Jim McClure | 04/21/2013

(Note: This is part two of a multi-issue topic.) Last issue I spoke about programming and specifications to build a firehouse. This issue’s topic is the plans themselves. I am a firm believer in making sure people understand the why of something. Probably because I need to understand the why of something before I can totally accept it. So before we dive any deeper perhaps I should explain a couple of things. Who Needs the Plans? In order to build a modern 21st century firehouse the plan set will be 100 to 150 pages in length. You won’t understand most of them at first glance and you won’t understand some of them at all, ever. Read More...

Relevant Tags: THE STATION HOUSE, electrical, plumbing electrical, station house, architectural plans, understanding architectural

Glenn Hamm | 04/21/2013

A vital element of a water delivery system, which cannot be overlooked, is the hose you select. Modern fire hose has improved tremendously. Therefore, many of “the rules” such as tip size in relation to hose diameter; maximum flow capabilities and fire hose friction loss have changed. In fact, it is now possible to get big water through one and three-quarter, two and two and one-half inch hose! Read More...

Relevant Tags: hose, fire, water, friction, fire hose, friction loss, hose friction, delivery system

David Greene | 04/21/2013

I write this quarter with a heavy heart. On January 27, 2013, a fire occurred at the Kiss Nightclub in Santa Maria, Brazil. Tragically, 236 people were killed as a result of the fire. The fire cause was a familiar one. A pyrotechnic was fired during a band’s performance which ignited soundproofing foam on the ceiling. Media reports indicate that the fire spread was only exceeded by the smoke. Additionally, it was reported that security, thinking that evacuees were trying to leave without paying their tabs, stopped the initial evacuees at the primary means of egress. This incident is disturbingly similar to one that occurred in a small town i... Read More...

Relevant Tags: ignition, building, bob dylan, soundproofing foam, rhode island, albert einstein

Glenn Clapp, CHMM, CFPS | 04/21/2013

The mere mention of the term “Globally Harmonized System” probably conjures up images of new age philosophy or persons sitting in a circle playing drums when mentioned in the company of hazardous materials/emergency responders. In all actuality, the Globally Harmonized System (GHS) impacts all hazmat responders and even responders not on the “glow bug” side of things in the realms of both response and everyday station life. In this article, we will take a close look at what the GHS is, discuss how the GHS impacts us, and discover the required training and usage elements of the GHS. The Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelin... Read More...

Relevant Tags: SIXTY ONE DELTA ONE, hazard, ghs, hazardous, responders, safety, labels, hcs, harmonized system, revised hcs, hazardous materials, globally harmonized, revised hcs/ghs, safety data, hazard pictograms, data sheets, hazard categories

August Vernon | 04/21/2013

Threats With the recent mass shooting/active shooter incidents it is important that first responders and planners are aware of these incidents and how to respond to them. Regardless of where you work, you and your agency will likely face the challenge of responding to incidents that may include acts of large scale violence towards civilians and acts of violence towards responders. These can and do occur in urban, suburban, metro and rural settings. In fact, typically these incidents occur in smaller to midsize communities. These responses will require an immediate “joint” response including law enforcement, fire and EMS. This article will fo... Read More...

Relevant Tags: COMMAND AND CONTROL, incident, fire, command, scene, ems, incidents, law enforcement, fire ems, command control, unified command, first responders, life safety, firefighter life, violence incident

Willie Wimmer | 04/21/2013

Well boys and girls we are going to pick up where we left off on the last article — being an engineer. This was a request from one of my friends from Carolina Trace Fire Dept. We briefly discussed the area of being an engineer in the last article but we did not discuss it fully, which is what we are going to do at this time. Read More...

Relevant Tags: ALL ABOUT TRUCKS, fire, water, fire ground, shades red, willie wimmer

Ed Henry | 04/21/2013

The winch is probably the most common machine used in rigging today. The winch theory is used throughout most cities with traction elevators, on tow trucks, at construction sites, shipping yards and industrial work sites. All most all fire departments have some type of winch, whether it’s in the form of a small manual come along, or the industrial rated Grip Hoist or specs for a large 50,000 gross vehicle weight (GVW) rescue company. Some basic terms that many people get mixed up on — it is not called cable! Its correct term is wire rope. Slang or jargon you will hear it referenced as, “wire” or even “rope” in the elevator trade or on constr... Read More...

Relevant Tags: ALL ABOUT TRUCKS, winch, rope, wire, fire, operations, safety, drum, wire rope, winch operations, snatch block, fire service

Wayne Bailey | 04/21/2013

Spring is in the air and baseball season is upon us. Talking about sports, a fatal mistake for a coach to make is to misjudge the playing level of his players. Pro basketball player Jeremy Lin comes to my mind. He was playing in the D-League in the 2011-2012 season where he warmed the bench for the New York Nicks until he was put on the starting lineup in February 2012. He was unknown to the basketball world. That single opportunity gave the Nicks an unexpected winning streak. From that winning streak, Lin coined the phrase, “Linsanity.” What made the difference? Did he really train hard for a few months to give him the skills to win? Did th... Read More...

