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FireYesterDaily- 30 Minutes of Training Per Week is Unfair and “Unreal”

So much to do- so little time.  

Here is the second installment of “Two Thousand and Nine Favorite FireDaily Blog Posts from 2009”. Call it “FireYesterDaily.”

If you missed the first one you can find it by following this link: “Got a Bad Attitude? Stay at Home…”


Running Against The Wind
Running Against The Wind

I had just finished reading a depressing thought I found on facebook by Christopher Naum:

“There’s an awful lot of time, energy and resources being committed and directed towards fire service safety. Is anyone really listening? Does anyone really care?” Are we just running against the wind?

Almost immediately after reading that, I find out that a downstate Illinois fire protection district has a problem. Some of their firefighters do not have the proper qualifications for responding to and working a structure fire.

“I see there are firefighters with zero hours in training,” one trustee said. “Either you are a firefighter or you’re not.”

Most were the older guys, retired, and unable or unwilling to commit the time and energy needed to meet the requirements set forth by the state of Illinois.

According to the Illinois Fire Protection Act, firefighters are required to meet a minimum of 24 hours of training per year.

I did some quick math. My 3rd grade daughter confirmed my calculations. That’s two hours a month. 30 minutes a week.

Tell me there aren’t firefighters out there that are donning equipment with which they are not completely familiar, advancing the wrong size line with the wrong nozzle into a ‘burning box’ just waiting to collapse, unable to recognize the deadly warning signs of a catastrophic fire event for which their equally untrained buddies will have to come in and effect a rescue they are ill-prepared to attempt potentially killing them all.

Please tell me this is a unique situation. TELL ME!

Recognizing the liability of untrained firefighters on the fireground, the trustees of this fire protection district are considering their chief’s proposal to form a second tier of membership- call it an auxiliary role.

Keep the guys active, but don’t put them into a position where they could hurt themselves or others.  There are other things these guys could do in a support role.

Sounds like a great idea, right?

You’ve read this far, you earned your payoff:

After the news of the proposed change appeared on the FireRescue1 website, one lonely comment appeared. It’s so bizarre; I’m not quite able to accept that it wasn’t posted as a facetious remark. Here it is, by ‘tommy517’:

“I think it is unreal what law makers are trying to require volunteer firefighters training for responding to calls. I know they feel it is for firefighter safety they come up with some of the stuff, and anything to make it safer is better. However, someone who has done it for years should be given some credit for years of service. I’m a volunteer and I love it. There isn’t anything much better to me than running on fire and rescue calls. I took all the required classes I needed at the time. Now they are wanting to come up with new stuff all the time. When I started I was a student in high school. Now I have a family and work full time. Its hard to get all the “new” trainings that are out there. I wish I had the time to go and take all the new classes and find out what is new in the fire service. With a job and family now its hard to respond to calls sometimes let alone run here and there for classes. Really what has changed? We still gear up get on the truck and put the wet stuff on the red stuff…”

Like he said, “Really, what has changed?’”

Seriously, folks. How many line of duty injuries and worse do we have to endure before this kind of mindset changes?

30 minutes a week…

Posted in Change, Firefighter Safety & Health, LODD, Training, Training & Development, WTF?

Posted by on December 11, 2009 • 4 comments

Today’s 360 Burn Size-Up of the Fire Web 12/8/08

We Danced With the Devil

Thanks to Bobby G at FireFighters Close Calls for pointing me in the direction of this emotional story of a firefighter’s battle with cancer.  The full story is in the December issue of Firehouse Magazine.  It’s a riveting account filled with emotional looks at what our fellow brothers and sisters face when first hit by the bulldozer of a cancer diagnosis.  This is a super-rough read, but carries some very crucial advice for us all.  Read it and weep.  But then learn and act.

DHS Announces Text Messaging of Threats and Alerts

Yesterday, FEMA and the FCC announced they have adopted design specs for the development of a gateway interface that will enable wireless carriers to provide its customers with timely and accurate emergency alerts and warnings via their cell phones and other mobile devices.  It’s another component of the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS), the nation’s next generation of emergency alert and warning networks.

The Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS) is one of many projects within IPAWS intended to provide emergency mangers and the President of the United States a means to send alerts and warnings to the public. Specifically, CMAS provides Federal, state, territorial, tribal and local government officials the ability to send 90 character geographically targeted text messages to the public regarding emergency alert and warning of imminent threats to life and property, Amber alerts, and Presidential emergency messages. The CMAS is a combined effort of the federal government and cellular providers to define a common standard for cellular alerts.  More information can be found at FEMA’s website here.

