Add a Comment

Comment by Rob on February 6, 2009 at 5:07am

I guess I will weigh in on this one. At the department I am at there are very limited people who get to carry their gear in their vehicle.

Chief
Bat. Chief
1 Captain who responds to 2 different stations
If you are in fire class and do not live close by the station
and Investigators as they may have to respond to a single station call for a fire out that is out of the way of their station.

Now, I am one of the invesitgators, but I opt to keep it at the station for one reason only, I drive a freaking S-10 and have no good way to carry it and keep it safe and out of direct sun light. A few years ago I was on the same department and in the same position and did carry my gear (had a Crown Vic at the time). I would not go direct unless the rig was already out the door at my station. We serve a large rural area with a lot of guys that live well outside the district so we often have vollies in house and the rig is out the door well before I get there so this allowed us to have another experienced person on scene much faster that if I went to the station first. It actually worked well. Do I agree with everyone carrying gear in their car, no. Are there even more good explinations for doing so, yes. Down in SE Ohio where my uncle lives the FD has a building that houses the Engine and the Brush Truck and that is it! They litterally have no room for a gear rack, bathroom, or anything. Everyone carries their gear and goes to the station. It happens, there are good reasons in some cases, not all of them are KD's wanting to look good for friends.

Comment by Dustin J. Millis on February 6, 2009 at 3:17am

Okay... So i wanted to address some of the things I read in the responses. I got alot of people saying there are plenty of things to do at the fire scene before the rig arrives... such as????? You can do a good size up and let responding rigs know what they have before they come in but other then that, what are you going to do?

Another thing I read is that some dept's require their members to wash their gear after every call. I dont understand how that is possible. If I washed my gear after every call, I would be washing it 3-4 times a day. I understand that some dept's may only run a few calls a week but still, turnout gear doesnt dry in just a couple of hours.

Something else I read was that people carry it on their PV because they live far away and dont catch the rig in time. Okay... say you get an EMS call, no big thing; the first 3-4 guys to the station take the rig and go and thats all you need on a call like that. If you get a bunch of guys responding to the scene in addition to the crew that is already there; thats just a waste of manpower. Somebody asked what he is supposed to do on standby at the station if he gets there and the rig is gone besides sweep the floor? Well you can run the radio, take down times, and start writing the report, and most importantly just be at the station incase another call comes in while the original crew is still out on scene.

Another person said that they dont catch the rig in time on a fire which is a case where you need alot of manpower. Okay... you have to live really far away to not catch a single rig that rolls out of your station on a fire. My dept. for example runs five rigs (unless disregarded) on a fire. The first three or four guys get there and roll the engine, the next crew comes in and grabs a 2nd engine or a tanker, depending on whether its in town or out of town, and so on... By the time the last truck leaves, its been almost 20 minutes since the call came in. If you cant get to the station in twenty minutes, something's wrong.

Someone said that with all their rigs going to a fire, there is between 20 and 25 seats available to ride on and that that is not enough manpower at a fire. IDK bout that 20-25 guys seems like plenty of manpower to me unless you have a bunch of guys sitting around doing nothing. And if you do need more power, call for mutual aid. I would much rather only roll a few trucks from my station and leave a few guys back on standby on a fire and call in mutual aid. Say you get an MVA while your out on a fire, now what are you gona do. Sure you can call mutual aid for that but thats gona take awhile to get there.

There are a few responses I got that did make sense. If you are assigned to differant stations throughout your district then yeah take your gear cuz your gona need it. But thats not really what I meant because you are obviously going to take your gear out of your PV when you get to the station to report for duty then put it back when your off duty. Another one is someone who keeps their PV stocked with ample med supplies to do some good on an EMS call or MVA. Things like AED, med bag with O2. I still think with that though, you have no extrication equipment and if car is that messed up; you shouldnt be crawling in it by yourself without a crew there watching your back. Also I'm still stressing the point that the entire road should be blocked for ALL MVA's with two heavy apparatus.

IDK guys... I wasnt trying to come off as a jerk on this one so please dont take it that way. I read over my original post and yeah... i admit that it sounds kinda crappy, guess I was just in a bad mood last night. So I apoligize for that but honestly after reading all the posts, I still havent found one answer that I really think qualifies as sufficent reason for keeping gear in your POV other then the two I stated just above.