Relevant Tags: fire, job, direction, coach, rescue, support system, emergency responders, wayne bailey

Jeff Barnes and John Kelley | 04/21/2013

No matter if a fire department or EMS unit is all volunteers, all paid or a combination, population growth throughout the Southeast has placed increased demand on all emergency service providers. Over the past 20 years, urban sprawl has led to larger town and city footprints and rural areas planting septic tanks instead of crops. These service providers are constantly faced with the issue of facility renovation/expansion as well as the need for additional facilities as a result of the growth within their service districts. The need for improved facilities is driven by the departments’ desire to provide the best service to their customers, th... Read More...

Relevant Tags: THE STATION HOUSE, site, new, system, property, building, road system, site selection, service providers, emergency facilities, site considerations, station house, design build

Douglas Cline | 04/21/2013

A training program that is not comprehensive, effective and/or efficient must be changed! When you consider how events have impacted our operations in recent years, we as the fire service have taken on EMS, hazardous materials, weapons of mass destruction, and terrorism, just to name a few. The need for training has always been prevalent but does this topic get the needed attention to detail? In talking with a lot of departments from small rural volunteer groups to large municipal departments this area seems to be the one that takes a back burner to most every other task in the fire service. Read More...

Relevant Tags: fire, training, service, safety, fire service, training program, overhauling training, life safety, safety initiatives, hazardous materials

Carrie Capili | 04/21/2013

Firefighters, hazmat professionals and emergency services personnel in heavy gear are no strangers to the risk of heat-related injuries. Emergency responders are constantly exposed to the dangers of hot indoor/outdoor environments, structural and/or wildland fires, and an abundance of heavy personal protective equipment to mitigate other safety risks. So how do we protect our men and women on the front lines of emergency response from the dangers of heat-related injuries? Read More...

Relevant Tags: HEAT STRESS PREVENTION, heat, conditions, environmental, temperature, stress, injuries, wbgt, emergency, heat stress, environmental conditions, wet bulb, monitoring environmental, stress prevention, temperature humidity

Kevin P. Ensor and Joseph G. Ferko III, D.O., M.S. | 04/21/2013

(This is part one of a two-part series on incident rehab.) Fire fighting requires the same precautions as any sporting event or high-intensity, high-stress activity. This is true in both cold and hot environments and can involve serious injury or even death if not given the same considerations as an equivalent sporting activity. Sudden cardiac death has consistently been the number-one cause of firefighter line-of-duty deaths (LODDs) each year in the United States. (Fahy, RF, LeBlanc, PR, and Molis, JL (2010). Firefighter fatalities in the United States-2009 and U.S. fire service fatalities in structure fires, 1977-2009. This was retrieved f... Read More...

Relevant Tags: fire, heat, body, emergency, fire departments, blood flow, heat stress, ems innovations, safety health, fire fighting, incident rehab, cold stress, hospital emergency

Daniel J. Cimini | 04/21/2013

This article will explain the importance of testing ground ladders and fire hose to the NFPA Standards. This article will cover some of NFPA 1932 and NFPA 19 minimum requirements for establishing an inspection, maintenance, and testing program for your ground ladders and fire hose: NFPA 1932 Standard on Use, Maintenance, and Service Testing of In-Service Fire Department Ground Ladders NFPA 1962 Standard for Inspection, Care, and Use of Fire Hose, Couplings, and Nozzles and the Service Testing of fire Hose. NFPA 1932 Standard on Use, Maintenance, and Service Testing of In-Service Fire Department Ground Ladders specifies requirements for the u... Read More...

Relevant Tags: ALL ABOUT TRUCKS, hose, fire, testing, use, nfpa, ladders, inspection, fire hose, ground ladders, hose couplings, fire department, couplings nozzles, nozzles appliances, nfpa 1962, service testing

CFJ Staff | 04/21/2013

Station York Fire Department Type Department: Combination Number of Stations: 1 Do you provide EMS? Yes, BLS only. Specialty Operations: Extrication and Rescue. Annual Budget: $748,081.00 Area Covered Square miles: Sixty-four square miles — largest in the county. Population: 25,000 Total Runs: 952 Fire: 647 EMS: 305 Chief: Domenic Manera Chief Officers: Assistant Chief Gary Good Other Officers: 1 Captain, 3 Lieutenants Number of Members: 39, 9 paid and one administration (non FF) Address: 14 North Roosevelt Street, York, SC 29745 Email: dmanera@yorkcitysc.com Phone: 803-684-1700 Read More...

Relevant Tags: Fire Station Profile, fire, station, department, ems, profile, fire station, station profile, fire department, operations extrication, extrication rescue

Doug Edenburn, NREMT-P | 04/21/2013

There can be little doubt that evidence based medicine is here to stay. EMS has seen a number of treatments and gadgets added to its bag of tricks in the past decade or so thanks to this concept. Conversely, more than a few treatments have fallen victim to the unforgiving standards of evidence based practice. At its core, evidence-based medicine requires that clinicians make treatment decisions consistent with sound scientific support. Scientific evidence is demonstrated through a variety of research methods, the results of which are most commonly presented in the form of research papers published in academic journals. The ability to read an... Read More...

Relevant Tags: EMS 2013, research, ems, paper, medical, basic, medical research, ems providers, clinical research, research paper, secondary research, epidemiological research, basic research, evidence based, ems provider