So we had a very in depth discussion about this at a drill last night.
When is the best time to charge the line?
Some people say charge it at the front door, some say outside the door to the fire room, still others say once the pump operator can't see the hose team, they should charge the line.
Well, I guess it is all in how your department operates, and the size of your department. Having been on both sides of the fence, I find the smaller departments fires are usually self vented because they had a longer burn time, not always, but a good majority of the time; whereas larger departments getting on scene sooner tend to have less self vented fires. Now in both departments there is an outside team, ladders/vent team, and an inside team rescue/search/vent/utilities/salvage. and all the truckers I know still have all their facial features! :]
There's a great book out there right now on tactics by Paul Grimwood called Euro Firefighter. Money goes to charity.
Lots of truckie stuff.
Highly recommended.
TCSS.
Art
I say charge it as soon as you are close enough to the fire to actually do some good with it. I dont want to hump a charged line 2 flights of stairs to begin my attack but dont want to be inside main floor fully involved with no water either. Like damnthing said when needed is best bet.
Simply charge the line before going into the fire building. We teach our firefighters to test the line before going into the building. Setting the pattern, ect.
Some Departments dont have enough radios. On of my former Dept's only officers had them. and another was first come first serve but every "Team" had at least a radio
Whenever the nozzleman wants it. The situation will dictate when he would want water. For some of you rural guys, it SUCKS to hump a charged line up 2 or 3 flights of stairs and then start working. But like I said the situation will dictate when water is needed
we charge before the door before entry and when the feeder is hooked to the truck our nearest back up is half a hour away and normal crew is 4 to 5 so we take no shortcuts if we are going into a structure keeping in mind where we are there is only a couple of 2 level houses all the rest are single level
Alright.....just a thought. So you are one that goes in to a structure with an uncharged line, because fire is on the next floor or attic. What now if the cieling falls and brings the fire with it? Who's to say that the fire didn't go up to the second floor or attic through the walls and also spread into the cieling above you. Seen this happen first hand. I say, and this is just my belief, charged line at the structure before entry. In fire school they make you hump charged lines up multiple stairways. Am I wrong?