This article is also found at Daily Fire Fix

Probably Not.

Daily Fire Fix ran across this video with the interesting title and had to see what was going on.  It’s actually a compilation of videos of the Grant’s Pass Rural Fire Department in Josephine County Oregon which is in southwest OR along I-5 and the California border. 

Grant’s Pass Rural Fire Department is one of three private fire departments competing for fire protection “contracts” for properties in the county. See if you share the myriad of emotions that others have when you see these “firefighters” in action at a residential structure fire.

One you are past the “Oh my God’s” and the “What the &%^#’s”, I’d like to challenge you to watch it a second time.  Only this time, I want you to ask yourself, “if I’m watching this fire department floundering on video, how many other fire departments in the United States operate in similar ways, with no command structure, old equipment, no PPE, no money, and no clue?” 

My guess is that there are quite a few.

Now, let’s take this a step further.

I’d like to pose a challenge to you, the firefighter:  Put yourself into each of the following roles and think about what actions you would take based solely upon the information in the videos and what I have provided you in this article.

1. You have just been appointed as fire chief of the GPVF and you have just seen this video.
2. You are the fire chief of the Rural/Metro Fire Department, a neighboring combination department and you have just seen this video..
3. You are a resident considering with which department to contract your fire protection services: GPVFD at a very, very low cost (45 cents per thousand) , GPFR at a cost five times that of GPVFD, or elect to opt out entirely from any fire contract and you have just seen this video.

If you’d like to, leave a brief comment to this article, or call in and leave a voicemail with your input.  I’ll report back later here on Daily Fire Fix with your ideas.

It's easy to identify the problems.  Got any solutions?  888-887-8718

Stay stoked!

-J

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“One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six who jumped in the rear, we need massive EMS here.”

Most of you reading this have already probably heard the sad news on the passing of FDNY Brother Joey DiBernardo, one of six forced to jump 4 stories rather than be burnt alive back in January of 2005 in what has come to be known as “Black Sunday.” 

Of the six, Lieutenant John G. Bellew and Lieutenant Curtis Meyran succumbed to their injuries that day.  Firefighters Jeffrey Cool, Eugene Stolowski, and Brendan Cawley survived their jumps along with Lieutenant DiBernardo with massive physical injuries as well as haunting emotional trauma which remains to this day.

This morning an email from www.FirefighterCloseCalls.com (Home of the Secret List) is making its way to thousands of Brothers and Sisters, imploring all of us to take a few short moments to fully understand what has happened and who we have just lost.  Along with Chief Goldfeder and the others at Firefighter Close Calls, I want to make sure everyone gets this important message as we prepare to lay our Brother to rest tomorrow. 

Please ensure these videos are seen by all your companies, either at roll call, or shortly thereafter.  If you are on a volunteer department, please forward this information to all your contacts immediately.

For further enlightenment, utilize the NIOSH report and encourage discussion among your crews.  As usual, Command Safety lays out all the information you need to make the training useable, understandable, and accessible.

Here are the links:

Message from Firefighter Close Calls

Video about Brother Joey DiBernardo

Video about the Black Sunday Fire.

NIOSH Report

Command Safety’s Comprehensive Look at the Incident

God Bless you, Joey.  May he keep you in His tender care.

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I read an article by an old acquaintance the other day.  I don't want to identify the author because this is not about the "who", but the "what."  What a concept. 

Here's an excerpt:

“There was a code that said that the coach was always right and you NEVER questioned a coach’s decision in regards to you. Like it or not, you had to respect it. It was not an option!  Sound familiar?  It should!”

“I came up in the fire service at a time when we did what our instructors told us to do. We learned very quickly that questioning the instructor was not the same as asking questions. The smart ones knew it. Questioning the “whys” had its consequences. We didn’t have time to break into focus groups to discuss our feelings. You were told how to do it, shown how to do it and then, you DID it!”

 

Sit down youngsters, and let Grandpa John tell you a story. 

It’s a story about growth, maturity, change, and ego.  It’s about the people we trust as fire service leaders to give us the best damn knowledge available for new kids entering the service.  It’s about accepting change.  It’s about recognizing that times just ain't like they used to be in the 60’s and 70’s.  It’s about not who you are. 

It’s not all about you.

Once upon a time long, long ago in my basic firefighter education, our instructors were often looked up to and held in reverence as they expounded their thoughts and ideas to eager young ears.  I had some kick-ass instructors for which much of that tribute was earned.  Of course, there were the others who were teaching for other reasons.  But we always took what we were told as good information without thinking for ourselves if something didn’t make sense.  We did as we were told and we never asked any questions.  We ate our meat or we couldn’t have any pudding.

