You've arrived at a structure....and....

[Toast]

Ok, so, you've arrived at a structure for some reason. Be it an alarm, smell of smoke, kitchen fire or multiple calls, going well. I'm interested to know what you do in terms of BA operations. I know what everyone else on the appliance does. So you get two operaters donned from the get go. What do they take with them? Do you have a highrise pack (with 38mm hose/branch etc) that you grab? Do you take the Halligan tool? Axe? Sledge? Pike pole? Nothing?

I'm curious as to what other brigades around the place do.

[Camo]

38mm hose and akron nozzle.....our brigade doesn own a haligoon tool.

Although we do have an axe but by the time we get to house fires there is generally no need for them as they are free venting and falling down 

[medevac]

havent had to worry about it yet really... but.

we (or at least i) usually plan to don and start up, someone else on the truck (non BA) to take a HP to the door and give us a bit snaked out the front, and grab breaking tools (halligan and sledge/axe).

thats the plan, no point in getting to the door (especially if its a fair distance from the appliance) and not being able to force it if required.

[TillerMan]

We now take a high rise pack into all structures with internal hydrants even for alarms, also schools and things where there is hydrants in the quadrangle or somewhere the truck cant get to because generally its a long way back to the truck if you do find a fire.

I grab a halligan for structures that are going or shed fires etc for getting in or venting.

Other than that i have grabbed a dry chem for a few alarms that management have said there is an electrical burning smell or something.

[CyberCitizen]

Had A Structure Fire On Friday Night.  2x Operators Entered With A 38mm. 2x Operators Followed In Afterwards.  First 2x Operators Conducted A Search Of The Bedrooms For Any Signs Of Fire Or People.  While The Other 2x Operators Held Back At The Main Living Room / Kitchen Putting Out The Fire.  The Fire Had Already Made It Into The Roof And Spread Across The Roof Cavity So Not Much Could Be Done To Stop It, However We Had The Other Operators There To Cover Our Retreat.  Once We Cleared The Bedrooms We Made Our Way Back & Exited The Structure.  About A Minute Later The Roof Came Down In The Living Room / Kitchen.

Keep In Mind That The Appliances Were Fairly Close To The Structure And We Had Plenty Of Crew, If We Needed A Tool We Could Easly Send Someone To The Truck To Get Something.  However As We Were Donning Up We Could See That The Main Door Was Open to The Structure.

[Crankster 34]

Cameron, the Halligan tool is part of the standard stowage kit now, all our brigades were given one a few years ago. Get one, it will make entry into buildings, sheds and vehicles a lot easier.

[Camo]

When we filled in our stowage checklist that was issued by regional i think we made a note that the halligan tool was not present but nothing has come of it...

With a record number of house fires in the last 6 months it may come in handy.

Our AGM is tonight so will bring it up then and see what happens.

[Toast]

The only issue is that the Halligans that are issued are RCR tools (with the cutting claw) and not the best for forcable entry.

[firetruck]

they're alright for popping doors and the like though, i spuppose thats a form of forceable entry?

[Toast]

they're alright for popping doors and the like though, i spuppose thats a form of forceable entry?

Untill you break the tool. Most of the Halligans I've seen in the CFS are not forged, but actually three pieces. These break far easier than a forged tool. There are a few different types of Halligan tools produced. Some great for RCR but not to crash hot for door mashing fun.

[OLd School Firey]

For forcible entry, the New York Fire Department use  - a force axe and a forged Probar. Rescue One test their guys by giving them a door with five locks - a two man team have to force open the door in 30 seconds. These guys are serious and don't like to fail. It is acheivable using team work and a set procedure.

[CyberCitizen]

For forcible entry, the New York Fire Department use  - a force axe and a forged Probar. Rescue One test their guys by giving them a door with five locks - a two man team have to force open the door in 30 seconds. These guys are serious and don't like to fail. It is acheivable using team work and a set procedure.

You Should Check Out Last Men Out, Its About The Rescue 2 Fire House.

Amazon: Last Men Out

[oz fire]

On forcable entry, there were some good articles written in the Volunteer a few years back on it - by Dale Thompson - aka the then Blackwood CFS Captain and MFS SO, with back up from some of his OS experiences!

Worth a read!

[corecutters]

For forcible entry, the New York Fire Department use  - a force axe and a forged Probar. Rescue One test their guys by giving them a door with five locks - a two man team have to force open the door in 30 seconds. These guys are serious and don't like to fail. It is acheivable using team work and a set procedure.

Forged probar, would you be referring to a Halligan Bar?

[Toast]

For forcible entry, the New York Fire Department use  - a force axe and a forged Probar. Rescue One test their guys by giving them a door with five locks - a two man team have to force open the door in 30 seconds. These guys are serious and don't like to fail. It is acheivable using team work and a set procedure.

Forged probar, would you be referring to a Halligan Bar?

Yes indeed he is. A proper Halligan, NOT the bullshit 'cutting claw' style we have.

[SA Firey]

with the stowage that we get issued on a new appliance these days its a wonder why they break...New 34's 2 x 64mm hoses 2 x 38mm  and as for tools a $20.00 axe and $5 bow saw is part of your toolkit one hit and they break