Fire Chief

The Fire Department Safety Officers Association’s Annual Safety Forum was held this week in Orlando, Fla. “We’re not afraid to talk about safety,” Orange County (Fla.) Fire Chief Carl Plaugher said in his welcoming remarks. “In the fire service, we have [gotten] to the point that we’ve said ‘enough is enough’ and we’re not afraid to talk about safety.”

When my father and brothers were firefighters in the 1970s, I listened for calls about an injured firefighter on our scanner, hearing the chief called for the chaplain and the chief’s wife to pick up the injured firefighter’s wife.

My mom and I would freeze at each call. With three family members at a fire scene, the risk factor is higher. Thankfully, the department never lost a firefighter, and my two brothers since are retired safely.

Last week while I was at FAMA/FEMSA meetings in Monterey, Calif., I saw two fire trucks stopped at a traffic light. I couldn’t see if the driver of the old tiller truck was wearing a seatbelt, so I asked him if he was. He replied that the old truck didn’t have a shoulder strap, but that we was wearing the lapbelt.

The second apparatus was a newer model, however, and I didn’t see a shoulder strap on that navy-shirted driver either.

Remember that the term for fuel (the structure) in the fire tetrahedron is “reducing agent.” If structural members are being reduced (consumed), why are we surprised when the building falls down?

How often after a fire or response do you hear firefighters complain of headaches, dizziness or achiness? These symptoms are pretty typical after a long, strenuous physical activity, dehydration or lack of sleep. Recent research indicates, however, that these symptoms could indicate cyanide poisoning, which occurs in firefighters more often than recognized.

Don’t those employees who are showing up too tired for work have supervisors? If so, why are these supervisors enabling such behavior? Why aren’t they fulfilling their responsibilities to their other employees and to the public by allowing only those who are fit for duty to respond to fire and EMS calls?

Many U.S. fire and EMS organizations use some form of the 24-hour shift for around-the-clock staffing, but that may soon be changing for both employers and employees. Changes may stem from employee safety and decision-making capabilities while working 24-hour shifts, organizational liability for actions by employees working 24-hour shifts, and changes in worker attitudes about work schedules in general.

Exhaust fumes and air quality frequently are sited as a cause or contributing factor in firefighter cancers, and the list of possible carcinogens gets longer all the time, but a recent outbreak of skin disorders in one California fire station has raised another concern about how firefighters can get sick inside fire stations.

Sometimes the only people who can understand your devastation are those who have experienced it themselves. Their “I survived, so can you” attitude can offer the most hope to a person in a difficult situation.

This past week was difficult for the American fire service with the funerals for the nine firefighters from the Charleston (S.C.) Fire Department. A fatal fire apparatus accident in a small town in Belgium also has had an impact on a fire department here in the states.