BURN in Richmond VA

I was so excited a few weeks ago when I found out that BURN was coming to my hometown of Richmond Va. It came to DC a few months ago but I just could not make it up there to see it. This time I was not going to miss it and I am glad I didn’t!

I was able to attend the opening night festivities and it was a blast hanging out with a bunch of fireman, drinking a few frosty beverages, and they really did the event up with one of Richmond Fire’s Quints out front of the theatre, vendors, and food from the Halligan Bar and Grill owned and operated by Retired Henrico Fire Lt. Shawn Gregory. Here are a few pictures:

At about 10 mins to 7 they ushered us into the theatre and it was time for the movie! WARNING SPOILER ALERT!

The movie itself was great, it shows the true story of a city that has lost control and the firefighters who risk their life daily to try to protect it. The biggest problem and biggest debate is the 80,000 vacant homes in the city and how to deal with them. Some of the fireman think that every fire no matter what they should be going in because some of the homeless people use these as homes to squat in. The new Fire commissioner feels that if they are no danger to occupied homes and no one is in them to let them burn.

The 2 stories that spoke to me the most were of Dave Parnell and “Doogie”

Parnell as he is called is getting ready to retire after 30 plus years with the department. About 5 months before hs retirement his wife dies and now he is faced with living the rest of his life without his wife, or his fire department. This made me think a lot about my own retirement. While I am a ways off, all I have done since I was 15 years old was be a fireman. What will I do, and who will I be without the fire department. Sure I will still visit the stations and what not but I will not be pushing in, driving the rigs, going on EMS call, I will not be in the department anymore. It gives me a sick feeling in my stomach just thinking about it.

Brendan or “Doogie” came on the job as a 19-year-old firefighter and 11 years later he is in a wheel chair as a result of injuries received at a building collapse. Again this spoke to me because I have been involved in the fire service since a very young age, and have literally zero other skills in my life. All of my training, education, and choices have been based on whats best for my fire service career. If I was hurt today how would I survive, what would I do?

This movie will speak to you and make you think. It will also make you appreciate what you have both in you personal and Fire Department lives. This is a MUST SEE FILM! It was so good I went to see it again with my shift from work this past Sunday.

A big shout out goes to a group of fireman from the City of Richmond who with some Union help brought this film here for us all to enjoy.

This story needs to be told, get this movie to your town or go see it in another town. Go to http://www.detroitfirefilm.org/ for more information on how to bring it to you and how to give donations. Lets et this movie in every major US city and get it put out on DVD.

As usual thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!

BEWARE BURNOUT!!!!!

I have been reading a lot lately about job dedication, and
dedication to the fire service. While I agree with a lot of the things people
have been saying I cannot help but think that there has to be something else.

I love the fire department, A LOT it is usually always on my
mind in some form of fashion. I have traveled all over this great country of
ours in search of challenging and informative training classes. I look all over
the internet for little tid bits of information that can and will make me
better. I changed my lifestyle and began to embrace fitness in order to be that
much better on the fire ground.

However with all of that, I still find myself needing some
unwind time. I know that viewing a football game, playing a video game, or
drinking a beer may seem like time wasted to some, and maybe that time could be
better spent trying to figure out the next fire service revolution or trying to
get a personal best on a dead lift, but me sometimes I need a break.

I really need a break from the constant being around people
that do not feel the same way, or do not embrace the fire service as a way of
life instead view as a means to end to just make money. Basically they are just
takers and they are not giving anything back to the organization, company, or
themselves. When I am spending most of my time trying to get better most of
every day. After a while it can get frustrating and I need to blow off some
steam, so throwing myself into something larger than me (sports, online gaming,
comics, etc) relaxes me, and works to refocus my mind on the various tasks,
thoughts, and wants that I have swirling around in there. Some people may
recommend meditation or even religion but that’s just not my bag, if it’s yours
then I hope you use it, but me I’m not the spiritual type, visualization, and
things of that nature do not work for me, I need visual and tactile stimulation
in order to reset my mind.

