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Cold weather firefighting tips
Does anyone have any tips or war stories about structure fires in sub-zero weather?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by James Higley on
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dont be down wind of any stream that is giving off any type of mist. it makes you into a human ice cube
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Permalink Reply by Bob Kolva on
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If you must wear your turnout gloves there are lots of good glove liners that will help.
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Permalink Reply by Barry Copley on
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This is my first winter as a FF so I'll just have to see how it goes I suppose.I've heard some of the other guys say that their bunker gear would be covered in ice and that sometimes their gear would actually be frozen to them.
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Permalink Reply by Kenneth Day on
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Everyone from the North has some story about really cold weather. We've been to structure at least -30 degrees F. A couple of things I emphasis it my firefighters: expect to have to move more deliberately and slower (no running).
Everything starts with being rested and having eaten a correct diet so our bodies are functioning at high efficiency. Both areas that are difficult in December.
We carry a bucket of sand on each engine to help with traction around the engine and at vehicle accidents.
Everything will have ice on it; steps, ladders, hoses, gear. Snow or ice on hoses makes them harder to hold on to and control.
SCBA masks will fog more, especially if you take it off and put it back on again. I've had someone replace my bottle without ever taking the mask off.
Hose will freeze to the ground with no flow.
Truck tires will freeze to the ground.
Radio buttons will freeze, even keyed in. Yes I've had that happen to me, thankful I'm always careful what I say out loud.
The soles of leather boots have slightly more traction than the soles of rubber boots (count on none.)
The joke is always, "Why'd you guys put the fire out so fast? Now it's really cold and we have all this work yet to do."
We're in central Idaho, 18 firefighters, all volunteer, only been down to minus 10 once this year. District is 1400 square miles. -
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Permalink Reply by phillip hice on
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Do you drain your pumps or do you have something to keep them from freezing after the fire is out?. We are down south but it was 10 here this morning. We had the primer motor freeze ingaged one time & had to take the wires lose to stop it. We had just drove about 15 miles to mutual aid another dept. It was like 14 dg. that night. When we got back even our gages were frozen.
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In most cases we drain our pumps. On our brush trucks we occasionally keep the pumps running to re-circulate the water during long calls.
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Thanks, we just got a new truck from Rosenbauer, an salesmen tould us to always keep them drained even in the summer .He said it helps keep down rust -
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We were told the same thing on our new pumper/tender from Rosenbauer.
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Permalink Reply by Shareef Abdu Nur on
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Never leave the Firehouse without a "Ditty Bag" with an extra nomex hood, an extra pair of dry gloves, a knit winter hat, a dry towel, an extra pair of thick sox, and maybe even a sweatshirt.
Keep a bucket of road salt on each apparatus and throw it around on the ground around your apparatus and anywhere else that might pose a slip/ice hazard on scene.
Use towels and lay them across or on top off any fitting that might be spraying a little water to keep everything from icing up.
If your fortunate enough to have spare PPE, get it together beforehand and have it ready to be put into service.
Also, SLOW DOWN! This is for driving and walking on scene. -
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Permalink Reply by Bekks on
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We have a milk-crate on our equipment van filled with extra FF gloves so you can change out your regular set for dry/warm ones.
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Permalink Reply by Rick on
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What works well for us in my area where it gets down to below -40 plus the windchill is having some plumbing antifrezze in a squrit bottle. Spray some on your cuplings and caps and it will help unfrezze them or use the exhaust of a truck to melt the ice. We always leave the our nozzles cracked open a little just to keep the water moving. Hope that helps
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