NEWS

ICHIEFS supports NFPA 1710

The Board of Directors of the International Association of Fire Chiefs (ICHIEFS) recently voted to support the proposed National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1710, Standard for the Organization and Deployment of Fire Suppression Operations, Emergency Medical Operations, and Special Operations to the Public by Career Fire Departments. The endorsement had been contingent on the stipulation that the NFPA 1710 Technical Committee accept the provisions contained in comments submitted by ICHIEFS to the Reports on Comments (ROC) draft document.

ICHIEFS had submitted its comments to the NFPA in October 2000, and on December 6, 2000, the NFPA’s Technical Committee approved the comments, satisfying the stipulation issued by the board of directors.

These comments were as follows:

• Maintain the allowance for multiple-apparatus configurations within the definition of a company.
• Modify the response time objective to separate turnout time from response time, which would add up to an additional 60 seconds from the time units acknowledge notification of an emergency until they arrive at the scene.
• Require that any other agency or private organization providing EMS beyond the first responder with automatic external defibrillator (AED) level must meet the provisions of the standard in any contract or service agreement.
• Units that provide advanced life support (ALS) transport will be staffed and trained at the level prescribed by the state agency responsible for EMS licensing.
• The requirement for two paramedics and two EMT-Basics on ALS calls can be assembled from more than the fire department, such as a third-party EMS provider.

ICHIEFS will prepare and distribute to chief fire officers and fire departments materials that will present methods for implementing the 1710 standard. “ICHIEFS realizes the potential benefits NFPA 1710 brings to the fire service and the challenges fire chiefs may face in implementing these benchmarks. As leaders of the fire service, we must be prepared to take charge and ensure the passage of this standard,” said ICHIEFS President Chief Mike Brown.

The standard will go to a floor vote before the NFPA membership at the association’s annual meeting in Anaheim, California, in May 2001.

NVFC offers perspective on NFPA 1710 and 1720

In a letter to National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) members, Chairman Fred G. Allinson explained the Council’s position with regard to National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1710, Standard for the Organization and Deployment of Fire Suppression Operations, Emergency Medical Operations, and Special Operations to the Public by Career Fire Departments, and NFPA 1720, Standard on Volunteer Fire Service Deployment.

The NVFC “remains opposed to the development of multiple standards based solely on the staffing system used in the local emergency services organization,” the letter states. “The NVFC has always maintained that any national standard must address the differences in the provision of fire protection throughout the United States without regard to whether these fire protection services are provided by volunteer or paid personnel or a combination thereof.”

Allinson explains that although the NFPA Standards Council proposed two separate standards for volunteer and career departments, the NVFC participated in the NFPA 1720 development process, rather than refuse to participate, so that it could have some input about the standard’s language. Its three representatives, Allinson says, “attempted to cultivate a document that puts the vast majority of the decisions about service levels in the hands of the authority having jurisdiction.”

Nevertheless, cautions Allinson, “Although these proposed standards provide that the authority having jurisdiction can choose whether or not to use these standards, fire chiefs across the country know this is not the case. More often than not, fire departments have been held accountable to NFPA documents in court and in individual state Departments of Labor. In addition, these dual standards do not address how an increasing number of combination departments should handle the issue.”

For additional information, contact the NVFC at (202) 887-5700 or by e-mail: nvfcoffice@nvfc.org.

America Burning Recommissioned report issued

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recently released the final report of America Burning Recommissioned, America at Risk: Findings and Recommendations on the Role of the Fire Service in the Prevention and Control of Risks in America.

FEMA Director James Lee Witt had asked the commission to reexamine the evolving role of the fire services in relation to the initial America Burning report, issued in 1974. This report focused attention on the nation’s fire problem and the needs of the fire services and allied professions, and resulted in the creation of the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) and the National Fire Academy (NFA).

