In the final part of the fire truck tower ladder training video series, “Training To Perform Under Pressure” instructor, Steve Ripley, A.K.A. “Rip”, provides tips on how to utilize your equipment on the fireground without hindering operations for your department.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION:

 Ground pads. Y’all have policies about ground pads in your department? Always go down. Okay. What about setting, um, short jacking? You have policies on short jacking trucks?

In my city. I’d say 90% of my sets are short jacked, just because narrow streets, things like that, we’re short jacking all the time. It leaves room for the next aerial and or the next engine coming in if they’re trying to supply us.

Our trucks are quints. Okay. We are running hose off of there. Like I said, every now and then we do need water. If we try to short jack where we can get, um, other people in, get the second truck in. Also parking for the cars where my jacks are coming out at, things like that.

We short jack a lot. Does it confine us sometimes?

Absolutely. My operator has to know where we’re gonna set it, how we’re gonna do. How many of y’all have to overcome hills? Different terrain. You go down to Florida or you go down towards the beach, they don’t have many hills, right? Everything’s pretty flat. We have stilts for the front of our truck. Okay.

I can almost walk under my front bumper. We’re fully extended up on the hill. My city is called the city of seven hills. It’s all hills, okay? So we’re always overcoming that. Crowns in the road, things like that. You have to start to become proficient for your area with those right?