What keeps you up at night? For Guntersville (Ala.) Fire/Rescue Chief Tracy Battles, it’s the health of his firefighters and his inoperable fire station.

Guntersville Fire/Rescue has 37 personnel trained and certified by the Alabama Personnel Standards Commission. Firefighters include 15 paramedics who staff three ALS engines, one ALS/brush truck, and a special-operations response truck and trailer.

After receiving a SAFER grant in 2007 for additional staff, Guntersville opened a much-needed third station in an old aircraft hangar. The staff built crew quarters in the temporary facility.

In 2008, the department found out that the hangar was on top of a septic tank. Flooding had resulted in mold, and the building had to be decontaminated. Firefighters also had problems with brown recluse spiders that bite. Station 3 is located near Lake Guntersville, where the spiders are a problem and require costly pesticide treatments. Apparatus exhaust leaks into the crew quarters, and during an unseasonably cold winter, the station’s pipes froze.

Battles has thrown a lot of money at fixing the station’s problems. He knew it would be a long shot, but he also applied for a 2009 Station Construction Grant to replace the hangar — and was frustrated that he didn’t receive one.

“I maintained optimism that we had valid issues for replacement and that our local economy would justify the economic need for our small career department,” Battles said. “I committed to close the current temporary station due to living conditions.”

Battles has contemplated replacing the hangar with a mobile home or pole barn, yet he hesitates investing any more money in a temporary facility.

It’s tough to look at the 2009 Station Construction Grant application statistics and not think about the need for a second round of funding. Last year, FEMA received 6,025 applications requesting a total of $11.5 billion. Of those applications, 58% were for new construction and 42% were for renovations. Interestingly, 280 applications were for less than $50,000 and 20 applications requested in excess of $15 million.

A representative from FEMA’s Station Construction Grant administration process will speak at the 2010 Station Style Conference next month in Kansas City. There’s currently no talk of another Station Construction Grant, but that doesn’t mean we can’t encourage support for additional funding.

Perhaps it’s time to see if Habitat for Humanity would consider helping to build much-needed facilities for fire departments. I’m pretty handy with a hammer and am sure others would volunteer also to build fire stations in needy areas.

As I sat in on last weekend’s Everyone Goes Home Safety Summit, I realized that the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation is the perfect organization to lead firefighter safety efforts. The organization honors fallen firefighters and helps their survivors, offering support with job training and scholarships. And by doing that work for so long, it’s easy for the NFFF to notice fatality trends year after year.

We all know what the foundation noticed: Annually, more than half of firefighter line-of-duty deaths result from heart attacks or stress-related illness. Vehicle accidents and training accidents are the second- and third-leading causes. In fact, fire fatalities aren’t common.

The NFFF created the 16 Life-Safety Initiatives five years ago appear to help prevent such preventable fatalities. As part of that effort, the organization also launched the Everyone Goes Home program to deliver these training initiatives. And the programs seem to be making a difference.

With the support of the Assistance to Firefighters grant program and Fireman’s Fund Insurance, the NFFF can deliver the program across the country at no charge. Regional Advocate Manager Billy Hayes oversees the 10 regional advocates, plus state and local advocates.

Advocates are the boots-on-the-ground volunteers. In the three-month period between November 2009 and February 2010, they spoke to 733 attendees at 72 sessions. Advocates conducted more than a third (34.7%) of their visits in all-volunteer departments, followed by 26.4% in combination departments and 19.4% in career departments. During the visits, three topics dominated the discussions: incident safety and situational awareness, health and wellness, and emergency vehicle operations/response driving.

Former Deputy U.S. Fire Administrator Charlie Dickinson spoke to summit attendees about success of the Everyone Goes Home program. Dickinson recalled his experience in 1995, as the fire chief in Pittsburgh when three firefighters were killed. “It’s a horrible thing to carry as a fire chief, that it could have been prevented,” he said.

