Another guide I found in my archives. I didn't make this one but its pretty damn good. Brandon will touch it up as necessary.So you want to be a firefighter...Good choice! Hopefully this guide will help you to understand what a firefighter should have when in the field, at the station, what your truck will have on it, and what to do when you're responding to a fire or emergency.
Equipment - What you carryOn Your PersonA typical firefighter would use the following attending a normal fire most of the equipment is carried on you at all times apart from the SCBA, the helmets, and the fire axes, be sure to equip yourself with these by using /me's on the way to an emergency:Personal Alert Safety System (PASS)A Personal Alert Safety System (PASS) - This activates when you have been motionless for over 30 seconds, it sends out an alarm to all the other firefighters that you may be in danger.
Firefighters also use two-way radios and pagers to talk to each other.
Protective Clothing and Gear - (1) Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA.) including:
-(1-2) 10 litre compressed air canisters filled
-(1) Respirator/Mask - (1) Hot shield
- (1) Fire helmet
- (1) Nomex Hood
- (1) Pair of goggles
- (1) Pair of fire retardant gloves
- (1) Pair of fire retardant boots
- (1) Fire coat
- (1) Jumpsuit
- (1) Safety vest
- (1) Fire axe
In Your TruckA typical fire truck would have the following stored in it:Pike Pole and Halligan Bar- A pike pole is 6 to 10 feet long and used to probe for weak boards or pull down structures that might fall. Also used to find hot spots during final sweeps that may have been missed.
- A Halligan bar has wedge, claw and crow bar tools firefighters use for creating holes, manipulating material and prying open doors.
Fire Fighting Equipment - (3) Hoses Including:
-(2) Main Hoses measuring 2 2.5"x500' crosslays and 2 3"x1000' discharge lines. These are your main firefighting hoses, and sit in hose bays on top of the truck.
-(1) 1"x50' jumpline in the front of the truck for small things
-(3) Valves to turn each individual hose reel on/off
-(3) Spare nozzles - (3) SCBA Packs attached to seats to be equipped during transport
- (4) Spare 10 liter compressed air canisters filled
- (4) Spare SCBA Packs
- (3) CO2 extinguishers
- (3) Foam Extinguishers
- (5) Ropes of different diameters and lengths
- (2) Fiberglass handle toolkits
- (2) Fire axes
- (2) Shovels
- (2) Hoes - No, not those ones, it's like a shovel/rake at right angles to the handle
- (5) Flashlights
- (4) Ladders
- (5) 1 gallon bags of kitty litter - Use this when oil/gas has spilled on the ground at car crashes.
- (1) Hydraulic Cutters (The Jaws of Life) - Use these in accidents such as car crashes where victims are stuck, these ONLY cut.
- (1) Hydraulic Spreaders (The Jaws of Life) - These ONLY spread/pinch.
[li](5) Medical Bags containing gear to treat wounded people before paramedics arive.
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Duties - What you respond toBeing a fireman has many different duties to it other than just putting out fires, you will be called to events and emergencies as shown below because of your skill, tools, and capabilities:FiresStandard FiresThis means basically normal fires that occur every day, such as house fires or kitchen fires, stuff that you would expect to deal with. All firefighters are trained to handle these emergencies.
Structural Fires This is when buildings that have very flammable substances or are not as structually sound catch fire, all firefighters are trained to deal with fires like these and they are also quite common, just slightly more specialist.
Chemical FiresThese are usually very dangerous, these are when buildings such as large chemical depots or fuel refineries catch fire, usually a very large area needs to be evacuated when these are around as the explosion/fallout radius is large and quite deadly and can range from 1 to about 25 miles.
Forest FiresYou here about them a lot, these are very dangerous and will involve the evacuation of any close residents that live within a few miles of the fire, these will usually be fought on the ground but also would have airplanes dousing the flames, these are common in hot areas and will most likely not spread to large fires around your place of work.
Vehicle FiresThese are also very common, these usually require one or two trucks and will also force closure of a roadway, one thing to remember when putting out fires of these types, just because the fire appears to be out, it might not be! using a fire axe to break the hood and check to see if the fire under the engine is also out would be the best course of action here.
Hazardous emergencies (not fires)Hazardous Material Disposal/Handling - HAZMAT Here you would respond to critical chemical incidents, including chemicals that are viral such as biological weaponry incidents and chemical spills, all firefighters are trained in basic HAZMAT handling.
RescueThis is basically saving people's lives, it can be anything from taking people from fires, helping people stranded in lifts that break down, helping people who are locked in areas and trapped and people who can not get out of places in any other means. You would also have to free people from vehicle collisions and incidents using the jaws of life and such. All firefighters know advanced medical knowledge and can tend to people before real paramedics arrive at a scene, this could be vital and the line between life and death. Remember this!