East Coast Vs West Coast

[FP&LS Guy]

I was reading the article about the new SFFD chief. He made an interesting comment.

Quote from article:
Trevino characterized the throwback culture he encountered as "the only east coast fire department that happens to be on the west coast."

Anyone have any comments regarding what exactly the differences are between east coast and west coast fire departments?

[Box2565]

I've heard the same statement made about the SFFD before. I was only there once (make the trip if you can, a great town to visit)but in conversations there and with folks at FDIC over the years, here is what I think that statement means.

Like many Northeastern U.S. towns, San Francisco is small in size, and very heavily congested. A fire in a single dwelling can easily become a fire in 2 or 3 buildings.

The SFFD places greater emphasis on truck work and has a higher ratio of engine companies to truck companies than many towns and also staffed there ladder companies better than many departments. This is far more common in the Northeast and Midwest.

I once had a conversation (late 80's) with a guy from the Los Angeles area. He said that SFFD ran rescue companies, which he believed weren't necessary. He felt that any heavy rescue work could be handled by the truck.

Rescue companies were not popular on the west coast at that time, but on the Eastern Seaboard they were plentiful.

These are just a couple of examples that come to mind. Maybe one of the SFFD firefighters can shed some more light, and maybe even let me know if I made any sense!

Take care.

[truck12tillerman]

Why?
1) Leather Helmets - not usually found on the west coast

2) Tactics - other than LA and Oakland, California FD's are not known for being very agressive

3) Tradition - We are VERY into the whole years of tradition/no progress thing ;-)

4) Good Truck Work - Again, other than Oakland and LA, California FD's do not place very much emphasis on truck work.

5) Our building construction is much older than most of California and is much closer to many of the rust belt cities than any where in California.

We just have much more in common with FDNY etc than LA county or other such FD.

[091101]

Interesting stuff. Good topic. I've heard similar references too over the years. Visually the SFFD reminds me alot of NE and midwest city FDs.

Straight bore nozzles too, Tillerman?

PRAY FOR OUR FALLEN.

[Just a new name]

I agree. It is very much like a east coast department. The construction is very similar to what we have here in the north east. Also like what you said with the leather helmets, rescue co's, and ladder work. I have always been a fan of SFFD.

[the7tower]

Only Oakland and San Francisco are agreessive interior fire departmetns and do heavy truck work???

[ 11-29-2001: Message edited by: the7tower ]

[truck12tillerman]

wait a sec. maybe I didnt make myself clear.
I am not dogging LA City. I put up there that LAFD has more of a "east Coast way of doing things". They are well known for their truck tactics. However, they wear that damn wildland gear and phoenix helmets, not a real east coast thing to be doing. LA County only has 18 (or 20) trucks for their 200+ engines, not a very good ratio.

As far as San Jose (Im not very familiar with San Diego)I know how bad their staffing is, which really limits your ability to be Aggressive. With 3 man companies, very few places can be a GOOD interior attack fire department. Now OF COURSE there are exceptions, so please don't take offense to what I am saying, I'm just a Fireman in "The City" with a few years under his belt.

[dz]

I went to a class that was of firefighters LODD, there were people from the east coast and west coast. The way firefighters on the east coast dose bussiness is diffrent. I would like to try doing bussiness like that but being on the west coast I don't think it would be recieved that well. Oh well. Which brings me to my next point. the firefighter. I feel there are 2 types of firefighter in the world. One: that loves there job, and dose it well. Two: the one that loves the badge. You know the one !! They were a loser all there life, now they have a badge so they are someone now. I guess thats why we have a diffrents of opoinions here. We have the pride, to stand up for our job and the way we do it is the best. So east coast or west coast and all point in between. BE THE BEST FIREFIGHTER YOU CAN BE.

thanks for letting me share my opionion.
TAKE CARE AND BE SAFE.

dz.

[BucksEng91]

The rate of LODDs, tragically enough, can also be directly correllated to interior aggressiveness.

You don't get many LODDs when you stand around outside.

[Just a new name]

I was not knocking LA or LA county. I was born and raised there. Both are GREAT departments and I have the utmost respect for the both of them. That was out of line to bring up LODDs. That was a dumb comment. If you are going to bring up something like that why don't you look at statistics then. LA and the county are very large departments. Combined they STILL several thousands short of FDNY. 3rd largest in the US, yes, but it is a long jump from 1 to 2. You want the best truck co. opreation in the country, go visit Boston. Stone age? right sure what ever you say. The only thing old is the departments and the citys out here. Old with long histories.

[BucksEng91]

the7tower -

Nice commentary. I hope for your sake that you're a 15 year old fire explorer, because if you're an adult and made those comments about LODDs...wow, bro.

That old adage about 'if people think you're a fool, don't open your mouth and remove all doubt' comes to mind.

Also, why does your location say "Southeast", yet you talk about being "out here", i.e. the West Coast?

Hmmm...troll alert...troll alert!



[ 11-25-2001: Message edited by: BucksEng91 ]

[NozzleHog]

The LODD comment was way out of line, a truly ignorant comment.

One man's "stone age" department is another man's "old school" department complete with centuries of proud tradition, a history of heavy fire duty, a high value placed on aggressive interior firefighting and balls to the wall attitude.

Then there is the fire problem in east coast cities which has to do with generally older construction, declining economies, higher population density, and decaying downtown areas.

On a lighter note, I wouldn't want to knock the left coast brothers but let's consider the cultural differences:

We on the east coast don't get too many of those spectacular "urban/wildland interface" something or other fires. On the other hand, we don't burn down entire neighboorhoods without ever making an interior attack. Oh, and we don't consider flying over in an airplane and dumping that red stuff on the fire an aggressive tactic.

We don't wear that bright yellow lightweight gear, or those funny looking plastic helmets. We would like to know your secret for keeping then so clean though.

We tend to think of ourselves as firemen and resist having everyone be a paramedic but then again we never had Johnny and Roy.

We probably have fewer Berkeley educated commie pinko liberal vegetarians.

We know the west coast "invented" ICS but guess what? Some east coast cities depts had been doing that for decades before you gave it a name.

Hollywood, wow! Do you think us east coast dinosaurs will ever be back in style?

[ 11-25-2001: Message edited by: NozzleHog ]

[the7tower]

They don;t wear wildland gear for structure firefighting unless it is during a wildland fire.

[ 11-29-2001: Message edited by: the7tower ]

[SDFDD5]

I agree on the differences of East coast vs West coast but I put LA City and County and the smaller Departments in the surrounding areas in that mind set. We in San Diego City still wear traditional helmets (after a short mistake about 15 years ago)Most of our city is urban with out-laying areas being rural. The medic thing we have no choice on and we run 4 man crews, pump and truck. About 50% of our guys have an East cost mentality on firefighting. I'm orig from Boston. Most of us would rather go back to "the stone age" than be like LA. We have about 1200 uniformed members. A note to my west coast brothers...don't throw out tradition because it's old school, maybe it's been around for so long because it works the best. Leather Forever on the West Coast and don't forget about the 2 1/2!

[SDFDD5]

And Bucks, concerning your comment on "standing around outside". You are misinformed. Under that pretext I would deduce that all you guys go on would be barn fires and vehicle vs cow calls. And then I would jump to the conclusion of vollies being non-professional beer swilling wanna-bes. However those are not my opinions of your town, because I have never been there or see you work. So please, before you interject your opinion on a subject do a little research. And if you're ever out by San Diego I'd be happy to arange a ride-along so you could be better informed.