A group of three are tasked to carry the 35-foot extension ladder. Four would have been easier to balance. It's a lot harder to raise a 35-foot ladder than it was a 24-foot ladder. Even with three people, it was a concerted team effort to get it raised safely. All of us got the chance to climb it.
The main event was remedial pre-connect training and then some advanced techniques. Our pre-connected hose is set into trays on the engines. Two hundred feet of hose per tray. These trays for 1 3/4-inch hose are about 4-inches wide and the width of the engine. Four 50-foot sections with a nozzle on the end. These sections are all coupled together and laid into two rows--100-foot each row. A picture would be helpful here, but I couldn't find one that depicts the way we do it in my search of Google images. There are a lot of ways to do the loading of the hose. The right-hand section, as you are faced away from that side of the engine--has the nozzle on the bottom. This is called the Minuteman Load. The left-hand section has a hand loop laid into it about halfway through the load.
Our strategy--because I'm sure every fire department has their own--of pulling hose is to place the minuteman load onto the right shoulder and hold it there with the right hand. Pull this 100-foot section from the tray. Reach around with the left hand and grab the handhold of the second 100-foot section and pull it from the tray as you move in the direction of the fire. At about 25-feet from the engine, you should feel the tug of the hose that is already connected to the engine. Drop the hose from your left hand and grab the nozzle. Drop the right hand down to the front edge of the pile of hose on your right shoulder and grab a leaf somewhere towards the middle of the pile. Turn towards the right and drop the right shoulder dropping the 100-foot pile of hose, which continues to hold onto the nozzle with the left hand and that halfway section with your right. Spread your arms briskly to shake out the hose as much as possible. Turn and continue towards the fire dragging the hose behind you. The goal of the forward ____ (I can't remember what this is called) is to arrive the spot where you are to begin your fight of the fire with the nozzle and at least 50-feet of hose behind you in an "S" or "Z" shape ready to move forward. Somewhere from when running out of the first 50-feet of hose and when you are set at the door, call for water to charge the hose.
A reverse drop?? is where you bring the whole 100-foot section that is on the right shoulder to the point where the firefighting is to begin and drop the whole pile. Once the pile is on the ground, grab the hose near the coupling between the two 50-foot sections and drag it back towards the engine. When the hose is fully extended, bring the coupling back towards the fire to create a "W" shape with the hose. Call for water to charge the hose.
The spiral drop?? is a little more complicated to do and to explain. Starting with the 100-foot section on the right shoulder, grab the pile of hose with both hands and hold the pile together at the front as you are setting it carefully to the ground. Starting with the first loop, open it up a bit and take the next loop and place inside of the first one. Do this until all the loops are stacked inside one another. Reaching into the inner loop with both hands, open the loops to create a circle. Once the loops are open, call for water and lay the loops down so that the nozzle is on top. The set-up should allow the hose to peel off in loops as you move into the space to be defended with the nozzle.
After lunch, we moved down to the middle school to flow "big water" from the 2 1/2-inch lines and maybe climb the ladder on the truck if we have time. There is a huge difference between using 1 3/4-inch hose and using 2 1/2-inch hose. You wouldn't think that 3/4 of an inch would make that much difference until you try and control the water coming out them.
1 3/4-inch hose--one person can handle with effort
2 1/2-inch hose--two people required
I was last in line for those that wanted to climb the 75-foot ladder on the ladder truck. Worth the wait.
And, just like that, we were done with the academy.
The class 18-03
This is a link to the entire picture album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/RibJbchYps1DEQXg7
This is a sub-album with the pictures that have me in them (a bit narcissistic, I know): https://photos.app.goo.gl/KVVL33zRzdF39Lpi6
