I’m sure they were following the procedure manual… any time a hose has to cross a thoroughfare you must use hose jumpers…
[photographer unknown]
Wouldn’t they be surprised if a train just happened to show up! Faces as red as the truck!
Enjoy, Ed
Yeah, that’s just not going to work…
Fire and other emergency personnel train to standard procedures, so they can concentrate on the emergency at hand. Sometimes that results in a little extra effort, but mostly it works in their favor and that of those they are assisting.[angel]
Then again, this does indicate the need to review SOP. In this case, someone should notified the crossing’s RR dispatcher via the contact info located on the crossing itself to ask that the hold any trains that might come through. That would likely serve the purpose better here.[;)]
Looking at the track beyond the crossing that is either a industrial lead or short line…Either one won’t be high speed so,the engineer should be able to whoa up before hitting the hose…
Remember the Three Stooges 1936 short False Alarms?
Curly stretched the hose across the trolley tracks with predictable results.
I think he said “look, they had babies” nyuk nyuk.
Seems like it took as much effort to place those pillows (or whatever they are) as it would have taken to run the hose under the rails, between the ties. A call to the dispatcher would still be a good idea, but there was no need to interrupt rail traffic, was there?
Coincidentally, I have a video of a fire department being called to put water into an excursion train’s tender where they initially put the hose across the tracks like that, before someone from the railroad suggested that they put it under the rail. Less than 5 minutes after they moved it, a train came roaring through.
Remember, expect a train at any time on any track!
Really? No way, a train traveling on train tracks. That’s makes as much sense as a truck driving down a road, and that never happen[D)]
[(-D][(-D][swg]
Sadly there are stupid, dim witted, idiotic, [insert synonyms for stupid here] people who probably think this wayseriously. Unless there is a good sized tree growing in the middle of the tracks, then assumed a train uses the tracks.
Judging by the rusty rails I seriously doubt if there was a train on that track for some time…
Study the photo beyond the main subject.
Perhaps this is an infrequently used track (there seems to be a grade crossing signal there) but to me the irony lies in the fact that someone on the fire department is with the belief that those hose ramps will indeed allow a piece of rail equipment to make it across the hose…
The Detroit Fire Department found out the hard way!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ji0bTmrspo
Take care, Ed
It’s a joke.
This pitcure has been making it’s way around various firefighter and EMS websites for a while now. It’s a european fire department, which counrty i don’t recall. A couple of guys put the hose protectors down across the tracks snapped a quick pic and then wrapped up the seen.
Having spent 15+ years as a volunteer fire fighter i can safely say that I have never been to scene where this has happened. But I’m not saying it couldn’t or hasn’t happened (just not in this case). Tunnel vision happens to the best of us.
Still a funny pic anyway.
In all seriousness, where I live by a double-track mainline, there is a pipe buried under the tracks with 2 connectors on each end. Hook 2 hoses on one end and 2 hoses on the other and the water travels safely below the grade level to the other side of the tracks. It would be a cool little modeling detail.
Thanks for clearing things up, fyreman.
A staged photo? Can’t be, It’s gotta be real—I saw it on the internet! [:-^] Like you mention, worth a chuckle…
My son is a Captain on our VFD in N.E. Ohio. Sure glad you folks are there! Thank You
Ed
Yes,main line verus a branch line-- main line expect a train any time…Not so much with rusty tracks of a little used branch line…
I suspect they had tons of time to stage that photo since the rails are rusty…
The CF&E tracks here in town can go days without seeing a train and when one does show up its either the local or the odd grain train.
Unfortunately there’s no signs or lettering to confirm it, but if the picture wasn’t flipped then likely the UK (or possibly Ireland - Malta has no active railroads), based solely on the weak evidence of the direction the RR Crossing sign is facing (there could be signs on both sides of the road), and the even weaker evidence of the vehicles keeping left (since they are emergency vehicles, they could very well face whatever direction they want at the site, but still).
If I were a homeowner along that road I would be pretty upset to discover that the only fire hydrant was on the other
side of the railroad tracks. My insurance policy actual states how far the hydrant is from my house. Totally unrelated but in
snowy climates how many people actually dig out fire hydrants in front of their house? Having been a fireman I can tell you seconds cost lives. Just saying.
As a fire Captain, a few things stand out to me that tell me this is not a quickly staged pic. One, the water coming out of the nearest truck indicates to me the apparatus is actively pumping water. This is normal when pumpers are pumping. Two, The hose across the tracks is charged and appears to be going to another apparatus in front of the one we see. Three, the firefighters seen appear to be moving away from the camera and towards whatever this scene is. Could it be a training scene, sure, or a real call, but someone’s not using their head!
Nonetheless, I have only one word- Really?
Happy RR’ing!
Duane
Duane,When I was working for the Chessie we had to wait 2 1/2 hours while a volunteer fire department put out a house fire.Their hoses was across the track but,we was told by the DS that we would be stop until further notice due to a house fire.There was Chessie flagmen out too about a mile from the fire.
Larry, I was merely referencing the hose bridges (ramps) when I mentioned not using their heads, not the hose across tracks. Things do happen in the real world such as the hose lay, but I would think it would be common sense the hose bridges aren’t really going to do much good in this application.
As has been mentioned previously, having the agencie’s dispatch center notify the RR of such activity helps in a large way, informing them appropriately in order to take such actions as you have mentioned. While it can be hugely disruptive to a RR’s operation depending on the amount of traffic, they will normally do all in their power to assist with scene safety when their line is affected. After all, they are the train people, they know how to do that on their end.
Would I use the ramps? No. As the incident commander though, I would notify my dispatch of location as well as a projected time my hose is expected to be there. I would also send law enforcement out to each side a darn good way to alert any approaching trains until the RR people can get their game on.
An interesting question came up regarding derailing yesterday as I was on shift for ambulance, which is staffed probably 50% by FF’s from surrounding agencies: Would that derail a train? I don’t know… plastic or metal ramps, train fast or slow? I wouldn’t know- I’m not a train person, it’s out of my lane. I’d rather risk my hose being cut than a derailment. We train for contingencies such as compromised water supplies.
Happy RR’ing !
Duane
Duane,The train I was on was a mine run but,it really put a crimp in the dispatchers day-he had seven trains to back up including us…
I was going to let those hose bridges slide but,what the hay…They would make nice portable derailers…[(-D]