Health Beat – Reducing LODDs

By Mary Jane Dittmar

Line-Of-Duty Deaths
Author’s note: You may already be familiar with some of the information that will be presented in this series. If so, it is well worth your reading it again and, hopefully, your refocusing on the topics. If you have not heard this information before, keeping it from your would be too risky-something you read here may lead to your saving your life or the life of a brother or sister some day! It may also inspire and motivate you to vigorously become engaged in the campaign and to explore ways to add a proactive perspective to these efforts to save and prolong firefighters’ lives and prevent injuries and illnesses.

The campaign to decrease the number of responder line-of-duty deaths has notably taken on new energy in recent months. A number of initiatives, endorsed and coordinated by major fire service-related government agencies and organizations, have drawn industry, national, and international attention and support. The multifaceted campaign derived its impetus from the 2004 National Fire Fighter Foundation (NFFF) Firefighter Life Safety Summit. The meeting produced 16 initiatives that are embodied in the Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives program, which has as its goal reducing firefighter line-of-duty deaths by 25 percent within five years and by 50 percent within 10 years.

The NFFF and PennWell Corporation, the parent company of this Web site, Fire Engineering and fireEMS magazines, and FDIC, FDIC East, and FDIC West, have established the Web site http://www.everyonegoeshome.com, dedicated to this goal. The site, explains NFFF Executive Director Chief Ron Siarnicki, will make available “an ongoing comprehensive program to prevent firefighter deaths and injuries.” Included is information on the two leading causes of line-of-duty deaths-heart attacks and vehicle accidents. The Everyone Goes Home program was introduced at a press conference in Washington, DC, on June 7.

Trade Shows and National Stand Down Day
The initiatives and related programs have been introduced at industry conferences and trade shows, including FDIC, FDIC East, and FDIC West.

On June 21, numerous fire departments participated in the first National Firefighter Safety Stand Down, initiated by the IAFC and supported by the following partners, including the Canadian Fallen Fire Fighters Foundation, Canadian Fire Chiefs Association, Congressional Fire Service Institute, Fire & Emergency Manufacturers Services Association, Fire Apparatus Manufacturers Association, Fire Department Safety Officers’ Association, International Association of Arson Investigators, International Association of Black Professional Fire Fighters, International Association of Fire Fighters, International City/County Management Association, International Code Council, International Fire Service Training Association, National Association of State Fire Marshals, National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, National Fire Protection Association, National Institute for Occupational Safety/Health, National Volunteer Fire Council, North American Fire Training Directors, and the U.S. Fire Administration.

On June 21, participating fire departments suspended all non-emergency activity and focused entirely on firefighter safety and the unacceptable number of annual line-of-duty deaths and injuries. The initiatives and Stand Down drew the attention and support also of various members of Congress.

FDIC Focus
Firefighter life safety was the focal point of many presentations, workshops, and panels at FDIC. A brief review of some of these activities and comments is included in this series.

At the Opening Session, Bill Manning, Fire Engineering editor in chief/associate publisher and FDIC conference director, chided and challenged the audience: “We sure talk about [reducing preventable line-of-duty deaths and injuries]. And, every year, nothing changes. Do you believe it can change? Do you believe we can change, against all odds?”

Using the analogy of the 1969 New York Mets baseball team, which won the World Series that year against all the odds (initially inept and inexperienced baseball players, being way down in the standings, and other very notable shortcomings), Manning related how the “You gotta believe” philosophy of the late Tug McGraw, Mets star relief pitcher, sparked the enthusiasm of the team, the baseball fans, the city, and ultimately the nation -and led to the BELIEF that the METS indeed could achieve the “impossible.” They did.

“We CAN reduce the number of firefighters killed and injured responding to/returning from,” Manning said. “You gotta believe! We CAN reduce cardiac-/stress-related deaths and injuries. You gotta believe! We CAN reduce deaths and injuries on the fireground without sacrificing our mission. You gotta believe! We CAN increase firefighter longevity beyond the national norm, but you gotta believe!” Manning urged.

“…. The fire service is smart, committed, courageous, inventive, hard working. The changes I’ve seen in this fire service in the 17 years I have been here were dramatic and wonderful,” Manning related. “But surely not dramatic and wonderful enough, and we have 107 fallen firefighters in 2004 and well over 2,000 firefighters over the past 20 years to prove it,” he concluded.

What if that “belief” could lead to instilling the “Stand Down” mentality in our fire departments for longer than one day/shift? What if it became a permanent part of the responder mindset? Could we dare hope that the Initiative’s death/injury-reduction goals might be met before five/10 years or could exceed the 25/50 percent reduction?

The call for proactively increasing safety was sounded from the FDIC instructional arena as well. H.O.T. Vehicle Extrication Instructor Leigh T. Hollins, Cedar Hammock (FL) Fire Rescue, offered this suggestion: “All emergency response agencies need to have aggressive policies in place concerning emergency driving, seat belt use, high-visibility protective gear, using apparatus to block roads, and traffic control to protect the responders. Assume one of your firefighters was struck at a scene yesterday. What would you change today? Do it today!”

Thomas LaKamp, district chief, Cincinnati (OH) Fire Department, presented with Lieutenants Michael Kirby and Grant Light, “Preventing Line-of-Duty Deaths: The Cincinnati Experience. The trio described the chain of events that led to the line-of-duty death of Cincinnati Firefighter Oscar Armstrong III. Armstrong and two other firefighters were caught in a flashover at a single-family residence.

“It is not just one huge mistake that leads to a firefighter fatality,” LaKamp says. “It’s the little things that add up to a tragedy. You have to sweat the small stuff,” he stressed. “Basic firefighting skills and safety must be employed and be second nature to all firefighters on the fireground.”

This was one of several classroom sessions that shared the Lessons Learned by departments that had lost a member in the line of duty in an effort to prevent such deaths in the future.

The Family’s Perspective
Have you ever stopped to consider how the family and close acquaintances of a fallen firefighter are affected by that death? At this year’s FDIC, several parents who lost their firefighter children in the line of duty mustered all the strength they could to try to convey to the audience their heart-wrenching experiences and their perpetual sense of loss during the Big Room Session: “LODDs: The Untold Stories of Firefighter Deaths in the Line of Duty.”

Cathy Hedrick, mother of Fallen Firefighter Kenny Hedrick, killed while operating at the scene of a single-family dwelling fire, referred to “the large gap in our family circle, which we are still working on repairing, even 13 years later.”

She issued a challenge as well. She told the audience: “This is your wake-up call! This [National Fallen Firefighters Foundation] Summit provided the groundwork to obtain our goal to reduce firefighter fatalities by 25 percent in five years and 50 percent in 10 years. Some have said that it is not possible–that firefighting is just a dangerous profession. We need to prove them wrong.”

Next time, we will look at some specific projects/areas/actions aimed at keeping firefighters alive, safe, and healthy.

Mary Jane Dittmar is senior associate editor of Fire Engineering magazine and FireEngineering.com. Before joining the magazine in 1991, she served as editor of a trade magazine in the health/nutrition market and held various positions in the educational and medical advertising fields. She has a bachelor’s degree in English/journalism and a master’s degree in communication arts.

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