In our previous quint articles, we discussed several quint considerations such as financial and design criteria, staffing, and training. In this last article on quints, let’s look at several additional considerations such as compartment space, ground ladders, and operations.

COMPARTMENT SPACE
Single chassis quints are not blessed with an abundance of usable compartment space. When the middle portion of the apparatus is reserved for a pump, hose, water, and ground ladders, the depth of most compartments will be reduced, resulting in the need to prioritize commonly used equipment. The comment that quints have adequate compartment space becomes a wishful dream when engine and truck company tools-equipment are placed into shallow compartments. Read More »

Gordon Graham here – and as hard as it is to believe 2010 is half way done and I hope that you are having a good year. While I look forward to summer and fall – I dread the inevitable “wildland” season and would like to take this opportunity to remind all of those reading this who are still active to remember that a “wildland” fire is a “high- risk/low frequency event for most municipal and county personnel. As such, this event poses peculiar risks. Absent frequency all you have to rely on is training – so as time allows, get out the training materials and build some memory markers through this process.
Read More »