Postby ashfire » Sun Nov 19, 2006 6:41 am
Looks like with the new websites popping up more videos are being put on the webs.
On The Watchdesk a firefighter has made a whole series of videos about firefighting called Heat.
At one time there use to be a company called American Heat which sold or exchanged video tapes on a monthly basics.
The company went out business but I still have some of their tapes I bought.
Companies sell their products would send tapes now they send DVDs.
THe most recent I have received is from a company in Germany about the IFEX firefighting gun which uses air and water to knock a fire out with blast of water instead of a flow of water.
This device is used around the world even in Japan but I have not seen any here in the US using it.
I guess after I showed the DVD to members of my fire company I couldn't convince them that something like this could be used when a crew makes a rescue so that they don't have to wait for a fire hose to be put into operation and moved into position to protect the crew and the victims.
The device can be worn has a backpack unit with a water tank of 13 Liters and a air tank and the IFEX gun but there are many different IFEX devices that can be used. There is one that can be attached to a helicopter and could blast a fire from the outside of a building like a double barrel shotgun and then refill and blast again. It makes me wonder, what if FDNY had these on 9/11.
But with today firefighting traditions have changed since I became a firefighter. I was just a firefighter when I started. Now I am a firefighter EMT. Others are firefighter paramedics or ERT, Emergency Response Technicians.
The tools we used have changed or others have been added to what we use.
So it is a wait and see what will come onto the market and will take off like wildfire thru the fire service. Just as long as there is money to buy it and firefighters can be convinced to buy it.