In the interest of keeping productive discussions moving...

Lets list UNconventional firefighting tactics we have used successfully...

Things like, PPV and dry chem for a chimney fire, filling an entire basement floor to ceiling with CAFS from a window in 2 minutes, removing interior walls from a lightweight / commercial structure, letting well-off barn fires burn themselves out (saves a lot of time), agressively saving barns from doing that (haven't seen that too much), you get the idea...

I'm sure somebody out there has done something that is just plain slick and wants to share... hopefully?

Jon

Something that was virtually unheared of a few years ago that a lot of companies practice now: Using a leaf blower to make a fireline. Walking along the line blowing back into the "black". First did with Elverson at a large fire, worked great, so they bought another blower and Morgantown bought two.

We also bought a leaf blower after seeing Elversons idea. Really haven't had the right situation yet to put it to the test but from just small things it seems to make the job a lot easier.


You mentioned dry chem on a chimney fire, we have small sandwich bags about a third of the way filled with dry chem, drop one or two down the chimney, plastic melts on the way down and you get a nice coating.
Not so un-conventional but after having a chimney fire with the stack all but closed from buildup and other objects the homeowner must have attempted to clean it out with and dropped (along with "We have it cleaned twice a year!!!") we aquired an old window weight and tied it to the end of a chain to drop and "remove" lodged objects and heavy build up. We also have the regular chimney sweep brush to assist in cleaning out but here and there you need a little more of a push to break through.

ChiefEng7 wrote:
In the interest of keeping productive discussions moving...

Lets list UNconventional firefighting tactics we have used successfully...

Things like, PPV and dry chem for a chimney fire, filling an entire basement floor to ceiling with CAFS from a window in 2 minutes, removing interior walls from a lightweight / commercial structure, letting well-off barn fires burn themselves out (saves a lot of time), aggressively saving barns from doing that (haven't seen that too much), you get the idea...

I'm sure somebody out there has done something that is just plain slick and wants to share... hopefully?

Jon
I like the Barn Fire tactic. Our 1947 Hahn use to have a deck of card and a bottle of whisky for Barn fires "back in the day".

Brooksie wrote:
Something that was virtually unheared of a few years ago that a lot of companies practice now: Using a leaf blower to make a fireline. Walking along the line blowing back into the "black". First did with Elverson at a large fire, worked great, so they bought another blower and Morgantown bought two.

We have considered this, especially for rocky areas. Do you use backpack blowers or handheld?

Backpack, kinda look like this...