For a preliminary account and a list of Fire Department of New York firefighters confirmed dead or listed as missing at press time, see Fire Engineering, October 2001. More detailed, timely coverage is at fireengineering.com.
DOT: SCUBA tanks and other compressed gas cylinders improperly tested
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA) has warned that an unspecified number of compressed gas cylinders serviced by Underwater Adventures, Leesburg, Florida, should be considered unsafe and should not be filled with a hazardous material unless the cylinders are first properly retested by a DOT-authorized retest facility. “Under no circumstance should a cylinder described in this safety advisory be filled, refilled or used for any purpose other than scrap until it is reinspected and retested by a DOT-authorized retest facility,” RSPA stresses.
The cylinders involved are marked with Retester Identification Number (RIN) B095 or B059 and are stamped with a retest date after 1986.
Underwater Adventures marked and certified an undetermined number of cylinders as being properly tested in accordance with Federal Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) when in fact the cylinders had been improperly tested and were also were marked with a RIN that belongs to another company.
Cylinders with these markings that have been filled with an atmospheric gas such as oxygen should be vented or otherwise safely discharged and then taken to a DOT-authorized cylinder retest facility for proper retesting.
The advisory notice was published in the Federal Register on September 6.
Volunteer Chief Buckman new IAFC head; addresses fire service in time of crisis
John M. Buckman III, chief of the German Township (IN) Fire Department and editorial advisory board member of Fire Engineering, is the first volunteer to serve as president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) in more than two decades. Among Buckman’s objectives is to increase the awareness of the public and the national government of the significant role volunteer fire departments play in this nation’s fire service.
Buckman has been a volunteer at the German Township Fire Department since he was 17. He became its chief at the age of 24. The department has 80 members and a budget of $400,000.
In an Open Letter to the Fire Service after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Buckman noted that “The fire service protects America like no other service. We protect the heart and soul of our communities. We are the first ones in and the last ones out. We do our job without much fanfare. We provide service to everyone on an equal basis. The fire service should raise our flag high and the firefighter should be proud of what we do.”
He urged firefighters to remain positive about their job, their life, and America and said that “we will overcome this tragic set of circumstances.”
Buckman acknowledged the many e-mails and faxes the IAFC received bearing offers to help the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) and noted that the IAFC made calls to FDNY and the Arlington (VA) and Washington D.C. Fire Departments and to others, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the White House to offer assistance.
Every firefighter, officer, and chief, Buckman cautioned, should carefully guard what they say during these trying times: “No one has ever walked in the shoes of the FDNY commanders on the day of the terrorism event. Nor has anyone walked in the shoes of the incident commander in the unfolding days. Now is not the time for the fire service to second guess anything that has been done or will be done. You haven’t been there, and you haven’t done what they are doing.”
The best thing firefighters, officers, and chiefs can do during this time of emergency, Buckman suggested, is to work with local officials to ensure that their own communities have protection in place. He urged that local officials be challenged to evaluate the potential threat from terrorist events and then to implement those things needed to reduce that threat.
Tornado kills daughters of MFRI deputy director
A tornado that struck the University of Maryland campus in College Park on September 24 took the lives of Colleen Patricia Marlatt, 23, and Erin Patricia Marlatt, 20, daughters of F. Patrick Marlatt, chief of Howard County’s Fifth District Fire Department and deputy director of the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute (MFRI). The twister also destroyed MFRI’s temporary headquarters-a trailer on the campus. Several people, including Chief Marlatt, had to be extricated from collapsed trailers. He suffered minor injuries.
The women, both students at the University of Maryland, had just visited their father on the campus and were in their car when the tornado lifted the car in the air and pushed it into a campus building. The college campus was extensively damaged.
FEMS/USFA completes final round of grants
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)/U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) awarded more than $9 million in grants in the final round of awards under the Assistance to Firefighters Grants Program.
More than 1,850 fire departments received awards under this first federal program of assistance to local fire departments, which evolved from the FIRE (Firefighter Investment and Response Enhancement) Act. The grants are to be used for personal protective equipment, firefighting equipment, vehicles, training, and wellness and fitness programs.
