Tricks of the Trade

[Red Hot Truckie]

Im starting a post that will hopefully involve users sharing tricks they have learned from various experiences. Also, if youve created a cool tool, or your recommend something you gotta have that you carry in your gear, feel free to share it, maybe with a pic attached. Jump aboard and share whatever it is you have. Anything goes here...

[chainsaw5vent]

yo red. always remember, if there's smoke showin' and fire glowin' and the engine is still 2 blocks out, put your mask on BEFORE you get on scene. otherwise, the guys with experience will snake your nozzle while you are fiddling with mask/helmet/regulator interfacing and put the wet stuff on the red stuff first!!:p:D hey! wt...:p:p

[Chile]

I like wearing an east coast style radio strap. It works great on fires and medical aids.

The lapel stays at your shoulder and it never bangs on the ground.

Communication on the fire-ground for me has improved greatly. :D

http://www.pe.com/imagesdaily/2008/04-18/bfire18apma_400.jpg

[Red Hot Truckie]

I just got this door wedge called the "wedge-it" Its pretty cool because you can use it in different spots on the door. It holds doors open to a 90 degree angle from different locations. On the hinge. On the floor. On top of the door. Hopefully we see some stuff like this in the westcoast911.com store.

http://www.wedgeit.com/images/greenhalf.gif
http://www.wedgeit.com/images/greenhalf2.gif

[hottie4fire]

I like to use a trash bag as a barf catcher.

I just tear a hole in the side of a bag and place it around the patients neck.

I works well, especially if you are out of basins.

I also like to put the EKG patches on the cables before a call so it is faster.

I have learned some cool IV tricks in nursing school too.

[Berdoo Beau]

When I was a medic in Pomona I used a pair of small hemostats to clip the IV bag to my shirt to leave my hands free.

In Berdoo, I carry a pocket flashlight for all occasions. I have the Surefire light with 120 lumens. Great for lighting up dark rooms and handy as a TSBR temporary stun / blind effect. Doesn't take up much room.

To see is to know -

Cheers!
Bill

[firemedic301]

I put a 30" handle on my pick headed axe and I have a scabard that has a caribiner on it. Then I had a 2" D-ring sewn on the right side of my turnout coat about 10" from the bottom of my coat directly on the right under arm seem. then I clip the axe onto it and then bring the handle up and use a glove holder clipped to my right upper chest and hook the loop around the handle. If you can picture that there is no handle to trip over and with the 30" handle it is about 4"s below my BA mask. Also when you are crawling it hangs parallel to the floor and again doesn't get tangled in your legs. Also the 30" or 28" handle is a lot easier to swing in a narrow hallway or tight area. I will post a pic if I can figure out how.
Steve

[firemedic301]

Veniguards or Opsights over GSW and Stab wounds work awesome and if it is a chest wound just leave a 1/4 triangle piece of the adhesive paper left on so air can escape. Just make sure you dry the area around the wound real good and no more ozzing blood all over. unfortunately/fortunately working in San Berdu (the Wild West) we have plenty of opportunity to prove this works great. One more advantage is the hosp. can see the wound through the clear window. However this won't work if it is a shotgun blast to the head:eek:;)
Nuke

[TaylorMade]

I put a 30" handle on my pick headed axe and I have a scabard that has a caribiner on it. Then I had a 2" D-ring sewn on the right side of my turnout coat about 10" from the bottom of my coat directly on the right under arm seem. then I clip the axe onto it and then bring the handle up and use a glove holder clipped to my right upper chest and hook the loop around the handle. If you can picture that there is no handle to trip over and with the 30" handle it is about 4"s below my BA mask. Also when you are crawling it hangs parallel to the floor and again doesn't get tangled in your legs. Also the 30" or 28" handle is a lot easier to swing in a narrow hallway or tight area. I will post a pic if I can figure out how.
Steve

Firemedic301 - VERY VERY clever there lad. I would really like to see a picture of your set-up. Over the years, I have always been an advocate of carrying an axe at all times on fires. The long handles always drove me crazy. I love my personalized short handle axe.

By the way, BERDOO Beau -- What is a TSBR stun? I have never heard of such a term.:confused:

TM

[sansoofireman]

I have learned over the years that putting water on fire... puts it out. Talking it out is so overrated.