Man Drives Tractor Into Manure Pond

United States (California) – A dairy worker drove a tractor into a manure pond this morning at a farm south of Fresno. The Fresno County Fire Department reported the worker became disoriented by dense fog near Manning and Marks avenues and drove the machine down an embankment just before 7 a.m. The tractor ended up in about seven feet of water, spokesman Chris Christopherson said.

As firefighters prepared to rescue him, the man rolled down a window, dived into the water and swam about 20 feet to safety, Christopherson said.

He was not injured.

Written by The Fresno Bee

Posted in 360 Burn, Disasters, Firefighter Safety & Health, News, Technology & Communications, technology-communications-ems-topics

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Posted by on December 8, 2009 • No comments

360 Burn Size-up of the Fire Web 12/3/2009

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.

Posted in 360 Burn, Command & Leadership, Firefighter Safety & Health, Funding & Staffing, In the Line of Duty, Leadership, Line of Duty, LODD, Major Incidents, Never Forget, News, Staffing, training-fire-rescue-topics

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Posted by on December 3, 2009 • No comments

360 Burn Size-Up of the Fire Web 11/29/2009

Fire Chief Shot by Off-Duty OK Police Officer- Cop is Dead

FirefighterCloseCalls.com has the story of a shooting in Mangum (OK) on Thanksgiving afternoon which wounded the town’s Fire Chief and lead police a standoff with one of their own dead. It is unknown if the Chief was on or off-duty but it appears he was shot by the cop, who is his relative. Mangum is known for the “light bulb” in the firehouse that has been burning for over 75 years. Read the story here.

“You have to pull hoses, hop over fences and work those lines. That just takes people.”

A vacant four-story factory fire Tuesday night in Reading, PA demonstrated exactly why looming personnel cuts will force the department to drastically change the way it fights these large fires. With the already thinly-stretched full complement of 22 firefighters and 10 call-backs, fire crews attacked the building from all four sides to successfully protect the exposures. The same fire with fewer personnel will potentially cause huge problems. The full story here.

The Cost to Replace Turnout Gear is Still Less Than the Cost Not to….

Small volunteer fire departments are struggling to come up with funding to replace old turnout gear, the protective pants and coat that firefighters wear while they battle blazes. New National Fire Protection Association guidelines say that firefighters should only wear turnout gear that is less than 10 years old inside burning structures. These departments don’t have enough money to buy new gear, nor do they have enough money to settle litigation should a firefighter get injured or worse. Read more on that dilemma here.

Posted in 360 Burn, Firefighter Safety & Health, News, Staffing, WTF?

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Posted by on November 29, 2009 • No comments

If We Do What We’ve Always Done, We’ll Get What We’ve Always Gotten…

I see that NIOSH reports have popped up on the radar of the blogosphere recently.  Frankly, I’m surprised at the heat a few have been giving them.  Maybe I’ve been missing something (it’s happened before). So I took a closer look.
We already know that heart attacks and traffic accidents are the main murderers of us firefighters, so I’m sure we’ve already dedicated the necessary resources to firefighter health and safety initiatives and accident scene safeguards to keep these killers from having free reign over our troops.
Right?
So, I went to the Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation Reports page from NIOSH and randomly picked 5 of the reports with deaths involving fire suppression. I was looking for patterns. Guess what I found….
NIOSH Report 2008-26
A residential basement fire had been burning for over 30 minutes. A crew was directed to enter the first floor to perform horizontal ventilation and found a spongy floor. The last (victim) of the four-man crew was just about out when the floor collapsed into the basement on top of working crews. Heavy smoke conditions hampered efforts to locate the victim and he died on the scene.

Among the NIOSH recommendations:

Sizeup, Risk/Gain “ensure that the incident commander (IC) conducts a 360 degree size-up which includes risk versus gain analysis prior to committing interior operations and continues risk assessments throughout the operations”

SOP’s/SOG’s- “ensure that standard operating procedures are established for a basement fire”

Coordinated Ventilation- “ensure that proper ventilation is done to improve interior conditions and is coordinated with the interior attack”

TIC- “ensure that interior crews are equipped with a thermal imaging camera”

RIT/RIC- “ensure that Rapid Intervention Teams are staged and ready”

NIOSH Report 2008-34

One of only three firefighters on the scene, the victim entered a burning residence alone with a partially-charged 1 ½ inch line and became lost in thick-black smoke, radioing for help from the other two. They couldn’t locate him, a flashover occurred, and the home became fully engulfed. A cop found him an hour later.

