Best Choices for Firefighter Carry?

Allan, I appreciate your thoughts on this topic. Bear in mind that when a firefighter suits up in bunker gear it is extremely difficult to access your personal clothing underneath. In a fire it could be deadly because you would be exposing your skin to heat flame and smoke. Also with gloved hands (you wouldn't take your gloves off for same reason) opening any folder could be awkward or impossible.
 
I'm not going to recommend a specific make/model here. There are others who are much more knowledgable than I in that regard. But as a trained firefighter/medic who is also a rescue diver I would vote for a high quality fixed blade dive knife. Although the environments are very different, the requirements are fairly similar. Even though, as others have said, we use shears, cutters, etc. more often than our blades, it is always there.
 
Yes, I work with gloves in my job too, and you really cant use a locking folder with a gloved hand.
But then again, a fireman already has a ton of tools in their offical gear that can be used with gloves on. I dont think a knife in such a situation would be much use.
However in some situations that fireman face, they do need to reach for a good knife, they do need a blade with a design thats aimed at their needs.

These are the situations I have in mind with my own ideas about what would a fireman like to find in his pocket when he needs a knife?

In some situations a firman needs to be able to toss a knife to someone in trouble, and thats why I like the pocket locking knife so much.
It is a design that anyone can understand.
The click tells the person it's ready to go.
The idea that it's a folder means you dont have to worry about yet another sheath strapped on a belt thats always in the way.
 
Things are very different on this side of the pond!

I don't personally feel the need to carry a fixed blade for structural firefighting, which is a good thing because I wouldn't be permitted to carry one on duty.
Would you believe that some UK Fire Brigades have banned their firefighters from carrying any knife - including folders? It's ridiculous.

In my Brigade a lot of the guys carry Spyderco Enduras, Delicas or Salts in their firejackets. The lockback models are easy to open and close while wearing structural firefighting gloves.

I personally carry an Endura, a pair of combination pliers for various tasks, including wire cutting, and a Res-Q-Me for breaking glass and cutting straps, clothing and line in close proximity to casualties/animals.
 
I know that there are a few firefighters here, they will post their suggestions.
 
The Boker Rescom looks nice but doesn't fit the criteria. The Benchmade looks sweet, but not for firefighting.

So far Ryan and Scott's TCK collaboration, and James McGowan's MAK-1 look like the front runners.
 
Thats what makes this place great , different views, different suggestions.

I know UK and NA equipment is very different but I know for a fact I cannot operate a spyderco with our gloves . One of the brother from my hall went to the UK on exchange for a year and ended up staying. He loved the fact that you didn't run medicals and there was a pub in the station , plus he did meet a lady:D

Of duty any of my folders can be used without a problem in emergency situations. As with any profession you have extemes, I carry a $400 dollar Strider sometimes while other guys don't carry a knife at all. I all comes down to what you want.

As for our other equipment being good enough to do the job,,, well axes and haligans do wonders when you have room to swing them , top of a rooming house stairway is kind of tight:eek: . For an entrapment you might be without your tools so you have to rely on what you have in your pockets, you could be upside down on your face, or back. Knowing you tools and their limitations is every Firefighters job.

Alot of tools are great , from using them you will find faults with some . I for one will never carry a spring loaded tool .We have a spring loaded punch as part of our glassmaster saw on our truck. Our shift has found it 5-6 times to be broken, or apart, or the springs have rusted. I go with the KISS mentality, same as folders, in an emergency with loss of fine motor skills and with gloves on I will grab for a fixed blade , but that is me .You may have another idea.

I will be great to hear what other brothers use and think .

James
 
I had the same problem as mcgoo7 with regards to opening and closing folders with structural firefighting gloves on. At one time I carried a Spyderco D'Allara Rescue that could be opened but not closed(by me anyway) without taking the gloves off. Granted, most times I've used a knife at a working fire, it's been outside of the building or during overhaul where I could take my glove off. Just the same, it got a failing grade based on the "what if..." for me. After I got my Coptool, I was able to get rid of my small prybar as it serves the prying purpose as well as cutting purpose. The simplicity of a small fixed blade makes the job that much easier. Maybe all I have to do is open a bag of peat moss today or cut the couplings off some damaged firehose. The jobs of a knife are for the most part fairly mundane day-to-day, but on the few occassions I've needed a knife, it was worth it's weight in gold(or in the Coptool's case, D2:D ).
 
It really is too bad you feel strongly about a fixed blade -- I would have recommended the Spyderco Assist, which was designed as a Swedish Fireman. It has a Cobra Hood as well as the Spyderco Hole to assist with opening and a carbide tip at the base. Victorinox I think also has a rescue tool that won some international knife award.

In terms of fixed blade, I hate to say it, but CRKT has some interesting offerings. I think the Ultima and the MAK-1 might interest you. The MAK-1 looks similar to (but more basic than) the Tanguay Custom Knife design, and was designed by a former fireman and custom knifemaker.
 
was designed by a former fireman and custom knifemaker.[/QUOTE]

Not former yet :D :D
Hopefully not for a longggg time
James
 
Killed by too much Budweiser beer I suppose. If only Mr. McGoo had worn his glasses and read the labels.:p
 
:o :o :o

I only meant that the CRKT website makes it sound like you're a full-time custom knifemaker now. No death threats, I promise! *knock on wood* :D
 
ThreeWorlds said:
:o :o :o

I only meant that the CRKT website makes it sound like you're a full-time custom knifemaker now. No death threats, I promise! *knock on wood* :D
Click to expand...

No worries friend , my wife always says I 'm woth more to her dead than alive :D :D :D

I like firefighting too much to retire any sooner than I have to .

Cheers
James
 
Good to see brothers mcgoo and Flipe8 here . I'm 100% with them I got 17 years on the job and have been through too many knives to list. Fixed is the way to go for what the guy is ASKING FOR.

Which is self rescue/recue a brother from entanglement. being able to cut and hack through wire,bed springs etc.

A R.I.T type use, you can't reach your pockets, our gloves are VERY thick and stiff from being always wet, then dried out by tossing over a steam pipe in the boiler room. ITs hard to just hold a folder with them let alone open and use.

Allan, in a fire you can not see to toss a knife,its hard to hear a guy yell yet alone a "click" of a folder and with your pack on its almost imposible to reach into bunker pockets because of the straps. Those same straps seem to catch the clips of folders and launch them into the great unknown. Oh, and everything inside your pockets will get very wet.

My idea of a FF's rescue knife has always been a fixed blade. We have two types of tools on the load,CUTTING and PRYING. I feel a personal tool (knife) carried on or off the job should reflect those uses. I carry a Strider DB for that reason.

Lone Hunter ( larry from the "other" place)
 
Scrap Yard Knives is releasing the "Dumpster Mutt" at the end of this month. It's billed as a door breaching blade, and uses the Scrap Yard's enhanced SR 7 steel. Tough stuff. The handles are left over from the Busse Basics, and should insulate against electrical shock.

Specks:

Overall Length = 9 1/2"
Blade length = 5"
Thickness = Approx .285" (Between 1/4" and 5/16")
Handle = Resiprene C
Steel = SR-77

The blade with no sheath sells for $69.95.

SR 77 will rust, though it is a coated blade.

I'm not sure about cutting through bedsprings with it. But I have my doubts about cutting bedsprings with anything less than an axe. You might consider one of those handles that leave a hacksaw blade sticking out to cut with, mounted on the same sheath as the knife.
 
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