A couple months ago I got a new digital camera. Barely bigger than my flip-phone, the quality of the pictures and flexibility of this camera are really amazing. What I find even more interesting is that people don’t think it takes real pictures because it’s so small. But be warned, folks: The optical zoom limit is “10x,” and once I learn how to use this baby’s automatic video-recording feature, you’ll never know what’s being recorded.

Take for instance the photos I took at FDIC last week. I shot some great photos of trucks and new products featured at the show, but when I reviewed all the pictures in my camera I found some surprises.

On Wednesday night of FDIC, a battle of the bagpipes took place inside Claddagh Irish Pub. In the back of the pub, some 40 pipes and drums crammed together. In the photos I took, the intensity of the drummers’ facial expressions was priceless — except for the one Buckeyes drummer in a bright red Ohio State T-shirt who just grinned the whole time. The sound that came from that crowd of musicians was the pure soul of Scottish music.

The attendance at FDIC this year seemed to be the largest I can remember at any conference — either the aisles are getting smaller or the crowds bigger. I also noticed that the fitness levels of the attendees seems to have improved. I hope that means that physical fitness finally is being acknowledged as an integral part of emergency response.

A month ago, I had another great photo op when I viewed some antique fire trucks in the city of North Charleston, S.C. This weekend, the North Charleston and American LaFrance Fire Museum and Educational Center officially opens its doors to a different educational experience.

How is it different? Because it’s an example of how a city, a corporation and the local fire department can work together to create a new level of fire prevention education. The 25,000-square-foot building, conveniently located next to a new outlet mall, combines antique American LaFrance fire trucks and state-of-the art, interactive displays to create a visual and tactile experience that promotes fire prevention.

According to ALF President John Stevenson, “The plans are to have all fifth-graders come through [the museum] at some point in time on fire safety education program.

“We have 18 vehicles including pumpers, horse-drawn boilers, the ’30s and ’40s vehicles,” Stevenson added, “but it also gave us the opportunity to invest on training that children can appreciate and take back into each of their homes.”

Old fire trucks or new fire trucks, never underestimate the power of a telephoto lens.

Pierce Mfg. sure knows how to attract attention. On Thursday at the Fire Department Instructors Conference, the company unveiled one of the best-kept secrets in the industry — the Pierce Ultimate Configuration.

Wilson Jones, vice president of sales, said this truck has been in development for five years and was designed in response to fire department requests for easier operation. The full-tilt cab, multi-purpose response vehicle doesn’t have a pump house, yet still offers a powerful pump and CAF system. A simplified two-step process quickly makes the pump operational by the time the driver reaches the pump panel.

The PUC has all the safety features of the last year’s Velocity fire truck, including a new pump panel located along the side of hose connections instead of over them, as well as chest height crosslays, ladder storage and Stokes baskets, keeping “boots safely on the ground,” said Jones. Score a big one for Pierce.

Also at the show — and near and dear to my heart — is a new seat-monitoring and data-acquisition system from Fire Research Corp. The system includes a seatbelt monitor that sends an audible alarm if a seatbelt in an occupied seat is not buckled. The system also includes a lateral G-force indicator that records vehicle speed, engine RPM and throttle position, and ABS status. The system records the data, which then can be downloaded through a USB connection.

Once again the safety message came through loud and clear in the first few hours of the show.

While I often brag about the innovations I come across at industry events, I’d like to take a moment to brag about something, or someone, a little closer to home. Andy Van Sciver is a FIRE CHIEF sales representative, but his first love is his work with the Ventura County (Calif.) Search & Rescue Team.

On April 14, Andy and three of his crewmembers received the Peace Officers Association of Ventura County’s Medal of Merit, the highest honor awarded to civilian personnel. According to Matt Findley, president of the Ventura County Deputy Sheriffs Association and past president of the Peace Officers Association, the award was presented to the crew for their extraordinary efforts in rescuing a child and an adult from the side of a cliff in Rose Valley.

