Do you ever have the problem on the fireground of not knowing who you are talking to? Sure we all have identifiers, apparatus or station numbers on our helmets, name tails on our coats, or even identifiers on our airpacks. Sometimes they are readily visible other times they are hard to see, and let’s be honest once the face piece goes on we all look very similar, and all sound the same.
Just yesterday I had a firefighter come talk to me at a fire face to face and I knew what company he was from but had no idea who he was until he walked away and I could read his name tail.
How about adding a name identifier to your face piece? I have been doing this for years as just another way to mark my equipment, but never realised the gains it gave me until just a few months ago. Everyone knows it is me when they are talking to me, In the event of a MAYDAY this is one more way to be identified, it enhances communication, enhances accountability, and lets everyone know who’s mask it is.
All of these things with a simple label from a label maker. If there is more than one person with your last name, add the first initial of your first name. The point is that something this simple can create huge dividends in the fog of war. It’s why soldiers wear dog tags, and why before dog tags they would sew identifiers on their uniforms.
It doesnt have to be like Ricky Bobby’s Fig Newtons sign on his car (even though they are delicious), just big enough for someone to read and figure out who they are talking to.
What other things have you done to enhance your fireground? Leave a note in the comments section or on twitter @averagejakeff
As usual thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!
Have to thank my good friend Rude Boy for pointing this video out to me. Apparently it was on some other websites but I missed it.
I just have some thoughts, and I do not know everything about this fire, this fire department, their staffing anything like that. I just see a very small snap shot in time and have some thoughts to consider.
1. It seems a lot of focus was on the room on fire. While I think that’s a good thing fire tends to move up,down,left,right,front, and back. It what appears to be some sort of multi family occupancy with adjoined rooms where is the line above? Where is the line in the room adjacent to the fire room? In fact why are searches not being initiated in those rooms as they present more chance to produce a viable victim?
2. They found a victim after knocking down a MASSIVE amount of fire. They obviously thought this victim was viable because they drug him out of the building. Then they took what they thought was this viable victim and….left him there. Why did someone not start hands only CPR? Why was an EMS crew not close to the scene?
Again not picking because I do not know what the circumstances are that these firefighters were facing, but this incident speaks to me about some priorities I may want to make at my next fire, or that you may want to consider at your next fire.
Do we (insert your FD here) even have the resources readily available to combat a fire like this and care for a victim? If not how can we get them? If we are depending on mutual aid can we get them on the first alarm, or do we need to adjust when that process gets started?
The fire service is not easy, especially today when we have extreme fire loads, buildings that fail easier, and we have to process all of those things in a dynamic time compressed environment. On top of that every move we make now is documented and put out there for all to see, so every “mistake” is magnified. That makes it all the more important to get in the gym, get on the training ground, and do all the prep work on the front end. Lets give these amature filmmakers Oscar performances!
Thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!
Coming VERY, VERY soon to the West Point (VA) Volunteer Fire Department Traditions Training (www.traditionstraining.com) will be offering there 16 hour Forcible Entry Academy!
This is sure to be some excellent hands on training with top-level instructors that teach al over the country and work in some fo the nations busiest fire departments. If you can make it, you should sign up today as time is running out to learn things like this…
I will not be able to make it due to being on shift, but fear not Traditions will be making a return trip on February 9th to teach there 8 hour “Combat Ready” class! So while not a lot of hand on the mind-set of combat ready is very important and is something missing from todays fire service. That makes this a MUST ATTEND CLASS! The combat ready class will be held in Mechanicsville Va (my home town).
This years climb was a little different. While last year there was no where close to 343 firefighters involved in the climb this year it was a sell out! Last year I was left disappointed at the low numbers this year I could not be more proud! to be honest there is no excuse for not selling out, my department alone has 600 uniformed firefighters. In fact it is a shame with all of the other departments in the area and within an hours drive of Richmond that there is not 2 of these because the numbers are there to fill it up.
