NEWS IN BRIEF

NEWS IN BRIEF

FCC ruling “major victory” for fire service

A recent unanimous Federal Communications Commission ruling allows fire, police, and EMS organizations to continue to use their current radio frequencies and exempts them from FCC plans to restructure the electromagnetic spectrum.

Heralding the decision as a “major victory for the American lire service,” Rep Curt Weldon (R-PA), chairman of the Congressional Fire Services Caucus, comments: “It is reassuring in this time of impersonal and unresponsive federal bureaucracy to see an FCC ruling that puts America’s domestic defenders first.”

Chlorine Institute: add gasket to Akit

“Some 100and 150-pound chlorine cylinders have neck rings that are too large to accommodate the standard Akit hood device and molded gasket,” advises Gary Trojak, vice president of packaging and technical services tor the Chlorine Institute. Consequently, Cl is recommending that all of the Akits be equipped with an additional gasket that can be used when the regular molded gasket does not fit. It is estimated that some 8,000 (2,500 owners) A-kits are present in organizations—including fire departments—in the l nited States and Canada and that several thousand chlorine cylinders with oversized neck rings are in use in these countries. The Institute recommends that all chlorine cylinders comply with its drawing #121 (Limiting Dimensions for Chlorine Cylinder).

Specifications of the recommended gasket are as follows:

• Viton® “A” flat ring gasket.
• seven-inch outer diameter.
• t’s-inch inner diameter.
• ⅛-inch thick.
• 60 durometer hardness.
• Departments that find it difficult to locate a source for the gasket can contact Indian Springs Manufacturing Company, 2095 W. Genesee Road, Baldwinsville, NY 13027, (.315) 6356101.

Flammability guidelines for furnishings

The Fire Marshal’s Office at the University of Rochester (NY) and Strong Memorial Hospital, a regional facility, recently developed fire safety guidelines for institutional furnishings for the hospital, the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, and other area institutions. “The University is now able to apply the same standards of performance to all furnishings,” explains John Hall, University of Rochester fire marshal.

Although the guidelines are voluntary. purchasing and administrative personnel from these and other regional institutions, such as nursing homes, have been cooperating, and the guidelines are enclosed with bidding invitations, Hall says. The facilities are especially concerned about toxins such as carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide that develop when materials commonly used in furnishings burn. Vendors are asked to identify the materials used in their products, and the university’s industrial hygienist then tests the materials to identify the hazardous gases they create when they burn.

The need for the guidelines was established by testing several recently purchased furnishings in use in the hospital and several items being contemplated for purchase. The furnishings were subjected to large-scale burn tests in a 12-foot X 10-foot room (with eight-foot-high ceiling) at the local fire academy. A wastebasket fire was the source of ignition. The materials tested ranged from those extremely difficult to ignite to those extremely difficult to extinguish.

The new guideline project involved consulting the National Fire Protection Association and the California Department of Consumer Affairs standards for furnishings. A draft of the proposed guidelines was submitted to vendors, who said compliance was feasible. Next, the Rochester Fire Department and other local healthcare facility fire safety professionals reviewed and approved the proposal, which then was reviewed by the hospital’s medical, purchasing, and legal professionals.

The adopted version of the fire safety guidelines for hospital furnishings provides for the following:

• Compliance. The subject item must be listed by vendor documentation as compliant with a nationally recognized flammability standard such as the California Department of Consumer Affairs or the Boston Fire Department standards.
• Flame spread. Exposed surfaces shall be manufactured of fire resistant material and shall have a char length not exceeding 1.5 inches (38 cm) when tested in accordance with the cigarette ignition test described in NFPA 261 or be rated class I when tested in accordance with NFPA 260. This is to ensure slow burning with limited consumption of material.
• Smoke generated. The density of the smoke created by the test item shall not reduce visibility in the test room or test chamber (3-foot x 2foot hood) more than 25 percent at the mid-height level in the first five minutes of the fire. Presumably, this control will allow sufficient time for staff to remove patients safely.
• Toxicity. During a 10-minute test period, the carbon monoxide level shall not exceed 1,000 ppm at any point in the test room during the test (“Flammability Test for Mattresses for Use in High-Risk Occupancies,” California Department of Consumer Affairs Technical Bulletin 121, April 1980). In addition, the test product shall not contain elements that could produce toxic gases that could reach a level where they become immediately dangerous to life and health. Even with limited flame and smoke spread, toxic gases still are a cause for concern. This guideline attempts to control or eliminate the generation of such gases.
• Heat created. The ceiling temperature immediately above the burning material shall not exceed 5()0°F during the first 10 minutes of the fire (from the California standard). This guideline is intended to prevent or at least delay fire flashover, a phenomenon that results in full room involvement.
• Burning droplets. Any flaming drops of material created from the burning material shall self-extinguish within two seconds. By controlling flaming droplets, fire spread to adjoining combustibles is reduced.

All new purchases are subject to review for determination of compliance. Items such as mattresses are : exposed to a large-scale burn test : (room at fire academy), and decorating materials are subjected to a smallscale burn test in the University of Rochester’s Fire Marshal’s Office laboratory prior to purchase, to confirm compliance with University guidelines.

Additional details are available from John Hall at (“Mb) 275-8⅜ 12.

Health hazards of wildfire smoke under study

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF) and the Lawrence Livermore National LaboraI tory (LLNL) this past year began ef: forts to develop cost-effective respiratory protection from short-term acute exposures to wildfire smoke. The two primary areas covered under the CDFLLNL contract, according to William A. Weaver, CDF fire research coordinator, are developing and evaluating a prototype respirator and testing filtering media to establish performance criteria for the type of filter configurations needed for wildland firefighting.

LLNL constructed 10 prototype respirators, which were evaluated by the CDF Vina Helitack crew on fires during the 1991 fire season. Relatively low fire activity, however, provided insufficient exposure and evaluation of the prototype respirators, and evaluation will continue during the 1992 fire season, Weaver says.

LLNL has been developing an air purifier for its own wildland firefighters for the past five years. (LLNL has about 10,000 acres of wildland at its test site southeast of the city of Livermore, and its fire department is part of the California fire mutual-aid system.)

The purifier, called the “smart” airpurifying respirator, consists of a modified, off-the-shelf respirator, which provides protection against particulate matter carried by smoke. It has a carbon-monoxide-sensing alarm, and the sensor is calibrated to sense the eight-hour time weighted average (TWA) exposure allowed. As the carbon monoxide reaches the TWA, a red light blinks to warn the firefighter.

Researchers have not determined whether a full-face (protects the eyes as well as the respiratory system) or a half-face (protects only the respiratory system) configuration should be used or whether such a respirator should be fitted with a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter that will filter almost 100 percent of the particulates or a less efficient filter that will cost less.

Current respirator technology cannot feasibly be applied during 100 percent of exposure time on a wildland fire, since fire line shifts can exceed 12 hours, researchers note. The prototype respirator evaluation is being applied only to short-term and intermittent acute exposure. ( term exposure to wildland smoke will have to be approached with other alternatives.) This topic also may be considered by a National Fire Protection Association subcommittee of the Committee for Wildland Firefighting, which is looking at protective clothing for wildland firefighters.

Vital to developing effective protective equipment, the CDF says, is gathering pertinent data not currently available, such as standards that dictate the level of protection required for wildland firefighters; the degree of wildfire smoke exposures has not been identified. In addition, before such equipment can be used, existing respiratory protection regulations require individual medical certification, formal training programs, individual fit-testing, and comprehensive maintenance procedures—none of which can be developed until performance specifications are validated.

I’lte follow ing considerations were incorporated into the CDF/I.I.NL project:

• Feasibility. The project continually must evaluate the feasibility and practicality of a respirator device, since it will be an additional personal protective item the wildland firefighter must carry. Respiratory protection available to structural firefighters, such as SC’.BA, is not practical for wildland firefighters: Its weight is unacceptable, the device would add to the physiological heat stresses, and the limited air supply would not allow for continuous fresh air. Other means of respiratory protection must be researched and developed for wildland firefighters.
• Smoke. Efforts must continue to identify the elements of smoke and the degree of the impact each health hazard represented by the smoke has on the wildland firefighter’s health. Smoke encountered in wildland fires can be made up of a combination of the following ingredients: carbon monoxide, inorganic compounds such as lead or sulfur, aldehvdes.
• particles of black carbon, ozone (present only when smoke is trapped by stagnant weather conditions and is exposed to sunlight), and organic acids. Research has not yet shown whether these substances have any long-term effects, and most of the studies currently available recommend further investigation be done before drawing any conclusions.

The immediate effects of smoke most commonly observed in wildland firefighters are eye, throat, and lung irritation, as well as some decreased lung capacity. Although the symptoms tend to subside once the fire season ends, research is needed to determine whether the damage caused by the smoke accumulates from year to year or whether the lungs recover to within normal accepted limits.

Because current respirator technology is not capable of providing fulltime protection from the harmful effects of smoke, it is expected that certain compromises will be considered, as was the case with personal fire shelters and wildland fire protective clothing, the CDF explains.

The fact that CDF wildland firefighters encounter more than cellulose-based smoke from class A fuels during wildfire control operations must be considered in the project.

• Policies. The department must consider operational policies and procedures that will limit the wildland firefighter’s long-term exposure to smoke hazards.
• filter. Specification standards must provide the greatest filtering of the harmful components of smoke while minimizing potential adverse physiological stress impact on the firefighter. LLNL conducted filter efficiency testing through the winter of 1992: a report containing final project results and recommendations is expected to be available during the winter of 1993.

Although the LLNL prototype air purifier does not filter gases such as carbon monoxide and other vapors, it is an interim corrective action. LLNL’s experience indicates that it provides a significant reduction in smoke exposure and post-response respiratory irritation while also providing eye protection, according to James S. Johnson, fill.I), of LLNL in his report “The Use of ‘Smart’ Air-Purifying Respirators for Wildlands Firefighting.”

In addition to the CDF-LLNL project. the following studies related to the health hazards of smoke are underway:

• The Pacific Northwest (PNW) Experiment Station of the US. Forest Service (USFS). This study is evaluating the health hazards affiliated with smoke to personnel resulting from Vegetation Management Project (VMP) burns. It is believed that control burning presents unique health hazards from smoke (higher humidities/fuel moistures resulting in greater incomplete combustion) not normally encountered by firefighters during suppression of wildfires. A final report on this project to the partner agencies is expected in 1994. It will contain information on the combustion components of California’s fuels and the potential health risks of smoke to California VMP operations personnel. To date, the project has been successful in identifying the toxic elements of smoke from the Pacific Northwest fuels and to a lesser degree the exposures being encountered by VMP operational personnel.
• National Park Service (NPS)/ National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). The NPS requested NIOSF1 to investigate the health hazards of smoke to its fire suppression personnel. NIOSH conducted field sampling of Federal Flot Shot hand crews during the 1991 fireseason. A report was due at press time.
• California Department of Health Services (CDHS)/National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG). A spinoff from the 1988-1989 Health Hazards of Smoke project, it evaluated the health hazards of smoke resulting from the 1987 Northern California wildfire conflagrations. Ultimately, the CDHS conducted tests on California wildland firefighters to determine their levels of exposures to the elements of smoke and released a report
• in 1990 that found “remarkable health hazards to firefighters.” Evaluation of California wildland firefighters is continuing.

Coordinating all the wildland health hazards of smoke studies is the Health Hazards of Smoke Technical Panel, formed by the National Wildfire Coordinating Croup. Comprised of representatives from each of the ongoing projects, the panel has delegates to the USES Missoula Technology and Development Center. Its goals are to share resources, standardize protocols, and provide combined results that can be shared by all interested agencies.

Additional details on the studies are available from William A. Weaver at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. P.O. Box 944246, Sacramento, CA 94244-2460, (916) 653-5367.

Criteria for excellence award

The Mare Mueller Award of Excellence was created to attract welldeserved attention to the heroes behind fire prevention activities, according to the National Volunteer Fire Council: “| It | recognizes those who demonstrate superior efforts to protect the public through a continuous promulgation or enforcement of outstanding fire prevention programs in their communities.”

Established with the assistance of Master Protection Corporation, the award will be given for the first time and annually thereafter at the NVFC Fall Meeting, which is held during Fire Prevention Week in October.

Nominations for the award will he accepted until June 1, 1992; copies of the nomination form are available from the NVFC. Nominees will be asked to submit a one-page summary of their fire prevention accomplishments.

To be eligible for the award, the nominee must be a volunteer firefighter and from a member state of the National Volunteer Fire Council. The nominee also must meet a majority of the following criteria:

• Has made a major contribution to or played a key role in a significant accomplishment in the field of fire prevention.
• Has demonstrated superior efforts in establishing goals for the protection of the public through a continuous promulgation and/or enforcement of outstanding fire prevention, fire protection, or life safety programs in the community.
• Has developed, enforced, or con-
• tributed to a specific piece of legislation resulting in increased fire/life safety.
• Has developed or taught a specific program resulting in increased public awareness in the areas that create a fire-safe environment.
• Has investigated or supervised (or made an arrest in) an enforcement effort that led to the conviction of a major penal or fire code violator.

