You made the trek to the epicenter of fire service training, information, and networking and returned home with knowledge, freebies, and dirty clothes. You heard some of the top speakers in our industry share their wisdom, experience, and passion. You gained valuable insight into the nuts and bolts of equipment, gear, and apparatus and how they may benefit your department and community. You reconnected with old friends, made new ones, and managed to irritate complete strangers (remember “that guy” who was late for the H.O.T. bus departure or managed to bang the door to the classroom as he entered 20 minutes late?). Many of you remember everything that the instructor explained in an evolution, and for some of you, let’s just say there may be some memory lapses caused by the social activities. Now what?
What do you intend to do with the memories of the FDIC week? Do you intend to show up for your next shift and begin trying to make changes in the tactics and strategies of your department? Do you plan on making any personal improvements as a result of the FDIC week? Or are you just chomping at the bit to get to work so that you can tell all the guys how your buddy went down in flames as he attempted to get the number of the young lady at the booth and the waitress and the hotel clerk? Now what?
The reason for my question is simple. I did not go to FDIC. The fact that I didn’t go does not mean that I am not passionate about the service, training, or brotherhood. It just wasn’t an option for various reasons. I am sure that I am not the only one who could not attend FDIC. I am also certain that I am not the only one asking you attendees, “Now what?”
I need you to come back to work and share your information with me. Please don’t try to repeat Chief Bobby Halton’s opening address. You won’t do it justice. I watched it streaming live, and I know where to find portions of it online. Tell me what it did for you personally. Did it open your eyes to your passion for the fire service or the lack thereof? Did it infect you with the desire to be a good person who is a good teammate on a good team? Have you committed yourself to becoming the officer the guys want to work for or the back-stepper who knows how to get things done? Share these things with me.
I am not looking for you to simply spout all the catch phrases, slogans, and hashtags of the week. I can read those on the various Web sites and feeds I follow. Many of you were kind enough to share photos and videos, and I do appreciate that. But, what do those catch phrases mean? What is your interpretation of how the slogan can be and should be applied to your local department? If I look up one of the hashtags, will I find a link to someone or something that is solidly connected to the purpose of advancing the fire service? Is there a Web site I can go to and learn more about this great instructor that you are telling me, “You should have heard”?
I really am interested in hearing how you did in the Courage and Valor Fun Run or the Memorial Stair Climb, but I don’t want to hear how long it took you to cross the finish line or climb the steps; tell me that afterward. First, I want to hear why you ran. I want to hear whom you climbed for. Was it for yourself, or was it for something bigger than you? Did you pick a well-known member to climb for, or did you do some research and climb for someone who is not as well-known? Did your desire to honor those who have gone before end when you geared down afterward, or do you intend to make part of every day a moment to reflect on, honor, and remember the departed?
When you visited the vendor booths, were you simply there to collect the free stuff? Not that there is anything wrong with grabbing the free stuff; after all, it wouldn’t be there if the vendors did not want you to have it. Did you take the time to honestly look at what the vendor was promoting? Is it something that could work for my department? What product am I missing out on that could enable me to do my job or protect my community better and to return home safely after each shift? Did you stand in line to purchase a book because it comes from a well-respected printing company (insert shameless plug here), or did you stand in line to purchase something that is full of valuable information you intend to learn, practice, and promote? Was that purchase for personal gain or for the betterment of your department?
Please take the time in the next few shifts to gather me and the rest of the crew at the kitchen table and share your insights with those of us who did not attend FDIC 2015. Give us the meat and potatoes of what you learned from the H.O.T. classes or the lectures. Take us out to the apparatus floor and show us that “new to us” hose load or forcible entry technique. Get us out into our districts so that you can point out buildings, streets, fuel loads, and so on that we may have been previously overlooking. Present the information based on the facts, not the notoriety of the presenter. Give us the informational breakdown of the product, not just the name of the manufacturer. Share what you learned without bias so that we may decide what is appropriate for our crew, department, and community based on our skill, staffing, and experience. Are you going to press for changes just because the big boys are doing it that way now or because it is the right way? Now what?
Decision time. Are you going to let the potential scoffing and resistance to change ruin your high and crush your desire to be a positive impact on your department? Is it your intent to keep the information to yourself so that you won’t be ridiculed, or will you accept the challenge of sharing what you learned with a group that may not be receptive but needs to be told? Do you intend to keep advancing the message so that we can (and should) strive for smarter, safer firefighters? Will you teach, train, share, and pass on what you learned? Now what?
