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Blog Carnival 5: Minimum Standards?

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I have had this discussion several times with fellow fire service professionals.  It is something that is also asked of me in a more indirect manner by friends and family when talking about my job.  The fire service professional usually has one answer and my family and friends are shocked that there aren’t any standards.

Personally, I believe that there needs to be, at least at the state level, a system that requires continuing education and minimum job performance evaluations.  I have heard that the last thing the fire service needs is more unfunded mandates required by non-firefighting personnel.  To that comment, I agree.  However, it cannot be overlooked that we are in a time and era of firefighting like we have never seen before.  We have all heard someone say that “this ain’t your father’s fire service anymore.”

I have been a paramedic for 17 years and I am required to acquire a certain number of continuing education units over a five year period.  In addition, the CEU’s must be in particular categories and areas in order to keep me a well rounded educated paramedic.  It works and it is expected by the public.  After all, do you want a medic that is keeping up with the profession or one that got his license and then never did another thing in his career working on you or your family?

Well, that is exactly what we have in the fire service. We have what I believe is a majority of our peers getting “in” and never doing anything extra.  I know firefighters who are more interested in their side jobs and hobbies than they are in the profession in which so many depend on his skills.  I have heard one say that he has no desire to go get any extra training or to read the trade publications because he “just isn’t that in to it.”  WTF!

I have seen guys fight and fight to get into the academy. They spend ten weeks learning very basic information that must be continually expanded on and re-learned over years to become proficient.  Then they get hired and never do another thing in their career.  This leave us open for scrutiny and makes the fire service a dangerous place.

Although I am not a big fan of making government a part of the fire service as we know it, I am fearful that if we don’t fix some of our own problems they will fix them for us.  Part of the fix should include requiring recertification, fitness testing and job performance evaluations. Now before some of you have a complete seizure, hear me out.

First, there should a required number of CEU’s that must be obtained in each discipline over a predetermined amount of time.  For example, you have to get formal training in ventilation, forcible entry, etc, every three years.  Yes, your employment would depend on it, just like my medic license. I want to know that the person crawling down the hall is up to date with our SCBA techniques and rescue drills in the event that something goes bad.

As I said before, I don’t think that this should be regulated by a national standard so much as state oversight.  The reason I say this, as much as I would like to see a national standard, is that each state is unique in its needs.  If you are a firefighter in California you will need more extensive training in wildland than someone in Missouri.  The examples are endless, so I believe each state should meet minimum national requirements and then can adapt their own program.

I think we only hurt ourselves when we don’t train and encourage measurable professional development.  We owe it to the people we protect and to our peers and to our families to be highly trained and educated professionals.  The only way to be “professional” is to continually train and learn about our profession.

Posted by on July 29, 2010 • Filed under: administration-leadership, command-leadership, fire-rescue-topics, forcible entry, scba, search, training-development, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: , , , , ,

What Do You See?

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I am a big fan of companies getting out and scoping out their response area. Just when you think you have seen it all, something catches your eye that you missed the other 100 times you passed it by.  We all know what I am talking about.

Look at the picture above. As a fire service leader, what do you see?  What have you learned from your years of experience and training about these types of buildings?

What is of significance?

What is of significance that you see right away but the new guy might not have a clue about?

As an officer that will be making the initial decisions on this building you have a great responsibility to know as much about this structure as you can.  It will certainly help you to make the best possible decision about your tactics.

Take the time to sit with your crews and look at the features of this building. What type of construction is it?  What type of occupancy is it?  Why are both so important?  It just might mean the difference of saving the occupants and yourself.

Stay safe and be careful.

Posted by on July 28, 2010 • Filed under: buildling construction, command-leadership, engineered lumber, fire codes, fire stopping, fire-rescue-topics, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, i joists, rescues, residential sprinklers, situational awareness, training-fire-rescue-topics, trusses, ventilation • Tagged: , , , , , ,

Changes in Building Features

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Changes in building features.

These pictures show how buildings are altered over the years and with change of ownership and/or occupancy type.

You can see that what used to be windows are now bricked in.

This is very common on older buildings that had numerous windows and in some cases they are not very efficient.  Owners will frame or brick them in just to eliminate the problem all together.

The problem is we don’t know what the inside sill and frame-out of the inside of the window is like.

This is important to note when your doing your 360 or pre-planning.

