(September 2007)
Always keep a safe distance from IEDs
This refers to “Strategies for Surviving the IED Response” by August Vernon in the June 2007 issue. I think that the author was on the money with the article. However, I have one area of concern, which is under the scene management section, specifically the use of the “5 Cs.”
I have just returned from Iraq, where I served as the commanding officer of the Al Kasik Regional Support Unit. Needless to say, IEDs catch my attention quickly. Under the old 5 Cs, the first step was confirm. This is a challenge for us in the military; as a consequence, service members who may or may not have the requisite skill set to make the confirmation of an IED took needless risks (i.e., approaching the device to confirm). We have since revised this; now Explosive Ordnance Disposal units confirm once they arrive on the scene.
I would hate to have some well-intentioned firefighters (I am also a volunteer with Fairfax City) approach a device and become victims. We know the devices are either command detonated (i.e., guy with triggering device), victim detonated (i.e., pressure plate/trip wire), or on a timer device. Based on this information and the increased possibility of additional casualties, it is imperative to clear and cordon off the area.
This is not meant as a criticism but rather as a concern for our fire service. As the secretary for Homeland Security recently stated, we are entering into a heightened period, and we need to be ready. In view of the events in England, the author’s article was timely.
CDR William F. Hesse
U.S. Navy
Chief Technical Officer
Fire Fighting/Damage Control/ Chemical & Bio Defense
Cutting through vehicle cylinders and air bags
This refers to ”Side Air Bag Tank Explosion Complicates Extrication of Victims,” by Dave Dalrymple (Extrication Tactics, April 2007). I question why this incident even occurred. Some extrication instructors advocate the “peel and peek” method when dealing with new car technology to avoid cutting through cylinders or air bags in the pillars or posts of vehicles. You reach inside and peel back the interior material of the vehicle and expose what you are going to cut through. Was this method used?
Jace Woodworth
Lieutenant
Crawford County Rescue Squad
Robinson, Illinois
Dave Dalrymple responds: This is a good question! I do not believe the crew used the methodology of displacing the interior trim prior to cutting the passenger side C-post. That methodology of displacing the interior trim is a “best practice” prior to any roof post cut, roof relief cut, or even B-post cuts for a B-post tear/maxidoor/entire side removal. This methodology accomplishes two tasks: It exposes the hybrid gas generators that inflate the side curtain SRS devices in the roof and seat-belt pretensioners in the B-post and also exposes some of the reinforcements found in the post. This is also helpful when making post cuts with a reciprocating saw or an air chisel by removing trim that might vibrate and slow down those tools.
Remember, these hybrid gas generators that inflate the side curtain SRS can range from 3,000 to almost 10,000 psi of inert gas and have the potential to create shrapnel when cut with a power hydraulic cutter.
Some roadblocks for volunteer incentives
In “Paid Two-Week Training Spurs Retention and Recruitment” (Volunteers Corner, June 2007), Tim Pillsworth floats the ideas of paying volunteers for taking two weeks of training per year and lobbying for legislation to hold harmless the volunteers from adverse action by employers. Those are two very big hurdles to jump, but here’s another: Is the pay the volunteer receives while taking that two weeks of training going to be taxable income? I know what the answer has been for some of the volunteers who have gotten on-call, per-run pay in my jurisdiction.
To sidestep tax liability, the authority having jurisdiction has chosen to call the pay a “clothing allowance” or something similar, but pay for taking off one’s day job for a couple of weeks probably wouldn’t be compatible with such an approach. Some municipalities in my part of the country have instead chosen to discount the member’s water bill or the billing for related city services. Alas, about half of my firefighters serve a self-incorporated, nonprofit fire suppression group that receives no municipal funding. They would be excluded from any such plan.
I don’t mean to pour cold water on Pillsworth’s idea. If it can work for firefighters in any setting, we’ve made progress. But some employers of volunteers in my area have told the volunteers not to wear their pagers to work! If time off to make fire runs is a major issue to these employers, you can imagine what we’d run into if we asked them to allow the volunteer to be absent from work for a month (two weeks of vacation/two weeks of training).
Charlie Enlow
Rural Fire Defense Coordinator
Oklahoma Economic Development Authority
Beaver, Oklahoma
The many facets of customer service
Iwould like to share the following comments in relation to “Improving Customer Service” by Barry Henry and Tom Kiurski (Fire Prevention Bureau, July 2007). Customer service is not only important for first responders; it is also important to the last responders, the fire origin and cause investigators, those men and women charged with the dubious task of determining the origin and the probable cause of fires regardless how big or small. I retired from the fire service just about 15 years ago and ventured into private practice as a certified fire investigator.
About seven years ago, my wife decided that since I travel so much, I should have a companion. So, a soft cuddly teddy bear about 20 inches tall, who was promptly named “Chance” and was decked out in a wardrobe truly fit for the “bravest,” entered my life. This little guy traveled everywhere with me. He instantly became my Goodwill Ambassador.
At the fire scenes, he was able to elicit information that typically would have had to be extracted surgically. Practically everyone wanted to “talk” to Chance. And, they wanted one like him for their very own. While I was working at an incident in South America (they do not have teddy bears), he truly had a bounty on him. Children in this strange country, to me, became unstressed. Adults shed tears over him and with him concerning their loss.
I have had people “tell” Chance the details leading up to the fire and how the fire “might have started.” The trust and love that teddy bears can elicit cannot be estimated by any one person until that person is truly stressed and personally at the end of his rope, so to speak.
My wife and I have given hundreds of these critters to folks in need of a friend-some are dressed in Class A fire department uniforms and one is a very special bear that my stepson Tom has in Iraq. This is Tom’s third tour of duty, and his bear Pat (short for Patriot) has been there with him the entire time in his complete fatigues.
Good job to authors Barry and Tom and, of course, to Chief Alan Brunacini, a man whose boots I have attempted to walk in for many years.
Ed Knight
Certified Fire Investigator
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
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Editor’s Note: In Figure 1 of “Escape Rope Performance: Working at Elevated Temperatures and Under Dynamic Loads,” by Gavin Horn, Ernest Timmons, and Peter Kurath (July 2007), the label for the 75ºF test inadvertently covered part of the load-strain plot. As a result, this room temperature sample appeared to be weaker than the sample tested at 210ºF. However, this sample failed at a load of nearly 4,800 pounds, as can be seen above. The chart above contains all of the data indicating the significant difference in strength between the samples tested at room temperature and those at only 210ºF.
