News in Brief

130 Philadelphia firefighters test positive for Hepatitis C

The Philadelphia (PA) Fire Department is looking for answers that will explain why 130 (six percent) of its members have tested positive for Hepatitis C, more than three times the incidence rate of the general population. Two firefighters have already died; some are seriously ill, and others have shown no signs of having the illness.

Hepatitis C, which often is fatal, has been called the greatest public health threat of the 21st century because most people often are not aware that they are infected until it is too late.

The affected firefighters believe they may have contracted the disease in the line of duty, but former Mayor Ed Rendell and Fire Commissioner Harold Hairston say the firefighters union hasn’t produced any evidence to back up this claim. The current mayor, John Street, says he wants more information before he can determine what the city’s response will be. Hairston said that each case must be looked at individually. Presuming that nobody got it on the job is as foolish as thinking that every firefighter who has it got it on the job, he says.

Doctors say that it may not be possible to establish exactly when and how firefighters were infected. Patient confidentiality laws prevent firefighters from learning whether a patient with whom they came in contact has Hepatitis C, AIDS, or any other disease.

Philadelphia appears to be the first major city in the country to have such an extensive problem, but several small fire departments in Florida also have higher-than-average Hepatitis C rates, according to Andi Thomas, executive director of Hep-C Alert, a national nonprofit group. He says studies show firefighters in South Florida are running about two up to 10 percent above Centers for Disease Control’s 1.8 percent rate for the general public.

George T. Casey, president of Local 22, which represents the city’s 4,000 active and retired firefighters, notes that medication for infected firefighters threatens to bankrupt the union’s medical fund. He adds that members have been forced to spend thousands of dollars for life-saving drugs.

Source: “Why has Hepatitis C infected 130 city firefighters? THE BURNING QUESTION,” Julie Knipe Brown, Philadelphia Daily News, January 10, 2000, 3-7.

IAFF and IAFC support haz-mat tracking system

The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) and the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) are joining efforts to gain firefighters instantaneous access to Operation Respond Emergency Information System (OREIS). The program provides information about the contents of haz-mat shipments and how to handle accidents, spills, and fires involving toxic chemicals and other substances.

Currently, placards and paper manifests are commonly used to identify the contents of hazardous materials shipments that pass through our communities daily. The placards and manifests are frequently inaccurate and often are destroyed in an emergency.

OREIS currently is being used in 28 states and at specific sites in Canada and Mexico. Some railroads and motor carriers participate in the program. The IAFF and the IAFC want OREIS to be as universal among public safety agencies as radios. OREIS, which complements CHEMTRECT, was created by the Operation Respond Institute, a not-for-profit organization funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation and participating carriers.

Source: Fire Control Digest, Washington Capital News Reports, Inc., Arlington, VA 22202, Dec. 1999, 8.

New IBC increases fire sprinkler protection

The new International Building Code (IBC) “can increase sprinkler installations by more than 30 percent, not just in residential [structures] but across the board,” according to Gene B. Endthoff, director of codes, National Fire Sprinkler Association. The IBC code will contain more sprinkler requirements and more sprinkler trade-ups than any of the current model codes, he explains.

Among other major provisions in the new IBC code are the following:

• Fire area concept. The concept limits the total area and height of nonsprinklered areas based on occupancy classification and prevents creative architecture from circumventing the sprinkler requirements. Fire separation assemblies that have at least a two-hour fire resistance rating to bypass sprinkler requirements must separate such areas. An example would be a fire area not exceeding 12,000 sq. ft. per floor, 24,000 sq. ft. on all floors, or more than three stories in height. Under this new code, the following would be approved: a one-story building of 12,000 sq. ft., a two-story building having 12,000 sq. ft. per floor, and a three-story building of 8,000 sq. ft. However, a four-story building having 6,000 sq. ft. per floor would not be approved, even though it is within the 24,000 maximum square footage, since it exceeded the three-story limitation.
• Multifamily construction. Under some of the old model codes, the basement areas in residential construction were sometimes not included based on what has been termed “creative grading.” Two of the codes defined the basement according to the grading outside the wall instead of the use of the space. Under the new IBC, the basement is included in the fire area. The residential occupancy threshold for R-1 and R-2 occupancies has been established as being more than two stories in height including basements. It no longer will be possible to classify an occupied area as a basement and circumvent sprinkler requirements.

Source: Operation Life Safety, International Association of Fire Chiefs, Vol. 15:1, Jan. 2000; in Sprinkler Quarterly, National Fire Sprinkler Association, Patterson, NY, Fall 1999.

