FEMA/USFA study identifies service gaps in nation’s fire departments
“Many of the nation’s fire departments do not have enough fire stations to achieve widely recognized response-time guidelines and lack key equipment, prevention programs, and a wide range of training,” states the “Needs Assessment Study of the U.S. Fire Service.” The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) conducted the study for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)/United States Fire Administration (USFA).
The study also found the following:
- About one-third of firefighters per shift do not have self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA).
- Most fire departments do not have the resources to handle unusually challenging incidents that involve local specialized resources.
- Most departments do not have written agreements for the use of nonlocal response resources.
- Fire departments generally do not have enough portable radios for around half the emergency responders on a shift. And most of the radios are not water resistant and lack intrinsic safety in an explosive atmosphere.
“This study is critical to our ability to identify the current issues in fire service delivery and to guide our decisions to address the nation’s fire problem,” says USFA Administrator R. David Paulison. The assessment, he added, would help the agency “to determine, seek, and develop critical resources in support of the fire service.”
The agency recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to create incident management teams in large metropolitan areas for large-scale emergencies and to ensure that highly qualified responders are available throughout the nation, according to Paulison. Also, the National Emergency Training Center curriculum has been expanded so that responders can better plan for, respond to, and recover from all types and scopes of emergencies.
The full study report is available on the USFA Web site (http://www.usfa.fema.gov) and the NFPA Web site (http://www.nfpa. org/).
USFA: 102 U.S. firefighter fatalities in 2002
One hundred two U.S. firefighters died in the line of duty during 2002, according to the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA), a loss it evaluates as “staggering.”
Sixty-five fatalities were volunteer, seasonal, and part-time firefighters, 10 of whom were seasonal or part-time wildland firefighters. Thirty-seven career firefighters perished.
Not surprisingly, cardiovascular-related conditions were again the leading causes of firefighter deaths in 2002. They claimed the lives of almost one-third of the fatalities (31).
Thirteen firefighters died in wildland firefighting and related incidents. In addition to wildland fires, these responders died as the result of wildland firefighting aircraft crashes and accidents involving motor vehicles/apparatus.
Ten firefighters were killed while fighting structural fires, and 12 died while training.
Fifteen firefighters died while responding to or returning from an emergency, predominantly in vehicle collisions.
Six firefighters died in separate incidents as the result of being struck by passing vehicles while working near roadways.
Fifteen firefighters died while engaged in other fire department duties, including five Oregon firefighters who were killed in a van crash in Colorado on their way to assist in fighting a wildfire.
These fatality statistics are provisional and subject to change, explains the USFA. At the beginning of each year, the USFA contacts state fire marshals to verify the names of firefighters reported to have died on duty during the previous year. The USFA expects to have the verified annual fatality report completed by early June.
For additional information on firefighter fatalities, visit the USFA Web site, http:// www.usfa.fema.gov/dhtml/inside-usfa/ ff_fat.cfm.
IAFC surveys effects of military reserves call-up on fire departments
In January, the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) conducted an electronic survey among more than 8,500 members to determine how the fire departments would be affected by President Bush’s calling up of the National Guard (reservists) to military active duty. Some 1,271 (15.2%) departments responded, and 861 other departments submitted additional comments.
In essence, survey results (“Military Reserve Call-Up Effects on America’s Fire Departments,” January 23) revealed that the larger the department, the more likely it would be able to withstand the loss of personnel in almost any category for an indeterminate length of time.
Of the departments responding, 81 percent said they would lose no more than five percent of their staff. Thirteen percent would lose between 5 and 10 percent of their staff; the remaining 6 percent of departments anticipate a greater than 10 percent loss of staff coverage.
Of the departments reporting anticipated losses, 82 percent will be firefighters and 46 percent paramedic/EMS providers. More than 11 percent of these reservists are chief fire officers.
