Letters to the Editor
More Than a Simple Graph
My congratulations to Captain Ray Sutton on the outstanding article on “Straight Line Hydraulics” in the May 1984 issue. While the use of a graph to solve a hydraulics problem is not an innovation, the “Fire Service Nomograph” goes much further than a simple graph.
The adaptability of the nomograph to fire service hydraulics is such that it can solve relatively complicated problems at a glance. The nomograph could be reduced to a wallet-sized, laminated card, and thus be readily referred to by firefighters and officers. We have used the concept of a “pocket” card to solve hydraulics problems in Prince Georges County for several years, but the nomograph represents an improvement in the system.
Articles such as “Straight Line Hydraulics” are what keep FIRE ENGINEERING in the forefront of fire service “trade” publications. The article is both educational and informative. Keep up the good work.
Robert L. Ridgeway
Captain
Training Division
Prince Georges County Fire Department, MD
Call to Training Echoed
I enjoyed your comments in the May 1984 issue of FIRE ENGINEERING. I echo your “Summons to Training.” This call to more training in the fire service is not a new voice, but rather a continued voice, that now takes on a sense of warning.
In the L.A.F.D. we have been monitoring the injuries occurring to firefighters over the last three years and have come to the conclusion that the majority of the injuries could have been prevented with proper strategy and tactics on the fireground. The injuries have not been the failure of the protective clothing system. Helmets will melt and Nomex shells of turnout coats will distort and crack under extreme heat, but that does not mean that the protective clothing system failed. It was doing its job and protecting the firefighter up to the point that it reached its maximum thermal environmental capacity.
Officers should carefully examine and investigate every injury occurring on the fireground. They should be asking “Were proper tactics being employed?” In my travels and speaking engagements, I tend to make this point when discussing firefighter safety. We need continued effort by departments for basic fireground tactical training and perhaps reduce the injury rates.
I support your efforts and those of other fire service persons who agree and support a “Summons to Training.”
Jack A. Bennett
Los Angeles City Fire Department, CA
Improprieties?
After reading your editorial entitled “A Summons to Training,” May 1984,1 felt it only appropriate to write you concerning the improprieties contained in the article.
True, Robbinsdale is a small city (approximate population 14,000; 3 square miles), but we are neither rural nor are we located near St. Paul. We are a first ring northern suburb of Minneapolis, MN, and our water is supplied completely by hydrants.
Ours is a 30 person totally volunteer department. We operate two first line pumpers, two second line pumpers, one salvage unit with a bottle cascade system, one 75 ft. snorkel and a squad. We respond to approximately 200 to 250 fire runs per year. We utilize and totally maintain 27 complete MSA Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus. All units are positive pressure demand, Model 401 or the new Ultra-Light. Each of our personnel is issued his own complete facepiece which he is required to maintain under the direction of our MSA factory authorized personnel.
Upon investigation, I find that neither you nor any of your staff have made any contact with the industrial hygienist from OSHA that evaluated our department, nor were any of our department personnel contacted. It seems somewhat strange to me that a conclusion can be drawn without proper investigation and evaluation of parties involved.
If you would have interviewed the OSHA investigator, our department personnel, and read the report, you would have found that our training program is well established, consistent with NFPA standards, and effective in proficiency of established operational procedures. With regard to maintenance procedures of SCBA equipment, you would have found that instead of being inefficient, just the opposite is the case. Our SCBA procedures and programs place us in the top 10% of the fire departments in the state of Minnesota in this category.
The one point that both of us agree on is that training is of ultimate importance. In my estimation, fire personnel can never get enough training. Our department trains an average of three times monthly, covering all areas of fire service operations, utilizing the specific needs of our community as the focal point. In the past three years, our personnel have attended almost 500 hours of training at the National Fire Academy (Emmitsburg, MD, near Washington, D.C.). Currently, we have two members of our staff that teach at both state and vo-tech levels, in various fire service areas.
If one point can be drawn from what has transpired in the past few months it is that even with proper training and equipment, we still lose personnel. We, as fire personnel; must realize that we are the “fragile element” in a hazardous and hostile environment, for we are involved in the most dangerous occupation in the United States. As professionals, we must upgrade our proficiency to keep up with changing times so as to eliminate as much of the hazards as possible. This can only be done by intensifying our training programs and curriculum. By doing so everyone benefits, especially the firefighter who puts his life on the line many times throughout the year.
