Timely topics highlight rise in health risks
Thank you, Fire Engineering, for bringing important topics to the forefront. In the September 2015 issue, “Regional Response Facilitates Complex Tractor Extrication,” by Tom Guns and Dennis L. Rubin, was very informative. The photos definitely add to the events with the particulars listed for that day’s unfortunate happenings.
In that same issue was the article “Off-Gassing Contaminants from Firefighters’ Personal Protective Equipment” by Kenneth W. Fent, Gavin P. Horn, Katherine M. Kirk, and Michael B. Logan. Hopefully, it is a topic of which we are all aware, but it is even more urgent now. Things aren’t getting any easier for us, and it is even more dangerous when we are leaving a “job,” relaxed and cooling down on our way home or returning to quarters. Structural firefighting events have now become a huge reason to enact another portion of our job, a decontamination station set up to protect ourselves and live to perform the job another day.
James S. “Jace” Woodworth IV
Safety Professional
ERT Captain
Marathon Petroleum Company
Illinois Refining Division
Appropriate tool can work anywhere
“‘Can’ I Help You?” (On Fire, October 2015) by Michael N. Ciampo is an excellent article. We have to guard against the mentality, “It won’t work here.” Water turns to steam at 212˚F whether it’s in Browndale, Pennsylvania, or the Bronx, New York. We need to get past a “locked” mentality.
Dave (Chico) Richards
Chief
Pocono Raceway
Pennsylvania
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