Your backup flashlight is really not much different than a smoke detector. It’s something you may not even notice is around, but when you need it, it needs to work without fail (just like your smoke detector.) The unfortunate thing about backup flashlights is that most of us will throw one in the pocket of our gear, and never think much about. When the time comes that we need it, we reach into our pocket, turn it on, and hope or the best. Your backup flashlight needs to be treated like a piece of life safety equipment. While that may sound a bit extreme, it should at least be treated with some consideration. Obviously, we are all comfortable functioning in a zero visibility environment without a problem, but lets save that for when it has to happen, not just because we didn’t maintain our flashlight. Every one of us has had a rechargeable die within moments of it coming out of the charger. We certainly don’t always charge them within the manufacture’s recommendations. An alkaline powered backup light lessens the likelihood of being without light when this occurs. If you don’t have one, GO GET ONE!

We need to change our batteries periodically whether we use the flashlight or not. Changing the batteries once every other month is not a bad idea, or at a minimum, twice a year when the clocks change. If these batteries still have some juice, they can be re-used in less important electronic devices around the house. If nothing else, the battery compartment of your flashlight needs to be opened up and “burped” every now and then. Many of the fire department style flashlights are waterproof for obvious reasons. These flashlights tend to have sealed battery compartments in order to keep water out. An alkaline battery tends to “off gas” over time and ends up chewing the light apart from the inside out like shown in the picture below. Have you ever seen a light not work because of corroded batteries? This is what we’re talking about. The simple fix is just to open the battery compartment from time to time and let everything breathe a bit. Some of the newer or higher-end flashlights have a one-way valve in the battery compartment to prevent this from happening. However, we have on occasion, seen these valves get clogged with fireground debris and have even seen new flashlights ruined because they were not occasionally “burped.”

Any piece of battery operated equipment can and will fail without warning! This is why we need to have a plan B. With very little effort, it’s quite simple to always have a reliable flashlight on hand, and every one of us has had a moment where a little extra light could have made our jobs a whole lot easier. Work smarter not harder. Let us all take a moment to change OUR battery to ensure our plan B will work for us when needed.

Editorial note: A special thanks goes out to Lt. Rich Taylor and Lt. Brad Grainger from Winter Park (FL) Firehouse 61 for hunting down a broken flashlight and taking these pictures for us. Also, we had another post about different styles of flashlights back in September 2007 written by Lieutenant Walt Lewis from Orlando Fire titled Flashlight Wrap that would be great supplemental reading for this post.

Robbie Marsh from Montgomery County (MD) Takoma Park Station 2 sent in another interesting basement find. From the outside this part of the basement appears to have a typical basement style window. The window toward the A/B corner appears to have a common galvanized tub that surrounds the window since the ground is built up near that window. This situation is extremely common and not much of an issue.

However, the issue becomes apparent from the inside. The window is secured by a 2×4 frame, a welded metal frame, and a piece of scrap sheet metal. The 2×4 frame was secured directly into the block and the metal frame was secured to the 2×4’s. This assembly could more than likely be pried from the wall without too much of an issue. The sheet metal may be a bit more difficult, it was welded on top to a piece of pipe and secured directly into the sill at the bottom. This type of homebrew situation is certainly not impossible to defeat, but it may slow us down just enough to cause a problem. As we have seen through so many previous examples, some building owners go to great efforts to keep people out and never think of us during their “brainstorming” efforts. They get creative with their installations which just means we need to get even more creative with our methods to defeat them.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This ladder tick simply has the firefighter dropping their hook on the ground, stepping on the hook, and using the hook to butt the ladder. With a little practice, this method can be extremely effective. It’s one of those things that everyone should try a few times to see if works for them. You never know when you may be in a situation that requires its use. The video shows the firefighter using the ladder to push the hook into the desired position. That was done intentionally for demonstration in the video. With some practice, it’s easier to drop the hook closer to the actual point of deployment. Keep in mind, it’s better to drop the hook early and push it in to place since it would take too much time to move or pull the hook back into position.

When a shorter firefighter throws a ladder greater than the 14, its more difficult to “get under” the ladder to get it rotated into position. The hook gives the advantage since leverage is not on their side. Throwing a ladder is a classic example of a class 3 lever. The butt of the ladder is the fulcrum, the firefighter is the effort, and the weight of the length of ladder is the load. Shorter firefighters have to work harder to throw a ladder because their height limits the location where the force is applied. Longer ladders have more weight beyond the point of effort (the firefighter). While throwing the ladder, this makes the ladder seem much heavier for the shorter person. Remember, anytime you change the location of any of the three points of a lever (fulcrum, force or effort, weight or load) you change the mechanical advantage. So again, it pays to work smarter not harder. A simple trick like this solves the problem and gets the ladder into position without extra effort.

A special thanks goes out to Dan for sharing and Rob Petroff from Orlando (FL) Firehouse 11 for demonstrating this ladder trick for us. Dan has a few more ideas that we will be featuring in the near future.

Any time a window covering is encountered whether insignificant like this, or a real obstruction, it needs to be removed early in the operation. We never want to be in a situation of having a brother trapped behind an obstruction that should have been removed earlier. Besides, taking a window means TAKING THE ENTIRE WINDOW! That means everything: glass, sash, the works. This would include bars like this as well. So clear the window, and don’t ever be fooled by insignificant security like this.

Gabriel Angemi from Camden (NJ) Rescue 1 sent in these photos of something he and the brothers of Rescue 1 came across on a fire run. This door was fortified for something we don’t normally encounter… This door was hardened to keep people in!  Click here to see the full write-up on the door and how Rescue 1 attacked it.

The purpose of the door is to provide fire and smoke separation in fire rated walls and corridors (hallways.) These doors reside on an angled track that allows gravity to close the door automatically. The doors are held open either by a fusible link (as shown in the picture below), or electromagnetic fire alarm interface. When heat builds up or the fire alarm activates these doors close pretty quickly, we would say that they slam shut but we’re sure someone would correct us on that. These doors are typically quite heavy and take some effort to open back up. Remember they are weighted so gravity closes them…

Obviously the problem is that these doors could close behind us and cut off our primary means of egress. They could also slam shut and kink or possibly even sever the engine company’s umbilical cord (hose line) …Lighten up fellas, just kidding about the umbilical cord thing. We have plans to shoot some video of one of these doors in operation and will post a follow-up in the somewhat near future.

As with everything else in the fire service there is an NFPA standard (NFPA 80) that covers the installation, inspection, and everything else concerning these doors. So they are definitely allowable by code. One specific purpose these doors are used for is to provide fire separation in openings greater than 8 feet wide. Not the case in this particular installation. Eight feet is the magic number that can no longer be protected by standard set of double swinging fire doors. Fortunately some of the larger sliding doors may actually have a smaller egress door present to allow someone to pass through the larger door once it slides into place. It won’t help with the hose line issue, but at least it may allow us to get out easier. However this egress option is not very common.

A quick discussion with the inspectors in your fire prevention bureau may be very helpful in locating these doors in your area. Odds are they know where most of them are. However don’t be fooled if they don’t know of any off hand, they may still be out there. The inspectors may not originally think much about our concerns in operating in building that contain these doors. Take the time to explain to they why it’s important for us to know about them, and you’d be surprised with how quickly they alert you to them in the future.

On a related note, many firefighters know of the import role that the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) has in the fire service. They do an amazing amount of research to make our jobs safer and more efficient. However, most probably didn’t know (we didn’t) that NIST actually has their own fire department that covers the NIST campus. We thought it was worth mentioning.