Here's an example of something I always found hard to swallow:  Always fight a fire from the unburned side.  That way you push it back in on itself and extinguish it without creating further damage. 

Sound familiar?  That’s what we were told, so that’s what we did.

After awhile however, there were a few who began to question this edict handed down from above.  These brave souls raised their hands and asked “why?”   If the circumstances involving ventilation, fire behavior and building construction dictate that it may be better to fight it FROM THE BURNED SIDE, then why are we being told the opposite?

WTF? 

How dare these impetuous little rookies pose the question?  How dare they pose ANY question?  Don’t they know who I am?

The fact is, these “impudent pukes” who had previously and erroneously defined as disrespectful have actually become the moving force within the new leadership of the fire service.  There’s good REASON for this:  These are the new leaders who are no longer cultivated by their last name or years on the job, but rather by their inherent ability to lead and their ability to recognize and address EVOLVING KNOWLEDGE in the fire service.

Dinosaurs often forget that the fire service is dynamic (in constant motion).  Tactics and strategies are constantly developing- many out of close calls and lessons learned after following old principles which may no longer apply. 

One need only look as far as the gargantuan aircraft carrier-type shift in the fire department culture seen in Charleston, South Carolina.  Following the tragedy at the Charleston Sofa Superstore Fire four years ago, they recognized and admitted that their own policies and procedures which had been unchanged and steeped in history no longer applied as they had for decades in the past.  To say that they are a changed department today is a massive understatement. 

If we do what we’ve always done, we’ll get what we’ve always gotten. These old beasts do their dear fire service a great injustice by sticking to their guns on old tried-and-true methods when challenged with facts, and science, and actual accounts which clearly suggest otherwise.

In fact, new students entering into the fire service deserve leadership willing to accept these brave questions without feeling their fragile egos are being attacked.  In other words, don’t take it personally when you are asked “why?”

The true leaders in today’s fire service do not adorn themselves with a crown of closed-minded glory. They are open to new ideas and new concepts which they feel is their DUTY and RESPONSIBILITY to pass on to the new generation of firefighters, both for practical use and as an EXAMPLE of how you perpetuate a dynamic and growing fire service.

The true value of any “experienced” fire service leader can only be found in those unthwarted by the recalcitrance of a barricaded mind which can only find comfort wrapped in the chains of their unyielding personal history.

Ask questions, demand answers, adapt to change, and pass it on. 

Or die off and become an oil field. 

Stay stoked!

-J

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A conversation heard at a Midwestern fire department between Bobby, the Training Officer and his Chief:

Fire Chief:  Go away, Bobby, I’m eating.

T.O. Bobby:  Hey, Your Eminence, I have some good news and I have some good news.

Fire Chief:  You know me, Bobby.  Give me the bad news first.

T.O. Bobby:  There is no bad news, Chief.

Fire Chief:  There’s never no bad news, Bobby.  This is 2010, remember?

T.O. Bobby:  Well, Chief, it’s actually 20-   Doesn’t matter.  Anyway, it’s true.  No bad news, today!

Fire Chief:  OK, then give me the second good news thing first.

T.O. Bobby:  Ahh, still trying to trip me up, eh?  OK, well I found a way to get some kick-ass training for a few of our guys and want to allow YOU the opportunity to offer it to them.

Fire Chief:  That’s what I’m not paying you anything extra for, Bobby.

T.O. Bobby:  What would you say if I found a place, a NEARBY place, which offered a fire training and leadership conference?

Fire Chief:  You mean Indiana?  You know we can’t afford that anymore, Bobby.  Those dinner receipts from Shula’s put us over budget again last year.  T.O. Bobby:  No, not there.  Closer.  And we don’t have to stay in the Super Duper 6 Motel on the freeway on the other side of town because we didn’t lock in our room reservations back in 2006.

Fire Chief:  Hey, it was only 17.5 miles away and the parking downtown was under $30 a day, what are you complaining about?

T.O. Bobby:  Who’s complaining?  When we needed to get to the convention center, I fought to sit in the middle of the front seat of our Command Vehicle with your CAD shoved up my a—

Fire Chief:  Should have called shotgun there and back all included no take-backs.  Did you find a place that we wouldn’t have to drive to from the hotel?

T.O. Bobby:  Yep.  You’ve spilled something there on your shirt, Chief.