The called-up reservists would be replaced with temporary hires (where labor unions allow), or their absences would be compensated for through restricted leaves for remaining department members, mandatory overtime or staffing/service changes, and mutual aid. All in all, the call-up will place financial pressures on a fire service already in financial distress. Some departments will function without the missing members—in some cases, reducing a staff that is already at minimum. One such department noted in its response: “We are preparing for further staff suffering in an already understaffed department. Overtime eliminated and positions frozen. HELP!”
Departments that will lose members to the military services will lose critical emergency skills, affecting apparatus staffing, service response times, and overall operations.
Among responding departments that were most severely affected by the military call-up were one that had both of its two paid firefighters called; one that recently lost one of its three volunteer assistant chiefs to military service; and one that lost both of its paid on-call firefighters to military service.
Sample letters department chiefs may use to communicate with city administrators and members who have been called to military service are available at www.iafc.org.
FEMA/USFA prepare for 2003 Assistance to Firefighters grants
Awards under the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)/U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) 2002 Assistance to Firefighters (FIRE) grants for all categories except Prevention and Fire Safety were completed at the end of January. USFA Administrator R. David Paulison anticipated at press time that the Prevention and Fire Safety awards would be announced “in coming weeks.”
The USFA is finalizing plans for making grant-writing workshops available to fire departments in preparation for this year’s program. At press time, Congress had not yet made any appropriations for the grants program. The legislative package containing provisions for the program was scheduled at press time to go before a conference committee of House and Senate appropriators (see “Senate passes FY 2003 omnibus package” in this section).
A list of all 2002 award recipients is posted on the USFA Web site at www.usfa.fema. gov/grants.
IAFF applauds Ridge; says fire departments “not prepared” for terrorists
International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) President Harold Schaitberger says that Tom Ridge is the right man for the job of secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and that the IAFF “looks forward to continuing to work with him on the vital issues of homeland security.” However, Schaitberger also notes, “The nation’s fire departments and other first responders are not prepared to handle a terrorist attack.”
The IAFF president pointed to the fact that two-thirds of America’s fire departments are understaffed and that many lack the appropriate training and equipment to deal with an incident involving weapons of mass destruction.
One of Ridge’s first challenges will be “to translate President Bush’s ambitious proposals into reality,” Schaitberger says, noting that firefighters, city and county governments, and the American public are still waiting for the $3.5 billion President Bush pledged to first responders after September 11.
CFSI Fire and Emergency Services Dinner set for April 30
The 15th Annual Fire and Emergency Services Dinner, sponsored by the Congressional Fire Services Institute (CFSI), will be held on April 30, 2003, at the Washington Hilton and Towers, Washington, DC. This year’s theme is “Securing Our Homeland.”
Invitations will be extended to President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, and leaders of Congress.
Workshops on various important issues will be offered throughout the day, prior to the dinner. Workshops will feature administration officials who will play a major role in the new Department of Homeland Security. Among the issues to be covered will be the transfer of power from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to the new Office of Emergency Preparedness and Response and funding programs addressing terrorism training and response.
Additional information and registration materials are available at http://www.cfsi. org/.
Senate passes FY 2003 omnibus package
On January 23, the Senate passed the FY 2003 (FY-03) omnibus-spending package by a vote of 69-29. The 107th Congress did not enact 11 of the 13 appropriations bills for FY-03; the government has been operating under a continuing resolution.
The FY-03 Veterans Administration, Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies (VA/HUD) Appropriations Act, which contains the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) budget and the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (FIRE Grant) program, is included in the unresolved funding measures in the package.
The Senate measure contains $900 million for the FIRE Grant program, the fully authorized amount for FY-03, and funding for several emergency management planning and assistance programs.
The package, at press time, was scheduled to go to a conference committee of House and Senate appropriators, after which it will go to the full House for a vote. House members will not have the opportunity to amend the conference committee agreement.
NASA to test mist firefighting system
Bromine-based halons, previously used to fight fires in situations where water would not be effective or appropriate—such as in computer centers, for aircraft, and in libraries and other document storage areas—were banned worldwide in 1998 because they were damaging to the earth’s ozone layer. Since then, industry has been attempting to come up with a cost-effective, environmentally friendly replacement.