The whole entire point is that the fire service is a huge
part of my life but in order to prevent getting burnt out on it; you have to
have some other interests and even some releases. Even too much of a good thing
can be bad, especially when it is something you put your heart and soul into.

So whether it is a game, a beer or two, or a good movie it
is important to take some time to relax, recharge your batteries, and then
reengage in the fight. One great way to do this is FDIC which is not as far
away as you think. During it not only are you with likeminded people, but there
is a TON of social activity to get that relaxation that you need to come home
and get back to work.

Do not forget to keep following along on twitter
@averagejakeff

As usual thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!

Yes….even more vent stuff

A few days ago I posted a video and subsequent post on Truss Roof Burn Testing. The video was intended to give you the reader a healthier respect for how fast a roof system itself may collapse when challenged by fire.

Brian Brush from www.fireservicewarrior.com made the comment on that post that this may not tell the entire story, and could be used as a scare tactic to encourage people not to perform vertical ventilation. I responded to him that I thought my intent was self-explanatory, but I do not want anyone to think I am not telling a full truth, or encouraging a less aggressive fire service. What I am advocating is a more informed, intelligent, and safer operating fire service by providing preparation on the front end (training, physical fitness, wearing all of your gear). Simply put the old adage of “balls, water, and firemen put out fire” in my opinion is caveman like and is no longer acceptable in today’s fire service.

Thats is why I posted the below video. It is a joint test from NIST, and the City of Phoenix Fire Department. In the portion seen in the video they take 4 identical structures (dimension, and contents wise) and perform burn tests on them to show how long the structure would last without fire department intervention (water on the fire) They do also add firefighters weight in gear to the roof structure to get an idea of how that impacts collapse time. The only thing that changed in the study was the material used in the structural elements, and the roof covering.

You can see for yourself no matter the building material, or the roof covering the collapse times were almost identical. Remember these fires were not started in the roof structure they were started in the “living space” of a sheet rocked room.

So again what we have to do is take these results and put them into terms that impact us on the street. Do we look at these numbers as gospel, probably not, several influences could impact these numbers in either shortening, or lengthening collapse time. What we can do is take them as a baseline for the average home, and use them as a training tool.

In the average home we found in the study that no matter the construction, the contents of the room generated a large enough fire to cause building collapse around the 17 min mark from time of ignition. You take that number and look at your department and ask some of these questions.

What are our response times?

What is our staffing level?

What is our apparatus responding on a fire, and how long will it take for a full complement to arrive on scene?

Do we have the people arriving to impact a fire in this time frame?

Like I have said before the answers are different for everyone. For my full-time department with lower response time (5-7mins) I can say with relative certainty that if the situation presented itself with our staffing, and response we can do a marginal job of going to vent a roof. In my part-time department with 2 man staffing, no ladder truck, and response times ranging from 5-20mins it would be almost impossible to be succesful at venting a roof. FDNY, DC, Baltimore, Chicago, and other large urban departments will have a higher success rate, but just because they can do it does it mean we should it not in the same situation.

I do not question the skill level of a FDNY fireman, and I have learned a lot from several of those guys in classes all over the country. However what they do does not always apply to me and my department as our districts, staffing, and tools are different. While I have only vented 2 flat roofs in my career, I would venture to say very few big city fireman have vented the roof on a log cabin (which I did in the rural section of the county I vollied in).

Like I have said in previous posts, you have to perform a self assessment of you and yours and determine your capabilities, and how you do business. Maybe roof venting is not for your department, and that is ok. You then have to decide how you are going to ventilate a structure in order to control fire spread, and allow for relief to the interior crews.

I plan on having a post up within the week on some alternative methods to perform roof venting, i just have to search through the thousands of pictures I have and locate some training photos we took a few years ago.

Please feel free to leave any comments, or feedback in the comments section, email, or on twitter (@averagejakeff)

As usual thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!

 

Yes….even more vent stuff, posted with vodpod