Fire Chief:  And we certainly don’t want to wait for such an event to happen one per year.  Fire training has been treated more like an anniversary than a continuous opportunity.  We need it all the time!

T.O. Bobby:  That’s another good news item.  This event is only a few weeks away, and the next a couple of weeks after that.  They’re scheduling a bunch of regional training seminars all next year customized to the area in which they’re presented!

Fire Chief:  Bet the event doesn’t have nationally-known speakers discussing current issues to the fire serice.

T.O. Bobby:  How much?

Fire Chief:  How much what?

T.O. Bobby:  Howmuchyawannabet?

Fire Chief:  Name one that I would know.

T.O. Bobby:  Mitchell.

Fire Chief:  Mitchell who?  Never heard of him.

T.O. Bobby:  John Mitchell?

Fire Chief:  Wasn’t that Nixon’s Attorney General?  He’s teaching fire stuff now?

T.O. Bobby:  No, no, no.  Look, forget Mitchell- that was a joke.  Let me try someone else.  Ever hear of Chief Brunacini?

Fire Chief:  Duh.  OK, who else?

T.O. Bobby:  Let’s see, they’ve got Dennis Rubin, Chris Naum, Rick Gasaway, Paul Hasenmeier, Tiger Something-or-other, and hey, Tim Sendelbach is keynoting!

Fire Chief:  And Nixon’s AG?  Isn’t he dead?

T.O. Bobby:  Yeah, Chief.  He’s dead. 

Fire Chief:  But you know our staff needs hands-on work.  Just last night, two guys from Red Shift busted two axes forcing entry into that house, remember?

T.O. Bobby:  Yes, Chief.  The unlocked glass sliding door kicked their asses.  That’s another plus.  The crack team from Brotherhood Instructors will be heading up several opportunities for hands-on training.  They’ve got classes on R.I.T., forcible entry, engine and truck company ops, and even that new “Man in the Machine” class we’ve been hearing about.

Fire Chief:  That’s hot.

T.O. Bobby:  Yes, Chief.  You made a little joke there.

Fire Chief:  What do you mean?

T.O. Bobby:  H-O-T.  Hands- on- tra… Never mind.

Fire Chief:  Well it all sounds great, Bobby-boy, but you know we can’t afford to send guys to conferences like these.  They’re too expensive, and most of the money just goes to some magazine publisher.  Not my idea of “sharing the knowledge.”

T.O. Bobby:  Chief, I know that.  But all this training comes at an affordable price.  I think you’d be surprised.

Fire Chief:  Surprised?  What have I told you about surprises?  I’m the friggin’ Chief- I HATE surprises.  Now go surprise me with cutting that 10 percent from your training budget.

T.O. Bobby:  That’s just it, Your Heaviness.  If we can sign up our guys by Friday, we can save 10 percent with Early Bird Registration.

Fire Chief:  You know, Bobby, you make it very difficult for me to pass on this opportunity.  To take advantage of the savings, perhaps we should use the Googles to sign up.  Can we sign up on the Googles?

T.O. Bobby:  Yes, Chief.  Just go to http://goforwardtraining.com/gateway/ and you can have all the information of the Gateway Midwest Program in St. Charles outside of St. Louis in October.

Fire Chief:  Bobby.  I have an idea. 

T.O. Bobby:  What’s that, Your Highness?

Fire Chief:  Let’s check out this new customized regional training I’ve been hearing about.  I think it’s near St. Louis or something.

T.O. Bobby:  Ahh, sure, Chief.  Great idea!

Fire Chief:  Make sure those Red Shift yahoos get signed up for the forcible entry program.  I don’t care if they’re free that weekend or not.

T.O. Bobby:  Doesn’t matter, sire.  There’s another regional conference set up in the Philly area just a couple of weeks later, and much more to come.

Fire Chief:  Your diatribe has become monotonous and tedious, as usual.  I grow weary of your presence.  Be gone. 

T.O. Bobby:  Done!

Fire Chief:  Oh, and Bobby?  Don’t forget to keep making me look good.

T.O. Bobby:  Of course, Your Majesty….

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If you had to choose between these two locations, where would you say most of your fire service learning took place?

Isn't it interesting that most of how we learn is best accomplished by simply interacting with those nearby?

With that in mind, I’m looking for pictures of your firehouse kitchen table being “used” by firefighters, specifically the times when we sit around it solving all of the world’s problems in an informal setting.

Send them to me at john@firedaily.com  We’ll get as many of them posted as we can.

