Clean and lubricate the guides on extension ladders. Replace worn halyards and wire rope. Clean and lubricate roof hooks. Check heat sensor labels. Keep records of all maintenance. Sunlight can damage fiberglass.
Ladders should be cleaned before each inspection to ensure that any hidden faults can be observed. Clean ladders regularly and after each use with warm, soapy water and a soft-bristle brush. Rinse and dry the ladder before storing it.
Test new ladders before use and at least annually thereafter. Ladders that have been exposed to extreme conditions or overloaded must be removed from service until they have passed a service test. Test ladders after any repairs before placing back in service. Full turnout gear and personal protective equipment PPE are essential for safety. Fire fighters must be able to work on ladders with self-contained breathing apparatus SCBA. Some ladders are heavy and awkward to maneuver, especially when extended.
Use proper lifting techniques. Coordinate all movements. Never attempt to lift or move a ladder that weighs more than you are capable of lifting safely; it is better to ask for help than to become injured.
Always check for overhead wires and other obstructions. Place on stable and level surfaces. Avoid heat and direct flame. Ensure the pawls are locked and the halyard is tied before climbing. Use a rope or strap to secure the tip of the ladder to the building.
Distribute weight along the length of the ladder. Be prepared for falling debris, misguided hose streams, and people falling from the building. Be prepared to climb down quickly. The ladder should not occlude any part of the window opening. Be wary of the actions of people you are attempting to rescue. Make verbal contact with the victims. Safeguard victims as they climb. Use another fire fighter to guide you and the victim down the ladder. Remove from service any ladder used outside of normal limits.
Remove ladder even if no damage is visible. Ensure ladder is long enough. Floor-to-floor height residential : ft m Floor-to-windowsill height residential : 3 ft 0. Roof access Ladder tip should extend several feet or five rungs above roofline. Ladder will need to be slightly longer than the vertical distance between the ground and the target.
Approximately one additional foot for each 15 ft 4. Ladders are often nested one inside another and mounted on brackets on the side of an engine. Ladders can also be stored on overhead hydraulic lifts.
On some vehicles, ladders are stored in compartments under the hose bed or aerial device. Know the lifting commands and procedures. Use good lifting techniques. Place the ladder on a stable, level surface. Avoid manhole covers or trap doors Away from doors or high-traffic areas.
Use a flat raise when ladder must be raised perpendicular to the target. The number of fire fighters required for a raise depends on Length and weight of the ladder Available clearance from obstructions.
Metal or fiberglass ladders are generally used fly section out. Place a foot against each beam. A rope, rope-hose tool, or webbing can be used to secure a ladder. The best method is to secure both the tip and the case. Ensure ladder, pawls, halyard are properly secured.
Check climbing angle. Climb slowly; avoid bouncing or shifting. Eyes should be focused forward. Wear proper PPE and lower face shield. Hoist tools by rope if possible. Do not overload ladder. Maintain contact with ladder at three points. Do not shift weight until you have tested the footing. Use designed and certified belts. Utility belts should not be used. In photo 1, we can see a ground ladder undergoing the Horizontal Bending Test.
In this test, a load of pounds is applied to the middle of the ladder. Notice that the ground ladder is fully extended; it is supported by two stands at least six inches from each end of the ladder. Any test being conducted on a ladder must maintain a five-minute time limit. Notice how the ladder is bending under the test weight. There is probably a one-foot deflection occurring under these extreme weight limits. But are these extreme weight limits? If we were to use a ground ladder to rescue a civilian, there is a good chance that the ladder will endure some extreme weight.
The average weight of a firefighter fully donned with personal protective equipment is pounds. This is a figure that the NFPA uses to assess firefighter activity weight for any operation. One firefighter on a ground ladder trying to rescue a civilian who may weigh as much as pounds is now adding pounds of weight onto the ladder. Depending on the behavior of the civilian, the ground ladder will bounce as they descend. Why do we need to know this? It is to build up our faith and trust of the ground ladder.
