By Tim Llewellyn
For Firefighting in Canada

An essential fire-ground skill set that is often left to pass is  selecting, carrying, raising and placing ground ladders. During recruit schooling, instructors spend a lot of time lecturing, demonstrating and drilling students on ground ladder setup. Yet, after graduation, ground ladder skills are rarely practised. Even more to the instructors’ dismay, on the actual scene of a fire, ground ladders are rarely thrown. Here are a few bits of laddering advice that I’ve learned and used over the years that will help to simplify and encourage ground-ladder use during incidents.

A ladder is a tool that helps firefighters move higher or lower or, in some instances, across a span, to perform a task. In other words, ladders help us with egress. They are essential fire-ground tools that should be deployed even they’re not immediately needed.

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