When firefighters become lost or disoriented we are taught to find a window or door on an outside wall.  The inside of this building may feel like windows to the gloved hand, but in reality it has been blocked up.

A firefighter may spend a great deal of time and energy trying to get out the “window” and not move on to an actual egress point.

Keep these things in mind and get to know your area. We probably all have these buildings with these feature changes in our area and we have an obligation to point these out to our newer firefighters.  Stay prudent and be involved in your jurisdiction’s building construction and occupancy types.

Stay safe and keep cool.

Posted by on July 24, 2010 • Filed under: buildling construction, command-leadership, exits, fire codes, fire-rescue-topics, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, mayday, RIT, search, situational awareness, training-development, training-fire-rescue-topics, vacant building fires • Tagged: , , , , , ,

Adapting–The Rest of the Story

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First, let thank you all for the comments.  There are no right or wrong answers, just great thoughts and ideas for us to all think about and learn from.  Now, the rest of the story.

The rest of the story.

There is nothing earth shattering here, but I learned two valuable lessons on this fire.

When we pulled up on this fire, the first arriving engines were all two man cabs. We didn’t have jump seats in any of our trucks at the time. I did some digging and found out that this fire was in 1997.

The drive was narrow and we got hung up in the ditch, blocking the drive right off the bat.  Luckily we had multiple trucks rolling at the dispatch and we had adequate personnel.

The first crew stretched a 1 3/4 inch line in through the side B door in the kitchen and advanced up the stairs.  The first floor had no smoke or fire at this time.  It became apparent fairly quickly that the initial attack was not making any progress.

We advanced a second line, a 2 1/2 inch stretch up the same stairs and made a very fast knock down.  The importance of this is that we did this with less than 1000 gallons of water.  Why do I stress this?

I have had debates about using large lines when water supplies are limited or late in developing.  When asked about using a larger line the response is that they would not use one because they will run out of water too fast.  My rebuttal is always that they may just get enough gpm on the fire to put it out before you run out of water.  That is exactly what we did.  Oh, and two guys handled the hose!

So, lesson 1 is big fire equals big water. If the fire is advanced enough that you will run out of water, it wont make any difference what size your line is. But, the larger line will put out more fire in that short amount of time.

While we were up stairs fighting fire, there was a crew in the living room doing some work. They had started salvage operations in the unaffected part of the house.  Understand that we didn’t need extensive ventilation and we had adequate manpower.  But, they stacked and covered everything in the living room and did the same in other rooms that were appropriate.

This ended up paying off big with the homeowner. As happy as they were about us putting out their fire, they were just as happy, or even more so, that we protected what had not been damaged by fire but would have been by the water.  When they were interviewed by the paper they went on and on about our efforts to protect all of their property.

So, lesson number 2 is to take the time to perform salvage operations if manpower and conditions permit. It is something that is too often overlooked.

By the way, there was no basement here, but all of you are correct in assuming this until you know for sure.  All of the responses were great and I really appreciate the time that you took to share.

Stay safe and be careful.

Posted by on July 22, 2010 • Filed under: administration-leadership, command-leadership, fire-rescue-topics, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, fires, training-development, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: , , , , ,

Excellent Training Opportunities

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Don’t miss these training opportunities. The Brotherhood Instructors provide all facets of fire service training. You really need to attend one of their trainings.

Here is some training from Traditions Training.  Again, if your looking for some of the best training offered, these two groups of guys can get for you.

Posted by on July 21, 2010 • Filed under: training-development, training-fire-rescue-topics, Uncategorized • Tagged: , ,

New Smoke Detector Ordinance in Albany, CA

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Here is a good read from Albany, CA. The city just passed an ordinance making photoelectric smoke detectors mandatory in new construction.

This is a huge step and you should take some time to do some research about the pros and cons for each type of detector.

Real quick, photoelectric detectors are more conducive for smoldering fires; lot’s of smoke, and ionization are quicker to detect visible flame. The argument is that most people die in fires from smoke, not flame and the photoelectric picks up smoke faster than the flame is recognized using an ionization detector.

This has become huge in on campus housing.

Here is the link: Albany, CA Smoke Detector Ordinance

Posted by on July 21, 2010 • Filed under: Uncategorized • Tagged: , ,

Removal Up Stairs–Video

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This is a video we did for a company drill. I know that everyone has their favorite method and some will not like using webbing for this. This is just an additional option you have. It really does give a little assistance with lifting. We have found we have a bit more leverage using the webbing.

