New Turnout Gear, Women’s Roles Among Topics at IAFC Conference
FEATURES
The proposed fire fighter’s “protective envelope,” fire protection levels for municipalities and women in the fire service were among the subjects discussed at the 105th annual conference of the International Association of Fire Chiefs in Cincinnati September 10-14.
Turnout clothing, so different that it is called a protective envelope, will be in the field for testing within a year to a year and a half, John Levinson, project engineer for the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, told the IAFC general section. The new look in running gear was developed by Grumman Aerospace under an NFPCA grant.
From helmet to boots, everything has been redesigned. The helmet, made of fiberglass, is designed to wear with breathing apparatus and to provide communication capability. By turning one control on the helmet brim, the wearer can use a two-way radio which has a bone-conduction microphone and by activating another control on the visor, he can communicate with men around him.
Looks like jumpsuit
The one-piece body garment looks somewhat like a jumpsuit and the breathing apparatus has a short hose that rises along the back of the wearer’s neck to the helmet. The gloves are attached to the sleeve cuffs and the redesigned boots, which are said to have a greater safety factor than boots now in use, rise just above the ankle and attach to the pants legs.
Another button on the helmet visor activates a radio beeper in an emergency so that the wearer can be located by fellow fire fighters. The helmet has a facepiece that can be lifted and swung upward to give the wearer access to ambient atmosphere.
The entire ensemble, Levinson stated, represents a weight reduction over current turnout equipment of almost 50 percent, including the breathing apparatus. Levinson commented that “there is no one outstanding system” from the viewpoint of physical or human factors testing among fire fighting clothing on the market today. He added that any well-designed gear is about as good as any other.
The helmet of the new system, or envelope, is designed to withstand a temperature of 485° F for five minutes and the protective clothing is designed to limit the inside to 113°F while fighting fires. An accessory for this ensemble is a high-intensity quartz halogen portable lamp that can be recharged on the apparatus and will operate about an hour and a half on one charge.
Fire protection level
In discussing the fire service from the viewpoint of a city manager, Martin P. Walsh, Jr., Cincinnati deputy city manager, said that his city is trying to determine an acceptable level of fire protection, which he labeled a “very hard question.” He added that the city is getting started in fire service planning and is looking into better response time through computerized dispatch. The city is also “currently examining our fire alarm boxes to determine if they are worth it,” he added.
Walsh said that Cincinnati is looking into the fire prevention effects of building and fire codes and remarked that over a 25-year period with severe building codes and built-in fire protection systems, the city might gradually “put fire fighters out of work.” He explained that the city was examining the compatibility of fire and building codes and that a building department minicomputer, in use for the last 20 months by the fire department, is receiving information on fire runs, types of fires and fire spread. Walsh said that the city is just beginning to get some good data from this operation.
—staff photos.
Jurisdictional lines for fire departments are no longer acceptable to the public, Walsh stated, and he added that joint training and mutual response to alarms must be considered. He pointed out that chiefs “have to be professional managers in the true sense of the word.”
The evaluation of fire protection is taking a new turn, Joseph Redden, NFPA public protection division director, told the metropolitan workshop. He said it is no longer good enough to refer to the grading schedule to justify needs or to a city’s grading class to evaluate its fire protection level. Questions are now raised about reasonable fire protection levels in judging the effectiveness of a fire department, the speaker remarked, and such things as risks-cost ratio in response requirements must be answered.
Redden said there are no quick answers to these questions so an NFPA committee on public fire protection evaluation and critera has been formed that includes not only representation from the IAFC and the NFPA but also the NFPCA, National League of Cities, the American Insurance Association and the academic community. Among other things, the committee is expected to develop guidelines for the assessment of a community’s fire protection including the evaluation of regulations, enforce ment of codes, public education and finsuppression.
Women volunteers
In a discussion of women in the volunteer fire service during a volunteer workshop, their fire suppression role was overshadowed by fire inspection and public relations activities. The women in his volunteer fire department, said Chief David C. Grupp of Long Grove, Ill., are all interested in the three major activities of the department suppression, fire prevention, and emergency medical service. Grupp gave women a higher mark than men for community involvement and awareness, and he added t hat the trust level is sometimes higher in EMS work between a child and a female paramedic.
