By Raul A. Angulo

At the 2000 Fire Department Instructors Conference (FDIC), I was chosen to moderate "Brennan and Bruno III," a highlight in my career.

Someone asked Brennan what was the best technique (referring to a rescue carry) to rescue a victim. Brennan looked at Bruno with an "I don't know … what do you think?" look and said something like, "In the heat of the moment, you just grab the victim and go and hope that whatever you grabbed doesn't come off." That comment stuck with me over the years, and I've never forgotten it.

Rescue carries are easy when they're practiced in the comfort of your firehouse and there's no urgency. It's almost impossible to create a realistic training scenario with real smoke and fire. Full-size rescue dummies may weigh the same as an adult victim, but they're stiff. A real unconscious person may be clothed or naked. They can be flaccid, heavy, and slippery. Naked victims or those wearing pajamas are difficult to manage. Most of us will go through our entire careers without actually making a real rescue. In my 37-year career, I've only been involved in three civilian rescues from fire. All three were elderly women, and all three were wearing nightgowns. When I was captain of Engine 33, we responded to a fire in South Seattle. My members were able to scoop up and carry two small, frail ladies out of their burning house. The rescue carries were fast and easy, but the women did not survive the fire.

Retired San Antonio (TX) Firefighter Ken Dempsey is the inventor of the Sling-Link Multiple Application Service Tool (MAST). (Photos by author.)

Years earlier when I was a lieutenant on Engine 9, we responded to an apartment fire in downtown Seattle. On our arrival, an elderly lady was calling for help at a second-floor window. The fire was in the adjacent unit, but smoke had filled the hallway and was now coming out from her window. It looked like it was going to be a classic ground ladder rescue. My members threw a 26-foot ladder up to the window. One firefighter went up and into the room to assist the elderly lady through the window and onto the ladder. I was the second one up the ladder to assist her down. All of a sudden, her foot slipped and she fell onto the ladder, straddling the rungs. This was obviously an awkward and painful position for a victim on the ladder. Unlike the previous example, this lady was large and heavy. Though I kept her from falling off the ladder, I was not able to prevent her leg from sliding between the rungs. So, learn this lesson: If you have to take elderly people down a ground ladder, pay close attention to their foot placement on each rung, all the way down. Don't assume because they safely manage a few rungs they know what they're doing.

The way we were situated, we did not have the leverage to lift her back up onto the ladder. I told my other two firefighters to grab a second 26-foot ladder and place it next to ours. I figured the four of us would be able to lift her. That proved to be impossible. The two firefighters on the second ladder could not reach over enough to lift the victim without the risk of falling themselves. Long story short, we ended up staying on the ladder for the duration of the fire. After the fire was out, my members entered her unit from the hallway. It took three firefighters to lift her back into the window with me pushing from below. The elderly lady was in pain, but she did no

Richard Marinucci

As I write this column, Spring Training is in full swing (pun intended). When you read this column, Major League Baseball will be a month or so into its regular season.

You are probably wondering what this has to do with moving water. Well, when I go to a major league ballgame, I notice that about halfway through the game the grounds crew races out onto the field with a hose. The purpose is to reset the infield for the rest of the game and minimize dust and such. There are between six and 10 people moving the hose onto the field and into position. They go quickly so that the game is not unduly delayed.

Water Delivery

Wouldn't it be nice if you had six to 10 people to move the hose around on a fire scene? Good luck with that one. But if we look at the example above, we can understand the reason for that number of people. The hose is heavy, and they have to be in a hurry so as to not impact the flow of the game. A cynical question might be to ask why that is more important than deploying hose during a true emergency. We know the answer to that, but maybe there are some things we can learn to better understand the challenges of delivering water under fire conditions.

Based on my rough calculations, there are approximately 5,887 cubic inches of water in 100 feet of 2½-inch hose. This translates to approximately 25 gallons of water. The weight of one gallon of water is about 8.33 pounds. That means that there are more than 200 pounds of water in the 100 feet of hose. This does not include the weight of the hose. So a 200-foot length of hose would be more than 400 pounds. That is a lot of mass to move in ideal conditions.