However, you have to practice and practice with webbing in order to be proficient, otherwise it takes too long.

Stay safe and be careful.

Posted by on July 20, 2010 • Filed under: fire-rescue-topics, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, mayday, rescues, RIT, search, training-development, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: , , ,

Adapting

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What size line would you take?

This was a fire I was on one night over ten years ago.  It was a great learning fire and the tactics had to be changed for a successful stop.

I can tell you that a great deal went right this night and there were things that happened away from the fire that paid huge dividends.

If you are the first arriving unit and officer, explain where your going and what your doing.  I’ll give you a little information to help you along.

-This is in a rural area, no hydrants.

-The house is old. Old newspaper and straw were found in the walls during overhaul.

-We had plenty of manpower.

-On side B there is a door that leads to the kitchen and the stairs go up from the kitchen on that side, just so you know.

I would like to see a great deal of feedback on this one.  Please let me know what operations would be going on away from the fire.  After I get enough comments, I will post what we did and why it worked.

As always, thanks for your continued support and use this however you want for your training purposes.

Stay safe and be careful out there.

Posted by on July 18, 2010 • Filed under: administration-leadership, buildling construction, command-leadership, fire-rescue-topics, firefighting-operations, fires, overhaul, situational awareness, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Residential or Commercial Alarm?

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Residential or commercial?

Even in this downturn in the economy, there are still very large homes being built.  In many cases these homes are over 5,000 square feet of total living area.

This creates a significant problem for many fire departments, especially smaller, more rural ones, in regards to tactics.

We are fighting these fires with traditional methods and resources. In many cases it just isn’t enough.  Add to the those issues that these are all built using light-weight construction, we have a recipe for disaster, as we have seen across our country.

Firefighters are falling through floors immediately after entering.  Roofs are collapsing much earlier than before.  Contents are causing fires to burn faster and reach untenable temperatures much earlier in the fire.  The larger area requires the firefighters to search longer and further into a building than in the past.

We need to look at these structures a little differently when confronted with a working fire in them.  Here are some considerations that should not be overlooked on these fires:

1. Your going to need more water, get it rolling fast.

2. A 360 is a must. You don’t know what you might have on the back side. 4 stories, victims hanging out windows, location of the fire, etc.

3. A larger line. It may be very prudent to pull a 2 1/2 as your first line of attack.

4. More manpower may be needed due to the multiple functions needed because of the size.  You may treat this alarm like a commercial alarm.

5. Search lines. In these very large homes, it is not out of the question to use a search line.

These are the primary items that you can’t discount. You may need to think differently on these larger home fires to have a positive outcome. I have seen departments burn these houses down because they were using tactics for an 1100 square foot building on a 5500 square foot house.

With the open floor plans and the light weight building materials, fire develops very fast in these homes. Anticipate that and plan for it. Adjust and have back up plans.  Never be afraid to regroup to get it right.

Feel free to add to the concerns, I encourage you to contribute. After all, that is what makes this so much fun.

Stay safe and stay low. Don’t forget to hydrate all day in this heat. Carry around some water and sip on it all day.

Posted by on July 16, 2010 • Filed under: buildling construction, command-leadership, engineered lumber, fire-rescue-topics, firefighter-safety-health, i joists, RIT, situational awareness, training-fire-rescue-topics, trusses, ventilation • Tagged: , , , , ,

Crisis Leadership

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When I presented at FDIC I had a few evaluations that were disappointed in the lack of “solutions” to some of the issues that I present.  The following is some of what did not get covered at FDIC due to limited time.  For those that might have been in the above category at FDIC 2010, I had 1 hour 45 minutes to fit a 4 hour class.

So, I hope this addresses some of those concerns.  It does not address all of them, but hits the point of Crisis Leadership.  However, I believe that you can apply much of what is in this submission to most situations, just slightly modified.

Thanks for reading and please pass on any ideas or methods that you have used that have been successful.

As always, stay safe and keep hydrated in this heat.

When I teach my class “A Firefighter’s Own Worst Enemy” I discuss behaviors and actions that are detrimental to the person, his fellow firefighters, the officers and the organization.  One of the biggest factors in this equation is leadership.

We toss that word around in the fire service all of the time, yet, I am not so sure many know what it really means to be a leader.  We have all seen the promotion happen and the new officer expects to be a leader but has never had any real leadership training and hasn’t practiced leadership prior to the promotion.  Leadership is more than just bossing people around and making decisions about what the daily schedule is going to be.  It is even more than telling your folks what to do on the fire ground.

