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What hose stretch would you use?
Here is an example of store fronts that are off of the street. This is like an alley that runs perpendicular to the main streets.

In most cases, these have a tax payer on the main level and residential units on the upper floors.

You can see that hose deployment is a priority and should be picked carefully. The wrong choice could be very detrimental. This brings up a good question: what type of hose loads do you use and deploy for non-traditional lays?

How long are they and what other uses are they good for? What sizes and configurations do you use? Where do you keep these loads and how are they loaded?

We have to remember that the atypical fire requires atypical tactics in some cases and the norm of pulling a 1 3/4 inch cross lay or speed load just isn’t going to get it done.

Train hard and be careful.

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Thats a cool looking area. In Niles we have 3 beds. The first bed is what we call a skid load. This bed has 500' of 2.5 finished off with a 1 1/4 straight tip. Screwed to the end of that is 100' of 1 3/4. The 2nd bed is 500' of 2.5 with a 1 1/4 straight tip. THe middle bed is 1000' of 4 inch. Are area has a lot of apartment complexs with long set backs, also many commercial strip malls that call for long lead outs. On the other end of my town there are a lot of very large factorys that all my call for long lead outs. We also carry a 4" manifold, we can run up to 4 lines of of that. So if there was a fire in one of those building are 1st line would most likely be the skid load. or if there was heavy fire showing 2.5.
-All of our engines have 300 ft. of pre-connected 2.5 called a BLITZ line.
-The really great thing about this pre-connected 2.5 is the versatility. If 300 ft. is not enough... more line can be added to the nozzle end from the static hose bed. Generally, the 300 ft. is more than sufficient.
-The other great thing is that by having the 2.5 pre-connected it allows for rapid deployment and implementation of a big line.
-Another rapid option with the pre-connected 2.5 is always the attachment of a gated wye with two 1.75 attack lines. The engine in my hose carries this wye configuration pre-assembled, bundled up and stored in a compartment for just this type of event, for a garden apartment scenario or for the pedestrian oriented areas.
-Great photo but an easy scenario. LOL
We run similar to what Brick is talking about. We carry a leader line 400' of 2.5" with 100ft of 1.5" that can be quickly taken off if need be. We have been checking our apartments where this is a nessessary thing, now ask a guy to stretch a 2.5 in our world Brother and get a funny look! It is getting better!
Out in San Diego County, CA we use what is called a "Quick-Two". Which is basically 150' of 2 1/2" that we have pre-connected on the left side of our rear hose bed as a flat load. Connected to that is a 2 1/2" to 1 1/2" gated wye. We also carry two(2) "Apartment Packs" which are 150' of 1 3/4" with a nozzle and bail. The Apartment Packs are connected to the gated wye and there you go, a quick two. If the 150' of 2 1/2" doesnt reach than you can always add from the supply bed. Works perfect for alleys and driveways that can not be accessed by the engine. Just make sure you have a water source.
2, 2.5 inch supply lines running into the entry of the alley, capped with 2 gated y's to branch off into 4, 1 3/4 attack lines. Depending on where the fire is, each 1 3/4 would have 2-3 lengths (cuz you know it's gonna be a stove fire on the 4th level directly in the middle) Second in could run just 1 2 inch with a gated Y and the same pull. That would be my fast attack.
This would be Ideal for a SKID LOAD. I would not want to put a Pumper in there but at the end. Would not take long for smoke to fill this place. Of course would have a Aerial on both ends. This would be a ladder job if fire was up top if could not use stair ways. Better hit this quick and fast or lose the Block.
We run two 200' 13/4" crosslays and one 200' 21/2 crosslay. On the bed we have 200' of 21/2 wyed to two 150' 13/4 lines preconnected. We also keep 500' each of 21/2 and 13/4 static on the bed along with 1000' of 4" LDH. Depending on the scene we can pull almost anything to get where we need to. We have two front line engines that are both set up this way, both with 1500 GPM pumps. So far this has worked well for us.
Sounds like you all have great methods for making this stretch. This is a great learning environment and thanks to all of you who contribute. Again, great discussion and thanks for you input.
We still carry a "Water Thief" on every engine. In addition to the standard Mattydale preconnects, we have two 1 3/4" with Automatic nozzles attached to a 2 1/2 by 1 1/2 gated wye on the left rear. The right rear has two 2 1/2" (200 ft) preconnects packed upside down and split so that one FF can shoulder load the nozzle section and drag the second 100 ft. Additionaly there is a dead load bed of 300 ft. of 3" with 2 1/2" couplings. In this situation or for entering industry or a big box location, the 3" would be advanced to a point outside the fire building, Two 1 3/4" shoulder loads would be disconnected from the wye and reconnected to the water thief, as well as one of the 2 1/2" preconnects giving us the ability to apply 550 gpm at a distance of up to 500 ft from the engine. For anyone not "Old School" a water thief has two 1 1/2" gated outlets and a 2 1/2" gated outlet with one 2 1/2" inlet.
We'd make this stretch using 200ft of 3" line that is dead flat loaded, connecting a "water thief" with a 2.5" and (2) 1.75" connections to either a 150' of 2.5" or 150' 1.75" depending on the fire conditions with smooth bore tips.
In my district we have a ton of long narrow driveways with limited access that lead up to very large homes. So, we can deploy what we call the driveway lay. Our engines have a minimum of 600' of 2.5" in a modified flat load in the stretch bed. Most crew elect to keep the gated wye attached for easy deployment of 1.75" off the wye.

So, to make this stretch I would pull 2.5 down the alley and break the 200', 1.75" pre-connects at the pump. Connect the pre-connects to the gated wye and off you go!
I love it William!!! Didnt know there were other people out there that still call 'em that (besides me!!) I have to 'splain it ALMOST everytime I slip up and say it!!! LOL

William Hoehn said:
We still carry a "Water Thief" on every engine. In addition to the standard Mattydale preconnects, we have two 1 3/4" with Automatic nozzles attached to a 2 1/2 by 1 1/2 gated wye on the left rear. The right rear has two 2 1/2" (200 ft) preconnects packed upside down and split so that one FF can shoulder load the nozzle section and drag the second 100 ft. Additionaly there is a dead load bed of 300 ft. of 3" with 2 1/2" couplings. In this situation or for entering industry or a big box location, the 3" would be advanced to a point outside the fire building, Two 1 3/4" shoulder loads would be disconnected from the wye and reconnected to the water thief, as well as one of the 2 1/2" preconnects giving us the ability to apply 550 gpm at a distance of up to 500 ft from the engine. For anyone not "Old School" a water thief has two 1 1/2" gated outlets and a 2 1/2" gated outlet with one 2 1/2" inlet.

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