back step and the pole.

[Leafs Fan]

I am kinda bored and as I read the different posts it got me to wondering about a couple of funny things . I was wondering how many of you good people out there remmeber what it was like to slide the fire pole, jump into hipboots and a Petch coat and jump on the tailboard of the pumper to freeze your a** off or choke your lungs up responding to calls. If you it would be great to hear some of your funny stories.
Before anyone thinks I myself am from the horse drawn era I will tell you I am only 33 :) . But when i started 12 years ago we still had to ride the back step when our reserve pumper was being used, and bunker gear had just been issued. We still have the poles in our stations but they are only used if you get caught in the john when a call comes in and your trying to catch up.:D so lets hear some funny stories from the past so we can appreciate what we have now.

[bestcoast]

Sound's like we were hired around the same time Leaf's fan. I'm 32yrs old and have been on 10 yrs. We didn't have any reserve rigs were we had to ride on the tailboard but we sure had some pieces of crap that were called into service on occasion. That's not to say that ive never been on the tailboard on the way to the call!! Once on the way to a first alarm the driver took a corner too sharp and had to back up a bit. Feeling the rig back up me and the other guy on the back (we were both quite junior )jumped off to back him up. Well he back up like 2 feet then took off again leaving me and my partner behind. We sprinted and caught up and jumped on the tailboard and rode it all the way to the call, laughing our heads off all the way there. Also we still have poles in most of our halls and believe me there are stories there too but for another time my finger is getting sore...cheers...

[BillyBlazes]

When I joined Toronto Fire 19 years ago we had one truck left on the job with a tailboard step to ride. It was at Station #31 which was the next station to our north. I rode it a couple of times and hated it!!!!, it was cold and dangerous!
We have 3 poles in my current station and they are used all the time to get down stairs from the dorm, kitchen, tv room and offices. The girls that visit the stations on summer weekend nights love to watch us slide down the poles and would love to do it themselves.
We have not had any major problems with using the poles.

[dentedhead]

Thought Id wake this post up since we have some newer members with some gray in their beard,IRSQU,punctualdeer for start.

We still use the pole regularly,closest I have come to a tailboard is our reserve pump its an open cab.

Billy may remember this. TFD were still using an old ALF open cab ladder as a spare when I started with TEMS I saw it a couple times downtown,it had to be from the early fifties. Not just the rear was open the whole cab was like a convertable.It was in amazing shape I remember that much about it.

Dentedhead

[irsqyu]

Riding on the back may have been dangerous, but it was a lot of fun when you were a young probie. Big change from today, in those days you had to don your Ba's when you arrived, the truck I started my career on was a 1974 International/Thibault, the tailboard had been extended to make it safer and a windscreen had been installed to help keep warm, you had to also keep your mouth closed or you would pick up the odd bug or two. Before becoming full time I was a vollie from about 1969 until 1975 when I began my full time career. The picture attached is a 1955 International/Bickle-Seagrave with a full complement ofladders including Bangor ladders and a pompier ladder and a two stage pump, it also had twin high pressure booster reels with Hardie nozzles. There was a life net in the lower cross compartment behind the rear wheels and a battering ram with handles for 6 across the tailboard. This was the vehicle I spent my time on as a vollie, we used to ride on the side. Talk about the keystone cops. The picture attached is the truck well before my time lol. I am at work and don't have all my pics here, I wil attach a couple more tomorrow.:D Shouldn't a got me goin DH, check out the combo red light, wind up siren on the roof.

[irsqyu]

The attached picture shows my Pump and crew now, a 1993 Spartan/ Saulsbury Pump /Rescue, this truck is due to be replaced in 2006 with probably a Spartan/Smeal Pump/Rescue. Big changes over the years

[BillyBlazes]

When I joined Toronto Fire over 20 years ago we used the open cab aerial for recruit driver training. I started in January and it was terrible! We would bring a tarp from inside the academy to sit on to keep our butt warm while out on the streets. When it snowed we had no protection not even a heater in the open cab.

My first assignment was on a 1965 Mack, the truck was almost as old as me. We wore the old petch coats and Toronto still did not have heavy hydraulic auto extrication gear when I joined and the officers at the academy had the nerve to say that we were members of the "best" and biggest department in Canada.

Things have improved in the past few years.





Thought Id wake this post up since we have some newer members with some gray in their beard,IRSQU,punctualdeer for start.

