The last week of the year is a good time to look back and acknowledge lessons learned from the past 12 months. Recently I looked through the 51 Command Post editorials I had written this year and I found a few questions for you to ponder when you have a quiet moment.

In January, I wrote about a meeting of departments in Illinois’ Mutual Aid Box Alarm System and departments from seven surrounding states. The meeting was designed to be a step forward for interstate mutual aid response systems.

So what progress has your department made in 2007 to advance mutual aid response both intra- and interstate?

In February, Campus Firewatch Editor Ed Comeau raised serious concerns about incidents involving multiple fire fatalities in 2006. That problem has continued throughout 2007, with 1,564 residential fire fatalities through Dec. 24, according to the U.S. Fire Administration. In December alone, 14 multiple-fatality fires killed 45 people.

How has your department responded to the increasing numbers of multiple-fire fatalities?

In March, the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation held it‘s second National Line-of-Duty Death Safety Summit, bringing together 225 leaders of emergency service organizations and associations to review the 16 Life-Safety Initiatives and to recommend additional actions to prevent firefighter deaths and injuries.

How much attention has your department given to implementing the 16 initiatives?

During the Congressional Fire Services Institute’s National Fire & Emergency Services Dinner in April, former International Association of Fire Chiefs Executive Director Garry Briese received the Mason Lankford Fire Service Leadership Award. In his acceptance, he said, “To those of you in the fire service and for those of you working in a job, never, ever let your job or your badge get between you and your family. There is nothing more important for you than family. By coming here tonight, we are all family.”

How often does your job get between you and your family?

In May, the fire service lost a stalwart champion of firefighter safety when John Eversole, Chicago Fire Department‘s retired district chief of special operations, died. “When the bell goes off, firefighters are a lot safer because of John,” said Chicago Fire Commissioner Ray Orozco Jr. “He made sure it was safer. He got the industry to have standards and didn’t hesitate to tell the legislators what firefighters needed.”

Have you followed Eversole’s lead? What procedures have you implemented this past year to protect your firefighters from CBRN?

During the IAFC‘s Stand Down for Safety week in June, Charleston, S.C., lost nine firefighters in a fire. The state of the ISO Class 1 department shocked the nation‘s fire service, causing heartbreak and frustration. In October, the Phase 1 Report was issued by the Mayor‘s Task Force Review Team and 200 recommendations were broken down into three levels of priority.

Did you review the 200 recommendations with your staff? How many of them would apply to your department?

In November, the Peoria Regional Battalion Chief Academy in Arizona examined the many roles and responsibilities of chief officers and targeted captains testing for battalion chiefs. “The position of chief officer is a complex role that requires leadership, management, supervision and participant activities,” Peoria Chief Robert McKibben explained. “These different roles are not always clearly defined, and overlaps do occur.”

There’s a new breed of leader being created in the emergency services. So what type of training do you offer future officers in your department?

Earlier this month, I received an e-mail that included a caption: “Worry looks around. Sorry looks back. Faith looks up.” I‘m not too worried to look around at the fire service in 2008. I‘m not sorry to look back, because I see more progress than regression in the fire and emergency services. And I have faith in the future.

Have a happy, healthy and safe new year!

“It‘s the most wonderful time of the year,” especially here in Chicago. There’s snow on the ground for this long weekend before Christmas, and there’s sure to be more for New Year’s Eve.

Between your shifts and call-outs, I hope you‘ll have time with family and many friends over the next 10 days. Can I suggest an idea for a gift from you to them? Give the gift of your knowledge.

Start in your own home by reviewing your escape plan. Ask your spouse or partner, kids and grandkids what one location would they meet at outside if there were an emergency in your home? (Babysitters should know this information, too.) Do your children have your home phone number as the first speed dial or in ICE on their cell phones?

Are there college-age kids in the family or among friends? How about buying them a couple battery-operated candles? I recently met a safety officer from University of Illinois who said they were really pitching the candles that are realistic and available in scents. These make sense for dorm rooms. The Congressional Fire Services Institute is offering battery-operated candles as a fund-raising project.

