Backstep Firefighter » Bill Carey

2012, The First 10

Bill Carey — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:33:49 +0000

34 days into the new year and the first 10 on-duty deaths.

On 3 February the United States Fire Administration announced the tenth official on-duty death of 2012. Franklin Township Volunteer Fire Department Chief David M. Flint was killed, and Assistant Chief Sharon Petri injured, when his privately owned vehicle was struck while on the way to fire department training. Here is a specific breakdown of these first ten fatalities.

Age

Average Age: 50

Youngest: 19

Oldest: 63

Department

Volunteer: 7

Career: 3

Two fire chiefs; one captain; six firefighters and one wildland contracted employee, an inmate firefighter.

Nature of Death

Trauma: 4; Unknown: 4; Heart Attack: 2

Cause of Death

Unknown: 4; Vehicle Collison: 3; Stress/Overexertion: 2; Fall: 1

Deaths involving lack of seatbelt use: 2

(1 NC POV response. Seatbelt cited in local news report.)

(1 PA POV response. Ejected; lack of seatbelt reported.)

Deaths Involving Personal Vehicles (POV) and Response: 2

(1 NC POV response. Seatbelt cited in local news report.)

(1 PA POV response. Ejected; lack of seatbelt reported.)

Fireground Activity

On Scene: 1 (1 Fell ill inside apparatus cab on fireground.)

Deaths Which Occurred During Training: 1

(1 Firefighter fell from top of raised, extended aerial ladder during training.)

Deaths Which Occurred Outside the "Traditional" Line of Duty Definition: 6

(1 Inmate firefighter fell unconcious while on training hike; died at hospital. Cause unknown.)

(1 Firefighter fell from top of raised, extended aerial ladder during training.)

(1 Firefighter found unconcious inside station workout room; Activity Type: Fitness Activity )

(1 Suffered heart attack within 24 hours of incident response; died of complications three days later.)

(1 Found dead while asleep on duty.)

(1 Killed in POV crash while enroute to firehouse for weekly drill, according to news reports.)

More details can be found on the Fire Service Sabremetrics page, updated throughout the year.

Bill Carey is the daily news and blog manager for Elsevier Public Safety (FireRescue Magazine/Firefighter Nation, JEMS and LawOfficer sites.) Bill also manages the FireEMSBlogs.com network and is a former volunteer lieutenant with the Hyattsville Volunteer Fire Department in Prince George's County, Maryland.

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Spaghetti

Bill Carey — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:45:45 +0000

You are an engine company, not an Italian restaurant.

Despite what hoseload you choose to use, how you configure your hosebed and the number of members arriving as an engine company there is no excuse for spaghetti. It is even made worse when the engine is nosed in or "beached". Your 150' or 200' hoseline is a bundle of kinks at the driver's feet when after positioning on the front yard you may only need two or three lengths at the most. The video below is an example, one of many departments that has positioned poorly and did not stretch the hoseline but grabbed the nozzle and ran for the door.

Being a disciplined and proficient engine company means not simply estimating what hoseline to pull, but knowing how, being able to break it down into fewer lengths if needed. It means that all members act as a company, making sure the first hoseline is free of kinks and properly charged before going to work.

Remember, as the first line goes, so goes the fire. What you may think was a successful knock may just be dumb luck on your part. Do you want to make that the foundation of your engine company?

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Playing the Rescue Card

Bill Carey — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:12:56 +0000

Comments show that our beliefs are hypocritical once we find a body.
>

Two videos, among many heavily critiqued, show the odd irrational, illogical beliefs many in the fire service have towards safety, job duties and rescues. To be blunt, they reveal a large number of hypocrites riding fire apparatus.

Two videos of fireground operations, while very different in many ways, show a striking similarity in comments. The first was of the Hackensack, New Jersey Fire Department's initial operations at a fire in a two-story residential dwelling. Many viewers took on multiple actions recorded, but what is interesting is the complaints about the deputy chief who entered the foyer without any SCBA on.

Now, fast forward to a video from Lake Station, Indiana of a fire in a single-story residential dwelling. Many minutes into the video we see a chief come out of the structure carrying a child, and not wearing any SCBA.