“Any doubts about supporting the training and outfitting of our local firefighters were erased September 11 when the men and women of local fire departments responded so ably and bravely to the terrorist attacks in New York and at the Pentagon,” said FEMA Director Joe M. Allbaugh. “The loss of more than 340 firefighters and emergency personnel at the World Trade Center has hardened my resolve to see that local firefighters have the equipment and training they need.
“President George W. Bush saw for himself the resilience in the eyes of the firefighters and Urban Search and Rescue Task Force members who went to work so diligently in the aftermath of these attacks,” Allbaugh said. “I know he strongly supports the continuation of these important grants.”
The list of all grant recipients is posted on the U.S. Fire Administration Web site at www.usfa.fema.gov/grants.
IAFC calls for additional federal support after major terrorist incident; says 75,000 additional firefighters needed
In the wake of the events of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) is requesting that the federal government ensure that fire departments “be adequately equipped and trained to effectively meet their responsibilities to serve their communities during the most challenging times.”
The IAFC has asked for various “fire and emergency service needs” President John M. Buckman III describes as “an initial list of action items that … will allow the fire and emergency services the best possible chance of saving lives during catastrophic events.” The list includes the following:
- Immediate action by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health to complete certification of chem/bio masks purchased by the federal government and given to all fire departments in major cities and within a 25-mile radius of the cities.
- The appropriation of $500 million in Fiscal Year (FY) 2002 for the Assistance to Firefighters Program and an increased reauthorization for $1 billion a year for the Fiscal Years 2003 through 2007.
- Establish a federal program to fund the hiring of 75,000 additional firefighters.
- Expand and upgrade the FEMA USAR program by (1) establishing a national collapse rescue program to supplement the current USAR program; (2) moving the USAR program from FEMA to the USFA and making it a Response and Recovery Directorate headed by an individual from the fire service; and (3) developing a national Command Overhead Team response program.
- The USFA should fill the administrator position immediately (R. David Paulison has been nominated) and retain the current chief operating officer position.
- Increase the number of Metropolitan Medical Response System teams and enhance their capabilities to deal with major incidents.
- With respect to communications, there should be radio spectrum interoperability for public safety. The Department of Defense should present a progress report on 138-144 MHz sharing by October 30, 2001. Congress should require the Federal Communications Commission to study the communications problems encountered in New York City and Arlington County, Virginia, during the September 11 terrorist incidents and recommend resolutions by March 30, 2002.
- By statute, make FEMA the single point-of-contact for terrorism preparedness.
- Increase funds for counterterrorism programs to be directed specifically to the fire and emergency service. Return to the two-tiered approach funding of top population centers. Require an 80 percent pass-through for all federal funds passing through states for other than the largest population centers.
- Enhance hazardous materials response by passing a five-year, $10 million authorization for Operation Respond. Fund Operation Respond at $2 million for FY 2002.
President nominates Paulison to head the USFA
President George W. Bush has nominated R. David Paulison, 54, chief of the Miami-Dade (FL) Fire Rescue Department and past president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs, as the head of the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA). The U.S. Senate must confirm the nomination.
Legislation would require truss warning signs on new buildings in NY State
The New York State legislature has passed a bill that would require a sign/symbol to be posted on the exterior of new buildings with truss constructions within the state. The objective of the legislation is to save firefighters’ lives, since truss constructions subjected to fire often fail quickly and without warning. If signed into law by Gov. George Pataki, the bill would become law January 1.
ASSE survey highlights fire safety hazards in dormitory
An American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) safety survey of a large state university dormitory built in the 1950s revealed several fire safety hazards.
The dormitory is a three-story brick-and-concrete structure. The first floor has public foyers, common recreational rooms and lounges, and the building manager’s office. Bedrooms are on the second and third floors. Portable fire extinguishers are in the corridors. Each sleeping room has a single-station smoke detector.
Each sleeping room opens onto the corridor and is fitted with a self-closing, solid-core wood door. The building’s heat, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system operates by sending conditioned air to each room by way of ductwork that runs along the building’s perimeter. The air is returned to the fan rooms on each floor through fixed, open louvers in the bedroom doors and through the corridor.
The building’s fire alarm system was the original one installed at the time of construction 50 years ago. It consisted of annual pull stations and alarm bells at the exit doors.
The ASSE inspection also disclosed the following problems, which were easy to rectify:
- Stairwell exit doors were propped open with doorstops.
