Jeff Silver from Raleigh (NC) Ladder 1 sent in this ladder modification. They simply took a few strips of DOT reflective tape and placed them on the beams of the ladders. In addition to these markings, they still mark the balance point. This simple modification allows the ladders to be more easily seen in low light conditions. The photo below shows what a difference this idea can make. The pictures were taken by local photographer Mike Legeros and were shown on his blog.
I think it’s a great idea you will find it quicker if things turn to s**t.
Silver hitting the big time! Seriously, this is a great idea!
If only it would stay on in the ladder bed. Would work great on a rig that has a side ladder rack.
Now that is one of the brightest ideas I have seen in a while.
I did this several years ago for our balance points. I will go back and add them to the tips as well. It looks great when your at a mutual aid call and your wondering who’s ladders are who’s. Also we recently used black paint pen and added the truck designation on the white portion for quicker reference when returning ladders to trucks.
Another thing is pick an oreintation and stay consistent with all the ladders. White to the tip, Red down.
It’s been a few months and they’ve stayed on pretty well. Be sure to clean them and the tracks they slide in from time to time for sake of the decals.
We used a hair dryer after mounting the decals to help smooth down the edges.
One thing we did on ours was to place one piece of relective tape on rungs 1-4 in the center and two pieces side by side on rung 5 on the extension ladder. This will help you identify having you five rungs above the roofline easier at night. We also marked them in reverse order on the roof ladder. Single piece of reflective tape on rungs 5-2 and double on rung 1 to alert you that you were at the ridge of the roof in low visiblity situations.
i have to ask, are the gloves required to install the tape? LOL
jk, GREAT idea, will be bringing this to Capt’s attention soon.
Hahahaha, I didn’t want to ruin my nail job. Gloves not needed, we cleaned the ladders with degreaser and I forgot to take them off. Realized I had them on still, when I almost wasted one decal when it stuck to the glove.
what a “why didn’t we think of that before” moment! We painted the ladders on our trucks, when we saw it on this sight(I caught hell because of that BTW) but never thought to put on reflective tape…now I have to get on the ladder refurb!
We actually considered the orange paint, but figured it would be a little more time consuming as well as messy.
Spend a few bucks at one of your local auto parts store and BAM, there you go!
Don’t forget to do inside of the beams as well. The outside may take a beating over time but our inside tapes have stayed just like new.
Great idea
Silver, I believe you’ve found another use for medical gloves on a ladder company
Good one “Rides”!! We actually run medicals though…
took the ladders on my Eng Co did the same process on the roof ladders- but also put the reflective striping on the tip by the hooks so when you climb the roof ladder you know where the end of the ladder is if conditions arent the greatest-
We are trying this, with the addition of 1″ reflecive tape on the flat sides of the beam tips so you can also see the tips if you are walking straight at the ladder (i.e. on a roof).
We have done this as well. Another good idea is to wrap the hooks with a band of reflective tape and/or the rounded tip of the ladders. This allows companies on the opposite side of the roof to spot the ladder on the roof. It also allows a quick sweep of the flashlight by interior crews to spot the ladder protruding through a window when they are placed for egress.
We added the tape and the first night we had a working job.We tossed a 35 to the third and had superb visual of the tip even in thick smoke.Thanks for the tip.
great post…..all our front line pumpers now have tape on all their 14ft and 24ft ladders…..thanks
I know this is an old entry, but we’ve been doing basically what the authors suggests for some time:
http://www.fireengineering.com/index/articles/display/6333477503/articles/fire-engineering/health-__safety/fireground-safety/2010/06/parry-houston-safety.html