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Fire/EMS Safety, Health and Survival Week 2011: Day Five: Near-Misses, Maydays and Floor Collapses

Do you know what's underneath you as you're making entry?

During the last quarter of 2010 and leading well into the second quarter of 2011 there has been a significant emerging trend developing in basement fires, compromised floor systems and assemblies leading to collapse and numerous near-miss events, close calls and unfortunatly, line of duty deaths during fire operations.

If you’ve been paying attention to the various news and on the job reports these past number of months, you may have noticed the increasing numbers of emerging trend evident in near miss, close-calls resulting in maydays, RIT deployments and self-rescue resulting from floor compromise and floor collapse. The double line of duty deaths of two San Francisco (CA) Fire fighers while operating in a Terraced (Hillside construction) residential occupancy while operating below the base level diaphragm (upper street level access). (HERE)

In December 2010, I was doing some research and posting links related to the first one or two events on Buildingsonfire on Facebook, HERE, it became evident at the time that there was an immediate opportunity to get some learning’s and insights out. If you have a chance head over to Facebook and link into Buildingsonfire and check out the incident links posted as well as some immediate report links. (Demember 2010 time frame)

In a coincidential posting on July 28, 2010, I posted on CommandSafety.com an interesting incident that I came across while preparing for a new post related to a near-miss event that occured in which a Camp Taylor (KY) firefighter survived a floor collapse that momentarily trapped him proximal to the seat of a working basement fire. Camp Taylor (FD) Captain Michael Long sustained second and third degree leg burns after falling through the floor of the burning home and subsequently being rescue by other fire department personnel after calling a mayday.

Operational Safety at Basement Fires: Close Call; Originally Posted on CommandSafety.com on July 28, 2010

This event has all the ingrediants the the 2011 Safety Week focus on Surviving the Fire Ground and managing the Mayday. Little did I know that later, in February 2011, while participating in the National FireFighter Near-Miss Reporting System Stakeholders meeting in California, would I have the chance to hear Captain Long’s story first hand, and then also have the opportunity to have him as a guest, sharing his story live on the Taking it to the Streets Radio program in February. (HERE)

Camp Taylor (FD) Captain Michael Long’s near-miss and story of survival resonates with this year’s theme of Surviving the Fire Ground- Firefighter, Fire Officer and Command Preparedness and Managing the Mayday and provides an opportunity to focus on the event in this, Day Five of the 2011 Fire/EMS Safety, Health and Surival Week activities. The details of Captain Long’s story can be found on the National FireFighter Near Miss Reporting System web site (HERE) as well as in the June 2011 issue of Fire Engineering Magazine titled, Floor Collapse: A Survivors Story. Let me state upfront also the Captain Michael Long will be presenting the accounts of his near miss event and the lessons-learned at IAFC Fire-Rescue International Conference in Atlanta in August (HERE).

On July 25, 2010, Captain Michael Long of the Camp Taylor (Ky.) Fire Protection District fell through the floor of a house during a four-alarm fire and suffered severe burn injuries. On Aug. 30, 2010, Capt. Long submitted a near-miss report based on this event. The National Fire Fighter Near-Miss Reporting System is an anonymous and confidential reporting system; however, Capt. Long wanted to have his name associated with this report so that others would understand the value of sharing near-miss events. What follows is an excerpt from his report and excerpts from a recent phone interview. To read his full report, including an extensive lessons learned section, search by report number for report #10-1072 on the Search Reports page of www.firefighternearmiss.com.

Near Miss Report Event #2010-1072

“I made sure my crew was ready to enter, sounded the floor for stability and then crossedover the threshold, entering the structure. When I was approximately 5 feet inside the structure, I felt the floor start to give way. I turned toward the front door to try to bail out, and at the same time yelled at others to get out, when the floor system collapsed. This was no ordinary collapse. More than two-thirds of the first floor collapsed simultaneously. The living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom and foyer all fell at once. “When the collapse happened, I was the only one who fell into the basement, right into the heart of the fire. All I could see around me were flames.

I could not see the hole that I had fallen through. I could not see my fellow firefighters above me. All I could see was fire. I began to try to find something to use to climb back up with. Since I did not know what type of collapse had occurred, I just started clawing away at anything as I was trying to climb. During this time, my legs were burning.

Fire was burning up between my boots and my bunker pants. The pain was intense. My deputy chief was trying to put a line on me for protection, but the fire was extremely intense. He was lying on the porch with fire shooting out over his head. He stated he could occasionally see the top of my helmet and the reflective stripes on my coat sleeves.

By a bit of luck, a roof ladder was laying in the front yard that had just been taken off the roof after the completion of a ventilation operation.

My deputy chief directed the crew to put the ladder into the hole for my escape. “By this time, I was burned on my legs and struggling with exhaustion and the intense heat. I was screaming both from pain and due to fear. I could hear screaming coming from above, butwas unable to make out the majority of it. I finally heard the word “ladder” and then felt something across my back. Once they got the ladder into the basement, I had to get around to it. I still could not see anything but fire, so this was all by feel. As I started up the ladder, I got two rungs up, reached for the third rung, and lost my grip and fell back into the basement landing on my back. I was so exhausted that I started making my peace with God that this was where I was going to die.

For the full excerpt from Captain Long’s near miss report go to the NFF Near Miss Reporting Site and Resource Link, HERE

Captain Long

Incident Lessons Learned from Captain Long:

Train as if it is real. Train, train, train, and then train some more. Take advantage of every opportunity to train. The better we are trained, the less our chance of injury. The training must be physically and mentally. Crews must focus on more hands-on scenario-based training that allows for problem solving. If crews are taught that the outcome to every scenario is static, they are not being encouraged to think. Every run is different; no single solution applies to every situation. Adaptations or decisions that are not in step with changing conditions can actually be disadvantageous. We must make the right decisions based on the correct interpretation of the environment and blend those observations with our knowledge, skills, and abilities to map a course of action that will lead us to a successful outcome. Read reality and come up with the best possible plan. In my situation, quick thinking and adapting to the problem that presented itself saved my life.
Mutual-aid training is a must. We must train more with our neighboring departments to improve operations. It is occasionally difficult to work in situations where you do not really know with whom you will be working or where the command structure and tactics differ from those of your department. We all learn from the same book; however, the interpretations and tactics differ from person to person and department to department. I am not saying anyone is right or wrong in the way they do things—we all just need to do a better job of understanding that there is more than one way to get the job done.
We cannot know exactly how everyone on an emergency scene will perform because each person has a different interpretation of his surroundings and role in the system. Standard operating guidelines (SOGs) can assist in this area, but SOGs rely on perceptions and interpretations by individuals to be implemented as intended. Accidents often happen because everyone has a unique perspective on the environment, and each makes different decisions based on their perception.
We must perceive the environment correctly to ensure we make the right move. If these actions are not communicated and coordinated in the intricate system that is the fireground, accidents will be the inevitable and regrettable results. Training and frequent reviewing of SOGs are vital to our safety.
Risk assessment. Sounding the floor prior to entry is not always a good indicator of the floor’s stability. Less than two minutes before I made entry, there were three other firefighters, at least the same weight as I, in the same area where the collapse occurred. Everything changed in a very short time. There was no warning. Adkins told me at the hospital that all he heard was a “whoosh” sound when the floor collapsed. Then I disappeared. Within two minutes, the floor assembly went from being able to sustain a live load of at least 900 pounds in that area (accounting for gear, equipment, SCBA, and so on) to collapsing with about a 300-pound load, and I was close to a load-bearing wall. A good way to evaluate risk vs. gain is to get the most accurate report on burn time as possible to help determine structural integrity.
Rapid intervention. RIT is a critical fireground benchmark and is very important for safety, but it would have been ineffective in this situation. Had my crew not reacted the way they did immediately, I would not have been able to last long enough to wait for the RIT. In the time it would have taken for the RIT to gear up, come up with a plan, and enter, I would have died. The stars aligned in my favor that night. The person calling the Mayday or a nearby crew often mitigates personnel emergencies. My crew was able to act decisively at the correct time, and I am alive because of it. It is important to remember that a large percentage of Maydays are mitigated by the crew to which the lost firefighter is assigned or a nearby crew. RIT deployments account for a small number of rescues; we must always be alert and ready for the “incident within the incident.”
Manage your emotional response. From a personal standpoint, you must rely on your training and try not to panic. Know your equipment and procedures well. I did panic, but I was still able to keep myself together enough to know not to leave the area since I had been told that the stairs had burned away. Keeping my SCBA on, resisting the emotional reaction to remove my mask because of claustrophobia, was a huge factor in my survival. If I had tried to find another way out, my crew could not have gotten to me with the ladder. Had I removed my mask, the story would have ended quite differently. When I teach, I try to train as if it is the real thing. Never take a run for granted. Always expect the worst; you will be better prepared to deal with the unexpected.
If we continually study accident reports and learn from them, the likelihood of being surprised will be diminished. Peter Leschak writes in Ghosts of the Fireground: ”In fire and other emergency operations, you must not only tolerate uncertainty; you must savor it, or you won’t last long. The most efficient preparation is a general mental, physical, and professional readiness nurtured over years of training and experience. You live to live. Preparing is itself an activity, and action is preparation.”
Talk about it. Critical incident stress debriefing (CISD) is important for ensuring that personnel from all departments on scene are taken care of emotionally. CISD needs to extend beyond just one or two briefings. Personnel involved in a highly emotional event must be given the opportunity to speak to a trained CISD team member early and be given as much time as is needed to work through their issue. Some firefighters have a macho attitude and try to deal with their emotions on their own, or maybe they don’t deal with them at all. Others self-medicate with alcohol or, worse, these difficult emotional events are allowed to fester with no relief. People should be accepting of those who deal with issues up front and tell their stories. Telling these stories makes us better and helps to keep us safe. This reduces the possibility of “snapping” because you have too much pent-up emotion.
My fellow firefighters are still affected by this event, even those who were not there. Department personnel must be open-minded and receptive to the fact that emotional events will affect your performance and your personal life and that it is acceptable to be open and deal with them. When difficult emotional situations present themselves, members should attempt to deal with them as soon as possible.
Know what is possible and what is not. Know the experience level of your crew. Going into a bad situation with a crew that may not have exposure to a lot of different situations or that you aren’t that familiar with could make operations more difficult. I had everything from a 30-year veteran to a one-year recruit, so the experience level was all across the board. I knew that the situation we were going into was getting worse and required quick action, so I took the lead to ensure that the operation would be completed as quickly as possible. I knew my deputy chief would be watching us to ensure things were proceeding safely. I knew my crew could get the job done; however, this was an operation that is not often practiced and I wanted to make sure it was done correctly. I will not send my crew into an area that I am not comfortable going into. The more you train and the more people you can train with, the better you will understand your capabilities.

Listen or download the special interview I had with Captain Mike Long as well as

Taking it to the Streets Radio Program and Interview with Capt. Long

Taking it to the Streets^TM is a monthly radio show featured on BlogTalk Radio and is hosted by nationally renowned fire service leader Christopher Naum, a 36-year fire service veteran and highly regarded national instructor, author, lecturer and fire officer and the distinguished leading national authority on building construction and fire ground operations. Taking it to the Streets^TMis a Buildingsonfire.com Series and FireFighternetcast.com Production, © 2011 All Rights Reserved

Taking it to the Streets: Near Miss Reporting and One Captain’s Close Call

Filed under Live Netcasts, News, Our Show Archives, Taking It To The Streets

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The progam was taped from the Live Broadcast on March 16th at 9pm EST

Taking it to the Streets: Near Miss Reporting and One Captain’s Close Call

On Your Street, In Your City, Across the Country, Around the World^TM

The direct show link is here

The line-up of Program guests included, Lt. Steve Mormino, FDNY (ret), Captain CJ Haberkorn Denver (CO) Fire Department and Special Guest Captain Michael Long, Camp Taylor (KY) Fire Protection District.

Grab a cup of coffee and sit down for a special two part, two hour program with Taking it to the Streets on Firefighernetcast.com where we’ll be discussing the National Near-Miss Reporting System and the untapped resources that the program and system provides with Christopher Naum and this outstanding group of fire service leaders. The second part of the program will dedicated to the personal account of Captain Long’s Close Call event from July 25, 2010 (NMR #10-1072) when a catastrophic floor collapse at a residential occupancy plunged him into a fire involved basement.

Check out the latest downloads of recent programs in the archives by visiting Taking it to the Street’s webpage on Firefighternetcast.com or for program insights at CommandSafety.com.

Firefighternetcast.com HERE
Taking it to the Streets Radio Programs, HERE and HERE
Buildingsonfire.com, HERE

Taking it to the Streets^TM, radio program hosted by highly regarded national instructor, author, lecturer and fire officer Christopher Naum, continues to provide provocative insights and dynamic discussions with leading national fire service leaders and guests on important issues affecting the American Fire Service with applications internationally within the tradition and brotherhood of the Fire Service.

Taking it to the Streets^TM, is a Buildingsonfire.com Series and Firefighter Netcast.com Production, in affiliation with the Command Institute

National Fire Fighter Near Miss Reporting System’s Support for the 2011 Safety Week

Don’t forget to go to the National Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System for number of exceptional training aids, resources, PPT and more. NFFNMRS, HERE

Here are some of the National Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System Produced 2011 Safety Week Products


File Title	File Size	File Description
Presentation: Preventing The Mayday	176 KB	A powerpoint presentation about situational awareness, planning, size-up, and defensive operations
Presentation: Being Ready for the Mayday	176 KB	A powerpoint presentation about personal safety equipment, communications, and accountability systems
Presentation: Fire Fighter Expectations of Command	176 KB	A powerpoint presentation about fire fighter expectations of command.
Presentation: Self-Survival Skills	176 KB	A powerpoint presentation about self survival skills at a mayday.
Presentation: Self-Survival Procedures	176 KB	A powerpoint presentation about self survival procedures.
Grouped Report: Preventing The Mayday	176 KB	A grouped report about situational awareness, planning, size-up, and defensive operations
Grouped Report: Self Survival Procedures	176 KB	A grouped report about self survival procedures
Grouped Report: Being Ready for the Mayday	176 KB	A grouped report about personal safety equipment, communications, and accountability systems

In the meantime here are some links I pulled together that you should take the time to read and share with your companies, personnel and staff…..