This years climb was also a little different as the public was allowed to be involved in the climb, and my family members took full advantage. Last year just my me, my brother, and my wife made the climb. This year my sister-in-law Rebecca (and EMT and Nurse at Lynchburg Va General Hospital), My sister-in-law Amy (brothers wife and Nurse at Henrico Doctors Forrest Hospital), and my sister Christy made the climb. My sister actually has a unique story. Her husband Adam is a Damage Control Fireman for the United States Navy serving aboard the USS Enterprise currently deployed. This sort of thing is right up Adam’s alley and he was disappointed he would be unable to do it for the second year in a row due to being deployed. So my sister stepped up and did it in his place!
Of course my wife Karen (President East Hanover Volunteer Rescue Squad, and Emergency Operations Asst. Manager for the Virginia Office of EMS) and my brother Danny (Rescue Company 2 City of Richmond Fire Department) also made the climb again.
I got to climb this year for Firefighter Joseph Spor from Rescue Co. 3
This year I actually climbed in gear, and got a more real sense of what our 343 brothers had to deal with while making the climb. However while our stairwells were filled with encouragement, fans, and water bottles. Theres were filled with screams for help, smoke, and desperation. I am certainly proud of the tribute I brought to the table today, and the one everyone else did as well. I just know that in no way did the thing I do today come anywhere close to the sacrifice the 343 brothers of the FDNY made on 9/11. Those heroes deserve our thanks, and remembrance EVERYDAY!
If you have not done one WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!!!! This is ultimate form of tribute and remembrance for those that sacrificed EVERYTHING! We all promised to never forget, and never forgetting means NEVER FORGETTING. Not only is it a tribute but the money raised goes to the FDNY Counseling Unit that runs totally unfunded and on donations. This unit helps counsel firefighters, and there families.
Here is a link to the local news coverage and a few more pictures.
What I want to focus on, is the fire and its effect on the victims. This is not a large fire, the smoke is not turbulent, three-dimensional, no signs of impending flash over, or even violent free burning within the structure. Almost all fire departments in the country would look at this as a bread and butter, one line fire. Most fire departments would even look at this and assume any victims inside would have a great chance of survival and aggressive search tactics should take place. I would even agree that an aggressive offensive approach to this fire should be launched into this occupancy, and that our searches if proved positive with locating victims the outcome would be positive.
Why where they not?
Captain Marsar from the FDNY has written several articles on “Survivability Profiling” and has been met with mixed reviews, mostly from old school purists who belive in searching anything anytime no matter conditions or information available. One of the thing Capt. Marsar talks about in his class and articles are the toxic levels of smoke, temperature within fire buildings and the human bodies ability to withstand these dynamic factors. Bottom line is the human body is fragile when it comes to high temperatures, and toxic, oxygen deprived environments.
So whats the point?
The point at least from my perspective is that in today’s fire service with minimal staffing, and the increase in toxic smoke from todays fire environment the emphasis on extinguishment rather than search needs to be placed back at the top of the priority list, and a self-evaluation of each fire departments individual capabilities needs to be conducted to establish how to do business. Speaking more plainly we need to decide how we are going to put water on the fire, as fast as possible, with our resource compliment. Andy Fredericks once stated that a properly placed hoseline has saved more victims that the best search teams. It seems we have gotten away from that.
While my experience with victim rescue is not as prominent as others, I have participated in several and of all the victims I have pulled out of fire buildings NONE of them had any thermal damage (burns), all of them died from SMOKE exposure not THERMAL exposure. The fire is what is producing the toxic killer, putting the fire out stops the production of toxic smoke, and can allow the survivability chances for anyone inside the structure to be increased. Take the post from the other day http://averagejakeff.wordpress.com/2012/07/26/what-would-you-do-4/ While this seems like a cut an dry scenario, we can not assume that the presenting victim is the only victim. While throwing a ladder will save him, extinguishing the fire will provide a chance for anyone still inside to be saved including the exterior presenting victim. Simply put the line offers the chance to save them all, the ladder only provided the chance to save one.