[tuffstuff]

I have learned over the years that putting water on fire... puts it out. Talking it out is so overrated.

That is so funny!

I love how firemen everywhere like to say that alot of the other guys like to "Talk the fire out" Ha Ha

There are those chosen few however that talk fires out...yet still shine...God forbid they get their hands dirty

[RedBloodedAmerican]

When you have to bag a pt. via NPA, lose the mask, instead connect an appropriate sized ET tube port ( the plastic piece on that the BVM connects to ) to the NPA, using an alcohol swab on the NPA to make it stick like glue. THen enjoy the ease of bagging an intubated pt, as if they were...solid BLS skills that more medics could use.

Also, a KED is perfect for hip fractures or any elderly CSpine, more comfortable and secure for pt.

Im still picking up on tricks of the trade for the fire side, so im all ears from everyone here.

[Berdoo Beau]

TaylorMade - To answer your question...

TSBR = Typical San Bernardino Resident

Stun = To surprise and/or temporarily incapacitate

To wit... TSBR Stun is to shine a powerful light in the eyes of our more... belligerent.... citizens, thereby causing them to close their eyes and be unable to... fight back... as it were. The more powerful the light (high lumen number usually at or above 100), the quicker and more intense the blinding effect. Once the light is employed, one simply moves laterally left or right so as not to be in the same spot just in case the TSBR feels like swinging with their eyes closed.

Of course... your results may vary. Call now - operators are standing by.

[firemedic301]

There are 118 slits on the side of a Quarter
Bee's are the only insects that produce a consumable product
the first miniture golf courses started in the rooftops in NY
Humming birds are the only birds that can fly backwards
Bee's can smell fear
the human head weighs and average 8lbs


After today my head is so full I had to dump these "Snapple Facts" from the hard drive. :D
Your Secret Admirer

Hey does this remind you of the look on my face today :eek:

BIG BBIILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

[Johnny on the spot]

To force entry through a pad locked gate/door in a "non-emergency operation" without causing permanent damage by cutting the chain or lock, try this...

loop webbing/rope through lock and pull down hard (as if trying to force open), at the same time, strike the side of the body of the lock with a hammer/axe/halligan... strike the lock hard, and the lock should pop open...

some locks (big master locks) will not work with this method.

If it works correctly, you will be able to gain access, and then lock it back up as you leave... the property owner will be thankful you did not cut anything.

[Berdoo Beau]

Had not heard that one before. Hhmmmm.....

Ah... the things you pick up in places like this.

How about old spark plugs and shattering glass? Take the porcelain insulator off the old spark plugs by hammering it into small pieces - even the really small stuff / dust is useful. Put it into a zip lock bag or a plastic film container (if you can find them anymore) and use it the next time you have to "pop" a car window to retrieve the youngster that mom left in there while shopping in the summer while it's 110 degrees and the kid is almost dead and.... oh... sorry - I digressed for a moment.

Anyway... you toss a pinch of the broken up porcelain insulator stuff at the window using a GLOVED hand and the window will shatter / spider in place without glass flying inwards all over the kid. Works like magic. I guess the reason is that the porcelain is very sharp and breaks the tempered glass barrier very easily with just a simple toss. Try it the next time you practice with cars / extrication at your local wreaking yard.

Did I post this one before? Can't remember... must be all that old salt coursing through my sclerotic veins from all those years pounding nails after the third full arrest I went on pushing drugs through the huge cardiac needles while setting up the glass IV bottles in the back of the ambulance that was going code 3 to the hospital because the M stood for mobile and my turnouts were getting in the way after the last fire while my partner was calling it in on the COR radio because the HEAR was down (again) and the MAST suit was leaking so the ambulance EMT pulled out the roll of duct tape he had under the seat so we had to stand while he opened the bench seat and it was next to the breakaway that was held in place by the rolls of towels we used for c-spine which, of course, we took from the hospital and after a few uses we un-taped them and washed them and used them to dry off our rigs and personal cars and then returned them back to the ER where we then snagged more plus the handy little suture packs which allowed us to sew our buttons back on a couple times a year because the rough-housing we did at the station was allowed and encouraged and showed what you were made of until someone complained and then the......

.... oh, sorry - I digressed again.

Cheers!

