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“Fireman’s Rule” Abolished

The Oregon Supreme Court has abolished a rule that barred firefighters and police officers injured in the course of duty from collecting damages for negligence, according to an article in The National Law Journal.

The court’s unanimous decision makes Oregon the first state to abolish the rule, and could increase pressure to abandon it in other states. Under the “fireman’s rule,” public safety officers had not been able to sue for injuries in the course of duty on the grounds that they impliedly assumed the risk of injury in the course of doing their jobs.

Fire Safety Campaign

A major three-year campaign on fire safety is being organized by the Illinois Fire Chiefs’ Educational and Research Foundation according to Lawrence A. Pairitz, the president of the Foundation and chief of the Mt. Prospect Fire Department.

The new program will extend Foundation activities to promote public awareness of fire safety. The program will also emphasize professional training and expand research into firefighting and fire prevention techniques. Up to now, the Illinois Fire Chiefs’ Foundation has concentrated its efforts on professional training. Last year they sponsored continuing education courses and seminars for almost 750 firefighting professionals.

Honor Fallen Firefighters

Memorial services for the 106 firefighters who lost their lives last year while responding to three million fires, will be held on October 14 at the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s training center.

Families of the fallen firefighters, as well as government officials, representatives of the fire service and the general public are expected to attend the services. The 100-voice glee club from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, NY, will perform.

The 106 firefighters who gave their lives in the line of duty during 1983 is the smallest number since 1977 when the National Fire Protection Association began collecting casualty data.

Publicity Kit for Volunteers

A community publicity program, courtesy of The National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC), has helped over 1,200 departments in raising funds, recruiting members, and gaining community support.

Called “New Tools for Volunteer Fire Fighters,” the free kit contains professionally prepared fundraising and recruiting materials including cameraready ads for newspapers and magazines, public service announcements for radio and television, scripts on fire prevention for radio announcers, and finished artwork for producing bumper stickers. Recently, feature articles for placement with local newspapers and public service radio announcements recorded by race car driver Richard Petty, have also been added.

Any volunteer department interested in receiving a copy of “New Tools for Volunteer Fire Fighters” should contact: Gus Welter, secretary of the NVFC at 9944 Harriet Ave., Bloomington, MN 55420.

Tool Innovations Sought By ISFSI

The International Society of Fire Service Instructors has announced a new research project called “The Birth of a Tool.” The project is intended to uncover new innovations in fire and life safety equipment.

Fire service professionals from across the country are being • solicited to submit their ideas and creations of unusual, yet effective tools and devices with the goal of obtaining future patents.

The International Society of Fire Service Instructors will be able to identify the innovative tools, equipment and appliances applicable to the saving of lives and property and transfer this technology throughout the nation.

All ideas submitted will be reviewed and an evaluation done to determine if the product is worthy of further study, either as is or with modification of design. Following approval by a special subcommittee, a pilot test will be conducted and, if the product is adopted, it will be marketed for use throughout the professions. Patent restrictions of any products submitted to the Society will be duly respected and protected as will patents pending and licenses.

Contact the International Society of Fire Service Instructors, 20 Main St., Ashland, MA 01721.

Correction

In our June Buyers’ Guide section of FIRE ENGINEERING a typographical error renamed the product of one of the companies listed. Sico Inc., of Minneapolis, MN, manufacture “Beds, In-Wall, not “Bells, In-Wall” as printed. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Residential Sprinklers Retired

The city of Los Angeles, CA, has enacted an ordinance requiring hallway and stairwell sprinklers in 1,300 existing hotels and apartment buildings. The new law is known as the “Dorothy Mae Ordinance,” because the impetus for its passage came from the September, 1982, fire in the Dorothy Mae apartmenthotel, which killed 26 people. It applies to apartments, hotels, and apartment-hotels built before January 1,1943, and three or more stories.

The sprinkler system is intended to protect the escape routes and thereby prevent mass-fatality fires. Sprinklers must have approved residential heads, which trigger at low enough temperatures to allow human survival. Whenever a room opens onto a hallway or stairwell, there will have to be a sprinkler head just inside the doorway.

The new law also required that selfclosing doors in these buildings have electrically operated hold-open devices designed to release the door when a smoke detector activates. It was found ‘after the Dorothy Mae fire that tenants had blocked fire doors open to provide ventilation in the hot weather. The new requirement allows tenants to do that and still retain the safety benefit of the doors in the event of a fire.

The Citizens Committee for Fire Protection was the first organization to publicly call for hallway and stairwell ‘sprinklers and automatic fire doors in the wake of the Dorothy Mae fire. Citizens Committee President Art Delibert, hailed the new law as one of the most far-reaching residential fire protection laws in the United States.

Free Guide

Task Force Tips, Inc. announces the availability of a new “Guide to Automatic Nozzles” which details the use of automatic nozzles with new blitz attack concepts; especially use of larger diameter hose lines. The operation and features of the TFT Handline are detailed with many illustrations, graphs and charts. Special operations, such as off a booster tank, AFFF foam applications, advantages of larger hose sizes, and application of standard hydraulics to this new technology are included, Other featured areas are a complete cutaway drawing, friction loss and flow charts, reaction tables, fog patterns, and complete explanation of the exclusive TFT sliding type control valve.

For a free copy of the 32 page “Guide to Automatic Nozzles” contact: Task Force Tips, Inc. 2901 E Cascade Dr., Valparaiso, IN 46383, or call (800) 348-2686

U.S. Fire Problem Study

In an effort to decrease the number and severity of fires in this country, the National Fire Information Council and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Fire Administration, are working to collect and analyze fire reports from fire departments participating in the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS).

NFIRS is a computerized fire reporting system developed by the U.S. Fire Administration. The system has been installed on computers in fire departments and state fire marshal’s offices in 39 states. The National Fire Information Council is an association of those fire service organizations that report fires to the NFIRS. NFIRS data is studied at the local, state, and national levels in order to detect trends in the fire problem and to identify the causes of fires. This information is used to develop effective fire protection and public awareness programs.

NJ Apartment Building Fire Displaces 41, Sends One to Hospital

A fire tore through the top floor of an apartment building on Palisade Avenue in Bogota on Sunday.

Providence (RI) Firefighter Pinned by Sliding Fire Truck During Snowstorm

A Providence firefighter was pinned between a fire engine and a parked car early Sunday morning when the truck got stuck and slid into the…