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newSchoolWorks.com › VoTechWorks › Agriculture, Environment & Public Service › Firefighting / Public Safety › Fire Suppression: Tactics, Hose Operations, and Structural Attack › Lesson 3
AGR-FIRE51-03 · Lesson 3 · 14 clock hours · practice

Hose Loads, Carries, and Deployment

Objective. Students will load a flat load, accordion load, and minuteman load on an apparatus tailboard and deploy each to a simulated doorway within required distance and without kinks.

⚠ Pending professional review

This lesson, its worked examples and its practice questions has not yet been verified by a licensed professional in the field or by a certification or approval body. It is a study draft and may contain errors. Do not use it as instructions for work on a job site or on live equipment. Always follow your instructor, your supervising professional, and current official references and regulations.

VoTechWorks program approval and accreditation are still in progress. Credentials are issued only by the certifying bodies named in each program, after their own exams.

Why Hose Loads Matter

A hose load is not just a way to keep hose tidy on an apparatus. It is a pre-planned deployment system. The way hose is loaded directly controls how fast a crew can stretch a line, whether the line flows without kinks, and how many firefighters are needed to advance it. Choosing the wrong load for a building type or staffing level costs critical seconds and can put crews in a working fire without water. NFPA 1001 Firefighter I standards require competency in multiple load types because conditions vary on every incident.

Flat Load

The flat load is the most basic configuration. Hose is folded back and forth across the bed in flat, parallel folds that lie side by side. Each fold is the full width of the hose bed. The first length is placed with the male coupling at the rear of the bed so it is accessible at the tailboard. Subsequent lengths are connected and folded in alternating directions across the bed.

Strengths: Easy to load, easy to inspect, and easy to reload on the scene. Hose couplings are visible and accessible.

Limitations: Pulling a flat load typically requires at least two firefighters — one to pull the load off the tailboard and one to advance toward the building. It does not self-deploy as efficiently as the minuteman load.

Finish: The working end of the hose (the end that connects to the nozzle) is placed on top, oriented so a firefighter can pull it off first and advance toward the hazard.

Accordion Load

In an accordion load, hose folds run lengthwise in the hose bed, stacked on top of one another like the bellows of an accordion. The folds are vertical rather than horizontal. Each successive fold stands upright against the previous one.

Strengths: The accordion load deploys smoothly because the folds peel away cleanly from the bed. It resists tangling and is a common choice for preconnected attack lines because the entire load can be pulled off quickly.

Limitations: Requires careful alignment of folds to prevent bunching. Hose couplings must be kept to the sides of the bed so they do not catch on folds during deployment.

Finish: The nozzle or working end exits the bed last as the load is pulled. Pack the finish so the nozzle operator can grab the top loop and move immediately.

Minuteman Load

The minuteman load is specifically designed for a single firefighter to pull and advance the entire line without assistance. Hose is loaded so that approximately half the length deploys from the bed as the firefighter pulls, and the remaining half is draped over the firefighter's shoulder in a shouldered carry — the "minuteman" position.

Loading sequence: Start the load at the discharge, running the first section toward the front of the bed, then fold it back. Continue stacking folds. The top portion — the shoulder load — is folded separately and placed on top so it rides on the firefighter's shoulder during advance.

Advance: The firefighter pulls the bottom portion of the load off the bed, places the upper folds on their shoulder, and walks toward the entry point. As they advance, hose pays off the shoulder and off the bed simultaneously, reducing drag and kinking.

Strengths: Designed for understaffed situations or fast initial attack. One firefighter can move the line alone.

Limitations: Requires precise loading to work correctly. If folds are uneven, hose tangles on the shoulder or piles on the ground.

Preventing Kinks

A kink can reduce or stop water flow entirely. Kinks occur when hose makes a sharp bend that collapses the bore. To prevent them:

Charging and Flowing the Line

After deployment to the simulated doorway, the line is charged (water is admitted) by the engineer or by opening the discharge valve. Before charging:

1. Confirm the nozzle is closed.

2. Confirm all personnel are holding the hose.

3. Signal the engineer or call for water.

4. Bleed air from the line through a brief nozzle opening, then close.

5. Announce "charged" and prepare to advance.

Never charge a line with a kink present — the sudden pressure surge can injure the nozzle operator and may rupture the hose.

