This is an off-duty image taken of the Home Town F.D. I knew the Battalion Chief and he allowed me to take a few pictures. The fire was in a single family dwelling and was ripping pretty good when the crews arrived. It was knocked down with a couple of 1 1/2" pre-connects. The truckies felt validated as they got to chop a hole in the roof.
For the uninitiated, the two boards visible in the bed of the pick-up truck are accountability boards. Every person on the incident has a removable passport, which was their named embossed on it. When a firefighter enters the fire building, or goes up on the roof, their passport is placed on the board. When the firefighter exits the hazardous area, the passport is returned to them.
This procedure helps keep track of personnel when things go really bad. It's use was developed from a price paid in blood. There are several different ways to perform this function, I am unsure exactly how Home Town does it. I do know they take it pretty seriously.
Hopefully, Santa Claus will read my list (sent in early!) and bring me that new camera. With it, scenes like this will be a lot easier to capture. Time will tell on that, we'll see if I can stay out of trouble.
Thanks for reading,
Schmoe
Christmas in July????
ReplyDeleteThe kids birthday is July 24th so it happens in our house every year. Hopefully Santa see's how good you've been and you get your camera!
And question....isnt a GPS tracking type system about due if not already used somewhere to track the firemen inside buildings? It seems like a good idea and the natural progression with all the technology out there these days.
This is a good photo. The quality could be improved with better equipment, but the composition is much better than average.
ReplyDeleteDear Captain Schmoe,
ReplyDeleteI think you got a great pic. Point-and-shoots are good for more than we think. Of course, I am sure Santa wants you to do even better for us! It's about community service, you know--he knows when you are doing that for us!!
Which brings me to the next paragraph. I am glad again to get this great detail on how fire emergencies are handled to save lives and manage the safety of the professionals. They are probably commonplace to you, but to me they signify good thinking and little windows into your profession.
And paid in blood. We should all think about that.
Thank you,
Ann T.
Pee Dee - There is GPS technology to do some of the tracking an we have purchased some of the hardware for it. The reliability hasn't proved to be worth the investment, so we have stopped implementing the program. Heal fast BTW.
ReplyDeleteMad Jack - Thanks, The Canon 7D ought to do the trick!
Ann T. - It's hard to rescue your people if you don't know whether they are inside or not. It's a procedure that requires constant reinforcement and training. Some commanders are more sticklers about it than others, hopefully they don't get caught with their pants down.
Thanks all for commenting.
I really like the photo.. A little photo-shopping will assist in some exposure issues, but the composition works for me.
ReplyDeleteI have noted with some concern the apparent answer to many issues to many observers is technology. (as comments have suggested)
Any system in use needs to operate in a wireless/communications blackout, needs to be tactile and have the ability to function when all else has turned to the brown clay like matter spirals towards the ceiling mounted rotary air handling unit.
The definite, immediate and extremely visual systems of tagging in and out are as close to fail-safe is it gets. Sure, transition the information to the computer based log, but at all times maintain the redundancy systems.
Oh, and for what it is worth, if you can't see the sky, GPS is next to useless.
In my neck of the woods, GPS was demanded by the politicians and the public as a response to a couple of location issues.
All it has done is increase the time in getting moving while locations are entered into the GPS unit. Do we still have problems?? Sure do. Most of the time it is incorrect information provided by the caller that leads to this, or the call-taker screwing it up, or now it is the incorrect selection of the address in the GPS.
What we do know is that our average response time is not nearly a minute longer.. (from dispatched to actually mobile)
The cost of fitting GPS to 1200+ vehicles has in reality seen a degradation of response quality.
Technology is not necessarily the answer....
Oops, time to get off my soapbox!!
Ratsasoo - Thanks, I hope to upgrade to a Canon 7D, the ISO is a lot higher than what I am using now. In regard to technology, the older I get, the more I think some vital functions are best served by simpler, lower tech solutions.
ReplyDeleteI'm just sayin'.