Let's talk about the Fire Service

[henrik]

We don't want to use them for firefighting because they aren't protected or trained, but sometimes they will help you carry things such as hose or extrication tools. But we really don't want untrained people involved for too long, especially with real hazards.

How about forest fires? This summer was extremely dry in northern Europe (by local standards) and several countries saw record numbers and sizes of forest fires, which stretched resources quite thin for other everyday stuff. People will naturally self-organise and turn up to help (I was involved in one where hundreds of people suddenly just turned up a few hours before dark and demanded to help). It takes attention and manpower from the incident command staff, but in later stages of a forest fire (looking for and putting out remaining nests) untrained manpower can be quite useful if well organised. How is this handled in your experience?

[Riggerjack]

Speaking of forest fires...

If I were looking to prevent a fire on a 5 acre plot of woods, how much water is going to be about right? I'm envisioning something like buried water tanks, piped to irrigation sprinklers. Just fire up a pump, open a valve, and spray.

My understanding is that wildfires are best dealt with using a "dome of humidity" strategy. Basically get everything wet to stop sparks from catching.

How much water do your tanker trucks bring? How many get used for a small patch of woods?

This last summer, it seems like Eastern Washington was on fire or Canada was. It got me thinking about my house in the woods covered in oiled cedar shingles (or maybe the right term is kindling) and those weren't comforting thoughts.

Thanks again for this thread.

[enigmaT120]

When we were getting our first roof on our house around 1992 my mom's husband suggested cedar shingles as they look so good in the woods where I live. But even then all I could think of was kindling. Now I have a metal roof.

[enigmaT120]

I don't guess anybody was home? That's fast.

My whole house is solid cedar inside the aluminum siding and steel roof. Like a Lindal Cedar home but a different company. It's very thick vertical boards stacked on each other in a log house interlocking fashion. But cedar. At least it isn't any sort of lightweight construction method!

[henrik]

A young youtuber goes through aspects of fire and rescue training with the South Metro fire dept (I'm assuming it's the one in Colorado) in a 35-minute video. It's a well produced and somewhat dramatic piece. I hope @ffj has the time to take a look and comment.
I wonder if the target group here is mostly young recruits? It sure worked on my younger sister who sent this to me:)
https://youtu.be/CFbMRZNg4_I