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Permalink Reply by DUST on November 23, 2008 at 11:15pm

I was looking one over at the last fire seminar we had here and it has a HAZMAT section and a FIRST AID section added to it and also a study guide cd comes with it.

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Permalink Reply by Jenny Holderby on November 23, 2008 at 11:46pm

There probably is a pretty significant difference in the two editions since the 4th was published in 1998 & the 5th has just come out this year. Ten years is a long time in the fire service. The CD is very likely a good tool as well. I haven't seen it yet but I am looking forward to it. If they felt compelled to publish the CD with it I'm sure it is worth it.
The new edition is correlated to the 2008 NFPA 1001 Standard for Fire Fighter Professional Qualifications and as Dust mentioned has chapters on Hazmat & First Aid. If they have changed NFPA 1001, then the new Essentials book has those updates in it effectively making the 4th edition obsolete.

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Permalink Reply by Chase Park on December 9, 2008 at 9:10pm

Essentials are still the Essentials even if it is the 5th eddition. I would recomend you allow your department to buy the new Essentials book. Maby look into some of the books you can buy through Fire Engineering mag. and such, if you plan on spending your own money.

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Permalink Reply by Rescue601 on December 12, 2008 at 1:33am

I have and read both the 5th Edition of Essentials of Firefighting and Fire Fighter Operations as well as the Jones and Bartlett Fundamentals of Firefighting and I prefer the Jones and Bartlet book.

http://www.jbpub.com/catalog/9780763771454/

The 4th Edition looks like a dinosaur compared to the 5th. The one thing I hate about the 5th edition is that they printed on very thin paper and it seems the pages will tear easy.

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Permalink Reply by Jason Brooks on December 12, 2008 at 8:07am

The big thing to remember is that the basics are the basics. But, your state's testing will most likely be based on the newest editions. Even slight change could cause someone to miss questions. Studying from the correct version can make a big difference.

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Permalink Reply by Station10Capt106 on December 13, 2008 at 12:16pm

I just got Essentials V in and am going through it right now. The study guide CD is very good. In January I will be teaching a FF I/II course from it.

John

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Permalink Reply by Brian Dumser on December 13, 2008 at 12:22pm

I got mine in 1994 when I started. I think it was the 3rd edition, I'll have to go and find it. I would assume that besides some better pictures, there would be references to updated NFPA standards.

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Permalink Reply by IFSTA on August 3, 2009 at 2:10pm

Since the publication of the Essentials 4th Edition, the manual has had a major overhaul! The 5th Edition has been completely reviewed and rewritten, and although many of the traditional skills and techniques are still the same, we have addressed them in an updated manner. The following are some of the major changes and updates.

-Only information that is either considered "best practice" or that has been verified through research has been provided to reduce information overload.
-The fire behavior chapter was totally rewritten to ensure that it is consistent with current scientific understanding, especially flashover. The National Institute of Standards and Technology assisted in this effort, so we could provide you with the best information possible.
-We have added more fire prevention information.
-Rapid Intervention Team information includes mayday information from Burkhart's National Fire Academy class.
-The graphics in the manual have also been redone. All photos and artwork are in full color, all previously shown illustrations have been updated and redrawn and almost all of the photos are new, with even more action shots included.
-Lastly, there are two different versions available. Our basic, or "fire only" edition, and our extended version, in which we partnered with Brady to feature both Haz Mat and EMS requirements.

For more information, check out our website, www.ifsta.org.

Attachments:

• E5.jpg, 164 KB
• E5Brady.jpg, 175 KB

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Permalink Reply by IFSTA on August 3, 2009 at 2:49pm

Rescue601,

We would first like to say that we are sorry about your feelings toward the paper we have used for printing. This is a new issue, as we have not had any negative feedback on this so far. We appreciate your comments and will use these to better our products, especially for the next version of Essentials.

Although this discussion is over six months old, IFSTA has just recently joined Firefighter Nation and came across this post. We are always looking for customer opinions to help us improve our manuals and resource materials. Whenever you get the chance, please let us know what you think we can improve on. Also, it seems that you have compared our manuals with Jones and Bartlett. Can you tell us what you liked and didn't like about the J&B Manuals compared to ours?

We really appreciate your feedback!

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