We all know that more and more of the incidents departments are responding to are medical in nature. In most cases, these incidents may account for 80 to 85 percent of the call volume. We train and have continuing education to stay proficient in our paramedic and EMT skills, but what are we doing to make sure we stay proficient in our firefighting skills, which are used in about 20 percent of our responses?
If you are a company officer, are you making sure your crews are competent and capable of performing the “basic” fireground functions such as hooking to a hydrant, stretching preconnects, forcible entry, search and rescue, and setting up portable ground ladders? These tasks may sound basic, but think about how often we are called to perform them during a shift or in a month. We hear about training for “low-frequency, high-hazard” incidents; would these tasks fall into that category? As a company officer, would it not be a hazard if the crews assigned to you are unable to perform just one of these basic tasks in a timely manner on the fireground?
Technology within the fire service has changed tremendously. One such change is the increasing use of thermal imaging cameras on the fireground. Are you making sure your personnel know how to properly use the camera?
Teaching fire behavior has become sort of a lost art. It is important to spend enough time on teaching about how the enemy we are fighting reacts and can be conquered. Building construction has also changed; making buildings more airtight increases the backdraft and flashover potential. Are we making sure we go out in our first-due areas and become familiar with the types of buildings in which we could potentially be fighting the enemy? If we see a new building being constructed, are we taking the crew on a field trip to become familiar with the type of construction and its unique features? This will help us to properly read the fire building, assess the fire conditions, and determine how this information affects fire behavior.
The fire service will continue to change. A recent significant change in firefighting tactics has been the transitional attack. It is up to us, in all ranks, to keep up with these changes.
Al Duffy
Battalion Chief/Shift Commander
North Naples (FL) Fire Control and Rescue District
FE radio show educational tool
Compliments on a phenomenal resource, the Fire Engineering Blog Talk Radio Program. I listen to the various shows as I drive to and from work. I have learned much from these shows. As an aspiring captain, I especially appreciate the Fire Service Court legal perspectives and the strategy and tactics considerations on The Command Show, Fireground Strategies, and the Command Post.
I would like to suggest a new concept for the program—personnel supervision and human resources management. Everyone in the industry is repeating the mantra that there is a leadership epidemic in the fire service. I can only speak to my own organization, but I couldn’t agree more. This is not intentional. The fire service is a group of task-oriented craftspeople; as such, we tend to focus on personal and organizational development in the delivery of the service in terms of operations.
The greatest need in the fire service is the development of the alarming number of new, young, inexperienced company officers and how they relate to, communicate with, and lead the “people” of the fire service. The proposed category would address the bulk of what the captain’s time and energy are spent on and impacts the fire service most significantly.
Kyle Crecelius
Engineer
Loma Linda (CA) Fire Department
Wounded Warrior–firefighter connection
Shortly after arriving at my new post in Mammoth Lakes last year, I discovered that our department participates in hosting a national Wounded Warriors (WWs) week-long event each winter and summer. The WWs begin their week with dinner at our station. We help Disabled Sports of Eastern Sierra Nevada get participants registered for all their events, and then we finish off with rides in the fire engines as wheelchairs and crutches are thrown to the curb. This was very emotional for me because my son had recently returned, physically whole, from Northern Iraq (25th ID, US Army).
After the event, I asked one of our firefighters, Mike Abbott, a former USMC gunnery sergeant, to help design a Challenge Coin from our department that would really mean something to our WWs. During the first Gulf War, some military unit had requested a bunch of signed fire department T-shirts (I worked in Sparks, Nevada, at the time). It seemed awkward to me that those guys were ducking bullets, and all they wanted were our signed shirts. What do you write? I couldn’t do anything to help their situation, but I could do my best to take care of things at home. So I wrote, “You have our back abroad. We have your back here at home.” This deep feeling of appreciation came back as we began to work on the coin. It came out great (see photo). Mike did all the heavy lifting, and he really nailed it.
Because he had done such a wonderful job with the coin, I asked Mike if he had any ideas about how we should present the coin in a way that the WWs would really value. He wrote an open letter to the WWs, which was well received.
We handed this coin to the 65 WWs who rolled into town. I can’t describe the transformation that occurs within these young men and women during the week. I’m not sure who hooked up the WWs with the firefighters, but it was a great idea. Each group seems to become comfortable quickly with the other, and it helps transition the WWs into the week of new experiences.
Frank Frievalt
Assistant Chief
Mammoth Lakes (CA) Fire Department
Post-retirement service
I appreciate Chief Bobby Halton’s position that older firefighters are still able to provide service to the community in “Old and in the Way” (Editor’s Opinion, November 2013). I will probably retire from my department in the next year or two. I have 33 years on the job, and I still love it. I have no problem with my friends who retire and don’t want anything to with the job, but that’s not me. I want to do something for as long as I can. Members like Chief Vinny Dunn, Chief Alan Brunacini, Chief Leo Stapleton, and Chief Halton are role models for me.