Safety Points

Connecting to Credentials

Hose loads and deployment are tested as Job Performance Requirements (JPRs) under NFPA 1001 Firefighter I. Pro Board and IFSAC certification requires a skills evaluator to observe each critical step on a standardized checklist. A missed critical step — such as deploying a kinked line or failing to fully connect a coupling — is an automatic failure requiring remediation. Practice each load type until the sequence is automatic.

Key terms8

Flat loadA hose loading method in which hose is folded back and forth in horizontal layers across the full width of the hose bed, creating a stack of parallel folds.
Accordion loadA hose loading method in which folds run lengthwise and stand vertically side by side in the hose bed, resembling the bellows of an accordion, allowing smooth sequential deployment.
Minuteman loadA hose load designed for single-firefighter deployment; a portion of hose is shouldered by the firefighter while the remainder pays off the apparatus bed during the advance.
KinkA sharp bend in a charged or uncharged hose that collapses the bore and restricts or stops water flow.
Charging the lineThe act of admitting water into a hose line from the water supply, pressurizing the hose from the source to the closed nozzle.
JPR (Job Performance Requirement)A specific task defined in NFPA 1001 that a firefighter must be able to perform; used as the basis for skills evaluation in Pro Board and IFSAC certification testing.
Nozzle reactionThe backward force exerted on the nozzle operator when water is discharged; it is equal and opposite to the force of the water stream leaving the nozzle.
Preconnected attack lineA hose line already connected to an apparatus discharge and loaded in the hose bed, ready for immediate pull and deployment without coupling at the scene.
In class: Instructor demonstration of flat, accordion, and minuteman loads on a training apparatus; students take photographs and annotate a diagram worksheet identifying each fold, finish, and finish hose position. · Rotating station drill where teams of three load an assigned hose configuration, have it checked by the instructor, then pull and deploy it 150 feet to a simulated structure door and charge the line—repeated for all three load types. · Timed individual minuteman load and deployment evolution; student loads solo, advances as the lead firefighter, and flows water from the nozzle on target; peer observer uses a JPR checklist to document performance.
Materials: 1.75-inch attack hose (200-foot sections), 2.5-inch hose (200-foot sections), training apparatus with tailboard, gated wye, nozzles, water supply (hydrant or portable tank), JPR checklists, NFPA 1001 Firefighter I textbook
Check: Skills JPR checklist for each of the three hose loads; student must complete all critical steps correctly and deploy without kinks to a flowing nozzle; two of three loads must achieve passing status; any critical safety failure requires immediate remediation and re-test.

Practice check8

Answer each question, then check it. Nothing is recorded; this is your own practice.

Firefighter I – Hose Operations
1. Which hose load is specifically designed so that a single firefighter can pull and advance the line without assistance?
Firefighter I – Hose Operations
2. In a flat load, where should the male coupling of the first hose length be positioned?
Firefighter I – Hose Operations
3. A crew pulls an accordion load and begins advancing toward the structure when they notice water flow drops sharply after the line is charged. What is the most likely cause?
Firefighter I – Hose Operations
4. Which action must be completed BEFORE giving the signal to charge an attack line?
Firefighter I – Hose Operations
5. During the rotating station drill, a team's minuteman load deploys with several kinks near the folds. What is the most likely loading error that caused this?
Firefighter I – Certification Testing
6. Under NFPA 1001 Firefighter I JPR evaluation, what is the consequence of a critical step failure during a hose deployment skills test?
Firefighter I – Hose Operations
7. A firefighter is advancing a minuteman load solo toward a doorway. Halfway to the entry, hose on their shoulder becomes tangled and piles on the ground. Which loading practice, if followed, would have most directly prevented this?
Firefighter I – Safety and PPE
8. Which PPE practice is required during all hose loading and deployment training evolutions?
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