Lake Hiawatha Fire Department

Vehicle Fire Drill 28 April 2004

The Lake Hiawatha Fire Department maintains their skills by having fire drills three times a month. Topics include bread & butter operations such as hose advancement, searches, or ladder placement as well as things we rarely do such as warehouse fires, in this case Vehicle Fires. Lake Hiawatha is a residential community so we are infrequently requested for vehicle fires, drills such as this allow us to maintain our competency so we can protect our neighbors regardless of the emergencies nature.

In the photographs below we are at the Morris County Fire & Police Academy. The Academy has a staff of certified instructors who provide training in modern classrooms and on a state-of-the-art gas powered fire ground. For this drill we used their Automobile simulator under the guidance of Instructors R.Greuter and D.Lonagan. We were able to "burn" the car several times ensuring every firefighter had several chances to exercise their knowledge.

 

Click on the Picture to Enlarge it!
Bumpers have "shock absorbers" which explode when exposed to fire, by approaching from the side the firefighters avoid the hazard. Note the crew on the right side is making use of our specialized SabreJet nozzle. The SabreJet is interesting because it allows you to have a true smooth bore as well as a fog stream without changing nozzles, as you can see in this picture it also allows you to combine the stream types!
They are coming in closer to the fire, knocking it down as they approach.
Almost Out! The crew in the rear has opened the engine compartment for a thorough soaking.
A great shot of a flanking approach with a combination stream.
The crew makes short work of the fire.
A second crew comes in to help knock down the fire.
The third evolution is quickly extinguished by the men of Lake Hiawatha.
By bouncing water of the ground you can reach fire under the car!
The far crew is working in the engine compartment while the near crew is working in the passenger compartment.
Another fire rapidly extinguished. Note the Halligan Bar propping up the hood of the car.
Is that Scott helping us out? The men get close to open the door
With the door open they quickly get to the seat of the fire and extinguish it,