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Today’s Chicago Tribune includes a report by Trib reporter William Lee who draws our attention to the NIOSH report summary released earlier this month on the August 9^th death of Chicago firefighter/paramedic Christopher Wheatley.

You may recall that Chris fell 53 feet to his death while using a fire escape ladder in ascending to the roof of a four-story West Loop building.  He was wearing full turnout gear and carrying a 63- pound hand pump.

In a nutshell, the report summary says that, although Chris was directed to ascend to the roof via an aerial ladder, he instead opted to use the building's fire escape system. 

Second-guessing Chris’ actions and decisions in this case will not help us to understand why he chose this route to the roof.  We’ll never know, so let’s put that aside for a moment.

Rather, I found myself contemplating this thought:  Given the same circumstances, what would I have done? 

What would you have done?

Is it important to follow each fireground order to the letter, or should we have the latitude to act upon our instincts and experience to get the job done?

Take a look at the NIOSH summary report, it’s not that long and well worth your time.  Then ask yourself just how probable it would be that you may have done the same thing.  Next, discuss it with your crew.  How do they feel about this:

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There’s a great video going around this week featuring John Salka at Andy Fredericks Training Days.  Someone in the audience captured a snippet of what Chief Salka was saying and shared it with the rest of us who couldn’t be there.

Essentially, Salka was putting forth his opinion on how a four-man engine crew should be deployed when first on the scene of a house fire.  In the instance he describes, he makes the point that the company officer should not remain outside when establishing command as that decision leaves the interior attack team of two firefighters ‘unsupervised’.

One brave firefighter in the audience is not afraid to disagree and stand up for this decision, citing ‘command and control’ and ‘directing incoming units’ as the reason for sending in the two blue shirts alone.

Click this link to see the video- definitely worth your time:

John Salka at Andy Fredericks Training Days 2011

 Quick- which one is right?

The company officer should always go in to supervise the attack. 

The company officer should trust his crew and assume command outside.

Scenario aside, I began thinking yet again how we have been inundated with right/wrong – left/right – black/white.  We are now a “polarized culture”, forced to decide between two opposite options.  What ever happened to the middle ground?

Attention to any of you who only think in black and white:  Gray exists.

I’m amazed that, a full quarter of a century after this gray-haired company officer first received his training, there are still fire departments across the country who don’t understand the concept of “interior command.”

Interior command involves maintain control of the situation from the inside while simultaneously mounting an initial attack.  Yes, this can be done!

In my department, the first arriving fire officer (or firefighter if no officer is there) establishes command on all incidents.  When establishing command, the company officer needs to decide if the incident is better served by establishing exterior command, interior command, or passing command to the next arriving officer.  Each incident will be different, taking into account the fire stage, smoke conditions, need for immediate rescue/extinguishment inside, training and capabilities of his/her crew, ETA of the next company, etc.  In effect, what will be happening in the next five minutes?

If your department establishes command only from the outside, then I would urge you to consider the option of “interior command.”  It may not seem black or white, but that’s just fine…  Gray is OK.  All it takes is a certain number of operational brain cells combined with ensuring that you communicate to everyone- those on scene, those still coming, and dispatch as well- what it is that you have and what it is that you are doing. 

This spring and summer, I’ll be working with Chief Christopher Naum and his Firefighter Netcast program, “Taking It to the Streets,” to explore, among other things, the controversial topic of “too safe” vs. “too aggressive.”  I am looking forward to a passionate discussion from both sides of the debate.  I urge you to participate as well! 

As the series progresses, we may see some middle ground (“gray” if you will) emerge that may hold some viable options for you and your agency/department.  Sign up for free notifications and RSS feeds of all the programming at http://firefighternetcast.com.

Thanks to the audience member who had the foresight to capture Chief Salka’s “point” being made, as well as to the firefighter who, among his peers, risked his neck to dare to disagree- in effect furthering the discussion we so desperately need.  That is really brave, and refreshing!

Be aggressive, be smart, and stay stoked!

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CITY OF CHICAGO MEMORIAL SERVICES FOR RETIRED BATTALION CHIEF RAYMOND C. HOFF OF BATTALION 4 WILL BE HELD ON MARCH 26, 2011 AT HOLY FAMILY, CHURCH, 1080 W. ROOSEVELT ROAD

WAKE (AT CHURCH)
0900 HOURS TO 1100 HOURS FOLLOWED BY A MASS AT 1100 HOURS
UNIFORM MEMBERS WALK‐THRU AT 1030 HOURS

News has reached me that one of the most influential instructors in my career, retired Chicago Fire Battalion Chief Ray Hoff, had passed away earlier today.  This brings great sadness, albeit tempered with thoughts of some of the finest training I was fortunate to receive in my career.

