![3 The heavy rescue carries a Hale AP50 500-gpm power takeoff (PTO) pump, a UPF Poly 460-gall
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Posted: Feb 11, 2016
The Ochopee Fire Control and Rescue District in Collier County, Florida, counts among its protection area a very long stretch of U.S. Interstate 41 running from Florida state Route 29 to the Dade County line.
It also serves remote parts of southern Collier County, including Interstate 75 to the Broward County line. A survey of I-75 found that 70 percent of the accidents on it occurred on a 30-mile stretch, so the district wanted to station a heavy rescue with fire suppression capability and a separate patient module at a new station nearby to handle whatever I-75 might throw at it.
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| 1 E-ONE built this heavy rescue for the Ochopee (FL) Fire Control and Rescue District with rescue, fire suppression, and patient-care capabilities so the unit could be a self-sufficient vehicle when working on Interstate 75. (Photo courtesy of Hall-Mark Fire Apparatus.) |
Hall-Mark Fire Apparatus had sold a number of vehicles to the district in the past and was able to book the order from the district for a new E-ONE heavy rescue, says Steve Kern, Hall-Mark sales representative. “The chief’s goal at the time had a couple of different elements to it,” Kern says. “When out on the Interstate, they often had to wait a while for an ambulance response, so they wanted a separate patient area to get a patient out of the elements but not for transport. And because there’s no water out on the Interstate, they wanted a pump, water tank, and foam on the rescue to handle fire suppression when needed.”
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| 2 The Ochopee (FL) Fire Control and Rescue District heavy rescue has a patient module behind the cab that is accessed through a door on the officer side of the vehicle. (Photo courtesy of Hall-Mark Fire Apparatus.) |
Alan McLaughlin, Ochopee’s chief, says that after considering the kinds of traffic that comes down I-75, he knew the district would need a pump, water, and foam on the truck to complement its rescue tools. “And in terms of injured people, the closest ambulance is 35 miles away,” McLaughlin points out. “In the summer, it rains every day, and it’s difficult when we have patients on the road in the rain. Plus, at night, the mosquitoes are horrendous.”
Patient Module
McLaughlin says Ochopee’s truck committee first talked with E-ONE and Hall-Mark about making a patient compartment out of the back portion of the cab but ultimately decided on a separate patient box, isolated from the crew’s cab and accessible through a door on the officer’s side of the truck. “The patient module has all of the equipment that you’d find in an ambulance patient box,” he notes. “It’s fully air-conditioned, has an oxygen unit, and a full set of advanced life support (ALS) equipment that paramedics can use while waiting for an ambulance or helicopter to arrive to transport the patient.”
![3 The heavy rescue carries a Hale AP50 500-gpm power takeoff (PTO) pump, a UPF Poly 460-gall
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Posted: Feb 11, 2016
The Ochopee Fire Control and Rescue District in Collier County, Florida, counts among its protection area a very long stretch of U.S. Interstate 41 running from Florida state Route 29 to the Dade County line.
It also serves remote parts of southern Collier County, including Interstate 75 to the Broward County line. A survey of I-75 found that 70 percent of the accidents on it occurred on a 30-mile stretch, so the district wanted to station a heavy rescue with fire suppression capability and a separate patient module at a new station nearby to handle whatever I-75 might throw at it.
 |
| 1 E-ONE built this heavy rescue for the Ochopee (FL) Fire Control and Rescue District with rescue, fire suppression, and patient-care capabilities so the unit could be a self-sufficient vehicle when working on Interstate 75. (Photo courtesy of Hall-Mark Fire Apparatus.) |
Hall-Mark Fire Apparatus had sold a number of vehicles to the district in the past and was able to book the order from the district for a new E-ONE heavy rescue, says Steve Kern, Hall-Mark sales representative. “The chief’s goal at the time had a couple of different elements to it,” Kern says. “When out on the Interstate, they often had to wait a while for an ambulance response, so they wanted a separate patient area to get a patient out of the elements but not for transport. And because there’s no water out on the Interstate, they wanted a pump, water tank, and foam on the rescue to handle fire suppression when needed.”
