Masks on or off in the truck?

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Permalink Reply by Cannon on April 18, 2009 at 3:19pm

Right on Shane! None of my officers have ever told me mask up in the apparatus, likewise I would never tell him how to do their job, unless it was unsafe. It's unsafe to to mask up in the apparatus much like masking up too early (in the front yard while pulling the line). That can be another topic everyone feels up to it.

It's every members of the crew's responsibilty to size up. If you have your mask on, how can you effectively do this? Remember the "you go, we go?" team work attitude, this applies to size up. Your officer may miss something that the crew saw.

Great post!

Rob

P.S. Heya SHANE! :-D

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Permalink Reply by Fireyladd Chief Sharp on April 18, 2009 at 1:42am

We put our masks on just before making entry into the structure or before attacking a car fire. Your right, your mask will fog up and your vision wont be as good putting the mask on before coming off the truck. However, if thats what your Capt wants give him your respect and do what he says.............................

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Permalink Reply by Tony P on April 18, 2009 at 6:03am

Funny. If I was directed to do something in a manner that I strongly disagreed with, I would of course do it. Unless it would affect safety. I don't think there'd be all that much respect involved though...

Rank doesn't automatically mean a person is always correct. I've heard a person in my Brigade, a person with rank, give directions to recruits on a specific function - what he told them was incorrect. It was not a matter of safety, just functionality, so I wasn't about to correct him in front of everybody. If he told me to do things 'that way' though let us just say there'd be a discussion. Not that he's a person known for admitting he can be wrong.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Montpetit on April 18, 2009 at 6:11am

OFF...you don't want your vision obscured when exiting the truck...good way to do a face plant and get hurt....besides you surely would fog up masked that early....unless you are ready to go on air in the truck.....LOLPut the mask on just prior to entering the structure.....BUT...I agree...if that's your orders you do as told.....I just would discuss it with him sometime around the Firehouse (non-confrontationally of course) Paul

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Permalink Reply by BIG'UN on April 18, 2009 at 6:16am

it all depends on the officer that day or night i have had some tell us to put are mask on before exiting the truck and some before entring the structure I perfer before entering that way i also get a clear view of whats going on before entering

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Permalink Reply by Buffalo Bill on April 18, 2009 at 7:46am

Masking up in the rig is a personal preference; I have one crew member who does it and it works great for him. I think it impairs my size up, and my abaility to communicate, still I sometimes do it when there is a report of a victim in the house, then I know prior to arrival what my job is and the increase in risk is then worth it to me.
There was an article recently about the build up of carbon dioxide in the facepiece while waiting to go on air and it's affects on decision making. I read it with great interest but I don't think I was buying all the information in the article.
I don't think there is a real answer to the mask question, but I'm sure the self appointed experts on this site will spend hours defending their point of view. But the real and correct answer to this dilema is LISTEN TO YOUR CAPTAIN

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Permalink Reply by Robert on April 18, 2009 at 8:34am

This is extremely true. I agree with you completely. As you will see in my post I while not liking the decision did what I was ordered by my command officers.

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Permalink Reply by Tommy Warshaw on April 22, 2009 at 8:31pm

Some masks do allow for a build up of CO2, but the newer Scott masks (don't know about other brands) are setup to expel the CO2 so it doesn't build up. After reading one of the many threads on this topic, I posed the question to my station Captain and that's what he explained to me.

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Permalink Reply by Captain Busy on April 28, 2009 at 3:25am

well said Bill...

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Permalink Reply by Michael Bates on April 18, 2009 at 8:00am

this is an ongoing issue in my company as well, some feel it should be on others (me) off. i think, having it on creates a tunnel vision effect. Too many times i see guy's get off the truck and run to the fire. if your mask is off as you approach the entry point you can discuss with you partner(s) what you see, which way you want to go, etc... it creates better communtication within your team. and you know everyone is ready.I like to talk quickly about what our building construction ,and how that willl affect operations note where the windows and doors are, and talk about a possible floor plan, where we expect stairwells and such. (dealing with mostly residential, and a wide variety of construction types)

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Permalink Reply by TabergFireFighter4 on April 29, 2009 at 9:27pm

I say wait before you enter the structure... I have done the put your mask on before you exit the truck and it sure does suck entering a burning building when you are fog and can only see out of one eye. I say deff before you enter the burning building!

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Permalink Reply by T.J. on April 18, 2009 at 8:25am

I teach our younger guys to put it on when their ready to make entry, this way they can see the whole picture before entering, and I feel when the mask is on they're burning up valuable energy that could be used to fight the fire.

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