Comments on various sites and FirefighterNation, FireRescue Magazine's Facebook page criticized the Hacksensack deputy and praised the Hobart chief. Of course there were both good and bad acts in each video, some more important than wearing SCBA. One has to realize that videos only show one side at a time and don't include pertinent information such as staffing, department operations, etc. No excuse for either but it helps to be in context when critiquing.

The larger question remains, begging to be asked, why are you such a hypocrite when it comes to safety and firefighting? Why do some of you condemn the Hackensack chief and out of the same mouth praise the Hobart chief? Apparently the act of finding an occupant inside a fire and removing them negates all blatantly obvious acts of safety in the minds of some firefighters.

"But what about when you are on air and find someone and you remove your facepiece to give them your air?"

"Deal With It"

There is a simple answer to that. You went inside, fully inside, with your SCBA on. Perhaps that is why many of the same hypocrites who chastised the Hackensack deputy believe the support of their argument lies in the body of a victim found. That is illogical and quite stupid given all the availability to don SCBA prior to entry. Unfortunately when a safety conscious or rather common sense-conscious individual questions why there is no SCBA worn, the usual answer is that the subject was "getting the job done."

No PPE! The Sky is Falling!

The very technology that has affected our education also unfortunately allows for clothing intrepid viewers to treat each firefighter seen as if he or she was being judged on the red carpet at the Oscars. Leave your gloves in your pocket for a brief moment, fail to don a chin strap or in this case SCBA, and you may have well shown up carrying nothing but the can and wearing boxers. It should be understood that in most urban departments chief officers are, initially, at a fixed command post or are in the street slightly roaming, taking in the scene and operations as they develop. Communication as the beginning fire attack unfolds comes in many forms and is not limited to the handie-talkie. In nearly every article, blog post and training information I've personally seen, avoiding unnecessary radio traffic is proper. Why key the mike when they person you are going to talk to is just down the hall? In the Hackensack video, we must first recognize that you and I were not there. Hard as it is for many of you to believe, all you are seeing and hearing is limited. Everything else is assumption.

Many commentators took apart the Hackensack video for errors they understood themselves. In the time that these two video were online and shared the deputy seen was critiqued for micro-managing and not having SCBA on. Is it true that the chief may have taken in some smoke during his brief time in the foyer? It is possible. Was he micro-managing? I would say no and that since I wasn't there who cares? What I find disturbing in this electronic fire service is the PPE hypocrisy. Would there be no problem if the Hackensack deputy and gone in, past the nozzle team and emerged some time later with a child in his arms, much like the Lake Station fire?

Some of you think so.

While it is true that at times, rare times possibly, firefighters might have to commit acts that increase their risk of injury for a greater positive outcome, these are individual exceptions and not universal norms. To criticize one chief and praise another, with the sole difference between acts of the two being a body rescued is hypocrisy.

If you believe this is perfectly fine, that a body found is the proof you need to dismiss lack of SCBA or other PPE and you point out the lack when no body is found, then you are a hypocrite, playing the rescue card.

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A Comment Worthy of a Post

Bill Carey — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:19:46 +0000

Executive Director of the NFFF reminds us of the purpose of "EGH".

Proof that everything on the net is new to someone at one time or another comes as a year old popular post on Fire Service Warrior was being shared again recently on Facebook. What is interesting about it this time? The comment below.

Chris,

I am sorry to be a year late to this discussion, but since your interesting column has been making the rounds again, I thought I would provide some input.

As one of the architects of Everyone Goes Home® and the 16 Life Safety Initiatives, you may be surprised to know I agree with a great deal of what you have written here. You have hit on key points that the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation and the EGH program have identified as crucial to reducing the number of firefighters who die in the line of duty each year.

1. Heart attacks and strokes kill more firefighters than anything else. Too many firefighters are overweight and out of shape. Proper exercise, together with a healthy, well-balanced diet may be the two most important things that firefighters can do to stay safe.