Engine operations are the backbone of everything we do, if you were going to start a fire department and could only buy 1 fire truck, you would buy an engine. While today’s engine companies are inundated with other seemingly important responsibilities we can not push fire scenario training to the back burner. The fire department, and specifically the engine company are the only ones who can do what we do, there is no back up plan for someone having a fire, so we have to be experts at getting water on the fire as rapidly as possible, utilizing multiple techniques and varying degrees of resources.
Thats all I have got for this time….
As usual thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!
Above you will find the link to the 2012 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb in Richmond Virginia. If you do not know what the Stair Climb is, it is an event that raises money for the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation to assist with the families of our fallen brothers. Additionally this money goes tot he FDNY Counseling Unit that is run almost completely on donations. It is also your chance to remember the 343 firefighters that were murdered on 9/11/01 when the terrorists attacked the World Trade Center.
Most every one had or has a “Never Forget” shirt, sticker, or hat, now is the chance to put your money where your mouth is and truly honor our brothers by climbing 110 stories with one of the fallens picture with you.
Still do not want to climb? Brian Brush from www.fireservicewarrior.com explains in this video why you should climb and why there are no excuses.
Brian is dead on! We have thousands of firefighters just in the Metro Richmond area, can you think of any reason why thousands of firefighters who promised to never forget, would not be fighting to be a part of this event? Can you think of any reason why all 343 members names of the fallen should not be represented by a firefighter from this area?
Now is the time to show if you are really a firefighter and apart of this brotherhood or if you are just talking. Participating in this event is literally walking the walk of brotherhood.
Like Brian says in the video, if you do not feel you can make the climb send in your $25 and I will carry your firefighters photo with me. I will do Brian one better though, there is a ton of time to get ready for this climb so I am making the offer to anyone who is willing to take it to come and train with you. I will even organize group workouts if enough interest is shown. So email me, tweet me, comment on the blog with you contact info and I will come train for this climb with you!
It is not about racing, it is not about athletic accomplishment, it is about honor, and respect to our fallen brothers. Every firefighter in America promised to never forget the sacrifice the 343 made, are you ready to keep that promise?
Print this flyer off and put it up in your firehouse, sign up for the climb, and climb with 343 of your brothers on September 9th 2012 and make sure you keep the promise we all made to the 343, not by just talking about it, but by showing that we have not and will never forget them, or there families.
You can bet NOTHING will keep me away from this event, and will be on the stairs on Sept. 9th 2012!
As usual thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!
This picture speaks volumes! Often times in todays high technology world where there is an “app” for everything we forget some of the basic yet vital tasks that need to be mastered in order for us to do our job.
Usually when it comes to training people either want to do the “sexy” stuff, or nothing at all. Sure the sexy stuff like stokes basket training, haul systems, rappelling, air bags, and elaborate scenario based training is good, but in order to be succesful at those things we have to master our basic firefighting skills.
Things like tying knots, pulling lines, air pack familiarization, etc. are our bread and butter and need to be trained on over and over again until we can not get it wrong. Think how succesful would a stokes basket operation be if you can not tie a figure 8 on a bite? ( A basic knot).
At the basics of this job engine companies put fires out, and special service companies (trucks, squads, and rescues) break stuff and find people. So if you focus a majority of your training on putting fires out, breaking stuff, and finding people (with a little EMS thrown in there) you will find that the more complicated things will come easier.
Take a look at the video below, the only way you can operate with maximum efficiency like this guy is to be fully trained on your basic skills. He didn’t have to think about how to throw a ladder, vent a window, vent a roof, or what tools to bring he knew what to do through countless hours of training and repetition. The example is out there we just have to follow it!
So make sure you are getting in a minimum of 1 hour of training a day, hands on is more preferable but going over an SOG/SOP, EMS protocol, or round tabling a recent fire, or article can be just as valuable. Bottom line is NO ONE is good enough at this to rest on past accomplishments, not FDNY, not DCFD, not Chicago or any other big name department. All those bigger departments are training every shift with a huge call load why is it that those of us in less busy departments can never seem to find the time? It is just one hour a day, you can make it happen!