Thomas C. Sipe
Chief
Robbinsdale Fire Department, MN
Charges Explained. Below is a description of the alleged violations by the Robbinsdale Fire Department as reported by the Occupational Safety and Health Division, Department of Labor and Industry, St. Paul, MN:
The employer did not establish and maintain a respiratory protection program which included the requirements outlined in 1910.134 and 1910.156. The following aspects of the respiratory protection program were deficient.
- There was no written respiratory program on file. (1910.134 (b) (1) and (e) (3)).
- Respirators were worn when conditions such as a growth of beard or sideburns could have prevented a good face seal. Firefighters wearing SCBA respirators in IDLH (Immediately Dangerous to Life or Health) environments need to be clean shaven at the point of respirator facepiece to skin contact to assure a good seal. (1910.134 (b) (3), (e) (5) and (e) (5) (i).
- Respirators shall be thorou^ily cleaned and inspected after each use. One respirator was observed to have charred debris in it after it had been cleaned and made ready for use. (1910.134 (b) (5) and (b) (7)).
- Respirators that are not routinely used but are kept ready for emergency use were not inspected at least monthly to assure that they are in satisfactory working condition. Records were not kept of inspection dates and findings on respirators maintained for emergency use. (1910.134 (b) (7), (f) (2) (i) and (f) (2) (iv)).
- Defective respirators were not repaired prior to their being put back into use. On one unit the low air pressure bell was out of order. A second unit’s low pressure bell sounded when the air pressure remaining in the cylinder was less than 20% of its capacity. A third unit had a missing “O” Ring on the regulator assembly. (1910.156 (f) (1) (i), 1910.134 (b) (7), (e) (4), (f) (1) and (f)(2) (ii)).
- Individuals were assigned tasks which required extensive and stressful work while wearing a SCBA and were not given proper medical evaluations prior to assignment. (1910.134 (b) (10)).
continued from page 12
Change in the Fire Service
“Expanding Training Horizons,” was the theme of the annual Fire Department Instructors Conference held in Cincinnati, OH, March 1984.
What a conference! Fantastic, change, change, change; apart from the very useful knowledge presented by the excellent speakers and many seminars, change in the fire service was by far the most important message 1 received. At this point I will say to everyone involved with this conference, “well done,” and I really can’t say enough for the “Conference Committee,” ISFSI, the city of Cincinnati, and the fire department for their hard work. I hope we can return again next year.
For years we have managed our conferences and seminars, promoting new ideas, new concepts, new equipment, and anything else that just might be useful to anyone in attendance. And usually we return to our departments without a deep feeling of excitement about anything. The reason for this apathy, most generally was “the same old information” being rearranged and presented by different speakers. And, to say the least, we returned every year because we all still learned. Some of you might disagree with this, and probably with merit. But, using generalities, most of us probably can attest to its content or message.
The fire service, within the confinements of its ever revolving wheel. has slowly been trudging forward up the very long mountain of success. And seemingly, without any direction, finally, has not only reached the top, but might be traveling down the other side with ever increasing speed.
“This is exciting!” There is a future for not only the fire service, but also “The New Breed.” The term “The New Breed” is a direct quote from Howard Wilson, an aggressive Fire Officer of the Charlotte Fire Department. “The New Breed” descended upon us in the early 70s and we, for the first time in many years, conceded to change. I remember very clearly Robert McLeod and I, with great concern, discussing “coping with the new breed,” and their lack of enthusiasm toward authority.
Women in the fire service is the latest concern of change and again, slowly, we are conceding to this change. I refer to J‘quote” latest change with a lot of reservation, and here’s why!
Meeting the demands of high technology is a change that supercedes the early 70s. And again, we are slowly conceding. We have not been receptive to high technology and with great respect of our past and present leaders we, for many years, have shied away and held the door closed to high technology.
But things are changing. We are on the horizon of the future. We will be receptive to the high technological age, and the new breed will be, and should be, credited for this. The new breed might have started in the 50s or 60s when men of distinct recognition, such as the Robert McLeod’s, Jim Dalton’s, John O’Rourke’s, etc., entered the fire service. But, the new breed did not come of age until the demands of higher education, quality leaders, blossomed in the early 70s.
What is the future? Do we have direction? Will today’s fire service be recognizable in ten years, will we expand the horizon or will we gaze out across the openness and be oblivious to the new age. You must understand that in a few short years fifty percent of all industrial jobs will be replaced with high technology, and 15,000,000 jobs will completely disappear because of computers. Will this effect the fire service?
Computers! The vastness of it all. Just think about it! Computers have, for several decades, been sending man and machines into outer space and back. And, the fire service is just now recognizing their capabilities.
Paul Adkins
Captain
Fire Control District No. 1 Halifax Fire Department, FL
