r/Firefighting • u/LivingLikeYou • Jun 19 '25
Ask A Firefighter What are you going to say?
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u/walterwh1t3 Jun 19 '25
Damn that sucks. Our unofficial rule is if you forget something on a call, you have to wear it when we get back to the station.
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u/dangforgotmyaccount previous intern Jun 19 '25
Come back to a scheduled tour and some guys just doing laps around the truck on air
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u/lvjames Jun 19 '25
My captains rule is 100 burpees for each piece of ppe missing on a call.
I feel like there would be an extra prize for the guy who made it that far in without a mask though.
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u/ihatebaboonstoo Glorified Barista Jun 19 '25
In Australia our masks are connected to our BAs - wouldn’t happen unless they didn’t chuck a BA on.
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u/Pondering_Giraffe Jun 19 '25
I actually did this once. I had my mask on and everything, wanted to reach back to open the bottle... no bottle. Fortunately it was just training and in my defense it was the third day of a training week and I was really tired, but I've never felt more stupid in my life. No idea what happened in the truck and getting out, and how I didn't miss a giant backpack right up to the point where I wanted to go in.
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u/DinnerJumpy3725 Jun 19 '25
Lmfao I did this my 2nd to last week at the academy, I had my mask on and I was reaching back to turn on my cylinder and I was just like Awe Shit!
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u/Yurple_RS Jun 19 '25
Honestly, and I'll get a lot of flak for this, but I think the American helmet setup is antiquated. Sure they look cool (who doesnt love custom shields) but they're just not as efficient as what it could be.
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u/eagle4123 Jun 19 '25
200 years of tradition, unimpeded by progress, right?
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u/neekogo Beardless Volley Jun 19 '25
2 things firefighters hate . . .
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u/Jackm941 Jun 19 '25
I dont know if they just done use them but in all the videos I see the mask is just dangling around, do you not have neck straps? Need to keep dirt and water out them things seems mental to just have it flopping about while putting a door in
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u/Forward2Death I miss my Truck Jun 19 '25
Generally No, last neck strap that I saw was on MSA packs 20 years ago.
I hitch my facepiece to the shoulder strap because I despise bashing the snot out of it, and it keeps it cleaner. But that's a minority position it seems.
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u/Dman331 FF2/EMT-B Jun 19 '25
The new drager packs have one!
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u/Forward2Death I miss my Truck Jun 19 '25
I should have qualified that my life has been mostly Scott since then. Totally believable that other manufacturers have them as a standard.
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u/TLunchFTW FF/EMT Jun 20 '25
Drager still makes packs?
Honestly, I was surprised MSA still made packs when I first saw them come around with the G1. EVERYONE here has Scott... My current department is the one exception1
u/Dman331 FF2/EMT-B Jun 20 '25
My old department was Scott through and through. The old drager packs id seen were shit, these newest ones are fantastic though. Expensive as all hell but comfortable, about the weight of the Scott packs but they sit just a little nicer
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u/TLunchFTW FF/EMT Jun 20 '25
Everyone says that about MSA. I see no real difference between any of the modern packs regardless of manufacturer.
I started on Scot 2216s, moved to Scott 4500s, then to the g1. Scott offers comparable though now. And honestly, even g1 to our older firehawks, once it’s on I feel no difference1
u/TLunchFTW FF/EMT Jun 20 '25
You can absolutely buy one.... That said, I didn't. I've meant to for a while, but I didn't.
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u/Je_me_rends Staircase Enthusiast Jun 19 '25
Yeah, but because we have Euro helmets, our way of doing things is automatically wrong and wouldn't work across the pond.
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u/doransignal Jun 20 '25
The fire academy instructor had one and showed us. I liked it but tradition in the US most don't use them.
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u/TillInternational842 Death by Decay Tech Jun 19 '25
My little brother got on with my department a while back. During his probie year, another probie on the 1st due truck forgot his mask. As he went back to the truck to get it, my brother took the nozzle, and on they went. Wish I had been there, lol. I just got to hear it from some of the guys at different stations.
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u/SquirrelNormal Jun 19 '25
We're going to learn a new technique for rapid exit today, probie.
Can you say, defenestration?
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u/don5500 Jun 19 '25
I would tell him to remove himself from the building and stay by the truck until i get down there .
