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PPE Issues Grow Over Washington Vehicle Fire Photos
RICHARD WALKER
Journal of the San Juans
Reprinted with Permission
Photographs of a firefighter fighting a car fire without proper gear Aug. 10 led to the suspension of Friday Harbor Fire Chief Vern Long.
(Richard Walker/July 8, 2010)
Related
But it wasn't the first time firefighters fought a car fire without wearing their self-contained breathing apparatus, or SCBAs.
A review of Journal photo files turned up previously unpublished photos of a car fire July 8, showing firefighters without SCBAs extinguishing Connie Auge's smoldering 2003 VW Golf, parked in front of her hair salon.
Town Administrator King Fitch, who reviewed the photos, did not comment but e-mailed to The Journal a copy of the town's standard operating procedure for fighting car fires. "The minimum level of protection for firefighters is full protective clothing breathing air from the SCBA," according to Policy 2.0A states.
Assistant Fire Chief Tom Eades said the incident was reviewed at a drill in July. Asked if SCBAs should have been worn, Eades said, "I would say yes ... I can't go back and rebuild the scene, but if the minimum standard says SCBAs should be worn, then SCBAs should have been worn."
Fire Capt. Tony Smith was first on the scene of the car fire, in front of Auge's salon on Spring and Mullis streets. Dressed in civilian clothes, he used the fire extinguisher from his command vehicle and then used water from a faucet to cool the area behind the dash. His command vehicle was equipped with an SCBA but he did not wear it.
Eades gave Smith credit for keeping the fire from spreading to the building.
Undersheriff Jon Zerby was next on the scene and used his fire extinguisher. A fire truck arrived 3-5 minutes later.
A firefighter looked inside the engine compartment; no smoke was visible and he did not wear an SCBA. But smoke or steam was visible when firefighters sprayed water onto the dash and into the engine compartment to fully extinguish the fire. They did not have their SCBAs on.
"If there's no toxic environment — if it's totally clear, or it's been out or a while — it's not necessary to wear a self-contained breathing apparatus," Eades said. As for the July 8 incident, "I can't say 100 percent, 'Yeah, they should have been wearing their SCBAs.' The safe thing to say is, 'Yes, you do.'"
Journal of the San Juans
Reprinted with Permission
Photographs of a firefighter fighting a car fire without proper gear Aug. 10 led to the suspension of Friday Harbor Fire Chief Vern Long.
(Richard Walker/July 8, 2010)
Related
- Photos: Firefighters didn't wear SCBAs at July 8 car fire, may have...
- STATter911: Chief Suspended Over PPE Issue
But it wasn't the first time firefighters fought a car fire without wearing their self-contained breathing apparatus, or SCBAs.
A review of Journal photo files turned up previously unpublished photos of a car fire July 8, showing firefighters without SCBAs extinguishing Connie Auge's smoldering 2003 VW Golf, parked in front of her hair salon.
Town Administrator King Fitch, who reviewed the photos, did not comment but e-mailed to The Journal a copy of the town's standard operating procedure for fighting car fires. "The minimum level of protection for firefighters is full protective clothing breathing air from the SCBA," according to Policy 2.0A states.
Assistant Fire Chief Tom Eades said the incident was reviewed at a drill in July. Asked if SCBAs should have been worn, Eades said, "I would say yes ... I can't go back and rebuild the scene, but if the minimum standard says SCBAs should be worn, then SCBAs should have been worn."
Fire Capt. Tony Smith was first on the scene of the car fire, in front of Auge's salon on Spring and Mullis streets. Dressed in civilian clothes, he used the fire extinguisher from his command vehicle and then used water from a faucet to cool the area behind the dash. His command vehicle was equipped with an SCBA but he did not wear it.
Eades gave Smith credit for keeping the fire from spreading to the building.
Undersheriff Jon Zerby was next on the scene and used his fire extinguisher. A fire truck arrived 3-5 minutes later.
A firefighter looked inside the engine compartment; no smoke was visible and he did not wear an SCBA. But smoke or steam was visible when firefighters sprayed water onto the dash and into the engine compartment to fully extinguish the fire. They did not have their SCBAs on.
"If there's no toxic environment — if it's totally clear, or it's been out or a while — it's not necessary to wear a self-contained breathing apparatus," Eades said. As for the July 8 incident, "I can't say 100 percent, 'Yeah, they should have been wearing their SCBAs.' The safe thing to say is, 'Yes, you do.'"
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by M.J. 6821 on
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Well I wasn't just talking SCBA the Boston Fire video showed guys without coats or with coats unzipped. And also just because your on the roof your getting toxins in the air from below from who knows what thats in the house or apartment building underneath you. And how do you know they aren't asbestos shingles on the roof? And I don't know about other but I'm not a big fan of the gases that burning asphalt gives off.
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Permalink Reply by Brian Mackie on
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Your right. One never really knows what is burning under that roof, and elsewhere in the structure. So, thats why we use SCBA. Its pretty much a given, that burning cars, the plastics, and fabrics, and the batteries, etc etc etc.. when they burn, nasty shit is produced. Some could actually list the exact shit that is given off during a car fire.... I could, but won't do it here because that is not really the point. The point is, we KNOW that nasty crap is burning in a car, so nasty in fact, that it really could cause health issues quickly. So we wear the SCBA. We also know that the unknown stuff burning beneath us on the roof, could indeed contain nasty shit too..even though we don't know for certain, so what do we do? WE WEAR THE FN SCBA.
As for the other PPE. Yah, I see it lots too. Coats not done up, helmets missing, bla bla bla... Can't explain why guys would want to work without it. For the life of me I just don't know why guys would want to.
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I can't figure out why officers let it happen either. If you look at other vids on this site of car fires I wonder how many times you will see ff's putting them out without using SCBA and some of these dept's Im sure see a lot of carfires so they get complacent and thats when mistakes, injuries, and heaven forbid deaths happen.
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Permalink Reply by Gary Stevenson on
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We all know what is right, or at least should. Reflecting inward and knowing my intent is to do the right thing, I am glad a camera isn't on me all the time.
I am not defending but this photo is a split second of some duration of time. Should have worn their PPE/SCBA initially but parallel subject, let's say the "fire is out" so we doff our gear. Then a minute later you notice a little steam rising from a hot spot and use the hose, cracked open, to cool it... and a photo like the one above is snapped. Would every one of us re-don our SCBA/Mask and breath air for that? I just repeat my first paragraph.
Let's critique, but not condemn. Let's learn so as not to repeat what are deemed as mistakes or momentary lapses of reason. Be safe.
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Permalink Reply by Lt. Robert Grimmer fr. on
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I have been watching the posts,,,, 100% agree with Gary. It is way to easy to "armchair" a run, let alone a photo. It would be very arrogant of any of us to "assume" we do no wrong,,, always. Remember these are our brothers and sisters. As a medic one learns "first do no harm", even our words here can and do harm. Lets leave judgments for the courts, and support in house. Yes, they may have fallen short,,,, which of us have not. Lets work together and find ways to remember proper procedure. And when it comes to Q & A on a run, let those responsible and accountable do it. With out the full history and all the facts,,, its to easy to make the wrong call. Thats my $1.25 worth ( allowing for inflation and taxes here)
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