NEWS IN BRIEF
Training session reveals van rescue hazards
Potential hazards for rescuers involved in extrication procedures with the Chevrolet Lumina, Pontiac Trans Sport, and Oldsmobile Silhouette vans were revealed during a joint training session undertaken by the Lansing (MI) Fire Department and the Ingham County Sheriffs Department in December 1990. Two Oldsmobile Silhouette vans donated by General Motors were used in the training exercise.
The composite fiberglass body panels in these space frame-style vans can make conventional extrication techniques ineffective during rescue procedures, warns Barry Gaukel, a Lansing firefighter/paramedic. The crumbling of the plastics when placed under a load makes it difficult to force a door open with powered hydraulicspreaders, he adds. “The spreader repeatedly lost its grip and kicked back. When the tool did manage to keep a bite on the door, the plastic crumbled,” Gaukel explains in an I AFC Technical Bulletin (April 10, 1991). Gaukel says the best way to remove a door is to expose the hinges with an air chisel and to back out the hinge-mounting bolts with a pneumatic wrench. The door then can be removed by hand; if it is jammed, dislodge it with a spreader.
Crews attempting a roof flap during the exercise noted additional difficulties. The)’ severed the “A” and “B” posts with a hydraulic cutter, making the appropriate relief cuts through the roof rails about six inches in front of the “C” posts without problems, according to the bulletin. When lifting the roof to about a 40° angle, however, the rescuers reported that the nx>f appeared to be “hung up” in that position. When they manually forced the roof past that point, the roof panel fractured from “C” post to “C” post and caused the rear portion of the roof panel to drop into the passenger compartment. In addition, the rescuers noted that the sudden release of the pressure caused by the lifting of the roof could surprise the workers and cause them to become injured.
This experience has led Gaukel to discourage the roof-flap approach on space-frame vehicles with composite roof panels and encourage partial or total removal instead. Additional manpower should be used to hold and remove the roof, cautions Gaukel, since the total roof section will be heavy and awkward. Once the metal roof rails are severed, partial removal of a roof section can be accomplished with little effort, since the composite material of the body panels easily is cut with an air chisel or reciprocating saw, he adds.
A dash displacement using hydraulic rams, also performed during the Lansing training session, presented no problems.
Vanilla Ice cited for violation of fire code
Rap music artist Vanilla Ice w as cited by Assistant Fire Marshal Jose Garza of the San Antonio (TX) Fire Department during a recent concert encore at the city’s Municipal Auditorium for violating the fire code.
The performer reportedly urged 4,000 fans to advance toward a threeinch-thick brass rail that enclosed the orchestra pit and to rock. The crowd’s pressure broke the rail; no injuries were reported.
“What he did was not right; he could have caused some serious injuries,” Garza says. “I was up in front and felt the crush of the crowd. My action was prompted by the frightened looks on the faces of the young people who also were caught in the crush.”
Garza issued the citation under the city’s 1985 Uniform Fire Code, which prohibits crowding of aisles. The Class C misdemeanor charge carries a fine ranging from S100 to S2,000.
A representative for Vanilla Ice met with the city’s prosecutor, Garza says, and—on the prosecutor’s recommendation— Vanilla Ice was fined S81 and placed on “probated deferred adjudication,” a form of probation, for four months. The misdemeanor will be expunged from the records after that time if no additional similar incidents are reported.
Fearful that a serious tragedy will occur in the future, Garza says that the city, in conjunction with the police department and convention center management, is developing a fire prevention policy that will include preconcert meetings with promoters to ascertain that performers will not encourage young people to congregate in aisles, move toward the stage, or engage in other behavior that can contribute to loss of lives during a fire or other emergency. Garza notes that a lack of security due to promoters’ efforts to cut costs only adds to the problem.
Smoke detectors for residences now the law in West Virginia
H.B. 2085 recently enacted in West Virginia mandates that “an operational smoke detector shall be installed in the immediate vicinity of each sleeping area within all oneand two-family dwellings… ” Violators, if convicted, w ill be guilty of a misdemeanor and fined from S50 to SI00.