Ray Hoff. Once you see this picture, you begin to know him.

Chief Hoff is a third generation firefighter, serving most of his career as one of Chicago’s finest.  He is the older brother of Chicago Fire Commissioner Robert “Bob’ Hoff, as well as his brother Rick, a white helmet in the Chicago burbs near me.  Ray Hoff is most recently the Chief at Topinabee, Michigan.

The Hoff firefighter is a fireman’s fireman.  They perform their job with pride, honor, and a commitment to each and every brother and sister fortunate enough to work alongside them.  They each ooze “street cred.”

Though they would never substantiate the “rumor,:  Ray and Bob Hoff were the brothers in the movie Backdraft.  The early line of duty death funeral scene is based upon the actual event at the passing of their father, Tommy Hoff.   Their relative silence on that rumor was a testament to their humility.

He was a sought after instructor on many levels, including the Illinois Fire Service Institute, which attracts the crème-de-le-crème.  He lectured extensively on that which he knew best, how to operate safely and effectively on the fireground.  He spoke eloquently on the Paxson Fire in Chicago, straight from his perspective as the first-in truck company at that horrific fire which claimed 20 lives.

In fact, Chief Ray Hoff taught me more on tactics and strategy in one hour than I learned in most 40-hour classes.  He had the ability to speak “with” you, rather than just teach you.  He was at his best when he was in “war story mode”, the way I found most appealing in learning anything regarding firefighting.

Chief Hoff lived and loved the fire service all the days of his life.  In his passing, he certainly left the fire service in much more richer, wiser, and capable hands as he left an indelible footprint in many of our lives, especially mine.

Thank you Chief, from a grateful fire service.  Godspeed.

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not again.....

NIOSH Report 2010-10 is out, and it ain’t pretty.

Familiar? Yes.

Pretty?  Pretty hard to swallow…again.

The report once again shines the tired spotlight upon familiar factors that continue to injure and kill firefighters despite our commitment to “never forget.”

But we are forgetting.

First, a short review of the findings made by NIOSH on this interior attack on a well-involved residence with the report of people trapped inside.

On March 30, 2010 The Homewood (IL) Fire Department arrived and found heavy fire conditions at the rear of the house and moderate smoke conditions elsewhere inside.  A search crew immediately entered to rescue a civilian trapped in the rear of the house, and a handline crew quickly advanced a 2 ½ inch line into the front door.

conditions as crews went interior (photo by Warren Skalski)

From the report, a photo of the A-B corner showing conditions prior to the hostile fire event in which thick, black smoke can be scene billowing out the front door, A-side.   Although difficult to see in this photo, the A-side picture windows are covered in soot.  What can we determine is going on inside as two are searching and two are operating a hoseline?

Here’s a shot of smoke blowing out horizontally from the B-side window after just being broken out by the firefighter there.  Smoke is now pumping out with more speed from the front door.  What is going on “inside the box” where the hoseline and search crews are operating?  Now are we at a point in which we’re just about to kill firefighters?

At this moment, interior crews observed thick black rolling (moving) smoke banked down to knee level.  As ventilation was taking place, the search crew saw flames rolling over through the smoke near the ceiling.

Then it happened.

That which we now all see from the comfort of our laptops and computer monitors- that which we have seen coming for quite some time in this story- moreover that for which we have been trained constantly- a hostile fire event (in this case a flashover) occurs.

It was inevitable here, and it was deadly here.

photo by Warren Skalski

According to the report, the search crew yelled to the hose crew to “get out” as they exited the building, then returned inside to rescue an injured hoseline firefighter.  Once she was brought out, they returned in to find the victim firefighter trapped in his ruptured 2 ½” line with is SCBA facepiece removed.  He was quickly removed and worked on the scene by paramedics before being transported to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

What can you do, reader, to keep this from happening the next time you find yourself on this type of incident, all too common for firefighters throughout the nation?

CONTRIBUTING FACTORS

Let’s see what NIOSH identified as factors which contributed to the death of one firefighter and the injury of another:

• Well involved fire with entrapped civilian upon arrival
• Incomplete 360 degree situational size-up
• Inadequate risk-versus-gain analysis
• Ineffective fire control tactics
• Failure to recognize, understand, and react to deteriorating conditions
• Uncoordinated ventilation and its effect on fire behavior
• Removal of self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) facepiece
• Inadequate command, control, and accountability
• Insufficient staffing.

