LADDER
SIZE-UP
PART III
The Where,
What,
Why
and
How
In “The Empire Strikes Back,” Yoda gave some advice to Luke
Skywalker. The Jedi Master told Luke, “You must unlearn what you
approach to skills, but a systematic approach to methods.” This
approach is not unique to The Nozzle Forward, engine company
have learned.” There is a traveling cadre of engine company Jedi
that taught me that very lesson a few years ago. Prior to meeting
operations, or even the fire service for that matter. This approach is
effective in all objective based arenas where skill sets influence the
these Jedi I had attended and graduated from three full time fire
academies and I had spent hundreds of hours pulling hose. I had
outcome of our objectives. In parts one and two of The Ladder SizeUp we discussed some of the objectives and some methods that can
fought fires using the lessons that I had learned in the fire academy
and they had all gone out. So when I signed up to take a class on
assist you in attaining those objectives as they relate to ground
ladders. In this final installment of The Ladder Size-Up we will be
engine company operations I thought, “What is there to learn?” As I
mentioned earlier, I have been through three academies and we
discussing how to complete the systematic approach to deploying
ground ladders. After already discussing why, what, and where we
pulled hose and moved hand lines in generally the same fashion in
all three, but after attending a class from the engine Yoda, Aaron
deploy ground ladders, in part three we will fill in the final blank by
discussing how to get the ground ladder from the rig to the
Fields, and his Nozzle Forward Jedi, I soon realized that my previous
approach to engine company operations was both mindless and
structure.
unintelligent. The approach to engine company operations that was
taught at The Nozzle Forward was a systematic one. It didn’t involve
crawling down a hallway like a Neanderthal with a hose or nozzle in
my hand; instead, it was a premeditated and methodical approach
that took you from the rig to the seat of the fire. In a very Yoda-esque
fashion Aaron explained to me, “I not only have a systematic
Something that I like to tell students when I have to the opportunity
to teach forcible entry with the East Coast Rescue Solutions cadre is,
“We teach a systematic approach that works most often, on the most
doors.” In other words, there are many tricks and gimmicks that you
may have been shown or that you have seen on the internet, but
what we are teaching is effective regardless of the type of door or the
number of locks present on that door. It is a premeditated and