Among the NIOSH recommendations:

Size-up, Risk/Gain- “ensure that officers and fire fighters know how to evaluate risk versus gain and perform a thorough scene size-up before initiating interior strategies and tactics”

SOP’s/SOG’s- “develop, implement, and enforce written standard operating procedures (SOPs) for fireground operations”

Staffing- “ensure that adequate numbers of apparatus and fire fighters are on scene before initiating an offensive fire attack in a structure fire”

Coordinated Ventilation- “ensure that properly coordinated ventilation is conducted on structure fires”

RIT/RIC- “ensure that a rapid intervention team (RIT) is established and available at structure fires”

SCBA- “ensure fire fighters are trained in essential self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) and emergency survival skills”

Mayday- “ensure that protocols are developed on issuing a Mayday so that fire fighters and dispatch centers know how to respond”

NIOSH Report 2008-08

30 minutes into a residential fire, crews had been pulled out. A decision was made to send a crew back in to extinguish the fire. A crew of 3 (A/C, Capt, FF) made their way into the basement of the burning structure with an 1¾ line. One by one they evacuated due to conditions. The third never came up the stairs. RIT was activated but repelled by the heat. Victim found an hour later.

Among the NIOSH recommendations:

Risk vs. Gain- “ensure that the Incident Commander continuously evaluates the risks versus gain when determining whether the fire suppression operation will be offensive or defensive“

SOP’s/SOG’s- “review, revise as necessary, and enforce standard operating guidelines (SOGs) to include specific procedures for basement fires and two-in/ two-out procedures“

TIC- “enforce standard operating guidelines (SOGs) regarding thermal imaging camera (TIC) use during interior operations“

Mayday- “ensure that fire fighters are trained on initiating Mayday radio transmissions immediately when they are in distress, and/or become lost or trapped“

NIOSH Report 2008-06

Without the protection of a charged hoseline, a Lt and FF (victim) were searching a 2-story residence for a trapped occupant. They did not know where the victim was and had no TIC. Conditions deteriorated, trapping the two on the second floor. The LT exited the front door and RIT was deployed to get the victim. Both were hospitalized and the victim succumbed to burn injuries 5 days later.

Among the NIOSH recommendations:

Size-up- “ensure the Incident Commander receives pertinent information during the size-up (i.e., type of structure, number of occupants in the structure, etc.) from occupants on scene and that information is relayed to crews upon arrival”

SOP’s/SOG’s- “develop, implement, and enforce written standard operating procedures (SOPs) for fireground operations”

Coordinated Ventilation- “ensure ventilation is coordinated with interior fireground operations”

TIC- “ensure that fire fighters conducting an interior search have a thermal imaging camera”

Mayday- “ensure that Mayday protocols are developed and followed”

NIOSH Report 2007-32

Two firefighters died while conducting an interior attack to locate, confine, and extinguish a fire located in the cockloft of a restaurant. One victim had been flowing water into the cockloft from the kitchen, another had been checking for fire extension in the main dining area. At about 5 minutes in, a rapid fire event occurred.

Among the NIOSH recommendations:

Size-up- Risk vs. Gain- “ensure that the incident commander conducts an initial size-up and risk assessment of the incident scene before beginning interior fire fighting operations and continually evaluates the conditions to determine if the operations should become defensive”

SOP’s/SOG’s- “develop, implement and enforce written standard operating procedures (SOPs) that address the hazards and define the strategies and tactics to be used while operating at specific structures known as “taxpayers”

Coordinated Ventilation- “ensure that fire fighters understand the influence of ventilation on fire behavior and coordinate with interior fire suppression operations”

RIT/RIC- “ensure that a rapid intervention crew (RIC) / rapid intervention team (RIT) is established and available to immediately respond to emergency rescue incidents”

TIC- “use thermal imaging cameras (TICs) during the initial size-up and search phases of a fire”

