6th Alarm Toronto, Ontario, Canada

fireleebull

fireleebull

Joined
May 2, 2011
Messages
58
Ongoing Incident at this time
Original alarm was around 08:30 hrs
Fire is wind driven and building is starting to collapse
Building is a large mattress factory
Water supply issues at this time
2 Towers and 3 Ladder pipes in operation
Heavy black and yellow smoke is pushing from the building
Large chemical storage tanks are also on site and being protected

Listen Live
http://www.broadcastify.com/listen/ctid/4326

live news coverage on CP24
http://www.cp24.com/

I am trying to gather a run down at this time and will post as soon as possible

@ 14:00 fire still burning out of control
operating at a 6th alarm level plus s/c 4 pumpers, 2 aerials, and an air light
Note: Up here in Toronto we only go up to the 6th Alarm level, after that everything else is a special call

@ 14:03 still having water issues  s/c 2 additional pumpers for water supply
 
Prime Street - FAIRBANK AVE, YK
Cross Street - CASTLEFIELD AVE /
Dispatch Time - 2014-03-27 08:35:04
Incident Type - Fire - Commercial/Industrial
Area - 341
Dispatched Units - R341, P132, P424, P343, A341, C13, P342, P135, R345, A133, LA421, S143, P145, C34, CMD10, CMD10C, C10, C31, A421, T114, T114, P114, P323, C8, BOX12, P131, R423, P433, C9, HZ145, R411, A135, C33, P116, R134, P344, P311, R425, LA333, A423, C14, C3, P311, P121, P312, P331, R411, C33, LA333, A135, C14, T331, P333, C30, C2, CMD30, R122, P432, P325, P315, P432, HZ145, P442, C40, C7, T333, LA114, P123, P422, A322, R134, LA231, P213, P213,
 
Thanks Canadian Fireman.
I was going to try and break it up into alarm levels.
@14:38 add
P116, P344, Haz 332, A324, P125
 
For future reference, could you please explain what the various unit letters (R, P, C, A etc) mean.

Thanks.
 
manhattan said:
For future reference, could you please explain what the various unit letters (R, P, C, A etc) mean.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

R - Rescue
P - Pumper
C - Car (Chief)
A - Aerial
CMD - Command Unit
L/A - Light/Air Unit
HAZ - Hazardous Materials Unit
T - Tower Ladder
S - Squad Company
Box 12 - Canteen Unit
HR - High Rise Unit

 
Rescue = FDNY Squad without the special duties, basically a pump with hydraulic rescue tools on it
Squad = FDNY type rescue

C## = FDNY Battalion / District Chief in Toronto
C#0 = FDNY Division / Platoon Chief in Toronto

Toronto is divided into 4 'areas' which are then divided into districts and the numbers of units correspond to the areas, districts, and stations
I will use the south area for example
Any unit that starts with a 3 is from the south command C30 is the Platoon Chief for the area, the district chiefs would be 31,32,33,34 and the rigs would be Pump 311 or Aerial 322 or Squad 332.
 
Hi fellas. My name is Lee and i have been a member of TFS for the past 14 yrs. Currently assigned to station 231 in which we operate a Rescue Pumper, 100' Aerial,  an Air/Light, District Chief,  and Platoon Chief.

The Toronto rescue pumpers carry a complete auto ex kit (cutters, spreaders, rams, manual hand spreaders, reciprocating saws, air chisel, chains etc.). The Rescue pumpers are also equipped with with a gas powered PPV fan, and a gas powered STIHL saw.
The Rescue Pumpers are also the designated RIT apparatus responding on all working fires (FDNY 10-75 equivalent).

The Toronto Squads (5 in total , 143, 232, 313, 331, 445) are the equivalent to the FDNY Rescue companies (minus the SCUBA)

The city is divided into 4 commands each with a Platoon Chief for Each ( C10, C20, C30, & C40). These are comparable to a FDNY Division Chief.
Each command is divided into 4 districts ( i.e. C21, C22, C23, C24)
In each district there can be up to 6 stations. Some being single pumpers, others may have multiple apparatus.
My station is 231(command 2, district 3, station 1).
If anyone has more questions regarding apparatus, response types or anything else please just ask and I will be glad to help out with answers.
Lee
 
Canadian Fireman you were very close, just wanted to add some details. And pls keep on posting about the fires in Edmonton. Your cold weather operations must be very impressive.

Also just to add C12 was taken out of service last year due to budget cuts, and at the end of April 4 pumpers (P215, P215, P413, P424) will be taken out of service due to cuts. They are also taking two pumpers from double pump stations(224, 426) and staffing two new staions with those second pumps.
 
Some very interesting knowledge, thanks for sharing it.

Couple of more questions.  What is the manning on the different types of apparatus?

Do you have any volunteer FF's similar to New York City's old Auxiliary system that ended sometime in the 1970's (I think)?

Do you have any idea of the ratio of population and geographical areas covered by companies.  There's another thread on this site concerning the growth of population on Staten Island and FD coverage of that borough that makes me wonder what you work with.

Thanks again
 
fireleebull said:
Canadian Fireman you were very close, just wanted to add some details. And pls keep on posting about the fires in Edmonton. Your cold weather operations must be very impressive.

Also just to add C12 was taken out of service last year due to budget cuts, and at the end of April 4 pumpers (P215, P215, P413, P424) will be taken out of service due to cuts. They are also taking two pumpers from double pump stations(224, 426) and staffing two new staions with those second pumps.
Click to expand...


Any chance those 4 pumpers dont end up closing??
 
Great Info from Our Friends & Brothers Up North !
Calgary just beat da' Rangers... .  :'(

My Question: What is the Staffing for a Rescue Co., and for a Squad Co. ?

 
In terms of staffing all apparatus have 5 members ( Officer and 4 Firefighters) assigned to each apparatus.
The Pumpers and Rescue Pumpers are staffed with 4 members (Officer, Driver, and 2 Firefighters).

The Aerials and Towers (all are Quints) on paper are staffed with 4 members, however they are regularly staffed with 3 members (Officer, Driver, Firefighter) as they run these trucks short when manpower dictates (more often than not). There is no overtime or call backs they simply run a minimum manpower number, if they are below that number they start to take trucks out of service for that 24hr shift and relocate another company(s) into that browned out station(s). It is not uncommon in the summer months to have 10-12 trucks browned out daily. They will strip every station down to one apparatus (Pumper or Quints) if they have to in order to maintain coverage. Brutal I know.

Same hold true for the 5 Squads and 2 Heavy Hazmat Units. Each 24 they are started out with 4 members, then stripped down to 3 as manpower dictates. To help with this each Squad and Haz is stationed with a sister support pumper with trained members. When a technical rescue or Haz response is required then both the Squad or Haz and sister pumper will be dispatched.

Each District Chief"s van has the Chief and a Fit(Fireground Incident Technician) assigned to it. The Platoon Chiefs drive themselves.


Anesti, those 4 pumpers are as good as gone. Budget is passed. They were to be taken out of service on April 1st. However the 2 new stations are slightly delayed and the are waiting until the new station are occupied and then they will remove those 4 pumpers and move the manpower assigned to those trucks then.

Manhattan, Toronto has no volunteers. As for the population ratio to area coverage I will gather some info and post it for you.


 
All this talk of companies closing (Toronto, NY, and many other places) makes me more appreciative of where I work. We are adding a new ladder and chief in September, a new rescue in the next couple years and the 10 year plan has 5 or 6 new stations as well as the manning of another HM unit.

We also have minimum manning and if we drop below it OT call ins happen. More often then not we are above minimum manning where we put additional rigs in service and increase manning on some 'regular' rigs.
 
Manhattan,
The area in Toronto that has the greatest area of population without doubt is in the downtown core area. This area is encompasses all of the South Command of the TFS. They have by volume the most runs and the most apparatus.  This area includes all the major highrise buildings, club district, entertainment facilities,hotels and lots of new high rise condo towers. Alot of buildings over 100 yrs of age in this area as well. Comparable to Manhattan kinda as nothing really compares to Manhattan. However in terms of geographical size the South is the smallest.

North Command and West Command are about equal in terms of geographical size and population to companies. Where the North might have the edge in terms of money, while the south part of the West is a little more dense in population. Both Commands have industrial, commercial, and residential areas with both having low income areas.

Finally comes the East Command (where i am stationed). The East is like the poor sister of the TFS. In terms of size and population to companies, the East is largest geographically, while having a large population base. The East is spread rather thin. Companies are denser in the Western half as it is closer to the core. The east of the East is more spread out, however this part of the city has some of the worst areas of the city. The eastern part of the East also has large industrial, manufacturing, chemical production areas as well as residential and lots of low income high rise, low rise and wildland areas. This area is larger and more dense than Staten Island in comparison but is not served as well in terms of fire companies.

With the city cutting those companies the eastern end of the East is gonna be spread really thin. Any fire call in 21 district now will clean out the whole district. They cut two pumpers(213, 215) in 21 district, and are leaving their Aerials to run as Quints. Those two pumpers were big fill-in companies, now they are gone. We at Station 231 (which borders 21) are gonna feel this big time, we lost are 2nd due pumper to the north of us (213) and our 3rd due (215) to the east. We just picked up alot of runs because of this.

Another issue we have up here is the lack of spare apparatus. The city doesn't have enough spare to go around. If a pumpers goes down mechanically there is a 50/50 chance of getting a spare. For the Aerials it is even worse. I believe there are only 4 or 5 spare Aerials for the whole city. This results in alot of Aerials running as pumpers and other Aerials covering large areas. When those two first run Quints in 213 and 215 get beat up and broken there are no spare to replace them (they will run a pumper if there is one). The Aerial at 231 (my truck) will then not only cover it's own first due are, the 5th busiest in the city, but will be covering 2 and potentially 3 Aerial first due areas. This already happens from time to time but now i fear this will become the norm.

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