LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Higher education through Open Learning
Ed Kirtley and E. Lee Silvi Jr.’s articles (“Higher Education” and “College Degrees,” August 1989) were both right on target in articulating the “whys” and “hows” of higher education for the fire service. In my opinion, the multiplicity and complexity of today’s firefighting as described in Kirtley’s article suggest that the field has moved from an “occupation” to a “profession” and is gradually reaching the point where a college degree is a minimum requirement for advancement. As in any profession, one must be careful of those education programs that are devoid of credibility and legitimacy. Silvi’s article is wise counsel for any degree-seeking professional, fire service or otherwise.
Both articles refer to the Open Learning Fire Service Program (OLFSP) as an excellent way to earn a baccalaureate degree through independent study, but neither mentioned the program’s sponsor and how the program works. OLFSP is an upper-level external degree program sponsored by the National Fire Academy, which has agreements with seven accredited colleges and universities around the country to offer bachelor’s degrees with concentrations in fire administration and fire prevention technology. The 12-course curriculum covers such topics as fire administration, personnel management, incendiary analysis, fire prevention, fire protection systems, analytic approaches to public fire protection, fire-related human behavior, fire research, and more. As with any college-level learning, there is interaction with qualified instructors (usually by telephone), written assignments, final exams, and lots of reading. OLFSP graduates receive the same diplomas as the institutions’ traditional resident graduates.
Silvi is correct when he says a higher level of personal discipline is required for independent study; however, I hasten to add that with the many OLFSP students and graduates to whom I have spoken over the years, the learning motivation is very high because the materials are both challenging and relevant. Whether through traditional or nontraditional means, students may have problems relating to, or finding interest in, general education courses such as appreciation of art or music and English literature; however, well-structured study in a fire-related discipline is pertinent to their profession. They stand to gain from the material after they’ve read it. After students complete the OLFSP curriculum, they will have read literally hundreds of articles from all the major fire journals, chapters from textbooks, and units written from the OLFSP course guides. In essence, if they enjoy reading Fire Engineering, they’ll enjoy Open Learning.
To my knowledge, the fire service is the only profession for which the federal government has developed a collegelevel curriculum designed for its constituent audience. Through OLFSP, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Fire Academy provides an external degree program _____modates fire department shiftwork schedules and resolves the problem of inaccessibility to a credible fire-related degree program. Several hundred firefighters and officers have received their college degrees through the Open Learning program.
If readers are interested in receiving information about the program, they should contact the National Fire Academy, Open Learning Fire Service Program, 16825 South Seton Avenue, Emmitsburg, MD 21727.
My thanks to Fire Engineering and authors Kirtley and Silvi for their valuable and insightful articles.
Edward J. Kaplan
Project Officer
Open Learning Fire Service Program
National Fire Academy
Fire scene photos
I really enjoyed your editorial “What’s with Your Photos?” (August 1989). Unfortunately, it still seems necessary for us to debate photos in fire magazines.
Most people seem to forget that fire scene photographs such as those in your magazine should be compared with news photographs, not training materials. They are a visual record of an actual event, not a staged scene for use in a training program. Your comment on their use for training is a good one and I agree that when negative examples are shown, it presents a golden opportunity to discuss the issues with other members of the fire department. We wouldn’t think of calling our local newspaper to gripe about a photo that showed something we didn’t like, so why do we feel we can gripe about the same thing to our trade journals?
Another issue that often is forgotten is that these fireground photos are reflective of how too many departments still operate. The best way I can think of to eliminate photos of unsafe acts on the fireground is to eliminate the unsafe acts. Getting rid of the photos is not the answer.
A trade publication is designed to keep the reader abreast of current conditions in the field and to assist that reader in improving conditions in the future. If you selected only the photos that were perfect, it would not be an accurate portrayal of current conditions. I believe this could lead to an “out of sight, out of mind” approach. By reminding all of us that unsafe behaviors still occur on our firegrounds, you keep us striving to improve.
R. Craig Schroll
Chief Consultant
Firecon
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Politics vs. public safety
Throughout our nation’s history, some of our most tragic multilife-loss fires have been in rooming and lodging houses. These target hazards have long been a source of potential danger not only to the tenants but for the members of the fire service community who must respond to and work in these buildings.
