With all the talk around the fire service today about the knowledge and expertise the “old-heads” take with them when they retire, we thought it might be a good idea to pick their brains about little “tricks of the trade” they have learned throughout their careers. Below is a compilation of tricks of the trade, ideas that we have taught to others and practice ourselves. Some of them were homegrown in our departments, and some of them have been passed on to us. Although we may not know whom to credit for some of these ideas, they deserve to be passed along.
Prior to using any of these ideas, make sure they are approved by your department’s administration. Run them by your officer and talk about them around the kitchen table. Also, modifying tools or using them for any purpose for which they are not designed can void the warranty and may expose firefighters to injury.
The pointers below concern operations on the roof or getting to the roof. One of the first things vent team members have to determine is the type of roof on which they are going to work.
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