A new commercial firefighting system designed to put out fires with a fine water mist has been developed and was to have been tested on the STS-107 Space Shuttle Columbia 16-day mission in January (around press time), according to Mark Nail, director of the Space Product Development Program at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
According to Dr. Thomas McKinnon, lead scientist for research at NASA’s Center for Commercial Applications of Combustion in Space at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, water mist seems to be the best choice for replacing halon. The Center helps industry to conduct combustion research in space through NASA’s Space Product Development Program at the Marshall Center.
The Shuttle tests, according to Dr. Angel Abbud-Madrid, the project scientist at the NASA Commercial Space Center, will use “a humidifier-like device to produce water drops about 20 microns in size U about one-tenth the diameter of a human hair, as opposed to drops produced by conventional sprinklers that are about one millimeter, or 50 times the size of our droplets.”
Working with the research team on the water-mist system to be tested is MicroCool Inc., a division of Nortec Industries Inc. (Palm Springs, California), and FOGCo Systems Inc. (Gilbert, Arizona).
The information acquired from the STS-107 experiment will be used to make adjustments to the firefighting system designs, according to FOGCo President Gary Wintering. The systems create a fog instead of releasing blasts of water. The fog removes heat and replaces oxygen the water evaporates, thereby preventing the fire from spreading.
Water-mist systems have been found to be especially effective for fires in the closed compartments of a ship, an aircraft, and even the Space Shuttle. The U.S. Navy has been working on water mist studies with the airline industry and The Center for Commercial Applications of Combustion in Space.
“Testing the system in space makes it easier to observe the interaction between a flame and water,” says Dr. Frank Schow-engerdt, director of The Center for Commercial Applications of Combustion in Space. “Earth’s gravity does not cause air currents around the flame and water droplets to settle.”
Abbud-Madrid adds that the Shuttle experiment will help researchers and developers to determine the optimum water concentration and water droplet size needed to suppress fires. Short tests on NASA’s KC-135 reduced-gravity aircraft and inside drop towers have shown that water mists use one-tenth the water of traditional sprinklers to extinguish a flame, he explains.
Test protocol will include igniting a mixture of propane and air inside a clear tube to produce a thin flame, known as a “laminar flame.” A water mist will be released on the opposite end of the tube. Digital images will record how different size water droplets and water concentrations affect the flame. The test will be conducted inside the Combustion Module—a NASA facility flown on a previous Shuttle flight.
Larger and longer water-mist investigations on the Space Station are planned for the future. Companies will be able to test different water injection systems, droplet sizes, and fire scenarios.
The STS-107 mission is a dedicated science mission recommended by the National Research Council and approved by the U.S. Congress.
Interior Secretary Norton announces new firefighting initiatives
At the National Fire Plan Conference in New Orleans in January, Interior Secretary Gale Norton announced two memorandums of understanding (MOU) to better coordinate federal, state, and local forest and rangeland firefighting efforts.
The first MOU involves the Department of the Interior, USDA Forest Service, State Foresters, and National Association of Counties. The agreement will make the wildland-urban interface, where the greatest risk to property and life exist, and areas outside the wildland-urban interface at the highest risk of catastrophic fire priorities for fuels treatment projects. The projects will be selected May 1 so firefighting personnel can prepare fuels treatment projects before the height of the wildfire season, June through September.
An MOU involving the Federal Emergency Management Agency and USDA Forest Service and State Foresters will ensure there is no duplication in fire-related federal grant programs Federal agencies will review grant applications simultaneously to avoid duplication. It is anticipated that the MOU will help local fire departments to improve firefighter safety, suppression response, and risk mitigation.
Norton also announced five Healthy Forests pilot projects designed to reduce hazardous fuels and protect wildlife habitat conditions. Project sites will be Arizona, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, and Wyoming.
The complete report is at www.doi.gov/ news/030115a.htm.