In 1987 the state of Massachusetts passed Section 26H of Chapter 148 of the General Laws allowing communities the local option of requiring rooming and lodging houses to be fully sprinklered. The intent of the law, as with all fire prevention laws, was to reduce the number of injuries and deaths from fire in these buildings. I consider this one of the more progressive attempts to provide for the safety of the public in recent years.
Communities across the state who have accepted this law have been working diligently for the past two years to ensure compliance. As with the enforcement of any law, the work for fire service personnel has been long and tedious, but it has been effective— effective, that is, until politicians buckled under to the landlords and property owners and passed a bill extending the date of compliance for five years. Once again, the power of politics has taken precedence over the safety and welfare of those who depend on the system for protection.
As so often is the case when decisions affecting public safety are made by those with no responsibility for the dayto-day delivery of the service, it took only a few days for the reasoning behind the law’s origin to surface in tragic proportion. There are currently three confirmed fatalities and five missing as the result of a rooming house in Lynn, Massachusetts —a rooming house whose owner has been in court for the past year for failure to comply with the sprinkler law.
Massachusetts is facing many public safety layoffs this year due to its poor financial condition. It would follow then that the last thing we needed was to extend the compliance time frame of such a vital law.
How can the elected officials of the country with the highest fire-related death and dollar loss rate of any country in the industrialized world continually act so irresponsibly? Perhaps it’s time for these elected officials to assist us with body recover.
Nick Russo
Chief of Department
Hull, Massachusetts
Seeking job description
I am seeking help in finding a job description for a volunteer coordinator or any other information that could be of help to one in this position. Please contact me at 5823 13th St. Ct. E, Bradenton. FL 34203, or call (813) 7551102 if you can be of assistance in this matter.
Monroe Swartz
More emphasis on fire prevention
Fire Engineering has really come together, and I continue to look forward to receiving it in the mail. I’ve been a subscriber since the ’60s and proud of it! Ray Downey’s articles are super. Please keep them coming! You are to be commended for making that happen. I have always felt that Fire Engineering was the premier magazine of the fire service. It has led the way. In that vain, I would like you to consider an idea. Why not a regular column similar to the “Training Notebook” on fire prevention—a “Prevention Notebook”?
There are many specific topics of interest to both suppression and prevention members that could be discussed. Some examples are gasoline service station pumps and remote and breakaway valves and shut-offs; the new types of restaurant hood and duct fire protection systems; the new experimental fixed roof on existing openfloating, roof-flammable bulk storage tanks; and fire department operations with residential sprinkler systems.
I’ve been a firefighter since 1963, but I became involved in fire prevention in 1980. Only then did I realize that all the “code stuff” I was learning was making me a better firefighter and fire officer at fires! If Fire Engineering had such a column, it could help other firefighters learns these technical lessons sooner.
Don Manno
National Fire Academy
Emmitsburg, Maryland
Preventing future tragedies
I have several thoughts concerning “Orange County Fatal Fire” (July 1989). I am always saddened to hear about the death of fellow firefighters and I am grateful that the Orange County Fire Division shared its tragic experience w ith the rest of us so that we might gain from its loss.
The investigation team makes several good points regarding the factors contributing to the incident; however, they failed to make the most important point of all—that the initial arriving crew appears to have made some fundamental errors in judgment.
I would respectfully suggest that if future contributors to your magazine want their fellow firefighters to truly benefit from their experiences, they should tell the whole story, regardless of how it reflects on their respective departments. A little candor could prevent another tragedy from occurring.
Steven M. Juntikka
Assistant Chief
Iona McGregor Fire Protection
and Rescue Service District
Fort Myers, Florida
Editor’s reply: Speaking of candor— what fundamental judgment errors are you talking about?
Speeding up “fire-safe” cigarette legislation
As I read your August issue, the “Dispatches” section by Diane Feldman caught my attention. If I were not somewhat knowledgeable of the issues surrounding “fire-safe” cigarette legislation, your article would lead me to believe that the fire community was tightly woven behind Congressman Rick Boucher’s legislation. Many states, including mine (Florida), are in support of Congressman John Moakley’s bill. Moakley’s bill does not have the provisions that the Boucher bill does to have ongoing and unending research that may never resolve the issue of “firesafe” cigarettes.