Grupp cautioned that the physical capabilities of women must be recognized. He said there was apprehension, which was expected, when the first women joined his department. He urged that uniform rules he applied by chief officers and that progress of recruits be monitored.
“The female of today is more than a sex symbol,” Jack Armstrong, past chief of the Warminster, Pa., Volunteer Fire Department, commented. “You must recognize their role in the paid and volunteer fire service.”
Role for women
The role Armstrong recommended encompassed fire inspections, public relations, working on fund drives, fire police, photo team members, and supplying food and drink at multiplealarm fires. Armstrong commented that the fire fighting role of women “will always be debatable.”
He recalled that his assistant chief always sent a man to back up any woman ordered to carry out a fireground duty.
Armstrong recalled that women first joined his department to work in its ambulance corps, which three years ago was separated from the fire department. He added that three women were at one time active fire fighters. One of them became a first class fire fighter, but all have since left the department. Later 10 other women joined the fire department and of these, Armstrong reported, six are radio operators and four work as fire police.
A fire prevention role for women was urged by Cathy L. Hynson, a registered nurse from Richmond, Va. Ms. Hynson said women can play a vital role in fire prevention because they use most of the energy appliances in the home which cause many fires and they discover 85 percent of the residential fires.
“To be realistic,” Ms. Hynson remarked, “most fire fighters are interested in suppression—not prevention—and women are a large potential work force to be tapped for fire prevention.”
At a general conference session, the chiefs were handed a fire prevention challenge by Trudy McKeon Daly of the Hartford Insurance Group, who declared, “In the United States today, the greatest obstacle to fire prevention is fire chiefs.”
Ms. Daly cited the sparse number of fire chiefs at fire prevention conferences she has attended throughout the country and she declared that fire prevention is just as much a responsibility of chiefs as is fighting fires.
Ms. Daly announced that the Hartford Insurance Group which for years has sponsored a junior fireman program, is developing a program for volunteer fire departments that will center on home inspection campaigns. She said the program will be field tested next year in Connecticut, Wisconsin, and Oregon and she added the hope that in a couple of years it will be available to all volunteer departments. The inspection campaign is based on the one in Edmonds, Wash., which was conducted by civilian men and women supervised by firemen. A supervisory role for volunteers, Ms. Daly explained, would make less demand on volunteers, who cannot spare much time for fire prevention work.
She said that the Hartford Group will provide support materials for the home inspection campaigns that would include films, slides, home fire safety brochures, form letters and door hangers. In addition, a $5000 first prize and a $3000 second prize are included in the plans for this new approach to home fire prevention.
Public education
Fire departments were criticized for not having public fire education specialists by Laura Buchbinder of the National Fire Prevention and Control Administration. She said that the most frequent reason voiced for not having a public education specialist is “my chief won’t support public education.” Ms. Buchbinder declared the bottom line to any federal program is the fire educator and she observed that “no matter how vital the message, it has to be understood to be effective.”
She emphasized that if fire prevention programs are to accomplish their objective, it is important to select the right program for a specific problem. She noted that nine states are now making fire prevention education resource materials available and that title VICETA funds and title IX senior citizen funds are available for fire prevention education employees.
Ms. Hynson, who had addressed a volunteer workshop, told the chiefs at a general session that, the fire prevention message needs to be aimed at women, who are the ones most involved in the home, but the message needs to be delivered by other women if it is to be effective. She described women as a substant ial work force that is ready to be asked to assist in fire prevention work.
The Silver Spring, Md., Fire Department Women’s Auxiliary, which she once headed, developed a fire prevention and public relations program which grew from a street contact program to fulfilling numerous speaking engagements and working with the area schools.
A fire prevention program developed by Burger King was described by Lisa Glenn, who said the program is designed for teachers and that resource material is available. She added that the fast food firm will introduce a $3000 electronic fire safety exhibit designed for touring shopping malls t hroughout the country.
