SOP Manual - Cleveland Fire Department

Cleveland Fire Department
Operations Manual
Ground Ladders
Ground Ladder Operations
Within their height and personnel limitations, ground ladders can be effective in a number of firefighting
operations. Some of their uses are the same as those of aerial units, but others are unique, including:
1. Gaining access to the fire building and exposed buildings.
2. Advancing hose lines when stairways are being used by people escaping the building.
3. Replacing damaged stairways.
4. Removing trapped victims.
5. Removing people from crowded fire escapes.
6. Getting from one roof level to another.
7. Bridging fences, narrow walkways, courts, and alleys.
8. Forcing entrance through inward-opening doors, display windows, and their enclosures.
9. Ventilating, by knocking out store, apartment, and office windows; by knocking out the glass or
transom below a skylight; and by pushing down ceilings from above.
10. Transporting the injured.
11. Reinforcing weakened building features.
a. Handling Ground Ladders
The method used in a particular instance should be the one that requires the least
maneuvering and the least time.
Some ladder manufacturers specify where the fly section of an extension ladder should be
(toward the building or away from it) when the ladder is raised. These recommendations
should be followed. If the manufacturer makes no recommendation, position the fly
section on the outside, away from the building, for maximum safety in handling. This
places the halyard between the ladder and the building, so the ladder will move toward
the building as the halyard is pulled to extend it.
The climbing angle is determined by the height of the raise and the distance from the butt
to the building. The butt-to-building distance should be one-quarter of the height of the
raise (not one-quarter of the ladder length.)
Effective: June 1, 1997 Revised: 5/14/2009 Page | 221
Approved by: Chief Chuck Atchley