I especially enjoyed the part of the article relating how the citizens at a fire scene complied when Chief Halton, who was not in firefighter gear and not an official responder, told them to move back from the fire apartment. I have been off duty for about a month because of an eye infection. I was riding with my captain, who was acting as battalion chief (BC), in the chief’s buggy the other day when he received a call for a high-rise job downtown. He was the third BC on scene and was assigned to go up. I grabbed a radio and went into the lobby. I checked in with the lobby control chief and told him I knew this building well and asked if I could go to the fire alarm panel room and give him a report. He said okay. I went into the room, reported the panel information, asked the evacuating occupants for information, and found the live-in maintenance man. I did this while wearing street clothes with a firefighter’s chore jacket, a Fools of Oz ball cap, and an eye patch on. No one questioned who I was the whole time. I thought it was funny after the fact, and it made me think of the “Old and in the Way” column.
Sid Newby
Battalion Chief
Wichita (KS) Fire Department
Podcasts easily fit schedules
I have been listening to Fire Engineering podcasts for some time now. Many of them provide tremendous insight in a format, audio, that I can fit into my schedule. I look forward to podcasts like The Command Show and Mikey G and Mikey D. I also find Editor in Chief Bobby Halton’s contributions to the podcasts inspirational.
Syd Best
Captain Mississauga Fire and Emergency Services Ontario, Canada
Good advice for all
Anne Gagliano, author of the Relationships column “What Every Firefighter’s Spouse Should Know” on Fire Life (www.firelife.com), just keeps pumping out wisdom that is healthy not only for firefighters but for every profession. The installment “Four Ways to Make Marriage Last” is another gem.
Eddie L. Smith
Director
Emergency Vehicles Group
VT HACKNEY
Washington, North Carolina
Strategic planning for volunteer departments
This subject is not new, and it has been widely discussed throughout the fire service. Unfortunately, it’s a subject that is associated with hard work and the belief that smaller departments cannot accomplish it because they don’t have enough people to dedicate to what they’re already supposed to be doing. Quite frankly, it’s a subject we cannot avoid as we travel into our future.
The volunteer fire service received quite a scare when it looked as if it would be financially affected by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. If the Internal Revenue Service hadn’t changed the ruling that volunteer firefighters were considered full-time employees and departments had to provide them with health insurance, would your department have been able to afford this expenditure? What would have been your department’s plan to be compliant?
My state, Pennsylvania, used to boast of having about 2,500 volunteer fire companies. Now, I think we might have fewer than 2,000. My county, in a little more than 30 years, dropped from about 240 departments to slightly more than 200. It may be true that some of these departments duplicated services in the county, but could it be that some of them were closed because they failed to plan?
Recruitment, retention, leadership, training, social, and economic factors are generally among the reasons some departments merge or disband. Today’s leaders in volunteer departments should have some vision about how to proceed successfully into the future. The bottom line is that volunteer fire departments save the taxpayers’ money. To simply rely on your ability to have fundraisers or annual fund drives or to receive the same amount of budget appropriations from your local government as you have for the past five to 10 years even though the costs of gear, apparatus, and training have been going up is not a good plan.
What does your fire department offer to attract new members? Gear and free training are not enough. What’s your plan? If you are lucky enough to have a town pay for your equipment and apparatus, you may think you are ahead of the game. Do you know how long that will continue? Are you letting your town know what you do with the money it allots and other projects you would like to do if you had more money? Think about what we do other than firefighting—visit schools, send a crew to stand by at a local football or soccer game to provide EMT coverage, speak on fire safety at local events, and multiple fundraisers. All of these activities take money, planning, and time away from our families.
What do your members get from doing that? What does your community get from that? How does doing what we do actually benefit your community? How do you get your present and new members to do what you’ve always done? How do you get your communities to contribute or participate with you so that their taxes don’t go higher? What’s your plan?
All fire departments need a strategic plan so they can minimize the risk of losing what they worked so hard to build. What’s your plan?
Andy Marsh
Safety Officer
Deputy Emergency Management Coordinator
Aspinwall (PA) Volunteer Fire Department
FPE in the fire service
I wish to express my extremely positive considerations for Thomas Platt’s very instructive article in the January issue, “Fire Protection Engineers in the Fire Service.”
I attended the University of Maryland in 1959-1960. At that time, and it appears to be the same today, the majority of the College Park volunteer fire departments were composed of students in the fire protection engineering (FPE) curriculum. This gives the future science-based professionals the invaluable hands-on experience that will serve them later in their technical careers. It is a well-known fact that many FPE graduates go directly into the fire service.
Similar engineering degrees are offered at many universities in Europe, including here in Spain. The only other information I would have liked to have seen in Platt’s article is that many FPE students have received very practical and useful on-the-job-training in real-world fire protection during their university career time and that it gives them that cutting edge when they have to apply their academic knowledge to their working environments.
George H. Potter
Fire Protection Specialist
Madrid, Spain
Fire Engineering Archives
