On June 1, the Safety, Health and Survival Section (SHSS) of the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) urged all fire chiefs and officers “to immediately issue a stand-down in their departments in the light of two separate, but similar, confined space rescue incidents that nearly took the lives of several firefighters.”
During the stand-down, departments are to postpone nonemergency tasks to focus on critical safety training in confined space rescue, and chiefs are requested to have all personnel immediately review and discuss applicable departmental policies and procedures to minimize the risk to firefighters in confined space and related technical rescue incidents.
The IAFC SHSS recommended the stand-down following a confined space rescue incident in Ohio and one in Indiana that involved the deaths of the initial civilian victims and critical injuries to firefighters. In both cases, notes Chief Billy Goldfeder, chair of the IAFC SHSS, “although heroic attempts were made to save the victims, the firefighters ended up becoming victims themselves.”
“Confined-space and similar technical rescues are high-risk, but low-frequency events,” said Chief Jeff Johnson, IAFC president. “The rarer the incident type, the more likely that fire and EMS personnel may be unaware of and unprepared for these events or may even forget proper procedures as they race to rescue a victim. I urge fire and emergency leaders to immediately take action to review the dangers and proper procedures for confined-space rescue operations.”
Line-of-Duty Deaths
May 19. Chief Paul Johnson, 63, Crow Roost Fire Department, Fort Cobb, OK: apparent heart attack.
May 22. Firefighter John Glaser, 33, Shawnee (KS) Fire Department: While performing search and rescue operations at a residential structure fire, he became separated from his crew and reported that he was in trouble. Paramedics treated him at the scene; he was pronounced dead at the Shawnee Mission Medical Center.
May 22. Captain David Irr, 48, Yuma (AZ) Rural/Metro Fire Department: passed away in his sleep on duty; discovered at shift change.
May 22. Lieutenant David Curlin, 40, Pine Bluff (AK) Fire Department: injuries sustained on January 2010 in a wall and support beam collapse while operating at an office supply store fire.
May 22. Firefighter Kurt Meusel, 25, Scales Mound (IL) Fire Protection District: injuries sustained in a single motor vehicle accident while responding to a search and rescue incident.
May 29. Firefighter Donald A. Schneider Jr., 63, Belleville (WI) Fire Department: apparent heart attack at the Belleville fire station.
Source: USFA Firefighters Memorial Database
Call for full funding to support public safety broadband
The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International urged Congress, in May, to fully fund the Interoperable Emergency Communications Grant Program (IECGP) at $400 million for Fiscal Year (FY) 2011. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano released $48 million in federal grants to state and local governments for FY 2010. The IECGP had been authorized at $400 million per year since its inception but has been funded at $50 million per year for the past three years, $1.05 billion below the full authorization levels.
APCO International President Richard Mirgon notes that the FY2011 budget request submitted to Congress “proposes to continue to underfund this program and eliminate other existing funding mechanisms.” Funding is critical if states and local governments and their public safety agencies are to maintain and improve their public safety technology and communications capabilities, Mirgon explains. He points out that funding is still insufficient to fulfill the recommendations from the 9/11 report.
APCO urges Congress to fully fund programs that will ultimately establish a nationwide interoperable public safety broadband network within the 700-MHz band, as called for in the 9/11 Report.
On another front, the Public Safety Alliance, a partnership of some of the nation’s leading public safety associations, has initiated a national advertising and grassroots campaign to influence Congress to hold hearings “and help keep America safe by providing this nationwide communications network, controlled and operated by public safety, not by commercial carriers.” Rob Davis, San Jose (CA) chief of police and president of the Major Cities Chiefs Association, says the interoperability communications capability is critical for first responders.
The Alliance represents police, fire, and emergency medical services (EMS) agencies, including APCO International, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the International Association of Fire Chiefs, the National Sheriffs’ Association, the Major Cities Chiefs Association, the Metropolitan Fire Chiefs Association, the Major County Sheriffs’ Association, and the National Emergency Management Association. The partnership is operated as a program of APCO International. The following groups also support the Alliance’s position: the National Governors Association, the National Association of Counties, the National League of Cities, the United States Conference of Mayors, the Council of State Governments, the International County/City Management Association, the National Council of State Legislatures, the National Criminal Justice Association, and the American Public Works Association.
The Federal Communications Commission’s National Broadband Plan calls for auctioning the 700-MHz D-Block spectrum to wireless carriers for commercial use. The Alliance supports H.R. 5081, The Broadband for First Responders Act of 2010, which would allocate directly to public safety the spectrum needed to establish a nationwide interoperable communications network. For more information on the Alliance, go to www.psafirst.org/.
NIOSH and USFA to study cancer among firefighters
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the United States Fire Administration (USFA) will jointly undertake a multiyear study to examine the potential for increased risk of cancer among firefighters caused by exposures to smoke, soot, and other contaminants in the line of duty.