The urban workshop had a two-afternoon program on officer selection by assessment that was presented by Assistant Chief Carl Holmes and Deputy Chief in Charge of Training Hobby J. Mowles, both of the Oklahoma City Fire Department. They explained the assessment procedure of presenting problems to officer candidates that are pertinent to the greater responsibilities they are seeking. The problems are designed to develop an evaluation of the candidates’ abilities to obtain information, compare alternatives and make decisions that will bring the most desirable results.
During the latter part of the program, Holmes and Mowles discussed the recruiting procedure of the Oklahoma City Fire Department. Holmes explained that the number of applicants tested is held to the number necessary to fill the vacancies. If there are 25 vacancies, 100 persons must be tested because the washout rate is 75 percent, Holmes explained.
The five tests for applicants cover mechanical comprehension, written comprehension, solution of a firehouse situation (to evaluate interpersonal relations), identification of tools most likely to best do certain jobs (not unique to the fire service), and fire hydrant and hose assembly. With the use of a hydrant, hose and appropriate brass goods, this latter test is designed to measure the ability to solve problems.
Mowles stressed that all these tests are pertinent to the work of a fire fighter. During the physical agility test, the candidates are told whether they pass or fail as they go through each portion of the test. Mowles also noted that time and money for a complete physical are saved by having the fire department EMTs give a pre-physical test. He said that they are competent to test for color blindness, check blood pressures and check heart conditions three tests that a number of candidates fail.
Chief David B. Gratz, vice president of the IAFC Foundation, announced that the foundation has just received an NFPCA grant for a pilot test to determine what is happening with smoke detectors in residential properties. The pilot test will be made in Toledo, Dallas and Montgomery County, Md., in an effort to get data on residential use of detectors.
Gratz said that the executive development II program under a NFPCA grant is identifying the course subject area for the National Fire Academy and the relationships of courses to one another. After this design is completed, the NFPCA will ask for bids to compile the course material. Gratz also said that the National League of Cities is working with the IAFC Foundation to provide suggested wording for labor contracts.
Hazardous materials team
How the Jacksonville, Fla., Fire Department prepares for hazardous materials incidents was described by Captain Ronald G. Gore. He said that every man in the department has gone through a 40-hour hazardous materials program and as a result of this program, a hazardous materials team was developed.
The hazardous materials team, which places five men on duty at all times, responds not only to hazardous materials incidents, but also as a regular engine company. The 15 members of the team have had about 2000 hours of training, Gore said, and two pumpers were modified to carry special tools and equipment.
Gore pointed out that when any fittings are touched during an incident, what was done is marked on a tag so the next person to operate the fitting will know of the previous action.
Gore emphasized the value and necessity of wearing proper protective equipment, including acid suits when necessary, and he stressed the need for diking and the containment of hazardous substances and the use of absorbent materials to protect the environment.
“We teach our people never to be too big to walk away,” Gore said in emphasizing the safety precautions that the teams follow.
Need for committee
The reasons for organizing an IAFC hazardous materials committee were recounted by Chief Warren Isman of the Montgomery County, Md., Fire and Rescue Services, who pointed out that many serious incidents occur in small towns.
“We’ve only begun to tackle the problem,” Isman declared. “It’s going to get worse before it gets better.”
He pointed out that garden supply shops and drugstores are among the many sources of hazardous materials in all types of communities.
Isman also warned that the Defense Civil Preparedness Agency, the Environmental Protection Administration and the Coast Guard are all seeking expanded control over hazardous materials incidents at the expense of the fire chiefs, who are the First to be called and who have the basic responsibility for handling the problems. Isman also said that the committee is needed to represent the IAFC at federal hearings, to disseminate information about hazardous materials and to aid in the development of disaster plans. He saw the committee as a provider of hazardous materials documents and visual aids, information on grants, a bibliography on hazardous materials and descriptions of hazardous materials incidents.
In the annual balloting, Chief James H. Shern of Pasadena, Calif., was elected president to succeed Chief John L. Swindle of Birmingham, Ala., Ala. Other officers elected were Chief R. S. Rockenbach of Grayslake, Ill., first vice president; Chief John E. Lee of Charlotte, N. C., second vice president; and Chief H. R. Stinchcomb of Sarasota, Fla., treasurer.