Weekend Update time again…here’s what made the ELAFF FB page this week, in the order of posting:

DC Fireman Needs Your Votes

Alex Capece of RaisingLadders.com is a DC Fireman who is in the running to be a sponsored cyclist/brand rep for Foundry Cycles. He needs votes to make it as a finalist. If you feel like supporting a firefighter/athlete, click this link, find the Northeast section, and vote for Alex. You will need to log in using Facebook. Don’t worry, this is just to keep people from voting more than once.

Here’s the link, one more time: http://foundrycycles.com/rideforfoundry/#northeast

Here’s another link to Alex’s blog: http://raisingladders.com/

Here’s a post by Alex about this contest: http://raisingladders.com/2012/03/ride-report-repeat-raisingladders-on-foundry-cycles/

Another Danger of Texting While Walking

“We fight what you fear”…sometimes…

Working  the Job posted the following quote from Fireman Ryan Cox:

“We fight what you fear. Until it scares us. Then it becomes a “Close Call.”

This was related to the following video, which made the blog-rounds over the week:

The Fire Critic posted about it HERE, and a decent discussion ensued. The video included the words “Close Call” in the title and the question was, “Is this really a close call?” After hearing responses from many ELAFF followers, the consensus seems to be, no. As a matter of fact, nearly everyone agreed that this is standard truck work. When you cut a hole in the roof, fire comes out…that’s the point of CUTTING THE HOLE. Let the heat OUT.

Ken Scofield (@KenScofield) used the Twitter hashtag #ventedroofsaresupposedtoletheatout. I tried unsuccessfully to make that a “trending” topic. If you’re on Twitter, shoot that one out when you get the chance.

This vent crew earned extra points by venting from the “stick”, therefore avoiding nearly all chance of falling through (as one follower pointed out, there is ALWAYS a chance). The only possibly unsafe action was retracting the aerial while the crew was at the tip. However, the operator may have been communicating with the crew via intercom, so I won’t pick this one apart. I honestly think the “close call” was added by the videographer, who may not have realized what was going on.

The bottom line on this one is: when you vent the roof, fire coming out is a good thing. Don’t be alarmed or surprised, DON’T call for a handline and spray water in on it…consider your objective complete and get off the roof.

(The same goes for when fire is blowing out the window while an interior crew is pushing in on it. This is a GOOD thing, beneficial to the attack crew, DO NOT spray water through the window, no matter how excited you are…you will only make the attack crew’s job MORE DIFFICULT. More on that in an upcoming post…)

 If We Listen to the Stories…

Beneath the Helmet posted a video that you should watch, along with a post that you should read…here’s an excerpt:

“…When you exercise to get and stay fit on- and off-duty…
When you eat, drink, and sleep right…
When you train above and beyond the requirements…
When you make the right decisions on the fireground…
…do it for the brothers that can’t get back on the rig, like the ones we lost in Philadelphia and Tennessee. But do it also for yourself, for your coworkers, for the entire brotherhood, and for the family and friends who want to see you live long and well…”

Read the rest and watch the video here:http://beneaththehelmet.com/post/20989777759/if-we-listen-to-the-stories-or-read-them-about

“Beaching” the Rescue in DC

The FB page “Beaching the Front Lawn” posted these photos of DC Rescue 3 clearing the road for the companies with a more limited deployment range.

This is My Ladder

Brian Brush discusses balance points, lazy halyards, fly-in ladder placement, and one man throws in a new Fire Service Warrior post.

Great tips and interesting points to consider.

Here’s the link: http://www.fireservicewarrior.com/2012/04/this-is-my-ladder/

Deep Survival

A reflection on survival instincts by The Hose Jockey.

“We may push ourselves that much deeper in the building because we’ve done it before, we may say ohhh we got this, we just had the same fire last week.  Meanwhile the new guy is thinking, WTF, I scared but this guy knows what the hell he is doing.  Then he forms that same bookmark in the same dumb ass spot as the senior man has.  I think you see where I’m going with this.  As a service we have to assert some leadership to realize the way we have always, isn’t always the best.  Maybe our bookmarks are on the wrong page, maybe they are in the last chapter, as we all have seen 100’s of times each year. “

Do you have the right “bookmarks”, and more importantly, what “bookmarks” are you setting for the next generation?

Here’s the link: http://hosejockey.blogspot.com/2012/04/deep-survival-part-1.html

I Got Bronchitis…and Auto-tune!

This video popped up over the week:

An Auto-tuned remix popped up last night:

1,500 “likes”

Last night, the ELAFF FB page reached 1,500 “likes”. LET’S GIVE SOME STUFF AWAY!

…

Oh, right…already did that…

Thanks for liking, reading, and following.

On that note, I noticed that Fire Service Warrior now has less “likes” than ELAFF. The FSW crew is too humble and focused to ever ask for likes. They aren’t concerned with the social media popularity contest. They simply produce high-quality content for the fire service audience.

I know that many of their readers don’t use Facebook, and I’m sure that they receive more hits than ELAFF, but it seems like the universe is off-balance if FSW has less “likes” than ELAFF. My ramblings and re-postings are mediocre at best. The FSW team puts out great content, at a constant pace, on every topic…from keeping the right mindset, to training tips (like the article above), to a daily workout regimen.

Take the time to check out Fire Service Warrior (and “like” them) and read through their posts…you won’t be disappointed.

Here’s the website: http://www.fireservicewarrior.com/

Here’s the FB page: http://www.facebook.com/FireServiceWarrior

That’s all for today.

– Lt. Lemon (Pete)