NIOSH RECOMMENDATIONS

From their investigation, NIOSH offers recommendations which can be extremely useful for any fire department member, officer, training officer, and command staff to get across to their organization before they respond to a similar incident.  Here are their recommendations:

Recommendation #1: Fire departments should ensure that a complete 360 degree situational size-up is conducted on dwelling fires and others where it is physically possible and ensure that a risk versus-gain analysis and a survivability profile for trapped occupants is conducted prior to committing to interior fire fighting operations.

photo by John Ratko

According to this report, a 360 was not done prior to the interior attack, and here’s what they would have seen in this photo shot from the C-side.

Recommendation #2: Fire departments should ensure that interior fire suppression crews attack the fire effectively to include appropriate fire flow for the given fire load and structure, use of fire streams, appropriate hose and nozzle selection, and adequate personnel to operate the hoseline.

The report looks at the handline selection of the interior crew, pointing out the relative maneuverability that an 1 ¾” line has over the deuce and a half used here.

“Fire fighters and officers need to understand that while a 2½-inch hoseline provides a greater flow, fire fighters need to be able to move the line quickly and efficiently interiorly, especially when performing a search and experiencing deteriorating fire conditions.”

Recommendation #3: Fire departments should ensure that fire fighters maintain crew integrity when operating on the fireground, especially when performing interior fire suppression activities.

The report describes a point where the hoseline team became separated.  The 2010 IAFC ROE of Structural Firefighting states, “Go in together, stay together, come out together.”

Recommendation #4: Fire departments should ensure that fire fighters and officers have a sound understanding of fire behavior and the ability to recognize indicators of fire development and the potential for extreme fire behavior.

From the report:  “The search and rescue crew (operating without the protection of a hoseline) were able to make a quick determination that the conditions within the house were imminent to flashover. They made an attempt to alert the victim and injured fire fighter/paramedic, but were too late.”

“If conditions are right for a flashover, there are only seconds to make a decision. Fire fighters will be met with a sudden increase in heat and rollover within the ceiling level. The injured fire fighter/paramedic was unaware that the conditions she was operating in deteriorated quickly. She remembers thick, black smoke pushing down to the floor while in the structure and then “the room and everything in it caught fire.”

“Prior to the flashover, windows on the B-side were vented and thick, black and heavily pressurized smoke billowed from these windows. The IC, and individuals working on the exterior, need to recognize this as a potential for extreme fire behavior and evacuate interior crews. Obtaining proper training and hands-on experience through the use of a flashover simulator may assist interior fire fighters in making sound decisions on when to evacuate a structure fire.”

Recommendation #5: Fire departments should ensure that incident commanders and fire fighters understand the influence of ventilation on fire behavior and effectively coordinate ventilation with suppression techniques to release smoke and heat.

Again, from the report:   “During this incident, uncoordinated ventilation occurred while the hoseline and search and rescue crews were inside the house. The victim and other fire fighters, within the small house, were between the fire and the ventilation source. One fire fighter accounts heavy, turbulent, black smoke pushing from a window on the B-side after it was broken. Shortly after, the house sustained an apparent ventilation-induced flashover.”

Recommendation #6: Fire departments should ensure that fire fighters use their self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) and are trained in SCBA emergency procedures.

The victim firefighter was found with his facepiece removed.  No conclusion has been drawn as to whether he removed it or whether it became dislodged from an exterior force.  But the report emphasizes that firefighters be trained on those SCBA emergency procedures which have been shown to offer the best possible chance for survival.

Recommendation #7: Fire departments should ensure that adequate staffing is available to respond to emergency incidents.

See if you’ve heard this type of staffing report before:

“During this incident, the victim’s department responded with three personnel on the engine and two personnel on the ambulance, but the Still assignment also consisted of an engine, two ladder trucks, and a squad, with four fire personnel on each. It was routine to have an ambulance respond with an engine on a first due fire assignment. Due to short staffing, the ambulance personnel were tasked with fire suppression activities, thus taking them out-of-service as a medical unit.”

“Also, due to short staffing, the lieutenant/acting officer (IC) was required to ride and operate as the officer of E534. This removed him from his command response vehicle which would have allowed him to command at a tactical level versus having to potentially perform tasks.”

[Reader: Insert your emotional comment here]

Recommendation #8: Fire departments should ensure that staff for emergency medical services is available at all times during fireground operations.

