As an over excited rookie I was to stage our utility truck for a possible (unknown) fire, as I approached the truck I only did a “look down both sides” vehicle check. When I drove off I didn’t see or remember the air supply line connected at the back of the truck, which was still attached to the stations main air supply/cascade.
I drove off and the entire air cascade was pulled from its cradle and hit the floor. I was lucky none of the air cylinders “went off” as they would have been like torpedoes. Also refill valves on the main air supply and on the truck were broken and I lost 1/2 my air supply in the truck and had no way to refill.
We were lucky that the call was a false alarm or “me and my boys” would have only had a very limited air supply for SCBA refills.
As a Precaution for “the next time” we draped the air supply hose over the passenger side mirror of the truck in plain view for any future operators.
My chief also went over proper walk around procedures with the whole crew.
The major thing I learned was to take an extra second for checking and understanding anything that I would use, whether it is just checking my flashlight batteries or making sure my buddies have their gear on properly. It remains that each of us are responsible for each others lives, overlooking something small now can later cause our job to be hindered or even worse…..our buddies lives.