City of Ames, IA Ames Fire Department, 8 Jul 2016

Previous Meeting Next Meeting

⏯

youtube image

►

From YouTube: Where's Brian? | Ladder Training

Description

On today’s show we’re working with a department that has been a part of the city for over one hundred and twenty years. The work they do can be sudden and unexpected. Do you know where I am today?

A

On today's show we're going to be working with the department, that's been a part of the city for over a hundred and twenty years, the work they do can be sudden and unexpected. Do you know where I am today, I'm brian phillips? On most days I work in an office for the aim city manager, since starting here, I've learned a lot about the different job city. Employees have many of them.

A

You might see every day, others work behind the scenes to provide quality programs and exceptional service to the community, and that's why I'm here to experience the different jobs the city of Ames has to offer.

A

You never know where all go next.

A

The anus fire department's goal is to protect people and property from loss in danger due to fires or other life-threatening situations. The city has three fire stations located strategically around town today, we'll take a look at how they continuously check and maintain the equipment used during an emergency morning lieutenant good morning. How are you I'm great? How are you doing.

B

I'm doing very well today, so.

A

I'm here at the fire department to learn a little bit more about some of the equipment and trucks and apparatus that you use. What can you tell me about the different types of apparatus? The fire department uses well.

B

We have all kinds of apparatus, we have ladder trucks, we have one ladder truck. We have two regular fire engines to reserve fire engines, then hazmat truck medium rescue trucks that carry all of our gear for extrication. You know car accidents, things like that. Quite a variety of trucks, so.

A

What kinds of equipment do you carry on these different vehicles? Well,.

B

Like we like to call them toolboxes on wheels, they're full of everything, we got axes, your typical, you know fireman axe, but we also have chainsaws hand, tools, hose water, sure, foam medical supplies for medical calls. Of course, the most important thing on the trucks are the firefighters that we take to the scenes. Yeah lots of things so.

A

It sounds like you've got a lot of different equipment that you need to maintain. Is that correct? We.

B

Do we actually do a truck check every day kind of a minor truck check make sure the radio works, the lights work all the equipment's in its place, but every Saturday we do a very thorough truck chat where we actually take all of that equipment off start the chain saws, the blowers, the fans make sure everything works and everything is we're supposed to be so.

A

I understand I'm going to be participating in a smaller version of that truck.

B

A

Kind of things am I going to be doing today. Well,.

B

We're going to set the ladder up for you and we do what we call a cone drill where we attach a traffic cone hanging from a rope to the end of the ladder, and you operate the ladder from the pedestal, trying to place that cone, where you want it to be, it's good practice for our firefighters and operators of the truck that way they can learn at that distance and, where to place, that's very important where we place the tip of the ladder when we need it right at a window or right at a roof edge line.

B

Not so we can access that real. So it's good depth perception skill will do that and we'll also we have controls at the tip of the ladder that can operate the ladder. Also in every saturday, we have someone climb all the way to the top and run the ladder from the top. So we'll do that too. Okay,.

A

Sounds great I'll follow you if you would like to lead.

B

The way, all right, let's go this way. Thank you.

A

Okay, so we're up here on top of the: what do you call this, the turntable turntable of the ladder? So how is this? How does all of this work there's a lot of a lot of moving parts to this.

C

Yep it it really starts in the cab before we even get up here. Okay, when we, when we get to a scene or on a Saturday check, we want to make sure that we are parking brakes are on chock the wheels, so the the truck won't move back in toward right. We have to put out the outriggers and on the bottom of the outriggers, there's outrigger pads that we have to put down. So a lot of that starts even before we get up here and then once we get up here.

C

This is all hydraulically driven sure. So in the cab again we'll turn on the master hydraulic switch and then we can either run the outriggers at one point mm-hmm or we can run the ladder at the at the other form. You can't do them both. You have to make sure the outriggers our downs, firm and.

D

C

Like safety switches on that that they have to be on good footing and solid, so that helps level out the truck yep.

A

Sure, there's no exactly know that he'll dinner, the level.

C

Of leveling of the truck is manually, we manually adjust each outrigger separately to make sure that the truck is level there's actually level bubbles like a level you would have at your house on the truck. So you know if it's it's either level this way or level lengthwise. Okay. What we do is work from right to left on. This is on these controls here, okay, so this this lever. Here you have to pull up the safety switch again before you can even move it at all.

C

Okay and then you can either pull it down, which is raise the ladder or pull this up and push it ahead is lower the ladder, so it's already in the bed so we'll have to always bring it up and then to start with, and then this one will swing it right or left. Okay for a rule of thumb, we always we try to always swing it left, because from this vantage point you have a much better site fan Oh.

A

Since the operators on the left, yep.