Are you doing everything you can to make sure everyone in your department returns home safely? Consider investing the time in the Everyone Goes Home program for your department.

The current economy has caused difficulties for non-profit organizations. Contributions and volunteer numbers decline when money and time become scarce. But two non-profit fire organizations are receiving some much-needed help.

For the second year in a row, Pierce and Harley-Davidson are sponsoring “Full Throttle Support 2,” which benefits the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. Through March 31, anyone who makes a donation will automatically be entered for a chance to win a one-of-a-kind FLSTF Fat Boy Firefighter motorcycle. The sweepstakes winner will be announced at a special ceremony next month at FDIC.

Last year’s “Full Throttle Support” campaign raised $135,000 for the NFFF through donations and sales of officially licensed Pierce and Harley-Davidson shirts, hats and jackets. The Oshkosh Foundation also presented the NFFF a check for $25,000.

Also receiving a little help from its corporate friends is the International Fire Relief Mission, which currently is collecting gear and equipment donations for earthquake-stricken fire departments in Chile with major support from Rosenbauer America and donations from GearGrid and Task Force Tips. IFRM President Ron Gruening is appealing to fire departments across the U.S. to donate any used equipment that is still serviceable. The organization plans to ship the gear to Chile next week.

The IFRM recently shipped two containers of used gear to Bolivia and another shipment is planned in the fall. And former FIRE CHIEF editor Rick Markley, who is a volunteer with the organization, recently went to Honduras to help with a delivery. Markley said gear items that may no longer be NFPA compliant in the U.S could help fire departments in third-world countries.

If you have equipment available to donate, contact Gruening at 612-699-8500 or Markley at 219-730-5155 or 312-840-8446.

My editorial last week generated a number of reader comments expressing anger and concern over chiefs’ inappropriate behaviors.

“Have we reached the end of our road, losing all dignity; or have we just worked beyond the breaking point,” one reader asked. “This has not been occurring just recently it has probably been going on for years and just not put in the public light ‘for the good of the organization.’” How many times have you heard that?

A North Carolina fire inspector shared his concerns over the lack of training and education for chiefs on what they can and cannot legally do to members — particularly for volunteer departments. “This extends well beyond obvious common sense criminal activities and goes into how a supervisor must legally deal with subordinates on a volunteer department,” the inspector wrote. “To date, I have not seen any courses on the legal aspects of being a volunteer chief and how they must comply with federal (and even state) laws that protect the basic rights and freedoms of a volunteer firefighter.”

Another reader suggested departments review the Boy Scouts of America’s Youth Protection & Adult Leadership policies and guidelines for junior or cadet firefighter programs. “Youth protection from adults and from other youth in the program is critical to the overall success of any activity that engages young people,” he wrote.

The Boy Scouts’ policies not only protect the youth, but also “protect adults from false accusations.” Stated rules and policies include two-deep leadership, which requires two registered adult leaders or one registered leader and a parent of a participant on all trips and outings. No one-on-one contact between adults and youth members is permitted.

One comment I found particularly interesting came from Brenda Brown, a former career firefighter/training officer in New York and South Carolina, who currently works as a training specialist for a major insurance company. She also volunteers to maintain her paramedic certification and is an adjunct instructor for the South Carolina Fire Academy. From her corporate experience, Brown wrote of her corporation’s devotion, dedication and money allocated to “our values” and all subsidiaries are upheld to the same code of conduct.

As a fire academy instructor, Brown began research on the fire service code of conduct. The International Association of Fire Chiefs developed the Fire Chief’s Code of Ethics, but Brown found that very few individual departments have a written program or even talk about it.

“When teaching classes, I ask students about their department’s code of conduct policy and get the perplexed ‘deer in the headlight’ look,” she wrote. “I probe deeper to ensure the understanding and still find that there is very little knowledge the student has on his/her department’s policy. Do department’s have and uphold the standard code of conduct and hold those accountable for not abiding by them?”