This seems like a good time to have a ten minute drill on these events as Operating Experience (OE) on floor systems and operational safety, calling or commanding the mayday.

Or take some time to visit the The IAFF Fire Ground Survival Program (FGS)site which has the most comprehensive survival-skills and mayday-prevention program currently available and is open to all members of the fire service. Incorporating federal regulations, proven incident-management best practices and survival techniques from leaders in the field, and real case studies from experienced fire fighters, FGS aims to educate all fire fighters to be prepared if the unfortunate happens. (Day One: Are you ready, HERE)

For links to the IAFF Fire Ground Survival Program, HERE and HERE

Self-Survival Procedures

FGS Online Program Chapter 3
To improve survivability in a Mayday situation, a fire fighter must know how to alert rescuers to his or her location and perform self-survival techniques. Through the study of fire fighter fatalities, NIOSH has identified specific actions fire fighters can take to help save themselves. Variations of this same NIOSH recommendation have appeared in numerous fire fighter fatality reports. These recommendations were used to create a self survival procedure that is easy to remember using a mnemonic (GRAB LIVES). Following these steps increases the likelihood of the rescuers finding and assisting the fire fighter to safety.
When a fire captain died when trapped by partial roof collapse in a vacant house fire in Texas, NIOSH recommended in report number F2005-09 that trapped fire fighters should:

First, transmit a distress signal while they still have the capability and sufficient air.
Next, manually activate their PASS device. To conserve air while waiting to be rescued, try to stay calm and avoid unnecessary physical activity.
If not in immediate danger, remain in one place to help rescuers locate them.
Survey their surroundings to get their bearings and determine potential escape routes.
Stay in radio contact with the IC and other rescuers.
Attract attention by maximizing the sound of their PASS device (e.g., by pointing it in an open direction); pointing their flashlight toward the ceiling or moving it around; and using a tool to make tapping noises on the floor or wall.

Self-Survival Skills

FGS Online Program Chapter 4

Disentanglement Maneuvers

Fires inside an enclosed structure create a mess for fire fighters operating on the floor. Fire fighters often encounter debris that has fallen off shelves, and ceiling and wall fixtures that have burned and are left hanging to the floor. These hazards, coupled with the mess a fire fighter creates when searching for victims in smoky environments, can create egress problems for a fire fighter.

As fire burns draperies, blinds, lighting fixtures, computer wiring, and HVAC ducting, the possibility of encountering an entanglement hazard increases. The overhead ducting of the HVAC system contains wires that give the ducting its stability.

If a fire breaches the ceiling and burns the ducting, the wires within the ducting fall to the floor. These wires can cause a dangerous entanglement hazard to fire fighters operating on the floor. Fire fighters must anticipate these hazards and have a plan to follow when egress is cut off.

NIOSH Alert: Preventing Injuries and Deaths of Fire Fighters

Fire Fighter Expectations of Command

FGS Online Program Chapter 5
A discussion of what command must communicate to the distressed fire fighter, dispatch, the RIT group supervisor and all others assigned to the incident to assure a successful rescue.

Here are Some Mission Critical Reference Links for Operational Insights and Operating Experience (OE) to support Your Training and Operational Needs not only this week, but through the entire year.

Here are some Safety Considerations related to Residential Occupancies (non-inclusive) for Operations at Basement Fires that will support fireground operational safety:

Conduct a thorough fire size-up and communicate the findings to all personnel on-scene before entering the building.
Conduct an assessment of the Building Profile ( building construction type, structural assembly systems and features and age) and assesss fire behavior and intensity levels.
Ensure an adequte Risk Assessement is conducted and that Risk versus Gain is determined
Maintain situational awareness throughout the tactical deployment of crews within the interior of the structure
Conduct a 360 degree perimeter assesement when feasible to determine access and egress points, fire location and travel and other mission critical operational perameters.
Incident commanders and company officers should be trained and experienced in structure fire size up to avoid putting fire fighters at unneeded risk of working above fire-damaged floors.
Do not enter a structure, room, or area when fire is suspected to be directly beneath the floor or area where fire fighters would be operating, or if the location of the fire is unknown.
Never assume structural safety of any floor (regardless of the construction) having a significant fire under it.
Conduct pre-incident planning inspections during the construction phase to identify the type of floor construction.
If pre-planning is not conducted, assume residential construction and small commercial buildings built since the early 1990s may contain engineered wood I-joists.
Report construction deficiencies noted during preplanning to local building code officials. For example, engineered wood floor joists should only be modified per manufacturer specifications—usually limited to cutting to length and removing pre–cut knockouts for utility access. Report damaged or cut chords or webs to building officials.
Develop, enforce, and follow standard operating procedures (SOPs) on how to size up and combat fires safely in buildings of all construction types. Rapid intervention teams (RIT) should include a portable ladder with their RIT equipment when deployed at basement fires.
Ensure Time Compression is considered: Ensure Command has the ability to monitor progress or elapsed incident time and adjusts strategic and tactical plans accordingly and in a time effective manner.
Provide training on identifying signs of weakened floor systems (soft or spongy feel, heat transmitted through floor, downward bowing, etc.).
Make fire fighters aware that all floor types can fail with little or no warning.
Use a thermal imaging camera to help locate fires burning below or within floor systems, but recognize that the camera cannot be relied upon to assess the strength or safety of the floor. (Refer to the recent UL Test Data and Operational Safety Considerations ”Structural Stability of Engineered Lumber in Fire Conditions” available at http://www.uluniversity.us/ )
Fire fighters should be trained on the use of thermal imaging cameras, including limitations and difficulties in detecting fire burning below floor systems. (See reference to UL above)
Immediately evacuate and, if possible, use alternate exit routes when floor systems directly beneath the floor where fire fighters would be operating are weakened by fire.
Use defensive overhaul procedures after fire extinguishment in structures containing fire-damaged floor systems of all types.
Consider becoming active in the building code process and influence requirements for fire resistance of floor and ceiling systems to further fire fighter safety and health.
Ensure RIT personnel area staged and have complete a site assessment of the building and occupany upon thier arrival and set-up
Ensure that a rapid intervention team (RIT) is on the scene as part of the first alarm and in position to provide immediate assistance prior to crews entering a hazardous environment

Here’s some screen shots from Buildingsonfire on Facebook. Go HERE or follow the link at the left column. Join the growing list of over 3900 fans with Buildingsonfire on Facebook and Buildingsonfire.com

Posted by Christopher Naum on June 22, 2011 • Filed under: "firefighter safety", "health and safety", "pre-fire planning", "Safety Week", "Situational Awareness" assessment, assemblies, building construction, Building Construction for the Fire Service, buildings, buildingsonfire.com, Christopher Naum, close-call, command presence, construction, courage to be safe, Engineered Structural Systems, ESS, failures, fire behavior, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, fires, floors, IAFC, IAFF, LODD, Mayday, Naum, NFFF, NFPA, NIOSH • Tagged: 16 Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives, 2011 Fire/EMS Safety Week Training Resources, 2011 Focus: Surviving the Fire Ground – Fire Fighter, 2011 Planning and Resource Aid for Training Deliveries, 2011 Safety Health and Survival Week, 2011 Surviving the Fire Ground- Firefighter Fire Officer and Command Preparedness, Basement Fire Near Miss events, Basement fire operations safety, basement fires, Building, building construction, Building Construction for the Fire Service, Buildingsonfire, buildingsonfire.com, Buildingsonfre.com, Camp Taylor (FD) Captain Michael Long, Chicago Fire Department Courage to Be Safety, Chris Naum, Christopher Naum, combat fire suppression, commandsafety.com, compromised floor systems and assemblies leading to collapse, Diamond Heights section, Everyone Goes Home Program, FDNY Courage to BE Safet, fire behavior, fire dynamics, Fire Fighter Safety Week, Fire Fighting, Fire Officer & Command Preparedness, Fire Service LODD from Basement fires, fire suppression, Fire/EMS Safety, Fire/EMS Safety Health & Surival Week 2011, Fire/EMS Safety Health & Surival Week 2011: Day One- Are You Ready, Firefighter Close-call, Fireground Operations, Flashover, flashover lodd, Health and Survival Week 2011: Day Five: Near-Misses Maydays and Floor Collapses, Hillside construction firefighting safety, IAFC, IAFF, Incident Command, Initial Fire Attack, LODD, Lt Vincent Perez, Mayday, Mayday Training, mayday-prevention program, Nation Fire Fighter Near Miss Reporting Systems, National Fire Fighter Near Miss Reporting System 2011 Safety Week Resources, National FireFighter Near Miss Reporting System, National Near Miss Reporting System, Near Miss Reporting System, near-miss, NFFF, NIOSH, NIOSH Alerts, NIOSH Fire Fighter Fatality Investigative Reports, NIOSH Reports, NMR, operations, Preventing the Mayday, residential occupancy, RIT, RIT Training, Safety Considerations and Operations at Basement Fires, Safety Considerations related to Residential Occupancies (non-inclusive) for Operations at Basement Fires, Safety Health and Survival Section, San Francisco FD, San Francisco FD LODD June 2011, SFFD, SFFD Diamond Heights Fire, Sixteen Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives, Surviving the Fire Ground – Fire Fighter Fire Officer and Command Preparedness, tactics, Terraced (Hillside construction) residential occupancy, Terraced Occupancy Firefighting, Wind Driven Fire

Fire/EMS Safety, Health and Survival Week: Day Four -The New Fire Ground

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Fire/EMS Safety, Health and Survival Week: Day Four -The New Fire Ground

There is an immediate need for today’s emerging and operating command and company officers to increase their foundation of knowledge and insights related to the modern building occupancy, building construction and fire protection engineering and to adjust and modify traditional and conventional strategic operating profiles in order to safeguard companies, personnel and team compositions.

Strategies and tactics must be based on occupancy risk, not occupancy type, and must have the combined adequacy of sufficient staffing, fire flow and tactical patience orchestrated in a manner that identifies with the fire and building profiling, predictability of the occupancy profile and accounts for presumptive fire behavior. It is not your old method of size-up and operational deployment.

The dramatic changes in buildings and occupancies over the past ten years have resulted inadequate fire suppression methodologies based upon conventional practices that do not align with the manner in which we used to discern with a measured degree of predictability how buildings would perform, react and fail under most fire conditions. These past presumptions, which many of us debated with our esteemed colleagues, are being validated through empirical data resulting from the cutting edge research and testing being conducted today by UL and NIST.

Predicting Fire Behavior and Building Stability

We predicate certain expectations that fire will travel in a defined (predictable) manner that fire will hold within a room and compartment for a predictable given duration of time; that the fire load and related fire flows required will be appropriate for an expected size and severity of fire encountered within a given building, occupancy, structural system and given an appropriately trained and skilled staff to perform the requisite evolutions, we can safely and effectively mitigate a structural fire situation in any given building type and occupancy.

Past operational experiences, both favorable and negative; gave us experiences that define and determine how the fireground is assessed, react and how we expect similar structures and occupancies to perform at a given alarm in the future; this formed the basis for the naturalistic decision-making process.

Implementing fundamentals of firefighting operations built upon nine decades of time-tested and experience-proven strategies and tactics continues to be the model of suppression operations. These same fundamental strategies continue to drive methodologies and curriculums in our current training programs and academies of instructions.

Are you aware of the defining changes in structural systems and support, the degree of compartmentation,

the characteristics of materials and the magnitude of the fire-loading package in today’s buildings and occupancies?
When was the last time you were out in the street with the companies, or spent some time doing a walk-through of construction or renovations site?
Have you asked you commanding officers, division or battalion chief or your company officers for insights into what operational demands and risks are being imposed upon them while operating in the street and within the buildings, occupancies and structures that comprise your jurisdiction?

The structural anatomy, predictability of building performance under fire conditions, structural integrity and the extreme fire behavior; accelerated growth rate and intensively levels typically encountered in buildings of modern construction during initial and sustained fire suppression have given new meaning to the term combat fire engagement.

It’s no longer just brute force and sheer physical determination that define structural fire suppression operations, although any seasoned command and company officer knows that at times. It’s what gets the job done under the most arduous and demanding of circumstances.

However, from a methodical and disciplined perspective; aggressive firefighting must be redefined and aligned to the built environment and associated with goal-oriented tactical operations that are defined by risk assessed and analyzed strategic processes that are executed under battle plans that promote the best in safety practices and survivability within known hostile structural fire environments.

The demands and requirements of modern firefighting will continue to require the placement of personnel within situations and buildings that carry risk, uncertainty and inherent danger. As a result, risk management must become fluid and integrated with intelligent tactical deployments and operations recognizing the risk problematically and not fatalistically, resulting in safety conscious strategies and tactics.

Today’s incident commanders need to think about the Predicative Strategic Process, refined Tactical Deployment Models integrating intelligent Structural Anatomy and Predictive Occupancy Profiling, while implementing Tactical Patience.

Think about the following;

Read, comprehend and implement the new IAFC The Rules of Engagement for Firefighter Survival and The Incident Commanders Rules of Engagement for Firefighter Safety
Take a tour of your response area, district, community or city.
Take a good look around and begin to recognize the apparent or subtle changes that are affecting your incident operations; Take note and think about what needs to be adjusted, modified or changed in your operations.
Read up on the latest research and technical literature on wind driven fires, extreme fire behavior, structural ability of engineered lumber systems, fire loading and suppression theory
Take the time to personally read a series of the latest NIOSH Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program LODD reports and relate them to your organizations operations and jurisdictional risks.
Start thinking in terms of Occupancy Risks versus Occupancy Type and align your operations and deployments to match those risks
Increase your situational awareness of today’s fireground and refine your strategic and tactical modeling
Implement both Strategic and Tactical Patience; Slow down and allow the building to react and stabilize, for fire behavior to stop behaving badly and for your companies to increase survivability ratios while meeting the demands of conducting fire service operations
Think about Adaptive Fire Ground Management and Command Resiliency
Reprogram your assumptions and presumptions and options on building construction and firefighting operations; the buildings have changed, our firefighting has not; what are you going to do about that gap?