I am afraid that the author has steered many of your uninformed readers in a direction that is not the direction of the entire fire service, including such major organizations as the International Association of Fire Chiefs and the National Fire Protection Association. As the article says, smokers are an important consideration, but I firmly believe that the cigarette industry can continue to satisfy its uses with an acceptable product that is also acceptable in a timely fashion for the fire service.
My position would be that fire service organizations should indeed write their Congress representatives, but instead of writing in support of the Boucher bill, they should support a bill that will reduce by several years the opportunity for us to have a “fire-safe” cigarette with the Moakley bill.
C.H. Duke, Chief
Director of Fire, Rescue
and Inspection Services
Miami, Florida
Diane Feldman’s reply. We did not mean to imply that the fire community wholly supported Congressman Boucher’s bill; in fact, we specifically listed which organizations endorsed it. We also made numerous attempts to interview Congressman Moakley about his opposing legislation, but he was unavailable for comment.
Boucher explained his problems with the promulgation of a fire-safe cigarette standard. I don’t think it’s fair to say his own legislation calls for “unending research.” However, you be the judge, and urite your congressional representatives accordingly.
Laughing and learning
The August issue of Fire Engineering— specifically the two articles “Response Injuries in the Volunteer Service” and “Defensive Responding”—were right on target.
Paul McFadden certainly described the humiliating tragedies many a volunteer has suffered, but as we read about them now, how humorous they seem.
Vincent Dunn provides many relevant points for consideration while responding, operating, and returning from emergencies. One point he brought out, which many people shy away from, is a firefighter must bear some of the responsibility for his injuries. Unfortunately, just because people know the right thing to do doesn’t mean they will do it. We must model positive behavior through clear communications and it must be said over and over again.
Keep up the good work—excellent issue!
Arthur C. Smith
Superintendent
The New York Board of
Fire Underwriters
Bureau of Fire Prevention and
Public Relations
New York, New York
I read Paul McFadden’s “Response Injuries in the Volunteer Service” (“Volunteers Corner,” August ’89) with tears of laughter welling up in my eyes until I got near the end and realized that response injuries like his started to sound a lot like mine. I thought I was unique until I realized we all get funnel vision as we get closer to the fire station. I also noticed as the seriousness of the response increases, conversely, the brain cells start to atropy and shrink.
My first experience with this phenomenom occurred when I ran over my daughter’s favorite cat that had curled up on the front tires under the hood. “Never again,” I promised. The next nighttime alarm, I checked the tires and promptly took out the lower half of the garage door that hadn’t opened all of the way.
Soon after mastering the garage routine, I backed up in the driveway too quickly and flattened my wife’s newly planted magnolia tree. I blamed the UPS driver but she didn’t believe me after following the tracks from the lawn to the tree via the driveway.
Thinking that I had the whole routine of getting out of the garage and down the driveway mastered, I forgot about the next logical step—getting from my house to the fire station, which is only a quarter of a mile from my house. No sweat.
It was a medical assist call on a snowy January morning that taught me that I had more to learn. Soon after leaving my driveway, I hit a patch of ice and wiped out 44 feet of stone wall and fencing in my neighbor’s front yard. Talk about slow learners!
I now consider myself a model of decorum. When the tones go off in the night, my whole family gets involved in the response process now. My wife opens the garage door as my teen-age daughter hands me the car keys, and they both gently admonish me, “Slow down, take it easy, you’ll make a truck for sure.”
It works! I’ve been accident-free for almost 10 months now.
James Lyons
Glastonbury Fire Department
Fast Glastonbury, Connecticut
No magazine like it
When I made a trip through the United States in 1986, going from San Francisco to Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix, El Paso, and Dallas, I stopped at many fire stations, talking to firefighters and taking a close look at equipment. I also took a close look at several magazines that are related to the fire service, but only one caught my interest—Fire Fngineering. I subscribed to it as soon as possible, and although overseas mail slows down my issues, it’s worth the wait. I find your magazine unique. I have compared it with those published in Europe, but no other magazine tells you “how to do it.” Your articles are straight to the point. They really help to improve your techniques.
Holger de Vries
Federal Republic of Germany
