Batt. Chief Robert Avsec (Ret.) Feb 13, 2015
“Know your jurisdiction and your staff, then choose tools from among these different types that best meet those needs.”
“One can argue that forcible entry is one of the least-understood emergency service tactic, yet at the same time, one of the most important.
Forcible entry is about more than just forcing doors or windows. Successful fire suppression operations depend on firefighters being able to safely, effectively and efficiently conduct forcible entry tasks.
When your department is looking to buy new forcible entry equipment or upgrade its existing inventory there are five factors to keep in mind: your forcible entry needs, your staffing, training requirements, apparatus storage space and maintenance.”
Every department’s forcible entry demographics are different.
Does your department provides services to a primarily bedroom community where 80 percent of the buildings are residential, wood-framed construction? If so, your needs are certainly going to be different than that of a fire company in a heavily commercialized district with buildings of ordinary construction with inward-opening metal doors and windows covered with security bars.
A good size-up
Conduct a good assessment of your district by driving around and getting some good first-hand intelligence on what’s out there. When doing your assessment, be sure to look at a good representative number of structures and don’t forget to give those buildings a 360-degree size-up. Sides Bravo, Charley, and Delta may have entirely different forcible entry challenges compared to those presented by side Alpha.”
Mitch: From a business model standpoint the best departments should be and often are looking to find products that meet the needs of their particular area of operation. In the past the approach was general standard issue tools that the firefighters were expected to simply make work. Or products that were well reviewed by other firefighters or had a long track record were summarily adopted by well meaning people in charge of the budget but that fails to take into account that challenges faced by each department and indeed each individual are distinct. That Is to say one-size-fits all “general” tools don’t work when budgets are tight and the best tool for the job is needed. A business model that is sensitive to the unique challenges faced by the areas in which different fire departments operate will be more successful for both sides of the transaction, as well as the community as a whole.
