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Duckbill Lock Breaker – By: Andrew Brassard

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Nowadays firefighters tend to become over reliant on saws during forcible entry operations and often forget some of the most basic of fireground tools. The Duckbill Lock Breaker is one such a tool that has become a forgotten tool that tends to sit in a compartment on the truck. But what about the times when, the saw does not start? Or you have to change the blade? Or you have to remove locks inside of a building where the saw will be choked out by the smoke? The duckbill is a tremendous secondary tool for these situations.

The Duckbill Lock Breaker works by driving the lock shackle off the body of the lock. The lock breaker will remove an American 700 Series Lock with no problem, in fact there are very few locks that can not be defeated by the lock breaker. One lock the can withstand the forces that can be applied with the lock breaker is the disc type lock. If a disc type lock is present a different forcible entry method should be utilized.

 

The Duckbill Lock Breaker is a single functioning tool, meaning it's only function is to force entry into padlocks.

The duckbill is made of soft metal, usually brass. The reason for making it out of soft metal is so that as it is driven down in between the padlock body and the shackle the lock will "bite" into the soft metal of the wedge and hold it's position until it is struck again. Every time the lock breaker is struck it is driven down a little further into the lock, this places more and more pressure on the lock until it finally fails. If the wedge was made out of a hardened metal it would simply bounce out every time it was struck.  

To use the Duckbill Lock Breaker, simply place the wedge into the lock. This is where mistakes get made! The only way the duckbill will work is with the top edge of the wedge on the shackle and the bottom edge of the duckbill on the body of the lock, do not put the duckbill into the lock with the top and bottom rails on both side of  the shackle! Once the lock breaker is in place use the 8 lbs forcible entry axe or a 12 lbs Maul to drive the duckbill into the lock, continue driving it in until the lock fails. It is that simple!

So dust off the duckbill lock breaker, dig it out from the compartment, or buy one to include to your forcible entry arsenal. It is a great tool that can prove to be extremely valuable on the fireground.

 

 

 

 

Posted by on October 31, 2011 • Filed under: fire-rescue-topics, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, Forcible Entry, Ladder Company Ops, RIT or FAST Operations, special-operations, training-development, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged:

Coordinated Ventilation

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Take a look at these two videos for a great example of coordinated ventilation.  The outside vent (OV) firefighter on the fire escape waits until the line is putting water on the fire to take the windows.  Doing so helps the engine make the advance into the fire area a little easier.  Waiting until the line is ready will ensure that you do not prematurely feed the fire additional oxygen and possibly trap firefighters searching ahead of the line. 

 

 

Posted by on October 26, 2011 • Filed under: Attack Line, Engine Company Ops, Ladder Company Ops, RIT or FAST Operations, special-operations, training-development, training-fire-rescue-topics, Ventilation, videos • Tagged:

Pressure Reducing Valves – By: Chris Collier

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Lack of water on the fire is a fire ground problem that seldom stands alone.  When water is not being applied to the fire at the proper rate we can all agree that things get worse on the fire ground.  When we look at fires where maydays or firefighter fatalities occurred we can often find reference to water loss or water problems.  One such fire is the one Meridian Plaza fire which occurred in Philadelphia PA on February 23, 1991.  This fire took the lives of three Philadelphia Firefighters.  One (of several) issues that plagued firefighters at this fire was improperly set pressure reducing valves.  These valves were set to allow 60 psi discharge pressure which was inadequate to operate the fire department's 1 3/4" hoselines and combination nozzles. 

Pressure reducing valves are found on many standpipe systems and there are dozens of types of these valves.  This blog post will show only a few so be sure to familiarize yourself with the ones found in your response area.  Pressure reducing valves are designed to regulate the pressure at a given standpipe outlet.  Pressures can be very high when dealing with fire pumps or gravity tanks.  These valves are intended to prevent over pressurization of components after the valve.  By reducing pressure flow is also reduced. 

The best and easiest way to deal with a pressure reducing valve is to remove it completely.  One style of pressure reducing valve threads onto the standpipe outlet.  When this type of valve is found, remove it with a spanner or pipe wrench and proceed as normal.  If the valve can not be removed you may have to go to the floor two floors below the fire and hook up there.  If you are unable to remove any of the pressure reducing valves, ensure the valve is in the full open position and proceed with caution. 

Some standpipe outlet valves have a pressure reducing device built into them.  Some of them can be adjusted with a screwdriver or allen wrench and others require disassembly of the valve and special tools.  These are the pressure reducing valves that firefighters must be intimately acquainted with before the fire to ensure a successful operation. 

Once we remove the pressure reducing valve we can control the pressure ourselves using the outlet valve and our inline pressure gauge.

Posted by on October 11, 2011 • Filed under: Attack Line, Building Alteration-Renovation, Engine Company Ops, fire-rescue-topics, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, special-operations, training-development, training-fire-rescue-topics, Water Supply • Tagged: