Ok, I know I am a Truckie but I also have to run on the engine since I live close to the station. I am just wondering what everyone else uses as their primary lead out on a dumpster or car fire. On the engine in my station we added a 100' section of hose in an accordian lay to the side of the bed where we normally would walk while rebedding the LDH. The intention was it was a quick line to pull on trash fires that we didn't have to break and connect or flake 100' more hose than we needed or have to remove the back bench seat to rebed the cross lays. Over the last 10 years the line has grown to be 200' and has become the primary attack line on almost evry thing the engine goes to. If it is a big fire or a long stretch we grab the "Skid". Which is 400' of 2 1/2" and 150' of 1 3/4" connected at a gated wye. The second engine grabs the other 150' section of hose and connects it to use as a back up line to the first team. Just interested to hear what you use as you primary attack lines.
Dumpster and Car fires we have 100' 1 3/4 on the front bumper with a navy nozzle. Structural attacks we have 2 200' mattidales, and 2 150' preconnects off the rear. There is also 1000' 2 1/2 static load.
We have 150 feet of 1 3/4 with a smooth bore nozzle that we utilize for car fires,dumpster fires, and small single family dwellings. Its packed in a basket type load and easily broken at the 50,and 100 foot lengths if the full 150 is not needed.
Permalink Reply by Doug on February 17, 2009 at 12:10am
For small dumpster fires, rubbish fires and small grass fires we have slide out trays on both sides of the apparatus, located underneath the pump panel, that contain 150 ft. of 1 1/2 rubber hose with adjustable nozzles, done in an accordian lay. For larger dumpster fires or a motor vehicle fire we pull any one of three 200 ft. 1 3/4 preconnect crosslays/mattydales of combat hose with an adjustable nozzle. We also have a 150 ft section of 2 1/2 preconnect crosslay/mattydale located next to the three 1 3/4 lines. And finally, we have a 300ft section(I think) of 2 1/2 static line that comes off the rear, stacked tips, and it is just a regular flat load. We actually had a dumpster fire large enough one time where we had to lay in a supply line and initially attack it with our deck gun and the 2 1/2 preconnect.
I know this is controversial but many times, we simply use the red line to extinguish the fire as an intial tool. This is because it is deployed and stowed very quickly, which means I have a better chance of getting off the highway as soon as possible. You know right off the bat whether or not you can handle the incident with the red line.
For those incidents where more volume and pressure is required, we carry what we call a freeway line on the right side of the engine (pictured above), where it is safe to unhook it and deploy it to the front or rear of the engine. Another key point here is that we only have 500 gallons like everyone else but we are rural and finding a water supply is always going to be time consuming. Another good thing about getting the red line deployed is to provide a light-weight line to handle any adjacent brush along the highway that gets involved (as seen in the above photo). With the addition of automatic foam, with high percentages to produce a nice thick foam blanket, we can get away with using the redline on most incidents.
We primarily use our 2 200' 1-3/4 crosslays for most firefighting. We do have a 100' jump line laid in the front bumper that we use for protection during extrications. It is also 1-3/4. We are a rural dept. so to use a 2-1/2 would require lots and lots of tankers. We don't rule it out but we don't use it much. Mainly on barn fires.
We pull a 100' ,1 3/4" trash line on the front bumper of our 3000 gal pumper / tanker. Our main attack lines are 2 150' , 1 3/4, cross lays w/ adjustable nozzels. We're a rual dept so water supply is always a problem, and we have to hit hard and fast to get a handle on any fire.