Cold weather firefighting tips

Does anyone have any tips or war stories about structure fires in sub-zero weather?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Robert Vazquez on December 10, 2010 at 1:40am

Always take the extra time to make sure that you are ready for the weather, you do no one any good if you can't perform because of the conditions. What we do is have our cold weather gear ready to go so when the call goes out you are ready. Example: thermal pair of long johns & thermal long sleeve shirt winter hat good winter socks and I even carry packs of those hand warmers in my bunker pants so I can have extra on hand if someone needs them. Also those blaze ff gloves are great to have.

Permalink Reply by Pararescue on December 10, 2010 at 3:02am

One thing I learned when I started was IF your fire dept allows you to buy your own gloves, get a good pair of gloves like the Pro Tech 8. It will cost you but two sets of gloves, and good ones at that, you cant beat.

Permalink Reply by masonfire30 on December 10, 2010 at 7:45am

when it gets real cold here we also keep our fill valves open after we drop our water(in our tankers) to keep them from freezing shut.

Permalink Reply by Wade Seely on December 10, 2010 at 9:46am

If you get these in a large size they will fit over your boots and help provide traction.

Permalink Reply by Alan McGuigan on December 10, 2010 at 10:43am

Winter firefighting what a Joy, where to start?
• Extra socks gloves, and gear
• Get some “hotshots” for your boots and gloves
• Don’t forget to install the heat shield on your pump
• Turn you pump heater on
• Never completely shut down any hand line or appliance once you have started to run water through it Keep the water moving continually check your lines to make sure they aren’t freezing up if they do open them up full to flush out any ice that might be starting to form.
• Keep some salt on all your trucks
• Slow down adjust your speed to the conditions of the road and expect thing to change watch for black ice on bridges and roads with wind blowing across open fields
• Keep an eye on each other watch out for frost bit a firefighter may not feel it but if you see white spots on someone’s face they may be getting frost bit and they may not even know it
• Gives guys a break to get out of the cold rotate your crew and keep an eye on everyone
• Make sure to drain your trucks after the call
• Make sure to dry off your SCBA completely after you have cleaned it up you don’t want it to freeze up if you get another call This applies to any or your equipment you don’t want freeze

Permalink Reply by Reg Mathis on December 10, 2010 at 11:54am

Here's one tip that works really well to keep your feet warm during the coldest days/nights. Before you put on your socks, give your feet a good coating of vasoline. It'll help keep your feet nice and toasty!!

TCSS

Reg

Permalink Reply by Lee "Jinx" Hoe on December 10, 2010 at 3:57pm

Personal experienxe- I always tell my teams to put their gloves under the exhaust pipe of our Mack Pumper when you drop for rehab. We always have an ambulance for our members to rehab in, so your gloves thaw, dry, and get warm while you do the same in the band-aid buggy.

Another thing I've learned is to REHAB OFTEN, at least every two interior attacks (or bottle swaps). My Dept. is very aggressive with interior attack, and we make our teams rehab frequently. It's a bummer to watch everyone else do things, but at least you can go back in refreshed instead of dead on your feet.

Permalink Reply by Jeff Reinesch on December 10, 2010 at 5:26pm

the Super Glove is the best! They're water proof and work very well in the cold weather, we were sold on them when a neighboring dept. had a fire and a guy dipped their hand in the drop tank and had no problems. The temp at the time was -5 degrees actual, -20 with windchill.

Permalink Reply by Wade Seely on December 10, 2010 at 6:16pm

Reg

What you do with vasoline and socks is your own business.

TCSS

Permalink Reply by ian wilcox on April 17, 2011 at 12:56am

seem to me most of our structure fires happen when it is cold out,my first fire it was -22 celsius everthing turned to ice,i was on the backside of the fire when my turn for rehab came and i was relieved i was covered in about a inch of ice that was wierd,you always have to leave the hoses running a little so they don't freeze up,piling them on the truck when the fire is done and heading to the hall to unthaw them so we can put them away on the truck again

Permalink Reply by Travis Skinner on April 27, 2011 at 9:21am