one part of the “Pompier Life-Saving Service.” This was a system published by Christ Hoell and introduced into the St. Louis Fire Department on Dec. 19, 1877. According to Lt. Hoell’s great-grandaughter, the device was used in Europe before the U.S. It was when Hoell was working for the Elberfeld, Germany Fire Department that he became acquainted with the ladder. When he came to America, he brought the design and created and marketed a training manual and ladders. FDNY bought many and placed them in service in 1882. The first documented rescue, using a Pompier ladder, was in 1884. Firefighters would scale the upper stories of buildings by reaching out a window and crashing the ladder’s hook in a window of the floor above. The firefighter would then climb up the outside of the building, enter the window, or just stand on the sill, and repeat the process. There are many documented rescues, using this tool, on record. While this sounds very dangerous today, it was practiced for decades and there are probably firefighters serving in the U.S. today who have done this. It is probably safe to assume that it was only done in practice. Many firefighter rookie schools required recruits to climb pompier ladders and jump into life nets as part of their training, well into the late twentieth century. (In the ’70s and ‘80s.) I actually have video of a rookie class demonstrating the use of pompier ladders. The Boston area fire departments may still use them in training schools today. Pompier Training www.portlandfiremuseum.com
Above: Photos from the Providence, Rhode Island Fire Department’s 49th Training Academy in Boston, MA.
The firefighters in the drill class are referred to as “Probies,” which is short for probationary firefighter. The daily training would require them to use the Pompier ladder (also referred to as the scaling ladder) to climb from the ground up to the top of the drill tower. After reaching their assigned window, the training chief would call to the probies to lock in (attach the ladder belt carried around their waist and clamp onto the beam of the ladder) and lean out. This procedure was utilized to build confidence in the equipment and eliminate fear of heights. The use of the pompier ladders was discontinued around 1974.
Above: Photo from the Portland Fire Museum website Left: Durham Fire Department - Pompier ladder training at the old drill tower. Recruits trained with the pompier ladder until 1988 when the practice was discontinued.
Fall 2013 • The PFIA Protector
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