National Memorial Weekend set for October 7-8
The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation has announced its preliminary schedule for National Memorial Weekend 2000 and is urging families and friends to make their reservations as soon as possible since the following Monday is the national observance of Columbus Day.
Registration will be on Saturday, October 7, from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. Also on Saturday will be the following: 10:30 a.m.-Family Day Opening Session, 1 p.m.-Small Group Sessions, 5 p.m.-Family Picnic, and 6:30 p.m.-Candlelight Service.
On Sunday, October 8, Family Chapel Service will begin at 9:30 a.m. The National Memorial Service will commence at 10:30 a.m.
A schedule of planned activities and a list of local lodging facilities are posted at the Foundation’s Web site at www.firehero. org.
House approves supplemental amendment for $100 million for fire service
The House of Representatives, at the end of March, approved by a vote of 386 to 28 an amendment (H.R. 3908) to the Fiscal Year 2000 Supplemental Appropriations bill that would dedicate $100 million to fire and emergency services departments for ongoing and prevention programs. The amendment was introduced by Representative Curt Weldon (R-PA) and was actively supported by Representatives Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Bill Pascrell (D-NJ), Nick Smith (R-MI), and Rob Andrews (D-NJ). Fire service organizations have been lobbying heavily for the $100 million appropriation.
Under the amendment, the money would be distributed as follows:
- Volunteer Fire Assistance Program: $10 million. Funding would be mainly for volunteer fire departments routinely involved in fighting wildfires. Many volunteer firefighters, because of lack of resources, are forced to combat these fires without the required specialized equipment and training.
- Burn Prevention and Treatment Programs: $10 million. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) would administer this funding through a competitive grant program. Grants would be awarded for burn prevention, research for the treatment of burns, and after-care for burn victims.
- Fire Departments: $80 million. FEMA would distribute this money in the form of grants. Fire departments would be able to use the money for turnout gear, breathing apparatus, communications equipment, wellness and fitness programs, computer and technology improvements for record keeping and training purposes, firefighting training, emergency response and arson prevention, improved enforcement of fire codes, and modifying fire stations and fire training facilities to protect firefighter health and safety.
At press time, it appeared that the Senate amendment (S. 2389), introduced by Senator William V. Roth, Jr. (R-DE) on April 11, would not be acted on in this session, according to sources tracking fire service legislation. The Senate amendment was referred to the Senate Environment and Public Works committee.
UL investigates Model GB fire sprinklers
Responding to field reports, Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. (UL) has been investigating whether some Model GB series of fire sprinklers manufactured by Central Sprinkler Co. of Lansdale, Pennsylvania, may leak or not operate in a fire because the water pressure needed for operation is higher than the pressure available in some buildings. The sprinklers in question have O-ring water seals.
Owners and managers of buildings with these sprinklers are encouraged to contact their fire sprinkler service company for an assessment of their sprinkler system to ascertain whether it should be repaired or replaced. The sprinklers under investigation were introduced in 1988. They have the following prefixes: GB,GB-ALPHA, GB-J, GB-QR, GB-EC, GB-RS, GB-20, GB-20QR GBR, GB-R1, GB-R2, GBR-LF, GB4, GB4-EC, GB4-FR, GB4-QREC, BB1, BB2, BB3, SD1, SD2, SD3, HIP, ROC, LF, and WS. Not all these models may be equipped with O-ring water seals; some of the newer systems do not have them.
At press time, UL had tested about 90 samples and found that about 20 percent did not operate at five pounds per square inch (psi) water pressure, the pressure at which new sprinklers are required to operate to earn a UL listing, or at seven psi, the pressure under which new sprinklers are to be activated to meet National Fire Protection Association installation requirements. Some units did not operate at 60 psi, which exceeds the water pressure available in some occupancies, including residences. UL believes replacing sprinklers would be the safest course of action.
Additional information is available from Central Sprinkler Co., 451 Cannon Avenue, Lansdale, PA; phone: (800) 523-6512. UL recommends that sprinkler systems be tested at least once a year. UL is considering a proposal to revise the appropriate UL Standards for Safety with respect to the O-ring water seals, according to Jim Beyreis, UL vice president.
Four sentenced for selling illegal fireworks
Four people in Wisconsin were sentenced on federal charges involving the illegal sale of fireworks. Another individual was convicted but died of natural causes before sentencing. More than 8,000 pounds of illegal fireworks banned as illegal hazardous substances were seized under the Federal Hazardous Substances Act. Sentences ranged from imprisonment for 30 months to 16 months and fines from $60,000 (the maximum) to $6,000.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission played a critical role in the Wisconsin investigation resulting in these convictions, as did the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Consumer Litigation; the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin; and the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation. A teenager died and two teens were seriously injured in incidents involving fireworks in Wisconsin.
ACEP: Nation’s emergency departments in jeopardy
“Today’s changing health care marketplace is placing core health care safety net providers at risk of not continuing their missions of caring for a growing number of people who are uninsured in the United States,” according to the Institute of Medicine’s recently released report America’s Health Care Safety Net. Michael T. Rapp, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), says this is especially true for the nation’s emergency departments, which are the most visible and vital components of the nation’s safety net ellipse.”