[fyrglfr]

I put a 30" handle on my pick headed axe and I have a scabard that has a caribiner on it. Then I had a 2" D-ring sewn on the right side of my turnout coat about 10" from the bottom of my coat directly on the right under arm seem. then I clip the axe onto it and then bring the handle up and use a glove holder clipped to my right upper chest and hook the loop around the handle. If you can picture that there is no handle to trip over and with the 30" handle it is about 4"s below my BA mask. Also when you are crawling it hangs parallel to the floor and again doesn't get tangled in your legs. Also the 30" or 28" handle is a lot easier to swing in a narrow hallway or tight area. I will post a pic if I can figure out how.
Steve
Is there any way you could take a picture of this and post it?


Never mind just read that you would when you figured out how.

[fyrglfr]

I like wearing an east coast style radio strap. It works great on fires and medical aids.

The lapel stays at your shoulder and it never bangs on the ground.

Communication on the fire-ground for me has improved greatly. :D

http://www.pe.com/imagesdaily/2008/04-18/bfire18apma_400.jpg

The "Radio Strap" does look quite convenient. But does it every get entangled or caught on anything?

[F-Dub]

That porcelain spark plug actually works really well whether it be a big chunk or small chunk. The first time I had heard that I didn’t believe it, so being a fireman who likes to break and destroy things I had to try it. I was at a junkyard doing an auto extrication class found a couple spark plugs, smashed them up, I then proceeded to try it several hundred times and it worked every time. I was so amazed and thought it was so cool I had to keep dong it.:)

[SBCoFD10/103]

hey medic301 if you could, can you post pictures of what you are talking about with your axe and jacket???? thanks

[Johnny on the spot]

Redblood... have you tried bagging through an NPA before? It would be rad if that actually worked, but I am very skeptical. The NPA reaches into the larynx but does not reach the trachea... so if you bag the pt. through the NPA without closing the patients mouth AND pinching closed the other nostril, air will go to least resistance= out the mouth or nostril...

Just curious because it sounds like a good idea.

[VegasVic]

I agree with Mr. on the spot.... I'm thinking this might not work. If you're going to go through all that trouble assembling things why not drop a combi tube? I understand your protocols might be different then ours but in Southern Nevada the EMT Basic is pretty much non existent in the fire department. It's either medic or intermediate. But I like the "outside the box" thinking....

The post about the spark plug ceramic dust breaking a car window? I'm gonna throw the B.S. flag on that one too. I would really like for this to work, sounds bitchin! But until I try it, this play in under further review.

As for my tip...... Carry more then one light, 2 or 3 is better. And check the wire cutters in your turnouts pocket, they're probably rusted shut.

[F-Dub]

I dont know if the porcelain dust works but try it with a small chunk and throw it at a window. I think youll be surrprised!!!

[RedBloodedAmerican]

I have in fact bagged through the NPA with success. I work at a department where extended gurney transport ( from pt. location to ambulance ) are common, so keeping a good seal with a BVM can be difficult for a long haul. The longer the NPA the better. Also, the combi-tube would work, but with a gag reflex that doesn't always fly. In my experience it maintained adequate SPO2 levels.

[lvladder1]

Just to clarify, did you keep the mask attached or toss it? And did you use a larger than called for NPA? Sounds like a really cool idea. I guess if I ever run into that situation, I'll try it.

Speaking of COMBI tubes. Ran a code yesterday at the Las Vegas Club (downtown). Came in as a "Charlie" breather and when we got there we found a 400 ponder DRT on the casino floor. I did what intermediates do and after looking for a line, with no success. I asked my medic partner what size tube he wanted set up? He looked at me and looked at the PT. and said "it's not gonna happen". Long story longer, I grabbed the COMBI tube and slid it in (dirty). It did what it was supposed to, all was good. Alas, he didn't make it. Anyway, first tube. :o

[Chile]

The "Radio Strap" does look quite convenient. But does it every get entangled or caught on anything?

Dear FyrGirlfriend,

Getting the Radio Strap caught on anything is nonsense. When we were back in New York this year for Patty's Day, I spoke with 6 or 7 FDNY guys about the strap and asked that same question.

Their response was typical of a New Yorker on St. Patty's, they gazed at me with a half drunk droopy eye and said, "Get the %$## outta here. Hells No."

[fyrglfr]

Dear FyrGirlfriend,


Your such a f@g. LOL