Today, volunteer firefighters are held to “a higher standard of service”
As an officer in a large, 100-percent volunteer department, I always look forward to reading the monthly Volunteers Corner articles. Each one seems to relate to our successes and shortcomings. Eddie Buchanan’s “They’re Just Trying To Run Off the Volunteers” (April 2005) was written as though it was directed at my department.
While we do not have plans on transitioning to a combination department, resistance within our department is strong with regard to issues such as higher training standards and choosing officers based on qualification as opposed to popularity. Some members do not understand that to survive these times of transition, a higher standard of service is required by today’s volunteer firefighter. There are paid departments ready to move in and take over our response area if we give them the opportunity, and only we can control our destiny and future as volunteers.
My department has been successful at improving our service delivery by such changes as staffing stations 24/7; however, internal conflicts over increased training standards and qualifications occasionally take priority over realizing why we are here and who we are here to protect-our citizens. I commend Buchanan for his honest and open view of today’s changing volunteer system, and I am encouraging every member of my department to take five minutes to read and relate this article to our current situation.
Michael Gramsas
Lieutenant
Wheat Ridge (CO) Fire Department
Reaping what you sow?
“AVoice of Leadership in Trying Times” (Editor’s Opinion, June 2005) was a well-written article, and everything Bill Manning said was true in his praise for Fire Department of New York Chief Peter Hayden.
But, I can’t help but say “boo-hoo for the poor FDNY members.” Why don’t they call their buddy President Bush, whom their union supported for reelection? After all, he stood with them on 9/11 and pledged his support for the fire service; we all know how that promise has worked out. The current political climate is a result of failure to support candidates who follow through with promises to the fire service.
Miles Felmly
Chief
Deerfield (OH) Fire Department
Natural gas emergencies
As an industrial combustion expert with 25 years of experience in the field, I would like to point out what I consider to be several errors in the article “Natural Gas Emergencies” (Gregory P. Perricone, Volunteers Corner, May 2005).
First, natural gas, properly mixed with air, burns at 2,750°F, not 1,400°F. Even raw gas flying out of a broken pipe, if ignited, will burn at 2,200°F. This makes a lot of difference in radiant heat.
The author does not cover the issue of what to do if the gas does ignite. This is important because firefighters always want to put out the fire; in this case, you would let it burn while you protect exposures. The flame is extinguished by having the gas company close the nearest valve. Attempts to extinguish an open pipe fire can result in its violently coming back on you.
The author does not mention what should be done if gas is drawn into the air intake of a diesel engine. If this should happen, the engine will “run away” at high rpm until it destroys itself. Operators must know how to shut down the engine under these emergency conditions. Just shutting off the electric switch won’t help. The diesel doesn’t need electricity to operate.
In his discussion of gas flows from various pipe sizes, I believe the author used the wrong pressure from the gas tables. He says that a two-inch pipe will yield 390,000 Btus/hour. That is a reasonable figure at a gas pressure of 3.5 inches of water column (WC). That is the pressure used at the intake of a small household furnace or hot water tank. However, what is being discussed are “line” pressure pipes of 60 psi+. I set up the gas supply for one of the largest hardwood kiln operations in this area using a two-inch line at 60 psi. That line is capable of supplying a small city. I was running four 200-horsepower steam boilers off this one line (a 200-horsepower boiler uses close to 8,000,000 Btus/hr).
James C. Conway
Firefighter
Edinboro (PA) Volunteer Fire Department
Gregory P. Perricone responds: I stand by my sources in the endnotes. Sometimes, it’s the engineers who can be the most critical because of the nature of engineering: precision measurements create precise results. In industry, precision measurements are required because of the need to achieve the desired goal-get the most production for the least amount of money. Firefighting, on the other hand, is not about making money; it’s about controlling the forces of nature and man-made conditions that are completely out of control.
Regarding the statement concerning the temperature at which natural gas burns, as I said, I stand by my sources. However, Conway must agree that gas escaping from an undetermined-sized fractured gas pipe inside an excavation is certainly not the same as gas properly mixed and flowing through an engineered jet set at a predetermined rate.
Having been to hundreds of flammable fuel-fed fires over an eight-year period as a U.S. Air Force firefighter, I can tell you that you don’t have to be an engineer to be able to measure the heat with the skin on your face. Most of the time, you could feel it as you rolled into the scene from about 2,500 feet out. For example, in 1987, I responded as driver on a P-2D crash truck to a gas station filling accident in Westhampton Beach, New York. We felt the heat of that fire through the double windshield of the truck, and it was intense. My experience has given me the insight to know that when the gas (natural, LP, or gasoline) is burning, you don’t have much time to plan your attack strategy at the scene. It is far better to set up for the potential fire and operate from a distance. In so doing, you reduce the potential for exposure to the public, your firefighters, and the equipment.
Unfortunately for firefighters, technology has yet to produce metering equipment that can precisely measure gas flow from an uncontrolled leak or, for that matter, radiant heat after it has ignited and provide the fire chief with the real-time water-flow capacity needed to eliminate the danger or, more importantly, completely extinguish any fire.
The writer assumes that “firefighters always want to put out the fire.” I’m disturbed by that remark …. People who are not firefighters commonly make remarks like this.
As for diesel engines running away, the point is well taken. My concern was not simply for the equipment. I felt that having the equipment in close proximity would render it useless if the gas did ignite. We wouldn’t have the engines as resources, and people would be exposed to great danger without remedy until more equipment arrived.
My thought process for the entire article was how could we do this without killing firefighters and the people we protect. ■