How often do you have ideal conditions? For the past few months, the cold and snow have added to the workload of deploying hose. Walking through a few feet of snow to get a line to the C side takes a lot of effort. Even without snow, the friction on the ground adds to the force required to move the line after it is filled with water. So to maneuver 200 feet of 2½-inch hose when it is charged requires whatever personnel you have to work with who have to move well more than 400 pounds plus additional friction from the ground or whatever may be adding to the challenge.

Though this background information may seem trivial to many, it offers some information to consider when selecting tactics and strategy. If water is your choice for extinguishment (as opposed to removing the oxygen or fuel), then the objective is to get the water to the base of the fire. It does no good to squirt smoke or pour water onto shingles or bricks. The water must reach the fire. This can happen by properly deploying the streams or waiting for the fire to reach stationary lines.

I have heard the axiom many times that if you have a big fire you need big water. This would be hard to dispute. But I would offer a couple of points for you to consider before you automatically or arbitrarily employ this tactic. First and foremost, train your personnel to recognize what truly is a big fire requiring the big guns. This is challenging for those who do not go to a lot of "big ones." It requires study of the trade and learning from others. It requires understanding the properties of water, fire flow, fire load, and building construction. It requires learning as much as possible from recent research conducted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Underwriters Laboratories (UL). A review of the basics of fire science (physics and chemis

By Alan M. Petrillo

Equipment manufacturers have expanded their lines of handline nozzles, allowing firefighters more control over flow, pressure, and stream type.

Firefighters must get water on a fire as quickly and efficiently as possible. Manufacturers aim to accomplish that mission with a wide selection of nozzles.

Where Is the Bail?

Rod Carringer, chief marketing officer for Task Force Tips (TFT), says, "Everyone has a different opinion on operational procedures for fire flow," which means his company has developed a huge number of nozzles to meet firefighter needs. "Our catalog has nearly 2,000 handheld nozzle combinations that we produce," Carringer points out, "and the possible combinations run into 10,000 when we consider international standards, although 85 percent of our business is from the United States market."

Carringer says TFT introduced a new nozzle, the Impulse, at FDIC International 2015 last month that integrates a new valve control into its existing nozzle lines. "We've removed the traditional bail handle off the top of the nozzle and are using a trigger-style mechanism to control the valve," Carringer says. "We're integrating the ability to hang onto the nozzle at the pistol grip and trigger the stream with the same hand."

Task Force Tips has developed the Impulse, a nozzle that does away with the traditional bail handle and replaces it with a trigger-type mechanism to control the valve. (Photo courtesy of Task Force Tips.)

The Impulse currently is in prototype stage and field trials of the nozzle are progressing, Carringer says. Impulse will be available in automatic, fixed-gallonage, and selectable-gallonage nozzles, he adds.

Dual-pressure and low-pressure nozzles are the latest trends in handline nozzles, Carringer says. "A lot of departments are moving toward low-pressure nozzles, mostly to reduce the reaction the firefighter feels at the tip," he says. "In a straight stream, the difference in nozzle reaction at 100 pounds per square inch (psi) vs. 75 psi is a 13 percent reduction for the firefighter. It makes a difference over time if he's working on a ladder or by himself in a hallway."

There's a downside in dropping to 75 psi, though. "You give up reach and penetration," Carringer says. "It's the same volume of water coming out, but it's coming out slower. When you go down to 50 psi, you have a high volume of water but lose the punch of that stream to get to the back wall or the second floor of a structure."

Akron Brass Co. makes the HydroFX that can be used with its nozzles to detect inlet pressure at the nozzle and tie it into the flow rate, allowing the firefighter to have a visual indication of the flow. (Photo courtesy of Akron Brass Co.)

Flow Indicator

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