Captain Tim Herman from Garner (NC) Engine 1 sent in these photos of something he and his crew discovered during some pre-planning of their area.
This building owner decided to put razor wire along the roof line in the rear of the building. This is definitely something we could get past, but probably nothing we would normally expect to find.
Anytime you are confronted with something out of the ordinary like this, we always advocate stepping back for a second, gathering your thoughts, and getting the big picture.
Why deal with the wire if you don’t have to? Ladder the side of the building and get the job done.
The first one, nice. I would look at this step back a say to myself was this guy a moron? But it is nice to see pre-planning happening. Observing the buildings in your area is a good thing to pratice this way at 3 in the morning you dont come across this and get hurt. Be safe god bless.
If I saw this I would be thinking: “What else did this guy do and why?” what else does he have on the roof that we can’t see. I would do some checking into this one for sure.
This is pretty common on inner city taxpayers. The razor wire has nothing to do with laddering. It helps prevent the would be criminal from utilizing the building’s features and objects (ie. dumpsters, sheds, fences)near the building to scale the wall high enough to grab the roof edge and pull themselves up.
Also, how about thinking what this guy has inside the building that could affect our operations.
BE SAFE!
The reason that the other wall does not have the razor wire because apparently nothing on or near the building for someone to climb up.
Like Jamie said.
It would imply that entry to the building may be easy from the roof. There may be sky-lights, vents or a utility structures that compromise the roof. This may be something to keep in mind depending on the nature of the call, ie alarm bells, no key holder present/responding or with regards to fire spread or ventilation.
Or I post a picture showing the wires…gone.
😉
You wouldn’t do that would you??
This is all over the place in Camden NJ. Im sure its everywhere in cities with high crime rates.
I’m a Fire Captain for California Dept. of Corrections, I work at a prison, sometimes we may have to rescue a gaurd from the gun walk which has simular razor wire. We double layered a thick canvas salvage cover and used that as edge protection. So if you had no choice but to traverse the wires and you don’t have time to cut them, this is one way to protect yourself and your crew. Be safe! Stay low and let it blow!
Guard– have to correct my typo.
Be extra careful at night…the wire will not stand out as it does during the day!!!
If you opt to cut it, watch for any spring back!!!
I swore I was staying outta this one…but. Extend your ladder over the wire and tie off the bottom. Use a roof or attic ladder, tied to the ground ladder, to descend to the roof. It’s in the book. You could also do a gin pole, possibly. P.S. We have a Snorkel so problem solved..raise upper, raise lower, lower upper and you’re on.(Snorkel people will get that)
wow people are thinking way to hard about this why cut it if you can go around it. simple think smart and quick
Thank you truck402. it would be much faster and easier to place a ground ladder up on the wall to the left of the picture (near the door but not directly over it) or, put one up on the far back wall on the right side of the photo and go up, around, and back down. It appears that either method would all but eliminate the need to deal with the wires. My problem with this is what happens when we all need to get off of that roof in a hurry. Add a decent smoke condition to this at night time and this becomes a real big problem.
There is so much of this in the ghettos they call it “ghetto ivy”.
That is something I never heard of, “Ghetto Ivy” I like that.
Haaaaaaa oh “ghetto Ivy” you ever make the roof to be met by a pissed off guard dog??? Now that sucks big time!!! We had milk bones in the rig to try and make friends. By the way, most of the time it does not work so don’t bother.
Yeah, cut it….let me know how that goes.
A halligan to the head will usually stop any dog or roof alarm! 🙂
Just don’t go near it. Screw the building until you can get there safely. Where are half of you guys from that you’ve never seen razor wire on a building? Damn I must be a city geek.