The Basket Bundle

Ok, so I may have the name wrong. Oops. It was what another FF on duty with me today called it, so that's what I am calling it for the purposes of this blog entry.

What prompted me to horse around with it? Well, we mostly use a simple flat load in the bumper trays for a trash line. It works fine, but the problem is it gets caught up. A lot. 

There has to be something better out there...

So, I started researching it. Several FDs out east use bumper lines as their primary attack line. Seems odd to me, I thought, but it works for them. Just search YouTube and you can find plenty of successful aggressive fire attacks done from front bumper lines. Again, with a strange looking load... but hey! It works for them, repeatedly, and look at them deploy it! Fast! And with one FF! Hmmm...

So, I did some looking around and found some training videos on it. The internet is such an amazing tool, isn't it?

Here's one that I think is the best one for instruction on packing and deploying it. It's about ten minutes, but it's down to earth. It was done specifically for the ACFD (which I think is the Arlington County FD in VA), but you get the point.

Ok, so after several weeks of "research", (yeah, right - when I had time and remembered to look is probably more accurate), I decided I'd try it out on my pumper's bumper line, solely as an experiment. Our tray is narrow (16 inches) and it has the discharge in the bottom of the tray on a swivel, and, honestly, I didn't know if it would work at all. 

So, here's where I started. In the spirit of the ACFD video tutorial, I was setting it up so that you would deploy it the same way. The biggest difference is where the discharge is located. 

The first fold is just above the level of the top of the bumper tray. To the left is the start of a long loop (approx 15-18 inches).

Now, out of the camera view, is the long loop. You can also see a medium loop (approx 6-8 inches) on the right side. It's only a few inches above the top of the tray. I found that having it there was handy, with it providing just a little extra hand hold when initially deploying it from the tray. Remember, our tray is narrower than the trays on the ACFD pumper, so I think this minor adaptation is acceptable. 

Note the Dutchman in the lower left. This is there to help keep the horseshoe flat as you load it.

Here is the first horseshoe. It fits nicely in a 16 inch wide tray. Note the male coupling is safely tucked away. We'll later connect it to the second horseshoe.

Start by leaving the female coupling off to the side approx 8-10 inches. When this horseshoe is finished, we then connect it to the male coupling in the first horseshoe. We also leave a long loop on the left side.

With the second horseshoe now complete, we connect it to the first section.

Now we place the donut roll in and connect the female coupling to the male coupling on the second horseshoe. When deploying, stretch to your point of attack (doorway, etc.) and then flip the donut roll downward. You have fifty feet of attack line immediately available for you to use as needed.

Here's a video of me deploying it, by myself, and in no particular hurry. 150 ft of 1.75" attack line, ready for water in about 25 seconds.