Which do you prefer? Smoothbore or Automatic ?

[FF McDonald]

Just curious --

Was speaking to a friend of mine the other day -- He is a firefighter with a FD north of Houston, and asked him why the only smoothbore nozzles they carried were for a 2 1/2" hose. I was curious as to whether or not they used smoothbore nozzles on any of their handlines. He told me that smoothbores were an East Coast thing... and that they didn't do that in Texas.

I don't want everyone to argue what is more effective- smoothbore or automatic nozzles -- I just want to know:

1. What your Fire Department uses?

2. Which do you prefer?

3. What tactics you use -- do your tactics change if you are using a smoothbore vs. an automatic nozzle.


Waiting to hear your opinions......

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Marc

"In Omnia Paratus"

-- The opinions presented here are my own; and are not those of any organization that I belong to, or work for.

[eng10drvr]

We use smooth bore on a 1 3/4" and a 2 1/2" and fog nozzles on our other 2 lines. It depends on the situation on which line I use.Room and content and small fires I use the 1 3/4" fog,heavy fire I will use the 1 3/4" or 2 1/2" smooth bore.

[Turk II]

This post could have easily been about whether to use a straight cutter or curved cutter during an extrication... smoothbore, fog, and combination nozzles all have their places on a fire scene.

Smoothbore nozzles are good for reach or penetration - I prefere a smoothbore for heavy fire, or fully involved rooms.

Combination/Fog nozzles have the ability (or disadvantage depending on the situation) of introducing large amounts of air into the fire... good during car fires, for example, when attempting to keep an engine compartment fire away from the passenger compartment or trunk. Wouldn't recommend using a fog pattern for an interior attack though. (duh?) Good way to receive a steam burn...

- Turk

[FF McDonald]

Guys --

It's real simple. There's three questions listed above. Answer those, and interject some opinion on you departments tactics, and your likes and dislikes.

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Marc

"In Omnia Paratus"

-- The opinions presented here are my own; and are not those of any organization that I belong to, or work for.

[This message has been edited by FF McDonald (edited 01-23-2001).]

[TCFire]

We use fog or automatic nozzles on all handlines as well as our pre-piped deluge on our attack pumper. I like the versatility of the fog nozzle, but you have to know the do's and dont's to keep yourself out of trouble. If you've got the nozzle on wide or medium fog pattern by mistake, and you're getting first water on the fire, you've just made life a little more difficult for yourself. We have smooth bores available on all trucks as well as stacked tips for the deluge guns. We'll only use the smooth bores in specific situations where the reach and penetration is needed (barn fire with lots of hay or equipment inside, etc). Your typical room and contents fire can be handled with a fog nozzle with no problem.

[FyredUp]

Per your numbered questions:

1)We use a break-a-part nozzle that has a low pressure fog tip that flows 200 gpm at 75 psi. If you spin off the tip you have a 1 1/4" smoothbore nozzle. We use 2 inch hose.

2)If it was entirely up to me we would start with a 15/16" smooth bore and have the 1 1/4" behind it still. The fog nozzles would still be on the engine for use at the officer's discretion.

3) We use a straight stream for most interior fire attack even with the fog tip in place. Base of the fire, brief sweep of the ceiling if needed. Less steam and less nasty black crap from the ceiling brought down on us.

Take care and stay safe,

FyredUp

[ENGINE18-3]

Jesus a little testy there Marc. But any way,
1. All TFTs on every line. Except the ladder pipe and the deluge guns.
2. Last time I used a smoothbore was in the Academy. So I gotta go with a TFT.
3. Go inside and put the fire out.


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The statements above are my own opinions

FF Greg Grudzinski
Oaklyn Fire Dept.
Station 18-3

[FF McDonald]

Thanks Greg. I knew I could count on you.

(Greg is my room mate at college.)

NO. I am not testy.



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Marc

"In Omnia Paratus"

-- The opinions presented here are my own; and are not those of any organization that I belong to, or work for.

[ENGINE18-3]

Yeah, SURE your not.

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The statements above are my own opinions

FF Greg Grudzinski
Oaklyn Fire Dept.
Station 18-3

[McCall]

Like, a lot of folks, we use TFT on all of our nozzles. We do keep some smoothbores on hand, in the event of a problem.

Terry McCall
Marbletown Fire Department

**** Disclaimer: The views expressed are my own and do not reflect on the SOP's or any other regulations of my respective departments ****