Station Life: Brush 1

Most fire apparatus you see on the road are much bigger than you average car or truck.  They are built this way to carry all of the tools and water needed to perform necessary tasks on the fire ground.  There are times, however, where having a smaller, more agile apparatus proves beneficial.  Brentwood Fire and Rescue Brush 1 is a heavy duty pick-up with a water tank, pump and specialized equipment for extinguishing grass and brush fires.  As you can imagine, a full sized fire engine would be less than ideal for climbing the hills of Middle Tennessee, so smaller trucks equipped with 4wd are ideal to reach these isolated areas.

Brush 1 resides at Station 4 and is operated by a firefighter from E4 in the event of a brush or grass fire.

Brush 1 is set up with four wheel drive, a heavy duty skid plate and a winch for times when access to a fire is difficult.

This integrated hose reel is one of the most important pieces of equipment on Brush 1. 200 feet of hose sits on top of a 250 gallon water tank.  The hose is wrapped on an electrically controlled reel that allows it to be quickly deployed and operated by one firefighter.

The pump panel, located at the tailgate of the truck for easy access, controls the hose pressure and foam proportioner.

The black handle in this picture is the primer for the pump.  Because Brush 1 often operates off the roadway firefighters may have to suction water out of a stream, retention pond, or even a pool to refill the water tank. The manual handle is much more rugged than the electrical motor typically found on fire apparatus.  

The blue object in this picture is special hard hose that is used for drafting.  As mentioned before firefighters may have to refill Brush 1’s tank with water from a variety of sources; this capability allows Brush 1 to be a self-sufficient piece of equipment when fire hydrants are not available.

These are three different types of fire suppression equipment located on Brush 1.  The hose on the left is from the hose reel, the hose in the middle can be connected straight one of the pump discharges and the object on the right is a water pack.  A firefighter would fill the water pack with water, place it on their back and then use the simple discharge system(much like a super soaker water gun) to extinguish small fires or hotspots.

Pictured here is the equipment bag that carries the different hose appliances for Brush 1.  The equipment bag carries different hose fittings and reducers along with some different nozzles.  The yellow nozzle in the picture is used for foam application.  Two water discharges are also visible in this picture, located to the right of the pump control panel.

To increase the efficiency of the water Brush 1 carries, this apparatus is also equipped with a 30 gallon foam tank and 3 buckets of additional foam.  Foam allows the water to soak deeper into larger burning materials, allowing faster extinguishment.

Every square inch of bed space on Brush 1 is filled with specialized equipment

Brush 1 carries several specialized wildland firefighting tools.  The tool on the left is called a Pulaski tool.  The Pulaski tool is used for chopping wood as well as creating a fire break.  The tool in the middle is commonly called a fire rake.  This tool allows a firefighter to easily move light fuels (i.e. Small sticks or leaves) to create a firebreak.  The McLeod tool is located on the right.  The McLeod tool is a combination of a rake and a hoe.  

Brush 1 in its natural habitat!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fire Chief's Briefing for June 29 through July 4, 2013

Here is a summary of Brentwood Fire and Rescue’s emergency responses for the period of June 29 through July 4, 2013.

We responded to 35 emergency calls for service.

These calls can be broken down into the following categories:

Fire: 1

EMS/Rescue: 22

Hazardous Condition: 1

Service Call: 3

Good Intent: 7

False Call: 1

Here is an overview of significant events from this period’s activities:

Saturday, June 29 at approximately 6:36 am:

E1 was dispatched on a medical call for an unconscious patient.  Initial dispatch information indicated that a person had become unconscious and CPR was in progress.  E1 arrived on scene and found one patient in the street with CPR being performed by a bystander.  Patient was found to be not breathing and without a pulse.  E1 personnel immediately took over CPR and applied the AED to the patient.  EMS arrived on scene and patient care continued.  The patient was shocked by the AED and CPR continued.  Patient soon began breathing on their own and was then loaded into the EMS unit for transport to an area hospital.  One firefighter from E1 rode along with EMS to assist with patient care.  The patient was able to communicate with EMS personnel by the time they arrived at the hospital.  Once EMS left the scene E1 returned to service and quarters.

