NEWS IN BRIEF
Change Clock, Change Battery “drill” planned
More than 3,000 fire departments across the country will sound their emergency sirens on Saturday, October 24, (at press time, discussion was underway regarding whether the sirens will be sounded at the same time) to remind the citizens in their communities to check and change their smoke detector batteries as they turn their clocks back an hour from daylight savings to Eastern standard time. The “drill” is part of this year’s annual “Change Your Clock, Change Your battery” national home fire safety campaign sponsored by the International Association of Fire Chiefs and the Evereadv Battery Company.
“The siren is a universally accepted symbol of a warning or emergency action,” explains Chief James Halsey of the Troy (MI) Fire Department and president of the IAFC.
In addition, many departments plan to go door to door to check and change detector batteries (100,000 have been donated by Evereadv) and perform fire safety audits of homes of low-income or elderly citizens.
For more information, contact Angee Linsev at the IAFC at (314) 9820563.
Du Pont to phase out halon in 1993
Worldwide sales of Du Font’s Halon 1301 fire extinguishant will stop by the end of 1993, a year earlier than previously announced. The company will retire all of its remaining production and consumption allowances for Halon 1301 as part of its phase-out policy.
In addition, production of ozonedepleting CFCs has been reduced by 50 percent, compared w ith 1986 levels, the company announced, adding that CFC production will cease in developed countries no later than year-end 1995.
Du Font is committed to offering comparable alternatives to the discontinued compounds, stresses Joseph F. Glas, vice president and general manager, Du Font Fluorochemicals. “Field trials and testing of substitute compounds are our top priorities,” he adds.
Hie first commercially available halon alternative, FE-13, targeted for use in total flooding application, has zero ozone depletion potential, Du Font reports. Toxicology tests confirm that it can be used safely in occupied areas. FE-13, however, is not a drop-in replacement for existing Halon 1301 systems; modifying equipment would be needed.
Firefighter memorial service
A memorial service for career and volunteer firefighters from 36 states who died in the line of duty during 1991 will be held noontime, October 11, at the U.S. Fire Administration in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Members of the fire service are invited to attend.
“As tragic as these deaths are,” says Olin L. Green, USFA administrator, “they represent the fewest in a decade.” He urges that the fire service “resolve that the year will come when no firefighters die in the line of duty.”
“Killer” bee SOP
The San Antonio (TX) Fire Department has been watching the migration of the Africanized “killer” honeybees (AHB) for several years—ever since they had been reported to be in Mexico, only 150 miles away. Recently, reports Assistant Chief Jim Miller, the department w’as notified that some of the bees had been spotted 50 miles south of San Antonio.
The city has not as yet had an incident involving the “killer” bees, so called because they are much more aggressive than the European honeylice native to the area. The department, however, proactively adopted a standard operating procedure that “delineates areas of responsibility during incidents involving Africanized honeybees.” The department, Miller points out, “is not in the eradication business.” The San Antonio Metropolitan Health Department Bureau of Occupational Health and Environmental Services will be the primary responder to AHB incidents. The fire department will respond only in the following situations:
Fire Prevention Week kit
Tlie “Fire Prevention Week 1992” kit, available from the National Fire Frotection Association, contains suggested activities for Fire Prevention Week (October 4-10). The kit includes a sample news release, public service announcements, ad slicks, mayoral proclamations, fire safety fact sheets, a Fire Safety IQ quiz, and other features, including tips on smoke detector installation and maintenance.
The NFPA has mailed a kit to local fire departments in care of the public education officer or fire chief. Departments that have not received a kit may request one (it is free) from the NFPA FYiblic Affairs Department at (617) 9847270.
- When persons have been stung and arc in need of medical treatment and/or t ransport at ion.
- When persons are being stung and arc in need of emergency rescue.
- When persons are in areas where they cannot seek refuge in a vehicle or building and they are in imminent danger of being stung.
- When the incident is in close proximity (within 200 feet) to a school, day care center, or other building with numerous occupants.
- When requested to respond and assist other agencies.
- When it cannot be determined if persons are in danger based on the information available at the time the call is received.
Standard response to the incident shall be a district chief or an EMS district commander.
The SOP stipulates “protective” and “specialized protective equipment” be available to and be used by responders. Other areas covered in the SOP include the fire department’s responsibilities, operational guidelines, notification of other agencies, securing AHB incident sites, and emergency medical treatment and transportation of sting victims, including an “ALS Insect Sting-Allergic Reaction Protocol.”
In a related matter, Medina County, Ohio, fire departments and emergency medical personnel recently participated in a training session on handling swarms of stinging insects. The session, organized by Kim Flottum, editor of Bee Culture, a national magazine published by A.I. Root Co., featured four demonstrations by the Erhart (OH) Volunteer Fire Department, a private firefighting unit that contracts with York Township.