There are many aspects of leadership, but today we are going to talk about leadership during rough times.  I’m going to focus on crisis leadership and how it relates to how we cultivate our people in the fire house and on the fire ground.  We have to prepare them to make decisions.  Let’s face it, you are not always going to be there to guide them, so we have to set them up to succeed.

As was mentioned in the above paragraph, we have to practice leadership.  It doesn’t just show up and is not obtainable for everyone.  Sure, there are characteristics and methods that you can copy and learn from other leaders, but the fact is that you have to create some of your own style based on the people you are leading and the goals of the organization.  One of the most important parts of our profession is preparing our people for battle.

Firefighters must make split-second decisions that result in life or death consequences.  In some circumstances what we do and the decisions we make could determine whether or not someone lives or dies.  It could be the people that we protect or us.  We have to instill in our firefighters and officers the ability to make those decisions and the education and training to make the correct decisions.

When we speak of crisis leadership, we are talking about decisions during an emergency.  Sure, a crisis could happen in the firehouse, but for this article, I am speaking of fire ground decision making.  That is where we are getting injured and killed and where some of our decisions are most important.  But, the molding of good leaders will carry over into the firehouse, making the company and organization better.

When you are a company officer, you have to lead by example and your expectations must be made clear.  It is not a matter of coming in and telling everyone that you are in charge and that they must listen to you. It is a matter of you coming in and showing that you are in charge and the leader by your actions.  You present yourself the way you want your firefighters to present themselves.  You convey a positive attitude and you don’t complain about everything that is wrong with the place or the job.  Additionally, you train and work hard and you put great effort into improvement and you’re cool under pressure.

If you want your people to be calm and collected during times of crisis, take a look at the leader and that will tell you if the crew is or isn’t.  During crisis moments, the leader must set a direction that is clear and concise.  The initial decisions are crucial and will dictate how the rest of the incident goes.  The leader will evaluate the situation at hand and determine what tactics to take, what resources will be needed and will already be thinking of a backup plan.

If things start to go bad, the good leader doesn’t get flustered and will not stick to failed plan just because he is worried about how he will be judged.  He understands that plans don’t always work, even when based on good information.  Changing a course of action, even in the fire house, when something is not working is a true sign of a leader.  It isn’t so much admitting that you are wrong, but that you can adapt and change the course of action to get to the desired outcome.  This teaches them to make decisions and not to be afraid of being wrong.

With these leadership skills we are obligated to pass along to our people the decision making skills that are necessary to be effective during a crisis.  By doing this, we ensure their progress as a firefighter and future officer, but we also ensure that when you are not there, they are confident enough to make tough decisions without retribution.  This is crucial and will be discussed more in a future article.

If a leader is truly a leader, he will be able to get buy-in or commitment of his decisions.  This is not based on his authority for rank necessarily, but rather on the trust he has built over time.  As he has made decisions with his team, they have learned that his decisions are based on the overall good of the company and not self-motivated.  This type of commitment is important for the leader to have during times of crisis.  Typically it results in clear communication and a common goal between the leader and the crew.

The ultimate result is a crisis situation that goes smoothly and is successfully mitigated.  That is what it’s all about anyway, right?  In addition, you are showing your team members how to be leaders and not telling them how. Remember, leadership is not something that you get or have and then that’s it.  Leadership is a dynamic process by which you are able to continually motivate people to do the things that they want to do very well along with getting them to do the things they don’t want to do even better.  If they trust your purpose of your motivations, they will continue to operate as a well oiled machine while at the same time making you look very good.

Posted by on July 14, 2010 • Filed under: administration-leadership, command-leadership • Tagged: , , ,

Water Rescue-Rope Throw

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This is a nice little video that shows how to make a secondary throw. Typically you will make the initial throw with the rope bag and hopefully you hit the mark. However, in emergency services, we know it is good to have a back up plan. This shows how to throw the rope again.

This is a skill that needs to be practiced to be effective. Flash flooding happens very quickly and can require us to take fast action. Be ready and be safe.

Cascade Safety did the video and you can find them by clicking here.

Posted by on July 12, 2010 • Filed under: rescues, special-operations, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: , , ,

Bailout Anchoring Techniques

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Here is another video from our friend Dale Pekel. In this video he shows some techniques to anchor for a bailout. You may not agree with all of these methods, but it is good information.