Any patterns?
Size-up, Risk vs. Gain- Does your first in crew perform a 360 and report an accurate size up of conditions to all others? Is a risk vs. gain assessment actually made? Are your initial tactics based upon these findings?
Why not? Didn’t you try to implement the NIOSH recommendations to keep from killing your firefighters?
Are your SOP’s/SOG’s current to the ever-changing tasks being performed at your incidents? Do you follow them? Do you even have any?
Why not? Didn’t you try to implement the NIOSH recommendations to keep from killing your firefighters?
Is ventilation performed early and integrated with your interior attack? Or has ventilation worked its way down to fifth or sixth on your list of priorities? After all, it will eventually vent itself.
Why not? Didn’t you try to implement the NIOSH recommendations to keep from killing your firefighters?
Is a RIT/RIC established early on? If you don’t have the personnel to form a RIT/RIC, do you have a mutual aid response to give you the number of firefighters needed to operate safely?
Why not? Didn’t you try to implement the NIOSH recommendations to keep from killing your firefighters?
Does your department have at least one Thermal Imaging Camera? It’s been called the best thing since SCBA in many firefighting circles. You have SCBA, right? Does your department know to call a Mayday early? Too macho to call it? Does EVERYONE ON THE SCENE know what to do when a Mayday is called?
Why not? Didn’t you try to implement the NIOSH recommendations to keep from killing your firefighters?
WHY ARE WE NOT FOLLOWING THROUGH?
Are the reports too difficult to understand? Perhaps we need to dumb them down or fluff them up? Fine. I’m all for whatever it takes.
But let’s not forget that the reports are just that- reports. We need to make the changes, NIOSH ain’t gonna do that for us.
So read the reports, see how they killed our brothers, and take a hard look at how you and your department operate.
THEN IMPLEMENT THE CHANGES YOU NEED TO KEEP YOUR GUYS ALIVE.
Because if we continue to do it the same way, we’ll get what we’ve always gotten. Another NIOSH report with the same ol’ stuff.

Posted in 360 Burn, Command & Leadership, Firefighter Safety & Health, Firefighting Operations, Fires, Funding & Staffing, In the Line of Duty, Line of Duty, LODD, Rescues, Training, Training & Development, training-fire-rescue-topics, WTF?

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Posted by on November 22, 2009 • 6 comments

It’s Time.

From Michael McAuliff of the New York Daily News

First responders and Ground Zero workers are pleased Khalid Shaikh Mohammed is headed to New York to face justice – but they hope to win a different kind of justice of their own.

“Eight years later they finally bring the terrorists to New York and eight years later we’re still waiting for help” treating 9/11-related illnesses, said John Feal.  “It doesn’t equate,” added Feal, who heads the FealGood Foundation, devoted to raising awareness about the health crisis. He and busloads of survivors and victims held a rally Wednesday in Washington.

The FealGood Foundation holds a press conference earlier this year at the scene of the 9/11 attacks (photo by Schwartz for News)

They’re demanding Congress act on legislation named after James Zadroga, an NYPD officer who died from his exposure to Ground Zero. The proposal would spend about $8 billion to reopen the Sept. 11 Victim Compensation fund to care for the illnesses suffered by the responding heroes.

“I’m going to be focused on getting that bill passed,” said Glen Klein, a former NYPD Emergency Service Unit officer who spent 700 hours at Ground Zero. “It’s time.”

It’s the same two words Jim Ryan wanted to tell Congress Wednesday hoping to join hundreds of his fellow Sept. 11 responders on their journey to Capitol Hill. But he couldn’t make it.

He’s dying himself.

“I was a 46-year-old firefighter, working at my job in April 2006,” said the husband and father of two teenage boys and a 9-year-old daughter. His doctor thought he had gallstones, but it was pancreatic cancer, a deadly illness more common in older men. The fire department eventually agreed the cancer was from 9/11, and he retired.

He beat it once.

Then came the relapse last November – and more treatments. His doctor can’t do any more.

“They just determined last week it wasn’t working. As of right now, I’m not on anything. At this point, I’m just seeking second opinions,” Ryan said.  He doesn’t want to ask how much time he has left.

“I don’t believe in deadlines,” he said.

But he wanted to do what he could to push Congress to pass the $8 billion measure. It would reopen the Sept. 11 victims’ compensation fund and provide for the families of the ill and dying.

So Tuesday night he packed some gear in the car of his friend and fellow firefighter, Keith Palumbo, and went to the Engine Co. 320/Ladder 167 firehouse in Flushing for a party that Palumbo arranged so Ryan’s department brothers could see him again before it was too late.

“It was overwhelming,” Ryan said.

But he got violently ill, and it was obvious to his friends that Ryan, who’s lost 50 pounds to his illness, couldn’t make the trip to Washington.

“Keith, he took my bag out of his car and he said, ‘You’re not going.’ He said, ‘You can’t, you’re not physically able to,’” Ryan recalled.

