Like many of you, I read through the Fresno Cortland accident report in which a Fresno (CA) fire captain was severely burned in a residential fire. The officer, whose crew was assigned to ventilate, was standing on the roof assessing the single-story, single-family structure for ventilation. The roof over the garage catastrophically failed, and the captain fell through the roof into the garage. He suffered significant burns.1 The following excerpt from the Executive Summary of the report really resonated with me:
When do we say enough is enough? We have the necessary information, and we have the power and ability to make the necessary changes that will prevent future injuries to the brave firefighters of “Our” American Fire Service. It is the hope and vision of this team that this Fresno report become the benchmark, or wake-up call, we all need to finally effect positive cultural change to our proud profession!
A cultural change is called for. I have the unique benefit that my family members are U.S. citizens, although I am British and my service and professional background are rooted in the United Kingdom (UK). I have the empathy, respect, and love for the United States and its fire service, with the advantage of a dual and clinical perspective. I am in a privileged position of witnessing both cultures firsthand. Both have strengths, both have weaknesses, and both can learn from each other for positive benefit. Isn’t there a cliché “A very wise man learns from the mistakes of others”? Together, we have the opportunity to do this.
UK’s “Fresno Moment”
The UK fire service had its own “Fresno moment” in 1996 with the double line-of-duty death (LODD) that occurred in Blaina, South Wales. It was a fire gas ignition and accompanying supersonic pressure wave-in effect, a detonation.
This incident was our “wake-up call.” No matter how difficult and how many egos were bruised, we had to realize that we simply did not know as much about firefighting, its science, and tactics as we thought we did. We made wholesale changes. As a result, every firefighter had to undergo mandatory fire science training, “live fire training” in a controlled environment with a focus on “rapid fire developments,” which they had to learn to recognize. Some visionaries in the UK fire service had been looking toward Sweden for some years and made recommendations for tactical and training changes, with varying degrees of success. Blaina provided the opportunity for them to be heard, and change was effected and embraced.
However, change should be considered a continual process, an evolution; the UK fire and rescue service made the mistake of accepting the changes that came about as a result of Blaina as a “panacea” or “remedy for all ills.” We successfully increased our knowledge and became ultra-proficient in “live fire training” conducted in 40-foot shipping containers with limited fire loading, and then we rested on our laurels. Complacency set in. We failed.
Causes of UK LODDs
Firefighters have died in the line of duty in the UK over the past 10 years as a result of the following factors:
- We have largely failed to apply the concept of water flow rates successfully to increase fire loading “energy levels.” Put simply, the concept of “big fire, big hose; small fire, small hose” hasn’t been applied successfully. There are still far too many firefighters using a 25-gallon-per-minute high-pressure hose reel jet to attempt to extinguish fires that necessitate a far bigger flow rate.
- We failed to make the link between the theoretical and the training of “live fire” and “fire science” on the incident ground. A classic example of this has been “flow-path management” (controlling the air flow in and exhaust routes of fire gases). We have been caught in the “fatal funnel” between the fire and its exhaust vent too many times. We have experienced LODDs from this cause in 2004 and then again in 2009. We failed to learn and to apply the knowledge. We shifted culturally, but something created a barrier to the fullest understanding, and the LODDs continued.
Fresno Cortland provides the focused opportunity for the U.S. fire service to undergo a period of introspection and evolve to become stronger and, coupled with the passion and expertise that is within it, to lead the world in firefighting principles and practices.
However, the experience of the UK shows that this needs to be a continual process. Although we effected the cultural change, we did not build on the foundations and lost momentum. The United States has the opportunity to learn from what we did well; what we do well; and perhaps, more importantly, what we didn’t do well.
Editor’s note: FDIC International 2016 offers a series of workshops that were built on this topic sequentially-from “why” to “how.” The dates and times of the workshops are listed at the end of the article. Some of the issues noted in this article will be discussed in more detail as well as the “why” and the “how”: why this effort is needed, why we failed in our efforts, and how you can avoid failure. We have also refined an approach to firefighting based on the best practices globally from outside to in, exterior size-up to interior attack, and the most effective ways to train while compliant with National Fire Protection Association 1403, Standard on Live Fire Training Evolutions. Only you with the courage to drive change can keep the momentum going, have the information to continue to evolve, and lead the fire services worldwide.
Endnote
1. The injury report is at http://emberly.fireengineering.com/content/dam/fe/online-articles/documents/2015/Fresno-Fire-Significant-Injury-Report.pdf.
BENJAMIN WALKER, now based in North America, has been a tactical leader within the United Kingdom (UK) Fire Rescue Service, specializing in first-response emergency incident management. He has worked with some of Europe’s busiest fire stations in Newcastle and Gateshead over the past decade. He is a graduate of the IFE and the winner of the Godiva Award 2014 for achieving the highest exam grades in the UK. His areas of expertise include leadership, training, and development. He is also a strength and conditioning specialist.
Bill Gough will present “Compartment Fire Behavior Training Series,” on Monday, April 18, 1:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m., at FDIC International 2016 in Indianapolis.
Raffel Shan will present “Dynamic Decision Making and Reading the Fire,” on Tuesday, April 19, 8 a.m.-12 noon, at FDIC International 2016 in Indianapolis.
Benjamin Walker will present “Implementing Compartment Fire Training Programs in Your Department,” on Tuesday, April 19, 1:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m., at FDIC International 2016 in Indianapolis.
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