C

Yeah, okay, the operators on the left now, sometimes just the way you have to pull into a fire or structure. You may have to go this way, but for the most part we want to try and swing to the left. Okay, I'm much better one of the other things you need to do, and it just becomes after you've done it a while. You just make sure you got trees here that we're going to deal with. We have power lines, you know to that side and to this side. So that's good!

C

Our left is pretty pretty open, pretty clicks.

D

C

For these trees right, which will make sure we raise the ladder up high enough before we rotate okay and then this last lever is the extent so that will extend this ladder from 45. Foot is just basically sitting in the bed like it is now and it will go out to as far as 105 feet wow.

C

So he goes out quite a ways ya from with with the four sections that are here, they all just keep going out and and it's all in a linkage system, so it the line, the rungs align as it goes out. Okay, so there's a lot of a lot of engineering, yeah.

A

Yeah, that's pretty sophisticated as.

D

Well, so why don't we try it just go there stuff. First.

C

Step would be in you kind of work from like I said right right to left. So first thing you'd want to do is raise it up out of the deal and before that, just kind of make your own assessment of what you need to do, how high you think you need to raise it and then go ahead and lift up that safety and pull that lever down and you'll be raising raising the ladder.

A

So we need to get above this tree here pretty much right.

C

Yelka and it's always good to go plenty. You.

A

C

I mean it's better to house.

A

C

Than to be on yeah.

A

It's that, like you're mine, okay, so.

C

Now we want to go left yep now you can go left to kind of scan around if you're at you're. Turning the turntable it'll be a little bit of a jerk when you first start when it first starts to move. That's another thing that the manufacturer likes us to do one control at a time.

C

Okay, is if you, if you try and do too many controls as you're moving left and extending it, puts a lot of extra pressure on the on the ladder itself, so we'll just on a Saturday check, we'll just take it nice and smooth 11 operation at a time.

C

So we're going to head for that camera there on the parapet, wall, okay, so.

D

C

Lean out, you can see the cone hanging down. Yeah I see it okay, so this is just kind of a drill to kind of get to get you familiar with depth, perception and.

D

C

Would kind of simulate maybe trying to get that ladder to up to a windowsill or maybe.

D

C

Deck or a balcony, or something like that, so it just kind of gives you a little depth perception. So we're going to do is try and have you extend that ladder out and lower it to write on that parapet, wall, okay and just see how you do yeah.

A

So extend the ladder now yep.

C

I would say, extend it and you got to take into consideration that okay you're up higher as that ladder tip goes down. It may actually go further away from you, because.

D

Of the angle, right and.

C

Things but yeah just just see how your how you can try and hit that cover up that camera. Let's.

A

Try that okay, I think I need to go a little bit more laughs. Okay,.

C

Yeah I would agree.

D

C

And then we lower it yup go ahead and lower it. There again, you're always scanning your surroundings to.

D

C

A

All right, it looks like we need a little bit more left.

A

Gosh, this is tough, it is pretty tricky.

C

A

And then a little bit further, probably.

C

A little bit extend the ladder.

A

It's this is kind of like a giant claw game. It.

C

A

C

And that's why we like to. We will do this, sometimes on Saturdays or even sometimes just during the week. If we have new people come down to station 3 that have been at the other stations, maybe haven't done off the haven't been assigned to the ladder truck for a while.

D

C

To get that depth perception and how far does this you know? What's it mean when it says 55 feet on the ladder marketing, so we have markings here, ya know what does that look like in reality, 55 feet away, so we're about 52 feet out at this point, where.

A

You're at yeah, it's really challenging to try to figure out it quite help. How far away you are from whatever target.

C

D

C

A

I think I need to go a little further yep.

C

I'd say a little bit further extended out.

A

C

It's kind of jerky too. That's something that you kind of work on over time of just taking it easy call kind of feathering it just kind of go really slow. All.

A

Right, let's see if we're on it,.

C

Oh so happy so close, so raise it up just a little bit and then I would say, extend it out just a little bit more.

C

There you go now.

A

Ok, I think we made it on top of it all right. That's good job.

C

All right haha so now we could be a little bit more challenging and maybe.

A

C

Could spin around and try and set it on that light pulse on the top of that light? Okay,.

A

So when I go ahead and I would.

D

C

Would raise it up and there again you want to go more than you think you need, because you're going to have to lower it down in once you get close.

C

Ok there and then I would retract the ladder back.

A

This is going to be a.

C

Little trickier yeah, it is almost harder the closer it is because it's hard to see that tip when that, when the ladder is further out, you almost have a better visual, where the end of it is ok. So now probably go left again.

C

So there yep you're pretty good there. It looks like you're going to have to extend out again a little bit.

D

Yeah all right.

C

A

Then I can't really think a little bit further left.

C

There you go good job, just taking that right and left is the hardest to come.