2. Training constantly is vitally important to firefighter survival.

3. A lack of situational awareness is a key factor in many line-of-duty deaths.

In fact Chris, it appears you only left out a few items from the agenda we have at NFFF. Key among them is encouraging firefighters to wear their seat belts and to drive responsibly. As you know, vehicle accidents are the second leading cause of death and injury for firefighters. With your influence in the fire service, we would love to have you take part in one of our videos encouraging firefighters to buckle up.

In addition, we encourage the fire service to promote the use of fire sprinklers and fully participate in community risk reduction efforts. Risks to firefighters are greatly diminished when there are fewer fires to fight. Taking your lead and making a military comparison, this is similar to how the U.S. Military has worked to improve the infrastructure of the cities, towns and villages they have fought so hard to liberate.

The real purpose of EGH and the 16 LSI is to serve as a blueprint to prevent line-of-duty deaths. The initiatives are not intended to tell anyone how to be a firefighter. Instead, we want firefighters thinking, each and every day about what it is they do and how they can work smarter toward the most important job of the fire service, the preservation of life.

The fire service leaders who helped create EGH and 16 LSI, never for a moment wanted firefighters to stop being firefighters. But we have learned from reading the details of hundreds of line-of-duty deaths that firefighters continue to die needlessly because the same mistakes, some of which you pointed out, are made over and over again.

One of our most recent efforts is the video with the Chicago Fire Department released just before the end of last year. Commissioner Robert Hoff and the men and woman of CFD shared their stories and the lessons they have learned after some of their colleagues were killed or seriously injured. FDNY helped us produce a similar video and another one is in the works. These films, featuring leaders from the front lines, are an important element of EGH.

Where we seem to differ is I don’t see how helping firefighters learn from these mistakes with EGH is a bad thing. In fact, the expansion of EGH across the country has coincided with a three year downward trend of firefighter fatalities, which I know you will agree is a good thing.

One of the biggest threats to firefighters is putting on the blinders. It happens when we demonize and polarize. We want firefighters to be armed with the best information available to help them do their jobs. That won’t come from a steady diet of just EGH or by only paying attention to the Fire Service Warrior and no one else. It comes from firefighters and fire service leaders who use critical thinking to absorb the best of what’s out there and putting it into practice on each response.

In other words, we should be taking in all of this information with an open mind. Using the best of it to make our departments better, and in the process helping to reduce injuries and deaths for the public and firefighters, while still doing the job we signed up to do. To me, that is the culture of firefighting.

I invite you to contact me directly and/or any of our Everyone Goes Home® leadership or advocates to share your ideas on how we can make these important lessons from EGH even better. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to share my thoughts.

Sincerely,

Ron Siarnicki
Executive Director, National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.

"Everyone Goes Home" is tool to help you do your job better. It is not intended to be bastardized as an excuse.

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It Is That Simple

Bill Carey — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:06:24 +0000

It is a wonder how we did it without the internet.

Just a random thought, but if we didn't have the internet would we still be putting out fires, rather would we still be critiquing them, learning from them? Would we still be aware that in most cases, most fires are one or two line fires that didn't require a Master's Degree in order to open the bale, bleed off the air and check the pattern? Would we be comfortable and encouraged knowing that two or three companies extinguished a fire, searched for occupants, cut off any extension and salvaged personal belongings if it didn't involve a seminar, Skype conference and Twitter hashtag?

I hope so.

Each day and night fires go out, many successfully, and many without our ever knowing a thing about it.

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Why We Search, 2012

Bill Carey — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:00:52 +0000

We are not saying you should be reckless, unsafe. We are saying you should be realistic.

For three years we have been running a small page titled "Why We Search". Its content is links to news stories mostly regarding firefighting in vacant, abandoned structures. Some are stories of rescues and some are more important stories involing how departments and citizens are dealing with the dangers of these structures. It is important that you know how such buildings are being treated across the country. Marking, demolition and occupancy all play a part in your operations and safety.

It is wrongly assumed that our mentioning of these fires, particularly when a squatter is rescued, is encouraging firefighters to widely assume that all vacant building fires have a great potential for finding trapped occupants. That is in correct. Instead, our page is meant to reinforce that there are very few absolutes in the fire service and, as we have always stated, your search should always be based upon your department's operations as well as if the conditions and resources allow an immediate primary search.

