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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on January 11, 2011 at 2:31am

I'd rather add a little complexity to the apparatus than retire one of the guys early because he hurt his back or fell out of the hose bed.

Can't say I've seen it, nor a picture to what you are referring, but what does remain is loading hose. Now granted we don't load hose as often as some places, but when loading with personnel it does come down to doing so properly.

What I mean is that threads like this seem to promote some new device etc rather than look at how one already does things and to be aware of such issues. Point being while a new device may perhaps eliminate such injuries, the fact does remain that focusing on such injuries can also have the same effect without the additional cost.

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Permalink Reply by Sean Brooks on January 11, 2011 at 1:38pm

I recognize that some methods are better than others. Good method and 'bad' equipment can beat bad method and 'bad' equipment. However, Good method and 'good' equipment will beat good method and 'bad' equipment.

I don't care how good your method is, if it involves climbing up on top of a pumper, and hand-over-hand pulling it up into the bed, if you repeat this act enough times, you will see an injury.

My department lays hose approximately 100 times per day. An improvement doesn't have to be huge to have real, worthwhile results over time.

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Permalink Reply by Sean Brooks on January 11, 2011 at 1:40pm

http://www.piercemfg.com/PackMule.html

http://www.smeal.com/uploads/Apparatus/ApparatusOption-Image-22.jpg

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Permalink Reply by Rob on January 11, 2011 at 4:08pm

I was just told by someone yesterday who just received a Smeal that their system is really nice and truly makes LDH easy instead of combersome.

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Permalink Reply by Sean Brooks on January 11, 2011 at 5:25pm

Where was this?

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Permalink Reply by Russ Volkert on January 25, 2011 at 4:06pm

Our aerial has Smeal's EHL. We have used it for six years and have had no issues or problems. The ability to easily deploy and repack the bed on the rig were ranked very highly in our considerations when purchasing, both for safety and practicality. I would add (and I know there are mixed feelings on them) that a backup camera with audio is the other single best thing you can get to help when reloading hose, not because of what you can see, but because you can hear the members talking and know when to speed up, slow down, stop, etc. We have had rigs with buzzers, used portables, etc and the audio feed from the camera is the best thing going, and if you think about it, adds greatly to safety during pickup. Well worth the $.

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