Too Cool

Ground Ladders

By Capt. David Polikoff

The most versatile ladder on the ladder truck is the 35 foot ladder. All firefighters must learn how to deploy this ladder with 2 people. The 35 ft ladder can be used at most house and garden apartment fires. by choosing the 35 ft from the truck you are ensuring you will be able to make fast rescues and not have to worry about coming up short.

When throwing ladders on the fire ground it is important to remember we are throwing them for us the firefighters. It is important to be in the mind set to deploy for rescue. This mean at or just below the window sill. Once you have deployed the ladder to the window you must ensure that a firefighter who has to make an immediate exit from the fire building has no obstructions in his/her path, This means clear the window of glass and the sash as well.

In firefighter school it is driven in our heads to set the climbing angle at 1/4 the working distance of the height you are using. It is far better to have a more shallow climbing angle, if a firefighters has to bail out head first it is far better to have the weight of the firefighter and all his gear transferred to the ladder as opposed to their hands and arms. A shallow angle will also assist in the firefighter righting themselves on the ladder and then to climb down.

In the past there has been controversy about ladder bails, but they have been used successfully on the fire ground. It is like anything else you have to practice so when the time comes it is like second nature. Always remember when you do practice make sure the participants are secured with a safety line.

Below is an emergency ladder bail