(fireengineering.com)

By John F. “Skip” Coleman, Technical Editor

I remember something I learned in the State of Ohio Fire Service Instructors course that I took in the mid-1980s. In the course, a statistic was given that illustrated the need for establishing a process to review and practice learned skills. The statistic was that “75 percent of what a student learned is forgotten within two weeks if it is not reinforced (practiced).” Most of us have been through the “Saving Our Own” program—several evolutions designed to rescue down firefighters based on real firefighter rescues or rescue attempts.

Roundtable question: Do you periodically put your members through a refresher of the evolutions taught in “Saving Our Own”? To post your comments, go to fireengineering.com/roundtable.html.

WEBCASTS

On Thursday, April 24, at 3 p.m. EST, Associate Professor Glenn Corbett of John Jay College in New York City and technical editor of Fire Engineering will present “Lessons Learned from the 25 Most Deadly Fires in Firefighting History.” Webcasts are free, but you must register. If you miss this or any other Webcasts, they are archived on emberly.fireengineering.com for six months.

FIRE LIFE

Fire Life Fitness Guru Michael Krueger writes in “Where Are You Going?”: “When it comes to fitness, people want workouts that promise results, and they want them now, often without regard for the cost to health or wallet. The path to real success can be long and arduous, filled with what appear to be wrong turns and seemingly wasted effort. But how do you know that you are on the right path?” Find out the answer at www.firelife.com.

FDIC COVERAGE

Full coverage of the Fire Department Instructors Conference, held in Indianapolis, Indiana, April 7-12, 2014, can be found at http://emberly.fireengineering.com/fdic.html. See hands-on training videos and photos, keynote addresses, award presentations, special events, and more in real time. The week is so action-packed even attendees might see something online they missed in person.

PHOTO OF THE DAY: The Indianapolis (IN) Fire Department was called to a working two-alarm building fire in February. Heavy smoke was showing on arrival from a tire shop in a one-story building of block masonry construction. The department mounted a defensive exterior attack. (Photo courtesy of the Indianapolis Fire Department.) See more photos at http://bit.ly/1mwmiqX. Send your Photo of the Day submissions to Peter Prochilo (peterp@pennwell.com).

FEATURED ARTICLES

Eric G. Bachman, CFPS, former chief, Eden (PA) Volunteer Fire/Rescue Department, writes in “Preplanning: A Vacation Approach”: “When certain things go wrong on the fireground and postincident reviews are conducted, oftentimes a contributing factor is lack of or ineffective preplanning.” (http://bit.ly/1nQPqEA)

David DeStefano, lieutenant, North Providence (RI) Fire Department, writes in “Expect Fire”: “EMS and public service calls as well as the daily response to numerous alarm activations increase run totals, but how do they affect firefighter readiness?” (http://bit.ly/1fCDQZl)

John Hofman, strength and conditioning coach, Sacramento (CA) Fire Department, writes in “Exercise: Functional vs. Specific for Firefighters”: “Everywhere you look you see some fitness professionals using the term ‘functional’ training or ‘functional’ movement, and it is becoming too generic.” (http://bit.ly/Of3eOV)

Ray McCormack, lieutenant, Fire Department of New York, writes in “DICERS-VO for Extinguishment”: “DICERS lays out the fireground with task components that are directed at operations within the interior of the fire building based on best practices and recent fire research findings.” (http://bit.ly/1ffKhqt)

Daniel P. Sheridan, battalion chief, Fire Department of New York, and Gary Nelson, assistant chief (ret.), Los Angeles County (CA) Fire Deparment, write in “From Wildland Firefighting to Structural Firefighting: Applying LCES”: “Imagine that you are conducting a hasty search plan expecting that, as a last resort, if needed, you can exit through a window. You see a flashover developing, so you head for the window, only to find it blocked by iron bars. This happened to a friend in 1995. He was killed tragically in a fire because he got caught behind one at a top-floor fire after the cockloft exploded down on him.” (http://bit.ly/1h160k4)

Becki White, captain, Eden Prairie (MN) Fire Department, writes in “Go Ahead, Size Me Up!”: “Go ahead and size me up. I know what you’ll see when you look beyond my gender. You will see that my dedication, passion, and intensity level parallels anyone else’s on the fireground. My desire to be the best at my craft fuels me.” (http://bit.ly/1bpVCTN)

COMMUNITY MEMBER OF THE MONTH
Name: Donald Colarusso. Department: Neptune (NJ) Fire Department. Rank: captain. Years of public service: 22. Agency structure: combination department.