“The four search-and-rescue personnel decided on their own how to combine their skills of rappelling and rock climbing to rescue the child and adult,” said Findley. “Had they not been able to perform the rescue, they could have suffered hypothermia or dropped down 300 feet from the side of the cliff.”

Congratulations, Andy!

A couple months ago, I had breakfast with Chicago Fire Department Commissioner Raymond Orozco Jr. Discussion soon turned to Orozco‘s efforts to upgrade Chicago‘s turnout gear, train with positive-pressure ventilation and test Class A foam for fighting residential fires.

Orozco said that he wanted hard statistics to support the use of foam, so the department was working with Underwriters Laboratories in Northbrook, Ill., to test and compare the effectiveness of untreated water versus Class A foam in suppressing residential fires. He promised to share the test results, and as he predicted, foam did beat water.

A video recording of the UL tests shows two identically furnished bedrooms: The first bedroom was suppressed with water only, and the second was suppressed with water mixed with 0.5% foam concentrate. Each bedroom was allowed to reach flashover before the fire was extinguished. The bedroom extinguished with water quickly re-ignited, while the foamed room did not. The tests also proved that heat was diminished much more quickly using the foam-water mixture.

I recently met UL Vice President Chris Hasbrook at the Congressional Fire Services Institute Dinner, and he was extremely pleased and impressed with the data mined from the tests.

How do you endorse the use of new technology without sounding like a commercial? I‘ve been a big proponent of using foam to fight fires since I witnessed tests several years ago. FIRE CHIEF magazine has included at least one feature article every year about the advantages that foam offers fire departments and their communities.

Next week at the Fire Department Instructors Conference in Indianapolis, FIRE CHIEF will be distributing a special Focus on Foam supplement, which also will appear in our May issue. I selected seven people to objectively explain the benefits of adding a little white stuff to your wet stuff. Stop by Booth #4500 and pick up a copy, or watch for your May issue of FIRE CHIEF.

Arguments against foam include cost, maintenance and the old “water is free.” Well, there are all sorts of options when it comes to the cost of delivering foam, and the percentages of concentrate have been reduced from even five years ago. As for maintenance, newer technology and lower concentrate percentages make equipment easier to maintain. Water is free? Sure it is, so why do you buy coffee, soda or Gatorade?

Stop by FIRE CHIEF‘s booth at FDIC next week!

Recently I took a road trip with two safety officers to the National Fire Academy for a meeting. During the trip, we had a discussion about new construction materials that pose serious threats to firefighter safety — threats that are increasing rather than decreasing.

Dave Murphy, the health and safety officer for the Harrisburg (N.C.) Fire Department and an assistant professor at Eastern Kentucky University, and Dan Paulsen, assistant chief of staff development and safety for Saskatoon Fire and Protective Services in Saskatchewan, Canada, explained to me that the new lightweight materials and construction techniques being used in new buildings pose a serious threat to firefighters. They pointed out and described the variations of building trusses and the hidden dangers of glue-laminated beams or composite lumbers. Wooden trusses are used in more than 60% of buildings in the United States.

They explained how the heat from a fire would quickly melt the glue and metal, resulting in the quick collapse of roofs and floors. They also discussed the increase in great rooms or open spaces in new and larger homes along with the threats that these designs pose to fighting a fire.

This then leads to concerns about the contents of these buildings — the synthetic materials and the poisons they expel as they burn. Both men agreed that residential sprinkler systems aren’t a luxury; the issue needs to be introduced to local code councils and local governments, and the public, need to be educated.

The U.S. Fire Administration has recognized the serious threats of lightweight construction. It teamed with the American Forest & Paper Association and launched a comprehensive

Web-based education program for firefighters on the problems of lightweight construction and its components.

The Web site reveals that I-joists made of composite materials have a much higher flame-spread rate. A firefighter who steps onto a floor made of engineered wood products could fall through quickly. The site also has a link to FireFrame, an interactive tool that explains building construction methods.

The Web site features the NIOSH Alert,

Preventing Injuries and Deaths of Fire Fighters Due to Truss System Failures, which goes into even more details about construction problems and includes case studies.

All in all, this was a very educational road trip!