It’s almost the way he felt about the months he spent digging through the voids in the wreckage of the twin towers, searching for the fallen. He tried to explain it to his wife, Magda, when she asked why he wanted to swim in that toxic devastation for so long.

“I told her I don’t. It’s the last place in the world I want to be, but right now, and it’s kind of hard to put it in words, but right now it’s the only place in the world I want be,” Ryan remembered.

There was no internal conflict about going to Washington Wednesday, except that he couldn’t.

“I felt horrible because it’s not only about me,” he said. “It’s about all the guys who are going to come after me, and there’s going to be plenty of them. … I don’t think you’ve even seen the tip of the iceberg yet.”

Ryan and the other advocates say they’ve received assurances that Congress would act this fall. But sources told the Daily News that the battle to overhaul the nation’s health care system comes first – a fight that could extend into next year. Feal said rally goers intend to take their message straight to lawmakers.

“We’re taking three teams into each congressional [office] building,” Feal said Wednesday. “I’m storming the Capitol.”

The Zadroga Act is sitting in Congress, held hostage by the health care reform debate. The House version is all but ready to go. The Senate’s has yet to be discussed in a committee hearing.

Palumbo and others carried the message for Ryan, visiting lawmakers in their black turnout coats. He hopes legislators heard it.

“We’ve got eight guys in the firehouse who have cancer,” Palumbo said after walking the halls of Congress, knocking on doors.

“Hopefully, we prodded them with our tale.”

Posted in Firefighter Safety & Health, In the Line of Duty, Line of Duty, LODD, Never Forget, News

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Posted by on November 20, 2009 • No comments

Today’s Web Scanner- 10/29/09

“Catastrophes Don’t Take Holidays” –Local 2

City of Chicago employees have been asked to take up to 28 furlough days in an effort to balance the budget.  Mayor Richard Daley has publicly floated the charge that unionized police and firefighters should also take the time off without pay.

“This is a serious recession, and everybody has to be part of the solution,” the Daley spokesman said.

Tom Ryan, president of Firefighters Union Local 2, said in a written statement Thursday, ”It is obvious that fires, accidents, hazardous materials incidents and the need for quick and competent firefighter and emergency medical response do not take a holiday or a furlough day.”  Read more fromCBS2 Chicago.

Someone’s Stealing Our Ambulance!

An AMR ambulance in  Vancouver left the scene of a medical call this evening without the patient.  Or the crew.  AMR officials said it is standard procedure for paramedics to leave their trucks running with emergency lights on.  They may want to consider a kill switch which shuts everything down when the brake is pressed without flipping a security switch.  Or not.  Here’s a video report from Fox 12 Oregon:

Hats Off to Mt. Lebanon PA Fire Chief Nick Sohyda!

Chief Sohyda approached Chris Cerci, 42, a McKeesport firefighter who competes in firefighter fitness competitions, about organizing workouts for his department in an attempt to mitigate some of the health risks, including stress, that firefighting can cause. The result: a program tailored specifically for firefighters by a certified trainer with proven results.  Read more from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

It’s refreshing and encouraging to see a fire chief recognize a need and tackle it head-on.

Stay Stoked!

-J

Posted in Administration & Leadership, Chicagoland, Firefighter Safety & Health, Line of Duty, News

Posted by on October 29, 2009 • No comments

Update: Can I Be Forced to Take the H1N1 Vaccination?

The pandemic sweeping across the country and the world brought at least one interesting question to mind that had previously not been considered:

If your agency is tasked with providing front-line medical care to those affected with the H1N1 virus, does your employer have the right to force you to be vaccinated or face being fired?

Many of us have already decided if we want to get the vaccinations.  But the ability for us to make our own decision is not so easy for some who want to stay employed.

Citing the “public health emergency”, some agencies feel it necessary to ensure its full compliment of workers is inoculated and ready to serve by taking the decision away from the employee.

In an earlier post, FireDaily.com brought you the story of a Chicagoland firefighter paramedic weighing his options. He posed several questions, many of which are coming to light all across the country as we speak.

We now have an update to the story we brought you on the three separate lawsuits, including one by New York’s second-largest state employees union, which prompted a NY State Supreme Court Justice to issue a Temporary Restraining Order barring mandatory vaccinations for certain health care workers.

New York State Health Commissioner Richard Daines had previously forced these workers to either take both the seasonal and H1N1 vaccinations by November 30 or face disciplinary action up to and including termination.

