Fire department didn’t authorize video release
Since the Colombine High School tragedy, the Littleton (CO) Fire Department has seen an outpouring of positive and negative emotions in our community and nationwide. The tremendous support from fellow firefighters across the country has aided our department in healing from an unthinkable mass-casualty incident. And, unfortunately, the scrutiny and criticism of our efforts relating to this event in the press, from the public, and even from some of our brother and sister firefighters simply add new wounds.
Most recently, the Littleton Fire Department has received heavy national criticism for the court-ordered release of the Columbine videotape used in our 21/2-hour training program. Some important details pertaining to the court-ordered release have been unreported or misreported. We want our colleagues and friends to have as much information as possible regarding this matter. We hope the following facts help shed light on this unfortunate situation:
- The Littleton Fire Department has not released and has not authorized the release or distribution of the videotape used in the 21/2-hour training program.
- The Jefferson County Attorney’s Office released the video along with KCNC Channel 4 footage in compliance with a court order. These items were released to the public under the Colorado Open Records Act as a result of a lawsuit filed by two attorneys on behalf of some victims’ families.
- Littleton is not selling or profiting from the court-ordered release by the Jefferson County Attorney’s Office.
- The Jefferson County Attorney’s Office is selling the video for a $25 fee. The office set this price to recover the costs of production and distribution.
- The Littleton Fire Department’s training program was created specifically for a professional audience consisting of law enforcement, fire, emergency medical, dispatch, hospital, and school personnel. It is not designed or intended for public use.
- The videotape used in the training package is an edited version of the one released to the public. The videotape the Littleton Fire Department uses is approximately 18 minutes or one-fifth of the entire training program. It is not designed to be shown separately from the entire training presentation. The department has never shown this tape independently. Doing so removes it from the appropriate context of the total training program.
- The program consists of verbal instruction and a PowerPoint® presentation that details the lessons learned from the Col-umbine incident in areas such as incident command, communications, interagency coordination, triage, transport, and explosive devices. It is then followed by a video that illustrates the topics previously discussed at length.
- Command personnel have trained other communities across our country to help them should an act of domestic terrorism impact their lives. No Littleton Fire Department employee has ever earned money from the Columbine training program, and all honorariums received have been passed on to the various funds set up for the Columbine victims and their families.
William Pessemier
Chief
Littleton (CO) Fire Department
BX cable and fire cause determination
Regarding “What Does ‘Exposure’ Mean?” (The Ol’ Professor, March 1999), the “engineer” who said “BX cables cause more fires than arson” was mistaken. [“BX” is a registered trademark of General Electric-the generic name is armored cable (AC).] Even the photo looks like many cables I have seen, with blackened armor and a hole blown in it, which immediately makes fire marshals say, “Oh, there it is!” More than 99 percent of the time, this is a result, not a cause. BX cables simply do not cause fires unless they are physically damaged by a nail driven into them or have an incorrect sharp bend in them that caused the armor to dig into the insulation of the live conductor. Electrical faults are almost always the result of bad connections, but never in the run of the wiring itself, especially if protected by a fuse or circuit breaker.
This incorrect statement perpetuates the myth that the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has helped propagate by putting out information such as the “summary of causes of electrical fires” it published a couple of years ago. The NFPA stated that a large percentage of the fires were the result of overloaded wiring in walls. At a meeting of the Electrical Section (of which I am a member), a paper given emphasized the above summary. In the question period afterward, I questioned them on this summary; the answer was that the summary was taken from collected fire investigation reports from fire departments around the country. So a bad conclusion becomes a fact! Any investigator who blames the cause of a fire on “a bad BX” is copping out unless the real reason can be ascertained.
If a neutral conductor on the service entrance opens, then the only neutral path becomes the ground (which is not intended to carry current), and I have seen many cases where the BX armor became the path from the fault to where the cable touches a water pipe or supplies a water pump or water heater. As a result, the armor overheats and starts a fire.
Prentice Cushing
Cesco, Inc.
Virginia Beach, Virginia
Cold tapping training
“Hazardous Materials Response: Know Your Limitations” by David F. Peterson (March 2000) is one of the best articles on haz mats that I have read in a long time and covers several very important points.
I am a full-time fire marshal for the Town of Brookhaven, New York, and have 15 fire marshals assigned to this office. All fire marshals are required to perform all duties (e.g., fire prevention, public safety education, fire investigation, haz mat) to some degree. A few are assigned specialties-I am a New York State-certified hazardous materials specialist and conduct a majority of the inspections and complaint investigations.