Witt established the 24-member commission last year and asked George K. Bernstein, who developed federal programs that address and manage hazards, to chair it. The additional 23 members were chosen on the basis of their expertise and understanding of the issues facing today’s fire community.

The commission concluded (1) that the frequency and severity of fires in America are results of our nation’s failure to adequately apply and fund known loss-reduction strategies and (2) that although the primary responsibility for fire prevention, suppression, and taking action on other hazards within the domain of the fire services lies with state and local government, nevertheless, the federal government should play a significant role in funding and providing technical support.

In a letter sent in May 2000 to Witt by Bernstein, the committee chair noted that more than one-third of the America Burning’s recommendations had not been implemented and that more than half were only partially implemented. He cited as a prime example the unwillingness of the federal government to fund the USFA and ancillary programs at anywhere near the recommended level of $153 million. The initial funding in 1980 was only $24 million ($45.130 million in year 2000 dollars) and for fiscal year 2000, only $42.982 million, an actual decrease of 4.7 percent, reflecting inflation.

The Commission noted: “The lack of substantial funding to implement America Burning speaks volumes about the low priority that all segments of government-federal, state, and local-assign the fire hazard compared to other areas of public safety. The failure to adequately fund fire prevention and response, in general, and the USFA, in particular, has resulted in continued loss of life and property at levels that would otherwise have been substantially reduced.”

The Commission noted that the USFA’s operations suffer from deficiencies in “leadership” and “communication.” At no time since 1974, the Commission explained, has the USFA had the resources it needs to address this nation’s fire problems; it has been inadequately funded over the years and has had to attempt to accomplish too many tasks with too little money.

“If the number of fires and resultant losses are to be reduced,” according to the Commission, “there must be a concerted and consistent effort among not just the fire services but ellipse other stakeholder groups as well, including city and county managers, mayors, architects, engineers, researchers, academics, materials producers and the insurance industry as well as the general public .ellipse We hope that sufficient action will follow this Report so that 25 years from now another America Burning, Recommissioned will be unnecessary,” the letter concluded.

Recommendations

Following is an outline of the Commission’s recommendations:

1. Implement loss-prevention strategies. Congress should increase its involvement in fire loss prevention in America and exercise more fully its oversight responsibilities under the 1974 Act. It should also appropriate for the fire problem resources commensurate with those it provides to community policing and highway safety. FEMA should exercise its full authority under the 1974 Act and should apply to the fire hazard the same prevention emphases and strategies it has applied to other natural hazards. The Agency’s objective should be an all-risk, multihazard loss prevention program.
2. The application and use of sprinkler technology. FEMA/USFA should develop a long-term, community-based implementation strategy for fire sprinklers and smoke alarms. No tactic or strategy should detract from the requirement. Sprinklers should always be the locality’s first option as a loss-reduction measure.

3. Loss prevention education for the public. Community and neighborhood fire services should develop mitigation and prevention awareness programs through and in neighborhood schools. Fire service representatives should ensure that a consistent message is sent nationwide.
4. The acquisition and analysis of data. There is a need for a transparent process for setting an agenda for a data collection center so that problem-focused analyses can be prioritized and shared with partners. FEMA/USFA should develop a plan for appropriate data collection and analysis. It should reconcile existing FEMA data systems and identify adequate levels of funding needed to revive data collection and the analysis and use of the data; identify and pursue resources for achieving the plan; and develop working partnerships that will institutionalize the compatibility of data among allied organizations and agencies. State governments should be partners in collecting data. Grants should be made available for this purpose and for evaluating the feasibility of developing a statistical sampling mode that can be used by various regions, states, and local communities, as appropriate. The center should collect and analyze after-action data, not currently collated. Such data should identify the pre-event activities (preventive actions, codes or standards, training) and response activities (equipment, techniques, and so on) that proved most effective.