Dwelling owners are to provide, install, and replace the detectors, which must be capable of sensing visible or invisible particles of combustion and meet the specifications and be installed as provided for in NFPA Standard 74 (Standard for the ’ Installation, Maintenance and Use of Household Fire Warning Equipment, 1989 edition) and in the manufacturer’s specifications.
TV fire marshal a menace to children
Poking metal objects into electrical outlets. Deliberately placing your hands on hot stovetops. Spraying flammable liquids and then igniting them. These are hardly the actions of a responsible adult—much less a fire marshal. Yet these are among the actions of the uniformed and badgetoting Fire Marshal Bill, a screwballtype, hot-tempered, cartoon-like character (played by cast member Jim Carrey) who appears regularly on Fox network’s “In Living Color.” The program, according to the network, is among the top three shows viewed by children.
If, however, the New Jersey Fire Prevention and Protection Association and other opponents of Fire Marshal Bill’s irresponsibility and insensitivity have anything to say about it, the controversial character will not be part of future episodes.
“We want him off. That fire marshal demonstrates hazardous fire play,” declared William Schultz, president of the New Jersey Fire Prevention and Protection Association and Highland Park (NJ) fire inspector, during a press conference held on April 2 at the Newark Fire Training Academy. “Children are going to be injured, and they are going to die.”
This is one time Schultz says that he especially wants to see action taken before the tragedy occurs. He points out that a great number of children viewing the Marshal Bill episodes have profiles commonly seen among juvenile firesetters: They’re from single-parent homes, spend many hours of each day unsupervised, and often have emotional problems.
“He’s like a pyromaniac,” observes Judy Marquet, a psychiatric nurse specialist at the St. Barnabas Burn Foundation in Livingston, New Jersey. “He almost enjoys the fire.” She adds that she was “horrified” by the character because she knows people who live with scar tissue every day.
“Disgusting” is how Newark (NJ) Fire Director Stanley J. Kossup describes Fire Marshal Bill’s antics, and he questions how a television director could permit such things to be aired.
Letters of complaint requesting that Fire Marshall Bill, who appeared in three of the show’s segments (ending in March), be taken off the program have been sent by Schultz and others to Don Bay, vice president of broadcast standards at Fox Broadcasting’s Los Angeles office. In a letter to Barry Diller, Fox’s chairman and chief executive officer, the National Fire Protection Association termed the episodes offensive in that they mock burn victims and their families.
Fire Marshal Bill is a parody and “isn’t meant to nor can it be taken seriously,” Fox maintains. Fox Vice President of Publicity Andi Sporkin insists that children and adults can read between the lines and can see that Bill “does stupid things and has to suffer for them.”
But, notes Marquet, the Marshal Bill segments accentuate dysfunctional behavior. Even parental supervision won’t be enough to overcome the potential dangers fostered by the character, she says. Parents could add to the problem by laughing at some of Bill’s actions and giving their children the impression that they are comical, she explains.
At press time, Schultz had not heard from Fox about whether Fire Marshal Bill will appear next season; the character is not scheduled for any additional episodes this season. While awaiting further word from the network, the New Jersey Fire Prevention and Protection Association and other members of the coalition formed to oppose Fire Marshal Bill have been gathering support in the forms of resolutions from municipal governing bodies, state and federal legislators, and various organizations involved in promoting the welfare of children tor presentation to the Fox network at the end of this month. Should this phase of the campaign fail to gain the network’s agreement to drop the character, the group then will present similar documents and petitions from coalition group members to the sponsors of “In Living Color.”
Schultz adds that the coalition hopes to resolve the problem without having to call for a boycott of advertisers’ products—a movement he says will be successful considering the size of the fire service and of the groups in the coalition.
Upon receiving a written request from a deaf or hearing-impaired tenant or someone in his/her behalf, the owner must have installed a smoke detector that has a light signal.
An automatic fire sprinkler system installed in accordance with NFPA Standard 13D {Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems in Residential Occupancies, 1989 edition) may be provided in lieu of smoke detectors.
The law states that failing to provide the detector shall not constitute evidence of negligence, contributory negligence, or comparative negligence in any civil action or proceeding for damages and that it shall not constitute a defense in any civil action or proceeding involving any insurance policy.