- Fire extinguishers were missing.
- Sleeping room doors had broken closers.
- Lamps in the exit signs were burned out.
- Storage in the corridor partially blocked an exit door.
- Candles were in use in bedrooms.
Regarding the HVAC system, the ASSE recommended that the university take one of the following actions: (1) install return air ducts and replace grilles with solid material; (2) install fire sprinklers throughout the building; or (3) install smoke detectors in the corridors and self-closing, cross-corridor doors arranged to automatically shut HVAC fans down and release the cross-corridor doors in case smoke is detected.
The university chose the smoke detector and cross-corridor option, since there was not enough ceiling space to install ductwork and the cost of installing sprinklers would not be feasible since the building is scheduled to be demolished within 10 years.
The university also replaced the fire alarm system with horn/strobe notification devices throughout the building.
U.S. DOT awards $250,000 grant to IAFF
The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) has received a $250,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). The grant, issued as part of the Research and Special Programs Administration’s (RSPA) Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness (HMEP) planning and training program, will be used to train instructors who teach hazardous materials response. The HMEP Program is funded through user fees paid by shippers and carriers who transport certain hazardous materials.
The IAFF received its first federal grant of $250,000 in 1995. Since then, the IAFF has used HMEP grants to train approximately 500 fire service instructors. More than 140 instructors were trained in fiscal year 2001.
DOT revises Web site
The U.S. Department of Transportation has updated its Web site, http://www.oig.dot.gov. It will feature audit reports, congressional testimonies, and semiannual reports to Congress dating back to 1997 as well as audit announcements and correspondence, including press releases.
Nation’s career firefighters donate $15 million to MDA telethon
Career firefighters and paramedics collected $15 million for the Muscular Dystrophy Association this year. This represents the largest contribution to the MDA by International Association of Fire Fighters members. The firefighters and paramedics have been holding “boot” drives for 48 years and raised more than $160 million for MDA during that time.
Line-of-Duty Deaths, 2001
August 31: Crew Chief (contract) Kip Krigbaum, 45, of the U.S. Forest Service-Gallatin National Forest, Bozeman, Montana, died after a helicopter crash while fighting a wildfire near Emigrant Peak.
August 31: Pilot (contract) Rich Hernandez, 37, of the U.S. Forest Service-Gallatin National Forest, Bozeman, Montana, died after a helicopter crash while fighting a wildfire near Emigrant Peak.
August 31: Co-Pilot (contract) Santi Arovitx, 28, of the U.S. Forest Service-Gallatin National Forest, Bozeman, Montana, died after a helicopter crash while fighting a wildfire near Emigrant Peak.
September 3: Firefighter David Ray Rendek, 24, of the Bitterroot National Forest, Hamilton, Montana, was struck by a falling tree while fighting a wildfire in Bitterroot National Forest.
September 4: Chief William E. Bennett, 49, of the Kennedy (NY) Volunteer Fire Department, was killed in a motor vehicle accident while responding to an emergency call.
September 7: Lieutenant Robert Augustyn, 57, of the Cicero (IL) Fire Department, died of injuries sustained after becoming trapped under an engine being backed down a roadway.
September 8: Firefighter/Engineer Allan Marriott, 47, of the Port Townsend (WA) Fire Department, collapsed while performing fireground operations and died later at the hospital.
September 11: Fire Department of New York personnel: Approximately 343 firefighters from all ranks and responsibilities were taken from us by a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City. (Editor’s note: See Fire Engineering, October 2001, for the names of those confirmed dead/missing as of press time.)
September 25: Firefighter Clarence Kreitzer, 78, of the Bowie (MD) Volunteer Fire Department, 19, died of an apparent heart attack while returning home in his private vehicle after working at the University of Maryland College Park campus, where a tornado had touched down.
September 25: Firefighter Bradley Golden, 19, of the Westmoreland Fire District-Lairdsville Fire Department, Clinton, New York, was trapped and overcome by rapid fire on the second floor of an abandoned house during a live-fire drill.
September 26: Captain Neil Woodward, 32, of the Blackman Volunteer Fire Department, Baker, Florida, died of an apparent heart attack after helping firefighters extinguish a fire in his residence.
Source: National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Database, United States Fire Administration.