Despite the ease that our technology allows for news and training information to be disseminated, we still find firefighters, company officers and chief officers who advocate for a strict no search whatsoever policy regarding fires in vacant, abandoned structures. They argue that in general, conditions in these buildings do not allow for anyone inside to survive, much less allow for firefighters to risk their safety by entering.

We say, as evidenced below in a recent news story today, that this thinking is faulty logic.

Are such fires rare? In the averages of occurrences are they extreme? Possibly, but there are no detailed specifics to prove this one way or another. What this does show is that such fires are possible. You can find this out for yourself or you can review our page, "Why We Search." There's no deep investigating done to find these fires; just a daily search on Google.

Operate with respect for your officers and department, carry a safe, smart attitude and learn with an open mind.

Photo courtesy of Brian Slattery/FITHP.net used with permission.

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Told You So. Ontario Volunteer Department Charged After Fire Traps Firefighters During Rescue

Bill Carey — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:55:06 +0000

Court raises issues of liability, training and funding.

Then….

"Mark My Words"

"Again, we're not calling for departments to abandon safe practices in order to put it all on the line for rescues. We encourage you to operate as directed by your department's policies. We do want you to be aware of a few things that hopefully will lead you and your department to ask "Can it happen to us?""

Now…

"Rare prosecution of fire department sparks angst over liability, funding"

"The case stems from an early morning restaurant fire in September 2009 when volunteer firefighters arrived to the frantic screams of a woman saying her boyfriend was trapped in the apartment upstairs."

""My concern is that, if in future, potential incident commanders are worried about possible litigation, is that going to make them second-guess their rescue decision?" said Mike Molloy, chief of the Meaford fire department now being prosecuted."

and…

"The defence argues the safety guidelines Meaford allegedly failed to follow are not legally binding, and says the ministry gave a no-prosecution promise at the start of the investigation.

Make sure your house is in order before you find yourself in court.

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“Not Gonna Do It”

Bill Carey — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 18:51:43 +0000

Graphic photo begins to be cool to share. Why?

There's a fine line between using images for news and self-promotion, between documenting an event or making an event into an advertisement. Recently a Associated Press photo is making it's way slowly across Facebook as one of those motivational posters. The image below is a sarcastic delivery about career firefighters and public misconception. I suppose it could also be about volunteer firefighters as well when considering LOSAP monies or private donations to the fire department. That's really neither here nor there.

The story behind the photos comes from a fire in Evansville, Indiana. You may have seen the images in their proper context below,

In "Misguided Anger" I wrote about how strange it was to see the comments from many in the fire service who objected to these photos being in the news. My position on it, unchanged, is that the photographs document the occurrence of an event and as news should be viewed. I also stated that as news the photos can surely be used to support a position that advances fire safety among the public. The Evansville fire story noted that there were no working smoke detectors.

Some in the fire service see no objection to use the photo of a naked, unconscious, soot stained toddler to remind others that they are firefighters. It would be an entirely different matter if the photo was used in a well composed presentation on fire prevention and fire safety to local politicians, civic groups and others. Unfortunately, unless the mayor, city council and PTA have 'friended' you on Facebook, that photo isn't reaching their eyes. Besides, chances are most of your friends are in the fire service anyway, so you're preaching to the choir in a sense. And, if you do happen to have the Governor or Alderman as your online pals, then what is really being said with the whole 'greedy' message?

If you are going to promote the fire service, do it in a way that even John Q. Public's child can understand and in way that doesn't cheapen the story behind a tragic incident.

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Brooklyn Citizen Finds Firefighters “Joyriding”. Or, “Engine 255 Shops for the Meal”

Bill Carey — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 01:10:27 +0000

Shopping for the meal still baffles the public.

I found this 'gem' while browsing through Brooklyn fire videos. The title was interesting, "Our tax dollars at work" as well as the description,

"Five fire fighters of Brooklyn, NY ladder co. 255 take a joy ride in a fire truck to grocery shop at a Brooklyn Shop Rite."

