NEWS IN BRIEF
USDA funds truss project
The “Development of Improved Fire Resistant Truss Assemblies” project, funded by the U S. Department of Agriculture, will be conducted by researchers at the USDA Forest Products Laboratory and the University of Wisconsin.
The objective of the project is to find ways to make trusses more resistant to collapse. “This is excellent, as far as it goes, if the resultant structure can survive longer in a real fire and is not designed just to pass a test,” notes Francis 1.. Brannigan, author of Building Construction for the hire Service and editorial advisory board member of Fire Engineering. (The project’s summary states: “The concern of firefighters for the safety of trusses has most visibly been expressed by Francis L Brannigan in Building Construction for the Eire Service [published by the | National Fire Protection Association.”) Brannigan explains that not all hazards associated with trusses will be addressed by project researchers, especially the following:
- The aspect of the truss void as a reservoir for explosive carbon monoxide gases. Brannigan notes that a City of New York firefighter recently was burned to death when fire burst out of an overhead void (not a truss void).
- The practice of extending the truss floors in multiple dwellings out to provide the platform for the exit balcony and/or stairway. A “barrier” of a sheet of gypsum board is provided at the exterior wall line. Brannigan explains, “l’he void in the exit structure is very vulnerable to a fire in the building that involves the truss void. This construction could lead to a collapse of the exitway, leaving scores trapped in a burning multiple dwelling. Few fire departments, if any, could provide adequate ladder service in time to remove the occupants to safety.”
- The hazard of wooden I-beams. These, Brannigan says, are at least as hazardous as, if not more hazardous than, trusses.
Even if the improved trusses should overcome builder resistance and be adopted by building authorities, the trusses still will present hazards for firefighters and victims, Brannigan concludes.
If you have encountered a fire involving trusses on I-beams, write to Francis I.. Brannigan, 2041 Daylily Road, Port Republic, MI) 20676.
IAFC news
The site of the 1993 International Association of Fire Chiefs annual conference (August 28-September 2) has been moved from Detroit, Michigan, to Dallas, Texas. “Since our decision in 1985 to hold the 1993 conference in Detroit, we have increased the number of exhibitors and attendees. Our projections for the 1993 conference demanded we relocate,” explains Garry L. Briese, IAFC’. executive director.
Also, the IAFC board of directors approved at its December 1991 meeting a policy statement that supports “local determination of staffing levels based on local conditions, in lieu of the establishment of a single national minimum standard.” Chief Jim Halsey, IAFC president, explains: “We feel strongly that local fire chiefs must have the flexibility to determine the number and size of fire [and EMS] crews within their communities. The specific level should be established in consideration of the characteristics unique to the community.”
Several interrelated factors affect the level of life safety and fire protection in a community, the association says, and staffing levels of apparatus is only one of those factors. It advocates that individual communities conduct “objective research of per-company crew sizes so that they can consider the many factors that impact staffing.”
NFPA public education efforts
l’he National Fire Protection Association has selected “Test Your Detector—It’s Sound Advice” as the theme for this year’s Fire Prevention Week (October 4-10) campaign. In other news, the NFPA has developed a “What’s Your Firesafety IQ” to help dispel some of the public’s confusion about fires, their causes, and ways to prevent them. A copy of the quiz, which will be included in the 1992 Fire Prevention Kit, is available from Public Affairs-IQ Test, NFPA, One Batter) march Park, P.O. Box 9101, Quincy, MA 02269-9101; include a stamped, self-addressed legal-size envelope with your request.
Fire safety program based on game format
“Fire Feud,” a fire safety program created for fourth-, fifth-, and sixthgrade students by the City of Costa Mesa (CA) Fire Department, is patterned after the “Family Feud”—asking questions such as, “Name five fire hazards in your kitchen”—and “Double Dare” —the “escape-relay, bucketbrigade” segment —television game shows.
The program —presented to more than 6,000 students over a three-week period—was well-received by students, teachers, and principals, reports Suzanne Freeman, Fire Prevention Bureau fire protection analyst. It was presented outdoors in an assembly context. Two student teams representing the three grade levels first participated in a question-and-answer competition and then moved to the game segment, where they “played firefighter” and acted out proper emergency response techniques during a home fire.
Among the games’s highlights were the following:
- Students on teams answered questions pertaining to topics such as the types of fires that should not be extinguished with water and the correct methods for extinguishing these fires. Teams received points for the correct answers.
- The audience (other students) looked the answers up in their books and answered the questions the teams missed. (Copies of Jr. Firefighter Netes and Activity hooks were distributed to the students two weeks before the assembly. Teachers were given an information packet.)
- Hach classroom chose a representative to participate in the game on the day of the assembly. The two
- teams had six to seven members each; each grade level was equally represented.
