(fireengineering.com)

By John F. “Skip” Coleman, Technical Editor

As operations deputy for the Toledo (OH) Department of Fire and Rescue, my first experience with compressed air foam systems (CAFS) was at a large fire in an apartment building of balloon construction. A mutual-aid department on scene had CAFS. The officer explained to me what it was and allowed us to use it for overhaul. It worked like a charm.

I asked the Training Division (which did our department’s research and development) to look into CAFS for us. The good news was that it was available; the bad news was the price.

Toledo is a pretty busy fire department. However, because most of our working fires involve vacant and dilapidated homes and buildings, the city decided it was not cost effective to use CAFS on worthless buildings if firefighters could fight fires the “old way.”

Roundtable question: Does your department use CAFS, and does it use CAFS only selectively at “occupied” structure fires? To post your comments, go to fireengineering.com/roundtable.html.

PHOTO OF THE DAY: Firefighters operate at a two-alarm structure fire in Leacock Township, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Chris Haldeman/www.makinthehit.com) See more photos at http://bit.ly/1oLRsaz. Send your Photo of the Day submissions to Peter Prochilo (peterp@pennwell.com).

FDIC: TRAINING YEAR-ROUND

On www.fdic.com, the quality FDIC training continues year-round. Original Roll Call Tips and exclusive training articles from your favorite FDIC instructors are posted daily. Watch Webcasts on Demand of popular FDIC classes including “Science in the Big Room,” “Bruno and Norman Unplugged,” “Issues and Challenges in Today’s Fire Service,” and “Hoseline Operations for Fires in Multiple-Family Occupancies.” Train for free until the next FDIC!

WEBCASTS

On October 9, Firefighter Justin McCarthy, New Haven (CT) Fire Department, will present “Down and Dirty Mayday,” sponsored by Avon. On October 23, Firefighter (Ret.) Beth Murphy, Bellevue (WA) Fire Department, will present “Firefighter Mental Health: Helping Your Own.” Webcasts are free, but you must register. They are archived on emberly.fireengineering.com for six months.

EXCLUSIVE VIDEOS

How well do you know your turnout gear? Frank Ricci, P.J. Norwood, and others took a trip to Globe Manufacturing’s facilities to see how gear is made. Watch their four-part video series on personal protective equipment at http://emberly.fireengineering.com/video/globe.html.

FIRE LIFE

In her popular relationship column What Every Firefighter’s Spouse Should Know, Anne Gagliano writes in “Breathing Room for the Firefighter Family”: “You are given time off for a reason-not for a second job, and not for eight million extra activities including sports, committees, massive projects, and the Type A’s drive to ever achieve. This time is for you to recover from the impact of firefighting physically and mentally. If you continually overfill your time off, you are dangerously close to having no reserves for any extra stress in your life.” Read more at www.firelife.com.

FEATURED ARTICLES

Mike Donahue writes in “Creative Thinking in Technical Rescue”: “I will share a few methods for rope rescue and structural shoring. Unique and what are considered ‘strange’ ideas are sometimes met with resistance in our profession.” (http://bit.ly/1qX5FY0)

Jeremy Jones writes in “I Found a Gun on My Patient; Now What?”: “I get asked this question often, and the answer is, ‘It depends.’ ” (http://bit.ly/UQ1Ft3)

Ryan Pennington writes in “The Dangers of Hoarder Fires”: “The dangers presented by the massive amounts of belongings create dangerous situations throughout the entire response. From challenging access issues to increased fuel loads, the dangers firefighters will face are many.” (http://bit.ly/1AV98Z2)

Jeff Simpson writes in “Crude Oil By Rail: Information and Hazards”: “What do Aliceville (AL); Vandergrift (PA); Weld County (CO); Bethlehem (NY); Casselton (ND); and Lynchburg (VA) have in common? All have experienced a railroad train derailment within the past year involving volatile North American crude oil.” (http://bit.ly/1pCwFrQ)

Al Studt writes in “The U.S. National Grid: Read Right, Then Up”: “Since grade school, we have been trained and have calibrated our eyes to be able to divide a space into tenths and extrapolate between two known divisions on a graph. Similarly, plotting X and Y coordinates is something many will recall. This same process is used to determine the United States National Grid coordinates on a map.” (http://bit.ly/1otN02q)

COMMUNITY MEMBER OF THE MONTH
Name: Jamie VanBebber. Department: Tampa (FL) Fire Rescue. Rank: firemedic. Years of public service: six. Agency structure: paid department.