Now that you know the truth about fireman's poles check out this video and find out about Setting Fire to Glass - The "Nope" Chemical That is Chlorine Trifluoride: ruclips.net/video/dAhiqGZCwNQ/видео.html
When I was a kid (in the 1970s) I got to slide down a fire pole, and they had a safety cover on the floor, that only opened when there was enough weight on the pole to trigger it.
My local station has one of those. As a kid I climbed up the pool during their open house. I was about 60 pounds at the time, and my full weight barely opened the cover enough to for me to squeeze through at the top.
I've half grown up in fire stations (one of my parents is a fire captain), so I can confirm: fire poles are real, and they are really fun to slide down. But I almost fell down the hole when I was little, so they scare me a bit
It would use more space, but I think it could work better as there would be less impact on the landing and the firefighters would reach the bottom with some momentum to get them out of the way of the next one more quickly.
When I was a new EMT I was stationed at a firehouse with a fire pole. The firehouse was from the very early 1900's and basically the pole was just used for show more than anything. Only the senior firefighters were allowed to go down it while prospect firefighters, probationary firefighters and newbie EMT's had to take the stair. It really defeats the cause when you have to wait for the newbie firefighter to get his gear on and get in the truck, not to mention that if the line to the pole bottlenecks you could be down the stairs before the whole crew is down anyway.
I was going to post that of course they were a thing, but this turned out to be a much more involved story, with far more information, than I was expecting. Fascinating--thanks!!
I've toured a fire station in a dense city outside of the US. It had 7 floors and the poles used are tiered. Firefighters drops to a locker room where all their basic fire protection gears are laid out and hanged between the first pole to the second. Then they drop into the garage fully dressed.
I once heard that a call came in during the night at a San Francisco firehouse and one unfortunate fireman had forgotten to bring up her bunker boots at bedtime. So when she slid down the pole, her shorts rolled up and the brass pole then yanked out her testicles as she came puttering slowly down the fire pole. In the morning she filed an injury report that became the funniest topic of discussion at morning roll call for a whole week while the injured member was absent on a medical leave. Firefighting is an honorable yet dangerous profession. They are real heroes in my book.
Are you sure it was copper plated? Copper would rust extremely quickly, so there's absolutely no benefit having slides plated in the stuff. Are you sure it wasn't bronze or brass plating?
There are a lot of comments here about strippers and poles. A stripper pole tends to be made of steel and is 45 mm or 50 mm (1.77 in to 1.97 in) in diameter. A fire pole tends to be made of brass and is typically 3 in (76.2 mm) in diameter. It would seem that the narrower steel pole is better for dancing and the wider brass pole is better for sliding down 6 m (19 feet) or more.
Where I live in the New Orleans area, all the fire stations were flooded by Katrina. All were completely rebuilt, except one, that had a pole due to second floor living quarters. Now all of them are built w/ second floor living quarters and a pole, due to the flood threat. Oh, and I trained at the original station.
When i was a kid and before they built the newer, larger firehouse, the old firehouse had a brass pole. It also had a 2 door trap door that enclosed the pole that they opened up with a rope. Usually the first fireman opened it up and was the last to go down. They also had a room where they hung the wet hoses, after they returned. Its been over 40 years ago, when i was 6 or 7 when we visited as a class, so i don't remember the whole trip. But u do remember that pole, cuz i was scared of heights and didn't go near it when we took a trip upstairs.
Montreal Fire Dept has 68 stations and the vast majority of them have one or more poles. Even the newly built stations have poles. Only some of the smaller stations built on 1 level dont have them.
Weak people & their safety regulations are always interfering with great things. Just put a ring of LEDs around the fire pole hole, that will stay on, even if main power is out, like they have their own emergency solar battery system. The whole station should have a similar system. There! Problem solved.
Extra bonus fact; "Spiral" staircases are not actually a spiral, They are Helix shaped. A spiral gets wider as it progresses like a traditional conch seashell and the DNA strand is known as the "double helix" as it is two lines in the shape of said staircase.
Spiral stairs were actually to stop horses from going upstairs, because the first floor was their "box" and they weren't tyed to a pole, because untying them or getting them out if their box would take too much time. I knew that before watching the video, I just watched it to see if they know it too, but obviously they didn't.
I live in the netherlands and here fire poles aren't used. But I was told that in fire stations where the fire fighters sleep and keep their gear on the second floor there are always 2 stair cases, one up only and one down only. So that somebody who was working on vehicle maintainance on the first floor when the alarm sounds and needs to get to the 2nd floor to get in gear never runs into his colegues already coming down.
in the late 70's we went on a school field trip to the fire station. There was a fire pole at that station. There was no cover, as I have seen other people post. The entire class of 2nd or 3rd graders got to slide down the pole. I am certain it would not be allowed today.
the real reason spiral staricases exist was that if it rotated to the right, a right armed defender can easily defend (exposing not much more than his arm) against a presumably right-handed attacker, who would have to expose nearly his entirety in order to get a proper saber/sword swing
In the town where I grew up the main fire station had two stories and a fire pole. The station was built around the 1890's and had a brass pole and yes they used it. There was a big donut shaped cushion at the bottom. They also had a dalmatian. But the most interesting thing is they retained every fire apparatus they ever had so they had a steam powered pump from the 1890's and another one from around 1905, and fire trucks from 1912, 1926, 1939 and 1955. They added other fire trucks after our family moved away. They kept the older ones in a garage behind the fire house. We had a town ordinance that required all departments to keep all old equipment in reserve and to maintain them so we had all kinds of interesting vehicles. In one town near us they didn't have a pole, they had a slide. It was exactly like a children's playground slide and went from the third floor which was where the bedrooms were right to the garage. They had a second floor with the kitchen and dining area and you would get onto the slide from there. I visited it once when I was in the boy scouts. At the time it was the only fire slide in the state but I have heard other stations added them.
Horses get out of stalls. Horses can untie themselves (yes, yes they can). It depends on the horse. I have personally witnessed two goats and a *cow* get up the stairs into the loft of a barn because they were spooked and attempting to flee but the access to the main doors (which were shut) was blocked by machinery. Kind of like they would be in a fire house. Just because it seems unlikely or silly or came from people from the previous century doesn't mean it didn't happen. You are no smarter than they were, you just have fancier tools.
Horses going up stairs and getting stuck is a serious issue. I had one of ours invite itself up stairs and inside the house and it was a massive job to get the daft thing out and we only had 3 stairs...
As an ex fireman, we certainly had one, but it wasn't used since the 2000s because of insurance safety reasons. Though It wasn't a mere hole in the floor. It had a series of panels blocking the hole around the pole until downwards force was put on the pole itself, The panels were there to prevent you from falling down the hole accidentally. They'd rest in a horizontal position, then you'd jump on the pole, the panels would fall down, you'd slide through, and when you let go, the panels would raise back up to horizontal again.
My dad was a fireman. When we were children, my brothers and spent many weekends hanging out at the fire station - and spent hours running up the stairs and sliding down the very real and fully functioning pole. It was great fun for kids. As adults, both of my brothers followed in Dad’s footsteps and became firemen.
Taiwan doesn't have fire poles. Probably because of the high population density, the fire trucks are never far from their destinations. One time some tofu-brain wanted to clean a grave and set fire to the cemetery next to my house (during the dry season, no doubt.) The firemen showed up in just a minute or two wearing the pants, but "wife beater" cotton shirts. They assessed the situation and opened a compartment on the side of the truck and put on the rest of their gear in seconds. There's a "hydrant" in the middle of my lane. It's two round, flip-open lids. The shallow one has a hose connection and the deeper one has a hex-nut at the bottom where they use a T-shaped thing with a hex socket on it to turn the water on. Kinda neat. I guess it's equidistant to go any direction and easier to lay the pipe down the middle, since storm drains/gutters go down the sides.
Thousandblade That's very false, when the fire fighting business was new that was the job, but now they try to put out the fire so the house doesn't burn down.
In the largest of several fire houses I was assigned to, we did indeed have a pole from the bunkroom second floor to the main floor. It was very useful.
horses in fire stations absolutely tried to climb up normal staircases. They could not be tied up and they could not be closed in their stalls because they were trained to walk to their specific places when the fire alarms went off. Fire alarm would sound, horses would take their places, they'd be hitched up with quick-release halters that hung from the ceiling, and away they'd go.
I was very interested in this video being a retired firefighter. In my department we had one station that had a fire pole, lots of fun to slide down. In the next city from us they had a slide instead. I wish you had covered that too. I really enjoy your videos.
Always called them a ‘pole drop’ in my Brigade. The old 1938 Middlesbrough station had a beauty. I still remember firefighters from other stations looking down the drop when we had a call early in the mornings. Some would take the stairs instead. They did reduce our call out times though.
Before i watch the video...yes they are a thing...my mother in law works driving a bus for the forestry firefighters...she drives around the state grabbing every pair of hands they can get...when she showes up to some stations they call in everyone on their days off to help...some can take the fire rigs but most have to pile into the bus after suiting up and sliding down the pole...they have them because the rigs are so big that they need a tall building so they can fit them in...but that makes the stairs realy slow and someone could injure themselves running down them...the pole makes it to where they can get down from the 3rd floor in less than 4 seconds
well I didn´t expect they would ^^ But it´s still practically if you want to move fast through your house. (But I´d rather have a second "flat" staircase where you can glide down. If I were rich I would build an unbelievable crazy house, with strange rooms and floors with different sizes and material, small wooden tunnels and rooms build just without any order and somehow cuddly XD
My uncle was a station captain and every one of his nephews and nieces got to slide down the pole of his station; a rare treat for kids growing up in the early 60's.
When I was little, there were a lot of playgrounds around with "fire poles" for kids to slide down from the top of the playset, like slides. I don't see them as much anymore, especially not in newer playgrounds. I can think of maybe one I've seen go up after 2010 that has one.
MegaKaitouKID1412 Myself and every one I grew up with are the last generation of Americans allowed to go outside and play, unsupervised by any adult, for whole Summers; all we heard was 'be home for dinner'; and we were. We had a great time playing 'War', in the local woods, with our BB guns. That's great stuff, I tell you.
My station has poles. Brand new building (Built in 2016) and the poles aren't just for show. I've used them plenty of times for varying reasons from night calls to getting to the area it leads to faster to just using it because it's fun! Most of the crews prefer the spiral stairs though.
When I took a kindergarten class on a tour of a fire station in Germany it had a functioning fire pole, complete with shock absorber at the bottom. Though they didn't let any of us go upstairs and slide down the pole, we did lift some of the kids up to grab the pole a few feet above the ground and let them slide to the bottom.
LA city fire is going to be building 4 new stations and all 4 will include working poles. My station in Hollywood has 4 poles and he forgot to mention about polishing them that's a very important part of the history.
Im a fireman, we have 6 firehouses in our city. At one time there were poles in all of them, but now most of them have been removed and their openings bolted shut. The newest 2-story firehouse wasnt even built with a pole. There is only one firehouse left with an operational pole and even still, we usually take the stairs.
Back in the 1800s fire companies were actual private companies and not public entities. Any speed advantage was needed because the first company to arrive at the fire after the alarm was pulled got paid. I don't know if there was any pay for coming in second.
The one-story fire station across from my work is being torn down and replaced with a three-story facility, complete with a three-story fire pole. I told them to rig a motion-activated camera so they can always record bad landings for posterity.
I know for a fact, that fire poles are preferred over stairs (while often if not always included ) purly for OH&S reasons in Australia for multi story buildings, why? because there are less injuries using the pole than rushing down stairs and that is why many stations in city, and interurban stations they have either returned the poles, or retro fitted them into the stations
Short version: Yes, they were developed for firehouses where the bunk room was above the garage. They did make it faster for the men to get to the trucks... But firemen were getting hurt falling off the poles... so they are now just about completely phased out. Just not worth the appx 30 seconds they saved.
My local forestation has a pole, it has been updated with a basket though. As a kid during one of their open houses I climbed up it and came out in the bedroom.
I went to George Mason College in 1960 when I graduated from high school. The college in those days was housed in a single building that had been an old elementary school at Bailey's Cross Roads. It was behind the volunteer fire station. The student body used the fire house as their student union. The Fire House had a fire pole that was used when the volunteer firemen were called out. But students were not allowed near it. I worked as a janitor for the fire house. Fire poles were very real then.
Many new firestation's now don't have a pole because they are ridiculously expensive. The safety rules that come with them are very strict. they need to be a room be itself and and a bunch of other restrictions. Also insurance for the station would be much higher because of a pole. I have heard of some stations installing a slide, same idea, but less regulated, and therefore, cheaper
The hilarious part about having a fire pole is that it creates a ridiculous fire hazard. If the station were to catch fire, flames could easily spread to the above floors through said hole. In building construction, every hole drilled vertically for venting/electrical/whatever has to be caulked with a special "fire-stop" compound after the fact. Imagine having a 3-4 foot wide hole going through each floor with a single path. Not to mention the first alleged pole was made out of wood lmao.
+naoto3k -- The large hole for a fire pole is no different than the "hole" for a staircase. Likewise, the first fire pole being wood is no different than having wood banisters on staircases.
They HAVE tried using slides, but as it explained in the video, they tended to increase response time as some fire fighters would climb back up the slide to get another turn so they wouldn't have to wait in line behind the other fire fighters who where using it correctly. So eventually no one was allowed to go on it any more.
I like the idea of one person's comment about having a slide. That would be safer than a pole but not sure if it would save enough time over going down steps
I've only ever seen one fire pole, and it had doors on it that would open when enough weight was put on the pole. I think it was to prevent smoke and other things from the outside getting into the sleeping quarters.
I guess somebody already pointed it out, but there seems to be a little editing mishap around 2:29. and in the subtitles around 4:23. nice channel btw.
I think one of the stations near me has one, but the other doesn't. I figured it was a case of "they were a thing but now aren't or mostly aren't", heh. It's one of those things that you just can't really make up, but came to be, you know?
Most NYC firehouses have poles and I have slid the pole from the hose tower on the roof to the 3rd floor, then the next pole to the 2nd floor, then the next pole from the 2nd floor to the apparatus floor and still beat the guys who were coming out of the kitchen etc on the apparatus floor to the rig LOL
Before watching the video: they are real, I have seen them used. However, they seems to be being fazed out where I am for for single floor fire stations or just using the stairs. Firefighters are likely to hurt themselves on the landing when using the firepole.
Made my own fire pole as a kid made from scaffolding poles inside an abandoned house where we axed a hole in the upstairs floor and just had 2 people holding the pole while one of us slid down.
I live in a small town. my best friends dad was a firefighter And sometimes we hung out at the station. they had the ground floor with the trucks, equipment, and kitchen and the higher floor with a tv and some beds. they had a pole but he said they never really used it, but could if they wanted to. there's only about 2-3 people there at a time anyway And one person is required on the ground floor at all time so it's only 2 people who might go down the stairs. they have other people on the team but they're on call and so tend to be later than the rest and only seriously involved for big things but drive to meet the truck unless instructed to bring a second one. but that almost never happens.
I was with my daughter on a class field trip to a fire station here in Indiana back in the 1980's when the alarm sounded. We saw the firemen come quickly down the fire pole.
Before watching the video I just want to answer shortly, having worked at a fire department one time in my life and actually using them: Yes these poles exist.
The fire department in my hometown has poles, but I'm not sure about the fire department in the city I currently live in. Though, it only looks tall enough to accomidate the fire trucks height.
Now that you know the truth about fireman's poles check out this video and find out about Setting Fire to Glass - The "Nope" Chemical That is Chlorine Trifluoride:
ruclips.net/video/dAhiqGZCwNQ/видео.html
Well in fact that may be the case in America its not here in the UK as we still use fire poles in multi story fire stations
When I was a kid (in the 1970s) I got to slide down a fire pole, and they had a safety cover on the floor, that only opened when there was enough weight on the pole to trigger it.
What happens if you trip on the cover and use the pole to steady yourself?
It would be fine, you need to basically hang from the pole for it to open. Pushing or leaning on it doesnt open it.
My local station has one of those. As a kid I climbed up the pool during their open house. I was about 60 pounds at the time, and my full weight barely opened the cover enough to for me to squeeze through at the top.
I've half grown up in fire stations (one of my parents is a fire captain), so I can confirm: fire poles are real, and they are really fun to slide down. But I almost fell down the hole when I was little, so they scare me a bit
a "show pole" that leads to nowhere? yeahhhhhh, it's being used for something else
You need to keep firefighters morale high, you know.
exlibrisas hey, I don't mind, anyone brave and/or unhinged enough to run into a burning building deserves it. haha
Kyle Scheffler Hell yah!
Yep, #FestivusPoles :P
My fire station would include a slide.
It would use more space, but I think it could work better as there would be less impact on the landing and the firefighters would reach the bottom with some momentum to get them out of the way of the next one more quickly.
my firestation would include mach 8 firetrucks.
Mine would have a champoline at the bottom of a hole
My fire station would be on fire
spiral slide?
Using the Bat Pole, Batman and Robin shaved precious seconds off their response time as well.
driveman especially with its magical wardrobe changing properties.
bat facts are always welcome.
When I was a new EMT I was stationed at a firehouse with a fire pole. The firehouse was from the very early 1900's and basically the pole was just used for show more than anything. Only the senior firefighters were allowed to go down it while prospect firefighters, probationary firefighters and newbie EMT's had to take the stair. It really defeats the cause when you have to wait for the newbie firefighter to get his gear on and get in the truck, not to mention that if the line to the pole bottlenecks you could be down the stairs before the whole crew is down anyway.
aj wolf what the hell kind of dept are you on?? It does not run a lot huh!
I'm just imagining the guy having to slide down a wooden pole without gloves.
The pain is great.
Viking the Shambling no
hence the application of a hard varnish. Smooth and slick.
You'd primarily grab the pole with your clothed legs and use your hands more to steady yourself.
I was going to post that of course they were a thing, but this turned out to be a much more involved story, with far more information, than I was expecting. Fascinating--thanks!!
You're very welcome ;-)
why did you wink?!!
is there sex?
BigBen Hebdomadarius hello is it going with the house and then you want to just leave today with women download it again OK
@@thatguy4084 You did hear the bit about the two firefighters in the hay loft together? ;-)
@@thatguy4084 wha
2:45 He's enjoying that waaay too much...
Would you, it's firefighters and fire poles. Heck most guys (myself included) had a time when they wanted too be one.
What's wrong with that? He's just enthusiastic about keeping his shaft lubricated
I've toured a fire station in a dense city outside of the US. It had 7 floors and the poles used are tiered. Firefighters drops to a locker room where all their basic fire protection gears are laid out and hanged between the first pole to the second. Then they drop into the garage fully dressed.
I once heard that a call came in during the night at a San Francisco firehouse and one unfortunate fireman had forgotten to bring up her bunker boots at bedtime. So when she slid down the pole, her shorts rolled up and the brass pole then yanked out her testicles as she came puttering slowly down the fire pole. In the morning she filed an injury report that became the funniest topic of discussion at morning roll call for a whole week while the injured member was absent on a medical leave. Firefighting is an honorable yet dangerous profession. They are real heroes in my book.
Um, "her" testicles?!?
John Opalko well.....it WAS in San Francisco
My only question is what were the two fire fighters doing in the hay loft? just the two of them...
My only question is what's going on in your brain?
Spider Farms ltd. all kinds of chemical reactions and electrical signaling i don't understand...
They were retrieving some hay for the horses obviously. What a silly question........
LOL, you're funny as fuck. My while opinion of you has changed
71dembones gathering hay one imagines.
I've been in fire stations that had slides like a child's playground slide, except it was copper coated.
hmm, that is a very interesting solution, wonder what the pros and cons of it are
It was a very old fire station in NYC circa 1860's
Are you sure it was copper plated? Copper would rust extremely quickly, so there's absolutely no benefit having slides plated in the stuff. Are you sure it wasn't bronze or brass plating?
Could have been. None the less it was wild to see.
uhhhhhh no it would not.... why do you say that
There are a lot of comments here about strippers and poles.
A stripper pole tends to be made of steel and is 45 mm or 50 mm (1.77 in to 1.97 in) in diameter.
A fire pole tends to be made of brass and is typically 3 in (76.2 mm) in diameter.
It would seem that the narrower steel pole is better for dancing and the wider brass pole is better for sliding down 6 m (19 feet) or more.
Where I live in the New Orleans area, all the fire stations were flooded by Katrina. All were completely rebuilt, except one, that had a pole due to second floor living quarters. Now all of them are built w/ second floor living quarters and a pole, due to the flood threat. Oh, and I trained at the original station.
When i was a kid and before they built the newer, larger firehouse, the old firehouse had a brass pole. It also had a 2 door trap door that enclosed the pole that they opened up with a rope. Usually the first fireman opened it up and was the last to go down. They also had a room where they hung the wet hoses, after they returned. Its been over 40 years ago, when i was 6 or 7 when we visited as a class, so i don't remember the whole trip. But u do remember that pole, cuz i was scared of heights and didn't go near it when we took a trip upstairs.
Montreal Fire Dept has 68 stations and the vast majority of them have one or more poles. Even the newly built stations have poles. Only some of the smaller stations built on 1 level dont have them.
Pat D would have been much simpler to type "all firehouses with more than 1 floor have poles" instead of all that extra stuff.
Bearing in mind you wrap your "legs" around the pole, I think you've got bigger problems than an splinter in your hand.
@@timmyteaches7663 Timmy Tommy Tristan Thompson turtle technique traitor transition who gives af
Weak people & their safety regulations are always interfering with great things. Just put a ring of LEDs around the fire pole hole, that will stay on, even if main power is out, like they have their own emergency solar battery system. The whole station should have a similar system. There! Problem solved.
Observing Rogue weak people? really?
I had an aunt and uncle that lived in an old fire station and they had a fire pole in the corner of their kitchen.
Extra bonus fact;
"Spiral" staircases are not actually a spiral, They are Helix shaped. A spiral gets wider as it progresses like a traditional conch seashell and the DNA strand is known as the "double helix" as it is two lines in the shape of said staircase.
Roboshi life of the party over here
Devin Shillington you'll be telling that one to other people next time you remember, admit it.
Roboshi nah, it's a spiral staircase.
that's not shaped like a spiral. my first comment explains the definition.
It's true they're CALLED spirals, but that's not what a spiral is.
Spiral stairs were actually to stop horses from going upstairs, because the first floor was their "box" and they weren't tyed to a pole, because untying them or getting them out if their box would take too much time. I knew that before watching the video, I just watched it to see if they know it too, but obviously they didn't.
oqIMegaIpo how the hell could a horse get up a spiral staircase? they're tight for humans, let alone a horse
Joesolo13 "to stop horses from going up the stairs," so they can't... read
Joesolo13 "to stop horses from going up the stairs," so they can't... read
Joesolo13 lmao someone needs to work on their reading comprehension skills.. stay in school kids..
I live in the netherlands and here fire poles aren't used.
But I was told that in fire stations where the fire fighters sleep and keep their gear on the second floor there are always 2 stair cases, one up only and one down only.
So that somebody who was working on vehicle maintainance on the first floor when the alarm sounds and needs to get to the 2nd floor to get in gear never runs into his colegues already coming down.
Edwin Suijkerbuijk. Hummm slow response time.
Are stripper poles a real thing? I'm going to have to do some research... I'll start a go fund me
Request that all funds sent to you be in one dollar bills.
Gonna make it rain! :D
PGTMR2 my ex started a gofundme just cuz she didnt wanna work so fuggit. pole away!
PGTMR2 did it work?
its because you don't want the ladies falling off their spike heels.. obviously
in the late 70's we went on a school field trip to the fire station. There was a fire pole at that station. There was no cover, as I have seen other people post.
The entire class of 2nd or 3rd graders got to slide down the pole. I am certain it would not be allowed today.
the real reason spiral staricases exist was that if it rotated to the right, a right armed defender can easily defend (exposing not much more than his arm) against a presumably right-handed attacker, who would have to expose nearly his entirety in order to get a proper saber/sword swing
In the town where I grew up the main fire station had two stories and a fire pole. The station was built around the 1890's and had a brass pole and yes they used it. There was a big donut shaped cushion at the bottom. They also had a dalmatian. But the most interesting thing is they retained every fire apparatus they ever had so they had a steam powered pump from the 1890's and another one from around 1905, and fire trucks from 1912, 1926, 1939 and 1955. They added other fire trucks after our family moved away. They kept the older ones in a garage behind the fire house. We had a town ordinance that required all departments to keep all old equipment in reserve and to maintain them so we had all kinds of interesting vehicles.
In one town near us they didn't have a pole, they had a slide. It was exactly like a children's playground slide and went from the third floor which was where the bedrooms were right to the garage. They had a second floor with the kitchen and dining area and you would get onto the slide from there. I visited it once when I was in the boy scouts. At the time it was the only fire slide in the state but I have heard other stations added them.
Movie makers would love them!
Horses get out of stalls. Horses can untie themselves (yes, yes they can). It depends on the horse. I have personally witnessed two goats and a *cow* get up the stairs into the loft of a barn because they were spooked and attempting to flee but the access to the main doors (which were shut) was blocked by machinery. Kind of like they would be in a fire house.
Just because it seems unlikely or silly or came from people from the previous century doesn't mean it didn't happen. You are no smarter than they were, you just have fancier tools.
Took a trip to the fire station in elementary school. Totally slid down the pole.
Horses going up stairs and getting stuck is a serious issue. I had one of ours invite itself up stairs and inside the house and it was a massive job to get the daft thing out and we only had 3 stairs...
Robot Chicken's Trojan Man :P
Literally every surrounding town here where I live has a pole.
Well yeah, most towns have a pole of some kind
Spider Farms ltd. And yet the click-baity title would imply otherwise. "Are they really a thing" Of fucking course they are.
literally every strip club in the town I live in has a pole
well I have a pole too
:p
nGon- I know of a place that's filled with ties from Thailand.
Fireman Sam always uses the fire Pole in the childrens TV show "Fireman Sam"
A very popular stop motion animated cartoon in the 1990's in the UK
As an ex fireman, we certainly had one, but it wasn't used since the 2000s because of insurance safety reasons. Though It wasn't a mere hole in the floor. It had a series of panels blocking the hole around the pole until downwards force was put on the pole itself, The panels were there to prevent you from falling down the hole accidentally. They'd rest in a horizontal position, then you'd jump on the pole, the panels would fall down, you'd slide through, and when you let go, the panels would raise back up to horizontal again.
My dad was a fireman. When we were children, my brothers and spent many weekends hanging out at the fire station - and spent hours running up the stairs and sliding down the very real and fully functioning pole. It was great fun for kids. As adults, both of my brothers followed in Dad’s footsteps and became firemen.
Taiwan doesn't have fire poles. Probably because of the high population density, the fire trucks are never far from their destinations. One time some tofu-brain wanted to clean a grave and set fire to the cemetery next to my house (during the dry season, no doubt.) The firemen showed up in just a minute or two wearing the pants, but "wife beater" cotton shirts. They assessed the situation and opened a compartment on the side of the truck and put on the rest of their gear in seconds.
There's a "hydrant" in the middle of my lane. It's two round, flip-open lids. The shallow one has a hose connection and the deeper one has a hex-nut at the bottom where they use a T-shaped thing with a hex socket on it to turn the water on. Kinda neat. I guess it's equidistant to go any direction and easier to lay the pipe down the middle, since storm drains/gutters go down the sides.
Under new standards in America the fire pole is no longer allowed to be used in fire stations due to injuries.
They should put fire poles in skyscrapers so you don't have to wait for the elevator to go back down.
And land with the gentle grace of an atomic bomb
Sure, make fun of the guys whose job it is to save your burning house. Brilliant.
gotta love how they attributed their superior to performance to the pole rather than the crew members themselves to avoid acknowledging them too.
Clyde Marshall Presumably they only responded to black neighborhood. segregation being a thing. paper not aimed at them.
+ozzymandistwenty14 its racist to put out fires in white neighbourhoods
their job is not to save ur buring house, their job is actually to watch ur house burn and prevent it from buring down your neighbour's house.
Thousandblade That's very false, when the fire fighting business was new that was the job, but now they try to put out the fire so the house doesn't burn down.
In the largest of several fire houses I was assigned to, we did indeed have a pole from the bunkroom second floor to the main floor. It was very useful.
horses in fire stations absolutely tried to climb up normal staircases. They could not be tied up and they could not be closed in their stalls because they were trained to walk to their specific places when the fire alarms went off. Fire alarm would sound, horses would take their places, they'd be hitched up with quick-release halters that hung from the ceiling, and away they'd go.
*Pause at **2:55** and look at that guys face for 10 seconds.*
Finley Castello >quiet echo< ...give your meat a good ol' rub... >quiet echo
HEHEHE HAHAHA
I was very interested in this video being a retired firefighter. In my department we had one station that had a fire pole, lots of fun to slide down. In the next city from us they had a slide instead. I wish you had covered that too. I really enjoy your videos.
My local station has 2 poles to speed things up A LOT
The fire station in Mulheim has like, 3 rows of 5 poles. That is probably REAL FAST!
If you mean Mühlheim an der Ruhr in Germany: The Poles aren't used most of the time because the stairs are faster and safer.
moadin Well then why do they have a lot of poles there? Are they just for show?
They only speed up if you are going down more then three flights of stairs wich doesn't happen often at that station as far as I know.
In the UK, we keep our poles on the bottom floor next to the engines, so they can get in and attend fires without any stair difficulty.