Our team has four haz-mat specialists, eight haz-mat technicians, and three trained to the haz-mat Operations levels. We cannot receive enough training and try to attend as many classes as possible but are limited by the typical municipal time and money constraints.
Peterson referenced cold tapping procedures and the use of nitrogen-powered equipment. We have pneumatic equipment for cold tapping and use it, but it is powered by compressed air, not nitrogen. Prior to reading the article, I had not heard of using nitrogen-powered equipment for cold tapping. Could he expand on this procedure? In a magazine article several years ago, an author stated that you cannot be completely prepared for every incident you may encounter and that every incident should be used as a learning tool. I would appreciate any assistance that Peterson can offer.
Richard D. Hahn
Fire Marshal
Brookhaven, New York
David F. Peterson responds: It is extremely gratifying to hear that readers benefited from an article. I hope that all readers and responders use the information in this article to respond with the utmost safety to hazardous material emergencies.
Concerning cold tapping, whereby gasoline tankers can be drilled into to offload product, more information and training can be sought through gasoline companies (e.g., certain public safety organizations) and the Transportation Technology Center in Pueblo, Colorado, (719) 584-0584.
Cold tapping is a process in which the side of an aluminum fuel or gasoline tanker is drilled through to offload product. Many contractors use nitrogen-powered tools since nitrogen does not burn. Compressed air supports combustion! Nitrogen is simply substituted for compressed air to power the tools; a nitrogen regulator must be used. The regulator can be purchased from the nitrogen supplier. One drawback to using a nitrogen system is that the tools must be hand-oiled after each use since the system does not have a lubrication oiler.
Hydraulic-powered tools can also be used in cold tapping and are even preferred because they have higher torque and can be operated at slower speeds. These tools are much more expensive and can be operated from conventional hydraulic power packs similar to those that run extrication tools.
Conventional high-speed steel hole saws are used for cutting aluminum; carbide hole saws are used to cut steel and stainless steel.
For more information on any of the above, contact your local hazardous waste and emergency response private contractor. For rules, regulations, and standards that pertain to haz-mat emergency response, see the OSHA standard “HAZWOPER,” found in 29 CFR 1910.120 (q), which covers the mandates of the safety officer and the incident commander. For more detailed information on the above roles and responsibilities, two companion national standards, NFPA 472, Professional Competence of Responders to Hazardous Materials Incidents, and NFPA 471, Recommended Practice for Responding to Hazardous Materials Incidents, give good guidance toward compliance. In the opinion of many haz mat specialists, the role of safety officer is the most important. Consequently, the safety officer needs to be the most highly trained and most knowledgeable responder at the incident. A truly qualified and competent safety officer will go a long way to help minimize liability and increase responder safety. Finally, only the agency or employer for which these responders work can “certify” them.
Vertical ventilation, PPV, and “Little Drops of Water”
Once again, Tom Brennan has hit the nail on the head in “Synergistic Safety Stuff” (Random Thoughts, March 2000) with his common-sense approach to fireground operations-specifically, the relevance of vertical ventilation. As he correctly points out, vertical ventilation is one of the most effective tools in enhancing firefighter safety in concert with an aggressive attack on an interior structure fire.
Yet, Monday morning quarterbacks tell us that the roof is a dangerous place. It is interesting that these same quarterbacks often advocate a quick interior attack on a fire. However, they frequently fail to recognize two fundamental rules of fireground safety: (1) Falling debris always has the right of way and (2) If it isn’t safe enough to stand on it, it isn’t safe enough to stand under it. Therefore, if roof ventilation operations are unsafe, are interior operations just as unsafe?
In “Little Drops of Water: 50 Years Later, Part 2” (Fire Engineering, March 2000), Andrew A. Fredericks presents another insightful and well-documented article regarding fog streams and solid stream nozzles. However, his remarks that positive pressure ventilation (PPV) will push fire into uninvolved areas of a building, can violently accelerate fire growth, and can present a danger of steam burns when used with a water mist and that fire departments that use PPV do so on a much more limited basis today than yesterday are not in line with practical experience or numerous test results.
A recent survey indicated that more than 60 percent of U.S. fire departments use PPV as an attack tool and, after five years of testing, the United Kingdom recently implemented PPV as an initial attack tool. If PPV will push fire into uninvolved areas and violently accelerate fire growth, why does the fire service still use it, and why do test results indicate the opposite?
Currently, water misting with PPV attack operations is not supported by fan manufacturers, but numerous fire departments use it primarily for rehabilitation operations with effectiveness.