 |
| 2 The Ochopee (FL) Fire Control and Rescue District heavy rescue has a patient module behind the cab that is accessed through a door on the officer side of the vehicle. (Photo courtesy of Hall-Mark Fire Apparatus.) |
Alan McLaughlin, Ochopee’s chief, says that after considering the kinds of traffic that comes down I-75, he knew the district would need a pump, water, and foam on the truck to complement its rescue tools. “And in terms of injured people, the closest ambulance is 35 miles away,” McLaughlin points out. “In the summer, it rains every day, and it’s difficult when we have patients on the road in the rain. Plus, at night, the mosquitoes are horrendous.”
Patient Module
McLaughlin says Ochopee’s truck committee first talked with E-ONE and Hall-Mark about making a patient compartment out of the back portion of the cab but ultimately decided on a separate patient box, isolated from the crew’s cab and accessible through a door on the officer’s side of the truck. “The patient module has all of the equipment that you’d find in an ambulance patient box,” he notes. “It’s fully air-conditioned, has an oxygen unit, and a full set of advanced life support (ALS) equipment that paramedics can use while waiting for an ambulance or helicopter to arrive to transport the patient.”
![3 The heavy rescue carries a Hale AP50 500-gpm
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Posted: Feb 11, 2016
Working in the fire service for 30 years has allowed me the privilege of watching it grow and modernize. With growth comes greater responsibility. Today’s fire service is equipped to deal with man-made and natural disasters because of better training, equipment, and tools.
Thermal imaging is one of the modern tools of the fire service that still needs to be fully embraced by firefighters. You don’t need a thermal imaging camera (TIC) to fight a fire, but using a TIC could increase safety, efficiency, and effectiveness.
Firefighter safety is the first and most critical benefit of using a TIC. Becoming lost or disoriented inside a burning structure can be a harrowing experience. The TIC can help. The primary cause of firefighter disorientation is the lack of visibility. Without smoke, navigating a building is a pretty easy task. Now, add thick, black smoke, and the task is difficult. This is where the TIC can be the most helpful. A TIC gives you the ability to see the orientation of the structure, including specific rooms and furnishings, allowing for safer maneuvering. Secondary means of egress are easy to locate from across the room. Issues of structural integrity such as sagging ceilings or obstacles are easy to identify. With all of these benefits, it makes sense to have a TIC with you at all times.
Let’s look at how you can use a TIC when entering a smoke-filled structure: Scan the room with your TIC once you enter the structure using a three-pass technique. The first pass is across the ceiling looking for heat accumulation, potential vent points, and structural integrity. The second pass is across the middle of the room looking at the physical layout and its contents as well as the location of any secondary egress points. The third pass is across the floor looking for collapsed victims and any special hazards. All three scans take less than 10 seconds but are important to maintaining proper orientation with your TIC. The actual navigation of the room should not be done with your TIC. That’s correct. I would not use the TIC for the actual act of navigation, since you can move quicker without it once you know the layout of the room.
By using your basic firefighting skills and confirming, by touch, the mental map that you developed during the second pass with the TIC, you will be able to move faster through the structure. If something were to happen to the TIC such as if you drop it or lose it, if the battery dies, or if the TIC malfunctions, you can get back because you know how you got there. You know where the secondary egresses are because you physically touched them as you navigated. As you move around the room, you should pause and rescan the room using the three-pass approach so that you can observe changing fire conditions.
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| 1 During this search, the TIC showed a hot spot in the ceiling, which turned out to be fire extension into the attic. Had the crew not used a TIC, this fire may not have been spotted early. (Photo courtesy of Bullard.) |
Let’s review a scenario: A department answered a call for a structure fire and, on arrival, the first-due company observed a two-story apartment building with the front door open and smoke showing through the door. Residents of the building were out of the structure standing on the sidewalk. The engine company, with a TIC
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