Trucks on Military Bases

[Hplawn82]

I was wondering when does an air base or military base required to have a truck or truck company..I know alot of bases dont have truck or ladder companies...If you have a truck and not a truck company,do you assign a steady crew to the truck or do you rotate between engine..crash rescue, and truck company?

[firedog30]

Well, if we told ya all the secrets, we would have ta kill ya....... Actually there is no magic formula. The criteria is about the same as a municipal dept. deciding they need an elevated stream--look at the hazards at risk: elevations (how high are my big buildings) and/or gross common roof area (can I reach all of the roof area from the ground). A consideration for the military is also the occupant load, egress capability of the structure, $$$ at risk in the structure, unique structural features requiring an elevated stream, or high reach capability for rescue. As far as cross-manning, I think most departments try to minimize it. There used to be a AF manual that stated that "a structural emergency and an airfield emergency will not occur at the same time", but they did away with that when it was discovered fire can't read and wouldn't adhere to the regulation!
Cross-manning is still a requirement for some operations. An example would be a low use piece of equipment--a foam tanker or something like that. A certain response would dictate pulling crew from another piece to mobilize it. Then the donor piece is short-crewed for the duration of the emergency. It usually works out to be more work for everyone involved.
I would like to make a comment to all others in this and other Fed FF threads regarding discussion of exact policy and procedures regarding our operations. We all know about OPSEC. 'Nuff said.....

Stay safe,

firedog30

[HHoffman]

Our department is a two company station. We run a minimum for nine people per shift. Four on the engine, four on the truck and a command officer. Each shift is split into a truck crew and engine crew. The truck crew cross staffs the rescue and the engine crew cross staffs the ambulance.

We have a KME 102 ft. tower ladder. If you have any other questions feel free to email me.