Ten Years Ago Today
On December 3, 1999, the Worcester Cold Storage Warehouse Fire took the lives of six firefighters. Head on over to FirefighterCloseCalls.com for a full report, complete with links to articles, photos, audio, and much more.
Follow that up with a read of an article entitled “A Chief’s Perspective” by retired Worcester District Fire Chief Michael O. McNamee and hope you never have to go through his nightmare. With trapped crews inside and after others had gone in to save them, Chief McNamee ordered that no more firefighters go in. He was met with heated threats of physical violence by his firefighters on the scene, many demanding to allow them to go in to rescue their brothers. But he hung firm- and in doing so stopped that massive fire from killing any more of his men that night. Thanks, Chief. Use the information at FirefighterCloseCalls.com to create a training session for everyone on your department, especially for the newer guys who may never have heard the tragic details.
More is Less is Less is More
Did you catch the post by FireGeezer on Tuesday about the Newark (OH) fire chief who did the math? Turns out that hiring more firefighters resulted in less overtime costs (way less). Read the story about how fire chief Jack Stickradt was able to show the city manager how it could be done, after which the mayor followed suit. Now with more firefighters, there’s les OT, less injuries, and more safety. Hmmm.I’ve always wondered why a municipality would want to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars rather than hire more people…
Next on the horizon for firefighters? Personal air conditioning…ahhhhhh…
Colorado State University engineering professors are using a $917,000 Fire Prevention and Safety Grant to develop technology that would protect firefighters’ cardiovascular health and stave off heat stress. Researchers will use a device called the SCAMP (Super Critical Air Mobility Pack) device from Niwot Technologies that can cool firefighters and hazmat teams as they work. SCAMP was developed for and used by NASA astronauts 20 years ago and uses cryogenically-cooled air in a thin compact case. Their work looks to help alleviate the number one cause of firefighter line-of-duty deaths (cardiovascular failure- 43% of all deaths) by providing up to four hours of purified air and body cooling. See more here.
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