Brown is compiling examples of fire department codes of conduct. If your department has a formalized set of values or codes of conduct, send a copy to Brown at engine23@sccoast.net.

Compressed-air foam systems frequently get a bad rap from mechanics and emergency vehicle technicians, partly because of the systems’ complexity. But rather than look at the system as a whole, instructors at last week’s International Class A Foam and CAFS Academy recommend that technicians look at the three components that make up a CAFS as separate systems.

“[Technicians] need to break it down into the three main components: traditional fire pump, a traditional foam proportioner and an air compressor system,” said Ray Frey, customer service manager with Waterous Arizona, who was one of the instructors for the foam academy’s mechanics’ track. “Most technicians look at the whole system and say it won’t work. We teach them to break the system down and what components are we working on.”

About seven years ago, Frey and Keith Klassen began to develop mechanic-specific classes on foam systems. They found that they couldn’t fit all the information they had to deliver into an 8-hour class and now they insist on 16 hours for a training class in order to really delve into CAFS.

“In years past, maintaining a CAF system would be a problem because of the lack of information and lack of classes on how to maintain the system,” Frey said.

Frey, Klassen and other CAFS instructors teach the basics of CAFS, and then go in depth with the each component of the systems, focusing on the foam proportioner and the air control circuit because, according to Frey, that’s where they see most issues.

“Once we do that, it clarifies the rest for the technician. From there we take them outside to run the system,” Frey said. “We make the system not function and have the students troubleshoot and make the repairs.”

Most CAFS instructors I have met are very objective and eager to dispel myths and rumors about CAFS. In fact, due to the high number of participants in the Glendale foam academy’s mechanic track, Pierce’s Clarence Grady jumped in and helped teach one group of students.

“Rather than teach just our system, we feel we should educate on all systems,” Frey said. “It’s better for the industry and for the fire service. Our goal is to get the information out and let the customers decide which one they like.”

“If technicians don’t know how to repair CAFS, they do the firefighters no good; the technicians should be higher skilled than the firefighters, otherwise how will they know if CAFS is operating or not?”

I’ve been writing about Class A for more than 18 years, and I’ve found that three arguments keep fire departments from embracing foam: lack of training, myths, and cost. I think the benefits of using foam, however, far exceed the arguments, but then again I just spent three days immersed in bubbles.

Last week, the fire chief in Tarpon Springs, Fla., resigned after alcohol-related inappropriate behavior at a fatal house fire. While I was following up on that story, I found similar — and disturbing — incidents of chiefs in trouble.

For instance, according to the Rapid City Journal, 15 former fire cadets who claim they were molested by former fire chief Gary Scott have filed a notice that they intend to sue the Campbell County (Wyo.) Fire Department for $150 million. The notice claims the victims were psychologically scarred by the abuse, and each is seeking $10 million in damages. The notice as a precursor to a lawsuit is required before suing a government entity.

Scott started the junior firefighting program after he became fire chief in 1991, and most of the victims were cadets. The sexual abuse began in 1992 and continued until Scott’s arrest in 2007. According to other reports, the abuse also took place on trips to fire conferences across the country.

Scott, 55, is awaiting sentencing after pleading no contest to 14 state charges of sex abuse. Scott currently is serving a 24-year federal sentence on 10 felony convictions of taking children across state lines for sexual abuse. The fire department’s insurance carrier would pay any damages or settlement awards.

However, the Gillette News-Record quotes Seattle attorney Michael Patterson as saying that the fire department cannot be held liable because it had no knowledge of Scott’s acts.

Unfortunately, Scott’s story isn’t the only incident of bad behavior I found. Last week, the former fire chief of the Locust Creek (Va.) Volunteer Fire Department was sentenced to 88 years in prison for sexually abusing an underage girl. The chief was sentenced to 323 years in prison with 235 years suspended for 20 felony sex counts, which occurred regularly between February 2007 and January 2009.

