Thinking Outside The Box. Share Your Stories

[MG3610]

Heres one of ours...

Had a small dumpster fire today that gave us the chance to do something I've taught and thought about for a few years. When an object is on fire and you can move it, or things around it, to eliminate the risk of extension or make it easier to extinguish. The key point is to employ a safe means of doing so.

So we had this dumpster smoldering under a trash compacter hood, essentially inaccessible to rake through and get water into. We just started carrying more rescue equipment on our new engine when it was delivered back in January. In that cache are several chains. We carry two 5' J-Hook chains, two 10' G100 and one 5' G100 chain. We hooked the J chains into the fork pockets on the dumpster, used the 10 footers to extend them to the 5 footer (making a big Y) and then hooked it to the hitch on one of our Durangos. The truck dragged it like it was nothing. It was a small container, probably about 3 cu yds.

The point is to share this story and to pass along quick thinking that can save a building, or make the job easier.


Wetting Down


After we were done. We tried to use the cop car to push it back, but the push bar didnt line up right with the shape of the container....thats why he's parked there.

[FDNYQBORO]

not to knock your tactics but why bother? if your going to take all of that time to move something so that it doesnt extend to a building then you might as well use that time to put the fire out. if your doing it to play with some of the toys and theres no threats then by all means go for it.

[volfirie]

FDNYQBORO, you didn't read the post properly. "dumpster smoldering under a trash compacter hood, essentially inaccessible to rake through and get water into" is what the man said. Pulling the thing out sounds like a good idea to me.

[MG3610]

not to knock your tactics but why bother? if your going to take all of that time to move something so that it doesnt extend to a building then you might as well use that time to put the fire out. if your doing it to play with some of the toys and theres no threats then by all means go for it.

Not to knock you for not reading or thinking outside the box, but; as it was stated originally the fire was smoldering. Doused with a garden hose. Virtually inaccessible without moving the can to complete the extinguishment. Thats why we pulled it out. It took all of about 2 minutes start to finish to move it, and thats probably a generous estimate.

We carry all kinds of cool saws and other tools should we need to destroy things in a similar situation where theres an uncontrolled fire. I wouldnt rule out dragging the can again even if it was actively on fire, still makes things easier fast.

Remember, in my FD we carry more than hose and a ladder on our "engine". You (if youre from an FDNY engine) would have to wait for another company to get the tools we used, we have them at our fingertips on every run.