Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City, in an effort to save what he estimates to be $2.5 million from the Fire Department of New York fiscal year 2011 budget, has proposed eliminating the street call boxes. According to the mayor, most of the calls received from the street boxes are false alarms.
The fire dispatchers union opposes the move, saying that it is dangerous to rely solely on the phone system in an emergency, citing the fact that on 9/11, the phones stopped working. “Let’s pull fireboxes, Mike says,” Daniel Roberts and Kathleen Lucadamo, DAILY NEWS. Jan. 30, 2010
Line-of-Duty Deaths
January 26. Firefighter Henry Sandy, 52, Northside Volunteer Fire Department, Batesville, AR: apparent heart attack.
February 8. Assistant Chief John Coyle, 63, West Pend Oreille Fire District, Priest River, ID: apparent heart attack.
February 10. Chief Stanley I. Giles, 69, Linn Valley Lakes (KS) Fire Department: injuries sustained when he was pinned between a fire apparatus backing into the station, after returning from a fire call, and another fire department vehicle.
February 12. Fire Police Captain Donald G. Mellott, 63, Woolrich (PA) Volunteer Fire Company No. 1: struck and killed by an approaching civilian vehicle while working traffic control at a motor vehicle accident.
February 20. Chief Jonathan Siemiers, 44, Clay Center (KS) Fire Department: apparent heart attack.
Source: USFA Firefighters Memorial Database
Associations support D Block spectrum for public safety
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau Chief Rear Admiral (Ret.) James Arden Barnett Jr. spoke on the FCC’s National Broadband Plan at the Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International’s 2010 Winter Technology Summit. The event was held in Orlando, Florida, in January. The major national public safety associations present reasserted their united support for Congress to introduce and pass legislation reallocating the D Block spectrum to public safety.
Richard Mirgon, APCO International president, noted that public safety leaders and many providers “are united in concluding that the D Block must be reallocated to public safety on technical, practical, operational, and fiscal grounds.”
The leaders applauded Barnett for his “open dialogue and serious consideration of the nation’s first responder community’s priority communications needs.” Barnett also voiced support and the need for federal funding essential for a successful nationwide public safety broadband network. Additional information is at www.d-block.net/.
USFA releases heating fire reports
Heating Fires in Residential Buildings and Portable Heater Fires in Residential Buildings are based on 2005 to 2007 data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System. The National Fire Data Center developed them as part of the U.S Fire Administration’s Topical Fire Report Series.
Among information contained in the documents are the following:
- An estimated average of 54,500 heating fires occurs in residential buildings each year in the United States.
- These fires cause an estimated 190 civilian fire deaths, 625 civilian fire injuries, and $288 million in property loss each year.
Heating is the second leading cause of residential building fires, after cooking, and is most prevalent during the winter.
Download the reports at http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/statistics/reports/.
Study addresses home sprinkler environmental impact
A study conducted by FM Global and the Home Fire Sprinkler Coalition showed that during a fire in a room that has been equipped with fire sprinklers, the release of greenhouse gases is reduced by 99 percent, the amount of water used is reduced by 50 percent, and the amount of fire damage to the room is less than three percent, compared with a 100 percent loss in the room not protected with sprinklers.
The initial study results were revealed by Christopher Wieczorek, PhD, a senior research specialist at FM Global, at a press conference at the International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas in January. The final results of the study were to be released in March (after press time).
Wieczorek showed side-by-side videos of two living rooms on fire. Both rooms measured 15 × 20 × 8 feet. The rooms were completely furnished with furniture, carpeting, flat screen TVs, and curtains. A fire had been ignited in a magazine rack in each room. One room was outfitted with a quick-response sprinkler.
The single sprinkler head in the protected living room activated 44 seconds after ignition and began to fight the fire. The fire in the unprotected room raged. After five minutes, the fire in the sprinklered room continued to be contained, whereas every combustible item was burning in the unprotected room.
H1N1 virus declines in temperate zone
According to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) “Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 – update 87,” as of February 7, 2010, more than 212 countries worldwide and overseas territories or communities have reported laboratory-confirmed cases of pandemic influenza H1N1 in 2009, including at least 15,292 deaths.
WHO is monitoring the progress of the pandemic through frequent consultations with the WHO regional offices and member states and multiple information sources.
In the Americas, both in the tropical and northern temperate zones, overall pandemic influenza activity has continued to decline or remain low in most places. In the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere, overall pandemic influenza activity has continued to decline in most countries. Areas that peaked later, such as northern Africa, South Asia, and East Asia, had the most active areas of transmission during that period.
President’s FY 2011 budget asks cuts for AFG and SAFER
President Obama’s budget for fiscal year (FY) 2011, posted on the Office of Management and Budget Web site in February, is requesting $305 million each for the Assistance to Firefighter Grants (AFG) and Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Grants (SAFER) programs, representing reductions from the FY 2010 appropriated levels of $390 million and $420 million, respectively.