Last month, a jury found a retired Los Angeles County fire chief guilty of savagely beating a neighbor’s dog. After ongoing problems with the neighbors and their free-roaming collection of animals, the former chief beat the six-month old dog with a rock, and the dog had to be put down after the injuries. The former chief now faces up to four years in prison.

Also in Los Angeles, an LAFD assistant fire chief and his family pleaded no contest to charges from a hit-and-run cover up. The chief’s son was involved in the accident, subsequently covered up by his parents. The chief, his wife, and son were each sentenced to 36 months probation and community service.

The St. Louis Dispatch reported that a 51-year-old deputy fire chief was arrested for driving a stolen vehicle and other traffic violations.

And last week in England, three Warwickshire County fire service officers were told they would be arrested over the deaths of four firefighters killed in a vegetable-packing warehouse blaze. According to the Fire Brigades Union, the three officers were believed to be involved in the incident command process and could face allegations of gross negligence to the four deaths in November 2007.

Sometimes even lack of action is bad behavior. A fire chief in Michigan avoided disciplinary action after keeping a registered sex offender employed as a paid, on-call fire department lieutenant for four years. The lieutenant’s history as a sex offender was revealed after he was arrested in November for allegedly soliciting sex from two minors on Facebook.

The comments posted to these news stories were almost as interesting as the stories themselves, ranging from pity to rage and frustration to embarrassment for the profession.

Good or bad, the Internet has made it easier to track and spread the stories. Fortunately, the good-news stories about fire chiefs far outnumber the stories of chiefs in trouble. But it is still up to us to police ourselves — before the real police have to get involved.

Last week, I attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Naperville (Ill.) Fire Department’s Station No. 10. It was interesting to see the finished product, as I previously had visited the site in late October, as they were drilling holes into the ground for geothermal heating.

Before the ribbon cutting, Mayor George Pradel spoke of the station’s application for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver Certification. “Not only is the city of Naperville looking out for the safety of the community, but for the environment,” he said. “And not only was this station was built on time and under budget, it will be staffed by existing personnel.”

According to Deputy Chief Mike Zywanski, who oversaw the construction of the new station, the land for Station No. 10 was donated to the city by a nearby developer for exclusive use for a fire station. Station No. 10 includes many green aspects in addition to the geothermal heating. The heat for the apparatus bay is radiant heat in the floors. Zywanski explained that since heat rises, rather than heating vents overhead, the department will take advantage of heat naturally rising from the floor. In addition, the boiler that heats the hot water circulating in the floor slab is the same one that heats the hot water in the station. Frosted-glass windows high above the apparatus bays allow in natural light yet limit UV rays.

The fire department received two state grants — one for the use of LED lighting and another for the geothermal system. Consequently, all the light fixtures inside and outside the station are LEDs and are expected to cut down considerably on the electricity costs.

Zywanski is proud of Station No. 10, and with good reason — his experience with Station No. 9 was “the other extreme,” he said. Zywanski will talk about both experiences during “Construction Manager-at-Risk Delivery Method” at the 2010 Station Style Conference.

“On time and under budget is a very good thing,” he added.

Do you have a minute? It seems that is about all the time anyone has these days. But a minute is enough for even the most-stressed individuals to take in some bite-sized educational updates.

The U.S. Fire Administration sends out one-page “Coffee Break” training bulletins every Tuesday. The bulletins target fire and building inspectors and provide technical training in fire-protection systems, building construction, codes and standards, inspection techniques, hazardous materials, and administrative tips. Each notice includes a photograph or illustration tied to a training lesson.

When I interviewed NFA Deputy Superintendent Robert Neale for the January Size Up, he credited Gordon Graham with triggering the idea for bulletins a number of years ago.

“I attended one of Graham’s presentations and took away the importance of short, training chunks on a regular basis,” Neale said. “Rather than trying to teach somebody to sit through a 3-hour class and retain everything, hit them with a bullet points and hit them often. Graham documented it with the short briefs at shift change for the California Highway Patrol.”

A former fire inspector in the state of Washington, Neale decided to build training tips around his personal collection of photographs. Starting in 2004, Neale put together photos and fire code lessons into a one page bulletin and sent it by email to his personal list, the Code Council list, architectural associations, fire training and local chapters.

In 2005, the National Fire Academy’s IT staff suggested Neale putting Coffee Break on a listserv with a goal to hit 5,000 readers every Tuesday. “Last month, we were at 33,639 [readers] in 13 countries around the world, which tells me there’s a crying need for that type of training,” Neale said.

Neale said plans are underway to do more targeted training bulletins, including one on arson. The NFA’s Learning Resource Center currently offers helpful tips on how to do Internet searches and research. Coffee Breaks even include short videos on fire-sprinkler inspector and main drain tests.

While short, targeted bulletins and videos never will replace full training sessions, the material offered does serve as a quick refresher or reminder that can fit into anyone’s busy schedule. The idea also opens a host of other learning opportunities within a shift, team or organization.

If your department has some unique training options, let us hear from you.

Fire departments were responding to a large fire in an old apartment complex in the town of Stepford. June Palmer had cautiously passed the fire scene on her way home. After passing the scene, she accelerated; her car struck something and her airbags deployed. Palmer’s car had hit a fire truck, seriously injuring a firefighter.

The fire truck was parked down the road while drafting water for a shuttle relay. It partially extended onto the road, but had no traffic cones and or flares surrounding it.

This scenario was the basis for a mock trial last week at the 22nd Annual Fire Department Safety Officers Association’s Apparatus Symposium in Orlando. Real-life attorneys Jim Juneau and Philip C. Stittleburg, and New York State Supreme Court Judge Robert McGann showed how the trial would proceed in an actual courtroom. Symposium attendees played the roles of the injured firefighter, Stepford’s safety officer and chief, Palmer, and the engineer from the apparatus manufacturer.

“If the jury determines that it was foreseeable, you should have foreseen the outcome,” McGann said. “You are going to be responsible.”

While the injured firefighter had settled with the Palmer’s insurance company, the manufacturer was being sued for not delivering Stepford’s new fire truck with NFPA 1901–required striping and emergency safety cones and flares.

“NFPA 1901 allows a fire truck to be delivered as long as the truck is not used until the required equipment and other required work is completed before it is put in to service,” McGann explained.

During the mock trial, witnesses testified that the apparatus manufacturer delivered the new fire truck to the fire department; however, the department opted to do the stripping and outfit the equipment through their own suppliers. The manufacturer had the fire chief sign a statement of exception, agreeing that the fire department would install the NFPA 1901–required equipment and striping on the truck before it was placed into emergency service.

Since the fire chief signed the statement of exception, the city of Stepford was obligated to complete the required stripping and installation of safety equipment on the truck. “The absence of the safety cones and safety flares left the truck vulnerable to the accident,” McGann said.

Witnesses also testified that budget restrictions prevented the chief from authorizing the required stripping and equipment, yet city council members pressed to get the new fire truck in service. With a large building fire, the chief reasoned that using the truck to draft water for a tanker shuttle away from the fire scene didn’t constitute participating in “emergency service.”

The safety officer’s notes from a safety committee meeting were introduced into evidence. The manufacturer insisted that the statement of exception was signed by the chief. The chief denied and then remembered being present at the safety meeting and discussing the required equipment.

The safety officer voluntarily produced his notes during the discover phase. “Never write anything that you wouldn’t anticipate is going to be part of the litigation process,” McGann said. “If there is a shred of paper, a conversation, a recording, an e-mail, Jim Juneau is going to have a case.”

