So lastnight, 3 lights no use

I went out for a bite to eat after a big storm that hit us lastnight. I was driving down a 2 lane highway and half of the road was blocked off. As I drove by I realized that a tree had fallen on some power lines. I went my way and grabbed something to eat. On the way back I received a phone call so i pulled into a parking lot to talk. I was actually directly across the highway from the downed tree so i sat there and watched for a while. 1 police officer, and 2 cable guys. All of them had huge hand held spot light looking flashlights. Now here comes the sad part, it took all 3 of them standing right next to eachother to shine their lights 30 feet above them to look at one specific part fo the power lines. And i dont mean once, I mean if the officer or cable guy walked back to their cars they could waited until the 3rd person came back to flash their light so they could see again. I dont understand, I'm not a huge flashlight fanatic myself (yet) but when you work in a field where you know light is going to be required to see AND FOR SAFETY why not buy yourself a real light? I mean, imagine if the rest of the tree started to come down when there was only 2 guys standing around it. It would of fell right ontop of them because they werent looking at the spot when the 3rd person walked away. Just some food for thought! :thinking:

Did you consider helping them out with one of your lights? I have at least three lights with me in a car when I am out at night, one of them strong enough to easily really light up an area 30 feet away.

Bill

I currently only have 1 pocket torch light and it was unfortunately not in my car. the M20 premium is on its way though for that purpose

It sounds like they have insufficient lights and need to get better ones. One night I paid a visit to the fire station across the street and they were very nice and I had a good time. However, I brought my 17.5 million candlepower spotlight, and the spotlight in their fire truck was nowhere near as bright as mine with only a fraction of the throw. Like you I would think that they need the very best when it comes to lighting.

Most of the PD I work with carry good lights. In fact, I would go so far as to say that they are issued stinger's, and many carry backups that would make you proud.

Some of those firetrucks you saw may be 20 years or more old. I know my Streamlight Survivor LED is brighter than the spotlight on our reserve truck (a 1986 pumper), but the lights on our new truck are pretty amazing. We have a rescue truck with a quartz light on the front that requires the on board generator to be running to operate (otherwise you have to hit the gas to get it to power up if you turn it on). It will easily light up the side of the interstate bright enough to work with. Our newest engine also has them on both sides of the truck. They put out a great level of light for working. All of our trucks also carry quartz scene lights that are portable and can be run off our portable generators. I do work for a pretty wealthy town though, so we are fortunate to have pretty good equipment. There are plenty of guys out there (both PD and fire) that have to try and make do with what they have.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that if you have any old lights you don't want, it might not be a bad idea to offer to donate them to your local firehouse, they may need em!



:wave:

Shore08 said:

Most of the PD I work with carry good lights. In fact, I would go so far as to say that they are issued stinger's, and many carry backups that would make you proud.

Some of those firetrucks you saw may be 20 years or more old. I know my Streamlight Survivor LED is brighter than the spotlight on our reserve truck (a 1986 pumper), but the lights on our new truck are pretty amazing. We have a rescue truck with a quartz light on the front that requires the on board generator to be running to operate (otherwise you have to hit the gas to get it to power up if you turn it on). It will easily light up the side of the interstate bright enough to work with. Our newest engine also has them on both sides of the truck. They put out a great level of light for working. All of our trucks also carry quartz scene lights that are portable and can be run off our portable generators. I do work for a pretty wealthy town though, so we are fortunate to have pretty good equipment. There are plenty of guys out there (both PD and fire) that have to try and make do with what they have.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that if you have any old lights you don't want, it might not be a bad idea to offer to donate them to your local firehouse, they may need em!



:wave:

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First of all, thank you for your service!

The firetruck was actually bran-new and had a huge worklight which could be elevated out the top bright enough to light up an entire 100 yard field (they turned it on for me).
The light I compared mine to was a quartz halogen handheld spotlight inside the fire engine, it had a large reflector and was very bright but its hotspot was only about half as bright as that of my 17.5 million CP and it didn't put out as much light either. The one on top of the truck was awesome though!

Do your fire engines have handheld spotlights? The Professional's Favorite 17.5 million CP rechargeable spotlight $40 from Advance Auto Parts would be a great option as it can also be run directly from its 12V DC adaptor. The other light I would recommend is the Brinkmann Max Million III 3 million CP 100 watt 12V DC plug-in spotlight $26 from Walmart. I have it and it is amazing.

I agree about donating lights to them, they clearly didn't have enough flashlights/spotlights so I will keep them in mind when I have a light I don't use anymore.:thumbsup:

Sorry I took so long to respond, I lost track of this post.

We have 'boxlights' on our trucks, they are

http://www.streamlight.com/product/product.aspx?pid=127

I am not sure if it identical to that one, but if they aren't it is just a slightly older version. They do the job pretty well for us. I like that the head is adjustable, so if you want to set it down you can angle it to shine where ever you want and it stays there. I like to put them in doorways when I am going in so I can find my way back out (once the scene lights get placed they aren't needed anymore though!). We also have a 'autoparts special' spotlight that is hardwired in the cab for the officer, as well as the adjustable spotlights on mounted on the rig (and the halogens).

Glad to hear that their truck lights were up to snuff! I am working on the guys at my station now, one of them is upgrading his survivor to the new LED version and he is also looking to purchase a new EDC light (probably a Fenix L1D CE or L0D CE).

Take care.

Hello Shore08!:wave:

Those Boxlights look pretty nice, I imagine it must give a very smooth beam with a lot of throw due to its relatively large reflector size. I believe the light they had was an "auto parts special" spotlight hardwired into the cab like you described.

They work pretty well, and having a strap so you can throw it over your shoulder helps a ton. Using a light in smoke is kinda tricky. Some of the guys don't like to use them at all, they say they can see better without them. It's kind of like using your brights in fog, sometimes all the light does is reflect the smoke back on you. Generally I like them, if for no other reason than it makes it easier for people to see me! :twothumbs

Agree! You just gave me an idea on what to do with the dozens of MiniMags that I have, uh, "loaned out" to my Sunday School kids throughout the years. Quite a number of them should be able to "return (if not buy)" them and that would make a meaningful project to help the local fire officers*.

With Aloha,

Clarence

*Partial to Fire Dept because I was raised by a Chief (retired now).

Shore08 said:

In fact, I would go so far as to say that if you have any old lights you don't want, it might not be a bad idea to offer to donate them to your local firehouse, they may need em!



:wave:

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