No Room For Complacency
This was on the 5th floor. How fast can you setup your aerial?
Explore posts in the same categories: 5. Ladder WorkTags: aerial truck, fire rescue, lady holds baby out window
You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.
IRONSandLADDERS.com 
02/28/2010 at 5:25 pm
I have been trying to find this pic again. Thanks for posting and good question on the aerial time. However, what is your plan if the aerial isn’t going to make it due to location? Or how about you are on the roof of the building and peek over the side and see that from your perspective above? What is your plan then? Have you practiced it? Do you have the equipment with you? Take a good look because there are three lives in that window opening and more on the inside. All survived from what I recall. They survived because of determined actions by well trained members. Good post ironandladders.
02/28/2010 at 5:36 pm
Good point! If you click on the picture and watch the news video it looks as if they may have had to drive the truck down a sidewalk or pathway and setup. It is difficult to tell but it looks like the aerial is not on a road. Lots of critical descions having to be made very quickly!
03/01/2010 at 9:49 am
Great job by FDNY and a great reminder of why drilling repeatedly on basic skills is necessary. This would NOT be a good time to WISH you had done more drilling with your ground ladders vs. the aerial as well as getting out in the district and setting up.
03/06/2010 at 3:06 pm
I think that the biggest thing to remember in situations like this is that you can not operate out of normal SOP’s. Situations like this require you to really really think “outside of the box.” If you have a long set back and even your longest airels can not even reach, be ready to drive up the curb, and get your tools close to your situation. In this case, put your truck, tower ladder etc. in the position to get to these people. Obviously be ready because unless the ground is re-enforced, you may need some plywood or some other means to add stability to the ground. But chances are that this is not the only window like this on that building. Infact,residents in these areas mean that we will be heading up there and secondary egress is vital. So putting your equipment in a position to work off of an elevated platform is going to make this work faster, easier and quicker. If things do go bad, your going to have a situation where your pulling members out of these windows and you will expierence what Denver expierenced and caused the “Denver Drill.”
I think this is the best case to remember that rolling up to these buildings, no matter how many times you have been here, expect to find something you never noticed before and then expect to find more. Obviously there is no bread and butter fires at any building specially in these multiple family high rise buildings.