But it gets better. The anonymous cameraman replies to two comments,

"A firefighter's job description "does not" include joyriding or using taxpayer property for personal use while on the payroll to "play house." Taxpayers expect firefighters to conduct themselves in a business like fashion. That means, come to work ready to work which includes bring your lunch from home and use a firetruck for its sole purpose…put out fires."

and

"I hope your house burns down while "there buying food for themselves." Perhaps then you'll get the message. Though I seriously doubt it, since you need "connected brain cells" for the thought process to work."

It's shame that in this day and age some simple facts, especially ones regarding urban fire departments, just don't get across. Then again, 'smoke detectors save lives' doesn't either.

How would you respond in a respectful, professional manner should a citizen question why you are in the Giant picking out steaks?

And for the record Mr. "oberstd9", it's not a ladder truck. It's Engine Company 255, the Jolly Rogers of Rogers Avenue, a top shelf house.

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Pine Bluff, Arkansas Video Highlights Quick Work by Minimum Staffed Crews

Bill Carey — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 19:27:40 +0000

Submitter of past Backstep article is seen hustling the hoselines.

One of the videos from STATter911.com today features a working fire being fought by a department that we featured in an article last year about minimum staffing. The YouTube video, from Arkansas Fire News, shows members of the City of Pine Bluff Fire and Emergency Services fighting a vacant house fire on the morning of 8 November, 2011. We’re not sharing this with you as a matter of it involving a vacant house fire, although we could in order to highlight smart, safe firefighting depicted. It is instead better use of the video and a brief background story to share how well this nearly three minutes of video shows what a minimum staffed crew can accomplish.According to the video, Engines 1, 3, 5, Ladder 1 and Battalion 1 responded to the fire. We can see a sensible attack that is worth noting some correct engine company work. As you can easily see, the first line stretched and as the two firefighters on this line wait for water they do not place themselves up on the porch, despite the amount of fire showing. This seems like stating the obvious but we have surely seen similar fires where the nozzle team sat, or in some instances stood while fire rolled over them, waiting for the hoseline to be charged. Second, we see that it is only after the first hoseline is charged and operating that the second line is stretched, flaked out as best as possible, and then charged.

While this second hoseline was being placed into service we can see another firefighter begin what is presumably the 360 sizeup, moving from Side Bravo towards the rear and the seen again coming from Side Delta back towards the front of the fire building. Why do these initial acts need to be called to your attention? It is because that what we see being done was done by minimum staffed companies.

Back in October we ran a post calling for readers to send us how their two and three-man crews operate on the fireground, how they maintain a sense of readiness, able to “Expect Fire.” One of the submissions was from the 'engineer' you see in the video running those two hoselines, Senior Firefighter John Buchan of Pine Bluff’s Ladder 1. John and Firefighter/Engineer Joe Kisel are the Ladder 1 “company.” Ladder 1 is a two man truck company that responds to all working fires in the city and is second due to all motor vehicle accidents with entrapment as well. Staffing on the other apparatus is three and an initial structure assignment is three engines and either Ladder 1 or a quint. Staffing, as in the video we see, would be a total of 12 personnel including the battalion chief.

Buchan shared in his minimum staffing article how he and Firefighter Kisel approach each fire in a way that they can make the greatest impact as a pair. Here is some of what he wrote, “The primary responsibility of Ladder-1 on the fire ground is “Vent, Enter, Search”. Now this can be done one of two ways. VES with an engine company and hand line or VES without an engine company or hand line. Different calls will dictate which way we go. As we arrive on scene we will make a quick game plan from what we see showing.”

You can read more at “Two and Three-Man Crews Entry No.2: Pine Bluff, Arkansas” It is a good description of how a two-man truck company can arrive with a game plan and foundational objectives that are flexible, and make a significant positive impact in the fireground operations. Too often some companies approach dealing with minimum staffing as either a rare occurrence or a crap shoot. While it’s not the best situation, learning from departments like Pine Bluff can be a benefit.

If you operate with two or three-man crews we would like to hear about it. Feel free to comment (remember ‘Anonymous’ doesn’t ride here) here, on our Facebook page or email us at bill@goforwardmedia.com. The useful tips for safe, smart firefighting might help another department.

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