Firefighting documentary videos from Sweden

[Micael]

I thought a few might be interested, it's in Swedish but I imagine most of what's going on is pretty self explanatory to firefighters.
It's a tv documentary, three episodes are up online (free) so far (out of eight total) and it depicts the work of firefighters at Solna station in the Stockholm city FD.

Episode 1, apartment fire, extradition from underneath a subway train: http://svt.se/svt/road/Classic/share...61734&a=719495

Episode 2, apartment fire, two vehicle fires: http://svt.se/svt/road/Classic/share...61734&a=733736

Episode 3, cardiac arrest, warehouse fire : http://svt.se/svt/road/Classic/share...61734&a=739079

[gunnyv]

Watched the first one so far, good to go. Good interior fire footage. I see the plastic bag for dead cats is a universal solution. Makes me want to learn Swedish.

[jonnyirons2]

This chick I know who lives in Sweden actually Im'd me about the show last night. She said we dont do anything in NYC compared to firemen in Sweden. Her only exposure to us was cutting a tree that was in the roadway LOL

[martinm]

The Swedes are s*** hot on the latest firefighting techniques and were amongst the first to grasp the flashover and backdraught phenomenon which was killing and injuring firefighters.

Some of the stuff they do is amazing, theres some footage somewhere of a passenger ship fire where they used expolsives to gain entry through one side of the vessel!!

[trailboss2]

Did anyone else find the cardiac arrest a bit odd compared to how we do things over here?

[Firescueguy]

Gotta agree with Trailboss2 on the cardiac arrest....VERY strange the way they operate...

1) What's with the guy in the jumpseat sprinting into the building with NO
equipment in hand? I have seen people in many depts. do this...what good
are you without equipment??? You are basically just a bystander wearing
a really bright coat.

2) Pocket face mask (ok, they had O2 hooked to it) but WHY? BVM's reduce
the workload on the rescuer doing ventilations & allow you to move more
tidal volume. Anyone notice the lack of an OPA thoroughout the arrest?

3) Ok, what's with the ET tube AFTER he takes a breath No
OPA, no BVM the whole time, they shock the guy like 5 or 6 times & then
when he takes a breath, they intubate him???!!! Ok, then they hook up
the BVM (didn't see supplemental O2 from my vantage point) but they
have no one squeezing the bag...you can clearly see the pt. straining to
take a breath through the giant straw they just slid down his
throat..

Don't mean to nitpick but come on...I realize we all run our operations different but there were some basic fundamental care issues here that are
wrong whether they're in Sweden or downtown Oshkosh here in the USA. Seems that they didn't have a clear cut system of who does what...the FF who kept re-landmarking for every set of compressions was pumping away, then he's trying to hook up leads, then he's pumping away again meanwhile the one EMT (the female) keeps reaching across the pt. to check a pulse as the bald headed EMT sits there with a look of HUH (what do we do now, George???) on his face.

I realize we're all not perfect (I certainly don't claim to be) but there were some issues there that professional rescuers (read professional, not career or volunteer) should not be doing. Oh well, makes you glad you live in the USA...

Just my 2 cents...overall, I thought it was a good show...despite the fact I had no idea what they were saying!!!! Stay Safe...

[Micael]

The fourth episode is up now, it has two apartment fires, small house fire, carrying aid during power outage, suspected suicide attempt and animal rescue.
http://svt.se/svt/road/Classic/share...61734&a=743665

In comment to what's been said above I can only say that I don't know enough about procedures surrounding a cardiac arrest to be able to say why they do as they do and so forth.

Concerning using explosives though I can say that the Stockholm city FD (and a few other FDs) use explosives mounted on frames to mainly ventilate heavy roof structures when needed.

[lrrlti]

let us know when the vid's come out!!

Thanks

[Alex1137]

This chick I know who lives in Sweden actually Im'd me about the show last night. She said we dont do anything in NYC compared to firemen in Sweden. Her only exposure to us was cutting a tree that was in the roadway LOL

You have trees in NYC, and FDNY cut it up when it was in the road? What is this world coming too I guess the citizens of New York have you guys by the balls, don't they?

[lrrlti]

What was that about?

[lrrlti]

It's nice to know that she thinks they do nothing..wow.. A tree huh

[FF21CFD]

Gotta agree with Trailboss2 on the cardiac arrest....VERY strange the way they operate...

1) What's with the guy in the jumpseat sprinting into the building with NO
equipment in hand? I have seen people in many depts. do this...what good
are you without equipment??? You are basically just a bystander wearing
a really bright coat.

2) Pocket face mask (ok, they had O2 hooked to it) but WHY? BVM's reduce
the workload on the rescuer doing ventilations & allow you to move more
tidal volume. Anyone notice the lack of an OPA thoroughout the arrest?

3) Ok, what's with the ET tube AFTER he takes a breath No
OPA, no BVM the whole time, they shock the guy like 5 or 6 times & then
when he takes a breath, they intubate him???!!! Ok, then they hook up
the BVM (didn't see supplemental O2 from my vantage point) but they
have no one squeezing the bag...you can clearly see the pt. straining to
take a breath through the giant straw they just slid down his
throat..

Don't mean to nitpick but come on...I realize we all run our operations different but there were some basic fundamental care issues here that are
wrong whether they're in Sweden or downtown Oshkosh here in the USA. Seems that they didn't have a clear cut system of who does what...the FF who kept re-landmarking for every set of compressions was pumping away, then he's trying to hook up leads, then he's pumping away again meanwhile the one EMT (the female) keeps reaching across the pt. to check a pulse as the bald headed EMT sits there with a look of HUH (what do we do now, George???) on his face.