5. Improvements through research. FEMA/USFA should lead in setting an agenda (with significant user input and influence) for all hazard areas for which the fire service has responsibilities. These agendas should be coordinated and ultimately integrated. The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) and other governmental, university, international, and private research organizations can be used to develop research agendas that include issues connected with building codes and standards. All new technology should efficiently and expediently be relayed through the trade press, conferences or conventions, and partnerships with public and private sector organizations and be incorporated along with relevant research findings into NFA courses and documents.

6. Codes and standards for fire loss reduction in the built environment. The USFA should review its authority under the Fire Prevention and Control Act of 1974 to identify activities it could support, but currently does not, with respect to building codes and standards-for example, developing and promulgating a set of performance standards for buildings with respect to fire hazards and risks against which model codes and standards can be measured for equivalency. The fire service community should be actively involved in a consensus process of promulgating model codes. The drafters should be given the benefit of real experience in preventing and suppressing fire and ensuring that the current trend toward “equivalency” does not unintentionally put firefighters at additional risk. The USFA should develop NFA training courses on enforcing building and fire codes in new and existing buildings that can be handed off to state and local governments. The USFA should use its present and emerging academic partnerships with colleges and universities that have architectural and engineering programs to ensure that fire safety inspections and code enforcement are part of the curriculum and identify improved or enhanced insurance incentives for community-based fire loss preventive measures and the implementation of technology to reduce homeowner losses, especially fire sprinklers and alarms.
7. Public education and awareness. FEMA/USFA should develop and support a public awareness campaign strategy that includes the following: measurable results, goals, and objectives; targeting high-risk areas with concentrated efforts and appropriate messages on public education and fire prevention; and training to prepare fire officers to deal with the media-for public information, education, and relations.

8. Firefighter health and safety. Communities that fund fire departments to respond to fire emergencies within their jurisdiction should be fully aware of the capacity of the department in terms of its deployment capability, including structural fire response, special operations, hazardous-materials response, and emergency medical response. Fire departments should be evaluated on their effectiveness and efficiency and on worker safety. The level of service the jurisdiction decides to provide should be based on technically, scientifically, and medically sound criteria for organizing, staffing, and deploying such services. Firefighters and emergency medical personnel should be selected for the job based on consistent medical and performance standards.

• All departments should provide protective clothing and equipment and specific training for preventing occupationally acquired infectious diseases, cancer, heart disease, and other occupationally related diseases. Such clothing and equipment must provide continual protection during its use against the hazardous conditions encountered during firefighting and emergency medical and special operation functions.
• FEMA/USFA should directly support or advocate developing nationally applicable assessment and evaluation systems on the full range of operating capabilities and capacities of public fire departments. The appropriate federal agency should adopt and, if necessary, promulgate such systems. The evaluation system should be based on the minimum functions and tasks required for fire, medical, and other emergencies, as well as the minimum response times required to deliver such services, and should measure the effectiveness and efficiency of public fire suppression, emergency medical services, and special operations delivery in protecting the public and the occupational safety and health of fire department employees.
• FEMA/USFA and other appropriate federal agencies should encourage all fire departments to adopt a standard operating procedure addressing safe incident-site staffing that includes accountability and teams for firefighter rescue.
• Fire departments should provide a wellness/fitness program to maintain the medical, physical, and behavioral health of all personnel. The federal government should provide funding for fire departments to adopt firefighter wellness/fitness programs based on the Wellness-Fitness Initiative and the Candidate Physical Ability Test of the International Association of Fire Fighters and the International Association of Fire Chiefs.
• The federal government should also provide funding for training, equipping, and staffing fire department special operations, including hazardous materials, technical rescue, and terrorist/weapons of mass destruction response.

• A critical component of research supported by the federal government should be the funding of additional research in firefighter protective clothing and equipment. Appropriate government agencies should also provide consistent certification; testing; field research; and, when necessary, product recall of all firefighter protective clothing and equipment.
• Emergency medical services. Support for EMS should include advocacy, improved training and equipment, and research and data improvements. The practical equality of EMS within the fire service needs improvement: EMS should be adequately funded and staffed. Achieving this adequacy is the joint responsibility of government and the health care system. Emergency medical service delivery should be consistent with medically acceptable response times through the deployment of sufficient numbers of trained personnel.

