Sparks from cutting metal and spilled fuel don’t mix. Firefighter Scott Schermerhorn from Fairfax County Fire and Rescue emailed us about this video. Actually we need to thank his Lieutenant who showed it to him. (Thanks Lou!) It looks like the issue could have been caused by some fuel spilled on the ground (during refueling) or from a leaking fuel cap.
[googlevideo]http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4893123964719164150[/googlevideo]
This is why we need to maintain our equipment and double check ourselves. I’ve left fuel caps off equipment and had fuel or oil spill in compartments. That one extra second keeps you from having to clean up a mess, or in this case, possibly getting hurt!! Stay safe out there!!! This comment is not from Jeff@VentEnterSearch.com
Question, sortof in refference to cutting. Im on a vollie Dept. and depending on what # “in” we are, our assignment changes. So we can easily be assigned truck ops. We have alot of metal covered roofs (especially in one area) What in you guy’ opinion would be the best way to remove it? I read an article on it in Fire Engineering and it says that the easiest and safest way to remove it is to remove the top cap and then “unzip” the metal sheets from the top, down. It also said tha carbide tipped saws are dangerous because the teeth “fly off like bullets”. I was thinking K-12, but would it have enough of a bite?
http://www.metalroofcorp.com/WellAn3.jpg
The link (above) is an example of the roofing Im talking about. Thanks. Be safe.
Flip, we have a few of these roofs in our area also. We just use our standard setup for roof ventalation. Stihl Chainsaw MS 440 or the Old O44’s with a terminator Chain (Rapco industries) Sheet metal isnt a problem with this setup….Sven
Flip,
We have many of these in both newer as well as older construction techniques. Most saws available today which are set up for fire department roof operations are capable of handling light gauge metals very easily. My agency utilizes the ventmaster equipped with the Raptor Carbide tipped chain. The chain comes in a .404 pitch, .063 gauge, the largest, heaviest chain available for handheld saws. It will work as truckie942 stated with the Stihl 44 or better with appropriate bar and sprocket. We also use rotary or cutoff saws equipped with carbides. As for the carbide teeth flying off…… These saws are designed and love to be run wide open to function and operate the best. These chains and many of the blades have been designed to take very small shallow bites from the products being cut. This would be similar to a filing action Verse that of regular tree saws which take large chunks. Most often when we destroy chains and blades it is do to the user not working the saws wide open or trying to pull the saw through the cut to fast slowing the revolutions per minute. When this happens the teeth which are designed to take very small filing type chunks bury to deeply into the cut and get pulled off. When cutting with these types of chains or blades we must run them at full rpm’s and allow the saw to do the work without bogging, slowing or forcing. As far as saws when we spec them for purchase we should look for those providing higher RPM’s, the higher the RPM’s the better in many cases. Take for example the average chain saws run an average of 6000-8000 RPM’s. Saws utilized for FD operations like the Stihl 044 (13000 RPM) ventmaster (13500) and cutters edge (13500) as you can see generate very high rpm’s for this mentioned cutting effect as well as are designed more for working in environments where smoke will become an issue. We are going to be working on putting some saw demo videos as well as specs, comparisons and test. Keep visiting and hope this helps a little.
Jeff Ponds. VentEnterSearch.com
Like Jeff (not from VentEnterSeach) stated, this is a constant reminder of why we check our equipment and ourselves. The first thing one notices in the video is the liquid he is standing in (obviously fuel). Surprising that no one caught this. When doing training, someone should always be the guy double and triple checking everything. Maybe this could have been avoided. My question is… was there anything salvageable from the saw!!
I will say accixdents happen, most are avoidable. I take my hats off to his Brothers for their quick action, I will have them back me any days. Good job, From Canada.
I will say accidents happen, most are avoidable. I take my hat off to his Brothers for their quick action, I will have them back me any days. Good job, From Canada.
This captain in the video is now the training officer for the Austin, Tx Fire Dept. He is a great instructor and obviously likes to do a lot of hands on training. He actually set up a study with the University of Texas and Austin Fire Dept regarding positive pressure ventilation.
This happened to a fellow FDNY Firefighter in L-51 in the North Bronx. A defective cap or o-rig might have been the result. Just remember to check the fuel at the start of each tour.