Education and Training
DAVID PEASE — REDS Team | 04/26/2010

Spring is here and we are going to see more folks on the road enjoying the weather and traveling, which also means more motor vehicle crashes. Now is the time to start training again in vehicle extrication — especially before the summer gets here and it’s vacation time and so hot that it’s hard to get your folks to train. Grab your gear and let’s get at it.

KEEPING YOU SAFE
BRADLEY DEAN | 01/11/2010

We are at the beginning of a safety revolution in EMS. For many years, safety issues have taken a backseat to the pressures of keeping the trucks rolling. Throughout the process we have learned about the dangers our paramedics and EMTs face in the line of duty, and it has become increasingly difficult to ignore the facts staring us in the face.

Fire
S. JOSEPH WOODALL | 01/11/2010

Is it just me or is excellent customer service getting harder and harder to find? It appears that our national culture is suffering from a lack of commitment in completely and thoroughly assisting a customer to a positive outcome. The root-causes are many: personnel shortages, a stressful workplace, increasing financial and family challenges, low pay, off-shoring, low morale, automation and on and on. In many of my encounters ‘good’seems to be the benchmark but ‘good’ is somewhere in the middle of the customer service continuum; probably better than average but well below outstanding and excellent.

NCAHMR
Glenn Clapp | 10/18/2009

Imagine that you are a hazmat team member responding to a product leak from a chlorine railcar in your jurisdiction. Upon arrival of your team, you begin to “work” the incident in a traditional manner. The leaking railcar is identified. The product is confirmed to be chlorine. PPE compatibility is checked. Decontamination is set up. A Recon Group suits up to make an entry. A Back-Up Group suits up to stand by. The ICS structure is established. As a member of the Recon Group, you perform air monitoring en route to the railcar and notice that the leak appears to be emanating from the protective housing. 

Education and Training
DAVID PEASE | 10/18/2009

Continuing education
Last issue I talked about a major concern with the NC budget and the possibility of the community colleges having to charge public safety for continuing education classes in North Carolina. A lot of hard work went into e-mailing, calling and meeting with local house representatives and senators to have that issue removed from the new budget. Luckily, we will not have to pay for classes for the next two years. But please remember that this is the second time this has come up and I am sure it will come up again. Everyone needs to stay abreast of this and work toward keeping things status quo for the future.

Haz Mat
Matt Scullion and Lou Banks | 10/18/2009

There are a variety of technologies and techniques for detecting and identifying biologics, each with its advantages and disadvantages. All of these techniques have been derived from traditional laboratory practices and have evolved at different levels for use in the field by hazmat and first responders. Using a multi-tier approach and capitalizing on multiple technologies can bolster confidence in incident response and management. It is logical that the application of multiple techniques would add to the chances of a better response to an incident, but there is a cost associated that can be measured in training and logistics. Understanding the different classes of biologic detection technologies, their advantages, disadvantages, and logistics requirements can help hazmat and first responders better prepare for and frame the efficacy of their response.

Rescue
DAVE MURPHY | 04/26/2010

If you are old enough, you may remember the TV commercials depicting the kindly supermarket manager named Mr. Whipple squeezing the Charmin toilet paper? It was neither too hard nor too soft; it was “just right.”

From an employer’s viewpoint, what makes an employee “just right?” What traits do employers — including emergency service providers — actually seek when hiring or promoting someone?

FIRE
Mike Coffey | 07/25/2010

In this section, we will look into fire streams. Noticing that this is a large “can of worms” that evokes strong feelings, let’s choose to keep an open mind and use this as a training topic. More or less — why do fire streams exist? They are our main battle tool against “old man fire.” There are as many uses for different streams as there are different fires. Some fires require smaller lines with low gallon per minute flow; some fires require more water application than we can provide with equipment on scene or requested.

Equipment
Ron Moore | 01/11/2010

Rescuers across this country are becoming increasingly aware that automakers are integrating new, tougher and stronger steel into their newest model vehicles so they can meet new government crash standards. The industry term ‘Boron’ is becoming more and more familiar to vehicle rescue personnel as well as our rescue tool vendors. Boron is just one of the various types of a new alloy steel family that are called ‘advanced steels.’ Boron, Martensite, Dual Phase, and TRIP steel are all examples of this new generation of steel that is challenging rescue personnel. It is 25 percent lighter in weight and eight times stronger than the steel we are currently used to in vehicles.

Fire
| 04/26/2010

Whether you’re on vacation with friends or looking for things the whole family can enjoy, your vacation at Myrtle Beach is guaranteed to be the best you’ve ever had. The Myrtle Beach area, also known as the Grand Strand, features something for everyone. Sixty miles of pristine uninterrupted beach, water parks dripping in fun, shopping excursions, toe-tapping live theatre shows, over 1,600 restaurants and more than 100 championship golf courses, it’s no wonder that the Myrtle Beach area one of the leading vacation destinations in the country!

Myrtle Beach’s most popular attraction is, of course, the beach. Besides working on an even tan, beachgoers can swim, surf, parasail, fish, jet-ski or kite-board. Sea shell collecting is at its prime in the clean, fine, white sand, while sand castle building is a must. The fishing is plentiful, either right in the surf or from the eight fishing piers along the Myrtle Beach area coastline.