Either you add a new unit, with new personnel to man your new drone unit, or you take people/resources away from what is already established in order to run the drones
But wouldn't you just use this when you would have needed to up on the ladder with a hose anyway or something similar ? The drone could just in a box on top of the truck and you just open it, attach the hose and it's ready to go.
In the set up you describe, you are removing a conventional unit in order to run the drones which is what the guy was saying would be dumb, presumably because he doesn’t feel the drones should replace anything conventional, but possibly could be a good addition. But only if it’s an addition
I wouldn't necessarily say it's removing a conventional unit just altering how a specific task is done. It only takes one person to operate each drone, everything else on the truck can be the same.
It's the exact same thing in my eyes but I'm not a firefighter so I'm not gonna act like I know what I'm talking about
Every single person on an apparatus is working at a fire. If you take any of them away from their normal job to run the drone, you are making the unit not operate effectively as it normally would. Imagine a team of guys at a factory pulling levers to make the factory work, and can’t leave their stations without the factory shutting down. You are suggesting one of these guys should be given another lever to pull somewhere else in the factory
But if there's a situation where you'd be sending someone up a ladder with a hose anyway or operating the boom thing which has a hose attached what's the difference? It's the same job no ?
You just use it when it's practical and needed. The person operating it is still fighting the fire the same as if they had a hose directly in their hands ?
probably just one of those things I won't understand because I haven't done it.
The part youre missing is that when you have that person change their job, instead of doing their usual job, they now operate the drone. That messes up the 7 other guys who needed that one extra guy in order to complete their task.
You sometimes need 2 entire companies (8 men) to operate one handline inside of a highrise. If you pull one or two guys out of there to run drones, now your handline isnt advancing.
And this is an example from my department who has 4 guys per company. Most departments have 3, which means that guy being taken out to run drones makes it even harder to advance the line than in my case.
I understand what you mean but I meant in the situation where you'd be using the hose that's attached to the ladder or someone on the ladder with a hose anyway. Someone would be operating that regardless and so you wouldn't really be taking someone away from a different job because it's the same job ?
I might be confusing myself so I'm just going to accept I'm wrong lol
I understand what you mean. Suffice it to say that this drone system as pictured will certainly not be equivalent to the line on the ladder. A major limitation of the drone is that the hose you are lifting into the sky is free standing. The amount the drone can lift is a bottle neck, forcing you to use a smaller hose line. As well, since the hose has to be flexible, it can’t hold as much pressure as solid metal pipe can. These two reasons alone mean you are moving significantly less water to where you need it to go.
The ladders are dual purpose and the drones fail to deliver on one of those very important purposes. To save people who are trapped and hanging out of windows.
You can still have a hose on the ladder, this could just be used in awkward spots or whatever when needed. I'm not saying for the drone to replace anything completely just as another tool/add-on that can be used when needed.
Yea but the whole point of the conversation above was that it would only be a good addition IF its used as an addition with extra personnel. Not as a replacement for a tower or ladder. There are zero scenarios where replacing a ladder and the 1500 gallon per minute master stream on it with a drone with a 50 gallon per minute stream with no ladder is a good idea.
If you use the ladder and have a specialized unit for the drones, then it can be useful.
The person you initially responded to, as well as my own opinion is that the drone is not better enough than anything else to justify replacing it. But it could be a good addition, as long as you aren’t taking something we believe to be better away to do it
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u/SouthBendCitizen 13d ago
Either you add a new unit, with new personnel to man your new drone unit, or you take people/resources away from what is already established in order to run the drones