I hear you brother, and I have been in those shoes before as well. You are probably smart, but running it from a different angle when they are not budging. Of course we also know, that a recommendation from the Safety Committees are hard to ignore.
Keep up the good fight.

Josh Materi said:

I don't remember where I saw this, maybe San Antonio Fire, maybe Buffalo don't remember. Anyway, they modified the roofer that was mounted on the stick. They put hooks and spurs on both the tip and the butt. No baton twirling. Brilliant….

Thanks Chad,

Josh Materi

-Chad, I like the idea of using the attic ladder to gain access over a parapet wall; this is something we have been using for a while now and even teach during our basic training phase. Working in a congested urban environment it is a very realistic need for Truck Company personnel to forecast.
-The key component that we stress is that the attic ladder must be opened up and made ready to use while the member is on the turn table and not at the end of a raised aerial as this is unsafe. Therefore we teach our people to recognize parapet walls from the ground.
-Lastly, we do not mount anything to the aerial itself. The reasoning is that mounting tools or ladders to the aerial will encourage unnecessarily unsafe behavior requiring the member to unfasten and deploy tools while the aerial is raised. To unfasten and deploy an attic ladder from the top of the aerial while the aerial is raised is inherently and unnecessarily unsafe.
-Furthermore, mounting ladders or tools to the inside of the aerial reduces the ladder-way space if the ladder or tool is mounted to the inside of the aerial as well as creating huge snag hazards for firefighters or victims traversing the ladder. This is not the time nor location to be dealing with snags or reductions in operating space.
-After all, the intent of the aerial is to provide an access for rapid deployment or recovery of firefighters and/or possibly to rescue victims. Unlike our tower ladder Brothers, the aerial is not a work platform nor tool staging area. If a tower is what you need then call one.
-Mounting tools and ground ladders to the outside of the aerial is just as dangerous in that it creates snags, reduces mobility, changes the performance features of the aerial from original design intent and encourages firefighters to retrieve said gear while leaning over the side while the aerial is raised and in operation. Leaning over the rails to retrieve tools or ground ladders is unnecessarily dangerous and preventable.
-If tools or ladders are going to be needed Truck personnel should be trained to identify these needs before they climb the aerial and bring up what they need, thereby operating in a safer manner.
-This also gives the firefighter the opportunity to make ready, deploy or start said tool, ladder or saw while on the ground and identify and correct any problems then and there.