Firefighter descending, "The stick."

stsinner · May 2, 2009

Comments and critiques welcome.. This was taken today during training.

To give you an idea, this was the angle of the stick he was coming down:

Flems · May 3, 2009

I like #1, but #2 seems to me to be somewhat lacking. Maybe a shot with the full truck could make it a little more interesting.

I might have the opportunity to take similar pictures this summer. I'm definitely looking forward to it. Would you happen to have any others?

Harmony · May 3, 2009

1 has a great POV, and it draws me in. I like it a lot.

stsinner · May 3, 2009

Flems said:
I like #1, but #2 seems to me to be somewhat lacking. Maybe a shot with the full truck could make it a little more interesting.

I might have the opportunity to take similar pictures this summer. I'm definitely looking forward to it. Would you happen to have any others?

Thanks, and, yes, I have more.

Harmony said:
1 has a great POV, and it draws me in. I like it a lot.

Thank you.

stsinner · May 3, 2009

1. An interesting fact that some may not know-some ladder trucks, and you can see it here on our Ladder 1, have a hard-piped waterway underneath it that can be operated from the ground, both direction and fog/stream pattern, so there's no need for a firefighter to be at the top of the ladder.

2.

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9.

10. The deck gun.

LuckySo-n-So · May 3, 2009

I would imagine that vertigo sets in pretty bad when you are training like that. By that I mean that you are climbing the ladder to NOWHERE, whereas if you were at a fire, you would be walking up toward a building, giving you some sense of depth and grounding (or whatever term should be used--not sure how to describe it). That looks pretty scary to me.

I get the feeling it's a lot less unnerving climbing that thing at a fire than during training. I'm just talking about climbing it, not the actual performance of firefighting duties.

stsinner · May 3, 2009

Flems said:
I like #1, but #2 seems to me to be somewhat lacking. Maybe a shot with the full truck could make it a little more interesting.

Unfortunately, the lens I decided to take was my 70-300, and the lot we were training in wasn't large enough for me to get far enough away to get the entire truck, except from the rear.

stsinner · May 3, 2009

LuckySo-n-So said:
I would imagine that vertigo sets in pretty bad when you are training like that. By that I mean that you are climbing the ladder to NOWHERE, whereas if you were at a fire, you would be walking up toward a building, giving you some sense of depth and grounding (or whatever term should be used--not sure how to describe it). That looks pretty scary to me.

I get the feeling it's a lot less unnerving climbing that thing at a fire than during training. I'm just talking about climbing it, not the actual performance of firefighting duties.

That's a good point because usually the end of the ladder is over a roof and gives some reassurance that if something were to go wrong it would simply rest on the roof.. When it's over a lake, as it was here, it's pretty scary if you're at all afraid of heights.. For our training they extend the ladder fully (85 feet) and have you go to the very top and clamp on. Then they raise it straight up and spin it and change the angle to make sure you can handle it should you have to do it at a fire. It's not unsafe, though, because you have a huge leather ladder belt with a huge carabiner that you secure to a rung of the ladder, so even if you pass out or something you'll just hang there until they get up to you.

mrodgers · May 3, 2009

Stick a sack full of a million dollars on the end of that thing and tell me to go get it and I can keep it, I'd still be broke

ale:

Flems · May 3, 2009

Interesting! I like the shots.

Antarctican · May 3, 2009

A very interesting series, to see some of what is involved in the training. I especially like shot 1, 9 and 10. Thanks for sharing these with us

stsinner · May 3, 2009

mrodgers said:
Stick a sack full of a million dollars on the end of that thing and tell me to go get it and I can keep it, I'd still be broke ale:

Too funny... Many people feel that way.. I'm actually deathly afraid of heights, but when there's a fire, the adrenalin takes over and you have a job to do.

Flems said:
Interesting! I like the shots.

Thank you.

Antarctican said:
A very interesting series, to see some of what is involved in the training. I especially like shot 1, 9 and 10. Thanks for sharing these with us

Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed them.