Equipment Staging Tarp

[Resq14]

Some guys are working on a final plan for our staging area... they're pretty close to being finished.

The final product might have an orange tarp, and will be sectioned-off and labeled with vinyl dye. I'm hoping this stuff won't wear off.

One thing missing from the picture is an extension ladder, another set of irons, and an additional pair of bolt cutters (small).

Any comments/suggestions are very welcome. I'll post a pic of the final product.

http://www.rapidintervention.com/for...s=&postid=3466

[Bones42]

6' and 8' hooks. We've done quite a few trainings on guys through the floor and having an 8' all metal hook has been very useful. How many SCBA and bottles are available for the RIT? We keep 2 sets as FF's should be working in, at least, pairs. Chances are, if 1 guy goes down, his partner won't be leaving him.

Must admit, your tarp (can I call it that ) is much more spread out than ours and I'm finding I like that.

[Resq14]

ARGHHHHHHH IT'S A SALVAGE COVER!!!!!!

lol

anyway...

We went big (10x20) so the ladders could be contained on the tarp. People LOVE to grab anything that doesn't appear to be "in use" and walk away with it, so we're trying to discourage that by making it incredibly obiouvs why it is where it is. Hahaha, it still might not help though.

I forgot about the spare SCBA bottles... we were going to have everyone just grab themselves a spare and set it down. Good call... I'll make that recommendation again.

We'll bat around the 6'/8' hooks... we're just bringing a lot of stuff out as it is. If it wasn't clear, the yellow bags in the upper right are "spare air" packs. In the red bag beside them, we have 2 200' RIT 900 tag lines, some miscellaneous rope hardware and software, and our orange SCBA cylinder covers.

Any and all comments welcome.

[Doo600]

Be careful using power saws, remember if you're going after a downed firefighter in a structure, chances are the oxygen is not sufficient to run gas saws. Electric sawzalls and battery operated tools would be a better choice. Looks good, can't wait to see the final product.

[PBFTRK33]

Be careful using power saws, remember if you're going after a downed firefighter in a structure, chances are the oxygen is not sufficient to run gas saws. Electric sawzalls and battery operated tools would be a better choice. Looks good, can't wait to see the final product.

Gas chainsaws on your staging tarp would be for cutting an exterior enlarged opening for quicker removal. Not for use on the interior - unless the smoke conditions would dictate that you could.

[fireresq55]

The large tarp is cool: I have 2 things though.

1- Why place ladders on it? Shouldn't your RIC team be throwing those? If the truck has already laddered the roof, and has a second means of egress. . . then the RIC team should be laddering the 4 walls of where fire operations are being progressed. Those engine guys will greatly appreciate an already laddered window if they need to get the F out of Doge! Those ladders arn't doing ya any good laying on the ground!

2- As far as the "smaller" bolt cutters. We found it better to attach "large" wire cutters onto the RIC bag itself. This will aid in cutting wires that have falling inside the stucture, and they will always be with the interior team. We went to the hardwere store and bought some pretty heavy duty ones. we attached them by getting a Rip Offs holster and putting that on the exteriour of our RIC bag.

[Resq14]

The large tarp is cool: I have 2 things though.

1- Why place ladders on it? Shouldn't your RIC team be throwing those? If the truck has already laddered the roof, and has a second means of egress. . . then the RIC team should be laddering the 4 walls of where fire operations are being progressed. Those engine guys will greatly appreciate an already laddered window if they need to get the F out of Doge! Those ladders arn't doing ya any good laying on the ground!

2- As far as the "smaller" bolt cutters. We found it better to attach "large" wire cutters onto the RIC bag itself. This will aid in cutting wires that have falling inside the stucture, and they will always be with the interior team. We went to the hardwere store and bought some pretty heavy duty ones. we attached them by getting a Rip Offs holster and putting that on the exteriour of our RIC bag.

Good points. Operationally, the ladders are there for emergency rescue. For proactive work, we would use ground ladders from apparatus already on scene (and most likely closer to the scene than our truck will be).

As far as heavy wire cutters, most of us carry our own in our gear (linesman style pliers).

We have been unable to find a good way to label our orange tarp -- all the special dyes, paints, sprays, etc. will not adhere... so it's just blank and we do it roughly the same way each time. It still works, just not as spiffy!

Our RIT (props to Fire304 for getting this online)

[fireresq55]

ok, I can see your line of thinking on the ladders.

As far as marking the tarp. . . have you tried a Sharpie?
What we origianlly did was take a canvas salvage cover and just outline all the tools with a sharpie, then color them in black. That way they are also in the same place everytime!

[PaulChristenson]

We keep all of the important stuff in a Stokes, so we can move as needed

[LIEU4LIFE]

Recommended that were not seen in the picture.
- Spare SCBA cyliners
- Life saving rope with extra carabiners and pulleys
- Large area search rope with tag lines (Kevlar)
- Air cart with air bags and air powered cutting tools
- Steel hooks

Personally not a big fan of the TARP application. Our RIT members have specific riding assignments and are teamed up depending on where they are in the seats. The tools that they are assigned they carry from start to finish. This allows our people to split up if necessary (front and back, etc) and have their equipment with them. This works for us. You have to go with that works for you. Good luck. I hope that this was helpful.

[firefiftyfive]

I personally do not like the idea of using the tarp either. My volly company uses the tarp method and I find it to be useless. First of all because alot of the time we can't get our rig that close to the scene so the tarp is just another this we have to carry. Also, most of the stuff on the tarp are tools that should be carried by the members of the team anyways. For example the irons and a couple of hooks. In my career company we just take all our normal tools and the extra stuff goes into the stokes basket. IE: extra search ropes, saws, etc. The other problem I find with the tarp is that it does not allow you to move if yoiu have to. Once you setup (which is time consuming to begin with) you are pretty much stuck there. With the other tactic you are more mobile and you can move to different sectors or move with the command post, if for some reason they decide that they are going to move. I also notice that on alot of these tarps the members overload it with all of these unnecessary tools. For example if we are going to a fire in a private dwelling we are not going to need 2, 200 foot ropes! Hell we most likely won't even need 1. JMHO

[len1582]

We also include a Thermal Imaging Camera.
Another item , but not brought into the building, is a defib. Even though EMS also responds to all W/F's we're guaranteed to have one right near the fire building.

[FFFRED]

You've found another waste of an idea from some guy who proably has been to two fires in ten years.

Leave all the tools in the stokes or in the hands of the men assigned to them.

In lieu of jerk'n yourself off with that cover, I would think it would be more beneficial to the operation to be looking at the building and paying attention to the radio traffic.

FTM-PTB

[firefiftyfive]

Thankyou Ffred