Although the next hearing date is set for later this week, the shortage of available vaccine has served to defuse the conflict, at least temporarily.

New York public health workers are no longer be required to take the vaccines, according to a statement from Governor David Paterson.

“The CDC acknowledged that New York would only receive approximately 23 percent of its anticipated vaccine supply,” Paterson said. “As a result, we need to be as resourceful as we can with the limited supplies of vaccine currently coming into the state.”

Production issues and increased demand has radically decreased the availability of the H1N1 vaccine.  The CDC had initially estimated 40 million doses would be available by the end of this week.  The revised number is now only 27.7 million doses.

Although the decision by New York authorities leave those declining the vaccines breathing a little easier, the conflict still remains without resolution.  Until then, health care workers across the nation are still uncertain if their right to decide what goes into their bodies can ultimately result in losing their jobs.

How is your agency handling this issue?

Stay tuned as FireDaily.com will continue to bring updates to this developing situation.

-J

Posted in EMS Health & Safety, Firefighter Safety & Health, H1N1 Flu Pandemic, News

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Posted by on October 26, 2009 • 6 comments

360 Burn Around the Fire Web

Mandating Among Volunteers

Jason Zigmont, Executive Director of The Center for Public Safety Education, sheds light on the art of mandating certain components of a volunteer department. “Anytime a volunteer department makes something ‘mandatory’ there is usually an outcry from the members along the lines of, “I joined the volunteer department, not the mandatory department.” Like anything else involving people, there is an ‘art’ to making it happen using the right approach and a solid foundation. Read his blog here.

No One is Invincible

“…in the day of rapid intervention, Vent Enter Search, NIMS, aggressive tactics and 2-in 2-out, I ask you all this; Take a little time to consider that it isn’t only important to come home from your next run, but to be able to spend some time with your family after you hang up the leather for good.”

In the Backstep Firefighter’s Blog, guest writer David LeBlanc offers up Making it To and Through Retirement, an article that hits close to home for many of us, especially today. He addresses your responsibility to your family and yourself to stay on top of your health with regular cancer screenings. It’s not “the other guy’s disease”, as he puts it.

Short and to the point, it’s worth your time to give it a read. I’ll also post the link he offers: American Cancer Society Guidelines for the Early Detection of Cancer

Close-Knit Roanoke Loses a Brother

Today is the funeral for Captain Chris Brown (seated, left) of the Roanoke, VA Fire Department, a brother of our partner, FireCritic. His life was cut cruelly short and he left us so quickly. I never met the man but after reading about him and the way he interacted with those around him, I feel I know him.

We all know a guy on our department like Chris who will always go out of his way to give you a hand whenever you needed it. Cheerful and professional, he left behind an excellent example of what a “brother” truly is. We join everyone in extending our thoughts and love to the family and friends he left behind as his life was cut so cruelly short. We share your grief.

This was a rough week.  Let’s have a better one this week.

Stay Stoked!

-J

Posted in 360 Burn, Brotherhood, Firefighter Safety & Health

Posted by on October 26, 2009 • No comments

NY Judge Says “Whoa” to Mandatory Vaccinations of First Responders

In my blog posted October 8 here on FireDaily.com, I addressed some of the concerns of my buddy, Brett, a local firefighter/paramedic, regarding flu vaccinations for first responders. One of his questions: Could his employer, in the name of public safety, force him to get vaccinated against his will as a term of his employment?

Well, let the games begin.

Earlier today, Acting New York State Supreme Court Justice Thomas J. McNamara granted a temporary restraining order against mandated flu vaccinations for certain health care workers.

The New York Health Commission had previously ordered that certain employees must be vaccinated for both the seasonal and the H1N1 flu by November 30 or face the possibility of disciplinary action, including dismissal.

Three nurses from the Albany Medical Center claimed the regulation violates their civil rights. The New York State United Teachers Union and the New York State Public Employees Federation also sued. McNamara merged all three lawsuits under the restraining order and set a court date for October 30.

Of course, this was bound to happen. And I fully expect similar cases to arise at the state and local levels all across the country in the upcoming days and weeks.

So, do you think the government has the right to dictate your health care decisions during a pandemic?

-J

FireDaily.com will continue following all the developments on the pandemic, specifically its effects on first responders.

Posted in EMS Health & Safety, Firefighter Safety & Health, H1N1 Flu Pandemic, News

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Posted by on October 16, 2009 • 2 comments