If you visit your parents, in-laws or grandparents, ask them if they know how to escape quickly from each room in their home and where would they meet outside. Do they each have an updated emergency card in their wallets with your contact info or someone who knows to notify you? Consider helping them organize a list of items to take if they need to evacuate in an emergency; prescription medicine, reading glasses and a wallet would be a minimum.

If you‘re visiting neighbors, attending parties or meeting up with friends from church, it doesn‘t hurt to bring up fire safety in a brief conversation. Do they have working fire and smoke detectors and fire extinguishers? If they had to evacuate in an emergency, what would they take?

Many people today have part-time or second jobs. How can you share your concerns for safety with those you meet? No matter what your job, no matter if you are on-duty or off, you can ask about safety in a home or business. If you work in a manufacturing facility or office, ask your co-workers if they have working fire and smoke detectors and extinguishers in their homes.

This has been one of the worst years for multiple fire fatalities in this country in a long time. If your day job is in the fire and emergency services or in industry in anyway, then make a personal commitment to bring up smoke detectors, exit plans and other safe practices in conversations with those you encounter during the holidays. Talking about fire prevention isn‘t limited to October. ‘Tis the season of sharing and caring.

Have a wonderful, Merry Christmas!

When Universal Pictures released the second Jaws movie in 1978, it came with the tag line, “Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water.” It was the original movie’s scariness that made this tag line resonate.

Many believe that the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, triggered this country’s latest economic recession. And there are some who watch with a wary eye at the current housing-market crisis to see if we’re in for this decade’s second recession.

As most know, the housing problems stem from questionable lending practices known as subprime loans. These loans were issued to those who may not have previously qualified for a home loan. The interest rates on these loans started small and ballooned. This ballooning caught many borrowers unaware and is sending them into foreclosure. These foreclosures and a slowdown in overall new home building could spell trouble for municipalities and their fire departments.

Earlier this year, the National League of Cities commissioned its annual study that looks at the fiscal conditions of cities. The researchers collected survey data from 359 city financial officers. For 2007, only one-third of the respondents said their cities were less able to meet their financial needs compared with 2006. However, 74% reported increasing fees, charges for services or property taxes in 2007. About the same amount reported increasing spending on public safety in 2007.

The report says, “The downturn in the real estate market will likely impact cities’ revenue collection in the next couple of years as assessment practices catch up with market changes.” The report also predicts that homeowners will continue to pressure cities for lower property tax rates. This revenue downturn will be compounded by increased spending demand for things like wages, health and retirement benefits, infrastructure and public safety.

“City officials are going to be facing difficult choices in the coming years — both to plan for the future and to fill gaps in revenue and spending levels,” said Donald Borut, the NLC’s executive director. “The purchasing power of cities is under tremendous pressure.”

The U.S. Conference of Mayors and the Council for the New American City hired Global Insight to prepare an economic analysis of the harm the housing crisis will have on cities. This study predicts that 2008 foreclosures will increase by 1.4 billion and represent homes with a combined market value of $316 billion. The report also speculates that property values will fall $1.2 trillion in 2008. And that, its authors say, will put a lot of pressure on property tax.

California could lose nearly $3 billion in property tax revenue and $1 billion in sales tax revenue. The 10 states examined in the study stand to lose $6.6 billion in total lost tax revenue. The study’s authors did say that these effects could be mitigated if lenders adjusted the interest rates for borrowers nearing default to avoid foreclosure. And, there are moves afoot in Washington, D.C., to relieve foreclosures.

As every fire chief knows, when budgets get tight either revenue must go up or spending must go down. And with nearly three-quarters of the cities surveyed by NLC having raised taxes or fees in 2007, one wonders if the politicians can go to the well again in ‘08. Getting new apparatus or new hires may be more difficult in the coming years.

I hope this economic downturn is, like Jaws II, not nearly as scary as the original. Yet it is prudent to keep a close eye on spending and be ready for a full-on battle to justify fire and emergency medical spending. The waters of 2008 and 2009 may be shark-infested again.

When I recently purchased new living-room furniture, I glanced at the label and asked the salesperson if the material was flame-resistant? She said yes, but I knew better.

