Dirty fire gear does not make you a hardcore Jake

     Want to know something that really grinds my gears.... Dirty fire gear. A couple months ago my department had three guys finish the fire acadmy recruit program. The last two weeks of the program involves live burns so your bunker gear gets filthy by the end of it. Evolution after evolution of humping hose through the sludge of water, soot, and straw that builds up on the floors. After these guys started doing their ride along time after they graduated I had to constantly tell them to wash thier gear. They didn't understand why I kept saying it. They thought I was just being a obsessive compulsive or something like that. Finally one day one of them asked be what my problem with dirty gear was so I told him.

     One of the main reasons to keep you're fire gear clean is carcinogens. We all know that firefighters have a high risk of occupational cancer. When a house burns these days its not just the wood and other natural fibers burning like 50 years ago. Everything these days is made of plastic and that stuff is terrible for you. The  amount of hazordus chemicals off gassed during a building fire is ridiculous. Of we could also be fighting a fire in an old building that has asbestos in it. All that bad stuff will stick to or absorb into your fire gear and stay there unless you wash it. And if you don't wash it, you wear your gear and the bad stuff can get into your cloths and you can take those carcinogens home to your family.

     Another reason to always keep your gear clean is for public apperance. You go to a fire and get covered in soot and then your gear looks cool, right? If you then wear your gear on a rescue call to someones house or go into someones house for a fire call you risk getting dirt and grim all over other peoples stuff. Nothing will piss off a tax payer more then ruining their nice white carpets and that tax payer will remember that at the next town meeting when your dept needs more money.

Please just take the time to wash your gear atleast ever six months. I wash mine every six months at a minimum or I wash it whenever I have been on a call that makes me think it needs cleaning.

How do you pre-plan?

First run of the day at 0800 hrs was a fire alarm at a new construction at a resort and golf club in town. We responded and found it to be a false alarm. The alarm company was on location and wad working on the alarm system but failed to notify the monitoring company. While on location though the captain decided while we were there to do a walk through since it was a new building. The building used to be a restaurant but they tore it down except for one wall and was rebuilt as a fitness center. This was a nice building. One story wood frame about 100 by 75 with a full walk out basement. It had locker rooms, two large work out rooms and a lounge with a full bar on the first floor. The basement was unfinished and will be used for storage, maybe finished off for use in the future I remember being told during the plan review. There were no exposures and a pool as a hazard on the C side.

When your department pre-plans or does a walk through what are you checking for? Here are some good things to look for.

• Apparatus placement - Where would be good locations for you first in apparatus
• Fire Department Connections - Location, type of connections, size hose needed, and are there more then one.
• Nearest hydrants - Don't look for just the closest one. Look for others so that you have more then one water supply. also what type of water supply is behind that hydrant.(water main size, static pressure, and is it a dead end main or looped system)
• All entrances and exits -  know you ingress and most importantly your egress
• General lay out of all the rooms 
• Areas of the building that are sprinklered
• Stairways
• Exposures
• Hazards
• Electrical panels
• Fire Alarm Panels
• Sprinkler Control Valves
• Standpipe Connections
• Utilities

 How often is your department doing any sort of pre-planing. Even just going out during the shift for a walk through is good way to do your daily training. Its a good low effort but yet very informative thing to do and on a plus it still leaves you available to respond to calls. The best way to prepare for fires is to know your enemy.

Welcome to my blog

Thanks for any one out there for taking the time to read this. I wanted to start a blog for a while to help spread some training, words of wisdom and maybe some other stuff all in the name of the fire service. While I know that I don’t know everything, I want to help spread what I do to others to help make the job a little bit safer for all firefighters out there.

I am just a young gun(24 years old) trying to make firefighting a full time gig. I have been a on-call firefighter for 8 1/2 years in a small town in the middle of Cape Cod. The town I work for runs about 2600 calls a year or so and 80% of those calls are medical calls. My department runs 3 ambulances, 3 engines, a ladder, a heavy rescue, 2 boats, and 2 forestry units. The department falls under Barnstable County Fire Alarm which covers 19 fire departments, 1 Military base and 1 DCR fire station and the Cape Cod National Seashore fire dept.

In my 8 years in service I have been lucky enough to do quite a bit. I started at 16 years old as a junior firefighter. As a junior firefighter I could go into burning buildings of anything but I was able to go to all kinds of calls and help to small stuff like setting up lighting or playing go-for for tools. But I was also able to be involved in all of the training that my department did and I soaked that knowledge up like a sponge. Once I turned 18 I was able to go to Barnstable County Fire Academy to get my Firefighter I/II certificate and then my EMT-B from Cape Cod Community College. Since then I have never stopped training and learning. I firmly believe in the quote “Where training stops, chaos reigns.” I have attended many classes receiving many certifications such as Flash-over, Thermal Imagery, Confined Space Technician, Fire Instructor 1 and many many more. In 2010 I also earned an Associates Degree in Fire Science from Cape Cod Community College.

The whole reason I got involved in the fire department is cause it the closest thing I have to a family business. My dad has been on the job for 41 years. He actually just retired with 36 years as a full-time Captain/Paramedic/Fire Inspector. But even in retirement he is staying on as a call firefighter/EMT-B. And my mother has been a member of the ambulance squad for 38 years. My uncle just retired as well from the next town over as a full-time Captain/Fire Inspector. At one point in time there were 8 members of my family all working for the same department. From a young age I fell in love with the job and haven’t looked back since.

For those of you that don't know where I live, Cape Cod is a man made island on the eastern most part of Massachusetts. It looks a like an arm being flexed out into the ocean. Its a beautiful tourist destination. Many of the 14 towns on Cape Cod triple in population over the summer months. Most of the towns are pretty rural with only the Village of Hyannis being some what close to the real city with 20,000 people jammed into 4 square miles.. 

So I hope you guys and gals enjoy what I put up here!!