What's up Peeps!
Yesterday, I named it ladder-trucks in action so I gave you just that. That being said, it makes it hard to display good close-ups of other things, I did walk around for 3 hours, obviously given how closely I live, I wanted to make sure it was under control myself. It was a lot. Now that I had a chance to process some of the weirdness and uneasy feeling from last night, I went back to inspecting the photos for a new take on the scene.
Given it's the third fire, how did I mentally keep myself calm-ish? Well, I have probably never been that close to a firetruck in the first place as I have in the last few months and yes, the camera. It's not only a visual art creating machine, it's has meditative qualities too. I really wish we would stop meeting like that tho...sincerely. I always wanted a firetruck photoshoot but I always pictured it to be a show piece at a show and shine or at a fair, you know something ridiculous like that. Not in full blown action in what will probably go on the list of on of Edmonton's most significant fires to battle. On the other hand, not even the news has photos like these. I do pat myself on the back for that. That was probably a rare event to be able to get in the first place.
My ankle is still messed up and was still on the not leaving the house due to too many weird cowardly attempts on my life, I still managed to walk around for 3 hours without rest so it's getting better slowly. When you re-injure the same injury a year from each other, it heals real slow the second time around. I wasn't climbing towers 2 weeks later like the last time, although not that I wanted to, I just didn't have much of a choice cause you know...them bills.
My uncle retired as a Fire Marshall, I suppose I could have always got him to get me a tour of his old station. I should probably still do that at some point. When he was hands on deck, I was too young to be exposed to this and I lived across the country and when I moved out here, he was about to retire with just a few years of service left and by then he was passed his direct battling days anyway, it was time to employ all that knowledge.
I remember when I was a kid, he came for a visit and after the station had changed the equipment, he was able to take some of the old stuff as memorabilia and some of it ended up at my step dad's place and when I say 80's gear is heavy. I was young but I couldn't even lift the jacket. The helmet was ok but my tiny neck couldn't hold it on it's own. How do you wear that for a long time to fight a fire I thought!
In his battling days, he was the man in the bucket, just like them, right over the worst of the worst of fires. During his service days he battle a fire as significant as this one in the middle of the night, all night. A hobby photographer was near by and caught some nice photos of the firefighters and brought it to them. He still has it proudly on the wall. It was the most significant fire he'd extinguished. I thought of doing the same for the local fire department as a thank you after I'm done going thru all of them. I didn't have my 70-300mm lens, so I couldn't zoom at all. I left with what was on it, 40 mm and cropping some of the photos.
I'm sure technologies have made some equipment more light weight since then but it still has to be pretty heavy also considering it was already 25 degrees celcius outside...Warm day for us northern snow dwellers. We start to melt faster than a spring snowman ourselves as humans beyond this point. All that extra gear is warm before even getting to the fire. I sometimes complain about hot days at work and all the gear we have to wear.
Oxygen tanks/ air packs like they wear but we open up deadly sour gas lines to isolate them to be able to maintenance refineries that produce the gas that go in their tanks on their efforts. Instead of the thick suit, we have long sleeve cotton, coverall covered with another rubber type chemical coverall gear that doesn't breathe...You want to lose, 10 pounds a day anyone? Even if you don't have it, it will find it. That scene will make me think twice before complaining. I felt for them, I almost started sweating myself at the thought of what it might even feel like. I suddenly needed water that I didn't bring.
At least it weights a lot less then fire rescue gear and not going in a fire with it. Although not impossible because it is one of our dangers too, we just cross our fingers that it wont happen to us since much of what we open is also pyrophoric chemicals same for the equipment we crawl into or dismantle, doesn't mean it doesn't happen or a major risk to mitigate and it's mandatory to have established permanent fire services directly on-site sometimes present at the job location when we know it's going to be a problem. It still does happen and it's real bad when it does. Actually we get our gear from the on-site firehall and they do the maintenance and certifications of both equipment and workers that will be using it. My Uncle seemed surprised that although I was not in fire services, we shared many similar safety certifications in common.
Some women would have went there for the firemen, nope, that's where the dude hidden in me came out, SHOW ME THE BEAST Yeah, them big trucks, the redder the better. Them big cherry trucks! Well we to see them in action but 3 hours of watching a building burn is redundant and more traumatizing then it needs to be since I was trying to distract myself from my neighborhood burning down. The ladder-trucks in action, well they mostly stayed put so other things started to catch my attention.