In February, Rapp appointed a Task Force on Health Care and the Uninsured to address the issue. The Task Force will convene a conference in September. According to the ACEP, the conference goals are to provide policy makers with strategic direction on the problem of the uninsured; contribute to the national debate, ensuring that proposed solutions support access to and availability of emergency medical care; and preserve the nation’s health care safety net.
Additional information may be obtained from M. J. Fingland or Laura Gore at (202) 728-0610, ext. 3006.
Phone number portability may pose problems for dispatchers and consumers
A consumer changing phone companies should ensure that the new company has a mechanism in place for notifying the local public safety answering points of the change, or that individual may not be able to receive 911 assistance if it is needed. This warning was sounded by Toni Edwards Finley, former 911 operator and fire/EMS dispatcher who is now assistant editor of publications for APCO International, Inc., a public safety communications organization.
When a new carrier is given a block of phone numbers “new” to the area code, the carrier should notify the public safety agencies answering 911 calls in the affected area and provide a 24-hour/seven-day service number, Finley says. Otherwise the public safety agencies may never know of the change and will not be able to verify the caller’s address.
One harrowing incident illustrates the importance of keeping the dispatching agencies up to date. The caller had changed carriers without changing her phone number and had remained at the same home address. Late one night, she dialed 911 from under her bed while an intruder who had broken into her house was actually in her bedroom. The dispatcher had difficulty hearing the caller, who was frantic and afraid the intruder would hear her or notice the phone wire leading to her under the bed. The dispatcher kept the line open, trying over and over again to get the caller to respond to his questions while attempting to determine the caller’s street address. The search included pulling up a computer aided dispatch (CAD) call-entry screen; the Automatic Location Indicator screen responded: “Record not found.” The dispatcher then checked the center’s computer history to see if the caller had called the dispatch center before (she hadn’t) and then the phone number cross-reference book, which would help only if the number wasn’t unpublished or new. Luckily, the number was listed, but it indicated a rural route mailing address. The CAD wouldn’t take rural routes. The post office was closed, so the dispatcher couldn’t match the rural route address to a 911 address.
The dispatcher enlisted the help of his supervisor, who consulted with the patrol sergeant on duty and dialed the “big phone company’s major accounts center, which should be able to cross reference the phone number with an address. She was told the number wasn’t in its database and, after the phone company’s representative conducted another search, that that number had been ported and didn’t belong to that company anymore.
The supervisor then went through the communications center’s file book looking for a memo that had been circulated about a year ago listing a resource for finding which phone company had ported which phone numbers. The memo listed Lockheed Martin and Perot Systems, Inc. The Federal Communications Commission had appointed Lockheed to administer regional number portability databases with lists linking ported phone numbers to local exchange carriers-this was to be an interim solution to the problem of local number portability. A nationwide database of all phone number/address information does not exist.
The supervisor got the number of the company who had ported the caller’s number. She called the company and finally received the address.
About eight minutes from the time the caller dialed 911, two deputies were dispatched to the address. (The patrol sergeant had suggested to the supervisor that the radio operator ask the road units if they were familiar with the rural route addresses so that, at least, the dispatcher could get deputies headed to the right part of the county for a quicker response when the physical address was finally located. A deputy working on the county’s west side thought he had seen a similar address about a year ago on a rusty mailbox he had used as a landmark while on a stolen vehicle call. The radio operator dispatched two deputies to a convenience store near the area to await for further instructions.)
In the meantime, the intruder had left the caller’s home. She then whispered into the phone, “Someone just broke into my house. I think he’s gone. I heard the back door slam, and I think he’s gone. Help me.” She confirmed her address just as the deputies pulled into her driveway.
If the caller had signed on with a new local exchange carrier that had been given a group of phone numbers with an altogether different-and new-prefix, her address might never have been found.
At the end of December 1999, the number of ported phone numbers in the United States and Canada had reached almost five million, according to Lockheed Martin’s reporting Web site www.ported.com.
Get Alarmed, Virginia! program provides 6,000 smoke alarms to families
Some 6,000 families-3,000 in the City of Suffolk and 3,000 in Southampton County-have had access to smoke alarm devices through the Get Alarmed, Virginia! fire safety and prevention program. Created by the Virginia Department of Fire Programs and Virginia Department of Health, co-managers of the program at the state level, the initiative is funded through a federal grant awarded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control/Department of Health and Human Services. The Suffolk Department of Fire and Rescue manages the program in Suffolk, and a local program coordinator was hired to administer the county’s volunteer fire departments delivering the program.