If you don’t fully understand how a building truly performs or reacts under fire conditions and the variables that can influence its stability and degradation, movement of fire and products of combustion and the resource requirements for fire suppression in terms of staffing, apparatus and required fire flows, then you will be functioning and operating in a reactionary manner that is no longer acceptable within many of our modern building types, occupancies and structures.

This places higher risk to your personnel and lessens the likelihood for effective, efficient and safe operations. You’re just not doing your job effectively and you’re at risk. These risks can equate into insurmountable operational challenges and could lead to adverse incident outcomes. Someone could get hurt, someone could die, it’s that simple; it’s that obvious.

It’s all about understanding the building-occupancy relationships and the art and science of firefighting, equating to Building Knowledge = Firefighter Safety.

Check out the latest downloads of recent programs in the archives by visiting Taking it to the Street’s webpage on Firefighternetcast.com or for program insights at CommandSafety.com.

Firefighternetcast.com HERE
Taking it to the Streets Radio Programs, HERE and HERE
Buildingsonfire.com, HERE

A Buildingsonfire.com Series and Firefighter Netcast.com Production

Taking it to the Streets had its premier July 21^st on Firefighter Netcast.com with a lively and provoking discussion on “What’s on YOUR Radar Screen?” The program theme aligned with a recent posting on the same topic. Joining me on the program were two prominent and nationally recognized fire service leaders, who I’m honored to have known for many years, Chief Billy Hayes and Chief Doug Cline; the program explored leading fire service issues affecting firefighter safety, training, credentialing and education; fireground operational variables related to the continuing changes in building construction, engineered systems and extreme fire behavior, and the emerging need for “Tactical Patience” as I’ve been exploring the relationships towards the need for tactical enhancements to our current fire suppression theory and firefighting models.

Conversations expanded on the NFFF/Everyone Goes Home Campaign and programs, the newest EGH initiatives on Behavioral Health and the successes achieved through the Courage to be Safe Programs and the Advocacy Program.

The Premiere of Christopher Naum’s “Taking It to the Streets”

Filed under Archived Audio, Live Netcasts, News, Taking It To The Streets

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Taking it to the Streets premiered on Wednesday July 21st 9:00pm ET

Download the Program HERE

The New Fire Ground

NIST Wind Driven Fire Study

Smoke and heat spreading through the corridors and the stairs of a building during a fire can limit building occupants’ ability to escape and can limit fire fighters’ ability to rescue them. Changes in the building’s ventilation or presence of an external wind can increase the energy release of the fire. This can also increase the spread of fire gases through the building. In some cases, such as the Cook County Administration Building fire in October 2003, the fire gas flow, into the corridors and the stairway prevented fire fighters from suppressing the fire from inside the structure. This fire resulted in 6 building occupant fatalities and fire fighter injuries in the stairway. The Fire Department of New York City has experienced many wind driven fire incidents which have resulted in fire fighter fatalities and injuries, as have a number of other incidents nationally that have resulted in increased research into this operational and tactical challenge.
What tactics or tools are appropriate for use with a wind driven fire and how should the tactics or tools be implemented? Positive Pressure Ventilation (PPV) is being used by fire departments on smaller structures, such as single family homes, to control the fire flow by introducing pressure from the front door and venting the house through a strategic exit opening. If done correctly, this tactic can remove significant amounts of heat and smoke from the structure, thus improving the fire fighters’ working environment and improving the chances of survival for the building occupants. NIST has completed several studies which have a two fold impact: 1) providing guidance on the safe use of PPV and 2) characterizing and validating the modeling of PPV with a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) computer model, so that the model can be used as a training tool for the fire service.
This project extends previous work for ventilation under wind driven conditions. There are many questions regarding wind driven fires. For example can these PPV fans be used successfully under wind driven fire conditions in large structures? Large structures, such as high rise buildings, provide additional challenges to fire fighter and building occupant safety: increased travel distance (exposure time), more complicated egress path, and potentially larger fires. In 2002 there were 7,300 reported fires in high rise structures.
Other tactics incorporating devices, such as wind control devices (WCD) to control the ventilation conditions or the use of a “high rise” nozzle from the floor below the fire floor have been tried by the fire service under “real fire” conditions with varying levels of success.
A comprehensive free DVD set from the NIST includes a presentation video that explains PPV, examines the results of NIST’s PPV research, and closes with a focus on the use of PPV tactics in high-rise buildings. All of the NIST PPV reports referenced in the presentation are included on Disc 1 of the set. All of the videos from the high-rise fire experiments are also provided with a user-friendly, graphic menu that can be used on a PC or a DVD player. NIST, with support from USFA, DHS, and fire departments across the country, has taken engineering principles and applied them to fire service PPV tactics in order to improve fire fighter safety
NIST References HERE and HERE

NIST Fire Fighting Tactics Under Wind Driven Conditions: Laboratory Experiments

A series of experiments was conducted in our Large Fire Laboratory to examine the impact of wind control curtains and externally applied hose streams on a wind driven fire. The results from these experiments will allow us to better understand the fire dynamics within a structure and provide guidance as to the important measurements needed in the future experiments in a high-rise on Governor’s Island in New York City.
Fire Fighting Tactics Under Wind Driven Conditions Report, HERE
Reference Data HERE

NIST Firefighter Safety and Deployment Study; Report on Residential Fireground Field Experiments

The NIST Firefighter Safety and Deployment Study; Titled- Report on Residential Fireground Field Experiments was recently released to the public providing . A copy of the report is attached.
Report Abstract:
Service expectations placed on the fire service, including Emergency Medical Services (EMS), response to natural disasters, hazardous materials incidents, and acts of terrorism, have steadily increased. However, local decision-makers are challenged to balance these community service expectations with finite resources without a solid technical foundation for evaluating the impact of staffing and deployment decisions on the safety of the public and firefighters. For the first time, this study investigates the effect of varying crew size, first apparatus arrival time, and response time on firefighter safety, overall task completion, and interior residential tenability using realistic residential fires.
This study is also unique because of the array of stakeholders and the caliber of technical experts involved. Additionally, the structure used in the field experiments included customized instrumentation; all related industry standards were followed; and robust research methods were used. The results and conclusions will directly inform the NPFA 1710 Technical Committee, who is responsible for developing consensus industry deployment standards.
This report presents the results of more than 60 laboratory and residential fireground experiments designed to quantify the effects of various fire department deployment configurations on the most common type of fire—a low hazard residential structure fire. For the fireground experiments, a 2,000 sq ft (186 m2), two-story residential structure was designed and built at the Montgomery County Public Safety Training Academy in Rockville, MD. Fire crews from Montgomery County, MD and Fairfax County.
Report results quantify the effectiveness of crew size, first-due engine arrival time, and apparatus arrival stagger on the duration and time to completion of the key 22 fireground tasks and the effect on occupant and firefighter safety.
The report is also available for download at the NIST, HERE
Synopsis HERE

USFA/NIST Trends in Firefighter Fatalities Due to Structural Collapse, 1979-2002

Between the years 1979 and 2002 there were over 180 firefighter fatalities due to structural collapse, not including those firefighters lost in 2001 in the collapse of the World Trade Center Towers. Structural collapse is an insidious problem within the fire fighting community. It often occurs without warning and can easily cause multiple fatalities.
As part of a larger research program to help reduce firefighter injuries and fatalities the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) funded the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to examine records and determine if there were any trends and/or patterns that could be detected in firefighter fatalities due to structural collapse. If so, these trends could be brought immediately to the attention of training officers and incident commanders and investigated further to determine probable causes.
Report: Trends in Firefighter Fatalities Due to Structural Collapse1979-2002

UL Fire Academy CBT

UL Structural Stability of Engineered Lumber in Fire Conditions
Base on the UL research and
This two-hour presentation summarizes a research study on the hazards posed to firefighters by the use of lightweight construction and engineered lumber in floor and roof designs. This free on-line computer based presentation will allow fire professionals to better interpret fire hazards and assess risk for life safety of building occupants and firefighters.
This online firefighter training course is the result of a research partnership among UL, the Chicago Fire Department, IAFC, and Michigan State University, funded in part by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. This self-guided course, which focuses on the structural stability of engineered lumber under fire conditions, is targeted toward the 1.1 million fire service personnel in the United States and Canada. The knowledge developed and shared in this course is critically important to firefighter and civilian safety.
This two-hour presentation summarizes a research study on the hazards posed to firefighters by the use of lightweight construction and engineered lumber in floor and roof designs. This free on-line computer based presentation will allow fire professionals to better interpret fire hazards and assess risk for life safety of building occupants and firefighters.
Program Objectives:
Provide brief history of events leading up to DHS Grant tests
Identify the fire test hypothesis, parameters, and steps completed in the testing process
Compare tests results (legacy vs. modern construction)
Communicate learnings from our partners representing the fire service
Discuss code recommendations
UL University on-line Program HERE

Fire Behavior 101; Taking it to the Streets

Impact of Ventilation on Fire Behavior in Legacy and Contemporary Residential Construction

For many of you that have been following my writings and perspectives on building construction, firefighting, command risk management and operational excellence for firefighter safety have long recognized that I have been promoting and advocating the fact the fireground is changing, our strategies and tactics demand change and does the demand for increased knowledge within the areas of building construction, fire dynamics, while integrating the art and science of firefighting. The most recent release of the testing report from Underwriters Laboratories; Impact of Ventilation on Fire Behavior in Legacy and Contemporary Residential Construction and the accompanying empirical data further validates assumptions and premises that many of us shared based upon field observations and first hand incident operations related to the dramatic changes being witnessed as a result of operational challenges in a wide variety of occupancies and building types.

This material is a must read for all emerging and practicing company and command officers ( for starters) to being grasping the magnitude and extent of quantifiable data that supports the premise that combat fire engagement and suppression operations and the rules of engagement are going to change and that change is fast approaching.

Here’s the executive summary of the report and findings from UL. For an download of the entire UL Report, go HERE.

The results of these experiments provide knowledge for the fire service for them to examine their thought processes, standard operating procedures and training content. Several tactical considerations were developed utilizing the data from the experiments to provide specific examples of changes that can be adopted based on a departments current strategies and tactics.

Under the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistance to Firefighter Grant Program, Underwriters Laboratories examined fire service ventilation practices as well as the impact of changes in modern house geometries.

There has been a steady change in the residential fire environment over the past several decades. These changes include larger homes, more open floor plans and volumes and increased synthetic fuel loads. This series of experiments examine this change in fire behavior and the impact on firefighter ventilation tactics.

This fire research project developed the empirical data that is needed to quantify the fire behavior associated with these scenarios and result in immediately developing the necessary firefighting ventilation practices to reduce firefighter death and injury.

Two houses were constructed in the large fire facility of Underwriters Laboratories in Northbrook, IL.
The first of two houses constructed was a one-story, 1200 ft2, 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom house with 8 total rooms.
The second house was a two-story 3200 ft2, 4 bedroom, and 2.5 bathroom house with 12 total rooms.
The second house featured a modern open floor plan, two story great room and open foyer.

Fifteen experiments were conducted varying the ventilation locations and the number of ventilation openings. Ventilation scenarios included ventilating the front door only, opening the front door and a window near and remote from the seat of the fire, opening a window only and ventilating a higher opening in the two-story house.

One scenario in each house was conducted in triplicate to examine repeatability. The results of these experiments provide knowledge for the fire service for them to examine their thought processes, standard operating procedures and training content. Several tactical considerations were developed utilizing the data from the experiments to provide specific examples of changes that can be adopted based on a departments current strategies and tactics.

The tactical considerations addressed include:

Stages of fire development: The stages of fire development change when a fire becomes ventilation limited.
- It is common with today’s fire environment to have a decay period prior to flashover which emphasizes the importance of ventilation
Forcing the front door is ventilation: Forcing entry has to be thought of as ventilation as well.
- While forcing entry is necessary to fight the fire it must also trigger the thought that air is being fed to the fire and the clock is ticking before either the fire gets extinguished or it grows until an untenable condition exists jeopardizing the safety of everyone in the structure.
No smoke showing: A common event during the experiments was that once the fire became ventilation limited the smoke being forced out of the gaps of the houses greatly diminished or stopped all together.
- No some showing during size-up should increase awareness of the potential conditions inside.
Coordination: If you add air to the fire and don’t apply water in the appropriate time frame the fire gets larger and safety decreases.
- Examining the times to untenability gives the best case scenario of how coordinated the attack needs to be.
- Taking the average time for every experiment from the time of ventilation to the time of the onset of firefighter untenability conditions yields 100 seconds for the one-story house and 200 seconds for the two-story house
- In many of the experiments from the onset of firefighter untenability until flashover was less than 10 seconds.
- These times should be treated as being very conservative. If a vent location already exists because the homeowner left a window or door open then the fire is going to respond faster to additional ventilation opening because the temperatures in the house are going to be higher.
- Coordination of fire attack crew is essential for a positive outcome in today’s fire environment.
Smoke tunneling and rapid air movement through the front door: Once the front door is opened attention should be given to the flow through the front door.
- A rapid in rush of air or a tunneling effect could indicate a ventilation limited fire.
Vent Enter Search (VES): During a VES operation, primary importance should be given to closing the door to the room.
- This eliminates the impact of the open vent and increases tenability for potential occupants and firefighters while the smoke ventilates from the now isolated room.
Flow paths: Every new ventilation opening provides a new flow path to the fire and vice versa.
- This could create very dangerous conditions when there is a ventilation limited fire.
Can you vent enough?: In the experiments where multiple ventilation locations were made it was not possible to create fuel limited fires.
- The fire responded to all the additional air provided.
- That means that even with a ventilation location open the fire is still ventilation limited and will respond just as fast or faster to any additional air.
- It is more likely that the fire will respond faster because the already open ventilation location is allowing the fire to maintain a higher temperature than if everything was closed. In these cases rapid fire progression if highly probable and coordination of fire attack with ventilation is paramount.
Impact of shut door on occupant tenability and firefighter tenability: Conditions in every experiment for the closed bedroom remained tenable for temperature and oxygen concentration thresholds.
- This means that the act of closing a door between the occupant and the fire or a firefighter and the fire can increase the chance of survivability.
- During firefighter operations if a firefighter is searching ahead of a hoseline or becomes separated from his crew and conditions deteriorate then a good choice of actions would be to get in a room with a closed door until the fire is knocked down or escape out of the room’s window with more time provided by the closed door
Potential impact of open vent already on flashover time: All of these experiments were designed to examine the first ventilation actions by an arriving crew when there are no ventilation openings.
- It is possible that the fire will fail a window prior to fire department arrival or that a door or window was left open by the occupant while exiting.
- It is important to understand that an already open ventilation location is providing air to the fire, allowing it to sustain or grow.
Pushing fire: There were no temperature spikes in any of the rooms, especially the rooms adjacent to the fire room when water was applied from the outside. It appears that in most cases the fire was slowed down by the water application and that external water application had no negative impacts to occupant survivability.
- While the fog stream “pushed” steam along the flow path there was no fire “pushed”.
No damage to surrounding rooms: Just as the fire triangle depicts, fire needs oxygen to burn.
- A condition that existed in every experiment was that the fire (living room or family room) grew until oxygen was reduced below levels to sustain it.
- This means that it decreased the oxygen in the entire house by lowering the oxygen in surrounding rooms and the more remote bedrooms until combustion was not possible.
- In most cases surrounding rooms such as the dining room and kitchen had no fire in them even when the fire room was fully involved in flames and was ventilating out of the structure.

Online Training Program

In order to make the results of this study more user friendly for the fire service to examine, UL developed an online interactive training module that can be viewed by clicking here. The program includes a professionally narrated description of all of the experiments, their results and the tactical considerations. Experimental video is used and graphical data is explained in a way that brings science to the street level firefighter.

UL University On-Line CBT

Taking it to the Streets, Hosted By Christopher Naum on FireFighterNEtcast.com. Tactical Renaissance and The New Rules of Combat Engagement. September, 2010 Radio Program. Download HERE
IAFC: The Rules of Engagement for Firefighter Survival and The Incident Commanders Rules of Engagement for Firefighter Safety, HERE and HERE and HERE
NIOSH Publication No. 2010-153:NIOSH Alert: Preventing Deaths and Injuries of Fire Fighters using Risk Management Principles at Structure Fires, HERE
What’s on your Radar Screen; http://commandsafety.com/2010/07/whats-on-your-radar-screen/
Reflecting upon these days of June; http://commandsafety.com/2010/06/reflecting-on-these-days-of-june/

Posted by Christopher Naum on June 21, 2011 • Filed under: "firefighter safety", "health and safety", "Safety Week", building construction, Building Construction for the Fire Service, buildings, Christopher Naum, close-call, Combat Fire Engagement, construction, decision-making, fire behavior, Fire Protection Engineering, fire suppression, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, History Repeating Event • Tagged: 16 Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives, 2011 Fire/EMS Safety Health and Survival Week: Day Four -The New Fire Ground, 2011 Fire/EMS Safety Week Training Resources, 2011 Focus: Surviving the Fire Ground – Fire Fighter, 2011 Planning and Resource Aid for Training Deliveries, 2011 Safety Health and Survival Week, Adaptive Fireground Management, Bailout, bailout Ropes, building construction, Building Construction for the Fire Service, Buildingonfire.com, Buildingsonfre.com, Chris Naum, Christopher Naum, collapse rescue operations, commandsafety.com, Emerging Fire Suppression Theory, Everyone Goes Home Program, FD strategies and tactics, fire, fire behavior, fire dynamics, fire dynamics and fire behavior, Fire Fighter Safety Week, Fire Fighting, Fire Ground Operations, Fire Load Package, fire loading, Fire Officer & Command Preparedness, Fire Research, Fire Service Operational Excellence, fire service ventilation practices, fire suppression, Fire/EMS Safety Health & Surival Week 2011, Fire/EMS Safety Health and Survival Week: Day Four -The New Fire Ground, Fire/EMS Safety Health and Survival Week: Day Three-The New Rules of Engagement, firefight LODD, firefighter injuries, Firefighternetcast.com, firefighting, Fireground Operations, Flashover, IAFC, IAFF, LODD, Mayday, Mayday Training, mayday-prevention program, multiple alarm, Nation Fire Fighter Near Miss Reporting Systems, National Fire Fighter Near Miss Reporting System 2011 Safety Week Resources, National Near Miss Reporting System, Near Miss Reporting System, NFFF, NIOSH, NIOSH Reports, NMR, Ordinary Construction, Preventing the Mayday, residential fire environment, RIT, RIT Training, ROE, Roof systems, Safety Health and Survival Section, Sixteen Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives, Stages of fire development:, standard operating procedures, Strategy and tactics, Surviving the Fire Ground – Fire Fighter Fire Officer and Command Preparedness, Tactical Patience, Taking it to the Streets Radio Program, Taking it to the Streets with Christopher Naum, the IAFC ROE, The Rules of Fire Engagement, Underwriters Laboratories, unoccupied, vacant, vacant versus unoccupied, VES

Fire/EMS Safety, Health and Survival Week: Day Three-The New Rules of Engagement

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Fire/EMS Safety, Health and Survival Week: Day Three-The New Rules of Engagement

With so many changes (budget cuts, staffing reductions, reduced training, etc.) in so many fire departments, it is critical for fire fighters to focus on their own survival on the fire ground. There is no other call more challenging to fire ground operations than a Mayday call the unthinkable moment when a fire fighter’s personal safety is in imminent danger. Fire fighter fatality data compiled by the United States Fire Administration have shown that fire fighters becoming trapped and disoriented represent the largest portion of structural fire ground fatalities. The incidents in which fire fighters have lost their lives, or lived to tell about it, have a consistent theme inadequate situational awareness put them at risk.

New Rules of Engagement

Fire fighters don’t plan to be lost, disoriented, injured or trapped during a structure fire or emergency incident. But fires are unpredictable and volatile, and they will not always go according to plan. What a fire fighter knows about a fire before entering a blazing building may radically change within minutes once inside the structure. Smoke, low visibility, lack of oxygen, structural instability and an unpredictable fire ground can cause even the most seasoned fire fighter to be overwhelmed in an instant.

It's Not a Matter of IF, It's a Matter of When

It’s not a matter of IF the MAYDAY happens, it’s WHEN! Thius the reason for the 2011 Fire/EMS Safety, Health and Survival Week focus on Surviving the Fire Ground Fire Fighter, Fire Officer & Command Preparedness

Theme: Surviving the Fire Ground Fire Fighter, Fire Officer & Command Preparedness

IAFC Safety Week Resources: Firefighter Survival, HERE
National Fire Fighter Near Miss Reporting System Resources, HERE

With that being said, there must be a means and a method to better defined and more accurately

Without understanding the building-occupancy relationships and integrating; construction, occupancies, fire dynamics and fire behavior, risk, analysis, the art and science of firefighting, safety conscious work environment concepts and effective and well-informed incident command management, company level supervision and task level competencies…You are derelict and negligent and “not “everyone may be going home”.
Our current generation of buildings, construction and occupancies are not as predictable as past conventional construction; risk assessment, strategies and tactics must change to address these new rules of structural fire engagement.
There is a need to gain the building construction knowledge and insights and to change and adjust operating profiles in order to safe guard companies, personnel and team compositions. It’s all about understanding the building-occupancy relationships and the art and science of firefighting, Building Knowledge = Firefighter Safety (Bk=F2S)
Refer to: Fire/EMS Safety, Health and Survival Week: Day Two- Building Knowledge = Fire Fighter Safety
When we look at various buildings and occupancies, past operational experiences; those that were successful, and those that were not, give us experiences that define and determine how we access, react and expect similar structures and occupancies to perform at a given alarm in the future.
Naturalistic (or recognition-primed) decision-making forms much of this basis. We predicate certain expectations that fire will travel in a defined (predictable) manner that fire will hold within a room and compartment for a predictable given duration of time; that the fire load and related fire flows required will be appropriate for an expected size and severity of fire encountered within a given building, occupancy, structural system; in addition to having an appropriately trained and skilled staff to perform the requisite evolutions.
Executing tactical plans based upon faulted or inaccurate strategic insights and indicators has proven to be a common apparent cause in numerous case studies, after action reports and LODD reports.
Our years of predictable fireground experience have ultimately embedded and clouded our ability to predict, assess, plan and implement incident action plans and ultimately deploy our companies-based upon the predictable performance expected of modern construction and especially those with engineered structural systems.
If you don’t fully understand how a building truly performs or reacts under fire conditions and the variables that can influence its stability and degradation, movement of fire and products of combustion and the resource requirements for fire suppression in terms of staffing, apparatus and required fire flows, then you will be functioning and operating in a reactionary manner, that is no longer acceptable within many of our modern building types, occupancies and structures.
This places higher risk to your personnel and lessens the likelihood for effective, efficient and safe operations.
You’re just not doing your job effectively and you’re at RISK. These risks can equate into insurmountable operational challenges and could lead to adverse incident outcomes. Someone could get hurt, someone could die, it’s that simple; it’s that obvious

Original IAFC 2001 ROE

Combat Fire Suppression and Engagement has been dramatically influenced by numerous challenges in terms of effectiveness, methodologies, risk and operational capabilities….yet we implement strategic and tactical models and protocol predicated on past performance of building structures and occupancies and fire fighting successes….
It’s no longer just brute force and sheer physical determination that define structural fire suppression operations
We used to discern with a measured degree of predictability, how buildings would perform, react and fail under most fire conditions. Implementing fundamentals of firefighting and engine company operations built upon eight decades of time tested and experience proven strategies and tactics continues to be the model of suppression operations.
These same fundamental strategies continue to drive methodologies and curriculums in our current training programs and academies of instructions.
2009 was a significant and decisive year for the fire service in a number of ways….
Controversy, debate, argument; enlightenment, knowledge, insights, awareness, comprehension, understanding….
Which leads me to call this the emerging tactical renaissance….

The intent was to provide a set of “model procedures” for Rules of Engagement for Structural Firefighting to be made available by the IAFC to fire departments as a guide for their own standard operating procedure development.

In August, 2008, following a year of discussion, the Section moved to develop a set of “Rules of Engagement for Structure Firefighting”.

A project team was created consisting of Section members and representatives of other several other interested fire service organizations.

These included the;

Fire Department Safety Officer Association (FDSOA),
the National Fallen Firefighter Foundation (NFFF),
the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC), the
National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and other organizations.
All draft material has also been shared with representatives of the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) who developed a joint IAFF/IAFC “Fire Ground Survival Project”.

Three Section members also participated in the IAFF project.

The direction provided the project team by the Section leadership was to develop rules of engagement with the following conceptual points;

Rules should be a short, specific set of bullets
Rules should be easily taught and remembered
Rules should define critical risk issues
Rules should define “go” or “no‐go” situations
A companion lesson plan/explanation section should be provided

Early in development the Rules of Engagement, it was recognized that two separate rules were needed –one set for the firefighter, and another set for the incident commander.

Thus, the two sets of Rules of Engagement were conceived and developed.

Each set has several commonly shared bullets and objectives, but the explanations are described somewhat differently based on the level of responsibility (firefighter vs. incident commander).

The 2010 Rules of Engagement reflects nearly two years of public comment and feedback from several presentations at fire service conferences, including the National Fallen Fire Fighters Safety Summit held at the National Fire Academy this past March 2010.

The “Rules” was formally adopted by the IAFC Health, Safety and Survival Section at the Fire Rescue International Conference that was held in Chicago this past August 2010

The project team was lead by Chief Gary Morris,

Document is available: http://www.iafcsafety.org/Rules_of_Engagement_v8_7.10.pdf
Charts and write-up with links on the New ROE on CommandSafety.com: http://commandsafety.com/2010/09/rules-of-engagement-2010/

Document Description

Section One

includes introduction statements and background regarding the Rules of Engagement project.

Section Two

acknowledges the Project team members and others that assisted in the project.

Section Three

contains the individual “Bullets” for both the Rules of Engagement for Firefighter Survival as well as the Incident Commanders Rules of Engagement for Firefighter Safety.

Section Four

describes the objectives attached to each of the individual “bullets” for both set of Rules.

Section Five

provides an introduction and overview of the lesson plans for the Rules of Engagement.

Section Six

includes the lesson plan for the Rules of Engagement of Firefighter Survival.

Section Seven

contains the lesson plans for the Incident Commanders Rules of Engagement for Firefighter Safety.

Section Eight

serves as appendixes and contains full investigation reports of several significant firefighter fatality incidents.

The Need for Rules of Engagement

Firefighter safety must always be a priority for every fire chief and every member. Over the past three decades, the fire service has applied new technology, better protective clothing and equipment, implemented modern standard operating procedures, and improved training.
According to National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) data during this same period the fire service has experienced a 58 percent reduction in firefighter line of duty deaths. But, the country has also seen a paralleling 54 percent drop in the number of structural fires over the same period – thus, reducing firefighter exposure to risk.
With a continued annual average of more than 100 firefighter fatalities, the question remains; have we really made a difference with all these technology improvements? Or, is there more that we can do to improve the safety culture of the American fire service?
The U.S. Firefighter Disorientation Study, conducted by Captain Willie Mora, San Antonio, Texas, Fire Department, conducted a review of 444 firefighter fireground deaths occurring over a recent 16 year period (1990-2006).
- The project broke out traumatic firefighter fatalities occurring in “open structures” and “enclosed structures”. Open structures was defined as smaller structures with an adequate number of windows and doors (within a short distance) to allow for prompt ventilation and emergency evacuation.
- Enclosed structures were defined as large buildings with inadequate windows or doors to allow prompt ventilation and emergency evacuation. Research determined that 23 percent occurred when a fast and aggressive interior attack was made on an “opened structure”. When fast, aggressive interior attacks occurred in “enclosed structures” the fatality rate rose to 77 percent. Many occurred in “marginal” or rapidly changing conditions in which the firefighter should not have been in the building.
The fireground creates a significant risk to firefighters and it is the responsibility of the incident commander and command organization officers to minimize firefighter exposure to unsafe conditions and stop unsafe practices.
The fire service has always been a para-military organization when it comes to fireground operations. In most cases, the Incident Commander makes a decision, sends the order down to through supervisors to the company officer and crew.
Fire crews generally view these orders as top down direction. There is often little two‐way discussion about options.
Where this culture exists, crews have been trained to accept the order and do it – generally without question.
While these orders may be viewed as valid when issued they may involve inadequate risk assessment.
There has been little national development of basic “rules” that the incident command should use in defining risk assessment process and what is too high risk that may result in a “no-go” decision.
Furthermore, for the individual firefighter who is exposed to the greatest risk, we have not defined “rules” for them to follow in assessing their individual risk and when and how to say “no” to unsafe conditions or practices. The “Rules of Engagement” changes that.
The “Rules of Engagement” have been developed to assist both the incident command (as well as command team officers) in risk assessment and “Go” – “No-Go” decisions. Applying the rules will make the fireground safer for all and reduce injuries and fatalities.

The development of the rules integrated several nationally recognized programs and principles. They included risk assessment principles from NFPA Standards 1500 and 1561.

Also included where concepts and principles from Crew Resource Management (available from iafc.org) and data and lessons from the National Near-Miss Reporting System (firefighternearmiss.com).

The development process also included review of lessons learned from numerous firefighter fatality investigations conducted by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program.

It’s incumbent that the fire chief and the Departments management team insure the safety of all firefighters working at structural fires.

All command organization officers are responsible for their own safety and the safety of all personnel working with them.
All officers and members are responsible are responsible for continually identifying and reporting unsafe conditions or practices.
The Rules of Engagement allows both the firefighter and the incident commander to apply and process these principles.
One principle applied in the Rules of Engagement is firefighters and the company officers are the members at most risk for injury or death.
The Rules integrate the firefighter into the risk assessment decision making process.
These members should be the ultimate decision maker as to whether it’s safe to proceed with assigned objectives.
The “Rules” allow a process for that decision to be made while still maintain command unity and discipline.

Operational Excellence and the ROE

The NEW Rules of Engagement

It is well known that firefighting is hazardous with varying levels of risk to the firefighter.

However, firefighting is not a military campaign where lives are lost to establish a beach head.

No firefighter’s life is a building that eventually will be rebuilt. Keep all members safe so “Everyone Goes Home”!

Rules of Engagement for Firefighter Survival

Size-Up Your Tactical Area of Operation.
Determine the Occupant Survival Profile.
DO NOT Risk Your Life for Lives or Property That Can Not Be Saved.
Extend LIMITED Risk to Protect SAVABLE Property.
Extend Vigilant and Measured Risk to Protect and Rescue SAVABLE Lives.
Go in Together, Stay Together, Come Out Together
Maintain Continuous Awareness of Your Air Supply, Situation, Location and Fire Conditions.
Constantly Monitor Fireground Communications for Critical Radio Reports.
You Are Required to Report Unsafe Practices or Conditions That Can Harm You. Stop, Evaluate and Decide.
You Are Required to Abandon Your Position and Retreat Before Deteriorating Conditions Can Harm You.
Declare a May Day As Soon As You THINK You Are in Danger.

The Incident Commanders Rules of Engagement for Firefighter Safety

Rapidly Conduct, or Obtain, a 360 Degree Size‐Up of the Incident.
Determine the Occupant Survival Profile.
Conduct an Initial Risk Assessment and Implement a SAFE ACTION PLAN.
If You Do Not Have The Resources to Safely Support and Protect Firefighters – Seriously Consider a Defensive Strategy.
DO NOT Risk Firefighter Lives for Lives or Property That Can Not Be Saved – Seriously Consider a Defensive Strategy.
Extend LIMITED Risk to Protect SAVABLE Property.
Extend Vigilant and Measured Risk to Protect and Rescue SAVABLE Lives.
Act Upon Reported Unsafe Practices and Conditions That Can Harm Firefighters. Stop, Evaluate and Decide.
Maintain Frequent Two‐Way Communications and Keep Interior Crews Informed of Changing Conditions.
Obtain Frequent Progress Reports and Revise the Action Plan.
Ensure Accurate Accountability of All Firefighter Location and Status.
If, After Completing the Primary Search, Little or No Progress Towards Fire Control Has Been Achieved -Seriously Consider a Defensive Strategy.
Always Have a Rapid Intervention Team in Place at All Working Fires
Always Have Firefighter Rehab Services in Place at All Working Fires

ROE Fire Fighter

ROE Command

Other ROE Insights

Size-Up Your Tactical Area of Operation.

Objective: To cause the company officer and firefighters to pause for a moment and look over their area of operation and evaluate their individual risk exposure and determine a safe approach to completing their assigned tactical objectives.

Rapidly Conduct, or Obtain, a 360 Degree Situational Size Up of the Incident

Objective: To cause the incident commander to obtain an early 360 degree survey and risk assessment of the fireground in order to determine the safest approach to tactical operations as part the risk assessment and action plan development and before firefighters are placed at substantial risk.

______________________________________________________________________________

Determine the Occupant Survival Profile.

Objective: To cause the company officer and firefighter to consider fire conditions in relation to possible occupant survival of a rescue event as part of their initial and ongoing individual risk assessment and action plan development.

Determine the Occupant Survival Profile.

Objective: To cause the incident commander to consider fire conditions in relation to possible occupant survival of a rescue event before committing firefighters to high risk search and rescue operations as part of the initial and ongoing risk assessment and action plan development.

Go in Together, Stay Together, Come Out Together

Objective: To ensure that firefighters always enter a burning building as a team of two or more members and no firefighter is allowed to be alone at any time while entering, operating in or exiting a building.

Maintain Continuous Awareness of Your Air Supply, Situation, Location and Fire Conditions

Objective: To cause all firefighters and company officers to maintain constant situational awareness their SCBA air supply and where they are in the building and all that is happening in their area of operations and elsewhere on the fireground that may affect their risk and safety.

______________________________________________________________________________

You Are Required to Report Unsafe Practices or Conditions That Can Harm You. Stop, Evaluate, and Decide.

Objective: To prevent company officers and firefighters from engaging in unsafe practices or exposure to unsafe conditions that can harm them and allowing any member to raise an alert about a safety concern without penalty and mandating the supervisor address the question to ensure safe operations.

Act Upon Reported Unsafe Practices and Conditions That Can Harm Them. Stop, Evaluate and Decide.

Objective: To prevent firefighters and supervisors from engaging in unsafe practices or exposure to unsafe conditions that will harm them and allowing any member to raise an alert about a safety concern without penalty and mandating the incident commander and command organization officers promptly address the question to insure safe operations.

______________________________________________________________________________

Declare a May-Day As Soon As You THINK You Are in Danger

Objective: To ensure the firefighter is comfortable with, and there is no delay in, declaring a May Day when a firefighter is faced with a life threatening situation and the May Day is declared as soon as they THINK they are in trouble.

Always Have a Rapid Intervention Team in Place at All Working Fires.

Objective: To cause the incident commander to have a rapid intervention team in place ready to rescue firefighters at all working fires.

______________________________________________________________________________

Ensure Accurate Accountability of Every Firefighter Location and Status

Objective: To cause the incident commander, and command organization officers, to maintain a constant and accurate accountability of the location and status of all firefighters within a small geographic area of accuracy within the hazard zone and aware of who is presently in or out of the building.

If You Do Not Have the Resources to Safely Support and Protect Firefighters, Seriously Consider a Defensive Strategy

Objective: To prevent the commitment of firefighters to high risk tactical objectives that cannot be accomplished safely due to inadequate resources on the scene.

Rules of Engagement for Structural Firefighting (pdf)

Risk Management

General Order: Two-In, Two-Out Compliance, Rapid Intervention Team, and Firefighter Survival

Emergency Evacuation
This policy identifies a standard system for the emergency evacuation of personnel at an emergency incident or training exercise.

Fire and Rescue Departments of Northern Virginia – Rapid Intervention Team Command and Operational Procedures
A collaborative RIT manual developed by fire and rescue departments in Northern Virginia. Promotes interoperability between multiple fire agencies.

Lost or Trapped Firefighters
This policy identifies the required actions for the search and rescue of lost or trapped firefighter(s).

Model Procedures for Responding to a Package with Suspicion of a Biological Threat
Local and world events have placed the nation s emergency service at the forefront of homeland defense. The service must be aware that terrorists, both foreign and domestic, are continually testing the homeland defense system.

Safety Initial Rapid Intervention Crew (IRIC)
This policy establishes procedures for ensuring the highest level of safety when conducting interior operations in an atmosphere that is Immediately Dangerous to Life and Health (IDLH).

Safety Rapid Intervention Team (RIT)
This policy establishes the department s criteria and procedures for Rapid Intervention Teams.

: Operational Excellence in 2011 and Beyond

Taking It To The Streets: My Closing Commentary and The Rules of Combat Fire Suppression

The essence of fire service suppression operations is predicated upon the deployment and application of water as an extinguishing agent, in sufficient quantities, location and duration to extinguish a fire within an enclosed structural compartment. The universal engine company correlation of: “putting the wet stuff on the red stuff” is fundamental to structural fire suppression operations but is ambiguous at best in the context of today’s modern building construction, occupancies, structural systems and building features.

We used to discern with a measured degree of predictability, how buildings would perform, react and fail under most fire conditions. Implementing fundamentals of firefighting and engine company operations built upon eight decades of time tested and experience proven strategies and tactics continues to be the model of suppression operations. These same fundamental strategies continue to drive methodologies and curriculums in our current training programs and academies of instructions.

The lack of appreciation and the understanding of correlating principles involving fire behavior, fuel and rate of heat release and the growth stages of compartment fires within a structural occupancy are the defining paths from which the fire service must reexamine engine company operations in order to identify with the predictability of occupancy performance during fire suppression operations thus increasing suppression effectiveness and firefighter safety.

Our buildings have changed; the structural systems of support, the degree of compartmentation, the characteristics of materials and the magnitude of fire loading. The structural anatomy, predictability of building performance under fire conditions, structural integrity and the extreme fire behavior; accelerated growth rate and intensively levels typically encountered in buildings of modern construction during initial and sustained fire suppression have given new meaning to the term combat fire engagement.

The rules for combat structural fire suppression have changed, but we have yet to write the rule book from which the new games plans must be derived…..

However, we now have a new set of Rules for Engagement….

The Incident Commanders Rules of Engagement for Firefighter Safety
Rules of Engagement for Firefighter Survival
Tactical Renaissance ……….Tactical Patience

…….integrate cutting edge research and emerging concepts on Tactical Patience, Tactical Entertainment, Command Compression, Structural Anatomy of Buildings, Five Star Command Model, Predicative Strategic Process, refined Tactical Deployment Models integrating intelligent Structural Anatomy and Predictive Occupancy Profiling and Integrating the RULES OF ENGAGEMENT for Structural Firefighting much more.

It’s really all about Fighting Fire with More Knowledge and smartly

Taking it to the Streets with Christopher Naum

Taking it to the Streets^TM, radio program hosted by highly regarded national instructor, author, lecturer and fire officer Christopher Naum, continues to provide provocative insights and dynamic discussions with leading national fire service leaders and guests on important issues affecting the American Fire Service with applications internationally within the tradition and brotherhood of the Fire Service.

Taking it to the Streets “Tactical Renaissance and the Rules of Engagement”

October 8, 2010 by admin
Filed under Archived Audio, News, Our Show Archives, Taking It To The Streets

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This is the netcast which was offered live on September 22, 2010. Taking it to the Streets “Tactical Renaissance and the Rules of Engagement” Chief Gary Morris (ret) Phoenix (AZ) Fire Department, and Dr. Burt Clark from the NFA join Chris Naum as they discuss the emerging Tactical Renaissance of Combat Fire Suppression Operations [...]

Check out the latest downloads of recent programs in the archives by visiting Taking it to the Street’s webpage on Firefighternetcast.com or for program insights at CommandSafety.com.

Firefighternetcast.com HERE
Taking it to the Streets Radio Programs, HERE and HERE
Buildingsonfire.com, HERE

A Buildingsonfire.com Series and Firefighter Netcast.com Production

Taking it to the Streets^TM with Christopher Naum

Listen to all of the Taking It To The Streets shows here

On the Air Monthly on Firefighter Netcast.com

Advancing Firefighter Safety and Operational Integrity for the Fire Service through provocative insights and dynamic discussions dedicated to the Art and Science of Firefighting and the Traditions of the Fire Service.

Posted by Christopher Naum on June 20, 2011 • Filed under: "firefighter safety", "health and safety", "pre-fire planning", "Safety Week", "Situational Awareness" assessment, advocate, building construction, Building Construction for the Fire Service, buildings, buildingsonfire.com, Christopher Naum, close-call, Combat Fire Engagement, command presence, compentencies, fire suppression, firefighter, firefighting-operations, IAFC, management, Mayday, Naum, risk-based assessment • Tagged: 16 Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives, 2011 Fire/EMS Safety Week Training Resources, 2011 Focus: Surviving the Fire Ground – Fire Fighter, 2011 Planning and Resource Aid for Training Deliveries, 2011 Safety Health and Survival Week, Adaptive Fireground Management, Bailout, bailout Ropes, building construction, Building Construction for the Fire Service, Buildingonfire.com, buildingsonfire.com, Buildingsonfre.com, Chris Brennan, Chris Naum, Christopher Naum, collapse rescue operations, commandsafety.com, Emerging Fire Suppression Theory, Everyone Goes Home Program, FD strategies and tactics, fire, fire behavior, fire dynamics, fire dynamics and fire behavior, Fire Fighter Safety Week, Fire Fighting, Fire Ground Operations, Fire Load Package, fire loading, Fire Officer & Command Preparedness, Fire Research, Fire Service Operational Excellence, fire service ventilation practices, fire suppression, Fire/EMS Safety Health & Surival Week 2011, Fire/EMS Safety Health and Survival Week: Day Three-The New Rules of Engagement, firefight LODD, firefighter injuries, Firefighternetcast.com, firefighting, Fireground Operations, Flashover, IAFC, IAFF, LODD, Mayday, Mayday Training, mayday-prevention program, multiple alarm, Nation Fire Fighter Near Miss Reporting Systems, National Fire Fighter Near Miss Reporting System 2011 Safety Week Resources, National Near Miss Reporting System, Near Miss Reporting System, NFFF, NIOSH, NIOSH Reports, NMR, Ordinary Construction, Preventing the Mayday, residential fire environment, RIT, RIT Training, ROE, Roof systems, Safety Health and Survival Section, search adn rescue, Sixteen Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives, Stages of fire development:, standard operating procedures, Strategy and tactics, Surviving the Fire Ground – Fire Fighter Fire Officer and Command Preparedness, Tactical Patience, Taking it to the Streets Radio Program, Taking it to the Streets with Christopher Naum, the IAFC ROE, The Rules of Fire Engagement, Underwriters Laboratories, unoccupied, vacant, vacant versus unoccupied, VES

Fire/EMS Safety, Health and Survival Week: Day Two- Building Knowledge = Fire Fighter Safety

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Know Your World Buildingsonfire.com

Other Considerations in Program Planning for Safety Week; Other considerations to support the theme, objectives and initiatives of Safety Week include wide latitude of activities and interactive actions that can achieve the goals for increasing awareness and providing dialog, interaction, training while encouraging discussion and interchange.

These functional area topics can be integrated into planned program development to support the FGS training presentations, delivery and support a comprehensive strategy for integrated Fire Ground Survival training, awareness and insights. These functional areas are supported with references and links to support program develop and deliveries.

Suggested Functional Areas for Alignment with the Theme and Focus during Safety Week;

16 Fire Fighter Life Safety Initiatives
Rule of Engagement
Fire Fighter Near-Miss Learning‘s
Procedures, Policies and Guidelines
Pre-Fire Planning
Building Construction
Structural Systems
Occupancy Risk Profiling
Fire Dynamics & Fire Behavior
Reading Smoke
Survivability Profiling
Risk Management
Crew Resource Management
Situational Awareness
Disorientation Awareness
Structural Collapse & Compromise
Mayday & Rapid Intervention
Fire Ground Survival
Air Resource Management
Tactical Patience
Go to the Planning Resource Guide for Direct Resources, templates and suggested planning and instructional aids. HERE

Suggested considerations include the following, as well as encouraging fire/EMS departments to identify and integrate local issues, needs and identified gaps or enhancements that can contribute towards operational excellence and safety integration.

Review and select a Near Miss Event Report from the National Fire Fighter Near-Miss Reporting System or the Report of the Week (ROTW) series related to functional area topics or mayday actions and discuss the event in a small group or company setting to identify similarities or difference from your our organization. Is your company or department susceptible to a similar event? What should be addressed? http://www.firefighternearmiss.com/
Review and select a NIOSH LODD Report from the NIOSH Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation Program related to functional area topics or mayday actions and discuss the event in a small group or company setting to identify similarities or difference from your our organization. Is your company or department susceptible to a similar event? What should be addressed? http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/fire/
Take out your Rapid Intervention Equipment and review the purpose and function of each piece of equipment. Identify and discuss alternative uses or tools that can be obtained or used in the event of unavailability, malfunction or additional resource needs. Discuss protocols, procedures, safety awareness and operational hazards, expectations and precautions. Inspection the equipment for operability and integrity.
Identify and select a recent departmental or local/regional incident event that was either a near-miss/close-call or transitioned into a mayday event. Discuss and facilitate dialog on lessons learned, gaps, enhancements or operational successes, achievements and positive elements. Identify any factors or elements that were presented in the FGS training series that are applicable to the event, strategies, tactics or operations: can anything be improved or enhanced?
Lead a discussion on how to call and initiate a Mayday. Discuss the factors and insights from FGS Program Chapter 3 Self-Survival Procedures and Chapter 4 Self-Survival Skills.
Select and lead a discussion on a pertinent incident case study from either the list provided or your own selection and discuss the relevancy of the event in terms of mayday operations, fire ground survival, incident outcome and relationship to your Department or agency. What is the relevancy, similarities or differences? Can this event or circumstances occur in your jurisdiction? What can be done to prevent a history repeating event (HRE)?
Review and discuss Roles and Responsibilities for mayday events and operations. How do they match up with your operating procedures, policies and expectations?
Develop and facilitate a table top exercise (TTE) on a mayday event scenario utilizing a building in your first-due or response jurisdiction. Take photographs and integrate into your program. Refer to example of a simple TTE attached or go to Fire Fighternation.com for an example here; http://www.firefighternation.com/forum/topics/box-2752reported-fire-in-an
Visit a residential or commercial construction site (with pre-arrival authorization and approvals) and tour the stage of construction, looking critically at the type of construction and structural systems being implemented, materials used, workmanship and signs of deficient or adverse conditions that may affect operational integrity, safety or collapse and compromise once the building is occupied.
- Discuss issues such as structural integrity, collapse risk, occupancy risk versus occupancy type considerations, avenues for fire travel, effects on fire load package and rate of heat release and projected fire intensity.
- How would you fire a fire in the occupancy? What will define the strategy and tactics that would be or should be selected and used?
In a controlled setting with or without PPE, Practice calling a mayday with the identified communication attributes defined in the FGS training program. Critique and practice the evolution until the group feels that it is acceptable.

Understand your Response District

“Building Knowledge = Firefighter Safety”, Know Your District and its Risk

Protect Yourself: Your Safety, Health and Survival Are Your Responsibility.

Within the focus area of Survival and the elements of Structural Size-Up and Situational Awareness, some suggeted key functional components could include the following;

Keep apprised of different types of building materials and construction used in your community.
The operative question today is this: “What do you “really” know about the buildings in your district?”
As you drive about your response district today, coming back from an alarm, heading to the firehouse tonight or running errands around your community, take a good look around. Ask your self a simple question; “How well do you know the buildings, structures and occupancies in your response jurisdiction?”
Be honest, do you really understand how those “older residential” structures were built and understand how fire travels and impacts your fireground operations?
Are your aware of the newest features of engineered structural support systems being constructed within that new set of homes going up in your second-due area?
Are you aware, that vacant office building is being converted into a light manufacturing and assembly business?
How about those unoccupied store fronts and businesses that have recently closed up due to the tough economic times…. any special hazards or operational concerns to your company should you get a dispatch to respond?
Have the senior members of your station or department shared their stories of operations and incidents at various buildings around your district or community?
Did you listen to them, or were you quick to dismiss those “old war stories”. There’s a wealth of “pre-planning’ nuggets hidden in those stories. Take the time to listen, remember or postulate
Take a good look around….think about any given building, the one across the street that you’re looking at while you waited for the traffic light to change; Think about a fire in that same building.
Do you really understand how it will truly perform under combat structural fire conditions?
What’s the building’s collapse profile?
How much operational time will you have? Will you need?
What’s the fire load package size?
What are your concerns for rapid fire extension, extreme fire behavior and vent path issues that amy affect firefighter safety?
What dynamic risk assessment factors will you have to deal with?
How safe is it for you to engage in interior operations upon your arrival?
How can this building, its occupancy and structural system hurt, my team, my company, my firefighters, my department, me?

Sometimes things aren’t as obvious as them seem. You may have responded and operated at numerous incidents at a wide variety of buildings in your response area, or very few; some routine, others maybe more demanding…the question remains, “What do you really know about your buildings?” Your life may one day depend on what you actually do know or recollect. Take a good look around.

Pre-Incident planning is formulative to any effective fire service organization. A good staring point is to look at the NFPA 1620 Recommended Practice for Pre-Incident Planning document. ( NFPA Codes and Standards, HERE)

The purpose of the NFPA 1620 Recommended Practice for Pre-Incident Planning document is to aid in the development of a pre-incident plan to help responding personnel effectively manage emergencies with available resources and should not be confused with fire inspections, which monitor code compliance.

The Pre-Incident Plan document is developed by gathering general and detailed data used by responding emergency service personnel to determine the necessary resources and actions necessary to mitigate anticipated emergencies at a specific facility, structure or occupancy.The Pre-Incident Plan document can contain a variety of useful information related to the construction features and systems, building materials and components, occupancy, layout and floor plan, access/egress, built-in protective, detection and suppression systems, special hazards, fire loading, fire suppression flow needs, pre-determined resource needs, exposure factors, etc.The Pre-Incident Plan document can be as simple or detailed as occupancy and/or operational factors dictate.

The import issue here is that you HAVE Pre-Incident Plan documents available for at the very least targeted or high hazard occupancies and buildings, and that they have been updated at some periodic frequency. There’s nothing worst that arriving at a particular box alarm, pulling open the pre-fire “binder” and finding the occupancy was last planned twenty years ago at best.

The 2007 Deutsche Bank Building fire in lower Manhattan, New York City that resulted in the LODD of FDNY Fr. Joseph Graffagnino and Fr. Robert Beddia, stressed the need for timely and accurate pre-incident plans, when a seven alarm fire progressed through the 40 story high-rise building that was in the process of being deconstructed.An informative Training PDF download is attached that provides Operational Safety Considerations at Demolition and Deconstruction sites.

The full power-point version is available for direct download HERE.

Think about your Buildings and Occupancies and correlate your incident operations using an effect acronym called BECOME SAFE.

Our world has evolved and changed. There are a variety of technological and sociological demands that create a continuing element of change in the built environment and our infrastructure. With these changes and demands come the requirements to assess these vulnerabilities, hazards, threats and dangers with effective and dynamic risk management and competent command and control.

These changes influence the way we do business in the street, the interface-up close and personal with the buildings in your community and equate to the risks and hazards you and your personnel will be confronted with and the level of safety afforded them during incident operations. Dynamic Risk and Command Management and the integration of BECOME SAFE concepts, ingredients for safer operations.

Building
Evaluation
Construction/Occupancy
Operational Hazards
Manage Time and Elements
Engagement
Situational Awareness
Assessment and Risk Analysis
Fire Behavior and Effects
Evaluate and Execute

BECOME SAFE Buildingsonfire.com

With the advancements in technology, software and programs, there is a vast extent of options and financial levels available to all organizations to develop publish and revise pre-incident planning documents. The key safety message here is that Pre-Fire Plans and Incident Plans can provide a significant margin of support to you during incident operations and can increase firefighter safety, reduce operational risk and aid in the risk management and command management of a give incident.

Regardless of your agency and respond district size, complexity of simplicity, Pre-Incident Plans are a necessary part of modern firefighting and all-hazards operations. An informative planning flow chart is available within the NFPA 1620 document, Figure 4.2.3. ( Order the NFPA 1620 document through the NFPA (HERE)

Attached is a copy of the Tempe, AZ Fire Department Pre-Incident Planning SOP
The Phoenix, AZ Fire Department Pre-Incident Planning SOP is available HERE
An informative Pre-Fire Planning article by Battalion Chief Michael Lee is available HERE

Spend time touring through construction sites as you monitor the progress of a building or occupancy going up.

Look at the manner in which structural support systems are fabricated and assembled. Observe the types of materials that are being used and how they are assembled to form rooms and compartments within the structure.

Take a good look at the manner in which floor and roof systems are constructed, these will become mission critical informational items that can be used to determine your operational profile and formulate your incident action plans. Keep abreast of changes, renovations and alternations to buildings and structures, especially as commercial and business occupancies change owners. These are special areas of concerns on wide latitude of safety and operational considerations.

With the continued challenges in these economic times, pay very close attention to the state of your vacant and unoccupied structures. A change in strategic and tactical deployment considerations MUST be instituted; it shouldn’t be business as usual in these structures.

Keep apprised of different types of building materials and construction used in your community.
Document those conditions and aspects and train your personnel to understand the occupancies within your community.
Understand the Structural AnatomyTM of your buildings and occupancies.
The operative response to the opening question this time next year will be this: “What do you “really” know about the buildings in your district?” …The answer will hopefully be…”A lot!”

Are you keeping up the latest construction terminology, materials and methods? Changes are you are not. But I can assure you, somewhere in your community, jurisdiciton, first, second or third-due or mutual aid area; there is new construction features, systems, components and materials being used that will affect the manner you which a structural fire will need to be addressed; The Rules of Structural Fire Suppression have changed- but know has told you…yet.

Of the many issues affecting the Fire Service, the prevailing challenge that has a pronounced impact on operational safety is the assimilation of engineered structural systems (ESS) into mainstream building design and construction. The presence of engineered structural systems (ESS) are no longer considered to be an innocuous feature in a given building or occupancy; it is the predominate feature in nearly all current construction, renovation and adaptive reuse or infill applications. It has become far more than just concerning ourselves with the presence of a simple light-weight or “engineered” truss roof system or a wood I-beam floor assembly.

There is a new lexicon of building construction components and systems that must be added to your operational safety vocabulary and incident action plans. There is a new terminology, applications and a knowledge base to learn that will support operational excellence and support the integrity of incident safety performance of companies and personnel. Do you know what they represent and how these components, assemblies and systems may affect or influence an incident?

Take a tour of your local construction sites; You’ll be surprised what you’ll see

The fire service continues to apply the term “light weight construction” to a wide variety of building construction and systems. This expression has become a miss-application of both term and the correlation of risk and severity related to operational profiling. In other words, we apply and express the use of “light weight construction” for all types of engineered components, systems, designs and assemblies in nearly all types of building construction and occupancy use.

Although the roots of the term can be traced back to the early 1980′s, and its application to the (then) emerging use of trussed roofing systems and the advent of wood I-beam floor supports (sans solid dimensional lumber joists), the use of the terminology in today’s context of risk assessment, strategic and tactical management and deployment models and within the context of incident operational tactics is no longer applicable, valid or suitable. It must be expanded into a more specific and descriptive level of classification and correlation.

For the most part, when discussing buildings and occupancies, aside from classifications related to code type or class as an element of fire resistance; the emphasis has been to differentiate between conventional and engineered construction, and the application of the term “light weight construction”. I continue advocating and promoting through my lectures that it’s much more than this when looking at the spectrum of construction and the structural anatomy of buildings. Current and past generations of buildings, construction and occupancies can be more accurately differentiated and classified within six (6) expanding categories in the following Building Construction Systems;

Heritage: Pre-1900
Legacy: 1900-1949
Conventional: 1950-1979
Engineered: 1980-current 2011
Blended Hybrid: 2005- current 2011

We’ll discuss these six classifications in greater details in a series of future postings and expand the level of details on the CommandSafety.com and Buildingsonfire.com sites.

Our current generation of buildings, construction and occupancies are not as predictable as past “conventional” construction, therefore risk assessment, strategies and tactics must change to address the advancement of new rules of combat structural fire engagement. But if you don’t understand or know what and how those changes in predictability have occurred, you may be operating with a false sense of operational risk and safety margin.

It’s a Lot More than just talking about “Light Weight” Construction….

From Plywood-CDX….to
Particle Board- PB…..to;
Orient Strand Board-OSB
Structural Composite Lumber- SCL
Laminate Strand Lumber- LSL
Laminate Veneer Lumber-LVL
Structural Insulated Panels-SIP
Parallel Strand Lumber-PSL
Machine Stress Rated Lumber- MSR
Medium Density Fiberboard-MDF and MDL (Lumber)
Finger Jointed Lumber-FJL
Adhesives…..
Do some research and check these terms out for starters.
We’ll talk more about these components and assemblies in the near future. So get busyover the next few days during Safety Week and discover the implications these components may have in your community….

New Materials, New Construction; New Problems

Here’s a link to a past informative posting related to engineered systems and their relationship to firefighter safety and operations, HERE.

There’s some great contributed information and manufacturer “insights” on the subject engineered wood I-joists and beams and firefighter safety. There are some interesting statistical extrapolations, correlations and conveniences’ that attempt to make the case. But then again, You be the judge.

Take at look at the presentation developed by the American Forest and Paper Association, HERE and HERE.

If you haven’t done so yet, don’t forget to check out the free online training program on Structural Stability of Engineered Lumber in Fire Conditions at the UL University developed and provided by Underwriter’s Laboratories (UL), HERE and Tactical Patience and the New Considerations of Ventilation on Fire Behavior in Legacy and Contemporary Residential Construction

Here’s a series of other important Reference Links that provide some insights on operational safety, incident conditions and factors and the lessons-learned from a number of LODD events;

NIOSH Publication No. 2009-114: Preventing Deaths and Injuries of Fire Fighters Working Above Fire-Damaged Floors HERE
NIOSH Publication No. 2005-132: Preventing Injuries and Deaths of Fire Fighters Due to Truss System Failures HERE
Volunteer Deputy Fire Chief Dies after Falling Through Floor Hole in Residential Structure during Fire Attack—Indiana, HERE
First-floor collapse during residential basement fire claims the life of two fire fighters (career and volunteer) and injures a career fire fighter captain – New York, Report HERE
Career Fire Fighter Dies After Falling Through the Floor Fighting a Structure Fire at a Local Residence – Ohio, HERE
Colerain Township, Ohio Double LODD Preliminary Report, HERE
Career engineer dies and fire fighter injured after falling through floor while conducting a primary search at a residential structure fire – Wisconsin, HERE
NFPA Report on Light Weight Construction, HERE
Informative USFA Coffee Break series postings related to Building Types & Fire Resistance: HERE. HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE

Just Look Over your Shoulder….

I’ve commented with more than a few postings on the issues related to engineer building construction components and assemblies. I posed some questions related to Engineered Structural Assemblies & Systems (ESS) and asked if you knew what they represent and how these components, assemblies and systems may affect or influence incident operations.

I also presented some information on the pioneering efforts and quantitative results of the Underwriters Laboratory (UL) engineers and fire service representatives from the Chicago Fire Department, HERE and HERE.

If you’ve spent any amount of time reading through the NIOSH Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program, LODD Reports or have invested time and effort to look through the data base of near miss reports and ROTW at the National Firefighter Near-Miss Reporting System, you’d recognize the magnitude of the issues and multi-faceted challenges confronting the U.S. Fire Services in the areas of engineered structural assemblies, components and building features.

Paul Comb’s editorial image provides a poignant and distressing reality that the fire service needs to come to terms with, addressing and implementing the necessary components that assimilating refined combat firefighting techniques and methodologies; that align with the risks and hazards presented by current and emerging construction techniques, materials and consumer lifestyles that comprise our buildings and occupancies. We need to start looking over our shoulders; we need redefined strategies and tactics for today’s buildings and occupancies. When we do have the opportunity to engage in firefighting with the dragon; we may not recognize the dragon has changed, it has evolved. Yet we stand poised to engage or take-on the dragon with faulted incident operations, strategic plans and tactical intentions that provide less than adequate results.

In those situations where we are deficient or we achieved less than expected results, we continue to miss the apparent or root causes and fall back on perceived notions and excuses. Building Knowledge = Firefighter Safety; Understanding today’s building construction, fire dynamics, fire loading and behaviors and instituting appropriate firefighting methodologies, we can achieve safe and successful fireground operations.

Better Look Over your Shoulder

Have you and your company, battalion or department discussed limiting factors, enhanced firefighting tactics or operational experiences related to engineered systems, past fires, observed new construction or renovations and what it all means to your assigned duties or company assignments?
Are you and your company adequately trained to address “modern” construction, occupancies and conditions or is a much bigger dragon lurking in the shadows?

Remember, the Predictability of Performance and the combat firefighting based upon Occupancy Risk not Occupany Type.

Remember its Occupancy RISK not Occupancy TYPE

Here’s the New Formula for Fire Fighter Safety ; Bk = f2S; Building Knowledge = Firefighter Safety

STOP THE ENTERTAINMENT

There’s another factor contributing to unsafe practices, one that we rarely talk about. In short, we need to stop “entertaining” ourselves during fire suppression operations and instead focus on comprehending and reacting to evolving risks. Rather than practicing appropriate risk management, it is suggested that some individuals employ adverse behaviors that occur on a tactical level while Incident Commanders and Company Officers believe firefighters are completing their assigned tasks, thus compromising accountability.

These behaviors include;

• Tactical amusement: engaging in any practice or tactic during fire suppression, support tasks or operations that places personnel at risk for the sake of entertainment.

• Tactical diversion: diverting from an assignment while engaging in fire suppression, support tasks or operations in such a way that places personnel at risk.

• Tactical circumvention: deliberately “getting around” an assignment or disregarding risk assessment and incident action plans.

Here’s the expanded versions in case this is the first time you’ve seen them;

TACTICAL AMUSEMENT*tak-ti-kəl ə- *myüz-mənt

1: of or relating to structural fireground tactics: as a (1) a means of amusing or entertaining during fire suppression, support tasks or operations that places personnel at risk

2: the condition of being amused while engaging in fire suppression, support tasks or operations that places personnel at risk

3: pleasurable diversion while engaging in fire suppression, support tasks or operations: entertainment; that places personnel at risk

TACTICAL DIVERSION*tak-ti-kəl də- *vər-zhən

1: the reckless act or an instance of diverting from an assignment, task, operation or activity while engaging in fire suppression, support tasks or operation for the sake of amusing or entertainment; that places personnel at risk

2: the reckless act of self determined task operations that diverts or amuses from defined risk assessment and incident action plans; that places personnel at risk

TACTICAL CIRCUMVENTION*tak-ti-kəl sər-kəm- *ven(t)-shən

1: to deliberately manage to get around especially by ingenuity or approach that diverts for the purpose of amusing; assignment, operations or tasks that countermand or disregard defined risk assessment and incident action plans; that places personnel at risk

TACTICAL PATIENCE (NEW) This is a new one that’s called Tactical Patience…I’ll post more on Tactical Patience later this month.

If we’re going to reduce firefighter injuries and deaths, we must be doing the right thing, at the right time, for the right reasons, and in the right place. We must stop the entertainment.

” The demands and requirements of modern firefighting will continue to require the placement of personnel within situations and buildings that carry risk, uncertainty and inherent danger. Fire suppression tactics must be adjusted for the rapidly changing methods and materials impacting all forms of building construction, occupancies and structures.

The need to redefine the art and science of firefighting is nearly upon us. Some things do stand the test of time, others need to adjust, evolve and change.

Not for the sake of change only, but for the emerging and evolving buildings, structures and occupancies being built, developed or renovated in our communities.

It’s no longer just brute force and sheer physical determination that define structural fire suppression operations.

Aggressive firefighting must be redefined and aligned to the built environment and associated with goal oriented tactical operations that are defined by risk assessed and analyzed tasks that are executed under battle plans that promote the best in safety practices and survivability within know hostile structural fire environments, while maintaining the values and tradition that defines the fire service.”

Remember one thing…Don’t ever under estimate what you might encounter on any structure fire, or what might change in a second; focus on the Occupancy Risk not the Occupancy Type….. And Know your buildings, your team and your capabilities

Remembering FDNY Black Sunday…Multiple Firefighter LODDs January 23, 2005

Chicago: Anatomy of a Building and its Collapse

Anatomy of a Building and Its Collapse

Buildingsonfire.com

Buildingsonfire.com

If you have not had a chance to look over the emerging website, Buildingsonfire.com…take some time to explore…its still under construction, with a wealth of information, research and data today’s Firefighter, Company Officer and command Officer need to know.

The authoritative and informational site that provides leading insights on fire service issues related to Building Construction for the Fire Service, Firefighting Operations and Command Risk Management for Operational Excellence and Firefighter Safety.

Buildingsonfire.com Link HERE
Buildingsonfire.com coupled with it’s companion sites CommandSafety.com and TheCompanyofficer.com will continue to provide prominent and timely information to support the continuing traditions and missions of the Fire and Emergency Services.

Posted by Christopher Naum on June 20, 2011 • Filed under: "firefighter safety", "health and safety", "pre-fire planning", "Safety Week", Black Sunday, Building Construction for the Fire Service, buildings, buildingsonfire.com, Christopher Naum, Combat Fire Engagement, courage to be safe, education, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting, firefighting-operations • Tagged: 16 Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives, 2011 Fire/EMS Safety Week Training Resources, 2011 Focus: Surviving the Fire Ground – Fire Fighter, 2011 Planning and Resource Aid for Training Deliveries, 2011 Safety Health and Survival Week, 3-11 alarm fire, Adaptive Fireground Management, Bailout, bailout Ropes, Black Sunday, Bowstring Truss, Brick & Joist, Building Alterations, building construction, Building Construction for the Fire Service, Buildingsonfire, buildingsonfire.com, Buildingsonfre.com, Chicago Fire Department, Chicago Fire Department Courage to Be Safety, Chicago1222, Chris Naum, Christopher Naum, Collapse, collapse rescue operations, commandsafety.com, commercial building, Conventional Construction, engine company operations, Everyone Goes Home Program, extreme fire behavior, FD strategies and tactics, FDNY, FDNY Courage to BE Safet, FDNY LODD, fire behavior, Fire Fighter Safety Week, Fire Fighting, Fire Load Package, fire loading, Fire Officer & Command Preparedness, fire service ventilation practices, fire suppression, Fire/EMS Safety Health & Surival Week 2011, Fire/EMS Safety Health & Surival Week 2011: Day One- Are You Ready, firefight LODD, firefighter injuries, firefighting, Fireground Operations, Flashover, Full scale fire testing, homeless people, IAFC, IAFF, Illegal renovations, Impact of Ventilation on Fire Behavior in Legacy and Contemporary Residential Construction, Legacy construction, LODD, Mayday, Mayday Training, mayday-prevention program, multiple alarm, Nation Fire Fighter Near Miss Reporting Systems, National Fire Fighter Near Miss Reporting System 2011 Safety Week Resources, National Near Miss Reporting System, Near Miss Reporting System, NFFF, NIOSH, NIOSH Reports, NMR, Ordinary Construction, Preventing the Mayday, residential fire environment, RIT, RIT Training, Roof systems, Safety Health and Survival Section, search adn rescue, search and rescue, Sixteen Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives, Stages of fire development:, standard operating procedures, Strategy and tactics, Surviving the Fire Ground – Fire Fighter Fire Officer and Command Preparedness, Tactical Patience, type III, Type III Ordinary Construction, Type V wood Frame, Underwriters Laboratories, unoccupied, vacant, vacant versus unoccupied, Ventilation on Fire Behavior in Legacy and Contemporary Residential Construction, Ventilation scenarios, VES, wall system, Water Supply, weather

Fire/EMS Safety, Health & Survival Week 2011: Day One- Are You Ready?

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: Fire/EMS Safety Week 2011

Fire/EMS Safety Week: Day One

Today is Day One of Fire/EMS Safety, Health and Survival Week 2011.

The previous week leading up to today has brought with it two significant incidents; one in Illinois, the other in Indiana, both involving structure fires and combat fire engagement, both different types of occupacies with assocated risks; both having structural collapse- both fireground operations leading to fire service line of duty deaths. ( Indiana, HERE and Illinois, HERE )

During this past week we also solemnly remembered three events, The Hotel Vendome Collapse in Boston, MA (1972), The Father’s Day Fire, FDNY (2001) and the Super Store Fire in Charleston, SC (2007) Here and Here

The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) and the International Association of Fire Fighters(IAFF) were formative in developing this year’s 2011 Fire/EMS Safety, Health and Survival Week (also known as Safety Week)which commences today, June 19th and ends on June 25th. ( Week of June 19-25, 2011)

The message this year is: Surviving the Fire Ground – Fire Fighter, Fire Officer and Command Preparedness

Safety, Health and Survival Week (Safety Week) is a collaborative program sponsored by the IAFC and the IAFF, coordinated by the IAFC’s Safety, Health and Survival Section and the IAFF’s Division of Occupational Health, Safety and Medicine, in partnership with more than 20 national fire and emergency service organizations.

Fire departments are encouraged to suspend all non-emergency activity during Safety Week and instead focus entirely on survival training and education until all shifts and personnel have taken part. An entire week is provided to ensure each shift and duty crew can spend one day focusing on these critical issues.

