In this episode, “Training To Perform Under Pressure” instructor, Adam Ritsch provides an overview of ground ladders and their limitations, providing firefighters with knowledge of their weapon.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION:

Have y’all seen how they test these things? Typically test it annually. They’ve been the living mess out ’em. They put a giant weight in the middle and they flex this thing down to the point that it’s, uh, it’s pretty sketchy looking. Once you see that, ah, we’re good. We can, we can do some stuff with these ladders, right? Is this life safety rope? Is this a rated system? No. Most of ’em are like an old school, uh, Manila or something like that. Right. We talked a little bit about the ratings. 750 pounds plus the four to one safety factor, right? Rungs. Each rung is, is tested at a thousand pounds. Plenty of weight for us, right? Duo safeties have rated this to an extent. Facing either direction, but, ’cause I know that now, if I have somebody come up and say, Hey man, you can’t throw that ladder, fly in. No, I can. You only lose 4% of the total rating is what Duo safety tells us. Only reason for that is because you’re talking about the fly in bed section, is that thing pivots depending on which way it’s facing. If it’s fly in, there’s a 4% difference in the clearing where those two meet, which is where that 4% decrease in the rating comes from still talking 720 pounds plus that four to one safety factor. I can justify having that thing fly in all day long, but it changes it. It gives me a place that I have to transition a patient over where those two meet one way versus the other, right? So that’s kind of the biggest difference. But I promise you, if someone is hanging out of a window with flames looking at their heine buns, they don’t care whether it’s the fly section facing them or you know, if the flies in or flies out. And I don’t care because I can justify it because I know my ratings all day long, they still recommend fly out. So most of the time if I’m throwing this for ventilation, going up to the roof, throwing it just to leave it, something like that, I’m going to throw it fly out. ’cause that is still preferred. Ms. Smith is hanging outta the window, whatever way that thing falls, is what way I’m leaving it because she doesn’t care and I don’t care.

* The training views expressed in this video are those of the training instructors, and not Fire Spotlight. The actions in this video are inherently dangerous and could result in death; should the viewers choose to adopt any views expressed in this video, he/she is doing so at his/her own risk. Fire Spotlight encourages viewers to review his/her department’s Standard Operating Procedures when adopting any new training views.