The session’s agenda included handling nonthreatening bee swarms, generally a routine task; handling nasty swarms, the irritated bees that feel their home is being threatened; controlling an abandoned bee colony; and removing a victim from a threatening situation. Four honeybee swarms (fatally afflicted with parasitic tracheal mites) were released on a four-acre site.
Missouri TRANSCAER workshop
The TRANSCAER (Transportation— Community Awareness and Emergency Response) program will be introduced in Missouri with a workshop for community leaders October 19 in Columbia.
The TRANSCAER program assists emergency planning groups—especially local emergency planning committees (LEPCs), established under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (SARA Title III)-to identify hazardous materials moving through their communities and to develop, test, and modify community emergency response plans. Missouri is the third state to adopt the program, which is patterned after the Chemical Manufacturers Association’s CAER program. TRANSCAER is sponsored nationally by the Association of American Railroads, Chemical Manufacturers Association, National Association of Chemical Distributors, National Tank Truck Carriers, American Petroleum Institute, Hazardous Materials Advison* Council, American Trucking Association, and Chlorine Institute.
For workshop registration information. contact Missouri TRANSCAER Workshop; Attn: Linda Rodden, Engineering Extension;W 1000 Eng. Bldg. East, University of Missouri; Columbia, MO 65211; (800 ) 776-1044.
Flottum says the session was offered based on a worst-case scenario in which the methods tried had failed and firefighters must respond. He warns that stings can be as serious as a heart attack for some people.
Technical rescue team cited
The Tidewater (VA) Regional Technical Rescue Team was among the 25 Exemplary State and Local Award winners chosen from among 250 applicants competing for recognition by the National Center for Public Productivity at Rutgers University’s Graduate Department of Public Administration, based in Newark, New Jersey. Winners were recognized for having produced exceptional cost savings, measurable increases in quality and productivity, and improvements in the quality and effectiveness of government services.
The impetus for developing the Tidewater Regional Technical Rescue Team was a series of trench collapses that occurred in early 1986 in the Tidewater area of Virginia, killing several workers and endangering the lives of fire and rescue personnel. Recognizing the need for a technical rescue team and the magnitude of the resources needed to staff, train, and equip such a team, area organizations attended a series of meetings to discuss establishing a regional team. Technical rescue services to be provided would include structural collapse, trench and underground collapse, confined-space operations, high-angle rope rescue, and technical helicopter operations.
It was agreed that personnel provided by the jurisdictions would be trained by the City of Virginia Beach Fire Department and that utility and building contractors and professional groups would be approached for funding. The team acquired S350,000 worth of equipment through the solicitations. Manpower costs are absorbed by the localities; no additional personnel costs are associated with the project’s implementation. The Virginia Beach Fire Department acts as the receiving and insuring agency for all donated equipment and apparatus; and funds are raised, managed, and distributed by a nonprofit organization.
The resulting Tidewater Regional Technical Rescue Team covers five cities and all of the military installations in a 2,000-square-mile area. It recently was selected by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as one of the nation’s 25 disaster response teams.
Kentucky Firefighters Foundation to fund hepatitis shots
The Kentucky Firefighters Foundation Fund, created this year by the Kentucky General Assembly and financed through a 1.5 percent surcharge on casualty insurance, will finance a series of three hepatitis B shots —mandated under federal law—for all paid and volunteer firefighters in the state. The shots will be given at county health departments, advises Don Smith, department administrator of the Kentucky Fire Commission.
The Firefighters Fund also makes available to volunteer departments in the state $5,000 a year for equipment if they meet the following criteria: The department must have at least 12 members, a chief, and one operational piece of apparatus. In addition, onehalf of the department’s firefighters must be certified (1 50 hours of training required) and undertake 20 hours of training yearly thereafter.
Certified paid firefighters who meet the state’s certification requirement of 400 hours of training and who undergo 100 hours of training each year thereafter will be paid S2,500 each a year from the fund, payable through their respective departments.
The Foundation also will provide until the year 2002 a S1 million a year revolving-loan fund that will enable low-income fire departments to borrow’ money to purchase apparatus or build fire stations at a capped interest rate of three percent.
Safety Exchange members needed
Team 16 Fire Safety Exchange, formerly the USA*USSR Fire Safety Foundation, is soliciting applications for volunteers to serve as state coordinators and country team members. The nonprofit organization maintains communications relative to fire service issues with the 15 nations that formerly were part of the Soviet Union.
“Fire service members with prior travel and language experience, or family ties, in these nations are needed,” says David Hutchinson, executive director of Team 16 Fire Safety Exchange. State coordinators serve as liaisons between state and local groups, the Exchange, and its partners. Country team members form country-targeted resource teams that advise on and respond to specific projects in the regions.
Additional information is available from Team 16 Fire Safety Exchange, 700 Larkspur Landing Circle, Suite 199; Larkspur, Marin County, CA 94939; (415) 381-7767.
