By Alan M. Petrillo

The Monkey Island (OK) Fire Protection District had a problem it needed to solve. It had outgrown its small rescue truck, which was carrying too much equipment and not meeting the department’s rescue needs.

The fire district’s response area is small-6.5 square miles-but its population fluctuates wildly depending on the time of year, growing from 2,000 in the winter to around 30,000 during a typical July 4 weekend.

Chief Carl Tesreau says the response area is mostly a resort retirement community with citizens’ average age of 62 years old. “We have a wide variety of coverage, from household trailers to million-dollar homes,” he says. “Our district includes an 11-story high-rise building; a four-story, 120-room hotel; and a convention center being built that abuts a 36-hole Professional Golf Association (PGA) golf course. So we have a lot of tourist traffic during the season.”

1 The Monkey Island (OK) Fire Protection District bought this 2008 KME custom rescue-pumper with a Hale 1,500-gallon-per-minute (gpm) pump, 750-gallon water tank, and Hale FoamLogix 5.0 foam system from Jon’s Mid America. (Photo courtesy of Monkey Island Fire Protection District.)

Tesreau says the fire district was running a Ford F-550 rescue truck but had outgrown the rig because it had been loaded down with too much equipment. “We wanted a rescue-pumper in its place,” he observes. “We had bought a used truck from Jon’s Mid America in the past (a quint), so we knew them to be reliable and to have quality apparatus on hand.”

Jim Keltner, president of Jon’s Mid America, concurs that Monkey Island Fire Protection District was a prior customer, having purchased a 1990 LTI 75-foot aerial ladder quint six years earlier with a 1,750-gallons per minute (gpm) pump and a 400-gallon water tank.

2 This 1990 LTI 75-foot aerial ladder quint with a 1,750-gpm pump and 400-gallon water tank was previously purchased by Monkey Island Fire Protection District from Jon’s Mid America. (Photo courtesy of Monkey Island Fire Protection District.)

“They came to us because they wanted a used vehicle that had been gone through from head to toe,” Keltner says. “They wanted a vehicle that was finished and ready for them. The Monkey Island firefighters spent time with us, telling us what they wanted in the new pumper, and we found them a vehicle that fit their needs perfectly after we did some cosmetic and maintenance things to the rig.”

Keltner adds that Monkey Island Fire Protection District “had a pretty great need for additional compartmentation on a rescue-typevehicle, which led us to show them several rescue-pumpers.” The district representatives chose a 2008 KME custom rescue-pumper, he notes, based on its configuration and compartment space.

• 230
• 0
• Article rating: No rating

1 Firefighters must always remember their training: stay low, and resist the desire to stand and walk. (Photo courtesy of Bullard.)

A simple search method is a three-pass technique, which I’ve mentioned in other articles, but it’s always helpful to share again. 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.

Let’s look at another scenario. The restricted visibility caused by smoke that firefighters typically experience in structure fires can help deter them from becoming too overly aggressive. With a TIC, firefi

By Carl Nix

Firefighting involves risks. We know that at any given time during a shift, we might get that call that puts us in a dangerous environment.

Having the right tools helps to eliminate some of the risks associated with our job. A thermal imaging camera (TIC) is the right tool, but only if it is not misused or misinterpreted during a critical moment. If it is, the results could be catastrophic. Let’s look at two common scenarios where firefighters navigating with a TIC can make the mistake of abandoning their firefighting skills by becoming too complacent and overconfident. A mistake like this can turn tragic quickly.

When training firefighters on using a TIC, I always remind them to never make the mistake of using the TIC in place of their basic firefighting skills. Firefighters are trained to stay low and crawl in dangerous environments to avoid heat exposure and unseen dangers. Years ago, these basic firefighting skills were adopted out of necessity since the equipment firefighters wore lacked thermal protection from intense heat. Modern turnout gear is much more durable and provides increased thermal protection. Now, add the TIC to that equation, and firefighters might become overconfident in hazardous situations.

Inability to see is the main reason firefighters crawl. Doing so allows them to avoid injury by navigating around furniture and debris, by going up and down stairs, and by avoiding any hazards that might exist in a structure. When equipped with a TIC, firefighters have the ability to see the environment and navigate the structure on foot. This can give firefighters a false sense of security and safety. They cannot see all hazards on a TIC, such as a hole in the floor or furniture in a temperature-stable room. Firefighters must always remember their training: stay low, and resist the desire to stand and walk. The more training firefighters receive with the TIC in dark, smoky conditions, the less likely they are to make a mistake concerning their ability to see.

A TIC will only identify a potential risk if it is directed at the risk. A firefighter’s peripheral vision can help identify potential dangers that cannot be seen with a TIC. Once again, the firefighter has a false sense of security. When training with the TIC, it’s important to let firefighters know that the camera restricts their field of view. A TIC has no peripheral vision, so the firefighter must scan the entire room to evaluate fire conditions and search for victims.

1 Firefighters must always remember their training: stay low, and resist the desire to stand and walk. (Photo courtesy of Bullard.)

A simple search method is a three-pass technique, which I’ve mentioned in other articles, but it’s always helpful to share again. 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.

Let’s look at another scenario. The restricted visibility caused by smoke that firefighters typically experience in structure fires can help deter them from becoming too overly aggressive. With a TIC, firefi

By Carl Nix

Firefighting involves risks. We know that at any given time during a shift, we might get that call that puts us in a dangerous environment.

Having the right tools helps to eliminate some of the risks associated with our job. A thermal imaging camera (TIC) is the right tool, but only if it is not misused or misinterpreted during a critical moment. If it is, the results could be catastrophic. Let’s look at two common scenarios where firefighters navigating with a TIC can make the mistake of abandoning their firefighting skills by becoming too complacent and overconfident. A mistake like this can turn tragic quickly.

When training firefighters on using a TIC, I always remind them to never make the mistake of using the TIC in place of their basic firefighting skills. Firefighters are trained to stay low and crawl in dangerous environments to avoid heat exposure and unseen dangers. Years ago, these basic firefighting skills were adopted out of necessity since the equipment firefighters wore lacked thermal protection from intense heat. Modern turnout gear is much more durable and provides increased thermal protection. Now, add the TIC to that equation, and firefighters might become overconfident in hazardous situations.

Inability to see is the main reason firefighters crawl. Doing so allows them to avoid injury by navigating around furniture and debris, by going up and down stairs, and by avoiding any hazards that might exist in a structure. When equipped with a TIC, firefighters have the ability to see the environment and navigate the structure on foot. This can give firefighters a false sense of security and safety. They cannot see all hazards on a TIC, such as a hole in the floor or furniture in a temperature-stable room. Firefighters must always remember their training: stay low, and resist the desire to stand and walk. The more training firefighters receive with the TIC in dark, smoky conditions, the less likely they are to make a mistake concerning their ability to see.

A TIC will only identify a potential risk if it is directed at the risk. A firefighter’s peripheral vision can help identify potential dangers that cannot be seen with a TIC. Once again, the firefighter has a false sense of security. When training with the TIC, it’s important to let firefighters know that the camera restricts their field of view. A TIC has no peripheral vision, so the firefighter must scan the entire room to evaluate fire conditions and search for victims.

1 Firefighters must always remember their training: stay low, and resist the desire to stand and walk. (Photo courtesy of Bullard.)

A simple search method is a three-pass technique, which I’ve mentioned in other articles, but it’s always helpful to share again. 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.

Let’s look at another scenario. The restricted visibility caused by smoke that firefighters typically experience in structure fires can help deter them from becoming too overly aggressive. With a TIC, firefi