You Can't Silence Us

Fire Pumps

Fire engines are all built the same basic way. They have a pump, some mounted in front of the powerplant, some behind. The vast majority of fire pumps are centrifugal pumps. That is, the shaft of the pump spins a sort of pinwheel called in impeller that throws water from the center of the impeller to the outside.

One thing is always in common- the intakes for the pump are always located at or below the centerline of the pump, and the discharges are located above the centerline of the pump. Here is a fire pump that has been removed from the fire engine and has cutaways for students to learn how a pump works.

Fire pumps on trucks are rated by gallons per minute that can flow from the pump while it is drawing a suction from a static source like groundwater up a 10-foot vertical lift and a discharge pressure of 150 psi. If they are being supplied by pressurized water, like from a hydrant, they can pump far more. The pump on my last engine was rated for 1625 gpm, but we went out and tested it for training once while hooked up to a hydrant on a 36 inch water main and got more than 2800 gpm.

You can quickly see a pump’s capacity without even looking at the data plate by just counting the discharges. The only ones that count are 2.5 inches or larger.

  • 2.5 inch discharge: Rated for 250 GPM
  • 4-inch discharge: Rated for 625 GPM
  • 5-inch discharge: Rated for 1,000 GPM
  • 6-inch discharge: Rated for 1,440 GPM

As an example, my engine had 4 inch and a half discharges, which don’t count. It also had 4 two and a half inch discharges and a 4 inch discharge.

For supply connections, we had one on each side of the engine, and one on the front bumper. Since that one on the front bumper had piping that had to bend around the engine, front axle, and other structures, it was not as effective due to friction losses as the ones on the side of the truck, which went directly into the pump itself.

Fire engines can have a water tank as small as 300 gallons, although 500 is typical. Since we were in a an outlying area of town with hydrants that could be farther away, the tank on my engine was 1250 gallons of water and 50 gallons of foam concentrate. The other engines in the city had 750 gallon tanks.

The hose carried on a fire truck is impressive, and the smaller the tank, the more hose and other equipment it can carry. My engine carried:

  • 1200 feet of 5 inch supply line
  • 500 feet of 3 inch supply line
  • 300 feet of a 2.5 inch attack line in the hose bed
  • 250 feet of 2.5 inch attack line in a crosslay
  • a pair of 200 foot long 1.75 inch attack line in two different crosslays
  • 100 foot of attack line on the bumper for car and trash fires
  • other miscellaneous short lines for odd jobs, which totaled another 300 feet or so

An engine with a small 300 gallon tank has quite a bit more room for hoses and other firefighting equipment. In addition to all of the hoses, we carried hose fittings, spare nozzles, fans, saws, extension cords, power tools, 12 spare air bottles for SCBA, a ground monitor for big deluge operations, another 25 gallons of Class A foam, medical equipment, thermal imaging equipment, hydraulic and pneumatic extrication equipment, 5 different ladders, and more.

A person who was going to drive that truck had to have at least 18 months on the job, spend at least 50 hours driving it under instruction from a senior driver, had to attend and pass a pump operator’s course, and be able to navigate our obstacle course made of traffic cones. Also, he had to demonstrate the basic maintenance and operation of every single item on the vehicle.

A new guy at our station had to, within 2 weeks of being hired, be able to draw from memory a diagram of the contents of the entire truck. Additionally, he had to be able to go get any piece of equipment when asked, without opening any compartment other than the one where the equipment was found. Firefighters who couldn’t do that would have their probation extended, and if they still couldn’t do it in a reasonable amount of time, they were terminated.

In a future post, I will explain everything it took to become a firefighter in my department.

People who have read this post: 113
By Divemedic, ago

Standing Ground

A child gets on a school bus with a pizza. One of his fellow students (a 14 year old feral) by the name of RJ McIntyre decided he wanted a piece and when he didn’t get one, struck the student. The father reported the attack to the bus driver and asked that the “teen” be disciplined.

The next day, dad took his son to the bus stop himself and had another confrontation with the bus driver. The 14 year old called his brother (Trevor Ivory, note the different last names) to the bus stop. Why the 16 year old had to respond from home was predictable- he was already suspended for being a violent little turd. When he arrived, Ivory confronted the dad. That’s when the 14 year old son decided to get off the bus, followed by McIntyre. They both dropped their backpacks and were about to fight while Ivory attempted to hold the father back from interfering.

That’s when the father pulled his son behind him and told the two attackers to get back. The article then says the two “approached” the father. I’m sure they were being calm and not threatening at all. That’s when dad, who has a concealed weapons permit, drew a handgun and told them to get back. This defensive use of a firearm appears to have ended the attack without anyone getting hurt.

Detectives from the Martin county sheriff’s office spent an entire day investigating this and decided that no charges would be filed against the father, and the father declined to press charges against the two ferals. Of course, the two attackers went immediately to the press and acted like choir boys.

