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What do you carry?
Just curious what various items people carry in their bunker gear. I'm relatively new to the department, just finished my 6 month probation two months ago, and am slowly working out what I want to have with me, and how I want to carry it. As we've gone through training over the last 7-8 months, I've paid attention to what other guys on my dept. keep on them, and how they keep it with them.
So far, I've got:
- Combination tool (spanner wrench, glass point, gas key, etc. - pretty common tool) in right pants pocket
- "Rescue" knife (not very happy with this particular one, lower quality blade than I had hoped, but I'm a firm believer in always having a knife at ready access, and I haven't gotten around to finding a better one yet) clipped to right pants pocket
- About 8-10' chunk of 3/8" rope, haven't decided which pocket it's going in yet for sure, want to find a velcro strap to keep it coiled until needed.
- Extrication gloves in left pocket of pants, with safety glasses below them
- Fire gloves, going back and forth between in right pants pocket or on a velcro glove strap. Haven't decided yet.
I haven't gone through FF1 yet, so I haven't thought much yet about 'interior' items (door wedges, etc.) yet, but will probably cut a few next time I'm in the shop on a woodworking project.
A coworker (on a different department) keeps a small tool set in one pocket, in case he needs to pull an outlet box apart inside a house or something like that - saves time going back to the truck for tools.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Robert Owens on
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Sounds like you have good start....once you start going on some runs, and get through FF1 you will start to figure out what you need and do not.
At a minimum I recommend
Webbing 20feet with caribeener
Flashlight
Folding Spanner Wrenches
Door Chocks
Cable Cutters (or something to cut your self out of an entaglement)
Safety Glasses
Also whenever on the rig always have an extra tshirt, pair of firefighting gloves, socks, and towel warm and dry feet feel good no matter the time of year, as do fresh shirt and gloves.
Good Luck Brother
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Permalink Reply by 3us8225bsp2fp on
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I carry in my left pants pocket extrication gloves, center punch, and a small vice grip
in the right pants pocket is firefighting gloves and webbing
My helmet has a flashlight and door chocks
and on my scba mask bag i have safety glasses attached.
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Permalink Reply by Derek J Sinesi on
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I carry a multi-tool- door chocks. Gloves, SCBA mask, 25'of webbing, life safety rope and carabiner, Radio, flash light, knife. In our rescue i have extra gloves- socks -and shirts and Extrication gloves . I do not carry extrication gloves in my turn out because most everyone's call's are MVA's so you get use to wearing them. So when you have a fire you are so use to grabbing the extrication gloves out of your bunkers you automatically grab them and they do not mix well with fire so that is why i'm not a big fan of people carry extrication glove's in their turn-outs. When you personally have to pull a brother firefighter out of a burning building because his gloves have melted to his hands and his career is done you will never want to see someone with extrication gloves on near a fire ever again. You can do a lot of different thing's on my fire ground and i will pull you aside and say something to you but i don't care who you are our what department you are from if i see you with a pair of extrication glove's on during a working fire i will give you a new hole right there and then don't matter who is around.
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Permalink Reply by Eric Yunginger on
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I could see where the confusion would come into play on a high-volume department. Ours ran around 40 calls last year, and the same the year before. If I remember right, less than a half dozen were MVA's last year. We're in a town of around 2,000-2,500, and our district covers around 140 square miles of rural ag ground. I don't know if it's just because I'm new, or how my mind works, but as soon as the truck starts rolling, if I'm not driving the rescue, my mind starts running through the "pre-game", and that includes putting on the right gloves -- fire gloves on my right side, extrication on the left.
Out of curiosity, how do you carry the multi-tool? I haven't figured out a way to carry one sheathed yet, and don't know if I like the idea of carrying one loose in a pocket, but it is definitely a tool I'd like to have on me. Might have to look at some of the models with a pocket clip...
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Permalink Reply by capcityff on
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I carry mine loose in my pocket. I'm not too worried about getting to it in an emergency. Wouldn't really use a multi-tool in a fire.
I agree that what you carry does determine on the type of department you work for. I work for a large-city urban department. Because of this I think I actually need LESS than those of you in a smaller department. If I'm riding the engine I have one job. That's to put the fire out. If you're riding the engine it could change depending on the situation. It could here too, but for the most part it doesn't due to the staffing. Trucks have their own duties such as ventilation, forcible entry, utilities, etc. Rescues have search and rescue. That usually doesn't change. So if I'm on the engine I can carry what I might need just for that. You also might not even know what unit you're riding until you respond.
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I'm not sure how keeping extrication gloves in your gear will mean you are wrong and will put the wrong ones on. Extrication gloves are nothing like firefighting gloves. If you're that flustered that you can't figure it out while enroute to a fire then I'd be a little nervous about trusting you in that burning building where things are much worse and decisions are much more important. I carry utility gloves in my gear all the time for racking hose after fires. We run multiple box alarms each day so even if there isn't a fire we are laying hose on a regular basis. I don't want my firefighting gloves getting all wet so I have the utility gloves with me. Don't see a problem with that.
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I personally have never grabbed the wrong gloves but i have seen it done several times NOT by guys with several years under there belt but by young guys who have just started as FF's. And i'm not saying people should not carry extrication gloves i just want people to be careful with them. The young man i pulled out i had never meant before and was from a bigger village department that i had never worked with before. But i had come across a working structure fire at around 10:00am and called it in grabbed my gear out of my work van. When i was kinda sure no one was home a waited for this department to show up. They pulled up there guys grab the first line and went in. Their chief asked me to grab a second line and go in with two of his younger guys so i did. We made our way into the back door in the kitchen and down to the basement to shut down utility's. We made are way back up and all you heard was this load screaming going on from across the room. Me and my crew headed that way and this FF was screaming and flapping his hands around like a mad man. I grabbed him and made my way out and once outside and my face piece off i seen those gloves melted on to his hands and into his flesh and the smell was awful. This young man 19 years old lost 2 fingers on one hand and killed most of the nerves in his other he will never go into a working fire again. This is the only reason i'm not a big fan of young people carrying extrication gloves in there turn-out and the only reason. I hope that clear's up any confusion i created on extrication gloves. I carry my multi tool loose in my bunker pants pocket i think in 11 years i have used it twice and they were both on MVA's,
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I can understand how that would negatively influence your thought of extrication gloves. It sucks to see another firefighter get hurt. It comes down to training though. If you train to always use your fire gloves it becomes a habit. I see a large number of new guys using extrication or work gloves when they are outside and hitting a hydrant or throwing ladders. From the start you need to enforce that unless you are going to an MVA the extrication gloves stay in your bunker pants or wherever they are kept.
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Permalink Reply by Don Catenacci on
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On my career FD I carry a 4 way screwdriver, a Gerber Multi-tool, a pair of med scissors, a folding knife, and a Crescent fire pliers, in my pockets.
On my helmet I have 4 wedges, a door strap, and a flashlight.
On my GutBelt I have a pouch for a Gerber Multi-tool, a folding knife, and a couple of door straps. I also have 2 carabiners, one with a 20 foot piece of webbing and the other with an 8 foot piece of webbing.
As for safety glasses and extrication gloves, I do not carry them in my turnout gear. I have a small duffel bag I have on the engine that I carry them in. Frankly, I am no fan of extrication gloves and the only time I ever use mine is for equipment check out at the station to keep my hands clean. I have never understood why, if your firefighting gloves fit properly, you need a lightweight pair of gloves to run the Jaws.
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Permalink Reply by Shareef Abdu Nur on
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At my department, what members carry in their pockets is directly reflective of the tasks that they are usually assigned to do. Engine guys carry different things that truck guys but there are some standards that we encourage all members to carry such as: 20' stretch of webbing tied in a loop, a knife or box cutter, door chocks, escape rope, and a smaller 10' stretch of webbing. All other tools are less general and more job specific.
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Permalink Reply by Norm Tindell on
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Check out VentEnterSearch.com and you'll find this list to be very helpful. Good luck with FFI.
http://firecritic.com/2009/07/18/top-ten-items-that-should-be-in-yo...
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Permalink Reply by Travis Skinner on
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I carry webbing in my left jacket pocket, and extra flashlight and in my right jacket pocket I carry an extra hood, I try to carry a knife somewhere in one of the pockets but I always manage to lose it.
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