Interesting Fire Department stuff.

[fireftr18]

A couple interesting things came across Facebook today. I thought I would share.
This one is in Bern. A little background first. The North American model for fire protection as designed by Ben Franklin has many small fire stations spread out. That means we have a lot of fire stations with a small number of trucks. In many large cities in Europe, the model is fewer, but extremely large stations. Now every so often, a fire department needs to move the station. Whether change the location to a more strategic spot, or the station needs to be upgraded, but the cost to build new is better, or whatever else. In North America, moving a station is really unnoticeable. When you have a station that has 30 or more pieces of apparatus, then it's a sight to see. This is a video of moving equipment in Bern from it's old station to the new one.

[fireftr18]

Here's one from China. Be sure to click on "translate" and read the story.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v...266775&fref=nf

[August]

Thanks for posting these links. I will pass them along to a fire fighter buddy of mine.

[Aktungbby]

That's partially due to the philosophical difference imparted at one point by Franklin's American frontier mentality...now known as the Rurban-suburban interface. In my RE appraisal days, when dealing with FEMA in the Santa Cruz mountains-practically my domain, we didn't just have the Loma Prieta earthquake; but also the Lexington Hills fire and the fatal Charing Cross Rd. Oakland Hills fire. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakland_firestorm_of_1991http://articles.latimes.com/1985-07-10/news/mn-7612_1_homes-near-san-jose and the small but nasty Palo Alto Hills fire. A Cal Fire chief lives on my street in Napa and the Napa Sonoma hills-Mayacamas mountains are just two blocks over and will burn in their turn when the conditions are right- of that there is no doubt. Small, spread-out and interlocking mutual support is the modus operendi for wind-swept dry manzaninta, second growth redwood and large propane tank fueled infernos. As for FEMA in the other thread today: love 'em!!! they rebuilt (chimney & foundation-$40 K) my house after (2) Napa Quakes and I've contributed my files as needed (maintained for 5 years) for victims of quakes and fires: those front, rear and any interior photos with precise sketch addendum dimensions really count and were often the only good pics left for the FEMA assessment teams. NO CHARGE BBY! The last Napa quake in August is at 1 billion in damage! Yeah, FEMA can be slow, thorough and bureaucratic but still the only game goin' when the game's up and it's all 'hit the fan.' And they get there "firstest with the mostest" and stay the distance!

[Jimbuna]

Interesting footage

Sadly, here in the UK the current trend is to close stations and downsize manpower and equipment wherever possible...madness in the name of austerity.

[Gargamel]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

Interesting footage

Sadly, here in the UK the current trend is to close stations and downsize manpower and equipment wherever possible...madness in the name of austerity.

That's the same everywhere.

But... With 80% of the calls being EMS (Medical) only calls, and 90% of the rest having an EMS element to it, and the general improvement of fire prevention in occupied buildings, the need for pure Fire coverage has declined over the recent past.

AND with the improved procedures, techniques, and devices/drugs available to EMS crews today, the pre-hospital care provided in the field (I am only familiar with US systems) has increased by leaps and bounds over the past 15 years. For two main reasons: 1) Education of both the responders and the medical doctors overseeing them, allowing for more aggressive approaches 2) Trauma resuscitation research has vastly improved since 2001, when the Afghan and Iraq wars started. The military trauma service has always been a testing ground for new procedures. That's why the survival rates are so much higher (and with it, more disfigured dismembered returning servicemen) than they were in past wars. The medical learning curve in the battlefield (system wide) is very quick to respond to changes. So the EMS crews in the field can provide better care over longer periods of time, negating the need for more units closer to hospitals.

All that means, we generally now need less responders to cover more population.

Of course, there are a lot of blockhead city councils that cut coverage based soley on budget reasons, and that's not good.

[fireftr18]

Dallas, Texas. The roofing materials dripped on to the back of this firefighter. I wonder how many times I've been in a similar situation and didn't realize it.

http://www.firerescue1.com/close-cal...attling-blaze/

[August]

Sounds like a testament to some good PPE.

[Wolferz]

Originally Posted by fireftr18

Dallas, Texas. The roofing materials dripped on to the back of this firefighter. I wonder how many times I've been in a similar situation and didn't realize it.

http://www.firerescue1.com/close-cal...attling-blaze/

Shows how much turn out gear has advanced.

[fireftr18]

My buddies in Lexington are making national news. I see this once in a while. A couple pictures get on Facebook, then it's forgotten. This one is getting a lot more time than usual. If you glance at it, you can see it is a well marked company car.

http://www.statter911.com/2015/02/07...time-kentucky/

[Aktungbby]

Did a parking citation also get issued?

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by August

Sounds like a testament to some good PPE.

Rgr that....give the professional the correct tools and they'll do a first class job

[fireftr18]

Originally Posted by Aktungbby

Did a parking citation also get issued?

I'm not sure, but I assume there was. If I was that guy's boss, I wouldn't be very happy with him. Although, I don't know if I would be laughing at him, or yelling at him while scolding him.

[fireftr18]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

Rgr that....give the professional the correct tools and they'll do a first class job

Thankfully, I always had the same kind of fire gear.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by fireftr18

Thankfully, I always had the same kind of fire gear.

A real necessity, I have occasionally been to a fire situation arriving before the fire fighting services and would never enter a building myself.

The one exception might have been some child or person screaming for help from the top of a stairway or first floor window....thankfully that never happened and my conscience/resolve was never put to the test.