The President is also requesting $45.93 million for the U.S. Fire Administration, a slight increase from the FY 2010 appropriation of $45.59 million. The proposed budget does not contain specific funding for Citizen Corps, but the program would be eligible to receive funding through the Department of Homeland Security’s State Homeland Security Grant program, proposed to receive $1.05 billion for FY 2011.
FEMA testifies on value of US&R task forces in hearings
“The nation’s 28 Urban Search and Rescue task forces are important members of the emergency management team and are critical to our ability to respond to catastrophic events. These task forces are an example of the effective federal, state, and local partnerships needed to help keep our citizens safe,” explained Bill Carwile, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) associate administrator for response and recovery.
Carwile testified, in February, before the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management. He thanked the teams for responding to domestic disasters as well as for their deployment to support efforts in the Haiti earthquake response. Six FEMA-trained task forces were deployed to Haiti, under the direction of the U.S. Agency for International Development.
USFA releases hotel and motel fires report
“An annual estimated average of 3,900 fires occur in hotels and motels. These fires are also responsible for 15 deaths, 150 civilian injuries, and $7 million in property loss annually,” according to Hotel and Motel Fires, recently released by the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency’s U.S. Fire Administration (USFA). The report, developed by the National Fire Data Center, part of the USFA, is based on 2005 to 2007 data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System.
Among other information contained in the report is the following:
- Cooking, electrical malfunctions, and heating are the leading causes of hotel and motel fires.
- Seventy-three percent of hotel and motel fires are confined to the object of origin, and an additional 18 percent are confined to the room of fire origin. The remaining nine percent extend beyond the room of origin.
NFA overhauls Management Science curriculum
As a result of a review and updating of its Management Science curriculum, the U.S. Fire Administration’s (USFA’s) National Fire Academy (NFA) has added course content and addressed emerging issues and challenges affecting the nation’s fire and emergency medical services leaders in their communities, explains NFA Superintendent Dr. Denis Onieal.
“Emergency services management skills have changed over the past few years, and the USFA’s NFA is modernizing several of its more popular courses to stay on top of this trend,” says Onieal. “The Management Science curriculum now offers some of the leading courses that prepare today’s fire service leaders to better handle the challenges of managing organizations in today’s rapidly changing economic, political, regulatory, and social climates.”
Among the new on-campus course titles are R107- Communications for Emergency Services Success (formerly Fire Service Communications), R331- Strategic Organizational Issues in Fire and EMS (formerly Organizational Theory in Practice), and R332- Effective Leadership Skills for Fire and EMS Organizations (formerly Interpersonal Dynamics in Fire Service Organizations).
In addition, the titles of Leadership I, Leadership II, and Leadership III were changed to Leadership I for Fire and EMS, Leadership II for Fire and EMS, and Leadership III for Fire and EMS, to recognize the increasingly important role of emergency medical services in fire service delivery, notes Onieal.
Three other courses in the curriculum were updated to include lessons learned and activities emphasizing the NFA’s congressionally mandated role to expand its presence in fire-based emergency medical services management training and education.
USFA’s Cochran attends WMD command course
U.S. Fire Administrator Kelvin J. Cochran attended the Incident Command: Capabilities, Planning and Response Actions (IC) course at the Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP) in Anniston, Alabama, in February. The course’s focus is community planning for preparedness for a response to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, explosive (CBRNE) event. The 24-hour course ends with a six-hour exercise that requires responders to share information.
“This is an opportunity for me to stay current and relevant,” Cochran said. “I want to set an example for our leadership and to remain credible. I want to encourage leaders that no matter how far up you are in the organizational chart at the local, state, or federal level, you need to make it part of your professional development agenda to attend a course at the CDP.”
The CDP funds courses for state, local, and tribal response personnel, including travel, meals, and lodging. For additional information, call the CDP at (866) 213-9553.
Automated external defibrillators recalled
The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) is alerting users of certain Cardiac Science Corporation Powerheart and CardioVive automated external defibrillators that these devices may unexpectedly malfunction. The devices may not deliver the electric shocks needed to treat sudden cardiac arrest or arrhythmias.
Complaints received by the manufacturer note that the self-test features may not show that there’s anything wrong when the device malfunctions. The ready green light may come on even when certain electronic components inside the device have failed.
About 300,000 Cardiac Science G3 series Powerheart and CardioVive AEDs, manufactured between August 2001 and August 2009, are affected. Users should contact the manufacturer (http://www.cardiacscience.com/AED195/) immediately to arrange for repair or replacement. The complete MedWatch 2010 Safety summary is at http://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch/SafetyInformation/SafetyAlertsfor HumanMedicalProducts/ucm2001138lhtm/.
