NFPA 1901 may be a guide, but you can be sure if a department spec'd an open cab apparatus and had a rollover accident in which personnel were injured or killed, the attorneys would have a field day! A recent accident in the Pittsburgh, PA area in which a preconnect came off the hose bed and killed a young child resulted in changes to 1901 requiring all hose to be secured. Any department that doesn't secure their hose obviously leaves themselves wide open. I don't know of any department that hasn't accidently "laid out" a supply line sometime in the past.

All that NFPA (Not For Practical Application) 1900 stuff only concerns newly built or refurbished apparatus. In 1976, when Clinton's KW was built, open cabs were still okay. When it was refurbed in the late 1980's, it was still okay in the eyes of NFPA.

BTW, I wasn't driving Squad 3 the night it laid the 5" down I-85!!!!

Location: Georgia