Donning of fire kit....

[TheCapt]

Hi

Could any of you out there tell me of any procedures / policies you have in place ref the donning of fire kit?

 This being specific to a turn out / shout etc.

Do you all permit driving whilst in fire boots and do your drivers dress prior / after arrival at an incident?

If you don't have a policy could I get your feelings / thoughts on the above?

Many thanks

[stevfire2]

hi, kit is put on during the response. with having to respond whilst carrying out  "other duties", to kit up before leaving the station as well,  would seriously affect ability to meet response time.driver kits up when possible.
 latest truck is a swine to kit up in.

[Just]

Our policy is to have all crews dressed in leggings tunic and flashood prior to getting on the appliance. Helmets and gloves are put on whilst moving, once we have positioned the driver then puts on his gloves and helmet.

As with most airports we tried all different ways, and how it affected our response time. We manage our response time with this procedure.

[Yeebsy]

I don't think there is a sure and steadfast procedure written down, we don our kit on the way to the shout or standbye locations, if say we had been training and was already kitted all the better, I don't understand the "driving whilst in fire boots"? what difference does it make? is there anyone out there that doesn't allow this?

[TheCapt]

Thanks for your replies.

Obviously respone time etc is important...

My comment of "driving whilst in fire boots" stems from local authority , who I believe restrict / don't approve of their drivers from doing the above.

This is aparently as it's not safe?
We have driven in boots / wellies for years with no problems.

Due to retained crew also working at airports most safety issues are very quickly raised in respect of the old line" in local autority we do this that and the other"

Just wanted some opinions / thoughts?

cheers

[Clevelandfire]

Thanks for your replies.

Obviously respone time etc is important...

My comment of "driving whilst in fire boots" stems from local authority , who I believe restrict / don't approve of their drivers from doing the above.

This is aparently as it's not safe?
We have driven in boots / wellies for years with no problems.

Due to retained crew also working at airports most safety issues are very quickly raised in respect of the old line" in local autority we do this that and the other"

Just wanted some opinions / thoughts?

cheers

Capt

Youre correct in saying LA crews cant drive in boots because they can be unweidly and hamper the driver from braking suddenly apprently although I think its a load of old tripe myself.

[Mike Buckley]

I suspect a little bit of wool pulling here. When I was on the run we used to rig on route, yes getting your boots and leggings on whilst going round corners was an art. The driver always used to rig when he got to the incident. A lot of the drivers kept their boots and leggings in the pump bay so they could start pumping and then get rigged. However if we had a shout in the middle of drill (remember that?) the driver just jumped in and off we went, no delay for the driver to get his boots off.

When the policy changed so that the crew got rigged before the appliance left, I guess tthe driver issue came to the surface and the reason is an excuse to hold onto the old habits.

Officer to driver "why aren't you wearing your boots?", quick thinking driver " I can't drive safety with the boots on Guv"

[TheCapt]

lol

memories of the past when we did our jobs, no poncing about and the only assessments we did were how many tea bags we needed for a brew....