John Lightly
Captain
Youngstown (OH) Fire Department
LIFETIME LEARNER SHARES
As usual, I have to commend the editors on another month of quality publishing. I have been a reader of Fire Engineering before the start of my fire service career and still remain an Internet reader today-well over 50-plus years.
I would like to also commend Deputy Chief (Ret.) Gregory Havel, a quality writer and author of the Construction Concerns column (“Vertical Rolling Fire Doors,” fireengineering.com, April 29, 2015). Each article is well worth the reading. Havel brings to my mind Dick Sylvia, who wrote the Volunteers Corner column many years ago. I would hope that all firefighters would for their well-being and safety take note of the very timely information shared by both authors.
I would like to share a few comments about Havel’s latest article. Fire doors are a very important part of the overall safety plan in a building. In many cases, the building codes permit rolling fire doors to reduce the square footage before a fire suppression system has to be installed in a building. I have a few concerns about testing fire doors. Having the fire door electronics connected to the fire alarm/detection system or sprinkler system is advanced thinking as far as trying to protect any unburned portion of the building. The issues that become costly for the building owner/occupant are the following: annual testing of the building fire alarm system, employee fire drills, sprinkler testing, and having the interconnect to the fire alarm drop the fire doors. These doors in most cases now need to be manually retensioned to make them operational for fire conditions. The door company must be called to perform this service, which comes with a dollar cost for each door. The fire alarm panel should have a lockout switch that can be activated when service testing comes into play for fire drills, fire alarm testing, or sprinkler water flow testing. This would save the cost of having to call out the door service company to reset the fire doors. Depending on the number of fire doors in a building, the cost could be several hundred dollars or more. The fire inspector won’t be doing any more testing than the bare minimum per the fire code, if any at all.
The Door & Access Systems Manufacturers Association has numerous publications about fire door testing and related information that can be downloaded from its Web site www.dasma.com. Topics include drop testing, fusible links, performance test form, and much more. I encourage the building occupant to manually drop the fire door either at the end of the work day, on weekends, or during plant shutdowns. The fire door is already in place, and we don’t have to wait for that time lag for the fusible link to melt before it drops.
Thanks to Gregory Havel for all the efforts he has put into his articles over the years. For me, his articles have become an electronic collector’s item.
Harley Rudersdorf
Chief (Ret.), Willowick, Ohio
CODES AND ELEVATORS
This letter is in reference to “High-Rise Firefighting: Reassessing Our Methods” by Curtis Massey (Fire Engineering, April 2015). The article is well-written and contains much valuable information, but recent changes in the building codes necessitate caution when applying one of the recommendations.
In the section on elevator operations, Massey recommends placing the elevators on Phase 1 recall immediately on arrival. This has typically been done to prevent civilian movement within the building and to ensure that no one is trapped within the hoistway. Beginning with the 2009 model codes, buildings more than 120 feet in height require one or two fire service access elevators that facilitate the movement of people and equipment to the forward staging area. These elevators contain numerous safeguards that make their use on manual (Phase 2) operation unnecessary, but operating on Phase 2 will not significantly hamper their use.
The same 2009 model codes permit, but do not mandate, the provision of occupant self-evacuation elevators in any building. Deriving from the recommendations by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) following the World Trade Center collapse, they are intended to facilitate timely evacuation of very tall buildings and to provide for self-evacuation of people with disabilities. Buildings of any height (including the world’s tallest) can be fully evacuated within one hour without adding elevators beyond those that are ordinarily provided.
As with fire service access elevators, numerous safeguards are required to permit safe use during a fire. Enclosed lobbies on every floor provide a barrier to smoke and water that might compromise safe operation, and Firefighter Emergency Operation (recall) is retained to take the elevators out of service should any lobby or the machine room be breached by the fire. Manual activation of Phase 1 recall would take this system away from the occupants unnecessarily and would interfere with evacuation.
As jurisdictions have adopted the 2009 or later model codes, new buildings of any height have begun to incorporate fire service access and occupant self-evacuation elevators. Fire departments need to identify these buildings in their preplanning and make sure that they do not manually activate Phase 1 on arrival. If they find that Phase 1 has been automatically activated, the elevators have been compromised and should not be used for occupant evacuation. The fire service elevators can be used on Phase 2 with all the usual cautions.
Richard W. Bukowski, P.E., FSFPE
Senior Consultant
Registered in Illinois and Maryland
Jensen Hughes
Advancing the Science of Safety
Walnut Creek, California
