Cade confirmed as U.S. Fire Administrator
In May, the U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed Chief Gregory B. Cade as U.S. Fire Administrator. Cade, a 40-year veteran of the fire service, served the past eight years as chief and emergency services coordinator for the Virginia Beach (VA) Fire Department. He also served on the National Urban Search and Rescue Team Advisory Board and was a sponsoring agency chief for Virginia Task Force 2. He has also been a long-time member of the International Association of Fire Chiefs.
Cade succeeds former U.S. Fire Administrator Chief R. David Paulison, who is now administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Fire Engineering staff receives award
The editorial staff of Fire Engineering was awarded the 2007 Jesse H. Neal Award for “best single theme or special issue of a magazine” for its May 2006 issue dedicated to “Hurricane Katrina Response and Recovery.” The issue was selected from among 1,133 entries overall and 102 finalists.
The award was presented at the 53rd Annual Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Awards Luncheon at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City in March. It was established in 1955 by American Business Media and is named after its first managing director. It is the third Neal Award Fire Engineering has won in the past 11 years.
Fire fatalities illustrate need for pub ed
The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) is urging that “something be done, someway, somehow” to get the word out to people to protect themselves from fire injury and death. IAFC President Chief Jim Harmes said people are not taking seriously the need to use the methods of fire protection available for homes that can reduce fire-related injuries and deaths. He cited as examples the following fatal fires that occurred in May: six deaths in a Baltimore row house fire; seven fire fatalities in Detroit in five days; the death of a man and five children in a house fire in Saginaw, Michigan; and the death of a mother and her two children in a fire in Kentucky.
Harmes says fire departments should pass on and stress to the public the following life-saving suggestions:
- Check smoke and carbon monoxide alarms; make sure they are working properly.
- Have an escape plan with a meeting place.
- Once you exit your home, do not return.
- Do not use the stove for heating purposes.
- Use and maintain supplemental heating devices in accordance with manufacturers’ recommendations. Keep combustibles from heat or flame. Do not leave supplemental heating devices unattended.
- Properly maintain fireplaces and furnaces.
- Candles are a major fire hazard; if you must use them, do so in a safe environment in a fireproof container and away from children, and do not leave the candles unattended.
- Consider installing a residential fire sprinkler for the long term. It has been shown that sprinklers accompanied by smoke detectors reduce death by fire by 82 percent.
Coalition performs extinguishment tests for fuels
The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) has joined the Ethanol Emergency Response Coalition (EERC), which is studying emergency response issues associated with bulk distribution and storage of ethanol-blended fuels. The EERC has conducted scientific tests to evaluate the effectiveness of six types of foam involving a spill or a fire involving a bulk container of ethanol or ethanol-blended fuel (gasohol).
The testing was conducted over a two-week period starting in February 2007 at the Ansul Fire Technology Center in Marinette, Wisconsin. The Underwriters Laboratories 162 (UL162) Standard for Safety, Foam Equipment and Liquid Concentrates was followed for 43 individual tests of denatured ethanol (or E95) and E10 (gasohol), using the Type II, Type III, and sprinkler applications.
The following types of foams were tested in the blind test (specific manufacturers and products remained anonymous): alcohol-resistant, aqueous film-forming foam (AR-AFFF); traditional aqueous film-forming foam (A-FFF); Class A foam intended for fire involving ordinary combustible or Class A materials; an emulsifier; conventional flouro-protein foam; and alcohol-resistant film-forming flouro-protein (AR-FFFP) foam.
AR-AFFF was the only foam agent that successfully passed the UL162 tests against E10 and E85/95. Some of the other foams exhibited some degree of effectiveness, depending on the situation and their application rate, but the tests confirmed that AR-AFFF is the most effective foam for fires or spills involving ethanol-blended fuels.
These tests are not intended to specify or recommend a specific extinguishing agent or extinguishing method but to provide factual, science-based information pertaining to extinguishing agents and methods shown to be most effective in combating fires involving ethanol according to the UL162 test methodology. The intent is to provide information emergency responders and others can use to make informed decisions about the foam concentrate they select based on the risk in their community, the IAFC says.
The IAFC and the EERC are jointly producing a video documenting the tests and a training package.
NVFC extends Heart-Healthy Firefighter Program
The National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) and Merck/Schering-Plough Pharmaceuticals (MSP) have initiated the “Sounding the Alarm for High Cholesterol” program to alert firefighters to the risks of high cholesterol for heart disease. It is an extension of the NVFC’s Heart-Healthy Firefighter Program initiative. The program’s Web site is at www.cholesterolalarm.com. Information on the cholesterol-heart disease connection will be sent to fire stations.
Online classes on protecting wildland/urban interface
The national Firewise Communities program is offering workshops for planners, landscapers, and fire and forestry personnel. Attendees will learn how to identify the risks and help residents and communities become safer from the threat of wildfire.
