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 Welcome to the SA firefighting thread. Anyone currently a firefighter or looking to become one, feel free to post here! (One of my FD's jobs, around 2000...yes I know it's the 6th Google image search result for "firefighter", but I swear it's my FD) I'm Kashew from a FD just north of Albany. I've got a whole host of training from suppression to extrication to low angle ropes. I let my EMT lapse cause my FD runs like a total of three(3) EMS calls a year compared to 800-ish fire calls. SA FirefightersKashew Senor Punk Crazy Dutchman Marx JaeKwang Ferremit kicktd Kashew fucked around with this message at 06:21 on Aug 28, 2011 |
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Feb 12, 2010 18:58
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senor punk posted:I feel like I should be anal about this and say that I was a firefighter (same place as Kashew, for 4 years), and still have hopes of becoming one again (at my current department), but I am not one at the moment. Whatever. I mean, we could discuss what gear is the best to what crazy calls people have seen(keeping HIPAA in mind, that is) to complaining about whatever. senor punk posted:If the EMS megathread has taught us anything it's that.... This is the *official* forum for uniformed services now...so the EMS thread ought to be in here. Anyways, I think my Globe G-Extreme gear has the most comfortable gear that also very protective.
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Feb 12, 2010 21:30
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grover posted:That's interesting! I had to go google it, but don't understand the results. I'd say that increasingly lighter construction in the name of driving costs down is also hurting the firefighting profession. Houses are made so flimsy these days that after about 15 minutes of free burning fire the roof is compromised to the point where you can't even enter to suppress.
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Feb 15, 2010 17:25
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Elendil004 posted:In the Coast Guard, we all get similar firefighting training and I actually fought two fires (a small electrical fire and was involved in a stack/engine room/mainspace fire) and it was exhilarating. That adrenaline rush can be addicting.
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Feb 15, 2010 18:31
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But I like lightweight trusses held together by p-o-s gusset plates!
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Feb 15, 2010 18:43
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Crazy Dutchman posted:Some of them are not even held together by gusset plates, but by glue. And in Russia, truss holds glue together.
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Feb 15, 2010 18:59
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At least it's platform construction and not balloon frame.
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Feb 15, 2010 19:15
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Marx posted:edit: kash why ain't I on the list? Fixed. Speaking of things that give off fun by-products, how about freon into phosgene?
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Feb 15, 2010 20:39
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senor punk posted:At least 90/10, most likely higher. With us its about 99/1.
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Mar 1, 2010 00:33
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senor punk posted:When your coverage area is one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the region, combined with a lot of commercial real estate what do you expect? Well with the college, I expected at least a few more real calls related to students. Whatever happened to the weekly drunk driving accidents? It's like crumpled car doors always open, fires put themselves out, water leaks into every smoke detector, and half the town needs to service it's heaters more often. I mean I like living in a safe area, but it's going to hurt the fire service if all the new people in the fire service have dumpster and car fires making up the bulk of their fire experience.
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Mar 1, 2010 08:24
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senor punk posted:Seriously man I understand the gripe, but it comes off as just wrong to me to bitch about there not being enough human tragedy in your response area. Not to mention you're basically stating one of the major issues facing Firefighting as a whole; improved fire prevention is killing fire suppression. It's not so much a gripe as a concern about the lack of experience becoming a safety issue as fewer and fewer firefighters actually have experience putting fire out.
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Mar 1, 2010 11:30
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It's quiet...too quiet.
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May 5, 2010 18:14
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The Sheriff Jake posted:The trucks the air force use to inject foam into a burning plane are so loving bad rear end looking. Are they standard ARFF trucks? If not, the regular ones look badass too.
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May 6, 2010 04:22
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The Sheriff Jake posted:gently caress yeah dude. That's how a god drat American fire fighting truck should look. We like to get Albany International Airport FD involved in our yearly open house. They always bring one of those crash trucks equipped with a piercing nozzle boom. They're the bee's knees.
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May 6, 2010 06:25
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If you can get some volunteer experience and training under your belt, that could help you land a job via experience and/or connections you make in that VFD. Even if you don't land a career gig from that, you can use it to land a contract job. Those can be real nice. $12 an hour to do nothing on a paradise island in the south Pacific. $100k a year tax free for contract work in Afghanistan(it's actually pretty safe). $40k for a year down in Antarctica.
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Jun 21, 2010 08:49
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the amber trap posted:I tried to join my local volunteer (I liked firefighting on my boat) but because of my lovely knee and back, they said they couldn't take me. Stupid Navy ruined everything. drat. How bad are your knee and back? Volunteer companies take anyone that can pass a physical usually.
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Oct 20, 2010 22:56
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senor punk posted:You're living proof of this! Har har har. I'm not *that* out of shape.
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Oct 20, 2010 23:17
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invision posted:I went to my first local VFD meeting tonight. Fact.
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Nov 2, 2010 19:06
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Crazy Dutchman posted:That is pretty much how it goes. Usually, the crazier the dispatch sounds, the bigger the BS when you actually get there. Couldn't tell you how many times we get to a call dispatched sounding like the Apocalypse and when we get there someone has a stubbed toe. Last shift we got dispatched to a 3 y/o 'CPR in progress' and when we got there we found a 3 y/o with a fever. I'm not sure about that. Usually when the dispatcher says something like "fire coming out of the windows", the fire is coming out of the windows. Although, "fully involved" can mean either there's visible free burning of any sort or the whole thing is up.