$25.5 million requested for FEMA in 1992
President George Bush has requested S25.5 million for fire programs at the Federal Emergency Management Agency in his fiscal year 1992 budget, which represents an 11 percent increase over 1991.
The appropriation includes SI5.6 million for the National Fire Academy and S9.9 million for the US. Fire Administration. The funds will allow for additional staff members and projects that include a residential sprinklcr research program (§2 million), course development at the NFA (§826,000), and a hazardous-materials information program mandated by the Firefighters’ Safety Study Act of 1990 (§500,000).
PA council adopts 911 and haz-mat guidelines
The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Council, which establishes direction and policy for emergency preparedness statewide, has approved guidelines and standards for implementing two recently enacted state laws: one that creates a statewide 911 service and another that requires county-based emergency management procedures for hazardous-material response teams.
Interim guidelines for the implementation of Act 78 of 1990, the Public Safety Telephone Act (also called the 911 Act) establishes standards and a funding source for those counties that want (it is not mandatory) to develop 911 emergency telephone service. Twenty-six of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties have some type of 911 system, notes John Comey of the state’s Emergency Management Agency’s News Bureau. The Act, he explains, creates the mechanism to help counties fund 911 systems that already are in existence or to establish new ones.
Under the guidelines, each county requesting to create or revise a 911 system must submit plans for review by the Public Utility Commission (the funding will come from assessment fees ranging from §1 to §1.50 per month, depending on the county’s size, on county residents’ telephone hills), the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (which acts as agent for the council and reviews the plan for technical specifications and implementation details), and the Department of Community Affairs (which is responsible for the overall processing and coordinating of requests). Each county also is required to hold a public meeting to present the plan and proposed charge to residents.
The Emergency Management Council also adopted certification standards for hazardous-material response teams under the Hazardous Material Emergency Planning and Response Act (Act 165 of 1990), which became effective February 4 of this year. Requirements encompass minimum training levels as well as equipment and organizational standards that county-based haz-mat teams must meet.
According to Comey, the Act incorporates SARA in its entirety in the law, thereby giving the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania enforcement powers, and creates a fee structure whereby businesses and industries remit to the county and state assessments based on their toxic release reports. These fees will help offset the costs of the development of the haz-mat response teams. The first fees were collected March 1.
Also, the counties are responsible for establishing the haz-mat teams, or they may contract to have a team from industry serve as the county team. The contracted team will operate with the same immunity to liability that applies to teams of the local government.
Milwaukee’s outreach program
The Milwaukee Fire Department and the Walgreens Company have become partners in a fire prevention outreach program that targets city residents 18 years of age and younger. “Every year an average of 17 firerelated deaths occur in Milwaukee, and more than half of them are residents 18 years old or younger,” says Niles A. Ottesen, fire education officer.
The program involves a set of 10 Fire Education Cards, similar to baseball cards. Each card carries a colored representation of one of the department’s emergency vehicles on the front and a description of the vehicle and a fire safety tip on the back. The cards are distributed to students attending the city’s public and private schools.
The department also recently adopted a Fire Department Emergency Translation Guide, developed to help emergency responders to communicate with non-English-speaking Hispanic, Hmong, and Laotian as well as hearing-impaired residents. The compact, loose-leaf guide was compiled with the assistance of local community organizations and is patterned after a similar concept used by the Sarasota (FL) Fire Department.
Carried on all fire department emergency vehicles, the guide is a quick reference to the questions asked and phrases most commonly used by emergency responders. It is color-coded according to the following categories: general questions, fire situations, EMS situations, injury situations, and medical transportation questions.
(II proposes American National status for updated pressure gauge standard
Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. is proposing that the updated Standard for Safety for Indicating Pressure Gauges for Fire-Protection Service, UL 393, be recognized as an American National Standard.
UL 393 covers gauges of the elastic element type, trade sizes 3½ to 4½ inches (90 to 115 mm) intended for use with sprinkler or standpipe equipment for fire protection service. They are to be installed and used in accordance with the following standards of the NFPA: Installation of Sprinkler Systems, NFPA 13; Standpipe and Hose Systems, NFPA 14; Installation of Private Fire Service Mains and Their Appurtenances, NFPA 24; and Installation of Centrifugal Fire Pumps, NFPA 20.
