Hose loads

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Permalink Reply by Rob Cannon on January 14, 2009 at 5:49pm

I prefer the "2 and a loop" flat load method... it's fool proof and leads out well when pulled correctly.

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Permalink Reply by Todd McKee on January 14, 2009 at 6:09pm

Triple Load Easy to come off ..... Todd McKee

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Permalink Reply by Shareef Abdu Nur on January 15, 2009 at 10:20pm

I prefer the flat load with loops(dog ears). it is easy to reload and it plays out nicely and fairly fast.

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Permalink Reply by Rob Cannon on January 15, 2009 at 10:26pm

I have a video of me pulling the bumper line in the "2 and a loop method" that I would gladly share if anyone is interested.

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Permalink Reply by Nick Weiland on January 21, 2009 at 3:47pm

I'd like to see the video, I think thats the same way we pack our "bumper" at work as well. As for actual lays, the MINUTEMAN, is superior! Easy to pull easy to rack, can easily be pulled by 1 guy, can be flaked easily and so on. The fastest I ever flaked out a Minuteman and had water flowing was 28 seconds, it was a 200' crosslay. We also rack a 300' minuteman, that requires a "2man" pull. It has 2 shoulder loads(100' each), and the "skid" or "drag" load(100')

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Permalink Reply by Brent Sanger on January 21, 2009 at 4:07pm

Regardless of which load is recommended here, I suggest you play with the different loads one night in training and see which type of loading works best for you and the members of your department. Each one has it's pros and cons, generally speaking the easier it is to load, the harder it is to pull off (at least it has appeared that way to me over the years).

Things to consider when doing this:

1. How many people do you have on your engine? Does your engine roll with a full crew intially, or do you roll with 1 or 2 people and the rest meet you at the scene?
2. What are the majority of the fires you will be pulling a preconnect on?
3. What is the distance your preconnect will have to be stretched?

Get the input of your engine crews, make a decision based on what workes the best for you, not what looks good or "It's what everyone else is doing". ISO doesn't care how you pack your hose, just that you have the right amount on the apparatus.

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Permalink Reply by Ray McCormack on January 21, 2009 at 5:01pm

This is a topic we explore at the FDIC HOT class Building an Attack Ready Engine - Hose loads must serve the response area, the way it is now not how it was twenty years ago. Staffing is a consideration aslo. The important thing is to honestly evaluate what you currently use.The problem is many firefighters/chiefs have never see or experienced the variety of hose loads that are available.

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Permalink Reply by Nate Brown on January 22, 2009 at 11:56pm

I think apparatus design has to be considered as well as the buildings in your community. The most important thing is that you train, train, train on whatever hose load you choose and make sure your focus is on loading it as well as deploying it! How many times have you come in to start truck checks and looked at the preconnects only to say "What the F@%k" is this? The sign of a good firefighter is that he or she will reload it instead of thinking "Oh, we probably won't use that preconnect today". True story: One of my firefighters reloaded a preconnect that looked terrible one morning and come to find out it wasn't even connected to the truck!

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Permalink Reply by Chris Whitby on January 23, 2009 at 1:07pm

Tom,Tom,
FF I teaches the flat load. Basically you load the hose in an alternating flat fashion and leave two loops in the load. While loading the fist 1/3 of the load a loop sticks out 6 to 8 inches. When you reach the 2/3 point of the load you place another loop 12 to 14 inches and complete the load. What we teach is a 4 member engine technique; this is the minimum staffing recommendation by NFPA. This gives you a Nozzle man, backup man, control man, and a Chauffer.
Assuming you have a 150ft pre-connect you would place the first loop at the 50 ft mark then the 100 ft mark. This allows the nozzle man to take the nozzle plus 50 ft of working length. The backup then takes the second loop which should be the amount of hose needed to reach the fire floor and then the control clears the rest of the bead and this should be the amount of hose necessary to reach the building. Most of our pre-connects are geared to a 2 ½ story building; which is where we get most of our work. The rear of our rigs are set up a flat loads that are not preset; this way if we get a commercial fire or a residential with a large set back we can just pull what we need and then break it.
This is a basic hose load that has been used for years and works very well; I now some on the comments stated you have to base it on your staffing; some departments in our area have tried the stacked (aka Metro Dade) method. While I agree this clears the truck very quickly you still arrive at the point of fire attack with only the nozzle. If we need to do this because of staffing; then we need to step up and solve the staffing problem; like instead of rolling three rigs with nine members; we should consolidate in to two rigs and have the PROPER amount of manpower on the scene. Having all the equipment there is useless unless someone is there to use it!!
Let’s not endanger our members by staffing cuts; readjusting our tactics is just going to get us killed. If the municipality cuts members then you should request that your units be consolidated to keep crews safe. When the media hears that you are closing fire houses and the ISO rating is going up, which will cost more in taxes because if less rigs on the road; I’m sure the powers to be will think twice about cutting staff and making us do more with less!!
FTM-PTB

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Permalink Reply by Matt Erdman on January 23, 2009 at 5:02pm

Having tried various loads, I like and prefer the Triple-Layer Load by far. Easy one-man deployment is you know what you're doing.

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Permalink Reply by Ray McCormack on January 24, 2009 at 8:22am

Nate - I agree on apparatus design. Unfortunetly if you look around most pumpers do not have user friendly hosebeds.

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Permalink Reply by Jeff Clayton on January 24, 2009 at 11:28am

Apparatus design, your response area, and staffing will probably dictate which loads you should use.

The current pumper/engine I'm assigned to has the transverse beds under the pump panel. We're limited by the size of the bed and it's design. We actually repacked it yesterday, and decided on a flat load, with the first coupling right behind the nozzle. This allows for the initial stretch to be made with 75 - 100' of the 200 available almost straight behind the fire sector if they're going in the front door. Grab the nozzle, grap the coupling and go!

The 'under the panel' transverse beds can also get caught in the pump levers. We've had pump operators attempt to open lines only to discover the top transverse had shifted and caught in the lever, delaying the charging of the line.

Just remember, whichever lay you choose, train on it's deployment then train again!

Stay safe all.

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