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Saws, Saw Blades, and Saw Set-ups on Truck Companies

I am looking for some thoughts on saws, saw blades, and saw set-ups on truck companies. We are a suburb of Dallas that runs one truck company. Our operations are based on a 5 person truck crew with an interior team of 2, an exterior team of 2, and an OV. It is the responsibility of the exterior team and OV to address forcible entry and ventilation on all interior operations. I am currently writing the Saws Section of our Truck Manual and I would like some feedback on experiences with saws and blades for forcible entry and ventilation on residential and commercial dwellings. We do conduct vertical ventilation operations when necessary.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Tom Bradley on March 26, 2013 at 6:48am

I work on the "heavy rescue" in my city. We have cutters edge vent saw with a bullet chain for opening wood roof and a rotary saw with a black diamond blade for metal roofs and force entry. I have used the diamond blade on reinforced concrete and it works very well but a little water helps keep dust down

Permalink Reply by Scott Thompson on March 26, 2013 at 7:59am

Thanks Tom....that seems to be a pretty popular set up. What size and type of rotary saw do you guys use?

Permalink Reply by Tom Jackson on March 26, 2013 at 1:00pm

I run on a dedicated ladder for our area. We run a straight stick ladder, so we have a lot of room for toys. On the top of the truck, we carry a 20 inch stihl chainsaw for residential roofs and a 1250 Husqvarna with a warthog blade for flat wood roofs. In the compartments we carry a 16 inch stihl chainsaw for residential roofs, a 14 inch 12 tooth carbide blade stihl for commercial buildings, 2 16 inch 970 Husqvarna with metal blades for forcible entry, and 1 16 inch metal blade with the blade mounted on the outside of the blade arm for forcible entry. We usually do not cut metal deck roofs here. We will go for skylights and other natural openings.

Permalink Reply by Scott Thompson on March 26, 2013 at 1:29pm

Thanks Tom....Great stuff! Do you like your set up and the saw/blade combinations? Moving the blade arm works great! I havn't really heard of any cons, yet I am not sure why more departments don't set them up like that. Thanks for the feedback.

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