The proposed standard is a revised version of ANSI/UL 393-1985, now an American National Standard. Send comments to Mavis Whitehead at UL, 333 Pfingsten Road, Northbrook, IL 60062-2096, or call (708) 272-8800, ext. 2988 for a review copy of UL 393NR.
Toxicology data bases available
The Toxicology Information Program, established at the National Library of Medicine (NLM) in 1967, provides national access to several data bases pertinent to the fire service. The program includes TOXNET® (Toxicology Data Network).
This network provides an integrated system of data bases that makes available in minutes toxicity data, emergency handling procedures, detection methods, and other information necessary to handle a chemical crisis. It includes the HSDB® (Hazardous Substances Data Bank).
Also part of the TOXNET® system, TRI (Toxic Chemical Release Inventory) provides access to EPA data on chemicals being stored, treated, or released in areas across the country.
Information on the above and other NLM services is available from the Public Information Office, NLM, 8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20894.
Study on public fire education
The United States continues to have one of the highest fire death rates per capita in the world. This is partly due to the lack of adequate public fire education, says TriData Corporation, which specializes in fire protection studies and technology for government and private industry. The lack of fire education, according to Philip Schaenman, TriData’s president, is related to a lack of proof that fire education programs work.
“Proving Public Fire Education Works,” a report recently published by TriData and funded by a grant from the Tobacco Institute’s Fire Safety Education Program, provides data that can be used to acquaint local government officials, fire chiefs, and others who budget for such programs with successful public education programs that have been implemented in the United States and Canada.
More than 70 fire safety programs and their evaluations are included. The case studies represent jurisdictions from rural communities to large cities, and their perspectives range from a narrow focus, such as reducing fire hazards when cooking with oil, to comprehensive, multiyear plans.
The report also includes a section on the elements that the successful programs share and pitfalls to avoid when evaluating your programs.
The most successful programs, according to the study, have the following characteristics:
- “Champions” oversee the program in the developmental stages and follow through on its implementation.
- Department chiefs are “magnanimous” in that they allow their public educators to be innovative and to employ outside sources.
- The programs carefully target a particular aspect of fire safety, or they reach a large percentage of the population through repeated, effective messages. This is done through the media or by going door to door.
- Some type of market research is used to tailor the programs to targeted audiences.
- Powerful allies—usually from the business or education communityassist and help cut through bureaucratic barriers.
- The materials are abundant and present their messages clearly; they are not necessarily fancy.
- The programs are adaptable; goals and materials are changed as needed.
- The program is tested on a small target population before being implemented in the community.
Arson pilot program planned
Representatives of the Congressional Fire Services Institute; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; the Seattle Fire Marshal’s office; and other fire safety groups recently met with Representative John Miller (R-WA) to discuss the development of a computerized arson-tracking system. The model for the contemplated system is the Homicide Investigation Tracking System currently used by the Washington Attorney General’s office. The action was in response to a number of high-temperature accelerant fires that occurred in the Pacific Northwest.
The new system will cost approximately S700,000. The state of Washington has pledged SI00,000, and Rep. Miller is attempting to obtain the balance from the federal government.
Operation Lifesaver expands railsafety program to include emergency vehicles
Referring to a National Transportation Safety Board directive to alert emergency responders to the dangers of rail crossings and to implement safety plans and review them periodically (see News in Brief, May 1991), Operation Lifesaver reports that it has expanded its Rail-Highway Grade Crossing Safety Program to include emergency service vehicles. These actions were prompted by a grade-crossing collision in Catlett, Virginia that killed two firefighters and severely injured three others; 57 Amtrak passengers also were injured.
“While emergency responders clearly and rightly expect all vehicles to yield to them, it is a simple fact that trains cannot yield,” states Leila A. Osina, executive director of Operation Lifesaver. “They cannot stop quickly, nor can they swerve to avoid a potential collision and, as you can see from this tragic collision, the damage done in such a collision is many times greater than in other potential crashes. Car-train collisions are 11 times more likely to result in fatalities than other motor vehicle crashes,” Osina adds. “Combine these figures with the stress and speed under which most emergency responders work, and you have the setting for disaster that struck at Catlett.”*
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