Category Archives: Fire

There is a veteran fire fighter that I’ve run across that, as is the case with many senior members, loves to quiz the rookies. One of his favorite questions is the deceptively simple “What is the most important job on the fireground?” Typically newbies stumble through a variety of reasonable answers such as “The hose team; can’t put the fire out without water.” or “Search; we have to save lives.”, but none of those are the answers the vet is looking for. After a few minutes he will always clue the kid into the correct answer. “The most important job on the fireground is the one to which you are assigned.” (more…)

There is no other way to say it; the wedge is a simple machine. Firefighters know simple when they see it and they like keeping things that way. Then it’s no wonder that the wedge, known to firefighters as the “chock” has been used for so long. There are about a million reasons why something should be held open on a fire scene. Among other things a chocked door is a point of egress/ingress, one less thing to close on a hoseline, a source of horizontal ventilation, and one less thing that can trap you. It makes sense that people try to improve upon such a useful and vital tool, but do these changes really make it any better?
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For those of you in volunteer departments, or those needing a flashing light for your personal vehicle, Galls currently has Single and Dual strobe lights on clearance. (more…)

They say that necessity is the mother of invention, and that is certainly the case with a new device designed to make moving Stokes baskets an easier task. It’s called the TURK (Turnell Universal Rescue Kart) and it’s a two wheeled device designed to make carrying equipment laden Stokes baskets, ladders and backboards a one man job. It does this by carrying up to 600 pounds of equipment through the use of a rugged aluminum frame and two 15 inch “No Flat” tires. (more…)