We still use the pole regularly,closest I have come to a tailboard is our reserve pump its an open cab.

Billy may remember this. TFD were still using an old ALF open cab ladder as a spare when I started with TEMS I saw it a couple times downtown,it had to be from the early fifties. Not just the rear was open the whole cab was like a convertable.It was in amazing shape I remember that much about it.

Dentedhead

[firefighter26]

I only ever experienced the pleasure of riding the rear step a few times. Our old pumper was like that.... we used to have guy we names Captain Chaos because he used to brag about getting the pumper and even the tanker up on two wheels while cornering...... not the greatest feeling when you are teathered to the back of the truck being thrown around!

We used to have an old Dodge mini-pumper with a manual tranny.... he used to have it into third gear before the end of the driveway!!!!

I can remember back to the day when wearing SCBAs at a vehicle fire was a "new" tactic... the same with medical gloves!

Wow, those were the days... hard to believe it was just 7 years ago we stopped riding that rear step and 10 for SCBAs at car fires!!!!!

As per the pole... well, our station never had one though many of us wanted to put one in. High boots and long coats... got a few of them in the storage locker for display and recreational purposes only ;)

We had an old 40 foot..... errr.... 39 foot ladder that would take 8 guys to put up. I swear the thing was solid steel but it felt like it had about a 15 foot bounce when you were in the middle of it!

[ABFF37]

Well I can honestly say that I have never been on the back step. My first rookie hall a few years ago we had a spare rig most of the time I was there, so I spent the winter on an open back truck. It was absolutely freezing. The other guy on the back and I would pull a tarp down from the ceiling above us to keep a bit of the wind out, but it was absolutely FREEZING!!!

As far as poles, most of our stations still have them, and we use them all the time! I think it's a tradition that should be preserved, it's a great piece of firefighting history, and it does help us get to the apparatus floor quicker if we're on the upper levels when we get a call.

AB

[irsqyu]

The 1974 International/Thibault was my first career pump, both to ride on and drive, note the windscreen on the back, very innovative for its time.
When we got the OK to man an aerial full time, we began using this 1961 Ford/High Ranger,until the new truck was ordered and delivered, what a dream to drive lol, you had to make sure you didn't hit any poles in front of you as you turned at the intersections. the odd time you would find a carrot hanging from the front end of the boom, an incentive for the actors.
The 1980 International/Thibault canopy cab was our first automatic pumper and the first unit we were off the tailboard. As Billy said, this type of truck was intolerably cold as the cold air came off the roof and straight down, we used to carry blankets to put over our legs. In some cases during a long run we used to get off the seat and ride the tailboard to keep warm.:cool:

[irsqyu]

[QUOTE=firefighter26]I

As per the pole... well, our station never had one though many of us wanted to put one in. High boots and long coats... got a few of them in the storage locker for display and recreational purposes only ;)

QUOTE]

Sorry 26 but I gotta ask,what is the recreational use for the long coats and boots, anything maybe you and the girlfriend do together? LOL:) (Like fishing)

[cdnbacon]

I never got to ride on the tailboard (to calls anyway), but my dad did when he was in teh dept. He even fell off one time while he was trying to retrieve his tobacco can that he had dropped.

[FireChef]

I like Cdnbacon never got to ride on the back of the truck, I know my grandpa has told me stories of BACK IN THE DAY!!!! when he was in the department going to calls on the back of the trucks. I also remember my grandma telling me that 2 or 3 of the wives would call all the houses of Fire Fighters when there was a call. Now we have pagers and the good old school air raid siren!!

[DFCSmash]

On our Department, riding the tailboard went out the day the local Lion's Club bought us our Rescue Unit (Chevy cube van). I joined about 4 months after that. But man were there stories. Frostbite from riding 15 miles to rural fires in the winter. The guys called out to a train derailment 5 miles west of town. Feeling the heat and wind and hearing the "Kaboom" from the tailboard as the responded. Seeing an automobile door tumbling through the air. Arriving on scene to fin out that the "car door" was in fact half of the BLEVEd butane tanker that had derailed.

So the only time I got to ride the tailboard other than the occasional parade is outlined in the "why did you become a firefighter thread" and occurred before I joined.

And if anyone knows where there is a firepole available, we are looking for one!!!! ;) If you can help us obtain one, give me about a year and I'll have LOTS of anecdotes for you! :D :cool: