Shouldn't Firemen have basic felling training?

[Timbermcpherson]

Didnt firemen dealing with trees in the massive storm that hit london near 30 years back, end up doing more damage than the trees did?

 

A while back I was at a party, mate of mine was there, who is a firefighter.

 

"hows the life of an arborist?" he asked me

"thats accountant" I say

"what?"

"Im an accountant" I reply

"really? I thought I saw you the other day in your work truck"

"Oh yeah, that was me but im an accountant now"

"how does that work?" he asked

"well since I spend more time doing accounting than you do fighting fires I figure if you can call yourself a fireman, I can say Im an accountant!"

 

Firemen should have arborists on call, that they pay to down tools or get there asses out of bed and attend emergencies involving trees. They are never going to get the experience and/or training to do better or safer.

Edited March 11, 2017 by Timbermcpherson

[Stuart Phillips]

A number of brigades across the country do encourage and support firefighters to gain chainsaw qualifications. There is a element of concern when it comes to the delights of windblow and emergency tree work, in that a full time fire fighter is a part time chainsaw user. The risk to be considered in this case is when we start expecting people who occasionally use a chainsaw to deal with trees in potentially very hazardous situations.

[lux]

Interesting thread. I suspect most fireman dealing with any tree / branch on a car would be using hydraulic shears to cut with anyway, the same wide opening ones they will then use to open up a car like a tin of beans.

I expect that they would only be looking to remove enough wood to administer first aid or extract a casualty. Lifting large trunks etc may possibly be done with large air bags to give just enough room to get to or remove a casualty as well as making a safe working environment for the firefighters. These are scenarios no doubt they are already well trained and versed in. I certainly can't recall any bad press because a firefighter didn't have a chainsaw or couldn't use one.

 

If it's just a tree fallen on a road for example then there is no genuine urgency to it. It's an inconvenience and the fire brigade or other emergency service or local authority should close the road and call out the on call tree surgeon to deal as necessary.

 

I suspect they are probably competent and equipped to deal as they are.

[IRE David H]

as an aside does anyone cut trees for the fire brigad and by extension have you ever cut trees off of cars

[petestarbuck]

I got a call once to a large ash limb on the roof of a very expensive BMW. I ended up stood on the roof of the car picking apart the tree with my 66, giggling to myself.

 

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[Farmer Tom]

Not just training on how trees work....

 

[TIMON]

Not just training on how trees work....

 

 

 

 

 

Ha ha. Classic [emoji846]

 

 

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[sloth]

That's a set up, surely?!

[Gary Prentice]

You would hope so....

[dan blocker]

Oxford Fire and Rescue on news last night with Fire Chief being interviewed showing tender in background with a couple of chainsaws in one of the lockers? Thats in addition to the rescue saw, so they must have a tree cutting capability? Unlikely to have equipment issued without proper training with current Elf and safety and duty of care etc!