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Tampa2 – What Do You Want?
Various fire service leaders, figures and stakeholders meet in Tampa for a second Life Safety Summit
March 2014 is the 10th anniversary of what became our 16 Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives and the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation’s ‘Everyone Goes Home’ program. The summit this month in Tampa will look at past work in reducing line of duty deaths and take on a new focus towards other ways that the reduction can be accomplished.
FireRescue Magazine Editor-in-Chief Timothy Sendelbach wrote about how behavioral change can be the path to success in his article “Making the Commitment to the Life Safety Initiatives” and that it can also help many departments overcome the usual excuses and problems such as staffing, training and funding.
What do you want to see come from the attendees and their work in Tampa?
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Don Catenacci on
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I would like to see an emphasis on preventing the need for RIT activation through better building construction training, better go / no go decision making based on risk versus reward, better driver training with an emphasis on when it is actually imperative to run red lights and sirens, and a strong push for meaningful RIT and "Save Yourself" training.
Additionally I would like to see a push for a fireground handheld radio that actually works when we need it to. One that can survive being dropped at least 10 feet on to concrete, one that can survive being submerged undewater for at least a minute, and one that can survive the heat that we as firefighters are subjected to. Further, to me it is ludicrous that interior firefighters are issued the same hand held radio that command officers are. Seriously, an interior firefighter needs at most a 10 or 15 channel radio. We don't need to talk to the cops, or DPW, or EG, or any of the ancillary services. We need to be able to speak to the IC, or ops, or our officer or rig. Too much capability just complicates the job.
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Well that's cool. I had a long post here. Went to edit it and the only thing that survived was the word saving...
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Permalink Reply by Norm Tindell on
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Just a thought...Take a look at the wildland fire "10 and 18" Fire Orders and the Watch Out Situations. All were written in blood. I've always thought that was a brilliant risk assessment tool. Never violate any of the orders and if you violate more than a couple of the "watch outs" you must stop and reassess, preferably mitigating whatever is causing the risk. Keep in mind I'm referring more to the concept than the actual content...(and yes - "watch out" #18 is for real...) (credit: US Forest Service)
Standard Firefighting Orders- Keep informed on fire weather conditions and forecasts.
- Know what your fire is doing at all times.
- Base all actions on current and expected behavior of the fire.
- Identify escape routes and safety zones and make them known.
- Post lookouts when there is possible danger.
- Be alert. Keep calm. Think clearly. Act decisively.
- Maintain prompt communications with your forces, your supervisor, and adjoining forces.
- Give clear instructions and insure they are understood.
- Maintain control of your forces at all times.
- Fight fire aggressively, having provided for safety first.
18 Watchouts Situations
- Fire not scouted and sized up.
- In country not seen in daylight.
- Safety zones and escape routes not identified.
- Unfamiliar with weather and local factors influencing fire behavior.
- Uninformed on strategy, tactics, and hazards.
- Instructions and assignments not clear.
- No communication link with crewmembers/supervisors.
- Constructing line without safe anchor point.
- Building fireline downhill with fire below.
- Attempting frontal assault on fire.
- Unburned fuel between you and the fire.
- Cannot see main fire, not in contact with anyone who can.
- On a hillside where rolling material can ignite fuel below.
- Weather is getting hotter and drier.
- Wind increases and/or changes direction.
- Getting frequent spot fires across line.
- Terrain and fuels make escape to safety zones difficult.
- Taking a nap near the fire line.
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And now even weirder the post reappeared. This site has some strange quirks...
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Permalink Reply by Russ on
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Don you touch on a subject I have been dealing with since 1979, please allow me to lay some background. I come from a volunteer FD in Nassau County NY and like all FD's in that area, there is a heavy influence of "doing what the FDNY does". One of those things was almost every firefighter had a radio on the fireground. We had them in my vollies dept and it was nice to know what everyone was doing at all times.
When I relocated to Florida to make my professional career I "tried" to bring this concept to them and man was I met with resistance.
- you're down south now, we ain't got the money to equip everyone with a radio
- why does every firefighter need a radio?
- all it will do is become a "CB radio" type of operation-everybody talking about nothing
- what is the real benefit for everybody having a radio?
When the TV movie about Kevin Shea was run, the second he fell in the hole the first thing he did was tell somebody on his PERSONAL RADIO and I shouted that when that scene came on. YEARS LATER I was vindicated again when jack did the same in Ladder 49
But still to this day such a system has not been initiated nationwide as a benefit to firefighter safety. Your last line sums it up correctly, we need to speak to the IC our officers, truck and co workers. As for the amount of channels how about a series of allocated channels arranged to the time zones of the US that is, 10 east coast, 10 central, 10 mountain, 10 west coast and make at least 4 common because we do travel around.
now what band?
I say VHF or (UHF on field repeaters) because 800meg is too costly on a per unit cost
JUSTIFICATION: equipping every firefighter with a radio enhances safety and overall operations. It allows instant notification of occurrences and changes in tactics allowing the incident commander to make better decisions without any delays and everyone gets the message at the same time
THE CHIT CHAT ISSUE: easily overcome with TRAINING which is simple you LISTEN and only talk when talked to or have an emergency, problem or priority message-PERIOD! (i.e.)-you are within sight of your officer and he needs you to move a line, he or she will just tell you to do it, you don't need to answer back unless you are out of sight (that's how we did it)
A big complaint from chief officers is that "they don't want to have to listen to 2 radios or 2 radios doesn't allow dispatch to know what's going on or record transmissions for analysis at a later time"...(let dispatch record the channel but by distance, its going to be hit or miss anyway)
As a former dispatcher, unless I'm directly involved in fireground operations I DONT NEED TO KNOW what operations are being done because I wont be taking any independent action from what I hear downtown, its a nice to know but I know this varies from department to department so you can tweak it anyway they want
MAYDAYS; are transmitted quicker and the Varity of open channels allows the down firefighter to "own" a channel until they are rescued (again from ladder 49)-I hate using movies as an example but there it is
I will be curious to read your response to this subject because I believe in is so much and have seen its benefits firsthand, Good Post SIR!
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I carried a department issued radio for all 22 years I was a career and to be hinest there were far more incidents where I never said a word on the radio than those I transmitted a message on.
I have had a department issued radio for over 20 years on my #1 POC FD, and for almost the entire 3 years on my #2 POC FD. The same as above holds true, there are far more incidents where I don't talk on the radio than those I do.
The proper use of the radio is a training issue, plain and simple. if peopleare taught the proper way to use a radio then they mst often will use it properly. Just handing someone a radio, saying this is how you turn it on and we use this channel is not even close to appropriate training in radio use.
I firmly believe EVERY firefighter operating in an IDLH environment should have a radio.
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