Finally, the presentations on PPV by the Salt Lake City (UT) Fire Department, the United Kingdom, and Eastern Canada at the FDIC would indicate that an increasing number of fire departments (in the United States and internationally) are using PPV more aggressively today.
(Editor’s note: For further discussion regarding PPV, see Roundtable, August and December 1999.)
John Mittendorf
Battalion Chief (Ret.)
Los Angeles City (CA) Fire Department
I read the article by Andrew A. Fredericks and would like to share a similar incident.
About a year ago, my engine company responded to a fire on the second floor of a 21/2-story frame private dwelling.
On arrival, some light smoke was pushing out around one of the closed, energy-efficient bedroom windows on the second floor.
The homeowner had just come home from work, smelled smoke, and immediately went to a next-door neighbor to call the fire department.
Since forced entry was unnecessary, we quickly stretched a 13/4-inch line up the stairs to the closed bedroom door, charged it, blew it out, and then opened the door. Immediately we encountered heavy smoke and intense heat. We made our way a short distance into the room with zero visibility and high heat.
We decided to open the line with a straight stream position on a fog nozzle despite the fact that we couldn’t see any fire (contrary to our training). We swept the ceiling and then directed the stream in the direction of the heat.
At about that time, the truck company broke out some windows, and conditions began to improve dramatically. To our surprise, we were not only in the actual fire room but only a few feet away from the previously fully involved bed and chair.
Apparently, the fire had been burning for some time in that tightly sealed room. I believe if we had not opened the line when we did, the room might have flashed over.
Thanks for all of Fire Engineering’s terrific training articles and videos.
Syd Henry
Lieutenant
Elmsford (NY) Fire Department
To Bail or Not to Bail?
I read with interest “To Bail or Not To Bail?” (Bill Manning, Editor’s Opinion, April 2000). The Training Division of the San Jose (CA) Fire Department has trained the entire department (689 uniformed personnel) in a modified version of Saving Our Own, including one form of the ladder bail. During the training, no personnel were required to practice the ladder bail if they felt uncomfortable. We are still teaching this program to all new hires in our Recruit Academy.
We did this after several department members, including the deputy chief of training, the immediate past safety officer, and the deputy chief of field operations, participated in the original train-the-trainer program, approving the techniques for department use.
However, the department was not cited for improper laddering, as Manning stated. We were the subject of a Cal-OSHA investigation based on a complaint about the training. After a meeting with the investigator, during which she observed and photographed the technique, we did not receive any citations about this training or the practices it involves. We did receive two safety citations on structural features of our training tower, which we are currently working to correct.
Thanks to Fire Engineering for allowing us the opportunity to correct this information.
William Garringer
Deputy Chief
Bureau of Education & Training
San Jose (CA) Fire Department
In the Saving Our Own program [developed at the Illinois Fire Service Institute (IFSI)], the “ladder bail” refers to the technique of leaning (not jumping) out of the window headfirst, grabbing two rungs while locking in with an arm, then exiting the window and pivoting around onto the ladder. At that point, the firefighter has the option of climbing down normally or sliding down the beams.
The term “ladder slide” refers to a firefighter positioning his knees and feet against the outside of the ladder beams in a seated position while grabbing the underside of the beams with both hands and sliding down.
We do not use the term “headfirst ladder slide,” nor do we teach the technique. I don’t think I have ever heard the term before. However, for years the Fire Department of New York has used a technique in which the firefighter in essence climbs down the ladder headfirst, gripping rung to rung. We tried that technique when we first started the Saving Our Own program. We quickly concluded it was very difficult; very tough on the hands; and one could easily fall, especially if the momentum or ladder angle were wrong or if the firefighter were tired. Thus, early on we decided not to teach that technique, and that was when we opted to concentrate on the ladder bail, which, when coupled with the ladder slide, is not only easier and safer but faster.
The IFSI has a written lesson plan and written guide for the ladder bail technique. We have had a written guide from the start of our program. It has always stressed safety and the use of spotters and safety lines. In 1999, the guide was expanded to include step-by-step instructions.
I challenge the statement quoted in the Editor’s Opinion from the Manteca inquiry that says, “ellipse it is unreasonable to conclude that the emergency ladder bail technique has any practical benefit to the fire service.” There are numerous members around the country whose experience proves otherwise. A firefighter in Libertyville, Illinois, saved his life by a ladder bail about two months ago in a townhouse fire, after an improperly deployed ventilation fan during overhaul lit the whole place up, trapping firefighters in the basement and on the second floor. That incident is on videotape.
Like every technique we teach in Saving Our Own, it works in the real world. We know of eight firefighters in seven incidents in three states who are alive today because of the techniques learned in our Saving Our Own classes, and I suspect there are others.
Frankly, for some time prior to the Manteca incident, we have been concerned about some of the techniques folks around the country have been trying and even more so about the possibility of people who really do not know what they are doing teaching this type of skill and of firefighters “hotdogging.”
We will be distributing a techniques update and refresher handout to all the students and departments that have taken Saving Our Own, reminding them about proper safe training. These programs have always been in a state of evolution. Part of what we were trying to do was stimulate people to think about and try new ideas and techniques, and then share them. That is working. There isn’t a week that goes by that I don’t hear from someone around the country who wants information or training.
The ladder bail is a safe move unless someone is racing and not doing it properly; then it’s no different than driving a car or walking down stairs-someone can get hurt. If done correctly, the worst that will happen is a bruise on your arm where it was locked onto the ladder.
We used to teach other skill techniques we felt were not as safe as this one. Even though they work, we quit teaching them to the average groups to minimize the chance of training injuries. The ladder bail is a safe way of addressing most emergency escape situations.
David F. Clark
Associate Director for Academic Affairs
Illinois Fire Service Institute
Since I have been involved in developing the Get Out Alive training program and instructing firefighters in it for the past five years, I read “To Bail or Not To Bail?” with interest.
I can’t believe we are debating the value of a firefighter survival tactic based on the death of a single firefighter who reportedly performed this “tactic” incorrectly, unsolicited, without authorization or the benefit of a single safety device or procedure. This tactic (and several variations) has been taught to hundreds if not thousands of firefighters in the last several years without major injuries or death. More than a few firefighters have informed me that this and other related firefighter survival tactics have been responsible for the survival of several firefighters around the country. Let’s not be too quick to throw the baby out with the bath water.
Unfortunately, like Captain Moore, firefighters are killed each year in training accidents. Do we eliminate whatever tactic the involved firefighter was performing when killed, even if it was performed incorrectly? NO! We investigate the actions and circumstances that led to the accident and determine what went wrong, why, and what changes we can make to avoid repeating the situation in the future. If NASA reacted to the tragic fire aboard an early Apollo spacecraft in which seven astronauts perished in the way that some fire service elements are reacting to this incident, we would have never landed on the moon or sent another shuttle into space. Firefighting is dangerous, and effective and realistic training can also be dangerous, but the most dangerous activity is firefighting without effective and realistic training.
A final note on the “ladder bail” or “ladder slide” technique. I can only speak for myself, but the basic premise behind this specific tactic is not to race toward a window intending to use it. Instead, I have stated hundreds of times during numerous training sessions that this tactic is one that you may “find yourself” performing or be “forced” to perform due to fire, heat, smoke, or structural conditions. You would never be moving toward a window planning to employ this tactic.
The actual scenario is more like this: You manage to find your way to a window to escape rapidly deteriorating and hostile fire conditions. Because of the heat, smoke, or fire conditions at the window, you are unable to stand up or sit on the windowsill to climb out the window and onto the ladder in the conventional manner, but you can crawl over the windowsill and down onto the waiting ladder just to get yourself out of there. Here is where the training has a “practical benefit” for the fire service.
Now that you’re on this ladder upside down with the fire literally at your heels, if you’ve been trained on how to maneuver on a ladder under these conditions, you have a much better chance of survival than otherwise. This is the ladder exit technique that I teach and promote.
There is no diving or one-shot grab for the ladder. It is a deliberate crawl over the windowsill and an exaggerated stop, where the firefighter just holds onto the ladder and slowly turns. This is a dangerous tactic, but it is also better than the alternative, which is to remain in that room. This and several other firefighter survival tactics are “last resort” tactics-they are not to be employed unless there is no other way out!
You can outlaw this method, pretend it doesn’t exist, or try to convince yourself and the rest of us that well-trained firefighters will never find themselves in this situation, but you’re wrong! The truth is that when trained properly, continuously, and realistically with appropriate safety procedures and equipment in place, this is a very effective and practical firefighter survival tactic for every interior structural firefighter to learn and practice. Are there variations or elements that may need to be eliminated or modified? Maybe, but whether or not you are “allowed” to train using this tactic, you may someday find yourself crawling over a windowsill onto a ladder to get yourself out alive. Will you be ready? I will.
John J. Salka, Jr.
Battalion Chief
Fire Department of New York
