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The San Franciso Fire Department makes its own wooden ladders by hand

gizmodo.com

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Re: The San Franciso Fire Department makes its own wooden ladders by hand

#91

Post by sbov »

HillaryBriss wrote: post #69
mc32 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

a retired police officer once told me that the quantity of officers citywide goes through a repeated cycle from low to high to low again. 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, n…

This is a common phenomena, and I'm not sure if there's a general term for it. E.g. people prematurely stop taking antibiotics because they feel better, or people go off their meds because they feel fine, etc.

Re: The San Franciso Fire Department makes its own wooden ladders by hand

#92

Post by enriquto »

HillaryBriss wrote: post #69
mc32 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

a retired police officer once told me that the quantity of officers citywide goes through a repeated cycle from low to high to low again. 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, n…

in control theory this is called stable equilibrium

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stability_theory

Re: The San Franciso Fire Department makes its own wooden ladders by hand

#93

Post by garmaine »

chrisseaton wrote: post #74
JackFr wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the fire fighters still wear helmets with their traditional shape. The helmets are practical. They're basically construction hard hats with a rain brim.

I didn't say they weren't practical.

I mean, why would the shape change?

Re: The San Franciso Fire Department makes its own wooden ladders by hand

#95

Post by chrisseaton »

garmaine wrote: post #93
chrisseaton wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't say they weren't practical.

I mean, why would the shape change?

I don't know - I'm not in charge of the design of fire helmets in the UK am I. I just know they changed and it's a shame it's not the iconic old design we had.

Re: The San Franciso Fire Department makes its own wooden ladders by hand

#96

Post by maxerickson »

sbov wrote: post #91
HillaryBriss wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

a retired police officer once told me that the quantity of officers citywide goes through a repeated cycle from low to high to low again. 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, n…

This is a common phenomena, and I'm not sure if there's a general term for it. E.g. people prematurely stop taking antibiotics because they feel better, or people go off their meds because they feel fine, etc.

Not finishing the course of antibiotics is the spicy-hot take:

https://www.bmj.com/content/358/bmj.j3418

Re: The San Franciso Fire Department makes its own wooden ladders by hand

#97

Post by Spooky23 »

pastor_elm wrote: post #32
chrisseaton wrote: post #11

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.

Around here, the state government subsidizes volunteer companies for equipment and facilities, and the fire district can bond with public votes that attract fewer voters than school board elections. My dad lives in a town with 250 annual callouts, a $10M firehouse and two $300k fire engines.

In the city that I live in a few miles away with a paid department, the firehouse next door does like 6,000 calls a year with a 2005 truck with 200k miles on it.

Re: The San Franciso Fire Department makes its own wooden ladders by hand

#98

Post by xil3 »

chrisseaton wrote: post #95
garmaine wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, why would the shape change?

I don't know - I'm not in charge of the design of fire helmets in the UK am I. I just know they changed and it's a shame it's not the iconic old design we had.

I'm pretty sure that was a rhetorical question.

Re: The San Franciso Fire Department makes its own wooden ladders by hand

#99

Post by toomanybeersies »

mkhalil wrote: post #67
Retric wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They could buy wooden ladders Can you point me to someplace selling 50' wooden ladders appropriate for firefighting?

For the right money, you can find the right ladder. It's not going to be cheap though, because you have to age the wood. 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.

You can use a kiln, which is how most timber is dried these days.

If you're feeling bored, the Wikipedia article on wood drying is very comprehensive: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_drying

Re: The San Franciso Fire Department makes its own wooden ladders by hand

#100

Post by mrguyorama »

chrisseaton wrote: post #11

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.

Honestly, from quickly looking at some images of UK firefighters, it seems the difference to me is that their equipment is modern, an not just in a design sense. Their helmets look better designed to protect the user and their fire engines look like they weren't purchased in the 70's.

So maybe the difference is that in the UK, they don't have to use old equipment

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