Defective battery packs present injury hazard
DeWalt® Industrial Tool Co. of Baltimore, Maryland, is recalling for repair about 755,000 18-volt battery packs (model DW9095-date codes: 9719 to 9810). The packs are used with various battery-operated tools. The clips on the packs can come loose and cause the 2.2-pound battery packs to fall. The company received 53 reports of battery packs falling from the tools. Five injuries were reported. In one case, a consumer was struck in the head by a battery pack. For additional information, contact Ken Giles, Consumer Product Safety Commission, (301) 504-0580, ext. 1184, or DeWaltRegistered POC, Joan Mellott, (410) 716-7969.
NFPA Metro Chiefs endorse Consensus Codes
The Metropolitan Fire Chiefs Section (Metro Chiefs Section) of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and the International Association of Fire Chiefs have endorsed the development of the NFPA’s Consensus Codestrademark, a full set of codes and standards for the built environment.
Internet Memorial Site
The Last Alarm is an Internet site that memorializes our fallen brothers and sisters of the fire/rescue services. Those wishing to post tributes to the fallen heroes of the fire service may do so at lastalarm.org.
ICBO adds Fire Service Division
The newly formed Fire Service Division (FSD) of the International Conference of Building Officials (ICBO) will focus on fire safety, fire protection, and fire prevention, according to ICBO. The International Fire Code Institute (IFCI), which operated as ICBO’s fire service arm, will be dissolved. The new FSD, says the ICBO, will provide the same level of participation, benefits, and services for IFCI members and will make it easier for members of the fire service to be involved with the International Fire Code. All current members of the IFCI will comprise the charter membership for the FSD, which will include individuals interested in fire safety, especially fire code enforcers, fire chiefs, fire marshals, fire inspectors, and company officer inspectors. For additional information, visit the FSD Web site at http://fsd.icbo.org, or contact Raymond B. Bizal, P.E., ICBO, (562) 699-0541, ext. 3303.
NFPA designates Risk Watchtrademark sites
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has announced the winners of the “2000 Risk WatchTM Champion Award.” The winners are in the states of Alabama, Delaware, Indiana, Montana, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, and Washington and in the province of Ontario.
Individuals representing the winning fire, law enforcement, health, and education organizations received two days of training in the Risk Watch comprehensive injury prevention curriculum in Boston and will sponsor a training workshop to help local coalitions implement and evaluate the program in five communities within its state/province. The program is for preschool to eighth-graders and covers the following risk areas: motor vehicle crashes; fires and burns; choking; suffocation and strangulation; poisonings; falls; unintentional firearms incidents; bike and pedestrian hazards; and water hazards. Additional information on Risk Watch is available at www.nfpa.org.
Line-of-Duty Deaths, 2000
February 14: Firefighter Paul Eugene Cooper, 27, of the Hoopa (CA) Volunteer Fire Department, died from injuries sustained when the fire apparatus he was riding en route to a motor vehicle accident veered off the road and struck a tree.
February 19: Firefighter James Geiger, 54, of the City of Defiance (OH) Fire Department, died of a heart attack while returning to the station from an EMS call.
February 29: Firefighter Robert J. Jackson, 35, of the Harmony Volunteer Fire Department, Atoka, Oklahoma, died from injuries sustained when his fire apparatus collided with another vehicle while en route to a grass fire.
March 4: Firefighter David Paul Sutton, 27, of the Fraser (MI) Department of Public Safety, died from smoke inhalation while rescuing residents at a two-story apartment building fire.
March 6: Assistant Chief Donald R. Wilson, 50, of the Herrick (IL) Fire Protection District, died of a massive heart attack at the scene of a residential fire.
March 8: Lieutenant Javier Lerma, 41, of the Memphis (TN) Fire Department, was fatally shot while responding to a residential fire.
March 8: Private William Blakemore, 48, of the Memphis (TN) Fire Department, was fatally shot while responding to a residential fire.
March 15: Firefighter Robert Buhler, 62, of the Delmont (SD) Volunteer Fire Department, died from burns sustained while fighting a wildland fire.
March 17: Firefighter/Engineer David Clements Sharp II, 31, of the City of Fayetteville (NC) Fire Department, died from injuries sustained when his fire apparatus was struck by a train while returning from an incident.
March 27: Administrative District Chief Kevin F. Sterenchuk, 48, of the Cedar Rapids (IA) Fire Department, collapsed while performing administrative duties at the fire department.
March 28: Chief Mike Queen, 30, of the Rabun County Fire Department-Station 1, Clayton, Georgia, died of injuries received when struck by a hose during a hose test.
March 31: Firefighter Kendall Bryant, 36, of the Layton (UT) Fire Department, died of smoke inhalation while fighting a residential fire.
April 7: Forest Technician III Lamar Y’Barbo, 55, of the Texas Forest Service, College Station, died of burns received from a motor vehicle accident at a prescribed burn.
April 7: Firefighter James Griffith, 25, of the Winterset (IA) Volunteer Fire Department, died of massive injuries and trauma received when struck by steel debris from an exploding tank while fighting a grass fire.
April 8: Captain David Maisano, 38, of the Tritown Fire Department, Mio, Michigan, died of possible complications from injuries received at the scene of an incident. The exact cause is to be determined.
Source: National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Database, United States Fire Administration.