Last month I attended Underwriters Laboratories‘ two-day Smoke Characterization Seminar. The sessions covered fire smoke basics, hazards and research, and the audience included firefighters, training officers, arson investigators, Centers for Disease Control officials, and smoke alarm manufacturers.

“When I look at this room, I don‘t think of tables and chairs, I think about fuel,” said J. Thomas Chapin, Ph.D., UL‘s director of research and development in his keynote address about fire and the smoke continuum. “You can‘t have a fire if you don‘t have fuel.”

Chapin quickly translated scientific terms into understandable language. He explained the fire event timeline, mitigation operations and the concept of fire rewind. “One of the most significant ways to improve life safety is with early intervention,” he said. “By rewinding the fire event, we can focus on new and improved forms of intervention.”

Chapin suggested five means of early intervention:

• Early detection with smoke and fire detectors;
  


• Early suppression with residential sprinklers;
  


• Efficient containment with fire doors, walls and floors;
  


• Creation of a hardened environment with fire-resistant furnishings; and
  


• Improved education and training for key audiences.
  

Chapin showed video of tests conducted to study fire and the differences between mattresses, one that was Consumer Product Safety Commission–compliant and one that was not. He also showed an upholstered chair fire that was an eye-opener.

“Upholstered chairs have three-times the chemical energy of wood,” Chapin cautioned. “The energy we’re building into our homes is three-times higher.” That’s because the raw materials are different, and much of it is imported

Chapin added that a frequent problem in universities and colleges is that students will bring foam padding to put on top of their dorm beds. The synthetic fibers add to the potential fuel load.

“Synthetics are a part of our lives — polyurethane material in the soles of shoes, cellulose in newspapers and polyesters in fleece materials,” he said.

At home, I pulled the label under my couch‘s cushion and looked closer: polyurethane foam and polyester fiber. According to Chapin‘s PowerPoint, my couch has a heat of combustion of over 10,000 BTUs per pound — that‘s not a couch, that’s kindling.

Make your choice in gifts cotton and wool this holiday season; they are fire-safe choices.

With the holiday season here, the NFPA updated its statistics on holiday-related fires. The data includes the average annual number and severity of incidents, loss estimates, and injuries and deaths related to fires from holiday decorations, lights, trees and candles.

It wasn’t surprising to find that while the number of reported fires from these causes was at 1,000 per year, there were a disproportionate number of serious injuries, deaths and high-dollar losses. It also meant that most of these incidents go unreported unless they progress beyond the homeowner’s control and the fire department is needed — and by that time, it may be too late.

The good news is that these updates were released in time for fire department to use them for a quick public-information campaign or press release timed to alert residents to the severity of these fires and inform them of the need to inspect all holiday decorations and smoke alarms.

But another statistic generated by the NFPA caught my eye even more than the holiday update. The months of December and January are the peak season for fire departments to respond to carbon monoxide–related calls. An estimated 61,000 responses were made in 2005, with over 75% being reported during the waking hours of 9 a.m. and 11 p.m., when residents usually are able to hear and react to a CO alarm. No statistics were published on when most CO fatalities occur, but my guess is that it‘s when most residents are asleep.

Most of us associate CO with older homes and appliances, but increasingly the incidents are being reported in newer homes because of energy-saving devices used in heating and air-conditioning systems. These energy efficient climate controlled homes may also keep more pollutants inside than older draftier homes. However, CO can come from many other sources, including running automobiles in or near garages to warm them, grills or generators used as alternate heat or power sources during utility disruptions, or even multiple heating units used in close proximity to one another.

Children, especially those under the age of four and even unborn children during pregnancy, are more susceptible to CO poisoning due to their size, while our elderly citizens are at higher risk because of their other pre-existing health conditions. Along with the local chapter of the American Red Cross and the local Drug and Poison Information Center, our department has worked to raise the awareness of our citizens to these dangers. Our current campaign includes radio spots that stress the need for a carbon monoxide alarm in each home and especially the need to call 911 if CO or its symptoms are suspected.

As we move into 2008, take a moment to make sure your residents are aware and familiar with the danger of carbon monoxide, the other holiday killer.