I fell down on a flight of spiral stairs as a kid. Damn that sucks....
did you start the day on a downward spiral?
Always called them a ‘pole drop’ in my Brigade. The old 1938 Middlesbrough station had a beauty. I still remember firefighters from other stations looking down the drop when we had a call early in the mornings. Some would take the stairs instead. They did reduce our call out times though.
When I was a kid I didn't think fire stations had any stairs. Thought they had to climb up the pole.
Before i watch the video...yes they are a thing...my mother in law works driving a bus for the forestry firefighters...she drives around the state grabbing every pair of hands they can get...when she showes up to some stations they call in everyone on their days off to help...some can take the fire rigs but most have to pile into the bus after suiting up and sliding down the pole...they have them because the rigs are so big that they need a tall building so they can fit them in...but that makes the stairs realy slow and someone could injure themselves running down them...the pole makes it to where they can get down from the 3rd floor in less than 4 seconds
I always wanted to have one in my house for fun as a child
They don't turn back time
well I didn´t expect they would ^^ But it´s still practically if you want to move fast through your house. (But I´d rather have a second "flat" staircase where you can glide down. If I were rich I would build an unbelievable crazy house, with strange rooms and floors with different sizes and material, small wooden tunnels and rooms build just without any order and somehow cuddly XD
When I was a kid, a friend of mine did. It was great.
My uncle was a station captain and every one of his nephews and nieces got to slide down the pole of his station; a rare treat for kids growing up in the early 60's.
i grew up in the 80's and i got to slide down the fire pole.
hardwire
It's a gas, isn't it?
theallseeingmaster heck ya it was.
When I was little, there were a lot of playgrounds around with "fire poles" for kids to slide down from the top of the playset, like slides. I don't see them as much anymore, especially not in newer playgrounds. I can think of maybe one I've seen go up after 2010 that has one.
MegaKaitouKID1412
Myself and every one I grew up with are the last generation of Americans allowed to go outside and play, unsupervised by any adult, for whole Summers; all we heard was 'be home for dinner'; and we were. We had a great time playing 'War', in the local woods, with our BB guns. That's great stuff, I tell you.
My station has poles. Brand new building (Built in 2016) and the poles aren't just for show. I've used them plenty of times for varying reasons from night calls to getting to the area it leads to faster to just using it because it's fun!
Most of the crews prefer the spiral stairs though.
When I took a kindergarten class on a tour of a fire station in Germany it had a functioning fire pole, complete with shock absorber at the bottom. Though they didn't let any of us go upstairs and slide down the pole, we did lift some of the kids up to grab the pole a few feet above the ground and let them slide to the bottom.
LA city fire is going to be building 4 new stations and all 4 will include working poles. My station in Hollywood has 4 poles and he forgot to mention about polishing them that's a very important part of the history.
Michael Pozirekides same as DCFD. ( Washington DC Fire dept)
Adelaide central MFS station still has a fire pole that is used
do they hire strippers for the firemen's stag do then??? :P
I just re-watched the Franklin episode. It's arguably the best tifo episode ever.
[and I *loved* the "radio voice" for quotations.]
Im a fireman, we have 6 firehouses in our city. At one time there were poles in all of them, but now most of them have been removed and their openings bolted shut. The newest 2-story firehouse wasnt even built with a pole. There is only one firehouse left with an operational pole and even still, we usually take the stairs.
Back in the 1800s fire companies were actual private companies and not public entities. Any speed advantage was needed because the first company to arrive at the fire after the alarm was pulled got paid. I don't know if there was any pay for coming in second.
The one-story fire station across from my work is being torn down and replaced with a three-story facility, complete with a three-story fire pole. I told them to rig a motion-activated camera so they can always record bad landings for posterity.
I know for a fact, that fire poles are preferred over stairs (while often if not always included ) purly for OH&S reasons in Australia for multi story buildings, why?
because there are less injuries using the pole than rushing down stairs
and that is why many stations in city, and interurban stations they have either returned the poles, or retro fitted them into the stations
Firefighters love the pole. EMBRACE THE POLE!
Short version:
Yes, they were developed for firehouses where the bunk room was above the garage. They did make it faster for the men to get to the trucks...
But firemen were getting hurt falling off the poles... so they are now just about completely phased out.
Just not worth the appx 30 seconds they saved.
tl:dr
yes
omf yes
why not combine the spiral stairs and the fire pole: spiral slide.
Safer, about as fast and no pile ups or missteps.
My local forestation has a pole, it has been updated with a basket though. As a kid during one of their open houses I climbed up it and came out in the bedroom.
I went to George Mason College in 1960 when I graduated from high school. The college in those days was housed in a single building that had been an old elementary school at Bailey's Cross Roads. It was behind the volunteer fire station. The student body used the fire house as their student union.
The Fire House had a fire pole that was used when the volunteer firemen were called out. But students were not allowed near it.
I worked as a janitor for the fire house. Fire poles were very real then.
Momentarily, pre-bearded Simon fooled me into thinking this was someone else. 🤣
Another reason they are used less now is fumes from the engines.
InnocentDoodles no they have exhaust suction poles for that now.NFPA standard unless depts refuse to follow it.
