NEWS IN BRIEF
IAFC elects officers, offers abstracts
Phil McGouldrick, chief of the Cape Elizabeth (ME) Fire Department, was elected president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs at its Fire-Rescue International show in Dallas last September. He has been a board member since 1989 and served as first vice president last year. Tom Siegfried, chief of the Altamonte Springs (FI.) Fire Department, was elected first vice president and Lamont Ewell, chief of the Oakland (CA) Fire Department, second vice president.
Chief Siegfried had served as a trustee of Operation Life Safety and was national spokesperson for the “Change Your Clock, Change Your Battery” program and chairman of the IAFC Health and Safety Committee. Chief Ewell, a member of the California Fire Services Board, formerly was deputy chief for the Prince George’s County (MD) Fire Department.
Robert Counts, chief of the Troy (OH ) Fire Department, is serving the second of a three-year term as treasurer. He served as international director of the Great Lakes Division.
A publication containing abstracts of 54 papers presented at Fire-Rescue International addressing areas including professional development, health and safety, and alternative funding is available. The cost is $40 for IAFC members and S50 for nonmembers. All orders must be prepaid; check, money order, Master Card, and VISA are accepted. Contact the IAFC publication hotline at (703) 273-0911.
Anticyanide medication urged for smoke inhalation victims
Treating victims of smoke inhalation for cyanide poisoning may save lives, according to various sources. Although anticyanide drugs are commonly available in hospital emergency rooms, they generally are not used, charge some critics.
Released as a gas from burning substances, especially plastics, cyanide kills within minutes. If anticyanide treatment is to work, it must be administered virtually immediately alter exposure, but determining cyanide poisoning through testing takes a long time. Some medical experts say some deaths can be prevented by treating for cyanide poisoning.
An emergency physician at a medical center in Wisconsin treated a nine-yearold boy overcome by smoke from a house fire with a drug from an anticyanide kit. The boy, who was in a coma, responded and completely recovered after additional treatment at a hospital. The physician said he used the drug not knowing if the boy had cyanide poisoning but thought he’d try it. He added that many lives could be saved by using the drugs on smoke inhalation patients.
A toxicology expert at a Wisconsin university noted that although it hasn’t been proven yet, the theory that many people are dying of cyanide poisoning prevails. The use of anticyanide drugs, others say, should be considered in light of the increasing use of plastics in buildings.
One emergency physician notes that the most important of the three anticyanide drugs provided in kits commonly found in emergency rooms is sodium thiosulfate and suggests that this drug be used first. If it works, then, he says, the other two drugs also may be used.
Some physicians, it is noted, do not use the cyanide kit more than once in their lifetime and hesitate to use sodium thiosulfate alone without the recommendation of the kit’s manufacturer or scientific studies. In addition, says Ken W. Kulig, associate professor at the University of Colorado, it is “commonly said” among physicians that the anticyanide drugs interfere with carbon-monoxide treatment. But, notes Kulig, who has coauthored a research paper on the use of cyanide kits on smoke victims, the study found that the kits are safe for patients. He stresses that the message that smoke inhalation victims can be suffering from cyanide poisoning must be disseminated.
At least one kit manufacturer said that although it had no clinical evidence to support using the kit, doing so might save a life. The manufacturer added that it is the doctor’s decision to make and that the issue is one of educating people that “there is a product that can be used.”
Complicating the issue, notes John Hall, assistant vice president for fire analysis and research with the National Fire Protection Association, is that the complicated testing required to document cyaniderelated deaths prevents many cases from being identified.
Wisconsin State Rep. Frank H. Urban (RBrookfield), a physician, cites the need for a controlled study, an important component of which will be autopsies of fire victims. He is planning to introduce legislation making such autopsies mandatory in Wisconsin.
Among other considerations surrounding this issue are the following:
- Smoke inhalation victims could have been poisoned by cyanide, since it is a product of the combustion of plastics, wood, silk, synthetic rubber, nylon, paper, and fire retardants.
- People approach death within minutes of inhaling cyanide.
- Only one or two breaths of cyanide can kill a person.
- More than 3,200 people died of smoke inhalation in the United States in 1992, 47 of them in Wisconsin, according to the NFPA.
- Cyanide often is found in the blood of fire victims.
Deputy Chief C. Herzog of the Manitowoc (WI) Fire Department, who has been following this issue, considers it to be “of great significance to the entire fire service community.” If firefighters are aware of the issue, he noted in a recent letter, there is an increased chance that they will speak with their local medical directors regarding this treatment option.
