FIRE LOSS MANAGEMENT
FIRE PROTECTION
SFPE
Part 19: SPECIAL INTERESTS
We continue our discussion of the various parties that share in the management of the fire loss problem.
COMMERCIAL SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS
Commercial special interest groups can be divided into two categories:
- Those with a strong positive bias toward fire protection, at least toward the particular type of fire protection that their members provide. Examples of such groups are sprinkler, extinguisher, and apparatus associations.
- Those who from time to time oppose at least certain fire protection methods because they regard them as expensive, unwise, unduly restrictive, or limiting the use of the particular products in which they are interested. Sometimes these special groups remain regularly active. Other times they unite for a particular purpose. Examples of these groups are trade associations in the lumber, gypsum, acoustical tile, steel, concrete, plastic, nursing home, and hotel industries.
At times one fire protection measure will affect the interests of another group. For example, the concrete and gypsum groups are active in opposing concessions granted to encourage sprinkler installation.
Any industry under specific attack will probably form a special group when necessary. Sometimes these groups adopt a very hard antifire protection attitude and sometimes they perform a real service in attempting to distinguish between what is and what is not a serious fire hazard problem. Having to face up to opposition of this type, the fire protection expert must know his business.
Some organizations provide valuable technical information. However, the emphasis will always be on the product’s advantages, not its disadvantages. Some documents are scrupulously honest in what they say but omit any negative information. In my opinion the deliberate omission of significant negative information borders on dishonesty.
NONCOMMERCIAL SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS
The Society of Fire Protection Engineers, Boston, Massachusetts. This organization advances the science of fire protection egineering. It publishes a bulletin and technology reports.
International Association of Fire Chiefs, Washington, DC. All fire chiefs in the United States and Canada are eligible for membership through their regional associations. The association holds an annual meeting and publishes a newsletter and other information.
International Association of Firefighters, Washington, DC. This AF’LCIO union has locals of career firefighters in many cities in the United States. It actively seeks better working conditions and better death and injury benefits for firefighters. It maintains statistics on firefighter injury and death rates.
Fire Marshals Association of North America, Washington, DC. This is a section of the NEPA that is composed of fire marshals, heads of fire prevention bureaus, and fire investigators. It promotes control of arson and prevention of fire.
International Society of Fire Ser- vice Instructors, Ashland, Massachusetts. The members are fire company officers, instructors, and others involved in fire service training and education.
In addition, there are many local and state fire chiefs’ associations, firefighters’ associations, associations of fire companies, and regional plans built around mutual aid.
GOVERNMENT AGENCIES
There was a time when fire protection was strictly a local problem. In recent years, state and federal agencies have taken an increased interest in specific segments of the fire loss management problem. There is no overall plan, assignment of functions, or agreement as to who does what. Contradictions and conflicts abound.
Traditionally local governments have had the following fire loss management concerns.
- Fire suppression. In some cases this is performed by volunteer organizations over which the local government has little or no control. These cases are becoming more rare as the fire department’s need for funds outgrows its ability to raise them. In some cases the service is provided by a private organization under contract to the local government, by volunteer or part-career organizations with a large measure of municipal control, or by career municipal employees. (Note that the largest municipal fire department, the City of New York Fire Department, still incorporates two volunteer ladder companies.)
- Fire prevention. Even when there are independent volunteer companies, fire prevention is a government activity, particularly to the extent that it involves enforcing laws.
Many of those who cheer for fire prevention think it stops at giving out pamphlets to shoppers in a mall and teaching kids to “Stop, Drop, and Roll.” Educational efforts are absolutely vital. However, fire departments must stress the importance of immediately calling the fire department if there is even a suspicion of fire.
- Enforcement. This is not as popular. Some fire departments appear to be oversold on being nice guys. However, the certainty of retribution is a powerful human motivator. Codes and laws must be enforced and violators prosecuted.
FIRE SUPPRESSION AUTHORITY
The organization and functions of a fire department vary from locality to locality. One constant, however, is that the fire officer in command is in full charge of the fire scene. In one case the fire commissioner had the police commissioner arrested by his own police force for interfering.
Command usually presents no problems, except in a few cases. For example, if the emergency is not a fire but a building collapse or other nonfire disaster, emergency planning should spell out clearly the divisions of responsibility, and all levels of the organization should be well aware of the plan.
The question of command also might arise when the fire department responds to military or government installations or complex industrial installations. In the case of government installations, the local commander may have legal authority over the property. In the case of industrial plants, a manager might think of the fire department as simply another outside outfit that he can order around.
At the New York Naval Shipyard, the Navy Department maintained a small fire department consisting of about two engine companies. The purpose of this organization was to handle small fires and to make the initial attack on major fires. Major reliance for firefighting was placed on the City of New York Fire Department.
On Dec 19, I960, the USS Constellation, a fleet carrier, was at the fitting out dock. A carrier is a tremendous structure. There was a lumber yard in operation on the hangar deck. A “hanging ceiling” several hundred feet long built of 3″ x 12” timbers had been installed on the underside of the flight deck to permit work to proceed on the overhead. The immediate cause of the fire was the rupture of a diesel fuel tank, the contents of which ignited immediately after the rupture and poured down into the ship. There were thousands of men aboard the ship. There was no fire drill procedure and, in fact, no planned fire alarm procedure. (The Norfolk Naval Shipyard, which had suffered a loss of 20 lives in a ship under construction, had instituted a simple emergency alarm procedure: blinking the lights. Without any previous instruction, this action will bring all activity to a halt and make it easy to pass the word “abandon ship.”)
When the Navy Yard Fire Chief saw cables on the overhead burning, he ordered the power cut, which put out all the lights and shut down several large fire pumps on barges. After ordering the city fire department alarm box to be pulled, he took no further action, leaving all firefighting to the City of New York Fire Department. Some units responded directly from the scene of a commercial passenger plane crash into some buildings about three miles away. Tremendous rescues were accomplished in complete darkness.
There was nobody available who understood the ship and the fire suppression problem. There was apparently no lack of advice, but much of it was conflicting.
The subsequent investigation degenerated into an acrimonious battle between the city and the Navy. The first witnesses who testified were two chief petty officers, who asserted that they could have extinguished the fire with two 1 1/2″ lines. The fire commissioner withdrew all assistance from the investigation after this fiasco. Unfortunately, the tremendous damage to the ship and the loss of 50 lives did not produce what should have been the logical conclusion.
