61–70 of 341 posts
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The San Franciso Fire Department is using wooden ladders due to an abundance of overhead power lines. Which I think is the core issue, use other peoples tools unless you have some critical and unique requirement.
So I wonder why fiberglass ladders are not used?
If you get a chance to visit a Smokejumper base, I highly recommend it. One of the things you learn is that everyone on the team is required to make all of their own equipment by hand. So all of these highly trained, ex-military guys spend days on end doing nothing but sewing clothes and packing parachutes. The reasons described: - Cheaper than contracting out everything - They have a better idea of the exact specifi…
I remember reading in a Navy Seal's memoirs that when training to be a sniper, they were all responsible for making their own camouflage suits. The point being that when you're out in the open, you have to know how to make use of what's around you to camouflage yourself.
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They could buy wooden ladders, so I don't think that paints the whole picture.
> They could buy wooden ladders Can you point me to someplace selling 50' wooden ladders appropriate for firefighting?
Americans seem to take a lot of pride in their fire brigades - their fire engines are still shiny and polished with more traditional signage and the fire fighters still wear helmets with their traditional shape. In the United Kingdom they wear more simple uniforms and the engines are just a box shape with no bells any more - seems a shame. Usually it's UK the has more ceremony in these kind of things.
Not really. Most firefighters in the US are volunteer, so not enough pride to pay people to do it. In big cities, it's more of an internal camaraderie thing. They live together, cook together, shop together, etc. A lot prefer being at the station with their 'brothers' to being at home.
Having a volunteer fire department does not mean there isn't pride.
In fact, it can be argued the opposite -- Volunteer departments mean the citizens take enough pride in their brigade that they get directly involved in it, rather than farming it out as a civil service.
https://sf-fire.org/wooden-ladders
> The largest ladder made by the artisans is 50 feet, weighs 350 pounds and takes six firefighters to lift.
Americans seem to take a lot of pride in their fire brigades - their fire engines are still shiny and polished with more traditional signage and the fire fighters still wear helmets with their traditional shape. In the United Kingdom they wear more simple uniforms and the engines are just a box shape with no bells any more - seems a shame. Usually it's UK the has more ceremony in these kind of things.
The helmets are practical. They're basically construction hard hats with a rain brim.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
They could buy wooden ladders, so I don't think that paints the whole picture.
> They could buy wooden ladders Can you point me to someplace selling 50' wooden ladders appropriate for firefighting?
I wonder if there is a way to age the wood to SF humidity/climate faster than real time. Just feels like there has to be.
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> a job where 95% of the time is spent waiting for an emergency to react to. this describes quite accurately the work of many people maintaining computer systems
Maybe but don’t tell their managers who would then layoff the 95% thinking they’re making the team 100% efficient and then wonder why things went to hell in hand basket.
when the number of officers is too low and there's too much crime, the people demand that the government hire more.
so government does that. and crime goes down.
then the public notices all these police officers "doing nothing" and complains about wasted government resources.
so, naturally, they demand a reduction in the number of officers.
and so it goes...
I can't think of any reason to acclimatize them this way instead of kiln drying/vaporizing them (depending) to roughly the right moisture content and waiting for 1% change (instead of kiln drying them to 0, or waiting forever for completely green wood) There are studies going back to the 70's by the forestry service (and others) showing there is no change in mechanical properties of pine/fir from these drying schedul…