I am very interested to know what those of you out there are doing for your 1 hour of training on your shifts. Tweet me @averagejakeff and use the hash tag #1hourHOT , or just email me you can find the address in the contact tab at the top of the page.
As usual thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!
In 1947 the Collyer Brothers were found dead among about 100 tons of junk ranging from phone books, to doll heads. Granted this was not because of a fire but ever since that day ever person to go through FDNY’s Probie School has been taught the term “Collyers Mansion Conditions”
It is called “Packer House” in the Midwest, “Habitrail House” on the West Coast, and here in the south-east (Well Virginia anyway) we call it “hoarding”. No matter the term the dangerous all remain the same.
I got to thinking about this last night while on shift. We responded to a report of a fire in a house flames visible. When we arrived we found a huge pile of wood on fire underneath an elevated 2nd floor screened in porch. Another few minutes and the entire C side would have been cooking. we stretched a line and had some companies go interior to check for extension. They found smoke and a lot of “stuff” so much stuff that the side A door was blocked and couldn’t be opened. I told some of the guys that this was “Collyers Mansion Conditions” and only a few of them got it, so I said “hoarding” and they went ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh (always know your audience not everyone is as big a fire nerd as you are).
Make no mistake these things are a big deal! Take a look at the picture below
Think about all of the things this “stuff” could be hiding from us. It could be hiding damage to the house, victims, fire, animals, etc. The damage could become critical when you place it under fire conditions, and add the weight of fireman in PPE, and water. Do that equation and it equals COLLAPSE! It could also hinder forcible entry, search and rescue, and hose line advancement.
One way we can combat this is identification. People invite us into their homes all the time for safety surveys, smoke detector installs, and the dreaded EMS call. Take a moment to look around, it will not take a lot of “snooping” to identify some things that we need to know in order to make us better in case of a fire.
The second thing we can do to combat this is communication. Simply put when you find things that could hinder our operations, or impact firefighter safety then tell people. Circle it in your map book, put a hazard message in your CAD system, write it on your daily shift report, tell the guys at shift change, email the details to surrounding companies, even include it in your prearrival instructions when responding to an emergency. If you discover it while actually operating at an emergency all the companies operating, including Command and the Safety Officer need to be made aware ASAP. A simple radio message such as:
“Engine 99 to Command, we have Hoarding conditions on the interior, all companies proceed with caution”
Bottom line is DO NOT KEEP THIS A SECRET!!! The information you pass along could save your life or your brother’s life.
Sit down today and discuss this with your crew, and discuss your game plan for dealing with this type of occupancy.
Also do not forget to keep following along on twitter @averagejakeff
As usual thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!
In case you missed it last night here is the video story from the local news (CBS 6) here in Richmond on the 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb. In it you will witness several firefighters making the climb, and a couple of interviews. One of the interviews is with my wife Karen who also made the climb. I mentioned here: http://averagejakeff.wordpress.com/2011/09/11/richmond-va-911-memorial-stair-climb-2/ that once we were done with the climb we stayed and cheered on the rest of the climbers, and since she was doing such a good job of cheering the reporter asked to mic her up. Karen also wrote about her feelings about the climb and 9/11 as a whole check that out here: http://stickysidedown.wordpress.com/2011/09/11/today-we-are-one/
Like I said in my original post Karen has a unique perspective on all of this. While I was in the fire service (as a volunteer) I was away at school studying Fire Science, but she was already in the working world and actually went to the Pentagon to help with relief efforts. She actually with her own eyes saw the damage, and participated in the recovery. A lot of people talk about stuff like that, but she lived it.
Thanks to all the great comments I have received about the original post, it was just speaking from the heart which sometimes gets me in trouble but this time seemed to work out ok. Do not forget to follow along on twitter @averagejakeff.
As usual thanks for reading, spread the word, and STAY SAFE!
