STRETCHING HOSELINES TO UPPER FLOORS OF RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS, PART 1

摘要

Stretching a hoseline to an upper floor of an apartment building should be a fairly basic task for any fire department. Unfortunately, many departments today lack the personnel needed to rapidly stretch a hoseline through a courtyard, to an upper floor, and then advance it down a smoky hallway. Further, many departments outside the big cities do not configure their hosebeds to facilitate a rapid stretch up return-type stairs above the second floor. Folds or flakes of hose pulled from the main hosebed are generally too long to drag up stairs and around corners without the hose snagging on railings and other obstacles. Crosslays, of course, are shorter than the main hosebed and can be carried on the shoulder or under the arm instead of being dragged. Crosslays, however, are generally preconnected and limited to 200 feet in length. This isn't a lot of hose when you consider that it can take as much as one 50-foot section to ascend from floor to floor when hose is laid on return-type stairs.