Bowling Balls?

[ChicagoFF]

Anyone carry a bowling ball on the rig? We used to, but they tore down the last of the buildings we needed it for.

[fireman4949]

Okay, I'll bite.

What did you use the bowling balls for?

[ChicagoFF]

Okay, I'll bite.

What did you use the bowling balls for?

The old projects had incinerators with garbage chutes. Stuff would get stuck every night and then catch fire, as the chutes were used as ashtays as well. Two floors above the smoke, send a bowling ball down, everything ends up in the basement, put it out, go to bed! Theres not much a free falling bowling ball wont cure...

[fireman4949]

Thanks Chicago. I figured it was something along those lines.

I've been to a few trash chute fires in past years at a dorm on FSU's campus.

That would've been an excellent solution to clearing all of the crap from the chute.

[DugdogFiredog]

The old projects had incinerators with garbage chutes. Stuff would get stuck every night and then catch fire, as the chutes were used as ashtays as well. Two floors above the smoke, send a bowling ball down, everything ends up in the basement, put it out, go to bed! Theres not much a free falling bowling ball wont cure...

In the words of Borat, "Nice!" It's a movie if you don't get it.

[FDAIC485]

I guess it will take its rightful position next to the jet-axe.

[fireman4949]

I guess it will take its rightful position next to the jet-axe.

I don't think anything could possibly compare to the Jet-Axe!

[Resq1scnd2none]

Hmm....I just would not want to be the "pin monkey" at the end of that alley

[firefiftyfive]

No more incinerators in the city of NY accept for in hospitals really, the majority have been converted to compactor chutes! But I have heard bowling ball, bricks, and cinder block stories for the old incinerators!!

[DennisTheMenace]

WHat do you do when the ball does get stuck, and it is league night the next day?

[ChicagoFF]

No more incinerators in the city of NY accept for in hospitals really, the majority have been converted to compactor chutes! But I have heard bowling ball, bricks, and cinder block stories for the old incinerators!!

Well, let me rephrase. They used to be incinerators, we called them incinerators, and they were dispatched as incinerators, but they weren't functioning anymore. The chutes went to dumpsters or trash rooms which would burn all the time.

[ChicagoFF]

WHat do you do when the ball does get stuck, and it is league night the next day?

Carry two. If the first one gets stuck, use the second one from higher up!

[fireman4949]

Duck Pin, or Ten Pin?

[ndvfdff33]

That is definitely one of the coolest tricks I have ever heard. Of course I would never get to test it out because we have no buildings with garbage chutes.

[BackStepNBackWards]

Ive also heard of the bowling ball being used for other instances...in the city, drug dealers who hide out in abandoned buildings or even homes set "booby"-traps to protect them selves...often by cutting holes in the floor and covering them up with cloth...if someone that wasnt supposed to be there came in, obviously they wouldnt know about it and poof...down they go...u can see how this could be a problem for firefighters if there was smoke in the building or whatnot...i know a line officer who used to bring a bowling ball to these buildings and would roll it into the room....if it went through without dropping...they would follow it....

A little out of the norm...but hey..

[DeputyChiefGonzo]

Duck Pin, or Ten Pin?

Ten pin, baby!

Which reminds me of the old adage.. lock a firefighter in a windowless room with two bowling balls and wait ten minutes... open the door, the firefighter will be gone, and one bowling ball will be broken and the other one missing!

We had a fire at the Brunswick Maple Lanes back in 1989. It had a good head start, the roof had partially collapsed prior to arrival and for the most part ops were defensive.

We went in to overhaul, and every once in a while you would hear a ball rolling down the lanes and the pins getting knocked down. I bowled a perfect 300 game that night, but due to the smoke, nobody saw it!

[ChiefKN]

Which reminds me of the old adage.. lock a firefighter in a windowless room with two bowling balls and wait ten minutes... open the door, the firefighter will be gone, and one bowling ball will be broken and the other one missing!

That is the funniest thing i've heard in a long time...

And so true. Every major purchase we made when I was chief must have appeared to be "firefighter proof". It rarely ever was in the end.

[Capt406]

I might be dating myself, but in Dennis Smiths book (mid 1970's) "Report from Engine co 82" he talks of hoofing it up the stairs of project buildings with a sizeable rock, the purpose of which was to drop down the clogged and now burning trash chute. We use window weights on a chain for blockages during chimney fires, same concept. Dont stock bowling balls, but I have used snow balls on chimney fires.

[AC1503]

No bowling balls, but our engines have a bowling pin in their engineer's compartment.

[DugdogFiredog]

No bowling balls, but our engines have a bowling pin in their engineer's compartment.

Wow! We carry a bowling pin as well. What does your department use yours for? We use ours for chimney fires primarily. I haven't seen or heard about it being used in any other instance.