anyone know of any fire departments that still use fog units? theyre kinda more effective than water...
no, a fog unit is an engine that uses fog to put out a fire. can be more effective than water because
a. it encompasses a larger area
b. spreads out
c. little water damage
d. can be used against basically everything
e. suffocates fire
Fog units went out back in the early 70's due to the fact that you
CANNOT use them against anything. The problem with the Bean Fog Units was that the high pressure fog would cause steam burns in many situations and it did not provide enough extinguishing power for interior attack. Outside dumpster fires, some car fires, and now and then a small grass fire were about their only real use. Structure fires, interior fires, anything with a high volume of flame, wind, or enclosed space made it useless.
Instead today most departments employ combination nozzles on their hoses and deck guns that allow for straight stream or fog so that the firefighter can select the appropriate tool for the job without being locked into just one. Also, today most units have the capability of using CAFS and other foam systems that make dedicated fog units obsolete and useless.
And is it usual for fire trucks to have there cb radio going over the loud speaker?
Speaking of cb radios, just wondered how, for example police cars, get such great range out of them when half the time they dont even have any large antennas on them?
Well my question was more of how they can do it with no antennas. Here none of the police vehicles have antennas except a 3 inch one on the back window, but I get the idea. Thanks for the answer.
CB is a very specific name for a very specific thing. Citizens Band radio used to be a big thing in the 60's and 70's long before the advent of portable cell phones and roadside call boxes in many states. It was a low power (when used legally) non-licensed radio system that any one could use without having to take any tests or licensing procedures with minimal rules by the FCC. It's frequencies were in the 27mhz range and required a long whip antenna. Police, Fire and EMS agencies utilize completely different, and much more advanced, radio systems. Utilizing such technology as repeaters, trunking, digital systems, cross band patches, and other technology, they can be found in the VHF-Lo band (42mhz), VHF-Hi (150mhz), UHF-T band (470-507mhz), or 800mhz regions. Soon the FCC will be consolidating all Public Safety radio systems into the new digital 700mhz spectrum, but that is still pretty far off.
Now to answer your questions, Is it usual for fire trucks to relay their radio traffic over a loud speaker? The answer is that it is up to the Captain, and usually the Engineers discretion. What you probably heard was NOT coming from the siren system, but from a speaker over the pump panel as you can see in these two pictures:
(top right flush circles)
Nearly all Engines have a speaker and a plug in jack for a headset, so that the Engineer can hear the radio traffic when operating the pump panel. Sometimes they'll flip it on when they can't hear their portable radio while on an incident as well, but that tends to be rare.
As for the antenna, each band has different requirements for an optimal antenna. The lower the band, the longer the antenna is, is the general rule of thumb. You'll find LONG whips on CHP cars because they operate on the 42mhz spectrum and tend to travel long distances in low/moderate radio coverage. Other departments might have a great repeater system and operate on UHF-T, or 800mhz which requires small antennas, like your cell phone. Departments in more urban settings might go with a stealth antenna which is just a small stub or even a flat pancake on their vehicles since it cuts down on intermod and other interference, yet they can still hit the repeater and talk 100 miles away depending on the system. Here in California, we have various statewide repeater networks that allow me to use a radio in San Diego by the Mexican border and talk to a logistics base up by the Oregon border 691 miles away.
Remember when they design a radio system, the key thing is coverage. Very few systems have just one antenna or repeater, but instead have a network of voters and repeaters that blanket an area so that you do not need high power radios or long antennas, even in more rural areas. Most mountain tops and large buildings are literal antenna farms bristling with hundreds of different users trying to get the best coverage possible in their area.
Now I dunno if USAR dog teams are trully apart of the LAFD or if this was simply done to stick with the format of the original game, but this brings me to a question for those of you with USAR teams in your area, are they allowed to respond code 3? I spoke to the team that does USAR dog training and calls in my area and they said the state doesnt allow them to have lights or sirens. However, since they all drive there own personnel vehicles when they are called, some of the members may have lights or sirens because they are volunteer firefighters. Even in that case I dont think there allowed to respond code 3 to a USAR operation.
Depends on the departments policy and if the USAR dog team is part of the department of if its just a volunteer with a trained dog. Usually if the dog and handler are part of the department, they'll be allowed to respond with lights and sirens in most areas. In fact, some departments even give their handlers vehicles much like police K9 units have.
Here is Corona Fire Depts USAR K9 vehicle, which is a city just outside of Los Angeles County.
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