Thoughts on Your Side Pockets

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Permalink Reply by Eric Hankins on August 27, 2008 at 10:06am

I carry several tools with me in my pant pockets as well. I think, like you, that I would rather have them than not. That being said, I keep my battery cable cutters in my left pant pocket with only a small flashlight and hose strap. Nothing else. This way I am not fumbling with vice grips, cresent wrench, etc trying to find the cutters when I need them.

I have heard some large departments with high rise projects have removed pant pockets from some companies pants since they are climbing so many stairs. But I have not personnaly confirmed that.

KTF-EGH

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Permalink Reply by Eddie Carnahan on September 12, 2008 at 12:14pm

We have done some low profile training in our training maze. I ran into the problem of getting my legs through because of the stuff in my bunker pockets. I found though with a little manipulation of the pocket and contents I was able to make it slip through.
I carry a tool roll with the smaller tools in it on my right side with my 30' of rope and 25'(?) of webbing. On the left side I keep a set of dikes, some wedges and a utility knife. I just recently moved the wedges to my jacket pocket and put a spring clamp in for doors.
The tools I carry come in handy more often than causing a hindrance.

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Permalink Reply by Don Pysz on December 29, 2008 at 4:16pm

I also had carry a bunch of stuff in my side pockets but have emptied them to just a few things that I would need in an emergency. Right leg pocket are my structural gloves and a pair of pruning shears zip-tied to a heavy string type glove holder with a cheap carabiner for keys hooked on the top of pocket. This makes it easy to grap w/ gloves and I don't need to get completly into the pocket to get them. On the left side I have 30ft of rolled webbing w/ carabiner hooked to bunker adjustment strap, 15ft rolled webbing w/ carabiner hooked to front edge of pocket and finally a length of webbing for a chest harness w/ loops on each end w/ carabiner hooked to back edge of pocket. My feeling is these are emergency low vis situation stuff that is easily accessible. Other tools i.e window punch, safety glasses, multi-screw driver etc are in my coat pockets. i use the pruning shears w/ internal spring to cut thru just about anything you can w/ one hand, they provide a wide gap to get on the item to be cut.

I also found that w/ new gear we've been issued is that the pockets have alot of velcro to keep the flaps close, does great on that, but hard to get open with one hand. I bought some bunk velcro and coverd some of the velcro such that there isn't as much holding the pocket closed. This makes it alot easier to open the pocket flap w/ one hand.

Stay safe and work smart,
Don

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Permalink Reply by Anthony Avillo on January 4, 2009 at 6:28am

Funny your mention this. I was just talking to a new-ish guy the other day and we were discussing what to carry. I found that over the years, if there was something i hadn't used in a year or so, i usually jetissoned it. I did this several times b/c you get to the point where you have so much stuff in your pockets that you either wind up nearly stabbing youself with soemthing or you can't move from the extra weight. Remember that is what the rig is for, esp. ladder companes -- they are rolling toolboxes

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Permalink Reply by Josh Augustine on January 9, 2009 at 4:51pm

Hey everyone,

I, like the rest of you, started to figure out that I was carrying way to many tools in my pockets. I'm a decent size guy and when I started to feel my gear and how heavy it was I knew it was time for a change.

A couple of us went out and bought a tool bag from Lowes. I keep some extra socks, gloves, safety glasses, and beanie in it. Also, on the outside pouches I keep a bunch of little tools that are very useful, especially on auto extrications. I keep this bag on the rig with me and when we head out on a call that it seems possible that I can use the tools, I grab the one's I need and stick them in my pocket.

I can be a pain in the ass, but it has been pretty successful so far! Just a tip... Be Safe Brothers! EGH

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Permalink Reply by Josh Augustine on January 10, 2009 at 4:59pm

It* can be a pain.... (sorry)

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Permalink Reply by Rob Cannon on January 17, 2009 at 4:57pm

I seperated my two pants pockets from a cluster to seperatating each pocket. My right pocket is for hand tools and small items. In the left pocket I put my webbing. I always know no matter what type of situtation what is in what pocket.

In the right pocket took a piece of old 3" hose and made a pouch out of it for my side cutters, channel lock plyers, screw drivers, shove knife. I use a cigar tube for a large yellow crayon. I also have a folding spanner and a window punch in this pocket.

In the left pocket I have my webbing, extra cheap flashlight and a little blue strobe (Lightman).

I carry 3 main flashlights
- Vulcan
- Survivar
- LED little ed

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Permalink Reply by Chuck Fager on June 3, 2009 at 3:55pm

I used to carry everything in my pant and coat pockets as well...! Subsequently, I have also moved to carrying a tool bag for the tools that I do not use often, and the ones that I will use more often I carry in my coat pockets. It definitely has lightened the load. The con to it is that my coat pockets bulge a little more than before. Can't have it all I guess.

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Permalink Reply by Chris Sterricker on June 14, 2009 at 8:57pm

I carry door chocks and two lengths of webbing in my side pockets. One webbing for bailing out if needed and another set up for dragging a victim or brother/sister. I carry my tools in what I think is an M-16 magazine case that I bought at a surplus store for about $5. It has slide locks on the back that fit perfectly over my truckman's belt. It does not stick out more than 3 inches so it's fairly low-profile. I carry a multi-head screw driver, razor knife, vise-grips, regular pliers and a shove tool in there. Since I carry my radio on a strap I use the radio holder on the front of my coat to hold my lineman's cutters. I've had pretty good luck with it and can't really think of a time I've gotten hung-up because of it.

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Permalink Reply by Robert Merring on July 21, 2009 at 3:20pm

I also carry linemans pliers and had a problem with them fitting in my coat pocket. So, I took the pliers to the O'l saw and grinder, cutting the handles down to a size that would fit into my pocket and still allow the tool to have a good amount of leverage. As an added touch I re -spliced the rubber ends that were cut off the end of the handles to add a finished look. Try this It works!!!

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Permalink Reply by Michael Bricault on July 30, 2009 at 10:31am

-Dave you have brought up an issue that is a pet peeve of mine... firefighters that actually carry to much gear and needlessly weigh themselves down and create entanglement hazards.
-Any firefighter that believes that carrying equipment will not create an entanglement hazard has never been through a rigorous survival course.
-Need a wake up call? Try Jim McCormick's survival course at the Fire Department Training Network in Indianapolis. This is one of the most aggressive and arduous courses available. It will certainly point out that most firefighters need to put their gear on a diet.
-My personal rule for carrying tools, gear, etc, is that it must be something I can retrieve from the pocket AND utilize without taking off my structure gloves. If you must take off your gloves to use the tool then you don't need it during the urgent phase of the scene and the tool application can wait until the incident is stabilized; ie overhaul.
-During overhaul take a break and go out to the apparatus and get what you need or have one of the firefighters outside bring it in to you. There should be no urgency that requires the need for such small handheld tools that necessitate being employed without gloves.
-How many firefighters carry more than one item in a pocket on their gear? How much of this is essential during the firefighting or victim rescue phase of the call? How many of these firefighters can differentiate between the tools in their pocket while wearing structure gloves?
-Can the tool be selected, taken out of the pocket and used while wearing gloves? If the answer to this question is no than you don't need to carry it.
-The bottom line is many firefighters carry to much crap in their pockets. To that end I don't think I would really miss the pockets on the bunker pants.

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