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Quick tips for deploying hose from the rear hosebed
Move to the Rear
Common mistakes & effective strategies for deploying hose from the rear hosebed
Story & Photos by Homer Robertson
Not that many years ago, most, if not all, attack and supply hose was deployed off the rear hosebed of the apparatus. With the introduction of transverse crosslays, most apparatus today have at least two crosslays from which pre-connected handlines can be deployed.
Crosslays allow for rapid deployment and are beneficial due to the fact that they unfold directly toward the fire building in many cases. But they can also limit our ability to deploy longer lines because of their set length.
If your crew has become dependent on preconnects, they likely lack skills in deploying hose off the rear hosebed, where larger, less-often-used hose is often kept. This month’s Quick Drill focuses on common mistakes in deploying from the rear hosebed.
Rear Hosebed Loads
Today’s rear hosebeds are about as diverse as the American fire service itself. You can see just about any configuration of lengths and sizes of hose from one department to another.
The rear hosebed may also be used to carry special hoseloads for deployment down long driveways, into apartment courtyards or into shopping malls, which can’t be reached with standard pre-connected handlines. These special hoseloads aren’t used on routine fires and are easily forgotten about. Review their use and practice on them often.
Rear hosebed areas have also become home to the popular one-inlet personal monitor designed for high-flow blitz attacks. Theses monitors, which flow around 500 gpm, are usually mounted on the rear step for easy deployment.
Deployment Mistakes
Normally the rear hosebed will have a larger capacity due to size and length from front to rear. Due to the size and the amount of hose stored in the hosebed, deployment from the rear can sometimes be difficult.
• While pulling a pre-connected hoseline from the rear, the crew doesn’t clear all the hose from the bed before it’s charged with water. This happens often and can cause real problems because you can’t use all the available hose; with the hose charged in the bed it can be very difficult to correct. It also presents problems with hose kinks that can reduce much-needed fire flow.
• The crew starts around the truck before clearing all the hose from the bed. Unlike crosslays, hose must be stretched straight off the rear of the truck before starting to move toward the fire building. Good apparatus placement will help the problem. If you know that hose will be deployed form the rear bed, pull past the front of the fire building if possible.
• The nozzleperson takes only the nozzle and moves toward the fire building while another firefighter stands at the tailboard and piles hose behind the apparatus on the ground. This large pile of hose can quickly turn into a mess. If the line is charged before it’s laid out, it will become difficult to advance.
A pile of hose can also develop when you forward lay your supply line into a fire from the hydrant. To make the suction side connection to the pump of your apparatus, extra hose will have to be removed from the hosebed. If you stand on the tailboard and pull hose until you reach the desired coupling, you’ll wind up with a big pile of hose in the street.
If the hose isn’t laid out before charging with water, it can be pushed under the truck—often against the apparatus tires—forming a severe hose kink that is difficult to correct and could affect the fire attack.
If the last coupling is less than 50 feet from the tailboard, you must decide whether to pull an additional section or break the hose and add a short section if your department carries short sections in an apparatus compartment.
Each method has its drawbacks. If you pull the extra section you may have more hose in the street than you need. But using the short section requires you to add steps in the hookup process by making and breaking more connections.
Strive for Ss
The greatest advantage to deploying straight off the back and clearing the hosebed: When charged, the hose should make nice sweeping S curves that tend not to kink or pile up at the rear step.
Take some time to work with your attack and supply line from the rear hosebed. Most departments use these less due to dependence on pre-connected crosslays.
Captain Homer Robertson has been involved in the fire service since 1978, starting as a volunteer with the Granbury (Texas) Fire Department, of which he is a life member. He has served the Fort Worth Fire Department since 1985 and is currently in charge of the fire equipment division, which includes the apparatus fleet.
