I'm trying to outfit my bunker gear, and wondering what everyone thinks of as "must have" items to carry. I figured 5 sounded like a good number. I currently have the basics, structure gloves, extrication gloves, hood, and a door chock. What should I start shopping for?
5 Must have items in your bunker gear.....
- Thread starter FFRNDAN
- Start date
theroofable
Member
I have fire gloves, chocks, a knife, and safety glasses in the pants. Extrication gloves and medical gloves in the jacket pocket. I keep the hood in the inside jacket pocket. Then my kenwood radio in the radio pocket, and a streamlight led survivor clipped as well. Oh and the mask is also clipped to the jacket. All other tools are in the engine!
Don't know about just 5 items in bunkers, but this is my setup as worn + stored in my bag. Negligible weight and significant utility for myself, your mileage may vary.
Turnout pants:
Right cargo pocket:
Structural gloves
Rescue/Wildland gloves
rite in the rain notepad + sharpie & regular pens & alcohol markers in notebook holder
Left cargo pocket, divided:
Front section
20' of 1" tubular nylon tied in a loop with a water knot. I'm 6'3" and it's sized for use as an emergency full body harness on me, and works for all other purposes by tying it up.
Rear section
Channnelock rescue tool, cable cutter model. Proven its worth time and again, worth the weight IMHO
TFT Res-q-rench, This means I have a set of spanners to be able to work on lines on me.
Belt
Gerber Hinderer in sheath w/ toolkit (allens and some other junk)
I'm going to get my old armed guard duty belt's flat glove pouch and put it on the belt eventually
Turnout Jacket
Interior pocket
spare hood
Left chest
radio pouch, handmike routed up behind my neck then clipped into the right shoulder tab
Right chest pocket
Streamlight Survivor LED, bottom of pocket has a vacu-sealed pack of 4x AA's for the Survivor, and 2x CR123's for my helmet light (streamlight LED unit)
Left lower pocket
4x my size of gloves
rite in the rain notepad + sharpie & regular pens & alcohol markers in notebook holder
Safety glasses
Right lower pocket
2x wood chocks
4x plastic chocks
2x Tire marker's, one white one red, tiedown of 550 cord long enough to go around my wrist with overhand on each end, laid on marker then double layer of duct tape wrapped around marker+550. Ghetto breakaway lanyard.
Helmet
right under brim, camera mount (I only run it during training and usually burn meat and drink beer with the guys and laugh at each other/learn from mistakes on footage.)
Left under brim, Streamlight LED light
Tethered earplugs tied off to suspension system
Laminated "Cheat Sheet" with some engineering pre-calcs for various lays, GPS coordinates for all recon'ed helo landing sites (large road/highway pullouts, school parking lots, stations, etc), summer/winter drafting locations and brief verbage on how to access, some other various stuff like processes for station fuel access, key locations, bla bla.
"Ditty Bag" aka old turnout mask bag
spare structural gloves
4x powerbars
spare safety glasses
spare earpro x3
5x spare sets of gloves
2x small bottles of water
Turnout pants:
Right cargo pocket:
Structural gloves
Rescue/Wildland gloves
rite in the rain notepad + sharpie & regular pens & alcohol markers in notebook holder
Left cargo pocket, divided:
Front section
20' of 1" tubular nylon tied in a loop with a water knot. I'm 6'3" and it's sized for use as an emergency full body harness on me, and works for all other purposes by tying it up.
Rear section
Channnelock rescue tool, cable cutter model. Proven its worth time and again, worth the weight IMHO
TFT Res-q-rench, This means I have a set of spanners to be able to work on lines on me.
Belt
Gerber Hinderer in sheath w/ toolkit (allens and some other junk)
I'm going to get my old armed guard duty belt's flat glove pouch and put it on the belt eventually
Turnout Jacket
Interior pocket
spare hood
Left chest
radio pouch, handmike routed up behind my neck then clipped into the right shoulder tab
Right chest pocket
Streamlight Survivor LED, bottom of pocket has a vacu-sealed pack of 4x AA's for the Survivor, and 2x CR123's for my helmet light (streamlight LED unit)
Left lower pocket
4x my size of gloves
rite in the rain notepad + sharpie & regular pens & alcohol markers in notebook holder
Safety glasses
Right lower pocket
2x wood chocks
4x plastic chocks
2x Tire marker's, one white one red, tiedown of 550 cord long enough to go around my wrist with overhand on each end, laid on marker then double layer of duct tape wrapped around marker+550. Ghetto breakaway lanyard.
Helmet
right under brim, camera mount (I only run it during training and usually burn meat and drink beer with the guys and laugh at each other/learn from mistakes on footage.)
Left under brim, Streamlight LED light
Tethered earplugs tied off to suspension system
Laminated "Cheat Sheet" with some engineering pre-calcs for various lays, GPS coordinates for all recon'ed helo landing sites (large road/highway pullouts, school parking lots, stations, etc), summer/winter drafting locations and brief verbage on how to access, some other various stuff like processes for station fuel access, key locations, bla bla.
"Ditty Bag" aka old turnout mask bag
spare structural gloves
4x powerbars
spare safety glasses
spare earpro x3
5x spare sets of gloves
2x small bottles of water
Zapp Brannigan
Lifetime VIP Donor
Zapp Brannigan
Lifetime VIP Donor
I also like to carry what most of my team does not carry: a 4-in-1 screwdriver. (Tip pulls out and you turn it around and snap it back into the handle for another screw type.) Firefighters can have a reputation for wanting to use sledges and bars to get into things, when sometimes all it takes is a screwdriver or adjustable wrench. :undecided:
Jarred J.
Lifetime VIP Donor
I have basics in mine.
Pants:
Extracation gloves (we dont go on vehicle rescues but great for packing up tools and hose at end of call)
Safety glasses
50' of 8mm rescue rope with attached carribeaner
2-3 door chocks
Jacket:
Multi tool (not a cheap walmart one. get a good leatherman or gerber. Youll thank me later)
Shove knife
Folding Knife
Small flashlight (again not a cheap flashlight. Get a good one since it is going to take a beating and go from extreme cold to heat and get wet)
2-3 door chocks
Channel lock rescue tool (cable cutter, gas shut off, spanner wrench all in one. Worth its weight in gold)
Fire gloves
Helmet:
2 door chocks
I hope this helps you. As you see alot of us carry the same items overall. Some lists are longer and some shorter. I try to keep just the basics in my gear.
Pants:
Extracation gloves (we dont go on vehicle rescues but great for packing up tools and hose at end of call)
Safety glasses
50' of 8mm rescue rope with attached carribeaner
2-3 door chocks
Jacket:
Multi tool (not a cheap walmart one. get a good leatherman or gerber. Youll thank me later)
Shove knife
Folding Knife
Small flashlight (again not a cheap flashlight. Get a good one since it is going to take a beating and go from extreme cold to heat and get wet)
2-3 door chocks
Channel lock rescue tool (cable cutter, gas shut off, spanner wrench all in one. Worth its weight in gold)
Fire gloves
Helmet:
2 door chocks
I hope this helps you. As you see alot of us carry the same items overall. Some lists are longer and some shorter. I try to keep just the basics in my gear.
My bare minimum requirements are things that will save your life:
Door chocks-Keep that door open
Webbing or rope- When the door isn't an option, a window may be. Your fall (some people call this a controlled descent-yeah right...) will hurt a lot less if you have rope or webbing (or better yet, a bail out system)
A way to cut- Wires, metal, wood, everything. Homes are made to kill firefighters, you need a blade to fight back.
I'm sure there are tons more that help you perform and that some people think are absolute necessities, but without these you are screwed.
Door chocks-Keep that door open
Webbing or rope- When the door isn't an option, a window may be. Your fall (some people call this a controlled descent-yeah right...) will hurt a lot less if you have rope or webbing (or better yet, a bail out system)
A way to cut- Wires, metal, wood, everything. Homes are made to kill firefighters, you need a blade to fight back.
I'm sure there are tons more that help you perform and that some people think are absolute necessities, but without these you are screwed.
NPS Ranger
Member
I just spent 2 hours on vententersearch.com awesome site. Now to shop for some pliers...... and bacon.....
CPDG23 said:
You have good taste
I forgot to mention the trauma shears I keep in the tool pocket and the jacket pocket.
In any case, it's a bunch of stuff that's not that heavy nor bulky and has a whole lot of utility.
The method behind my "walking toolbox" madness (as some here might say):
Spanner tools:
If I'm engineering, while I have spanners all over the apparatus it's sometimes faster to grab my own. Once things have stabilized and I'm flowing what I'm flowing with a supply, I'll chase lines for kinks and leaks. Leaks + -20 weather = ice rink. If I'm not engineering, I'm not near apparatus most of the time so having my own tools on-hand means I can take care of stuff.
Both have glass punch points, one will cut anything you can fit in it, there's a seat belt cutter on the res-q, and a gas valve notch. The Res-q's issued to everyone once you pass basic class, the Channelock tool was given to me but is an issued tool on occasion as well.
Helmet light's issued as is the angle head light. Both are stupid bright, both have great battery life but given my experience with battery powered devices, I carry spares. I'll wait to swap batteries during rehab though, not like I'm gonna stop what I'm doing if a light goes out. I keep my radio on a charger at home
I have dual notepads because for EMS assists/rescue calls that are non MVA, we usually don't bother with our jackets unless it's cold. I'll start a patient history/vitals track while rendering aid... it always throws off the medics who don't really know me because they stay on the EMS side instead of straddling the fence as a firefighter/medic in our department. That, and with SOF Medical training and being a former NREMT-B as well, nomenclature and equipment is something I know both what, and where it is either on their rigs or my own rig, and how to set it up/use it. That, and having a written time and dosage of meds pushed makes their paperwork easier... just because I can't use some stuff anymore doesn't mean I can't help with it's use. It's also handy to be able to hand off writing material for people in command positions that might not have been prepared or would have to go back to a CV for something.
The cheat sheet in my helmet covers stuff we keep on our cheat sheets on the apparatus, but it's quicker to be able to rattle off lat/long for a specific LZ off that than waiting to find/turn on/get a good 3d position from a GPS. Even if we're not specifically right there, those coords function as a good checkpoint ie "we're a half mile to the east" or whatnot.
The longer length of tubular nylon I got bugged about at one point by my captain (who only carries a strap long enough to use as a hose strap) until I showed her how easy it was to make it work as a double shoulder hose strap, plus a below grade rescue of an unconcious FF (dressed up 250 lb dummy)... then politely challenged her to do both with her little strap. I keep it back fed with the water knot fed in last and flipped into the tool's section of that pocket for ease of grabbing. I'd prefer to do the kneepad webbing trick seen on VentEnterSearch or other places, but our turnouts don't have removable/replaceable kneepads.
Everything is accessible while in full SCBA, the way I set up placement was taking what I thought I could use on basically any scene and laying it on a table. "dressed up" for a full structural response, and then put things where I could actually get them. I carried a little bit of different stuff but as I either got better gear, or found that I didn't use things, I tailored my "loadout" accordingly to what works for the jobs I get.
Station 3
Member
Im pretty sure im not the only fatty that does this but i always carried some beef shredded beef jerky "the kind that looks like tabaco chew" since im not a tabacco kinda guy i would eat jerky to fit in with the tabacco guys.
Zapp Brannigan
Lifetime VIP Donor
WS224
Member
I don't carry any of that "extra" stuff. Why would you carry an extra hood around with you all the time?
I don't carry tools in my pockets because if I need a screw driver, I have time to get one off the pumper. If I'm in a hurry, I don't need a screw driver, I can get it with an axe.
About the only things I carry is a right angle flash light on the front of my coat and a door stop on my helmet.
I don't carry tools in my pockets because if I need a screw driver, I have time to get one off the pumper. If I'm in a hurry, I don't need a screw driver, I can get it with an axe.
About the only things I carry is a right angle flash light on the front of my coat and a door stop on my helmet.
WS224 said:
Because a soaked hood when it's -25F out is miserable and being able to just swap to a dry one is like heaven on your head?
What works for you may work for you, but I would rather just whip out a tool, fix something, then continue my tasks, than spend 5 minutes going to apparatus, rooting through apparatus for a tool, returning with a tool.... then still having to fix what needed fixing.
Phoenix_Rising
Lifetime VIP Donor
Since it's "MUST" have, I kinda waited to think on this one a bit. So that the younger generations can bear some fruit from my years of service. My list is as follows, please read it carefully, think on it, and I hope it helps. Stay safe out there! :thumbsup:
Items I must have in bunker gear:
Bacon (ok fine, its jerky, so no Garza, youre not the only one)
Toilet Paper
A magazine
Flask with whisky (hey if Im about to bite the bullet, least going to have a goddamn drink)
Spare pack of smokes (go in conjunction with whisky)
And for those that think I am joking, I shall take a pic of my bunkers next time Im at station
God speed my friends :thumbsup:
Items I must have in bunker gear:
Bacon (ok fine, its jerky, so no Garza, youre not the only one)
Toilet Paper
A magazine
Flask with whisky (hey if Im about to bite the bullet, least going to have a goddamn drink)
Spare pack of smokes (go in conjunction with whisky)
And for those that think I am joking, I shall take a pic of my bunkers next time Im at station
God speed my friends :thumbsup:
NPS Ranger
Member
Phoenix_Rising said:
Someday you're gonna be surprised as hell when a ladder comes through the window of that bathroom.
Phoenix_Rising
Lifetime VIP Donor