Consigned to History

[Carl]

Im sure like me, there are certain bits of kit on your pumps that have been there since you have joined but have never been used. There are 2 bits of kit that stick in my mind, although 1 has recently been taken off. 

The first bit of kit was the "Auger and Handle" which was used I am sure many a time in the mills on Lancashire, but it something I have never had to use. It has only just disappeared from our pumps over the past few years. 

Secondly, and I am sure many may still use these in the rural parts, but I have never used "Bale Hooks" We still carry them and although I know what they are and how they should be used, I have never had to. 

Do you still carry those older bits of kit that should be consigned to history?

[TandA]

Aside from a few of the more obscure adapters, I have never used the sand lance in anger.  It has been used by a couple of old hands with more time in than me but it's not come off the machine at a job in my time.

Rural describes my Stn pretty well but we have never had bale hooks, though pitchforks got plenty of use in my earlier days.

Most of the older items of kit have proved their worth over and over again.  They don't come much older than the stirrup pump but that gets regularly used at chimney fires and does the job effectively.

[Cardiff_Fire]

Knapsack sprayer. Although often used, surely in 2017 for very little expense we could come up with something a little less leaky, cumbersome & ineffective.

Kids are playing with "supersoakers" that are more useful.

[Noddy]

Railway horns.  The only use they get is when they are inserted into an unsuspecting car owner's exhaust pipe 

[Jupiter999]

Our hay drags were removed from our pumps a decade ago. Being rural with many a bale on fire it was one of the most useful bits of kit we had. Now we have to use Jafco pitch forks. No comparison, Jafco kit sucks.

[OscarTango]

Consigned to history? That'd be our cutting gear. Anyhow.

By and large I think i've used most bits of kit on our lorry (or old one) at least once. Interesting the mention about jafcos and knapsack sprayers. They get used a lot here. I have an almost sentimental attachment to the ceiling hook .

While we do more and more first aid here, one thing I think we could surely dispense with are the box splints. Never used them in my meager years, none of our older hands can remember using them, and the ambulance service will chuck them out the window at first opportunity were they to be used.

[Carefree]

I'd say chimney gear but I've actually used it in anger twice over the last few years.  Apart from that I think I've used everything at least once, so I can't really say anything.

[Keith]

As mentioned in another thread back breaking 105 ladders.

[Geeooo]

On 20 June 2017 at 15:29, Noddy said:

Railway horns.  The only use they get is when they are inserted into an unsuspecting car owner's exhaust pipe 

I've also witnessed them in action en route to a shout by the trainee out of the cab window when our two tones 'weren't working'.

[Noddy]

^^^ 

[Jet]

Brilliant Geeooo, will remember that one. Anyone that's stupid enough to actually put a railway horn anywhere near their lips will probably come up for that as well 

[Phil C]

On 20/06/2017 at 00:13, Carl said:

Im sure like me, there are certain bits of kit on your pumps that have been there since you have joined but have never been used. There are 2 bits of kit that stick in my mind, although 1 has recently been taken off. 

The first bit of kit was the "Auger and Handle" which was used I am sure many a time in the mills on Lancashire, but it something I have never had to use. It has only just disappeared from our pumps over the past few years. 

Secondly, and I am sure many may still use these in the rural parts, but I have never used "Bale Hooks" We still carry them and although I know what they are and how they should be used, I have never had to. 

Do you still carry those older bits of kit that should be consigned to history?

Hi Carl, you have just reminded me of my first day at Leigh after transferring from West Mids, and going round the truck to familiarise myself with the stowage, only to find the Auger and handle, and ask what is this for. To be told, mill fires of course, still non the wiser as we didn't really have any mills in the West Mids.

[Messyshaw]

A historic bit of useless kit:

For many years, LFB (and perhaps Surrey?) stations around Heathrow carried a small battered aluminium blackboard in the crew cab. Roughly 3 x 2ft, it was called the 'Aircraft Location Board'

Painted on it the words something like "The Aircraft Has been Located at:.................. '

The idea was, during an aircraft crash off the airport, if your pump arrived at an designated off site RVP first - say the one in Harmondsworth Village - and a Police Officer or local resident gave you further information as the where the plane was, you would write "In the recreation ground at the end of School Road' etc in the gap & leave the blackboard against a lamppost for supporting crews to find.

This was obviously a legacy from the old Middlesex Fire Brigade days where radios were not necessarily fitted. However the boards stayed on the run until in early 1980s - 20+ years after radios were commonplace on all appliances.

It was a stupid idea from the outset as it would only be needed if the plane didn't catch fire (as you would see it!), and would rely on a windless and dry day or the sign would blow over or have the chalk washed off. 

Note: The only real plane crash I attended at Heathrow was in a storm with high winds and heavy rain (a Jumbo with it's engine ripped off after a 'heavy' landing). The sign would have been useless for that shout!!