The 2007 two-day workshop series “Assessing Wildfire Hazards in the Home Ignition Zone” will help participants to realize that homes in the interface can be made “very resistant to damage or destruction from wildfire,” according to Brian Ballou, wildland/urban interface (WUI) specialist. Attendees will be given a workbook, a notebook, and the instructor’s slide presentations. Home assessments will be practiced in the classroom. Workshops will be offered in Portland, Oregon; Bloomington, Minnesota; Austin, Texas; Denver, Colorado; and Tampa, Florida. Information and online registration are at www.firewise.org/hizworkshop.
Blood test quickly detects levels of radiation exposure
Researchers at Duke University have devised a blood test that can quickly detect levels of radiation exposure, according to a report in The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ). Thousands of genes from a blood sample are scanned, and changes that occur in response to different levels of radiation exposure are identified. Test research was funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Results were published in the April 3 edition of Public Library of Science Medicine.
John Chute, a study investigator and an associate professor of medicine at Duke, said this test will help the health care community to triage quickly and distinguish between people who have been exposed and need immediate care. Chute and his research team exposed mice to low, intermediate, and high doses of radiation and noted the impact of each dose on specific genes in the blood. The mice were then compared with a control group of mice that had not been exposed to radiation.
The second part of the research study involved analyzing blood from human patients undergoing bone marrow transplants who had been treated with high doses of radiation before their procedures. Chute assessed the data as “quite encouraging” but added that the test would need “more refining” before it was ready for mass production. The objective is to refine the test so that in a disaster blood could be drawn from thousands of people and the results could be completed in time for treatment to be effective, said Joseph Nevins, a professor of molecular genetics at Duke’s Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy, a co-investigator on the study. The researchers say this kind of genomic test could be used to monitor people’s exposure to other dangerous environmental agents such as carcinogens. www.nj.com, accessed April 3, 2007
Departments should update school response/MCI policies
In April, the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) issued an Alert on the tragic shooting that occurred at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, in which 32 people were killed. Such a tragedy could happen in any community, says the IAFC, and departments should refresh their policies and response plans for school shootings and multiple-casualty incidents (MCIs). The IAFC particularly emphasizes that operational plans be integrated with law enforcement operations, response plans ensure that protocols are in place, personnel be trained and equipped for violence-related incidents, and situational awareness be stressed at all times. For assistance with such planning, contact the IAFC at (703) 237-0911; Web site www.iafc.org.
FDA seizes implantable devices, valves, grafts
U.S. Federal Food and Drug Administration investigators and U.S. marshals seized heart valves and other implantable devices made from animal tissue from Shelhigh Inc., based in New Jersey, because of concerns about their sterility, according to Medscape Medical News. Included in the devices are pediatric heart valves and conduits, surgical patches, dural patches used in neurosurgery, and arterial grafts. The FDA inspected the company last fall and previously had issued two warning letters, one in 2000 and the other in 2005. The FDA recommends that doctors consider using alternative devices and that all patients with a Shelhigh implant be monitored for infections and proper device functioning. The FDA press release is at www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2007/NEW01612.html.
Planning guide for people with disabilities
Emergency Evacuation Planning Guide for People with Disabilities, from the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), contains general information that will assist in identifying the needs of people with disabilities relative to emergency evacuation planning. Download it at no cost at www.nfpa.org/evacuationguide.
WTC lessons built into revised NYC building code
Lessons learned from the 2001 World Trade Center terrorist attacks will be incorporated into revisions being proposed for New York City’s building code. Among the changes are wider stairwells, the plotting of smokeproof evacuation routes, and the availability of emergency power generators for additional categories of skyscrapers.
Also, automatic sprinklers are to be included in many additional categories of buildings, and structures higher than 300 feet would have to provide a secondary water supply system. All high-rise buildings would have to have exit path markings that glow in the dark.
Glenn Corbett, Fire Engineering technical editor and a fire science professor at John Jay College in New York City, served on a technical advisory committee for the code revisions. He noted that although the new code is a significant improvement, it should be extended in some areas. For example, the new code would allow the use of steel bar joists, which formed the floors of the twin towers, in apartment buildings but not in commercial skyscrapers. Corbett explained that getting fireproofing material to adhere to these joists is difficult because of their complex shape. Experts, he said, consider the absence of the fireproofing material a factor in the collapse of the towers. These joists should not be allowed in any high-rise buildings until a way to properly fireproof them is devised, Corbett asserts.
The new code also mandates that all residential buildings, not only skyscrapers, have installed automatic sprinklers and fire alarms hard-wired to electrical systems.