Volunteer and career departments should assess the EMS training needs of current staff and eliminate training programs that treat career and volunteer members differently.

FEMA should review the collective support provided by the federal sector to the EMS activity of communities’ fire departments and, based on a needs assessment, determine whether that support can be revised to enhance the EMS capability of these departments.

FEMA should facilitate developing a working partnership among the health care industry, the health insurance industry, and the fire services with the goal of enhancing the provision of emergency medical services to the public and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the health service industry.

9. Diversity. To improve fairness and diversity within the fire services, there should be a commitment to alter traditional attitudes with respect to the activities most important to the fire services. Recognition should be given to leaders and departments that effectively end those traditions that limit evolution toward a diverse fire and emergency services organization. Policies and practices should improve the lateral and upward mobility of all, based on merit, and enhance the connection of the fire stations to their neighborhoods. Firefighters and their organizational management should address the issues of fairness to all employees within their organizations. Fire and general response plans developed for the community should anticipate the additional concerns and challenges that occur in diverse communities, such as communication challenges, requirements for faith-related practices, societal habits and mores, and safety requirements. Diversity should be considered in prevention and preparedness activities, not only in the anticipation of concerns that will arise in the response environment.

10. Burn injuries and care. Prompt and comprehensive care for the burn victim is essential. This care should not be limited to the victim’s physical needs but should be expanded to consider the mental and emotional needs of the victims and their families; friends; and, oftentimes, coworkers.

FEMA/USFA should build partnerships that will support prevention and care giving and expand the capability to manage all aspects of burn-related issues, including advocating within the health industry the victims’ needs and impressing on insurers the benefits of immediate and comprehensive treatment. Ultimately, this advocacy should lead to the maintenance of training centers, the developing of programs to recruit and retain burn physicians and nurses, and increasing federal research such as that once provided by the Brook Army Medical Center.

The complete American Burning, Recomissioned report is available at the FEMA Web site at www.usfa.fema.gov/ americaburning.

Judge awards Philadelphia firefighters raises but denies hepatitis C aid

Philadelphia city officials are to immediately give fire department members millions of dollars’ worth of pay raises and benefit increases under an order from Common Pleas Court Judge Allan L. Tereshko. But, at press time, a spokesperson for city officials says the increases would not be implemented immediately and that an appeal was being considered. The mayor and council has maintained that the city could not afford the three percent and four percent pay raises and new health benefits negotiated in a two-year contract with International Association of Fire Fighters Philadelphia Local 22. The contract was upheld by an arbitration panel. City officials contested the panel’s findings in the courts. The city’s firefighters and paramedics had been working without a contract since July.

In the decision, the judge rejected firefighters’ requests for additional help on hepatitis C and the ending of “task force” deployment (one fire lieutenant simultaneously supervises an engine and a ladder company). The union had argued that the outside ladder crews were left unsupervised when the lieutenant entered a burning structure with hoselines. The arbitration panel had ruled that the task force deployment should be ended. Judge Tereshko, however, said the task force issue is a management prerogative and is not subject to labor arbitration. Two former Philadelphia fire commissioners testified during arbitration hearings held last summer that task forces were unsafe. Philadelphia, according to union officials, is the only major city to use them. An attorney for the city told the judge that there was no statistical evidence that task forces are unsafe.

The judge also ruled that the arbitration panel did not have the authority to determine that a $3 million medical-expense fund could be used for sick-leave reimbursement for firefighters with hepatitis C, although he ruled that the city must immediately implement and pay for confidential hepatitis testing for firefighters.