During this incident, the victim and the injured fire fighter/paramedic responded in an ambulance.  Upon their arrival to the scene, the IC immediately tasked them with interior operations due to staffing issues. The IC did not request an additional ambulance to respond to the scene for medical care until after the victim was down within the house. Additional resources (e.g., apparatus and personnel) arrived minutes after the ambulance’s arrival.

Recommendation #9: Fire departments and dispatch centers should ensure they are capable of communicating with each other without having to monitor multiple channels/frequencies on more than one radio.

During this incident, the IC had to monitor more than one radio and even had to go to the cab of his engine to accomplish this task. Having to monitor multiple radios and potentially take your eyes off the scene for a moment could be extremely detrimental to the management of the incident.

Recommendation #10: Fire departments should ensure that the incident commander, or designee, maintains close accountability for all personnel operating on the fireground.

During this incident, the accountability system was never set in place and a PAR was not conducted following the Mayday.

Recommendation #11: Fire departments should ensure that fire fighters wear a full array of turnout clothing and personal protective equipment appropriate for the assigned task while participating in fire suppression.

During this incident, the victim was discovered without a hood over his head or rolled down on his neck. NIOSH investigators could not determine whether this equipment was properly donned prior to the incident.

Recommendation #12: Fire departments should ensure that a separate incident safety officer, independent from the incident commander, is appointed at each structure fire.

Although there is no evidence that this recommendation, or certain others made above would have prevented this fatality, it is being provided as a reminder of a good safety practice.

Recommendation #13: Fire departments should ensure that all fire fighters are equipped with a means to communicate with fireground personnel before entering a structure fire.

During this incident, the victim did have a radio, but it was positioned in the back pocket of his station pants. Thus, when he donned his bunker pants, his radio became inaccessible during the incident.

Recommendation #14: The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) should consider developing more comprehensive training requirements for fire behavior to be required in NFPA 1001 Standard for Fire Fighter Professional Qualifications and NFPA 1021 Standard for Fire Officer Professional Qualifications.

Here, here!  Let’s not forget the basics: Building Construction and Fire Behavior!  Check this out and compare it to your training records:

“According to documented training reviewed by NIOSH investigators, the victim, injured fire fighter/paramedic, and IC had a combined 24 hours of fire behavior training out of 5,654 total combined training hours. Additional fire behavior training to include such areas as theory, chemistry, physics, smoke reading, current research, and the cause and effects of tactics during fire suppression operations may improve fire fighter safety.”

24 HOURS BETWEEN THE THREE OF THEM!

Again, I ask you, “How can the death of brother firefighter Brian Carey teach us that his life was not lost in vain?”

Again, I tell you: “Learn from what happened from that day.  Then perform a long hard look at the way your organization operates, and utilize what you’ve learned here to make the changes necessary to ensure you and your brothers head home after the fire.

I can tell you that the news reports here in Chicago are all approaching this story from the standpoint that the fire department was “ill-prepared” in this case.  Imagine how this sucks for this fire department, and each of the members that have to re-live the events of that night all over again- this time while being publicly undressed in the press.

Brian Carey

Then empathize with them and ask yourself how you would feel- as a proud firefighter- if this had been your department?

Don’t allow yourself the superficial response of pointing your finger at this department.  That won’t help now.  Instead, turn the finger back toward yourself and create from this tragic story a positive learning experience and opportunity to improve your situation.

START TODAY!

Stay stoked!

-J

To donate to the Brian Carey Memorial Fund, visit www.rideforboo.org. The site also offers registration for those interested in taking part in the ride to Colorado. Donations also can be made at any First Midwest Bank branch or can be mailed to: Brian Carey Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 1171, Homewood, IL 60430. For more information about any of the events, contact Mike Bell at (708) 653-1394

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Ever have trouble pulling out for a run forgetting you left a coffee cup on the bumper?

Yeah, me too.  In fact, I had this happen several times due to the fact that I couldn’t impress upon a rookie on my crew to make a walk around the engine before it moves.  After losing a particularly valuable piece of equipment left on the tailboard after a call, I knew I had to figure out a better way to get my point across to this hapless lad.

Bear with me here.

I grew up in the 70’s.  You know, the generation that brought us both Led Zeppelin AND the Captain and Tennille.   “Convoy” by C.W. McCall AND Aerosmith.  Mac Davis (“Baby Baby Don’t Get Hooked on Me”) and Foreigner (btw, Foreigner 4 is the all-time best break-up album ever).  Terry Jacks, Elton John, Neil Sedaka,… I think I just puked a little bit in my mouth.