Many new firestation's now don't have a pole because they are ridiculously expensive. The safety rules that come with them are very strict. they need to be a room be itself and and a bunch of other restrictions. Also insurance for the station would be much higher because of a pole. I have heard of some stations installing a slide, same idea, but less regulated, and therefore, cheaper
The hilarious part about having a fire pole is that it creates a ridiculous fire hazard. If the station were to catch fire, flames could easily spread to the above floors through said hole. In building construction, every hole drilled vertically for venting/electrical/whatever has to be caulked with a special "fire-stop" compound after the fact. Imagine having a 3-4 foot wide hole going through each floor with a single path. Not to mention the first alleged pole was made out of wood lmao.
+naoto3k -- The large hole for a fire pole is no different than the "hole" for a staircase. Likewise, the first fire pole being wood is no different than having wood banisters on staircases.
Am I the only person who has thought of them using a slide? Even a spiral slide?
David Anthony the poles would ve quicker
Lots of friction is generated by slides, so it's fair slower than a pole
They HAVE tried using slides, but as it explained in the video, they tended to increase response time as some fire fighters would climb back up the slide to get another turn so they wouldn't have to wait in line behind the other fire fighters who where using it correctly. So eventually no one was allowed to go on it any more.
There are some fire departments that do use slides in their stations. Do a quick Google search for "fire station slide".
Ultimate alternative: Slides! Can be straight, tunnel-style, spiral...so many different slides to choose from.
I like the idea of one person's comment about having a slide. That would be safer than a pole but not sure if it would save enough time over going down steps
I've only ever seen one fire pole, and it had doors on it that would open when enough weight was put on the pole. I think it was to prevent smoke and other things from the outside getting into the sleeping quarters.
I guess somebody already pointed it out, but there seems to be a little editing mishap around 2:29. and in the subtitles around 4:23.
nice channel btw.
I think one of the stations near me has one, but the other doesn't. I figured it was a case of "they were a thing but now aren't or mostly aren't", heh. It's one of those things that you just can't really make up, but came to be, you know?
Most NYC firehouses have poles and I have slid the pole from the hose tower on the roof to the 3rd floor, then the next pole to the 2nd floor, then the next pole from the 2nd floor to the apparatus floor and still beat the guys who were coming out of the kitchen etc on the apparatus floor to the rig LOL
That's all good and well, but where are strippers going in such a hurry that warrants them needing a pole?
7Ghos a cat ladies house
In Germany we have doors in front of the slides, so it is way more difficult to fell down by accident.
My local fire station had a slide.
2:53 I'm the only one that finds the black dude's smile a bit creepy
Before watching the video: they are real, I have seen them used. However, they seems to be being fazed out where I am for for single floor fire stations or just using the stairs. Firefighters are likely to hurt themselves on the landing when using the firepole.
The fire station where I live have a fire pole. don't know if they have changed the layout but I think it's still in use
Made my own fire pole as a kid made from scaffolding poles inside an abandoned house where we axed a hole in the upstairs floor and just had 2 people holding the pole while one of us slid down.
I live in a small town. my best friends dad was a firefighter And sometimes we hung out at the station. they had the ground floor with the trucks, equipment, and kitchen and the higher floor with a tv and some beds. they had a pole but he said they never really used it, but could if they wanted to. there's only about 2-3 people there at a time anyway And one person is required on the ground floor at all time so it's only 2 people who might go down the stairs.
they have other people on the team but they're on call and so tend to be later than the rest and only seriously involved for big things but drive to meet the truck unless instructed to bring a second one. but that almost never happens.
I was with my daughter on a class field trip to a fire station here in Indiana back in the 1980's when the alarm sounded. We saw the firemen come quickly down the fire pole.
Before watching the video I just want to answer shortly, having worked at a fire department one time in my life and actually using them:
Yes these poles exist.
In Germany most Fire stations still have poles. Most of the time they are in some form of closet to prevent you from falling down.
an entire floor dedicated for hay bale storage? that's ironic!
My fire department just got a new huge pole installed
Do firemen ever think to themselves "To the Bat Cave, Robin"?
I wish my apartment had a fireman's pole. That'd be a fun and deadly way to get to my car in the morning.
How much time did the poles save going back upstairs?
The fire station I work at, which also serves as a police station and medic station, has a fire pole, but I've never seen it used.
In preschool they said they don't use it all the time, only at night or something like that. At least they let us go down it :)
*"WE GOT ONE!"* 🔔🚨
*"Our first call."* 🏃🏻♂️
No beard and glasses? Is this even the real Simon
The thing that firemen hate most is to get to the scene of a fire and find a police officer holding a fire extinguisher but no fire.
I love your videos
The fire department in my hometown has poles, but I'm not sure about the fire department in the city I currently live in. Though, it only looks tall enough to accomidate the fire trucks height.
We have a nice, historic fire station that is open as a museum. It has a pole. And horse areas
At 5:16, that's not an x-ray of a punctured lung. It shows air under the diaphragm, which is invariably caused by a bowel perforation.