truck_tactics

🚨 LOW FREQUENCY, HIGH RISK: Is your department ready? 🚨

​Lately, we’ve seen an increase in industrial incidents spanning the country—from California to Maine, Texas, and beyond
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Fire departments everywhere are being called to operate at complex incidents that don't happen every day, but carry significant risk

​🚒 It's an uncomfortable feeling rolling up to a major emergency at a facility you know nothing about.

​When you combine a low-frequency, high-risk event with:

❎A total lack of familiarity with the complex
❎​Unknown/unpredictable industrial hazards
❎​No prior relationship with the facility’s subject matter experts

​...you get a recipe for extreme danger 💥

​👉 Don't wait for the tones to drop. Use these recent national incidents as a wake-up call to reach out to your local commercial and industrial partners today.

​What you can do right now:
🚒 ​Get out there: Conduct proactive pre-fire planning
🤝​ Make introductions: Build relationships with facility managers and safety directors before the worst happens
​Know who your subject matter experts are and how to contact them in a crisis

👍 This will also increase their comfort and confidence in the agencies that respond into their facility

​Knowing the layout, the hazards, and the people on the inside can help to increase your operational safety and allow your company or department to develop baseline pre-plans

Very generous opportunity from the Columbus FD to download their truck positioning guide

The Art of Positioning

https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:VA6C2:d2b8ed3e-bd36-4466-a4f4-936702d4223c

This manual tackles positioning challenges for CFD drivers on mid-mount platforms and TDAs. However, all can benefit. We ask that you please cite CFD if referring any of the material in this publication. Enjoy.

Set it up!
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Following up with our last post about getting out and positioning your apparatus

Sometimes we would like to recreate a particular problem. Maybe this was something we encountered at the last fire or alarm, or maybe it's a problem that we frequently encounter

Oddly enough, sometimes it's hard to find that particular problem when you're looking for it

💥 So make your own problems

🚨 Here we positioned the Chiefs buggy to recreate a congested parking problem on the wires side of the street, positioning to gain access to the A & B sides and roof of this multiple dwelling

Utilizing other fire department vehicles allows us to quickly create a more focused and controlled environment for training. This allows us to replicate specific situations that we are trying to expose our operators to. This works particularly well when setting up problems for newer drivers or even for driver check offs

It also allows us to not have to worry about a nervous 🤔 public 🚗 when 🚙 we 🛻 are positioning 🚕 near 🚜 their 🏎️ vehicle. Sometimes it's just easier to avoid a problem then having to explain to a concerned citizen why we are doing whatever they don't understand around their vehicle

🔥 As always - get out into your district and get those spots. Positioning on real buildings with real obstacles greatly increases your operators comfort and capabilities

Snohomish County, Washington

Purposeful practice
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When possible is it important to try and maximize your training opportunities. It takes very little time to get out into your community, position your aerial, deploy the outriggers and swing your aerial into play
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The value of positioning on real structures and not training towers can not be argued

1️⃣ - This gets you out of a comfort zone of "just going down to the training center" and positioning into an open and level lot, playing fantasy fire department
2️⃣ - When you are out of the station and in your community training, you are visible to the public, and hopefully acting accordingly. You should gain focus - your observations, conversations and actions should be purposeful and deliberate. Your goal should be of gaining position and meeting the operational needs of your organization based on the obstacles and objectives
3️⃣ - Be deliberate on your approach, sizing up the structure, hazards and obstacles and identifying a progression of opportunities to position your aerial. Talk this out with your crew to hear what they are seeing and thinking
4️⃣ - Once you pick your spot, send it. Position to ensure you can get your turntable in position and can deploy your outriggers
5️⃣ - If you can, deploy the outriggers and fly the aerial. If you can't, get out and measure the throw of your outriggers and talk about plans for obstacles and alternate locations. Stand with your back to the rig at the turntable and see what you can and can not get from this position. Discuss how this position can be improved if needed
6️⃣ - If you can fly the aerial, see what critical points you can catch on the structure. If you position close in, see if you can swing the aerial in and catch everything on the A Side. Having an understanding of your bedded length is a basic and key skill for any operator

💥💥 A lot can be learned from a ten minute set up out in your district. Get out of the 💺📺, folks!

Harvest, AL

Sets & Reps.

Get your read on.

Printable version of Data Not Drama Quarterly is available. Contact us here, https://data-not-drama.com/contact/

Innovation for the better?

🚒 Some manufacturers have begun to integrate full size ground pads onto their outriggers. This can negate the need to have to throw a separate ground pad in most applications.

Normally we throw separate ground pads under the foot of the outrigger in order to get the exerted pressure per outrigger below the required 100psi per the 2024 version of NFPA 1900. (The previous required pressure was 75psi before 2024).

The higher pressure (100psi) will allow for smaller pads, which is what has allowed manufacturers to consider making their outrigger foot pad full sized and eliminating the need for separate ground pads.

❓ Do you feel that this is a beneficial addition to an apparatus, or can it be problematic for the operator?

Positives?

⏱️ This can make set ups (slightly) quicker, especially with less staffing, by ensuring that the pad is already thrown and placed exactly where the outriggers will land every time.

Negatives?

↪️ Some of these pads are fixed, meaning they can't rotate.

🚒 Why is this important? Sometimes you just need a little rotational adjustment to get the pad in place when engaging obstacles. If the pad is fixed, it can not rotate or be placed offset to adjust to obstacles

Will this limit your ability to position your apparatus?

What are your thoughts?

Comment below 👇