Fire Chief

On the evening of April 1, after two very productive days of intense brainstorming and in-depth discussions, the curtain finally came down on the first act of the Vision 20/20’s National Strategic Agenda for Fire Loss Prevention.

Previously, I looked at how clusters of homes on smaller plots of land increase fire hazards. In some cases, these homes are less than 10 feet apart. Fire chiefs also must view the challenges associated with the narrow streets in cluster developments from yet another angle — the actual fireground operations and tactics. Apparatus placement is significant in fireground operations. The narrow streets and long dead ends present major challenges to response and further delay rescue and suppression efforts.

Take a look at the article about hidden war costs on CNN’s Web site. Based on a report from the House Joint Economic Committee, “the total economic impact of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is estimated at $1.6 trillion by 2009.” This article also says that “the committee calculated the average cost of both wars for a family of four would be $20,900 from 2002 to 2008.”

Recent increases in interest rates have had an adverse effect on the housing market, and new-home construction has slowed significantly nationwide. This current valley follows nearly 10 years of peaks for the housing industry that resulted in a significant surge in land prices and new home costs.

I want to bring your attention to an area that the fire service needs to focus a tad more on — the socio-economic demographics of fire. Research is weak in this area and as a result public-education efforts aren’t up to par.

I’ve written many articles about the great need for fire sprinklers, but let me make it clear that I also strongly believe in the need for the three Es of fire prevention: education, enforcement and engineering. All three are very important, but if I had to put them in order of priority, I would have listed them just as I did.

The problem doesn’t start with the building; it starts with the construction codes. Our real enemies are the ones who allow such buildings to be built with little regard for the occupants’ safety and even less regard for the firefighters’ safety.