I was there when disco came, and I was there at Comiskey Park in July of ’79 when we brought death and destruction to disco- and the double header scheduled for that night.

The 70’s have been described as one of the most musically diverse decades ever.  I’ve also heard it described as one of the most “musically-dead” eras in recent memory.  But through all the Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd, and Electric Light Orchestra songs, I always had a secret dream to become a rock star.

Who hasn’t?  Oh the life of a rock star.  Sex, drugs, rock and roll, sex, travel, sex, partying… rock stardom had all the perks.

Speaking of perks, who can forget the most famous concert riders brought to us courtesy of Van Halen?  TSG has obtained a copy of the rider requesting that, among a myriad of other items, M&M candies be supplied in the crew room at the concert venue.  The rider specifically stated: “WARNING: ABSOLUTELY NO BROWN ONES”

Well, I guess this is one of the perks of being a rock star!  You can basically demand anything you want backstage, all the while being freakishly weird about said demands.  I can vouch for the fact that brown M&M’s do not taste any differently from yellow ones or blue ones (although there does seem to be a subtle difference to those sought-after green M&M’s…).

Now, you may ask what this has to do with firefighting.

To which I will return the volley with a question of my own:  Did you ever hear the real reason behind the specific request of ABSOLUTELY NO BROWN ONES?

Read on as David Lee Roth describes in Snopes.com:

“Van Halen was the first band to take productions into tertiary, third-level markets.  We’d pull up with eighteen-wheeler trucks, full of gear, where the standard was three trucks, max.  And there were many, many technical errors- whether it was the girders couldn’t support the weight, or the flooring would sink in, or, the doors weren’t big enough to move the gear through.

The contract rider read like a version of the Chinese Yellow Pages because there was so much equipment, and so many human beings to make it function.  So just as a little test, in the technical aspect of the rider, it would say “Article 148: There will be fifteen amperage voltage sockets at twenty-foot spaces, evenly, providing nineteen amperes…”  This kind of thing.  And article number 126, in the middle of nowhere, was: “There will be no brown M&M’s in the backstage area, upon pain of forfeiture of the show, with full compensation.”

So, when I would walk backstage, if I saw a brown M&M in that bowl… well, line-check the entire production.  Guaranteed you’re going to arrive at a technical error.  They didn’t read the contract.  Guaranteed you’d run into a problem.  Somewhere it would threaten to just destroy the whole show.  Something like, literally, life-threatening.

The folks in Pueblo, Colorado, at the university, took the written contract rather kinda casual.  They had one of those new rubberized bouncy basketball floorings in their arena.  They hadn’t read the contract, and weren’t sure, really, about the weight of this production; this thing weighed like the business end of a 747.

I came backstage.  I found some brown M&M’s, I went into full Shakespearean “What is this before me?” … you know, with the skull in one hand..and promptly trashed the dressing room.  Dumped the buffet, kicked a hole in the door, twelve thousand dollars’ worth of fun.

The staging sank through their floor.  They didn’t bother to look at the weight requirement or anything, and this sank through their new flooring and did eighty thousand dollars’ worth of damage to the arena floor.  The whole thing had to be replaced.  It came out in the press that I discovered brown M&M’s and did eighty-five thousand dollars’ worth of damage to the backstage area.

Well, who am I to get in the way of a good rumor.”

David Lee Roth put into place an automatic check, an indicator of sorts, as to the attention to detail he needed.  I took his lead and put my own indicator into play, in order to get the crew into the habit of doing a quick 360 around our expensive apparatus full of expensive, life-saving equipment.

Upon a small Styrofoam coffee cup, I wrote the message: “When you find me, deliver me to your Lieutenant.”  Then, I left it somewhere on the apparatus that it would readily be found by the engineer (“drivers” in some areas, “Lieutenants” in Roanoke) as he performed the quick 360 before moving the apparatus.

If we moved before I got the cup, I’d just smile and wait if he would spot it at some point later.  To his credit, he picked up on it pretty quickly.  We even got to the point we saved a ten thousand dollar TIC from certain damage if not total loss.

So the fire service could do well from the example given us by a rock star.  Pay attention to the details and we’ll all do just fine.

Now back to XM channel 7 and Al Stewart’s “Time Passages”….  More puke in my throat.

“ABSOLUTELY NO BROWN ONES”

Stay stoked!

-J

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