They and their families attended a meeting of the National Association of African Convicts and Parolees (NAACP) to vent their frustrations. They are staunchly opposed to white folks being armed. After all, if would be victims are armed, this could severely disrupt the livelihoods of those in the black community. Here is a quote from one of the little criminals:

“I feel like under any circumstance, however you felt, no firearms should be displayed at a bus stop where there’s a bunch of kids on a bus looking forward to going to school,” Ivory said. “Instead, they had to see a man with a gun on two teenagers that they know ride the bus in the morning.”

Those same kids were on the way to school and had to be attacked by negro criminals.

“The dad had a thousand options. He chose the wrong option,” said Pam Ivory, Trevor’s aunt.

It looks to me like the correct option was chosen. He legally displayed his firearm, and the incident ended without harm to anyone. Perhaps your criminal nephew shouldn’t be attacking people.

Jimmy Smith, president of the NAACP Martin County Branch, also addressed the situation:

“We know guns aren’t allowed on school property. They also shouldn’t be allowed in school bus stops,” Smith said.

You know what else isn’t allowed at school bus stops? Little criminals who have been suspended. Still, he is incorrect. The news didn’t care about that, and jumped on the bandwagon by having some idiot lawyer make this comment:

But attorney and former Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg said there is another issue at play: Florida law generally prohibits possessing a firearm at a school, school bus or school bus stop, subject to exceptions. “Florida law makes it a low-level misdemeanor to have a firearm at a bus stop. There are some exceptions,” Aronberg said.

Aronberg said one exception involves a firearm secured inside a vehicle.

“Parents can have a firearm in their car during school drop-offs as long as it’s securely encased or not readily available,” he said.

He said that protection can change once someone leaves the vehicle with the firearm.

“But the moment an adult exits the vehicle and steps onto the bus stop with a gun, that vehicle exception expires, and it’s a potential crime,” Aronberg told WPBF.

Firearms ARE prohibited at bus stops, even for CCW holders. However, the law (Florida statute 790.115) also says this:

A person who exhibits any sword, sword cane, firearm, electric weapon or device, destructive device, or other weapon as defined in s. 790.001, including a razor blade, box cutter, or common pocketknife, except as authorized in support of school-sanctioned activities, in the presence of one or more persons in a rude, careless, angry, or threatening manner and not in lawful self-defense, at a school-sponsored event or on the grounds or facilities of any school, school bus, or school bus stop, (emphasis added)

The dad has decided to pull his son out of school to homeschool. I think that is a great option.

People who have read this post: 395
By Divemedic, ago

Psychological Torture

In August 2018, Thomas Perez Jr. called the police in Fontana, California, to report that his 71-year-old father, who had dementia, was missing. Police arrived, searched the house with his permission, and claimed to find “visible bloodstains.” A police dog allegedly “detected the presence of a corpse.” Despite Perez Jr.’s cooperation, the officers found his demeanor “suspicious” and brought him to the station for questioning.

Police questioned him for over 17 hours. Detectives falsely claimed they found his father’s corpse and bloodstains, denied him blood pressure and anxiety medication, and brought in his dog to falsely claim the animal would be euthanized because it witnessed the murder.

The interrogation began with hours of questioning while police obtained warrants to seize Perez Jr.’s electronic devices. After some time, they took him for a drive, claiming they were looking for his father. The ride was a pretense, just another way to continue questioning him. All it accomplished was a visible decline in Perez Jr.’s mental state.

Back at the station, Perez Jr. asked for his medication and requested to be taken to a hospital. The officers refused, saying, “We’re not going to go to the hospital, because that’s not going to help you.” From there, the pressure intensified.

By this point, Perez Jr. was in clear mental distress—rocking, pulling his hair, crying, shaking, and pleading for help. When he fell to the floor and hugged his dog, the officers laughed and told him he was stressing the animal out. Sixteen hours into the interrogation, the detectives told Perez Jr. they had found his father’s body in the morgue with stab wounds. It was a lie. But Perez Jr., mentally broken and physically exhausted, confessed. Under severe psychological distress and a complete mental breakdown, Perez falsely confessed to killing his father.

The detectives then received a call from Perez Jr.’s sister: Thomas Sr. was alive and at LAX, about to board a flight to visit her. They didn’t rush back to tell Perez Jr. the good news. Instead, they let him sit alone in the interrogation room for another hour. During this time, Perez Jr., hopeless and defeated, untied his shoes and attempted to hang himself.

The officers intervened—not to reassure him but to Mirandize him for the first time. They then sent him to a psychiatric hospital, leaving instructions with the staff that he was to have no contact with family members. On their way out, they dropped the dog at the pound as a stray.

In May 2023, a federal judge ruled the interrogation tactics were unconstitutional, stating:

“[Perez] was berated, worn down, and pressured into a false confession after 17 hours of questioning. [The officers] did this with full awareness of his compromised mental and physical state and need for his medications.”

