiful car. And if you read the first part I was planning a career in law enforcement not fire/EMS. That and when I made this account I was working police dispatch and we had that car on the computer.

I think I've answered all the questions now. If you have anymore by all means ask. I am an open book.

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