Firewhirl : Chock Block Projectile

Chock Block Projectile

This week’s Near Miss report features a non-emergency event involving chock blocks:

We broke for lunch and the firefighter resumed his under carriage maintenance. At this time, the engineer decided to back up the engine from the front apron. The fireman under the center engine experienced a loud bang at his head area and the creeper almost came out from under him leaving him half on and half off. Evidently, the engineer failed to remove the chock block from the rear duals. The front tire of the engine went up on the chock block pinching it sideways at an angle, shooting it across the engine room floor.

Read the rest of the report to find out what happened.

Using chock blocks is a must in the fire service. However, with the use of chock blocks, we must develop the habit to always place chock blocks, and always remove them when moving the apparatus.

What are your department SOGs regarding chock blocks? Are your SOPs always followed? Whose responsibility is it to place and remove the chock blocks?

Firewhirl has a Near Miss post each week. You should check them out. The catagories are on the right hand side of the blog. The blog has a lot of other interesting regular posts as well.