While cropping some of the photos I could turn into close-ups, some of the trucks weren't red enough for my liking, I over saturated some of them, not all. Yesterday's post they are au naturel 100%. The problem with red, just like in the laundry...it bleeds EVERYWHERE in photos too. To help counteract that, I also went slightly down on the contrast until green was green again. Also help make the chrome chromier...LMFAO. YEAH, LOOK AT EM GRILLS! Just a photography tip for extremely red things in case anyone is curious. I'm no photoshop pro, I can barely handle the basics.
Despite the devastating circumstances to get this sort of learning opportunity, it was my first time to see an EMERGENCY JOBSITE in action and thankfully, not on a jobsite, not that home is much better to really think that thru. This one was of extreme level because this was a significant event. Normally they watch us work at work, I suppose now the tables were reversed. Although these are city not on-site, I'm sure they have the same training for the most part. Besides the fancy red trucks, the cool hero views of selfless individuals roasting in their suits directly over the fire for some as you can see the bucket that comes from behind the building thru the smoke. You couldn't always see them, the smoke was really thick and black especially at the beginning. Although yes, that is one perspective but I like 360 degree perspective on different aspects of life.
A few years back, A similar sized apartment building went up in flames in the city, that wasn't too far away either but not this close. To control such a fire, 60 firefighters were present and took 3 hours to control and 10 hours to extinguish. I remember the other apartment building was also an ordeal to put out quite like this one. Besides somehow orchestrating the evacuation of several 100's people including small children and babies, get them to safety and start battling the fire ASAP, well how do you coordinate so many moving parts to make that happen as fast as it needed to happen. That was the magic I was after, nothing short of impressive. It was enough to keep me distracted from reality just enough. Eyes and mind on task.
I don't know if some of you noticed, in the last picture of my last post, there was a ladder going to a 3rd floor balcony. Well, I don't know for sure, just my own analysis from the street, when I saw it and took the photo, they had just finished putting out the roof of the building so too soon for any of the firefighters to enter the building and it probably would have still been burning inside at that level, was probably left over from a rescue. 2 critical burn injuries in hospital total from the fire but no deaths thankfully. In case you missed it here is a link below.
@ladyrainbow/firefighting-ladder-truck-in-action-extinguishing-large-apartment-complex
Now back to the cherry red mobile worksite I was witnessing, that was actually amazing. First things first, based on my craft, my first area of interest was indeed like the rest or you, the ladder-trucks. Not simply because they look cool, which they do, but because it reminds me of yet another piece of equipment I'm familiar with. I had a friendly debate if it was more reminiscent of an aerial work platform or a crane. We settled with mobile crane because it has to have load bearing capabilities with the 6 inch hose going 100 ft full of water. In case anyone is nerdy enough to like math and calculate how much that would weigh in the comments. I'm not that smart or willing.
Not that I'm shopping for my own personal fire truck but here is a link from a dealer with specs for many different styles with weight and other information a guy might be interested in for shits and giggles since we are on the topic and observing things on a practical aspect.
https://www.jdpower.com/cars/shopping-guides/what-are-the-dimensions-of-firetrucks
Now as a tradesmen, it would be easy to understand why pointing out the mobile crane look alike, but as a Hive reader/photography enthusiast...what are you looking at? Lets get real up close and take a look. First it's weight distribution because something like this to be able to hold a heavy 100 ft of extended zoom reach and they bucket with the workers, the last thing anyone wants is for the truck to tip over.
To mitigate that without making the truck too heavy for the roads and to move around, any crane is also equipped with this additional feature called OUTRIGGERS. (The hydraulic legs that stick out with the yellow lines on them). The Fireman at the base of the ladder is likely the one operating the hydraulic functions of the device to make it turn into the required position on command at any given time in communication with the men on top battling the blaze via radio headset. To be clear Normal worksite aerial work platforms do have outriggers as well but this is better quality, a bit smaller then a crane tho but the construction is close.
Now a front view of the outriggers in action. On a crane they would normally be even on both sides but given the nature that a fire truck can't be as wide as a crawler crane to be able to fit into the standard city street they are meant to protect, I noticed the outriggers on the ladder side to be longer to help counteract. The man on the hydraulic commands aka their operator, you see the base of the handrail he's holding, That is likely made of heavy solid steel as a counterweight. I don't know about fire equipment but I have been in aerial work platforms and at that sort of extension, it gets pretty bouncy at the far suspended end. I would assume the workers in the bucket are required to wear safety harness fall protection with a retractable lanyard, or at least we do. It's a work regulation for all workers tho. Self rescue is the best rescue. Once again, look how shiny that grill is!
