FIRE ENGINEERING
6 EDITOR’S OPINION
Liars Figure, Figures Lie
8 VOLUNTEERS CORNER
Rope Rescue—Getting Started
11 READER SERVICE CARD
14 TRAINING NOTEBOOK
Multiagency High-Rise Drill
17 THE RESCUE COMPANY
Confined Space: Rescuer or Victim?
22 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
25 DISPATCHES
Hepatitis B Vaccination Program • Estimating Losses From Earthquakes • Application Period For NFA Courses • Smoke Detector Campaign
64 HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
Acrylic Acid
71 APPARATUS DELIVERIES
72 EQUIPMENT DIGEST
76 MANUFACTURERS’ LITERATURE
78 COMING EVENTS
79 TRAINING AIDS
80 NAMES IN THE NEWS
80 COMPANY NEWS
80 CLASSIFIEDS
82 RANDOM THOUGHTS ON…
Roof Safety
STRATEGY & TACTICS
26 DANGERS OF OPERATING ABOVE AFIRE
VINCENT DUNN
Basics is the key to safety and success in accomplishing this fundamental yet extremely hazardous operation. “Routine” does not mean that this life-threatening function should ever be taken for granted.
FIRE PROTECTION
36 WHY SPRINKLER SYSTEMS FAIL
JEFFREY MOORE
Sprinklers are the most effective automatic defense available against structure fires. In fact, some statistics show a nearly perfect success rate of fire control in properly sprinklered facilities. So why, then, do we have spectacular fires burning down fully sprinklered buildings?
51 CYCLING WATERFLOW IN SPRINKLER SYSTEMS
P.L. SPEES AND J.R. WRIGHT
Cycling of water in sprinklers is difficult to discover and can seriously hinder reliability of the detection and alarm system. One company used imagination, perseverance, and creativity to arrive at a cost-effective solution to the problem, both for itself and responding agencies.
DISASTER MANAGEMENT
42 FIRE LOSS MANAGEMENT
FRANCIS L. BRANNIGAN, SFPE
The problem is universal, but those who deal with it are in many camps, sometimes painfully divided. In this series, Brannigan intends to unite all the elements in the simplest terms. In that vision, all become responsible for the management of fire loss and the prevention of disaster.
58 A DISASTER DRILL, CITYWIDE
DAVID A. NORRIS
The city of Portland, Oregon mobilized more than one hundred public and private organizations under one Incident Command umbrella in its “hands-on” major disaster drill, which successfully tested the city’s broad disaster management system.