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u/Peaches0k Texas FF/EMT/HazMat Tech Jun 19 '25
Y’all don’t leave your masks connected to the regulator? Feel like it’s one less thing to worry about while scrambling to get dressed on the way there
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u/TLunchFTW FF/EMT Jun 20 '25
I usually keep my mask bag stored on my gear, clipped to the same clip that holds my gloves and accountability tags. Just what I learned and It's REALLY hard to forget it when it's flopping around on your chest.
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u/P3arsona Volunteer FF Jun 19 '25
This is good reinforcement to just keep my Mask clicked into my BA at all times
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u/wagonboss 20 year guy Jun 19 '25
I have a slightly bigger than usual mask bag, with a 5’ tether on it. I attach it to the back of the seat. so after I check my pack, I click the face piece in and put it in the bag. Just off the left side, sitting on the dog box. It doesn’t go anywhere. Now no matter what, I have my mask attached.
19 out of 20 times I take the mask out of the bag and it rides in my lap on the way to the call. But if I forget, my mask bag comes forward with me and the mask pops out, and the tether pulls the bag back up into the seat.
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u/Chevy8t8 FF/Paramedic Jun 19 '25
5 feet is a lot
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u/wagonboss 20 year guy Jun 19 '25
I left out a little bit. It’s 5ft fully expanded but rests at 2ish feet
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u/Alfiy_wolf Jun 19 '25
I’m wild unit now, don’t wear mask, but this happens with, ear plugs, gloves, and a few times the same person his level 1 jacket
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u/johnniberman Jun 19 '25
I forgot my helmet to a training once, I was loading everyone's gear in the engine (I dont remember why), and I thought that someone else's lid on a seat was mine.
I wore a little kids plastic helmet through the training and for the rest of the day.
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u/remlik Jun 19 '25
Shelter in the stairwell, guard the door, help people down the stairs. Use the body just keep him out of IDLH.
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u/imbrickedup_ Jun 19 '25
Never done this because it’s clipped on my regulator every morning. If you’re forgetful your gotta prepare
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u/im-not-homer-simpson Jun 20 '25
So many things rushing to my head right now but maybe I would say just stay in the stairway so then every coming up can pass him and see being an idiot doing nothing
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u/davethegreatone Jun 24 '25
I mean, for safety reasons - the probie has to go back to the rig.
And since we don't let people enter a hazard zone alone and we don't let people randomly switch crews - they have to stay in the rig until the rest of us get back. We ain't going down with them to escort them back up, so probie is just out of the fight.
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u/tomlaw4514 Jun 19 '25
This is gonna get downvoted like crazy but that kid would be eating smoke till he puked, he’d never forget it again
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u/Fit-Penalty-5751 Jun 19 '25
Remind me never to work for your department or tell people to apply there. We just out here killing our brothers/sisters? Mistakes happen, go guard the truck and the probie gets to miss out on this fire, explain to all the bagged guys why he’s sitting fresh as can be in rehab and get an ear full afterwards. He likely won’t forget it again, he’ll never live it down, and we’re not killing our co workers and friends
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u/tomlaw4514 Jun 19 '25
Let me know when you’re referring someone down here in the states and I’ll remind you
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u/ManchestersBurning saltiest junior fireman on this god damn planet Jun 20 '25
Upvoted till I realized you’re just dumb. Killing a brother or a sister over a mistake is crazy. I’m for punishments, wethers it’s the rock mentioned previously by another person. Or making them sit by the rig.
It’s not the 1980’s anymore, fires are burning faster and hotter and producing more smoke then they were when you’d hop off the rigs with 4 guys and 1 BA for everyone
I could sight you a source proving and backing up my informat which uses studies from the United States not Europe.
I’m not for changes like moving from leather s to plastics, traditional to moderns, moderns to euros. Or things like that but I am all for making it safer for firemen and firewomen to work the job and not giving them bronchitis, lung cancer. Or other Respiratory illnesses because someone new the job made a mistake
Everyone was new once everyone and yes that includes you there’s was a time you weren’t a salty PA Volly who’s definitely interior certified made a mistake and you had to pay for it someway or another.
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u/Adidathelad Jun 20 '25
Lame troll, try harder next time
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u/spankmethenthankme Jun 19 '25
A probie on my dept forgot his helmet and our LT told him to go sit on the truck lmao