Not sure it ever worked in the first place

We are in a fascinating period of time for the fire service.  Never before have the resources (financial, physical and mental) been greater.  We are finally looking at fires, how they burn, how conditions change.  We are looking a fuel packages, flow paths.  We are discussing heat release rates and polar…

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Never before have we had the information we do now

FACE 2011-31 On December 23, 2011, a 42-year-old male career fire fighter died during fire-fighting operations on the 2nd floor of a three-story apartment building. The victim was assigned to Engine 5 (E5) with a lieutenant and driver/pump operator. E5 was the first-due engine company at this fire. The Incident Commander ordered E5 to take a 1¾"…

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"Quid est veritas?"

 

 

 

In this classic scene from ‘A Few Good Men’, Danny Kaffee is questioning Lt. Col Nathan Jessop about the use of a ‘Code Red’ that resulted in the death of a Marine. Colonel Jessop’s…

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Protecting people’s lives will involve risk for us as firefighters

 

“A female occupant, in her 40’s, was unable to escape due to the intense heat and thick smoke and was quickly located by firefighters. She was removed out of the bedroom window and treated by paramedics on the scene.”…

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After reading the NIOSH Investigation report for the Line of Duty Death of Firefighter John Davies that occurred in Worcester, Massachusetts in December of 2011, a certain amount of confusion remains.

Based on the finding by the committee performing the Investigation, the Worcester should have used VSP (Victim Survivability Profiling)…

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According to some, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.  It would appear that this applies to Charleston, South Carolina based on a report based on a fire that occurred in 2010.

The Post and Courier published an article…

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On Thursday September 29, 2011 a Vallejo, California firefighter was burned in the rescue of a paraplegic.  The firefighter made entry into the man’s mobile home which was heavily involved in fire and dragged the man toward safety.  During his attempt he was forced to bail out after suffering burns and a second crew knocked down the fire and completed the rescue.

On March 30, 2010 the Homewood, Illinois Fire Department responded to a report of a fire in a chair in a house.  They were…

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3*4*3 Reports; "What's on your Radar Screen?"

By Christopher J. Naum, SFPE

Commandsafety.com & TheCompanyofficer.com

I recently posted an article on CommandSafety.com that addressed a series of Major Influencing Fire Service Reports, Issues and Focus areas that should be on …

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Eleven Minutes to Mayday; What You Need to Know

By Christopher J. Naum, SFPE

CommandSafety.com

The Colerain Township (OH) Fire and EMS Department under the leadership of Director and Chief G. Bruce Smith recently released its final report…

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(See my earlier post on the draft alert.)



Firefighter Nation had a chance to talk with Deputy Chief Billy Goldfeder about the recently released draft alert on vacant structures. Chief Goldfeder, who served as a technical reviewer on the document, and is Chair of IAFC Safey, Health and Survival Section,… Continue

NIOSH just released a draft alert on the dangers of fighting fires in vacant/unoccupied structures. The alert includes case studies of four incidents where firefighters died and were injured fighting fires in unoccupied structures.



Many of the recommendations in the alert are unsurprising, if important. In a quick scan, two stood out in my mind:



• Establish, clearly mark,… Continue