Fire sprinkler suppresses fire at Las Vegas hotel and casino

A fire accidentally started by a candle in the second-floor Bath & Body Works retail store in the Stratosphere Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas in November 1999 had been put out by the sprinkler system before firefighters arrived. The smoke detection system and water flow alarms alerted hotel security personnel to the fire at 12:55 a.m. Personnel discovered that there was a small fire on a table and an automatic fire sprinkler, located directly over the fire, was flowing water. When Las Vegas firefighters arrived a few minutes later, they had to gain access by breaking the store’s front window. They found the fire was out. They used wood wedges to stop the flow of water from the sprinkler head.

The store manager arrived a short time later and told fire investigators that there had been a lighted candle in the fire area. The staff thought it was put out. Store employees had left the store only an hour earlier. Fire damage was estimated at $500. A few items on the table had burned, and about six ceiling tiles had to be replaced. There were no injuries in connection with the fire. The store was reopened for business within a day.

Source: Operation Life Safety, International Association of Fire Chiefs, Jan. 2000.

“Safer” paper might help reduce fires started by cigarettes

The Philip Morris Company says it has developed technology that might decrease the number of fires started by cigarettes. The technology involves placing thin layers of extra paper at points along a cigarette. The rings of paper reduce the amount of oxygen entering the cigarette, slowing down the rate at which it burns and the heat it generates, according to Philip Morris officials. The new paper is to be test marketed in Merit cigarettes.

In 1997, about 900 people, including 140 children, were killed in fires that were started by a smoker falling asleep in bed with a lighted cigarette or dropping a lighted cigarette on a couch or chair, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). According to the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC), it is estimated that some 1,000 Americans are killed and 3,000 are injured in cigarette-related fires every year and that property loss resulting from cigarette fires amounts to more than half a billions dollars annually.

Some lawmakers, regulators, and fire-safety experts received the news from Philip Morris with mixed emotions. They welcomed the development but note that the company’s own records showed that it had conducted extensive research in the mid-1980s to develop a “fire-safe” cigarette. The company dropped the project on the basis that it was not commercially feasible.

Philip Morris representatives met with the CPSC in January. Ann Brown, CPSC chairwoman, said “they spoke only generally about their decision to test market the new technology and did not share technical data.” She added: “We don’t know if the cigarette made by Philip Morris will really work. These claims need to be independently evaluated to determine whether the cigarette does what the company says it does.”

Company officials said they planned to start test marketing Merit cigarettes using the new paper in cities including Buffalo, Denver, and Hartford but did not say when the paper would be used in all Merit cigarettes or expanded to other company brands.

Cigarette brands that have already met fire-safety criteria established by government researchers are More, Virginia Slims, Capri Light, and Eve Lights.

The NVFC, various fire service organizations, and some burn institutes are members of the Fire Safe Cigarette Coalition, which has been instrumental in promoting the passage of the Fire Safe Cigarette Act of 1999 (H.R. 1130 and S. 730). The bill directs the CPSC to promulgate fire safety standards for cigarettes. Rep. Joseph Moakley (D-MA) and Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) introduced the bills in March 1999. Moakley also passed legislation in 1990 calling for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to develop tests to determine cigarettes’ propensity to ignite furniture and mattresses. The NIST completed its work in 1993. The NVFC is urging fire service members to contact their legislators and ask them to cosponsor the Fire Safe Cigarette Act.

Sources: “Philip Morris Says It Has a Safer Paper,” Barry Meier, The New York Times, Jan. 11, 2000, A20; NVFC memo Jan. 12, 2000.

“Fire Drills: The Great Escape!” theme for Fire Prevention Week

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has announced that “Fire Drills: The Great Escape!” will be the Fire Prevention Week 2000 (October 8-14) theme. This will be the final year of the organization’s three-year public safety campaign to increase the number of people who develop and practice a home fire escape plan.

The NFPA has also announced that it has a limited number of broadcast public service announcements (PSAs) on home escape planning and practice for distribution to the fire service. The PSAs, which can be distributed to local cable access stations, feature This Old House host Steve Thomas and master carpenter Norm Abram. Requests for PSAs may be faxed to the NFPA Public Affairs Office at (617) 770-0200. Only fax requests will be honored; the request must be on the organization’s letterhead. n

Schools not prepared for violence and terrorism: ASSE Foundation report

A survey of six West Virginia schools located in three counties revealed that the schools are not prepared to deal with emergencies involving violence and terrorism, although the schools had a written plan for various other types of emergencies. The study, undertaken with grant money provided by the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) Foundation, was conducted by Daniel E. Della-Giustina, Ph.D., professor of safety and environmental management at West Virginia University. In addition, Della-Giustina notes, the data suggest that teachers are not trained to observe students and identify potential warning signs of impending violent behaviors.

Each situation is different; therefore, devising one foolproof plan that would apply to all schools is not possible, he said. However, his research team has made several recommendations, including the following: