The first part of the day was spent rolling hose, and packing and unpacking the engine. This top set of three pics shows one type of roll, designed to protect the threads of the male coupling:

1) The hose is laid with both ends near one another, the male is closer to the roller. The firefighter in the orange stripes is taking up slack in the top lay, since it's getting steadily shorter as the roll gets larger and takes up more bottom hose than top.

2) The hose is rolled, then laid down and stepped on to even out the edges. Even at 275 lbs., I just stand on the thing to make the edges line up. It's easier if you roll it straight though... :)

3) A finished roll, with the male threads nicely protected from harm. When the hose is unrolled, only the middle section smacks against the ground, while the firefighter holds both couplings at his end, again protecting the threads from damage.

Hose being laid across Engine-212. That's Dave standing up, holding the hose in his hand as he feeds it from someone on the right side of the picture (on the ground in a black helmet), and hands it off to Betsi on the left side of the picture. She holds the fold there, flush with the edge of the engine, and the person on the ground pulls up slack. Then a new fold is handed up to Dave, who passes it to Betsi, who holds it flush, and so forth.

The final result looks something like this. This sort of lay allows the firefighter to grab a loop of hose and pull most of the stack (and nozzle) onto his shoulder, and drag it away from the engine in an orderly manner.

If you have high-speed Internet, you can watch a video of Marci doing just that. The video is pretty big - about 12 meg.

Hose comes in several sizes. The smaller - 1 3/4" diameter - can be handled by one man. The larger hose (2 1/2") takes two to do it right. Nevertheless, one man - or woman (go Crystal!) - can hold it just to prove it can be done. You can plainly see the hose strap running from the hose to her left shoulder in this pic.

Advancing a spraying 2 1/2" hoseline, however, takes more than one man as Dave and Victor show here. As you can see, Dave is leaning fully into the job, pulling with his right arm and the hose strap over his left shoulder. His left hand rests on Victor's back for support as Victor controls the nozzle and pulls as well. Trust me, this is a tough job.

Although a shortage of manpower usually means two men on a 2 1/2", it's best done with three. The second and third men pull hose, while the nozzleman is free to just direct the stream. That's me in third, Dave in the middle, and Victor on the nozzle again.

You can view a video of Crystal, Dave, and Victor pulling a 2 1/2" by clicking here. This video is about 6.5 meg. If you listen closely, you can hear Crystal (on the nozzle) shout "Forward!" to signal the team to advance). The video makes it look easy, but check out Dave's posture as they progress. Pulling a hose like that will wear you out in a hurry.

After a hard day's work, everyone finds someplace to their liking. Most of the team opted for the shade and the grass:

Crystal goes for the more traditional "middle of the fire station flop":

Me? I just find the nearest shaded tailboard:

But no matter how tired you are, how much hose you pull, or where you decide to rest... you gotta look cool doing it! Left to right: Crystal, Dave, Me.