oops!

[Captain Gonzo]

Has anyone ever accidentally laid a line while going to a call?

This happened to my Department yesterday. Engine 1 was responding to a fire alarm activation at the Kane Self Storage facility on Bolton Street. They hit a bump in the road, which caused the hydrant gates to come off the truck, and they laid 1600 feet of 3" line up Route 85...at 8:00 AM...rush hour.

There was no other fire apparatus behind Engine 1, and they did not see the hose come off the truck. The Police reported that Engine 1 lost it's line. A second engine was dispatched to cover Engine 1 while they turned around to retrieve their hose. Traffic was tied up for a while.

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And on the eighth day...God created Firefighters!
Captain Gonzo

[DED1645]

Actually Capt. I can say that this has happened to my station in the past. We have between 2 engine 3000' of 5". 1500 on each. And we have accidentally dropped 1500', but it was luckly on a side road and not a major roadway. We also in a mutual aid call dropped 1500' from a dead hydrant that wasn't marked. We had to special call our second engine to lay in from a good hydrant.

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David DeCant
Firefighter/NREMT-P
New Jersey, USA
Career or volunteer we are all brothers. Just feel good for the good you do for others.

[nomad1085]

hehehehehe. That will happen to every department and everyone eventually. If it isn't happening to your dept, laugh your *** off, but keep in mind, it will happen to you eventually.

Matt

[AVF&R452]

Capt.

We lost 500' of 5" with a manifold down the centerline of the highway while responding to a woods fire a few years back. Straightest hoselay I've ever seen. Manifold didn't fare too well.

I've heard tell of an engine company in a nameless Virginia city that lost 1500' of 5' on the interstate while returning from a call. A while later the batallion chief calls and asks them where their hose is. They answer "On the back of the engine". BC says "You better check again, I'm out here on the interstate looking at it, Come on out here and pick it up. I suspect that the language may have been a little more colorful.

I saw a picture of a crosslay that came loose and the nozzle got wedged between the rear tires. NOT GOOD!!!!! Don't try this at home!!!!


Sounds like nothing hurt but pride!!


Jim

[JAMESBENNETT]

I think I have told this story before, but here it goes anyway.

We had just finished putting all the equipment on our new engine in November of "98" and we were all standing around talking about how we were ready to put it to the test! Just then we caught an alarm for a car fire at Taco-Bell a couple of miles from the house. We jumped in and away we went. About a mile from Taco-Bell we heard a B.P.D. officer ask us if the hydrant at Taco-Bell was out of service. We were so proud of responding in the new truck that we never saw the hose come off. Lucky for us we only laid 500' of the 1500' that we had just put on the truck not two hours before. Engine-1 covered the alarm while we put the hose back on the truck. For a month after that every time the chief would check in route he would advise, "Chief-1 in route, Engine-3 bring your water from the station!"

The good part was we had been using 4" supply until we got this truck, and we had never laid 5", so we didn't know if would be any different. I am here to tell you that 5" lay's real well at 35 mph.

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SERVING FOR PRIDE
PROUD TO SERVE!

[Company40]

A neighboring department responed to a structure fire and layed about 1000' of 5". After packing the hose on, the truck returned to the station. About halfway there, the 5" came off the truck. The hosebed had to be loaded a second time that day. Not very fun.

[Fire Line]

We haven't laid hose entroute to a fire. I laid 1000' of 4 inch along the fog line while returning to the hall after practice. Luckily there was a couple of guys still at the hall so I didn't have to broadcast over the radio for help. On the upside we got a new fire fighter out of it and I won the DUMB LUCK award.

[Dalmatian90]

Someone forgot to tell one of our pump operators that there was a problem with the hydraulics on our Engine with the hose reel.

The main primer is hydraulic powered and was "out of service" till a stuck valve could be replaced -- we where to use the electric primer instead.

He kept pulling the control for hydraulic powered primer...and spun 2500' of 5" hose off the reel and into a jumble behind the truck while trying to figure out why he wasn't pulling a prime...

[Davidjb]

While enroute to a chimney fire (2nd due piece)with possible extension last year command ordered me to tag the hydrant on my way in, so we bagged what I thought was the last one, 800 feet later I found out there was a hydrant right in front of the residence.
Live and learn!

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David Brooks,
FFII, Driver/Op, NRFR
Newmarket Fire & Rescue
Newmarket, New Hampshire
www.NewmarketNH.com/fire
(All opinions are my own)

[Aerial 131]

Capt G., you are making me have a relapse of a very bad nightmare.

About 3 years ago, I worked a shift where we had a thunderstorm come through the Hanford Site at about 0300 hours and the lighting caused a pretty much site wide shutdown of the electrical system. The wind was blowing at about 50++ mph.

This in turn caused about 50-70 trouble condition(s) alarms, box alarms, and whatever else could have happened.

After being out with 2 engine companies, 2 medics, and the BC we got everything running again around 0530. Great, off to station we go.

Got back to the station and we get a call from the local law enforcement about some hose laying in the middle of the road.

What hose I ask, the dispatcher says the large yellow rubber hose in the middle road on 4th Street.

I run to the back of our 1993 Pierce 65' Telesquirt thinking no way this could never happed to me and then see the most empty bed of 5" LDH I have ever seen. 1000' of hose gone without a sound, spark on pavement, or anything.

I then got the not so pleasant duty of waking everyone back up, getting back out to the "scene", rolling up all that hose, loading it into a pick-up truck, going back to the station and reloading the bed with new hose, just in time for the next shift to come in around 0730.

As near as we can figure we went over a railroad crossing, bumped the hydrant condition loose and the wind and weight did the rest.

I laughed then and I still laugh about it now, OH I Hate The Thought.

Zimm

[Mike DeVuono]

Been there...Done that!!!



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Mike DeVuono

"There are few atheists inside a burning building."

These are my opinions and not those of my department.

[BucksEng91]

Been there...done that...with Mike D.

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J. Black

The opinions expressed are mine and mine alone and may not reflect those of any organization with which I am associated.

[SFD-129-3]

We had a habit of loosing our new 1-3/4" from the crosslays. The used 1-3/4" would stay no problem, I guess the new just wasn't used enough yet!

[dtj]

been there ... done that ... on the airport flight line ... blamed it on the other shift for racking the hose.

[This message has been edited by dtj (edited 12-15-2000).]

[Capt68]

About 2 years ago a neighboring department put their new engine in-service. The next day we caught a worker and called for their engine to make an assist. As they called en-Route they said, "Engine 203 Pride of the Fleet is responding". A minute later you heard them call "Engine 203 start the next in Engine we lost all of our Five inch." .... oops

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62 Engine 67 Truck