Add a Comment
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Comment by S. Trotter on May 18, 2009 at 11:02am
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Great reminder to everyone, thanks. Personally, I think that Stortz locks on opposite sides feel easier for my hands to unlock and disconnect. However, lining them up the way your article suggests is an extra important point for avoiding damage to a lock as the coupling hits the ground while being laid out. When connecting Stortz couplings to the rig, I choose to oppose the locks. I teach recruits and probies to keep this trick in mind while loading hose onto the apparatus so that it deploys successfully. Theres more to loading hose onto apparatus than meets the eye sometimes: Another trick is to make sure the couplings don't "Flip" over as they deploy out. This trick avoids having a coupling being inadvertantly "wedged" between the remaining hose and the hose bed cover while being laid out. I suppose everybody's got they're 2 cents...
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Comment by Justin Marsh on May 14, 2009 at 8:40pm
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Mattydale:
A volunteer fire department, located north of Syracuse, NY, credited with the invention of the Mattydale Lay. The Mattydale Lay is often simply referred to as a "Mattydale" or (now) a "Cross Lay". The engine on which the Mattydale was invented and installed is currently on display at the FASNY museum
Mattydale Lay (Mattydale Load)-
The concept of storing preconnected Attack Lines on an engine, as well as storing them such that they are presented at the sides of the apparatus instead of the rear. Commonly called a Cross Lay, the technique allows for rapid deployment of attack lines from either side of the apparatus
This is all off of mattydale fire deptartments site. http://www.mattydalefire.com/glossary.html?cat=M
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Comment by kenneth rust on May 11, 2009 at 8:29am
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What about speed lays i think that are very effictive what is everyones prefrince
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Comment by Jeff on May 10, 2009 at 7:22pm
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Hey Ben, could you upload a couple of pics of that load? You can email them to me to jculbreth@bedfordparkfd.org thanks.
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Comment by Chris Sterling on May 10, 2009 at 8:27am
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We actually just did this type of drill on drill night. Showing our young, and junior firefighters how to lay LDH, and make the connections. They enjoyed the training, and learned how we relay pump from another engine as well.
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Comment by Kelly Saunders on May 9, 2009 at 9:59pm
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Very good article & follow up tips. We load our crosslays with the loops mid-way & load the rear with our larger lines. We also have a pre-connected 65mm line on the rear for those fires where we need big water fast. It is a great idea to continue to train on deploying all our hose loads even though it sure isn't much fun re-loading the hi-vol supply line, but practice does make perfect.
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Comment by Ben Waller on May 9, 2009 at 9:01pm
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We load our rear-deployable 2.5 inch lines in triple stack lays. A pull 1/3 the length of the preconnect clears the entire line from the hose bed and avoids the spaghetti pile at the rear step.
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Comment by Joe VanDerwerker on May 9, 2009 at 6:23pm
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Good article, you can always learn something. One thing I have always preached on is when a crosslay is ordered for a leadoff line, strip it off the apparatus, (we load with loops midway), your arm through the loops and walk away from the fire building, dropping it as you go to about the halfway point of the length of the load, then walk back with the knob, playing the rest out as you go. this eliminates the spagetti syndrome. Another point is we try to position the first in pumper past the fire building to leave room open in front for the Truck Co. We have had a lot of success with our mutual aid companies in working with us on this.
Stay Safe! PCJV
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Comment by Padre Pete on May 9, 2009 at 5:56pm
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GREAT INFO. Protocol here requires first in engine to pass the structure to facilitate a three sided size-up on arrival. That puts it in good poistion for stretching the 2" rear handlines. All are preconnected.
MATTYDALE: For much of the past sixty years crosslays have been referred to here as "Mattydales". Ted is right on. Local legend has it that our late chief George V, Blackstone (One of first 3 people hired when the old NYS Div. of Fire Prevention and Control was created) was very impressed with the arrangement he saw in Mattydale and incorporated a built in crosslay compartment into the design of an engine built here in Jamestown by JNK Machine Co. on an Auto Car chasis. Well reputed historian claims that was the first one actualy built-into the design of the truck. That would have been about 1954. It was the front line engine when I joined in 1961. It also had a phone reciever mounted on the wall in front of the tailboard hardwired to the cab. Photo avilable. If anyone can find earlier ones, we need to know. Thanks.
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thanks for the article i just became chief of a small department that was using 21/2 for supply !we just put 31/2 on for supply an odd size but it was free
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