FEMA releases guide to help prepare citizens for disasters
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is offering Are You Ready? A Guide to Citizen Preparedness (FEMA publication H-34). It provides a step-by-step outline on how to prepare a disaster supply kit and covers the following topics: emergency planning for people with disabilities, how to locate and evacuate to a shelter, contingency planning for family pets, man-made threats from hazardous materials and terrorism, and FEMA’s Citizen Corps (www.citizencorps.gov) initiative and Community Emergency Response Team training program.
A copy is available online at www.fema. gov/areyouready. Additional information on preparedness is available at www.fema.gov/ library.
Advisory panel offers homeland defense guidelines
The Advisory Panel to Assess Domestic Response Capabilities for Terrorism Involving Weapons of Mass Destruction (commonly known as the Gilmore Commission), chaired by former Virginia Gov. James Gilmore, is urging that the federal government adopt 59 of the panel’s recommendations for boosting homeland defense.
In the Fourth Annual Report to the President and the Congress of the Advisory Panel to Assess Domestic Response Capabilities for Terrorism Involving Weapons of Mass Destruction: Implementing the National Strategy (Dec. 15, 2002), the 19-member Gilmore Commission advocates creating a National Counter Terrorism Center (NCTC) that “would aggregate and analyze terrorist threats by mining intelligence from government bodies including Defense, the CIA, FBI and National Security Agency, as well as state and local governments.” The collection of intelligence inside the United States should be transferred to the NCTC, says the Commission.
Among the other recommendations are the following:
- Establish a separate congressional authorizing committee and an appropriation subcommittee for homeland security.
- Strengthen the public health system with support on the order of $1 billion per year for five years.
- Coordinate and centralize funding information from various agencies, and simplify the application process.
- Articulate and integrate the roles, missions, capabilities, and limitations of and effectively train special response teams.
- Improve the system for providing required technical assistance to states and localities.
- Establish a national strategy for vaccine development.
- Implement the smallpox vaccination plan incrementally, and raise the priority on research for a safer smallpox vaccine.
- Perform a National Intelligence Estimate on the threat to agriculture and food.
The full report is at http://www. rand.org/ nsrd/terrpanel/terror4.pdf.
Line-of-Duty Deaths
January 7. Firefighter/Traffic Control Terry Wren Carroll, 51, of Coats-Grove Fire & Rescue, Inc., Coats, North Carolina: A massive heart attack suffered during a medical response on Dec. 27, 2002.
January 8. Firefighter Lattie F. Collins III, 36, of the Donalsonville (GA) Fire Department: Motor vehicle accident en route to the station in his personal vehicle in response to a motor vehicle accident alarm.
January 9. Firefighter James “Matt” Periera, Guam Fire Department, Guam: Cause still to be determined.
January 13. Firefighter Melinda “Mindy” Ohler, 46, San Francisco (CA) Fire Department: Head injuries received when she fell out of the open back cab of the fire apparatus in which she was riding while responding to a call.
January 14. Captain Joseph Rotherham, 46, Springfield Fire/Rescue Department, Springfield, Illinois: An apparent heart attack at the scene of a working fire.
January 17. Fire Police Officer James McAuley, 78, Polk Township Volunteer Fire Department, Kresgeville, Pennsylvania: Cardiac arrest after assisting at the scene of a car fire.
January 19. Firefighter James Edward Taylor, 28, Bonham (TX) Fire Department: Injuries received when the ambulance in which he was riding was involved in an accident while en route to a motor vehicle accident.
January 19. Firefighter Gary Staley, 32, Porter (TX) Volunteer Fire Department: Injuries received when he became trapped by a rapidly spreading fire while working on a hoseline at an auto repair shop fire.
January 20. Firefighter/EMT Keith R. Hess, 22, Fannett Metal Fire Department, Dry Run, Pennsylvania: Injuries received as the result of a chimney collapse during salvage and overhaul at an apartment fire.
January 21. Captain Dennis G. Mignerone, 50, Webster Groves (MO) Fire Department: A probable heart attack (cause to be officially determined) suffered while doing prescribed exercises in the fire station.
January 25. Captain Michael Wayne Copeland, 50, City of Charlotte (NC) Fire Department: An apparent heart attack.
Source: National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Database, United States Fire Administration.