 

Saturday, June 29 at approximately 08:53 am:

E4 was dispatched on an outside investigation in a residential area.  Initial dispatch information indicated that there was a leaking gas line at a construction site.  E4 arrived on scene and was able to locate the ruptured line due to the sound and smell it was producing.  E4 personnel secured the gas line and prevented it from leaking more.  E4 advised dispatch to contact the utility company and have them respond to the scene to repair the leak.  After further investigation it was found that the gas leak was caused by a piece of construction equipment.  Once the utility company arrived on scene E4 returned to service and quarters. 

Monday, July 1 at approximately 7:52 pm:

E2 was dispatched on a medical call for trauma.  Initial dispatch information indicated a patient was injured in a saw accident.  E2 arrived on scene and immediately began providing patient care including bleeding control.  EMS arrived on scene and E2 personnel assisted in stabilizing the near amputation and loading the patient into the EMS unit.  Once EMS transported the patient E2 returned to service and quarters. 

Tuesday, July 2 at approximately 4:51 pm:

E2 was dispatched on a report of a car fire.  Initial dispatch information indicated a vehicle was on fire the shoulder of I-65.  E2 arrived on scene to find a truck pulling a trailer with no obvious fire.  The occupant of the vehicle stated that a fire had started near the rear tires but they were able to use extinguishers to put it out.  E2 investigated the area of origin and found that gear fluid had leaked causing a rear axle area to ignite.  E2 determined there were not hazards present and returned to service. 

Station Life: Hose Testing

You may have noticed Brentwood Fire and Rescue’s trucks occupying parking lots around the city with their hoses stretch out, even though nothing seemed to be on fire and nobody was spraying any water. Most likely what you were witnessing was annual hose testing. Every year all of the department’s hose must be accounted for, catalogued and pressure tested. While the process is fairly straightforward, it is quite labor intensive as each piece of hose must be deployed and closely inspected before being loaded back onto the truck or hose rack it came off. Recently, BFR E1’s crew tested all of the 4 inch, or supply hose, that it carries. This is the biggest hose that BFR utilizes, and its purpose is to connect the truck to the fire hydrant so that it won’t run out of water at a fire scene.

 

The first piece of hose is pulled off the truck and laid on the ground. Don’t mind the school bus; this round of testing was performed in an otherwise empty parking lot at Brentwood High School on a Sunday morning.

 

Next, the driver is instructed to drive forward slowly. The hose is neatly deployed on the ground in a straight line. This process is very similar to how the hose would be deployed at a structure fire.

Once all the hose being tested is laid out, each piece is catalogued by recording its unique number on a hose record form. This form tracks which hose was tested, when, by who as well as which apparatus the hose is on.

 

Each coupling is marked with the current year. This eliminates any doubt that the hose has been tested this year.

 

Supply hose in action; the next step is to ‘charge’ the hose with water, which requires a fire hydrant connection.

 

Once the hose is full, the air must be bled off before the test can begin. The hose will be pressurized, and while air compresses under pressure, water does not. If air was left in the hose it could cause ruptures or inaccurate results.

The pressure in the line is increased to 250 PSI, higher than what is generally used in firefighting operations. This pressure will be maintained for 5 minutes. During this time, firefighters will ‘walk the hose’, inspecting it for leaks, bursts, bubbles bulges or any other sign of damage.

The hose on the left has failed; it is bulging and can no longer be trusted in an emergency. Looking at the coupling, it becomes obvious that this hose is several years old due the wear and tear on it as well as the numerous years of hose testing dates recorded on it.

Once the five minutes are up, the pressure is reduced to zero and the excess water must be released from the hose.

Once the pressure has been sufficiently reduced, each section of hose must be uncoupled and fully drained before being reloaded on the fire apparatus.

 

Any hose that fails the test is rolled and loaded into the back of the station’s squad. Back at the fire station this hose will be tagged as being out of service. At the end of hose testing, any damaged hose that can be repaired is, while hose beyond repair is taken out of the system and discarded.

 

This is probably the end of the line for this hose, and it’s definitely the end of this episode of Station Life. If you are out and about and see firefighters hose testing, be sure to say hello!