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Nov 9, 2010 22:40
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We're not allowed to do acquired structure burns since this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dSpoUUFBBM That happened and everyone around here shat bricks.
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Dec 6, 2010 06:05
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invision posted:
They used Class B fuel sources...meaning they dumped diesel in every room of the house and let it sit for a few hours before throwing the flare at it. It's like the example of what not to do in the state fire class that you take if you oversee live fire drills.
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Dec 6, 2010 06:59
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invision posted:
Fringe benefits are the greatest.
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Dec 7, 2010 20:16
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"You're a firefighter?"
"yeah, but"
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invision posted:We need more people in this thread damnit. I wanna talk about how awesome all of us are. I hated those. I always got caught up on the drat buddy-breathing connection doing half the stuff.
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Dec 8, 2010 00:45
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senor punk posted:This thread makes me miss my jolly volly days. So much hope. Now 4 years since I stopped being active in that stuff I'm just another cynical rear end in a top hat doing EMS because that's where the jobs are. Maybe someday FDNY Fire will hire people again Just don't come back. It's terrible.
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Dec 8, 2010 00:54
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Cage Kicker posted:Oh yeah, and guess who put out his first truck fire today? Man it looked like there was magnesium burning in there somewhere too and having fire three feet from your face is like the ultimate drug. Adrenaline is a hell of a drug.
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Dec 8, 2010 17:50
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Crazy Dutchman posted:Rookies are so cute I know right! I remember when I first got in and everything was *THE poo poo*. Fire alarm? HELL YEA! Water in the basement? I'M ON IT!
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Dec 8, 2010 19:04
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Awesome. Now I have a dance to go with my firefighting rap album.
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Dec 10, 2010 21:37
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invision posted:I'll have you know, sir, that I recorded the smash hit single "Fire Truck (go woo)" over a year ago. My first hit is going to be "Make it rain(on them flames)".
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Dec 11, 2010 02:38
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Marx posted:Actually it's probably going to go the opposite. Budgets are tight across the country and many municipalities are forcing their folks to do more for the same or less. In the forseeable future it will likely be more of the same. Medic/FF cops advancing bullet-proof-pepper-spray-laced-water hoselines into robbery-in-progress-while-on-fire-and-a-premmie-birth-in-the-lobby banks.
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Dec 23, 2010 02:44
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Wait til you get a call for a structure fire and it turns out someone saw their neighbor's dryer vent pouring out steam in the winter.
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Dec 23, 2010 20:46
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Posts Only Secrets posted:Rest assured, if someones called 911 over something stupid, I've seen it. Have you been dispatched for "an odor of carbon monoxide" yet?
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Dec 23, 2010 23:55
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I mean, you can wish for a fire alarm without feeling bad, but who wants one of those?
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Dec 25, 2010 06:31
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invision posted:Our dispatchers are... not good? Our dispatchers get I87 and I787 mixed up all the time. It's horrible.
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Jan 24, 2011 23:26
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senor punk posted:if I remember right was given the address of JFK Expressway/JFK Expressway. WTF! That's ridiculous. But you know, fixing that would take like an extra 2 hours of programming work, dude. TWO WHOLE HOURS!
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Jan 25, 2011 00:12
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The most fun I ever had was in a basement filled with 2 inches of heating fuel. We dumped so much loving kitty litter down there. We basically filled the basement with 3 inches of it.
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Jan 25, 2011 07:41
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senor punk posted:I stopped by the firehouse last night to catch up with some people and I noticed your stats for last year were non-existent. Are you all burned out? Completely. I'd still love to do firefighting, but not there.
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Jan 25, 2011 18:21
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invision posted:Also, pay for my gas thanks. Yearly retention checks ftw. Even if they are just like $300.
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Jan 27, 2011 00:59
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invision posted:Must be nice. Ahhh, you're in bumfuck where you drive to the scene if you don't make the rig? Alright. I see how that sucks. And yes, retention checks are nice. It works out to about a dollar for every call, drill, and work detail. I guess we justify it by putting a yearly value on our services by calculating total man hours provided at something like $10 or 15 an hour? We're handing out a few thousand in retention checks instead of a few million in pay checks. Kashew fucked around with this message at 01:20 on Jan 27, 2011 |
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Jan 27, 2011 01:17
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invision posted:It's just kinda frustrating. The problem (for me at least) would be solved if we had money for radios, that way I could just be like "hey, I'm 10 seconds away from the station, lemme catch a ride." I hate being a little bit too slow and having to follow right behind the truck to a call 20+ miles away, just to show up and have em go "oh, fires out, lets go home" Y'all need iamresponding.
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Jan 27, 2011 01:57
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senor punk posted:I saw that when I stopped by the firehouse the other day. Interesting concept, and not surprising in the least that they bought into it, since that department has to work to find ways to spend all the loving money that they get each year. FD #11 got it first and it really helps fill out engines when antsy drivers(read: all drivers) want to leave right when there's 2 other people on board. The only reason the old timers bought into it was that we had a 6 month trial that they got to see in action before we had to actually bring it to the membership. It's had a very real positive effect on responses and no one can really argue with paying the pittance of a subscription fee. Kashew fucked around with this message at 06:48 on Jan 27, 2011 |
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Jan 27, 2011 03:41
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