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Here’s a real simple and effective time saver. Believe it or not it each ladder has a different balance point. For example, a roof ladder is not balanced exactly in the middle; the hooks add enough weight to affect the balance point. A simple stripe of paint or reflective tape at the balance point eliminates the guess work. Who wants to take the time to count rungs…Just place the mark on your shoulder and the ladder is perfectly balanced every time.
Pictured above is a 14 and a 24 placed next to each other, you can see in the photo that the 14’s balance point is closer to the tip due to the weight of the hooks.
Another tip is to use different colored stripes (or combination of stripes) for each unit. It’s easier to distinguish which ladder is which when multiple units have thrown ladders.-Jimm-
Excellent idea. This comes in real handy for the outside truck team who is responsible for throwing ladders for VES or securing a secondary means of egress. The outside person can pull out the ladder to its mark, gather his tools, put his shoulder through, and pull the ladder out the rest of the way. It saves time and energy. It comes in handy too when the ladder needs to be moved to different locations for VES. Instead of guessing, it’s done for you. Work smarter not harder. Great site, keep up the great info.
Jimm,
Great tip…we have been doing this in Castle Rock (CO) for sometime and it works great. The color coding for the unit has been awesome for retreiving tools after a fire or incident. Makes it easy to pick up “your” stuff.
Nice work!!
Just as Matt mentioned, most of the companies with Lake County Fire (FL) have some sort of mark on thier ladders. Be it reflective tape or just plain old spray paint. The company color coding is great as well. We all thought it was a bonehead idea until taking up from the first job after implementation! Grab your stuff and leave!
In my department some rigs use ems headbead pads with tape. We will post pics soon. hhhhmmmmmmmm I knew we had this stuff for a reason……………jp
In Winter Haven, we have never thought of putting a mark on the balance point,but we will be very soon.Every loose piece of equipment has a sticker somewhere on it that is silver with a different border and letters.It simply says Property of the City of Winter Haven.Each color corresponds to a specific truck.A red sticker is rescue,yellow is E4,green E1 etc.
Captain Champo from FDNY gave a great idea for this exact topic. Place your company numbers on the outside of the beams for the balance points. Looks great and everyone knows which company was the first ones there! Also, if you make the paper, it’s great company props!
Ciampo also posed the question of why wagons usually carry the roof ladder on the outside, while the extension ladder remains on the inside. His theory is that if we roll up with people hanging from balconies, windows, etc., we must first remove the roof ladder, set it down, and then remove the extention ladder. Why not put the ladder we’ll need for rescues on the outside, hence saving valuable time. Makes sense. Thanks “Champ”
Fireman2094,
Good points. I believe this to be a good concept but your first run territory should dictate which is first. In NY City many of the buildings and pd’s would require this initially. In my first due most of the structures are more conducive to a 16 ft straight and both members of our outside truck can deploy both 16’s rapidly and with less energy expenditure conserving for VES operations. Also many of the pd’s in our first are single story which a 16 is great for accessing the roof. Thanks for the input and passing on this information.
On my engine,a 24’extension ladder will not fit on the outside with the roof ladder inside.Its the way our brackets are designed.If push came to shove,we carry a folding attic ladder above the other 2 so we could carry both if we needed the at the same time.
According to Champ and others “in the know” the reason apparatus manufacturers generally use brackets that will only accomodate the 24 on the inside is that they’re cheaper. Ya know, the same reason the “tool package” your chief bought with the new truck came with a 6 lb. axe. Goes to putting some real thought into what you spec. for a truck.
Lt. Mike Ciampo also has several excellent short truck co. tips articles in Fire Engineering over the past few years… search the archives for more good stuff. Also check out Capt. Mike Dugan’s truck co. stuff in Firehouse & on FH.com. These guys do alot of teaching together and are a really great resource for real-world skills and street-smart efficency.
Great discussions! It’s a good thing I spelled his last name wrong!
We also put the lenghts on both ends of our ladders for ease of identity, as well as the marks for balance. good stuff.
To take an excellent, time-saving trick a step further, consider taking a different colored tape (or marking medium) and taping up the beams where the ladder rests on the brackets when stored (if applicable). This allows members to put the ladder back on the rack in the correct position on the first shot, rather than time-consuming and embarrassing ‘repositioning’ forward a rung, back a rung, etc.