Tell me why the reverse lay won't work

Perhaps this is just one of my epiphanies, and perhaps it won't work. It would require some work and some practice. But I've noticed that we do a horrible job of placing our apparatus. We line the cross-lay hosebed right in line with the front door, and don't leave room for the Truck. Beyond that, we are almost always staffed with 3. Now I don't like this, but it's reality.

So, why don't we use the reverse lay? It would require the first in engine to drop a pre-determined amount of 2 1/2 (hell, bundle some 1 3/4 to it, if you are so inclined) and move to the closest hydrant. Most of the time, it wouldn't require us to pull more than 300 feet of hose, depending on the neighborhood. The officer and nozzleperson take the line and go to work. The FAO hits the hydrant. The truck has room. The second (or third) engine can take their own water supply to pull a backup line.

Again, I'm not advocating this in every circumstance...but I do think that it is an evolution worth practicing. It would require us to pull less LDH, and would also REQUIRE the first pumper to take their own water supply. They should only operate on tank water for as long as it takes to get their own water supply.

Instead of doing bullshit, why don't we get out into our neighborhoods and see what works? Develop a little bit of a standard, so there is less guesswork.

The picture that I posted is from Chicago. They see a lot of fire. And they are SERIOUS about Truck work. And that means they leave room for the GD Truck!

Think about the past few fires where using a truck earlier might've made a difference. And I'm not talking about lights and fans. I'm talking about using the big stick to the roof or to a window. The Truck is our toolbox. Let's use it. We shouldn't have purchased them primarily to piss water from up above...they should be used for Rescue and Ventilation FIRST.

And in order to do this, we need to place our apparatus correctly. LEAVE ROOM FOR THE TRUCK!!!!

Fill in the box or get the job done

I used to be really in to Incident Command. I'd study it, practice approach reports, and felt pretty good about myself when someone said, "man, you did a good job running that call." Now, after observing some people who are considered "good" incident commanders, I've noticed that we approach things all wrong. Rather than focusing on the results, we focus on "filling the box." "I have assigned ventilation, so it must be 'done'." This isn't always the case. Your incident may look good on paper, but if you look over the steering wheel at the incident, does it really look as good as it does on your fancy little command chart? When you call for ventilation, what do you mean? What about fire attack?

We are really deficient in our expectations as Incident Commanders. We haven't "front loaded" the troops with enough training, and so we aren't surprised when we look up and see the troops attacking a fire in a commercial building with an 1 3/4" hoseline. Nor are we surprised when we ask for ventilation (in another LARGE structure) and a fan (or two) is placed in the door. How about primary and secondary search? I've heard us assign a secondary search before the fire was under control...and that's inappropriate. Oh, and don't even get me started on RIT.

We are so impressed with ourselves that the Plans section was implemented at a large fire, so we pat ourselves on the backs. Meanwhile, we completely ignore tactis applied that could've been disastrous.

RIT Training? It's been asked for...but I think we need more than that. We need to hit the RESET button, decide upon a doctrine, and get everyone up to speed.

Let me start with this. We lament the loss of the Charleston 9. But we need to learn from them. Did you know that they used booster lines in that furniture warehouse? Sure, a few 2 1/2's got pulled, but it wasn't their initial line.

Here's my point...If we are going to call ourselves a fire department, then we need to fight the fire RIGHT. We shouldn't take anything but a 2 1/2' line into a commercial building. Place ourselves in a safe spot, and work it. Then, move in as we get it knocked down. We either need to start embracing this appliance, or we shouldn't even go in these buildings. And if you want to go there, what is the point in having anything more than a giant deck gun on the back of a flatbed truck. We could get by with half the engines and fewer personnel. We could go back to colonial times and keep the fire to the "village" of origin.

Now you know I don't really believe that we should cut staff and all that stuff. But if we don't pull our heads out of our asses, we'll continue to feed the bastards of those that want to see us cut.

Stay safe.