It is designed to work under stressful situations and has proved itself to be a very effective tool on many occasions. As part of our basics, we need to know the lengths of our ladders that we carry on our fire apparatus because when it comes time to ladder a second-story window, we want to pull off the right ladder the first time and raise it to the correct height the first time. Nothing looks worse than watching two firefighters raising and lowering a ground ladder and trying to select the proper height.
If we know our ladder lengths, the average distances between floors, the height of the window sills from the floor, the distance between rungs, and how much a ladder tip will drop when we pull the base out and away from the wall, we will be able to estimate correctly the exact height we should raise the ladder the first time. In photo 2, we can see three different ladders being used to access different windows. Each one is accessing a different level of the building. We have a foot ladder accessing the second story, a foot extension ladder accessing the third story, and a foot ladder accessing the fourth story.
However, members of the fire service seeking some sound basis upon which to measure ladder quality and prepare specifications may rely upon this material— at least until the fire service adopts and promulgates some official standards. It should be mentioned that in the past a number of larger fire departments have built their own ladders, to their own standards and specifications. During and following World War II, however, the difficulty in securing satisfactory materials largely wood has resulted in the purchase of more ladders from manufacturers—and an increase in the use of the metal types.
Definitions of materials used in metal ladders are purposely omitted from this chapter. Pitch Pocket: A pitch pocket is a well-defined opening between rings of annual growth, usually containing, or which has contained, more or less pitch, either solid or liquid. Bark also may be present in the pocket. Shake: A shake is a separation along the grain, most of which occurs between the rings of annual growth.
Decay: Decay is disintegration of wood substance due to action of wood destroying fungi. Also known as dote and rot. Compression Failure: A compression failure is a deformation of the fibres due to excessive compression along the grain. This deformation takes the form of buckling of the fibres. Compression Wood: Compression wood is an abnormal growth occurring in soft-woods and is characterized by relatively wide annual rings, usually eccentric, and a comparatively large proportion of summerwood usually 50 per cent or more which merges into the springwood without exhibiting a marked contrast in color.
Low Density: Low-density wood is that which is exceptionally light in weight for its species. Fire department ladders are of six general types, as follows: 1 Straight wall ladder; 2 Extension ladder, known as Bangor ladder when equipped with poles ; 3 Roof ladder; 4 Pompier scaling ladder; 5 Folding collapsible or attic ladder; and 6 Aerial ladder.
Types 1 and 2 are usually known as Ground Ladders as they are generally raised with butts on the ground. Types 3, 4 and 5 are known as Portable Ladders because of their convenience in carrying inside buildings and upon roofs.
Type 6 is a permanently fixed, mechanically operated ladder, usually mounted upon apparatus and operated from the same. There are also several variations of the above types designed for specific purposes. There are three types of ladders from the standpoint of material used in ladder construction: 1 Wooden ladders; 2 Metal ladders, and 3 Wood and Metal combined. There are two general types of design-construction found in fire department ladders: 1 Beam and 2 Truss.
The solid beam ladder is designed with both beams of solid material either, wood or metal, with rungs set in center of beams. Wood is predominately used in beam ladders although some short beam ladders are built.
There is a variety of design in trussed ladders. Some are made with beams and truss members of equal size while others are made with beam members larger than the truss members. Rungs may be set directly into the beam while in other types the rungs are set into blocks or spacers mounted between beam and truss members.
There are three recognized types of trussed ladders in use in the fire service at the present time: two have the rungs set in blocks that are mounted between the beams. The other has rungs set in beam member. The first two ladders are placed with the trussed side away from the building, while the latter is placed with the trussed side toward the building.
There are three types of metal ladders: 1 aluminum alloy; 2 steel alloy and 3 magnesium alloy. At present, magnesium alloy ladders are built in limited sizes only and have only been recently introduced to the fire service.
Their performance and characteristic data are not yet available. The hook is generally constructed of plow steel. The beams of the wood collapsible, or folding ladder, are made of spruce with hickory rungs. Most metal ladders of this type are made of aluminum alloy. Aerial ladders are built both of wood and metal, and a combination of both.
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