Tailboard Riding And Today's Firefighting

[Cyn0sure]

Hey All,

I am writing a paper for my department about fire apparatus safety history and really want to cover "Tailboard Riding" and current state of cab seating. I have looked online and haven't really been able to find much information.

I would like some information on the transformation from the use of tailboard riding positions to rear facing jump seat positions to enclosed cab positions. A brief timeline of these changes would also be very helpful!

Thank you in advance!

[Llama Llogophile]

Can't help you except to comment that I hope fire departments do this in a safer manner than sanitation workers. A friend of mine fell off of a garbage truck he was riding on, and was killed.

[gotpasswords]

A thread on the subject from earlier this year. (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=552670) Contains cites to national (US) codes regarding apparatus design.

Some anecdotes from firefighters. (http://www.firefighternation.com/forum/topics/riding-the-backstep-of-the?id=889755%3ATopic%3A4783219&page=1#comments)