- The physical-challenge portion of the game was held in a separate area that had been set up with plywood backdrops painted to resemble a bedroom filling with smoke. An engine, with two hoselines drawn and charged, was placed between the two “bedrooms.” Each member was assigned a role and position. A smoke detector was set off, and two blindfolded students from each team crawled out of the “bedroom” to their predesignated meeting place (another team member dressed as a tree) and then ran to a phone and dialed 911 The student/“dispatcher” repeated the address “called in” by the “resident’Vstudent and then dispatched the “firefighters’Vstudents— who dressed in boots, turnout coats, and helmets and responded with a plywood “fire engine” with handles to the area where the hoselines had been laid. With a little help from the firefighters, the “firefighters7students filled buckets with water and performed as a bucket brigade to the “bedrooms,” each of which had a large bucket in the center. The team that filled the bucket first won.
- Scoring was arranged so that a team could win the event even though it did not win the questionand-answer segment.
- Each participating classroom was given a certificate.
Besides being fun for participants, the program proved informative. The day after the assembly, a fourth-grade student and her sister were in their kitchen when a grease fire erupted. Their father reported that because of what the fourth-grader had learned from the program, she knew what to do.
USFA: Smoke detectors double fire survival chances
Installing and properly maintaining a single smoke detector in a home can double the chances for surviving a fire, the Federal Emergency Management Agency says. According to a recent Prevention magazine survey, about 82 percent of American homes have at least one smoke detector. “Two-thirds of residential fire deaths occur in the other 18 percent [of homes],” points out Olin L. Greene, administrator of FEMA’s U.S. Fire Administration.
In addition, the USFA says that an informal survey it conducted among the nation’s largest general retailers showed that smoke detectors are selling at a brisk pace. About 75 percent of American families now have one or more detectors, but about one-third to one-half of them are not functioning due to negligence: Residents are not testing the detectors monthly or changing the batteries annually, Greene explains.
DMATs among responders to disaster exercise
A three-day major regional exercise, the simulation of a 6.8 earthquake along the New Madrid Fault, was held in November 1991 at the Walnut Ridge (AR) Airport. Among the responders w ere three disaster medical assistance teams (DMATs) from Arkansas and one from each of the following states: Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, and Oklahoma. Some 400 volunteers participated as “victims.” The Arkansas Office of Emergency Services and Department of Health were largely responsible for coordinating the exercise, which incorporated two casualty collection points and a regional evacuation point. Mock patients were evacuated to the airport, and some were flown out of the area.
The DMAIs are an essential component of the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS), which aims to have at least I SO well-trained medical response units throughout the United States for deployment in response to catastrophic domestic disasters or an overseas conflict that involves largenumbers of casualties. The NDMS is a cooperative effort of the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, state and local governments, and the private sector. The system also includes a medical evacuation system and more than I 10,()()() precommitted nonfederal acute care hospital beds in more than 1,700 hospitals across the nation and supplements and assists states and localities when their medical resources are overwhelmed.
Thomas Reutershan of the Department of Health and Human Services, who serves as director of emergency preparedness/National Disaster Medical System, rates the November exercise a “tremendous success.” Dr. Peter Collis, deputy assistant secretary of the Department of Defense for Emergency Medical Services, observed two of the DMAT teams in operation during the three-day exercise and noted that he was impressed by their excellent skills and exceptional organization.
Some 60 DMAT teams are now operating, and it is anticipated that the full complement of 150 teams will be available within a year or two, Reutershan says. Each team consists of 30 volunteers, many of whom are firefighters, EMTs, and paramedics who provide emergency medical services within the localities constituting the team’s geographic area. “We stress that the teams be similar in makeup to those in the local disaster response areas, since they understand the local system best,” explains Dr. Collis. The first nationwide prototype team was established in 1984. and the initiative to develop similar teams nationwide began around 1987.
Planning is underway for a major national exercise to be held October 22-25 of this year. The scenario being contemplated is a central U.S. earthquake that may involve Tennessee, Missouri, and Arkansas, according to Reutershan.
FIRE INVESTIGATION DATA NEEDED
Fire investigation units are invited to submit information for a field guide that will identify the tools and equipment needed for basic, complex, and unusual investigations; discuss the uses of arson vans and canines in fire and arson investigations; and compare the performances of specific tools and equipment. TriData Corporation is developing the guide with a grant from the U.S. Fire Administration.
Specifically, fire investigators are asked to share their expertise as it relates to the following questions:
- Do you currently use canines in fire investigation? Are they certified? Have their findings held up in court?
- What basic tools are issued to all your investigators? (Please provide list.)
- What type of gas chromatograph do you use? How has it performed?
- What equipment not currently available to you do you need most? (Please specify.)
- Do you send your evidence to your own lab, the police department lab. a state lab, or a private lab?
Forward responses to Ms. Marilyn Hall, TriData Corporation, 1500 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22209.
