Many fire departments across the USA have or are opting instead to install a slide, instead of a pole, reports USA Today.
Sometimes it’s for safety or insurance purposes, and sometimes it just suits the station better.
In Ocean City (MD) volunteer fire company president Cliff Christello said they’re weighing the possibility of installing a slide at their new firehouse, which is still on the drawing board. He said because their insurer balked, they won’t be installing a pole.
“And to be honest with you, the national trend is doing away from them (poles), because of insurance reasons. Because they’ve done this study, and they’ve said — these guys are spraining their ankles, and everything else on the pole,” he said.t drop aren’t minor. A knee or ankle could sustain real damage by coming to an abrupt stop at the end.
The liability risk of fire poles is typically a workers compensation issue, one handled at the municipal level, according to Scott Harkins, senior vice president of Risk Control Services for Volunteer Firemen’s Insurance Services Inc., an insurer of emergency services operations.
In Dublin, Ohio, firefighters skipped the pole when they built Fire Station 95 a few years back because nagging injuries had plagued others late in their careers, according to former chief Gene Bostick.
The station’s unique design constraints — it’s built into the base of a water tower — demanded something other than a fire pole.
“Personally, I think it’s a great way. You don’t have the impact when they come down, to maybe do injury to the back or neck or shoulders,” Bostick said.
Peter O’Scanaill, owner of American Playground Corp., based in Anderson, Ind., said the trend is solidly growing in the last three years. He said the company installed about six in 2012, and already has interest in another half dozen more for this year.
Read more of the story here http://usat.ly/15m9S8R