This article is based on a report published in the Milwaukee Sentinel, December 11, 1993
WPI students supplement local fire department in exchange for housing
When the Auburn, Massachusetts, paid-oncall firefighter force dwindled and the West Auburn fire station had to be closed two years ago because of a lack of money, six fire protection engineering students from Worcester Polytechnic Institute stepped in to help.
The Auburn Fire Department (AFD) had a budget of S 324,000 in 1993 and has three full-time firefighters and 29 paid-oncall firefighters—down from 67 in 1980— who arc paid a S10 stipend for responding to calls.
In exchange for housing, the students staff the reopened fire station—an old school used as a fire station in the 1980s— which they and volunteers, including some of the town’s paid-on-call firefighters, renovated this past summer. The station has been adapted to accommodate dormitory-style living, and four students live at the station at the present time. The fire station has a bunk room, five private bedrooms, and a kitchen. It is expected that 10 students will be housed at the station within a few months, allowing the station to be staffed 24 hours a day.
The students supplement the full-time force during the hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., when the need for firefighters is the greatest, and are members of the paid-oncall firefighters union. Students in the program have two to four years of experience in firefighting from their hometowns. They received additional training from the AFD.
The project was initiated by the students and is supported by WPI even though it is not school-sponsored.
The community of Amherst, Massachusetts, has a similar arrangement in which eight students live in a fire station. These students, however, were recruited by the fire department and are not fire protection engineers.
AFD Chief Roger Belhumeur says that the arrangement has been “excellent so far” and that the reduced response time resulting from the students’ availability has shortened extinguishment operations in several incidents. “Local colleges/universities are an untapped resource that more call and volunteer departments should explore,” he adds.
References: “Student firefighters lend a hand,” Gerard F. Russell. special to The Boston Sunday Globe, Nov. 21, 1993, one! “WPI students learn while helping Au- burn,” Bill Fortier, Telegram & Gazette staff, Nov. 7, 1993■
EMS information packet
Improving Fire Department Emergency Medical Services provides information and suggestions for operating an efficient and cost-effective emergency medical service. The packet, assembled by the Management Information Center of the International Association of Fire Chiefs, contains articles, survey results, and programs on advanced life support engine companies, training, and fire apparatus staffing justification through EMS. The cost is S25 for members and S30 for nonmembers, which may be paid by check, money order, Master Card, or VISA. Contact the Management Information Center, IAFC; 4025 Fair Ridge Drive; Fairfax, Virginia 22033-2868; (703) 273-0911, then dial 2; fax: (703) 273-9363.
Three 3M extinguishing agent and foam plants are now ISO-registered
Three 3M manufacturing plants for firefighting foams and clean extinguishing agents have passed the International Standards Organization (ISO) 9002 quality standards inspection, the company recently announced.
The facilities—in Decatur, Alabama; Antwerp, Belgium; and Cordova, Illinois— manufacture 3M Light Water firefighting foam concentrates (for extinguishing flammable liquid fires) and Clean Extinguishing agents (designed to replace ozone-depleting halon products in streaming and flooding fire protection applications). The products are marketed by the Performance Chemicals business unit in 3M’s Speciality Chemicals division.
To receive ISO 9002 registration, a plant’s production and product installation procedures must be rated on the basis of performance in 18 categories, including process control, management responsibility, purchasing, auditing, and corrective action.
Tour of Germany and Austria fire departments to follow fire show
Following the Interschutz Der Rote Hahn international fire and rescue exhibition in Hanover, Germany, June 3-8, 1994, a 10day bus tour, sponsored by the Aurora (II.) Regional Fire Museum, will take guests to fire stations, fire museums, and famous castles and cathedrals in Frankfurt, Munich, Innsbruck, and Salzburg.
Some 40 American manufacturers are expected to exhibit at the show, which will cover seven large convention halls and more than five city blocks of outdoor apparatus display space. Fire museums will present displays depicting the history of firefighting in the United States.
The bus tour will help offset the Aurora Museum’s cost of booth fixtures (display cases, booth walls, tables, chairs, and rug, for example) for this presentation. Floor space in the exhibit hall was donated by the exhibition committee. A SI00 donation to the museum is included in the tour price.
A tentative tour package, which includes air fare, hotel accommodations in Hanover (for the exhibition), the tour, daily breakfasts, and most dinners, will cost about S2,350 per person, including the SI00 donation. The price is subject to change due to airfare costs and dollar fluctuation. Thirty-five to 40 seats are available, and a S100 refundable deposit is required. Reservations must be made as soon as possible to ensure accommodations at Hanover hotels. Spouses and children arc welcome.
For more information and a final expanded itinerary, contact David Lewis, Curator, Aurora Regional Fire Museum, 2469 Crabtree Lane, Northbrook, IL 60062; home phone: (708) 272-1913, fax: (708) 509-1913.