The winner will be chosen by a committee comprised of representatives from the NVFC and Master Protection Corporation. Each year’s top winner’s name will be engraved in a permanent monument—an illuminated. three-section image of a firefighter saving a child from fire. A tabletop replica of the monument will be displayed in the top prize winner’s firedepartment until the next top winner is chosen the following year. The replica then is given to the next recipient, and the original recipient is presented with a commemorative plaque. Nominees finishing in the top 10 will receive a certificate of recognition and an inscribed NVFC coffee mug emblazoned with a burning building whose fire is extinguished when the mug is filled with hot liquid.

Nominations must be submitted by June 1. 1992, to Marc Mueller Award of Excellence, c/o Jody Martin, Project Coordinator, Master Protection Corporation, 520 Broadway, Suite 650, Santa Monica, C,A 90401.

NFPA announces themes for meeting papers

Noncommercial technical and professional papers aimed at advancing the cause of fire safety to be considered for presentation at the National Fire Protection Association’s upcoming meetings now are being accepted. The papers should be consistent with the themes of the respective shows: “Innovation ’92 —Progress Through Creativity” for the November 15-18, 1992, fall meeting in Dallas, Texas, and “The Magic of Imagination” for the May 23-27, 1993, annual meeting to be held in Orlando, Florida.

Individuals wishing to submit papers for consideration, which should be limited to 30-minute presentations, should send an abstract (indicate the meeting for which the paper is intended) to Kenneth K. 11. Backman, assistant vice president for Member Programs, NFPA, One Batterymarch Park, P C). Box 9101, Quincy, MA 02269-9101. Include a brief biographical sketch and the following information: company or organization affiliation; title; mailing address; and membership status with the NFPA, any of its sections, or the Society of Fire Protection Engineers. The deadline was April 1, 1992, for the fall meeting and is October 1, 1992, for the annual meeting.

IAFC Foundation scholarships

The International Association of FireChiefs Foundation recently announced the following recipients of scholarships for the year 1991:

Roger A. Agpawa, Markham (IL) Fire Department; Scott Anderson, Fircrest (WA) Fire Department; Thomas J. Bettis, Jr., Hawaii Fire Rescue, Hilo, HI; Jason L Bloom, Bowie (MI)) Vol-, unteer Fire Department; Richard A. Bosanko, Kenosha (WI) Fire Department: Donald M. Callan, City of Waukesha (WI) Fire Department; Leland G. Cartledge, Perry Township Fire Department. Indianapolis, IN; Bryan S. Davis, North East (PA) Fire Department; Andrew Dellamarggio, Harwinton (CT) West Side Fire Department; Arthur L. Gillespie, Gilroy (CA) Fire Department; Wesley J. Goss, Seattle (WA) Fire Department; John M. Hennessey, Turn of River Fire Department, Stamford, CT; Scott M. Hcyworth, Swansea (MA) Fire Department; Christiaan House, Menomonee Falls (WI) Fire Department; Mark Johnston, Madeira & Indian Hills FireDistrict, Cincinnati, OH;John A. Jonas, City of New York (NY) Fire Department; William J. Tkacz, Hebron (CT) Volunteer Fire Department; Scott l.egore. Winfield Volunteer Fire Department, Sykesville, MI); Russell C. Mitchell, Palm Beach Co. Fire Rescue, West Palm Beach, FL; John Oliver, Grants Pass (OR) DPS/Fire Rescue; William Shouldis, Philadelphia (PA) Fire Department; Jeremy G. Stewart, Pickering (Ont., Canada) Fire Department; Randy Stickle, Newark (OH) Fire Department; Kevin M. Taylor, King County Fire District 10, Issaquah, WA; and Guy Vallier. Milwaukee (WI) Fire Department.

The scholarships, made possiblethrough contributions from manufacturer-benefactors, were awarded on the bases of “demonstrated need, desire, and initiative in pursuit of academic education,” according to IAFC Foundation Program Director Dene Thomas. Applicants also were judged according to a 350-word essay addressing their firefighting backgrounds and future objectives related to the fire service.

Applications for 1992 scholarships must be received by August 15. Additional details on how to apply for the scholarships are available from Ms Dene Thomas; International Association of Fire Chiefs Foundation. 1329 18th Street, NW; Washington, DC 20036; (202) 83.3-3420.