FE Volume 131 Issue 10

Nov. 13-16—National Fire Protection Association: Fall meeting, Hyatt Hotel, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. For information, write Albert B. Sears, Jr., Manager, Meeting and Conference Services, NFPA, 470 Atlantic Ave., Boston, Mass. 02210. Nov. 19—Maryland Fire Chiefs Association: 30th Annual Convention to be held at the Fire House in Frederick, Md. For further information, contact the Maryland Fire Chiefs Association, Frederick, Md. 25701.

Firechem Anti-Fog, a treatment for protecting all types of goggles, and face shields from fogging, has been introduced by the Firecraft Division of Western Fire Equipment Company. Anti-Fog consists of individual sheets, and the manufacturer states that one treatment will provide long-lasting fogging protection.

"Life Safety is the most critical issue in fire protection today.” This according to the NFPCA which will theme its 4th Annual Conference in October to that issue. Conferences will be challenged then in a summary session to “Improve Life Safety Throughout the Nation.” This challenge has always existed, of course, but within the last four years, what has your fire department specifically done to improve life safety in the areas of human behavior (fire prevention), pushing for automatic detection and suppression (laws and codes), EMS, and protecting the fire fighter—in any way?

One of the most common errors on the fireground is the tendency of pump operators to try and pump more water to hose lines than the pump is receiving. This procedure is often referred to as “running away from the water supply” or cavitation. Most fire department pump operators have a general idea of what cavitation is and some of the ways to go about reducing or avoiding it, but when probing beyond these very general concepts, knowledge seems to be somewhat limited in most cases.