The Gentlemen talking from inside the truck to the firefighter that just came out for a hydration/cooldown break. I'm not that familiar with fire anything really, just enough to be able to explain a few things on a simple basis for the viewer. Besides looking like the truck operates as a major command center/office on wheels, it also seems to dual as a storage for spare parts that might be required by the ladder trucks. I assume such because it looks filled with various rotating parts that look like is probably for hydraulic equipment. I think I also saw ready to use respiratory equipment in there too but it's cut off by the end.
What else did I spy with my good eye? Well I always just assumed there was a couple of styles of trucks with multi functions but turns out there is a few more then even anticipated. As I photo inspect each of them from across the street, I found quite a bit of organized diversity. Last post, I showed an Oxygen recovery unit with a bottle cart in front where the oxygen bottles for the respiratory protection get collected after use and re-serviced. Closer to the scene, there was one with all ready to use equipment and packs and a gentlemen on the ground that travels between the two constantly re-supplying for the individuals getting dressed for battle.
Of course every fireman needs a good axe or two, there was a truck with additional firefighting hand tools one might need. This truck is equipped with neatly stored individual compartments. Seeing the doors open at the top...Is this yet another clever hidy-hole storage compartment? Obviously it does serve some function or it wouldn't be there.
How many more can there be! Well I did get a photo of one more. I'm not too sure what I was looking at but I did see a series of pressure gages so perhaps the water pressure gets regulated by another truck before being fed thru as a stable working pressure for the men on the other end holding a 6 inch hose. It's not something you do alone. That's a scary one and packs a punch. We use fire hoses with the instructions of proper personnel to wash coal powered boilers before we maintenance them, that's not one you want to lose grip from and have it bite back. That's a mean one. Besides the ground visuals, after the roof was mostly contained and the smoke wasn't so thick, I did see a drone flying, technology also hard at work giving a better aerial view for a large area coverage to chase hotspots efficiently like a fucked up game of fiery whack-a-mole. the roof looks a little toast but I promise you, it was probably worse inside.
I suppose much like we have a series of sea-cans and atco trailers as a temporary work exercise for a few weeks, these guys have it down to a science on BIG RED TRUCKS ready to be deployed anytime anywhere always ready for the next emergency no matter how big or small. Despite the tragedy of it all, seeing the emergency personnel in action was a whole other experience. Can't say I have ever been this close to anything this significant. Like I mentioned above, I don't even think the news were there or even have photos of their own of what might be one of Edmonton's fire for the history books.
Part of me feels a bit awkward about posting a traumatic event for many into art online, the universe dealt the lemons, I think I just made the spiciest lemonade I could with it. It was a good opportunity to see it in action and get re-assurance that in case of an emergency, the inner functioning of things. I still thank God that I live next to it and not in it. No other surrounding buildings were touched despite their proximity thankfully and that's amazing in itself. They had the fire surrounded by every possible side to prevent it from jumping. Why I went there in the first place. To see how safe my place was and should I start packing what I can? Their efficiency turned my inquiry into an impromptu photography project I hope to never have again. Well maybe at a show and shine or a fair...you know something ridiculous like that. I mean it when I say WE HAVE TO STOP MEETING LIKE THIS
A serious thank you to all emergency personnel especially firefighters that gave everything they could to keep us safe and preventing it from spreading as well as they did. Not only once but twice in one month, although this one was much more significant and impactful displacing a greater number of families. As you can see, the organization skills behind this prevented it from being complete chaos when it actually was. Organized chaos. This building is weirdly shaped and wraps around many other adjacent buildings. Their organization skills both in material and human resources along with how to approach such a complicated task saved many more families from getting displaced. Thank you again. Many of us owe our safety to you and others like you across the world. It was indeed a perspective building experience.
I give your BIG RED MOBILE JOBSITE ON DEMAND and your band of crisis fighters a 10 star rating on safety and organization skills, your hoses were a little messy tho...Just kidding, I had to nit-pick at something. WTF do I know. I'm just some a dum-dum with a camera and a blog living next door to the worst thing I have ever seen in my life yet trying not to freak out...making spicy lemonade.
Stay safe all! xox