Without assistance from the medical-expense fund, firefighters with hepatitis C would be left without health coverage once they use up their sick time. One such firefighter is Lieutenant Mary Kohler, 37, a paramedic and 11-year veteran of the Philadelphia Fire Department who has hepatitis C, which she says was contracted during the course of her work as a paramedic. Her sick leave has run out, and she will be removed from the fire department’s payroll at the end of this month (after press time) unless the contract is put into effect.

She and a fellow firefighter also stricken with hepatitis C, Norm Stabinski, staged a sit-in at City Hall for two weeks in December 2000 in protest of Mayor John Street’s refusing to honor the union contract. Kohler, who has been undergoing treatment with interferon, ended the protest when she became too exhausted to continue.

Kohler, who was diagnosed with hepatitis C in January 2000, is one of possibly as many as 200 Philadelphia firefighters and paramedics diagnosed with hepatitis C who say they were infected on the job (see “Hepatitis C and the Fire Service, Part 1: Assessing the Risk,” and “Part 2: Mounting an Offensive,” Fire Engineering, December 2000 and January 2001, respectively).

City officials claim that firefighters with hepatitis C who lose their jobs could seek workers’ compensation, but Kohler says that she has been fighting with workers’ compensation and has been unable to gain coverage. The union charges that the city has contested every workers’ compensation petition filed by a hepatitis C-positive member. In fact, only one petition has been awarded, the union adds, and that was to a member who had already died.

Judge Tereshko ruled that arbitrators could not use the separate medical-expense fund. Street promised in January 2000 that he would provide $3 million annually to assist firefighters with medical costs related to hepatitis C. The funds first became available in April, but only $3,600 had been disbursed, according to union officials. Many applications have been denied, they add.

[Sources: “Philly Paramedic Stages Hepatitis Sit-In,” Joann Loviglio, AP, Dec. 6, 2000; “Judge Splits Decision on Firefighters, Jacqueline Soteropoulos, Philadelphia Inquirer, Dec. 20, 2000; “Paramedic Ends Philly Sit-In,” Michael Rubinkam, AP Writer, Dec. 19, 2000; “Firefighters’ Vigil Brings Little Response,” Jacqueline Soteropoulos, Philadelphia Inquirer, Dec. 7, 2000; “I’m Hanging in There,” April Adamson, Philadelphia Daily News, Dec. 11, 2000; “Firefighters and Street Fail to Reach a Deal,” Jacqueline Soteropoulos, Philadelphia Inquirer, Dec. 14; “Street Firm on Fire Pact,” Yvonne Latty, Philadelphia Daily News, Dec. 14, 2000.]

CVVFA releases White Paper on first-responder highway safety

The Cumberland Valley Volunteer Firemen’s Association (CVVFA) in Westminster, Maryland, recently released a White Paper, “Protecting Our Emergency Responders on the Highways,” written under a grant from the United States Fire Administration (USFA), that presents broad initiatives for reducing deaths and injuries to emergency service personnel on the roadways, reducing these tragic incidents. More than 125 experts from the fire, police, and EMS communities and policy makers participated in the project.

A copy of the paper may be obtained without charge by calling the Pennsylvania Fire and Emergency Services Institute at (717) 236-5995. It may also be downloaded in PDF format from the USFA Web Page at www.usfa.fema.gov.

NPGA offers resource for propane emergencies

Information on and training for preventing and responding to propane emergencies is available through the National Propane Gas Association (NPGA) multilevel educational safety program. Components include a textbook, a facilitator’s guide, a videotape, workshops, and interactive scenarios. For additional information, access the NPGA Web site at http:/ /www.propanesafety.com.

VFIS offers grant-writing course

The VFIS is offering “Building Grant Proposals and Coalitions,” which will give emergency services organizations the tools and training needed to apply for private and government grants. It will also teach emergency service organizations how to market themselves and to how to build community support through local partnerships.

The program is being scheduled in many areas of the country. For a schedule, contact Aaron Shaffer, VFIS coordinator of grant activities, at (800) 233-1957.