I recommend trying these and modifying them as you play around with them. There is nothing like practicing and trying new methods when it comes to firefighter operations and drills.

As always, stay safe and be careful.

Posted by on July 10, 2010 • Filed under: fire-rescue-topics, firefighter-safety-health, rescues, RIT, situational awareness, training-development, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: , , , , , ,

Elevator Operations

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This is a good video on operating a typical elevator. I understand that there are many different types of elevators and different operating methods, but most are very similar to this. You can have different types of keys but the systems should be pretty standard.

Now some of the older elevators can have less options and safety features, so get familiar with the elevators in your jurisdiction. This is something I have seen firefighters struggle with, believe it or not, because they have never had any hands on experience with them.

Get out and use some of these and no how to use them before you have to.

When this pulls up on YouTube, you can subscribe to the creator, dieselducy, and he has additional videos of different elevators. Pretty interesting stuff.

Stay safe and be careful.

Posted by on July 9, 2010 • Filed under: buildling construction, elevators, fire codes, fire service recall, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations • Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Visiting Chicago

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I will hopefully get to posting regularly soon. We just got back from Houston last week and now we are visiting Chicago for a few days.  So until I get back in the routine and have regular access to internet and my computer, here is a picture of the Engine 8 house in Chicago. It is in China town and was used in the filming of “Backdraft.”  It also houses Truck 5 4, Battalion 2 and A-85.

Thanks to guys there and feel free to post or send pictures of your visits to other departments.  See you soon and stay safe out there.

Chicago Fire Department in Chinatown.

We were rained on.

Posted by on July 7, 2010 • Filed under: backdraft, fun stuff • Tagged: , , , , ,

Happy 4th of July, Thank a Soldier

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Happy 4th of July! Thanks to all who serve to protect our freedoms.

Stay safe and pray for our soldiers and their families.

Posted by on July 4, 2010 • Filed under: Uncategorized • Tagged: , ,

My Visit to Houston Fire Department

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Houston House 8

My family and I recently took a trip to Houston and Galveston Beach.  Well, like most firefighters, I like to stop in and see the local firefighters and to talk a little shop and to see what they have in the way of equipment.

We didn’t get to a Galveston station, but we did stop by Houston FD Station 8 in downtown Houston.

First, let me say that the men that were on duty that day were very nice and treated my family and me very well.  My kids, being used to the firehouse setting, ran crazy and were all over the trucks; with adult supervision of course.  Thanks to all of the guys on that day, you know who you are.

No matter where I go, I always learn something new and interesting about that particular department. Whether it be about the house we are visiting, the equipment, operations or historical information, each place has it’s own story and way of doing things.

Two person pike pole.

This picture shows a two person pike pole that HFD has mounted to the front of this engine.  It was explained that it is used on buildings that have some very “tough” walls, like double plaster and lathe that back up to each other.  This pole allows two firefighters on each side to double the force of the pole.  I had never seen one of these and was very interesting.

Firefighters, as we know, are all very creative in one way or another.  The next picture shows a hood that HFD wears.  I had never seen one of these either, but a HFD firefighter came up with this concept and is now produced by gear manufacturers.  It is a hood that is made of the same material as the coat and pants.  It is lined the same and is quite a bit thicker than the traditional nomex hood.

Inventive hood style.

They didn’t seem to mind the hoods too much and indicated that it really keeps the heat off of your ears.  They also explained and were aware of the ability to get deeper into buildings and the associated hazards when we are so well insulated.

Another piece of equipment they have is an old reserve pumper that has been converted into a ceremonial truck.  This truck is used only for funerals and the honor guard mans this vehicle along with an SUV that accompanies it.

This truck is designed to hold a casket and the pall bearers.  As you can see, they have placed axes on each side and is a very attractive apparatus.  They use this for LODD, active that pass away off duty and for retirees.  It is a great tribute to our fallen Brothers and Sisters.

Honor Guard Apparatus

The trip was fantastic and I can’t say enough about the guys who spent the time to talk to us and show us around.  If you ever get to Houston, stop in and see the men at the 8′s.

Stay safe and take care.

Posted by on July 3, 2010 • Filed under: firefighter-safety-health, forceable entry, fun stuff, in-the-line-of-duty, line-of-duty • Tagged: , , , , , , ,