Trials aren’t just about the evidence. They also are about impressions. An audience member asked whether a Class A uniform should be worn into the courtroom. “It depends on the people’s perception of government,” McGann answered. “I always like to have officers in uniform in court. In the last couple of years, however, we have seen an erosion of confidence in government, so it would depend on how government is being regarding in that locale; if people have lost confidence in government, then no Class A.”

Juneau, too, prefers a uniform “with lots of gold” if the chief is a good witness with a humble persona. However, if the personality of the officer appears pompous, Juneau recommends toning it down with a uniform shirt and badge.

“The trial is the search for the truth,” said Judge McGann. “When you walk in a courtroom, you don’t want to be the smartest person in the group, do you? You don’t want to be the person that the jury can’t relate to.”

Were your ears burning this week? If they were, you might be among the fire chiefs who don’t take responsibility for apparatus safety — we were talking about you this week at the 22nd Annual FDSOA Apparatus Symposium.

The event included my favorite straight-talking attorney, Jim Juneau, who spoke about “Learning from our Mistakes.”

“Every year in the U.S., there are 15,000 fire-apparatus accidents,” he said. “They range from open apparatus doors knocked off to incidents that result in 5,500 lost-time firefighter injuries for a cost of $7 to $8 billion.”

Juneau applauded the fact that the 93 line-of-duty deaths in 2009 was the lowest number in 10 years, but pointed out that 16 of those LODDs resulted from vehicle collisions — and excessive speed, improper seatbelt use and intoxication often were contributing factors. In fact, Juneau said that there has been an increase in intoxicated apparatus drivers.

“You have a responsibility to stop someone who has been drinking from getting behind the wheel of an emergency vehicle,” Juneau said.

While the ratio of LODDs compared to the total number of firefighters is small, many of the firefighter deaths — especially related to apparatus — are preventable.

“Do you have a full-stop policy in your department?” Juneau asked the attendees. “Last year was a bad year for intersection accidents. Intersection policies should state a full stop must become the accepted SOP in the professional fire service. I’m including volunteers — I mean a professional attitude.”

Juneau also shared lessons on:

Older apparatus: “If you’re driving a 1964 engine, take the lights off that vehicle because you’re driving a piece of junk, not a fire truck.”

Training on new equipment: “Get familiar with new equipment in a safe environment,” he said, referencing a fatal accident that occurred during training on a new mid-mount platform.

Power lines: “Treat all [power] lines as hot — even when they are reported as de-energized.” He encouraged that departments purchase an AC current detector and keep it in the baskets of platform units.

Seatbelts: “Enforce the seatbelt policy. Send [firefighters] home if they won’t wear their seatbelts and tell them that in your department they will wear seatbelts.”

In another program, expert witness Ralph Craven and Bureau Chief Brian Brown talked about apparatus problems in Boston Fire Department. Craven was called in three days after Boston Fire Department’s Ladder 26 lost its brakes and crashed through a tree, killing 30-year veteran Lt. Kevin Kelley.

Craven was asked to examine the wreckage of Ladder 26 alongside the police forensic team. “It took me 14 hours to take the right side wheel assembly apart,” Craven said, adding that there were no brakes in the left rear wheel.

Craven stressed that many of the problems with Boston’s fleet were from a lack of a preventive maintenance program. “Many of the problems we saw would have been discovered if the department had a P.M. program,” Craven said. “Fire chiefs must insist that not only a P.M. program is instituted, but that daily checks are done on each and every shift.”

According to a recently released district attorney’s report, several of the problems revolved around the Ladder 26’s brakes, including issues because an outside vendor uses the wrong parts on the brake system.

“If your fire department uses an outside vendor, make sure they are in compliance with Title 49, Part 396, which refers to training of individuals certified to work on air brake systems,” Craven said. “NFPA 1911 is the standard by which you will be judged and includes the out-of-service criteria.”

Stay tuned next week for discussion about the trial of manufacturer who delivered a fire truck and the fire chief who signed a statement of exception.