Comment by Paul Montpetit on February 5, 2009 at 7:09pm

We use gear bags BUT that doesn't cut down on the importance of washing it....too many nasty's in it after a fire to have it lying around....And yes...my gear is in my truck.......and it is there ALL the time.....Paul

Comment by Bull on February 5, 2009 at 2:50pm

being on rural depts its safer and easyier to carry your own gear,then 10 guys racing to the station to get a spot on a rig

Comment by Scott S on February 5, 2009 at 12:44pm

When I lived in NY I always carried my gear with me along with many of my members. My fire station was about 6 miles away from my home, and our fire district covered approximately 100 sq miles. I lived on the outskirts of our fire district, so to get to the other side of the district was over 10 miles away. I was also a self employed contractor so I was always working in surrounding areas but could respond at anytime, which I did quite often. Some of my employees were also firefighters in my department and also carried their gear so if a call came in we'd respond in one veh.

I was Captain of the ladder company so I served as incident command many times until the chief arrived on scene. I also carried fire ext, small assortment of hand tools, and Portable radio. Since I lived on the edge of our fire district by the time I would get into the station all apparatus would have already left. Although my main concern was the operation of the ladder company, many times I'd would work with one of our 3 engine companies so my gear would need to be with me rather then left in the firehouse.

So would you suggest we leave the gear on the fire truck? Where do you suppose we could find space for that? Many of the members who lived near the station would leave there gear there and I had no problem with that, but those of us who lived further away needed to have our gear readily at hand. There were plenty of calls I'd have to pass the scene to get to the station, would that have been better? So I'd drive to the station get my gear and have to return to the scene.

Every department needs to adapt to the best for their members and citizens they cover which means in some cases members NEED to carry their own equipment. I don't mind if you don't agree with the policy but don't make it sound like the members or departments are doing something wrong here.

In NC I find that many if not all members carry portable radios. I don't agree with this but understand that they need to do this so they have a clear count on how many members they have responding and where they are responding to, the station or the scene. Yes the radio traffic can be horrible and they need to understand to stay on their own private channel when calling in responding but this is a necessity for the area due to lack of membership. Oh by the way they to also carry their own gear.

Comment by Joe Stoltz on February 5, 2009 at 9:08am

Dustin, it appears you have made the assumption that all VFDs are the type where the members can easily report to the station, and that there are enough FD vehicles to transport said members to the scene.

I live 5 1/2 miles from either fire station, and Paul wrote exactly what I was going to say, so I'll throw in something else:

Most departments have 2-3 big trucks, a rescue, and a brush or utility rig. Assuming all but the brushie hold 5 people each, that would be a total seating capacity of 18 to 23 members. Is that enough to work a well involved house fire? (I vote NO on this one)

Some departments require that members report to the station, then ride the apparatus to the scene and NO POVs are allowed at the scene. So members showing up after the rigs have left the station have to remain at the station, to do what? Listen to the radio? Play euchre? Sweep the floor?

So then we have firefighters responding to the station in their POVs, driving like bats out of hell to get to the station in time to catch a truck. Every time the tones drop a new race begins.

Aren't we as a fire service having problems with members getting killed while responding?

Comment by Paul Montpetit on February 5, 2009 at 8:14am

1st...I DO keep my gear in my truck...We are a very rural area and I usually respond from home and meet the Crew on site...2nd...I am able to do a good size up if I am there before them and communicate what I find by radio as they know exactly what they have before they get there and I shut off all gas and or propane supplies to the structure...3rd...It is our policy that ALL PPE is washed after every call...this does 2 things....takes care of the nasty's that hide in your gear...and it actually makes the gear last longer....So please don't be so quick to react...for us this works quite well.....Paul

Comment by Kimberly A Bownas on February 5, 2009 at 8:06am

My gear is in my car because I don't always make it to the firehouse to catch the truck. There are times that I am out running errands and I can go to the scene that way. I also carry my EMS turnout gear and my crash kit, Oxygen and am AED in my pov. There is also times that I end up riding with the Deputy Chief and I need my gear. If I ride with him we go to the scene not to the firehouse. I am not a driver of the apparatus other then the ambulances and sometimes we don't need that rig so I would rather play on the fire side of things anyway. I understand what you are saying but also in my department we don't have enough lockers for everyone and there isn't enough room for more lockers. So we can keep the gear in our pov's. The other thing is, that our members don't live right near the firehouse. There are members that live a distance from the firehouse and it is easier for them to go to the scene and not come all the way to the firehouse to get their gear. Our coverage area is 63 square miles and we have only 1 station. Maybe this explains it a little more for you. Stay Safe

Comment by lutan1 on February 5, 2009 at 5:50am

Don't forget all the potential nasties we're exposing oursleves, friends and families to.

Asbestos, chemicals, smoke, dust, etc, etc.

Silent killers, especially if we're unintentially exceeding TLV's...

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• Next ›
• Page