Thirteen firefighters have been killed in the line of duty since my last editorial. Several multi-fatal fires have also occurred recently. Ten people were killed in Kentucky, four in Texas, three in Philadelphia. There were several large downtown fires in Los Angeles, Knoxville and Kansas City and many multiple alarms battled by the FDNY. The weather, including winds, the cold and the snow, hampered firefighters all across the country. After frigid conditions following a three-alarm fire in Hackensack, NJ, turned all the hose and equipment to ice, the FDNY special-called one of its thawing apparatus to the scene to assist.
In this issue, Hal Bruno reports in Fire Politics that after 22 years as executive director of the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), Garry L. Briese is retiring. Hal says that Briese was among the first to sound the alarm that terrorism was a genuine threat and that American fire departments had to be better prepared to respond to attacks in their own cities. See the complete report on page 24.
If we don't learn the lessons from the past, then we are bound to repeat them. Vincent Dunn latest installment of Safety & Survival asks the question: Why do burning buildings collapse? He examines one of the leading causes of fireground deaths. There have been numerous multi-fatality firefighter deaths following building collapses. See page 26 for this in-depth report.
Last month, I interviewed FDNY Firefighter Jeff Cool, who has retired on disability after his jump from an upper-floor window in order to save him after being trapped. At the time, Jeff stated that it may not be today or tomorrow, but it will happen again. He is on a mission to see that all firefighters have some type of rope system. As I wrote this editorial, several firefighters in Ottawa, Canada, apparently had to jump when they were cut off during a fire.
Speaking of close calls, Billy Goldfeder reports on page 32 about a chimney collapse at a house fire in Little Rock, AR, and a firefighter becoming trapped. Wearing all of his personal protective equipment correctly probably saved his life. Chimneys have a history of causing problems for firefighters. As Billy notes, we have read National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Firefighter Fatality Investigation Reports that describe in great detail the issues of chimneys, steeples and related gravity-fighting structures that are a threat to firefighters. If you have not reviewed these, go to www.cdc.gov/niosh/fire and check out the hundreds of available reports. These reports are in-depth and state what happened and how it can be avoided.
Mark Emery reports on "The Ten Command-ments of Intelligent & Safe Fireground Operations." Command-ment I: Thou Shall Have One Competent Incident Commander. Having a fireground incident commander is easy; somebody arrives at the incident, announces "I'm in command," dons a colorful vest and begins narrating the incident using a portable radio - nothing to it. However, being called "command" is a lot easier than commanding. Mark notes that there is a big difference between somebody in a colorful vest being called "command" and somebody competently managing the incident. See page 66 for the rest of the Command-ments.
Larry Manasco reports from Fort Worth, TX, in an "On the Job" feature about the many problems encountered during a fire in a 16-unit apartment building, one of 68 in a complex built with lightweight wood trusses between floors and the roof held with nailed gusset plates. Collapse can be a very unpredictable event due to the inherent ambiguity of construction methods, quality of materials, time of burn and other unforeseen events. If something burns long enough, it will collapse, so the question is not if but when. See page 54 for the other problems that faced arriving firefighting crews and how they overcame them.
Barry Furey's report on page 80 - "Can You Hear Me Now?" - focuses on the impact of building construction on fire service communications. Many of us have experienced radio difficulties at times. Furey takes a look at some of these problems. Even though communications have gotten much better though newer technology, imagine where we would be if we couldn't communicate by radio at every incident.