Perez filed a federal civil rights lawsuit accusing the Fontana Police Department of false imprisonment, due process violations, and what a judge described as unconstitutional “psychological torture.” The city agreed to a nearly $900,000 settlement to resolve the lawsuit, admitting no formal wrongdoing while maintaining that their tactics, though involving extreme ruses, did not break laws.

This would be illegal to do to a POW in time of war, a violation of the Geneva convention. The cops of Fontana think this is good police procedure.

When the police want to talk to you about anything, pretend that you are a POW in time of war:

  • Shut the fuck up. Don’t answer questions.
  • Ask if you are free to leave
  • If you are not, the law requires that you identify yourself.
  • After you do that, tell them you want a lawyer.
  • Then shut the fuck up.
  • The police aren’t your friends. They can lie to you. They can use your weaknesses against you.
  • Did I mention that you shouldn’t answer questions, and should just shut the fuck up?
People who have read this post: 330
By Divemedic, ago

Why Not?

A shooting in the parking garage for the Orange County courthouse was a man shooting at his wife. He missed. The man escaped deputies, who were searching for him. The sheriff’s office knows who the suspect is, but they are not releasing that person’s identity at this time.

Why not? What advantage does law enforcement gain by not telling anyone who it is? In this case, the dude shot at his wife, who the article plainly says wasn’t hurt, so it isn’t like he doesn’t know he’s been identified.

People who have read this post: 371
By Divemedic, ago

Honest Question

For those of you who say vote R no matter what, and not voting is the same as voting D.

So what will electing Republicans do this time? What will make 2027 and different than now? I’ve said time and time again: just because Democrats are your enemy doesn’t make Republicans your friend.

People who have read this post: 275
By Divemedic, ago

Firefighters

I spend a good number of posts in pointing out police malfeasance. Now I am going to take some firefighters to task. Those who read this blog know that I was a firefighter for more than 2 decades, and I have a drawer full of certifications that back this up. I want you to look at this video, then I will give you my 2 cents’ worth.

Firefighters are permitted to break and move things, as well as forcibly damage property in order to deal with exigent circumstances. The emergency does not give them unlimited authority, but firefighters are not generally permitted to do more than is reasonably necessary for the exigency. Courts assess the need and the response in light of what responders reasonably knew at the time. The controlling court case here is Bowditch v. Boston, 101 U.S. 16 (1879).

The exact authority, compensation rules, and potential liability also depend on the state and local law governing the fire department. Bowditch, for example, addressed a Massachusetts statutory compensation scheme, while the Fifth Circuit’s Baker v. City of McKinney limited its ruling against compensation to damage objectively necessary to prevent imminent harm during an active emergency.

So the question becomes: Was that path for the hose objectively necessary to gain access to the water supply? I would argue that there was a better path for that hose, and taking that alternate path to gain access to the water supply would have taken less time than breaking the windows on the car. Here is a picture of Engine 82 (the same exact fire truck). If you look at the area within the red circle, you will see that there is pump intake in the middle of the fire truck, and the yellow circle is the front bumper intake of the fire truck.

Looking at the video, the firefighters spent 41 seconds breaking out the windows on the car, and another full minute passing the hose through the car from the hydrant to the front intake. So, it was nearly two minutes to connect the hose by going through the car.

Now take a look from the video of the firefighters breaking the window:

Which method do you think would be faster? The question then turns, according to the court cases involved, was it necessary for the firefighters to break this car’s windows?

Note the New York firefighter who posted this admits they weren’t doing it to gain access to the hydrant, they did what they did to “deliver justice like this to the bad guys,” and also calling this an “act of justice.”

Delivering justice as some sort of ad hoc parking enforcement court is not the firefighters’ job. Go ahead, Google “FDNY engine 82 break car windows” and see just how many times FDNY is “delivering justice” by doing thousands of dollars in damage to car owners whose only transgression is illegal parking.

This is wrong. Had I done this in my department, I would have been fired, and rightfully so.

People who have read this post: 336
By Divemedic, ago

Amendment 3

Every city, along with their lobbying partners, is busy trying to scare voters about Amendment 3. Remember Kissimmee and how they gave the fire fighters 25% more time off at a cost of $11 million a year?

The Kissimmee city commission is voting on their city’s annual budget. The $322 million budget is up from the previous year’s $310 million for a population of 90,000. City officials are threatening cuts to services. Property taxes represent $31 million of the city’s budget, and ad valorem taxes on homestead property represent about 21.1% of Kissimmee’s taxable property value. What does that mean? Approximately $6.5 million of the city’s $31 million in property-tax receipts comes from homestead property. Even if the law were to completely eliminate property taxes on homestead property, the city could still afford a 1.7% increase in spending over last year.

I am tired of local governments stealing all of our money.

People who have read this post: 275
By Divemedic, ago

Watch

Watch how these cops walk on to this guy’s property. They are raiding his house because he called one of them out for speeding. Now imagine the guy whose home they are raiding is waiting for them.

People who have read this post: 361
By Divemedic, ago