CHECK & SECURE COMPARTMENT DOORS.
- Thread starter 68jk09
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As a LCC, my first act before I took over the wheel was to walk around and tug on each compartment, followed up by my more thorough rig inspection. Concerning overhead doors, of course I made sure the door was fully opened by checking the required yellow marks on the door track and bottom edge of door as required in all firehouses. Per FDNY Regs:
- Officers on duty shall, at each roll call, designate a member, other than house-watchman, to be responsible for the proper opening of the apparatus doors.
- Before moving the apparatus, the officer on duty, chauffeur, and member assigned to open the door shall visually determine that the door is fully opened and secured.
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Seems like the tillerman would be the first to volunteer for that job.
Back in the early 70's to secure a compartment door we drilled a hole in the upper channel of the door and put a nail in it. Then the newer rigs came with locks so to limit theft from them. The problem was when you pulled up to a job, you had to get the key out, unlock the door and if it was to get the mask, open the box and then don it. Too much time wasted, especially if first due. At the beginning of our tour the saw or saws were started and all compartments checked to make sure nothing was missing. And also in the early days in my career trying to get any tools from FDNY was like pulling teeth. We were on such a limited budget, that it was a regular thing that the Brothers had to chip in to get something we really needed to get a job done. As far I see it the guys working during the war years made FDNY the best with little help from up above back then.
In the future will we see a red light in the cab when a compartment door is open or ajar?
I was the chauffeur driving a brand new lime green Mack rig. We were on building inspection or hydrant inspection and the compartment door swung open on a turn and scratched a car. We couldn’t blame the truck because we were the only apparatus in the area that was green. We had been told that there was a light that went on when a door was open. We complained to the shops and they investigated the problem and found out that the dash light did light up, but only if the emergency lights were on so it worked only during a response. You would think more of a Mack but it may have been the city’s specs.
Most rigs I've worked on have either a red light or an audible alarm when a compartment is ajar. Seat belt alarms, Compartment alarms, cab door alarms..... they're great until they break and randomly alarm driving down the road and you can't shut them off.
The time I've talked about was the war years in the ghetto where stealing was rampant, that's why everything was locked up. At night kids would come by to the firehouse selling tools they stole out of a car or a construction site, maybe even a car battery.