Scene of the Accident‘s Executive Director Todd Hoffman spends a good deal of his time with fire departments, particularly volunteer departments, with his accident-scene training company. Recently Hoffman contacted me because he was concerned about a recent Occupational Safety and Health Administration ruling that will affect volunteer fire departments — that all PPE, with a few exceptions, will be provided at no cost to the employee.

“Employees exposed to safety and health hazards may need to wear personal protective equipment to be protected from injury, illness and death caused by exposure to those hazards,” Edwin G. Foulke Jr., assistant secretary of Labor for OSHA, said of the rule published in the Nov. 15 Federal Register. “This final rule will clarify who is responsible for paying for PPE, which OSHA anticipates will lead to greater compliance and potential avoidance of thousands of workplace injuries each year.”

The final rule also clarifies OSHA‘s requirement regarding payment for employee-owned PPE and replacement PPE. The rule also issues an enforcement deadline of May 15, 2008.

Hoffman read the report and contacted OSHA’s Compliance Guidance Group and asked how this ruling would affect volunteer departments.

“According to OSHA guidelines, any person receiving pay, regardless of the amount, is considered an employee and therefore must receive all of their PPE at no cost to them,” Hoffman said. “I asked about the volunteer departments that only pay $1 per call to help cover the cost of gas, and OSHA told me that they would be considered an employee. They also said that all employees are required to each have their own PPE; an employer cannot purchase one set of safety glasses for 20 employees.” The OSHA final rule contains a few exceptions regarding footwear, but does not specifically exempt firefighter boots.

In a perfect world each firefighter — volunteer and career alike — would have his or her own set of safe, personal protective equipment, but that isn’t the case. If a firefighter is hurt because he or she did not have the right piece of personal equipment, what repercussions will it have on the volunteer fire department or district that can‘t afford a full set for each firefighter?

Who‘s ultimately responsible, the community or local government?

Much has been written and said about how the effort to reconfigure the 800-MHz band so that operations by Sprint Nextel no longer cause harmful interference to first responder communications is well behind schedule and likely won’t be completed by the June 26, 2008, deadline set by the Federal Communications Commission. But not much has been written or said about what’s being done to get the derailment back on track.

A big step in the right direction is the implementation meetings that the Transition Administrator is holding with 800-MHz licensees across the country. TA Representative John Bush reported during last month’s IWCE-MRT Wireless Summit in Orlando, Fla., that 15 sessions had been held, involving 170 public safety licensees that collectively have 350,000 radios affected by the reconfiguration. “The meetings have been very useful for getting people on the same page,” he said.

Participants held similar views of the meetings, which bring together licensees, vendors and Sprint Nextel in attempt to help them to better understand the mechanics and timetables of the reconfiguration effort. MRT contributing writer Alan Tilles, an attorney with Shulman Rogers Gandal Pordy and Ecker who represents numerous 800-MHz licensees, described the meetings as “the most boring meetings I’ve ever been in — but probably the most useful.” According to Tilles, each meeting has contained an “ah-hah moment,” when licensees realize the complexity of the reconfiguration and the importance of planning. For that reason alone, the implementation meetings have been “hugely useful,” Tilles said.

Chuck Jackson, a vice president for Motorola, agreed. Jackson said during the summit that concerns are growing that the vendor giant almost certainly will encounter a chokepoint it might not be able to overcome because of the avalanche of reconfiguration requests he’s expecting over the next 18 months, due to the FCC’s turning of the screws regarding completion deadlines. The commission said in September it still expects rebanding to be completed by June 26, 2008, and that waiver requests attributed to delays by vendors and Sprint Nextel would not be granted easily.

“We just don’t have the resources to do 350 customers at the same time,” Jackson said. For that reason, he called the implementation meetings “tremendously valuable” from a resource-allocation perspective.

They’ve also been valuable in terms of uncovering situations early in the process that could turn out to be unpleasant surprises at the later stages. Bill Jenkins, a vice president for Sprint Nextel, told of an encounter with an air ambulance company during one meeting. The company is not an 800 MHz licensee but operates on four systems in the state where it does business. “They could have been overlooked,” Jenkins said. “The meetings have been uncovering a lot of interoperability issues, which is very important as we move forward in the process.”

Several more meetings are scheduled for next year. More information can be obtained at www.800TA.org.