After reading some blogs and posting in some of them I decided I wanted to start a discussion on hose lines that you might be using and why you use them instead of your cross lays.  Our Chauffeur (Nick Hintz of the Elkhart Fire Dept. also works for the Brotherhood Instructors) on our rig brought back to us an idea after seeing a lay that Chicago uses, we talked about it because I have seen it before in Chicago to but did not think about mentioning it,  so we modified it to fit our rig.  But how we have the line is it consists of 400 ft. of 2 ½ “ hose, dead loaded (not connected to the discharge) with a 2 ½” nozzle that has a blunt tip (tip on the nozzle is a 1 ¼”)  and connected to the tip of the nozzle is 100 ft of 1 ¾” hose with a Elkhart Brass Chief nozzle that breaks off to a smoothbore which is used for our primary attack.  The 1 ¾” hose is reverse horse shoed.  The nozzle for the 2 1/2 is packaged in with the 1 ¾ line.  The reason for that is when the hose line is deployed off the back of the rig then you are not dragging the nozzles.  Now when deploying the hose line the chauffeur will come to the back of the rig to help deploy the line so they know how much hose is off the engine, and then they will know the pressure they need to be pumping at.  When we go to a residential fire and pull that line we automatically pull off 150’ of 2 ½ hose line so in total you have 250’ of hose line, now when deployed say you need to blitz attack before you go in all you have to do is spin off the 1 ¾ line spray your 2 ½ and when done shut your nozzle reattach the 1 ¾ and go right on in and finish putting out the fire or do mop up.   I have been using this line for a little while now and it is my first choice to pull.  This line is also good for if you have to go down an alley, instead of sending your engine down a tight alley it can be deployed, or if you are in a rural area and the house is off the road a little way, another good reason is your engine can pull a little farther past the house so you truck company can have plenty of space to get where they need to be to start their operations.  Another reason as stated you can pull this lay off the rig do a blitz attack and then reattach the 1 ¾ and go in, using this line saves valuable time when you are having to start off with a 2 ½ and then knock the fire down enough you can safely use an 1 ¾.  Now you might ask about the 2 ½ nozzle and how you plan on keeping it open when you have the 1 ¾ hose attached and in service.  Yes it is easy for that 2 ½ to be closed on accident, but there is a quick fix!  All you need is a little webbing, have the bail open and tie the webbing to the bail and then use a clove hitch and it will keep your nozzle open.  You can keep the webbing attached to the bail before hand but you need to make sure that you can get it off fast if you are going to go inside a structure with the 2 ½.   One point I forgot to mention earlier is we use velcro straps to keep the 1 ¾ packaged together so when you take it off the rig it stays together and when you need to deploy the 1 ¾ it is easy to take off and go.  Also another plus we have found so far is that when we pitoted the line when we had 150’ of 2 ½ and took reading and also taking a reading when we added the 1 ¾ both where pumped at 115 and it gave both lines the correct pressures they need to be at. 
What do you have that you can share? 
Do you have something similar to this? 
What are your thoughts?