A

Yeah yeah, it can be really really sensitive, yeah.

D

A

D

C

You get extended out or other man.

A

Oh just a hair to the right.

C

A

It all right good job right all right, so tell me a little bit about the other controls for this. The other controls.

C

Are at the tip of the ladder? Okay and we can control it from up there. There has to be two firefighters, so one up there, okay and one down here on the turntable, and they have to have this override switch I.

D

C

What we'll do is now that we've got that cone drill, mastered I'll.

D

C

And swing over to the right a little bit and just in the open space here, mm-hmm will raise the ladder and extend it a little bit and then we'll have you go up and actually run the controls from the top of the ladder. Ok and you'll just get a different perception of it's actually pretty easy from up there to see exactly where that the end of the ladder is going to be.

A

D

C

And while you're up there I'll be down here, holding this switch to give you the power, because it's just one of those safeties that if I see anything like if you were gonna, hit a power line or something that I could stop and talk to you like no, but we need to do a different angle. Ok,.

A

Mel so yeah don't be shy about yeah, okay I'll! Let you run l do ok.

C

C

So this is, uh this is actually a pretty good angle for you just to climb up okay and then once you get up there, and you tell me that you're strapped in yep you're locked in get with the ladder belt, then I'll. Take you up a little bit higher angle. Ok and I'll extend you out a little bit and.

D

I'll give you the controls to.

A

C

Pan around swing around yeah.

A

C

Full circle yeah, he could do a full circle. Okay,.

A

C

Up really, we got to be a pretty good angle to miss. You know to make sure we're yeah.

A

I'm, fine, ok, we'll.

C

Be fine, we've done it on Saturday all.

A

Right I'll see you back on the ground sounds.

C

A

All right so I'm gonna go up higher.

C

Yep I'll, take you up. I'll run the controls from down here for a little bit. Ok sounds good.

C

So we go by degrees and I'll. Take you to 70 degrees of an angle, okay and that's a that's a normal nice like what we used for the physical agility test.

A

All right, so, how high up in my right now.

C

You're just under 65 feet, so you're yeah you're more than halfway up okay.

A

Alright, so next 20 are we up at the right angle now yep.

C

This is good where we're about 70 degree angle, so I'll go ahead and extend you out. Okay, and just tell me if you want me to stop okay.

A

Just along for the ride.

A

This is like the ride at the State Fair I'm. Just waiting for the now are.

C

At 75 feet.

C

Pretty good for you, 85.

A

Y'all keep going yeah, we can keep going it's uh it's a little breezy up here.

A

C

It is that's good on this hot day, it's.

A

A lot cooler, which is nice, we're getting some stairs from drivers on Duff, so that's fun, 95.

A

C

So there you go that you're at a hundred and five feet and 70 degrees. Okay,.

A

So now we're going to swing around.

C

Okay, just like down here when you, when you pull that safety back and you're, going to rotate to the right now, it's uh it's kind of even more delayed up there. So you'll just go, you know just feather it in really slow, but it'll seem like it's not doing nothing, not doing nothing. It just takes a while for that signal to get down here and override okay.

C

All right, all right, you got the controls up. There.

A

Okay, here we go.

C

Yeah good job, nice and smooth.

C

Okay, go ahead and stop about there and then you can go ahead and retract I'll tell you when to stop it just make sure your feet are on those platforms and go ahead and retract I'll tell you when to stop.

A

C

So, on the saturday check, when we would have a guy up there on the way up, we would be checking like the cables, all the pulleys, all the connections. You know, so we don't just set it up, but we're looking for anything that could be broken or worn as we're setting it up. Yeah.

A

That makes sense, there's a lot of different moving parts on this.

C

Go ahead and stop Brian! Okay! Now I'm gonna extend you out just a little bit now, because I've got a light down here. That tells me when the lungs, the rungs, are aligned so it'll be easier to climb down. Okay.

C

Okay, I'm going to lower the angle just a little bit just makes it a little easier on your climb down. Alright.

A

C

Oh, that was the overload what you do up there.

D

C

That just tells us that that honk was it just tells us that we went below 60 degree angle. Okay, all right so yeah go ahead, undo the ladder belt and fold up those those feet pads and come on down. Okay,.

A

Perfect, okay! Well, it's good to be back on solid ground here. Cindy thanks for taking care of me, while I was up.

D

There Phil I appreciate it.

C

D

For telling me everything.

A

I'll, let you put the ladder back away and and leave you to your rest of your checks sounds good. Sounds.

C

D

A

Well, today, you got to see one of the many activities the Amos fire department does to ensure that it's ready to respond at a moment's notice to emergencies. If you'd, like more information about the inspired apartment, visit our website at wwc, org and be sure to tune in for the next where's Brian, because you'll never know where I'll go next,.

A