I realize we're all not perfect (I certainly don't claim to be) but there were some issues there that professional rescuers (read professional, not career or volunteer) should not be doing. Oh well, makes you glad you live in the USA...

Just my 2 cents...overall, I thought it was a good show...despite the fact I had no idea what they were saying!!!! Stay Safe...

Did you watch the next episode where the victim of the cardiac arrest walked into the firehall and personally thanked the firefighters? Given the fact that he survived I'd say that they didn't do as many things wrong as you suggest. Just because it's not how we do it in the good old USA doesn't make it wrong or any less effective. And unless you're fluent in Swedish, I'm not sure how you can logically make comments about the roles that the rescuers have on scene. How do we know that they weren't doing exactly what they were trained to do? As for the re-landmarking question...how do you keep your landmark when you're defibrillating your patients? I usually prefer to take my hands off them while they're getting zapped...so that means that I have to re-landmark.

At the end of the day I agree, on my department no one would be running in without equipment, we would use an OPA and a BVM, and someone would be bagging the guy on the stretcher. But it's a different country than we live in, a different continent in fact, and as a result things are not going to always work the same way. But if they had a successful outcome, well that's pretty impressive.

I've never run a successful code before, if we're shocking them and pounding on their chest they're generally not coming back. So I take my hat off to the brothers from Sweden. I think at the end of the day before I'd start the armchair quarterbacking I'd look at the most important thing...that man LIVED to see another day. Job well done to the boys!

[clark918]

Wow thanks, I think I might actually use this for a project. In my Water Systems class my instructor wants to research a different countries fire engine. Then give specs about it and compare it to ours in the US. At first someone in my group wanted Egypt. I found nothing. Then we tried Greenland, still nothing. So maybe we could switch to Sweeden.

[emt161]

I realize we all run our operations different but there were some basic fundamental care issues here that are wrong

Says who? Please enlighten us on Stockholm's EMS protocols, since you're obviously the expert here.

He walked into the station with no deficits whatsoever that I could see.

Oh well, makes you glad you live in the USA...

When was YOUR last save via your high and mighty, All-American methods?

[Firescueguy]

Not going to get into a ****ing match here...there's no need for rude comments, I was merely stating MY opinion...doesn't mean it's right, wrong or indifferent, it's merely MY opinion (the one I'm entitled to have being a citizen of the good 'ole USA)....

emt161 - I am in no way claiming to be an expert...oh and by the way, I've had a few saves in the past 16+ years using those good old USA proven techniques...

FF21CFD - I certainly applaud the Swedish brothers for saving the guy's life...no , I don't speak fluent Swedish/German so I cannot say exactly how they operate or who was delegated to what job, I was merely pointing out issues that I observed (referred to as "armchair quarterbacking")...in the end,
if they guy lived, more power to them...I just saw some fundamental issues that I would take issue with if they occured here...

Just my 3 cents (it costs more, it's a rebuttal)....Stay Safe...

[nwadler]

Thank you for bringing these videos to light. The type of construction is interesting over there. It seems most places are built of fire resistive type construction. I was wondering if anyone knew the time duration for their scba's. Anyone who can shed some light on their tactics and methods would be great. I was also wondering what type of fire hose are they using. It looks like 1.5 with a quick connect system, but not sure.

[Micael]

Two more episodes are up now:

Episode 5; New Year's Eve at the station, apartment fire caused by a firework rocket (having to break through a "burglar safe" steel door to get to it), car/mobile home fire, subway fire (SCBA leak for one of the FFs). http://svt.se/svt/road/Classic/share...61734&a=749481

Episode 6; selling firefighter calenders for the benefit of injured firefighters, apt. building stairwell fire, car fire, apartment fire, one of the FFs participating in a cross-country ski race, ice rescue, fire cracker in garbage chute. http://svt.se/svt/road/Classic/share...61734&a=755421

Bonus clip; a pretty corny firefighting documentary from 1937, also about the Stockholm FD but featuring the Kungsholmen station. http://svt.se/svt/road/Classic/share...29657&a=738962

[OFD226]

First of all...you have to realize the set-up for emergency services is different when you are not in the USA, especially in Europe.

For example, for a city of 1 million people, you may only have 10 Firehouses but each will have from 15-30 personnel.

In the cardiac arrest video, the first 2 crews are BLS, and the 3 that show up later are respectively paramedics and a doctor. This is common in European EMS systems.

The reason that you see people running in with out equipment, is that often they send one person to give a "size-up" in order to figure out what to send up with the next crew.

You cannot look out our system of operation and compare it with Europe, or other countries.

For example, go to Marseilles in France. 8 Firehouses, city of 1 million people. NO SPRINKLERS, NO SMOKE DETECTORS and most buildings are from the 1600-1700's and ALL buildings are 6-7 Story Multiple Dwellings that are attached to other MD of a similar size. The density is at a level approaching Manhattan or San Francisco and the send one station to a fire, with 15-20 people. Thats all. 15 people. For a 6 story multiple dwelling.

Yeah...its a bit different over there. And they get to drink 2 glasses of wine per meal. (This alone should start another conversation....)

[Micael]

Seventh episode is up: suicide jumper talk down, response to aircraft emergency landing, apartment fire with rescue of unconcious person and search of second apartment, water leak in apt. building.
http://svt.se/svt/road/Classic/share...61734&a=760525

[ShuckingGome]

Did Stockholm Fire always do EMS or was it a recent takeover like it has been in the US for many areas?