More than 18,000 current and retired career firefighters from suburban and large city fire departments will participate in the project, significantly increasing the number of individuals for whom health data will be analyzed. The study will also analyze the incidence of certain cancers that have higher survival rates than others, such as testicular and prostate cancer, as well as deaths from causes other than cancer. This will improve researchers’ ability to estimate risk for various cancers and to compare the risk of cancer with risks for other causes of death.
The comprehensive study is needed, according to USFA Administrator Kelvin J. Cochran, because the fire service has lost “too many firefighters from this disease.” Firefighters are exposed to smoke, soot, and fumes from fires that contain substances NIOSH has classified as potential occupational carcinogens or the National Toxicology Program considers human carcinogens or substances reasonably anticipated to be human carcinogens. They may include by-products of combustion such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and contaminants from building products such as asbestos and formaldehyde.
Names of FEMA mandatory courses revised
Effective May 14, 2010, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) mandatory courses were listed under revised names and reference numbers in the FEMA Employee Knowledge Center and the Emergency Management Institute Independent Study Program. These revisions will also be applied to other FEMA courses that will have to be completed annually. The changes include adding the two-digit calendar year after the dot in the course number and adding the calendar year at the end of the title.
Example: Present Course No. and Title: IS-18 FEMA EEO Employee Course
Revision: IS-18.10 FEMA EEO Employee Course 2010
The affected courses are listed below:
- IS 18 FEMA EEO Employee Course
- IS 19 Equal Employment Opportunities for Supervisors
- IS 33 FEMA Initial Ethics Orientation
- IS 35 FEMA Safety Orientation
- IS 106 Workplace Violence Awareness Training
- IS 107 FEMA Travel Rules and Regulations
The courses will be updated with the new calendar year information annually, in January.
NFPA: Home fires cause 2,840 civilian deaths a year
According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Home Structure Fires study, home fires cause 92 percent of fire deaths that occur in structures and kill an average of 2,840 civilians each year. The report also noted that U.S. fire departments responded to about 380,000 home fires a year during the years from 2003 through 2007, caused an average of 13,160 reported civilian fire injuries, and were responsible for $6.4 billion in direct property damage.
Additional key findings pertaining to the 2003-2007 time period covered by the study include the following:
- Smoking materials caused the most fire deaths. Heating equipment was the second leading cause of home fires and home fire deaths.
- The leading cause of home structure fires, civilian fire injuries, and unreported fires continues to be cooking equipment. Forty-one percent of home fires started in the kitchen area and caused 15 percent of the home fire deaths and 36 percent of the reported fire injuries.
- Reported apartment fires were more likely to start in the kitchen than fires in one- and two-family homes.
- The two leading items first ignited in incidents resulting in home fire deaths are upholstered furniture (21 percent of home fire deaths) and mattress and bedding (13 percent of the deaths).
- Properly installed and maintained fire protection can prevent most fire deaths. Forty percent of fatal home fire injuries occurred in properties where no smoke alarms were present. Home fire sprinklers can also help, as the death rate per 1,000 reported home fires was 83 percent lower when wet pipe sprinkler systems were present, compared with reported fires in homes without automatic extinguishing equipment.
- Smoke alarms have been a key factor in significantly reducing the fire death problem since their widespread use beginning in the ’70s. The move to require home fire sprinklers in new homes will be the next step forward in fire protection. Additional information is at www.nfpa.org/saf/.
Lifeline and ReviveRTM AED battery packs recalled
Defibtech, LLC, notified customers of a recall of 5,418 DBP-2800 Battery Packs used in the Lifeline AED and ReviveRTM AED (semiautomatic external defibrillators). When the AED is used with an affected battery pack, the AED may falsely detect an error condition during charging for a shock, then cancel the charge and not provide therapy.
All DBP-2800 Battery Packs shipped prior to June 4, 2007, are involved in the recall. The battery packs were distributed to fire departments, health clubs, schools, and EMS and other organizations. The company has sent a letter to end customers with recommendations to follow until the battery pack problems have been corrected. The recommendations are also available at http://www.defibtech.com/batteryFA/. The recall notice was posted 06/09/2010 at http://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch/SafetyInformation/SafetyAlertsforHumanMedicalProducts/ucm214916.html/.
“Smoke Alarms: A Sound You Can Live With” is theme
“Smoke Alarms: A sound you can live with” will be the theme of National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Fire Prevention Week 2010, which will be celebrated from October 3-9. Each year since 1922, the NFPA has sponsored this fire prevention campaign during the month of October. It emphasizes the importance of fire safety in stimulating individuals to act to prevent fires and avoid the deaths, injuries, and destruction they cause.
In 2008, home fires killed 2,755 people and injured 13,160. Two of every five home fire deaths were in a home that had no smoke alarms; another one in five fires was in a home where the smoke alarms were not working.
This year’s campaign message will include an explanation of how smoke alarms save lives and that installing and maintaining these devices in the home can halve the chances of dying in a home fire. Residents will be taught how to choose, install, and maintain smoke alarms.
The Fire Prevention Week Web site—www.firepreventionweek.org—offers materials fire departments, teachers, families, and others can use to teach fire safety.
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