USFA/IAFC to study fire service risk-taking behaviors

The U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) and the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) have joined in a study initiative to identify individual and organizational behaviors that adversely impact firefighter health and safety and to uncover strategies that will decrease on-duty fatalities and injuries, according to USFA Administrator Ernest Mitchell.

The study supports the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation Life Safety Initiative #1: Define and advocate the need for a cultural change within the fire service relating to safety, incorporating leadership, management, supervision, accountability, and personal responsibility.

Additional information on the USFA’s firefighter research initiatives may be found on the USFA Web site at www.usfa.fema.gov.

Line-of-Duty Deaths

USFA: “2,900 residential clothes dryer fires reported annually”

Clothes Dryer Fires in Residential Buildings (2008-2010), a special report by the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s U.S. Fire Administration (USFA), noted that in that time period, 2,900 fires involving clothes dryers in residential buildings were reported to U.S. fire departments. These incidents caused an estimated five fire deaths, 100 injuries, and $35 million in property loss. The report was developed by the USFA’s National Fire Data Center and is based on data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System.

The report also highlighted the following:

• The incidence of clothes dryer fires in residential buildings, higher in the fall and winter months, peaked in January at 11 percent.
• The leading cause of these fires (34 percent) was failure to clean the dryer of lint.
• The leading items first ignited were dust, fiber, and lint (28 percent) and clothing not on a person (27 percent).
• Fifty-four percent of clothes dryer fires in residential buildings were confined to the object of origin.

The report is part of the Topical Fire Report Series and includes recent examples of fire incidents related to the report topic in context. Additional information on these topical reports is at www.usfa.fema.gov.

Guide for decreasing unwanted fire alarms offered

The Fire Service Guide to Reducing Unwanted Fire Alarms, a free 17-page downloadable PDF document released by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), offers guidance in how the fire service can reduce unwanted fire alarms.

An unwanted alarm is defined by NFPA 72®, National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code, as one that is not the result of a potentially hazardous condition. In 2009, U.S. fire departments responded to an estimated 2.1 million false alarms, which included 979,500 responses resulting from unintentional activations and 698,000 caused by system malfunctions, according to the NFPA.

This new guide offers basic knowledge on how fire alarm systems and detection devices operate and how to assess the cause of alarms where no emergency condition is apparent. Authorities having jurisdiction can use the guide to assist in developing strategies to manage response to unwanted alarms through practices reflective of risk assessment, resource management, and current code recommendations. Commercial and residential building fire alarm systems, alarms in single-family dwellings, and single- or multiple-station smoke alarms within dwelling units are covered.

The guide, the outcome of a summit that addressed the challenges of unwanted fire alarms hosted by the NFPA, IAFC, and U.S. Fire Administration in 2011, is available through the NFPA’s catalog at www.nfpacatalog.org/redgd.

NIOSH releases Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation reports

The following Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation reports were recently released by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH):

• F2011-18, Jul 28, 2011, “Career captain dies and 9 fire fighters injured in a multistory medical building fire – North Carolina,” http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/fire/reports/face201118.html.
• F2011-02, Jan 19, 2011, “Volunteer fire fighter caught in a rapid fire event during unprotected search, dies after face piece lens melts – Maryland,” http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/fire/reports/face201102.html.
• F2012-18, Aug 26, 2011, “Fire marshal suffers cardiac arrest and a probable heart attack during a fire department physical ability test – Utah,” http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/fire/reports/face201218.html.
• F2012-06, Feb 13, 2012, “Volunteer fire fighter dies after falling from tailboard of tanker truck – Virginia,” http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/fire/reports/face201206.html.

Responder Health Monitoring and Surveillance Documents available

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) convened a consortium of federal agencies, state health departments, and volunteer responder groups to address the continuing need for health monitoring and surveillance for emergency response workers. The work group was organized and facilitated by NIOSH and coordinated with the National Response Team (NRT).

One product of this work group is the “Emergency Responder Health Monitoring and Surveillance” document, which was approved by the NRT as a technical assistance document in January, along with the companion document, “Emergency Responder Health Monitoring and Surveillance: A Guide for Key Decision Makers.” “Emergency Responder Health Monitoring and Surveillance” (which may be downloaded at http://nrt.sraprod.com/ERHMS/ERHMSDocs/ERHMS_Final_060512.pdf) is a set of guidelines and recommendations intended to address all aspects of protecting emergency responders in the full range of emergency types and settings. The guidelines and recommendations for implementing procedures are fully compatible within the Incident Command System and the National Incident Management System. All phases of the response, including predeployment, deployment, and postdeployment, are covered. The objective is to identify exposures and signs and symptoms early in the course of an emergency response.

Among the public health measures addressed in the document are the following, according to a NIOSH Science Blog by Captain Jim Spahr, MPH, associate director of the NIOSH Office for Emergency Preparedness and Response (Sept. 11, 2012):

• Medical screening that focuses on the assessment of fitness and the ability to safely and effectively deploy on a response.
• Training in relation to the hazards to be anticipated and protective measures to mitigate them.
• Approaches to centralized tracking or the rostering of responders.
• Surveillance and monitoring for exposures and adverse health effects, including supporting efforts in environmental monitoring and assessment.
• Outprocessing assessments on the completion of response duties and deployments.
• Follow-up or long-term surveillance of or monitoring for potential delayed or long-term adverse effects of the deployment service.

The companion document, “Emergency Responder Health Monitoring and Surveillance: A Guide for Key Decision Makers” (which may be downloaded at http://nrt.sraprod.com/ERHMS/ERHMSDocs/ERHMS_Decisionmakers_060512.pdf), summarizes the key components of the above document. Additional information is at the NIOSH ERHMD topic page.