The City Council will have to approve the new code. The revision is based on the national International Building Code. “NYC Building Code Gets First Major Upday since ’68”; Sara Kugler, AP, May 3, 2007; www.nydailynews.com, accessed May 10, 2007
Alcohol-based hand sanitizers pose hazards
Alcohol-based hand sanitizers recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and others as alternatives to hand washing with antimicrobial soap have been found to be intoxicating to individuals who swallow them deliberately or accidentally (children). The products are also flammable. They should be used only as directed and should be sequestered at nursing stations and in medication rooms in behavioral health patient care areas and psychiatric crisis centers and should not be used in areas where children might be exposed. SafetyBriefs, ISMP Medication Safety Alert! Feb. 6, 2007, vol. 13:3.
Study suggests link between stress and heart-related sudden deaths
Astudy by Marcus A. Gray, et al., published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) Online Early Edition the week of April 9-13, suggests that “brain regions associated with ‘higher cognitive function’ may also participate in stress-induced changes in heart rhythms,” according to PNAS. The study authors explain that emotional stress can cause irregular heart rhythms and sudden death, especially in people with underlying heart conditions. This occurs primarily through the actions of the “primitive” brain regions (the brain stem, for example), which send messages to heart tissue. The authors point out that research has suggested that the cortex, which regulates complex brain functions such as learning, memory, and emotions, also receives incoming information from the heart and may participate in a feedback loop that can amplify stress-induced cardiac events.
Gray and colleagues measured heart and brain activity in patients with a preexisting heart condition while they performed a mildly stressful task known to raise heart rate-counting backward rapidly by sevens. All patients experienced enhanced cardiovascular activity (systolic blood pressure, heart rate, for example). Measures of heart muscle function varied between patients and correlated with increased activity in the left temporal and lateral frontal cortex. The findings demonstrate that the cortex participates in a feedback loop that regulates cardiac response to stress, and this mechanism may provide insight into stress-induced cardiac arrhythmias and sudden death in people with an underlying heart conditions. Gray, based at University College London, UK, may be reached by phone #44 020 7833 7477 or by e-mail: m.gray@fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/. Article #06-09509, PNAS-TIPSHEET @LSW.NAS.EDU, April 9-13, 2007
Batteries pose fire hazard on aircraft
In a March safety advisory, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration warned that batteries for laptop computers, cell phones, and other devices can cause fires aboard aircraft. The agency recommends that batteries be kept in their original packaging or installed in their devices and that loose batteries be covered with insulating tape or wrapped separately in a protective case or plastic bag so they do not contact metal. Passengers are asked to keep batteries in carry-on luggage. Fires in aircraft cabins are easier to extinguish than those in the baggage storage compartment, the agency notes. Previously, batteries caused onboard fires on a JetBlue Airlines flight and American Airlines flight. Both planes landed safely without injured passengers. www.washingtonpost.com, Del Quentin Wilber, March 23, 2007
Smoke detectors recalled
Digital Security Controls, Toronto, Canada, and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission have initiated a voluntary recall of Digital Security Controls FSA and FSB series smoke detectors. About 32,000 of the photoelectric detectors, sold by commercial and residential installers nationwide from October 2006 through December 2006, are involved. The units may not detect smoke during a fire. Only professional installers should remove and replace the units. The manufacturer will provide free replacement detectors if its inspectors determine the units are included in the recall. For an inspection or additional information, contact the manufacturer at 877-666-1250. www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtm107/07136.html/.
Line-of-Duty Deaths
April 25. Captain/Paramedic Billy A. Gafford, 56, Birmingham (AL) Fire & Rescue Service: heart attack.
April 28. Firefighter Vernon “Bob” McKenzie, 64, Gem County Fire Protection District #2, Sweet, ID: heart attack.
April 28. Captain Joe Ed Ivy, 51, Nacogdoches (TX) Fire Department: heart attack.
May 3. Captain William Church, 63, Columbus (PA) Volunteer Fire Department: heart attack.
May 6. Firefighter Joseph Zumwalt, 54, Sheldon (IL) District Fire Department: heart attack.
May 6. Firefighter Ottis Earl Stephenson, 61, Angier & Black River Fire Department, Angier, NC: heart attack.
May 7. Firefighter Peter Beebe-Lawson, 50, Springfield (ME) Fire Department: injuries sustained in a tanker rollover while he was driving.
May 11. Firefighter Brandon Daley, 19, Butler County Fire District #3, Rose Hill, KS: vehicle collision.
May 11. Firefighter-EMT Jeffrey Jeans, 46, Eudora Fire Department, Hernando, MS: apparent heart attack.
May 14. Captain Edward Andrews, 53, Redding (CA) Fire Department: collapsed while engaged in physical fitness training.
May 16. Deputy Chief and Fire Police Captain Joe Piazzi, 76, Briarcliff Manor (NY) Fire Department: heart attack.
May 20. Firefighter Dennis Cheshire, 48, Red Oak Area Volunteer Fire Department, Andalusia, AL: vehicle collision.
May 22. Captain John Keane, 37, Waterbury (CT) Fire Department: vehicle collision.
Source: USFA Firefighters Memorial Database