Fire fighter fatality data compiled by the United States Fire Administration have shown that fire fighters “becoming trapped and disoriented represent the largest portion of structural fire ground fatalities.” The incidents in which fire fighters have lost their lives, or lived to tell about it, have a consistent theme — inadequate situational awareness put them at risk.

Fire fighters don’t plan to be lost, disoriented, injured or trapped during a structure fire or emergency incident. But fires are unpredictable and volatile, and an unpredictable fire ground can cause even the most seasoned fire fighter to be overwhelmed in an instant.

This year’s Safety Week focuses on delivering the online IAFF Fire Ground Survival (FGS) awareness training course to all fire departments.

The program is the most comprehensive survival skills and MAYDAY prevention program currently available and is open to all members of the fire service. Additional planning tools and resources will be available on the Safety Week website.

The IAFF Fire Ground Survival Program (FGS) is the most comprehensive survival-skills and mayday-prevention program currently available and is open to all members of the fire service. Incorporating federal regulations, proven incident-management best practices and survival techniques from leaders in the field, and real case studies from experienced fire fighters, FGS aims to educate all fire fighters to be prepared if the unfortunate happens.

For links to the IAFF Fire Ground Survival Program, HERE and HERE

The program will provide participating fire departments with the skills they need to improve situational awareness and prevent a mayday.

Topics covered include:

Preventing the Mayday: situational awareness, planning, size up, air management, fitness for survival, defensive operations.
Being Ready for the Mayday: personal safety equipment, communications, accountability systems.
Self-Survival Procedures: avoiding panic, mnemonic learning aid “GRAB LIVES”— actions a fire fighter must take to improve survivability, emergency breathing.
Self-Survival Skills: SCBA familiarization, emergency procedures, disentanglement, upper floor escape techniques.
Fire Fighter Expectations of Command: command-level mayday training, pre-mayday, mayday and rescue, post-rescue, expanding the incident-command system, communications.

Keep watching the website and the IAFC’s Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn pages for continuing updates to this year’s program and planning resources.

If you’re still in need of resources, visit the SHS Section’s website for more information on health and safety issues and the IAFF’s Health, Safety and Medicine’s website for more information on health, wellness and safety programs.

Don’t forget to go to the National Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System for number of exceptional training aids, resources, PPT and more. NFFNMRS, HERE

Here are some of the National Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System Produced 2011 Safety Week Products


File Title	File Size	File Description
Presentation: Preventing The Mayday	176 KB	A powerpoint presentation about situational awareness, planning, size-up, and defensive operations
Presentation: Being Ready for the Mayday	176 KB	A powerpoint presentation about personal safety equipment, communications, and accountability systems
Presentation: Fire Fighter Expectations of Command	176 KB	A powerpoint presentation about fire fighter expectations of command.
Presentation: Self-Survival Skills	176 KB	A powerpoint presentation about self survival skills at a mayday.
Presentation: Self-Survival Procedures	176 KB	A powerpoint presentation about self survival procedures.
Grouped Report: Preventing The Mayday	176 KB	A grouped report about situational awareness, planning, size-up, and defensive operations
Grouped Report: Self Survival Procedures	176 KB	A grouped report about self survival procedures
Grouped Report: Being Ready for the Mayday	176 KB	A grouped report about personal safety equipment, communications, and accountability systems

Look for a continuing comprehensive series of articles, activities, insights, downloads, podcasts, video clips and resources that will be posted each day this week during Fire/EMS Safety, Health and Survival Week here on Commandsafety.com, Thecompanyofficer.com and Buildingsonfire.com.

We hope to be offering a special live show on Taking it to the Streets on Firefighternetcast.com and blogtalkradio later this week pending some last minute logists addressing key issues with a stellar line-up of fire service leaders. Stay tuned to anouncements and postings for the date and time . This will be an exceptional opportunity to listen in, call in and participate actively in the week’ theme of Surviving the Fire Ground – Fire Fighter, Fire Officer and Command Preparedness.

Download the Planning and Resource Aid for Training Deliveries

2011 Planning and Resource Aid for Training Deliveries (pdf, 1.8 mb)

IAFC Safety Week , Direct Link, HERE

Preventing the Mayday

FGS Online Program Chapter 1
Between 1997 and 2008 NIOSH investigations reported that 25 fire fighters died in unprotected light-weight truss collapse events related to roof or basement truss system failures. A total of 11 injuries also occurred in these fatalities. Additionally, between 2005 and 2006, the National Fire Fighter Near-Miss Reporting System reported 20 near-misses related to unprotected light-weight truss systems. Considering the Near-Miss Reporting System is relatively new, and it is a self-reporting system, it is likely there are far more near-miss incidents occurring than presently indicated.

Construction-Related Considerations

The NIOSH Alert: Preventing Injuries and Deaths of Fire Fighters due to Truss System Failures provides information on roof collapses in structures containing truss systems and includes case studies where fire fighters have become trapped and were injured or killed.

UL Structural Stability of Engineered Lumber in Fire Conditions

Reading Smoke

Fire fighters must be able to recognize the dangers associated with the smoke conditions when en route, upon arrival, and during fire fighting operations. Missing signs indicative of flash over, smoke explosions, backdraft, or rapid fire development has proven deadly to fire fighters in the past. The ability to read smoke correctly will prevent a Mayday situation from occurring.

Being Ready for the Mayday

FGS Online Program Chapter 2
Understanding what safety equipment is required and what fire fighter tools are necessary for readiness, accountability system functionality and dispatch responsibilities.

Radio Communications Training

Having a radio assigned to each person is not enough. Fire fighters must be trained in using the radio to request resources and, most importantly, to call a Mayday.
In 2003, NIOSH issued a firefighter radio report detailing the challenges surrounding fire ground communications. Although the report is several years old, many of these same issues are still challenging the North American fire service. Under the topic of “Inadequate Training” it states: “Though firefighters receive hundreds of hours of training on emergency response, radio communications do not typically receive the same amount of attention. As such, firefighters may not be aware of proper radio usage. Examples include how to use the radio in general, how to use the radio while wearing SCBA, and how radio communications are affected by a Mayday event” (pages 17-18).USFA Voice Radio Communications Guide for the Fire Service

Self-Survival Procedures

First, transmit a distress signal while they still have the capability and sufficient air.
Next, manually activate their PASS device. To conserve air while waiting to be rescued, try to stay calm and avoid unnecessary physical activity.
If not in immediate danger, remain in one place to help rescuers locate them.
Survey their surroundings to get their bearings and determine potential escape routes.
Stay in radio contact with the IC and other rescuers.
Attract attention by maximizing the sound of their PASS device (e.g., by pointing it in an open direction); pointing their flashlight toward the ceiling or moving it around; and using a tool to make tapping noises on the floor or wall.

Self-Survival Skills

FGS Online Program Chapter 4

Disentanglement Maneuvers

NIOSH Alert: Preventing Injuries and Deaths of Fire Fighters

Fire Fighter Expectations of Command

National Fire Fighter Near-Miss Reporting System
This program aims to turn near-miss experiences into lessons learned.

2011 Safety Week Near-Miss Resources

Rules of Engagement for Structural Firefighting (pdf)

Risk Management

General Order: Two-In, Two-Out Compliance, Rapid Intervention Team, and Firefighter Survival

Emergency Evacuation
This policy identifies a standard system for the emergency evacuation of personnel at an emergency incident or training exercise.

Lost or Trapped Firefighters
This policy identifies the required actions for the search and rescue of lost or trapped firefighter(s).

Model Procedures for Responding to a Package with Suspicion of a Biological Threat
Local and world events have placed the nation’s emergency service at the forefront of homeland defense. The service must be aware that terrorists, both foreign and domestic, are continually testing the homeland defense system.

Safety – Initial Rapid Intervention Crew (IRIC)
This policy establishes procedures for ensuring the highest level of safety when conducting interior operations in an atmosphere that is Immediately Dangerous to Life and Health (IDLH).

Safety – Rapid Intervention Team (RIT)
This policy establishes the department’s criteria and procedures for Rapid Intervention Teams.

Firefighter Fatality Report – Southwest Supermarket, Phoenix, AZ
PFD full report on the LODD of Firefighter Brett Tarver. Report contains extensive analysis of fire ground operations, may-day and lessons learned.

NFPA Fire Investigation Report of 1995 Pittsburgh Fire
This report describes the investigation of a fire which killed three firefighters in 1995.

NIOSH LOD Report
This report recounts a residential basement fire that claimed the life of a career lieutenant in Pennsylvania.

Technical Rescue resources

Analysis of Structural Firefighter Fatality Database (pdf)

Hazelton Firefighter caught in Flashover
PowerPoint presentation

Firefighter Survival Training

Rapid Intervention Crew Standard Operating Guidelines
Provided by the Town of Menasha Fire Department

Standardized Actions of a Lost/Disoriented Firefighter

Understanding Fireground LODDS
A fresh perspective on an old problem.

Observing Firefighter Performance (pdf)

Emergency Radio Protocol

“Everybody Goes Home” Campaign: Sticker use memo

EveryoneGoesHome.com
Several applicable resources to assist you in your Stand Down planning.

50 Ways to Save Your Brother (or Sister)
Provided by the South Milwaukee Fire Department.

Fire Chief Magazine article – “No more maydays”
Disorientation Prevention Article

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
This web page provides access to NIOSH investigation reports and other firefighter safety resources.

The Incident Commander’s Response to a “May-Day” Lost Firefighter Incident
A check list of items to consider when handling a may-day incident, provided by Chief Gary Morris, Scottsdale, AZ.

U.S. Firefighter Disorientation Study (1979-2001)
This study was conducted in an effort to stop firefighter fatalities caused by smoke inhalation, burns, and traumatic injuries attributable to disorientation. It focused on 17 incidents occurring between 1979 and 2001 in which disorientation played a major part in 23 firefighter fatalities.

USFA – Firefighter Fatality Retrospective Study (1990-2000)
This report identifies trends in mortality and examines relationships among data elements on firefighter fatalites between 1990-2000.

Keep this week In Perspective

Take a look at these videos and the messages conveyed….

Are YOU getting it, is Your Company, Your Officers, Your Commanders, Your Firefighters? …..

When was the last time you looked at the Initiatives?

Define and advocate the need for a cultural change within the fire service relating to safety; incorporating leadership, management, supervision, accountability and personal responsibility.
Enhance the personal and organizational accountability for health and safety throughout the fire service.
Focus greater attention on the integration of risk management with incident management at all levels, including strategic, tactical, and planning responsibilities.
All firefighters must be empowered to stop unsafe practices.
Develop and implement national standards for training, qualifications, and certification (including regular recertification) that are equally applicable to all firefighters based on the duties they are expected to perform.
Develop and implement national medical and physical fitness standards that are equally applicable to all firefighters, based on the duties they are expected to perform.
Create a national research agenda and data collection system that relates to the initiatives.
Utilize available technology wherever it can produce higher levels of health and safety.
Thoroughly investigate all firefighter fatalities, injuries, and near misses.
Grant programs should support the implementation of safe practices and/or mandate safe practices as an eligibility requirement.
National standards for emergency response policies and procedures should be developed and championed.
National protocols for response to violent incidents should be developed and championed.
Firefighters and their families must have access to counseling and psychological support.
Public education must receive more resources and be championed as a critical fire and life safety program.
Advocacy must be strengthened for the enforcement of codes and the installation of home fire sprinklers.
Safety must be a primary consideration in the design of apparatus and equipment.

The Following links From the NFFF/Everyone Goes Home web site, HERE

Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives Resources

Watch Media Resources:

Related Resources:
» 16 Initiatives in Español
» Power Point Presentations: Part 1 | Part 2
» Resolution: Home Fire Sprinklers (Initiative 15)

In Print:
» 16 Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives Handout
» 16 Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives Poster
» Everyone Goes Home® Bookmark

For Your Computer:
» 16 Initiatives Desktop Wallpaper

It is NOT too late to set plans into motion for Safety, Health and Survival Week 2011…..You have ALL week and the rest of the year…..

The Consciences Observer or Activist
The operative question going forward will be this: What will you personally commit to for Safety, Health and Survival week, or what will your department choose to do; participate in, contribute, join in, share, lead, promote, instruct, present, facilitate, help, assist, aid, or neglect, disregard, undermine, abuse, challenge, demoralize, undercut, damage, torpedo, circumvent, or avoid?

Coming Monday on;

Fire/EMS Safety, Health and Survival Week: Day Two-Building Knowledge = Fire Fighter Safety

Posted by Christopher Naum on June 19, 2011 • Filed under: "firefighter safety", "health and safety", "Safety Week", advocate, building construction, Building Construction for the Fire Service, buildings, buildingsonfire.com, Christopher Naum, Combat Fire Engagement, command-leadership, Company, courage to be safe, education, EGH, fire-rescue-topics, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting, firefighting-operations, Mayday, Naum, NFFF • Tagged: 16 Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives, 2011 Fire/EMS Safety Week Training Resources, 2011 Focus: Surviving the Fire Ground – Fire Fighter, 2011 Planning and Resource Aid for Training Deliveries, 2011 Safety Health and Survival Week, Building Construction for the Fire Service, Buildingsonfire, Buildingsonfre.com, Chicago Fire Department Courage to Be Safety, Chris Naum, Christopher Naum, Everyone Goes Home Program, FDNY Courage to BE Safet, Fire Fighter Safety Week, Fire Officer & Command Preparedness, Fire/EMS Safety Health & Surival Week 2011, Fire/EMS Safety Health & Surival Week 2011: Day One- Are You Ready, Fireground Operations, IAFC, IAFF, Mayday, Mayday Training, mayday-prevention program, Nation Fire Fighter Near Miss Reporting Systems, National Fire Fighter Near Miss Reporting System 2011 Safety Week Resources, National Near Miss Reporting System, Near Miss Reporting System, NFFF, NIOSH, NIOSH Reports, NMR, Preventing the Mayday, RIT, RIT Training, Safety Health and Survival Section, Sixteen Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives, Surviving the Fire Ground – Fire Fighter Fire Officer and Command Preparedness

Physiological Stress associated with Structural Firefighting Observed in Professional Firefighters-Study

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: Study

COOPERATIVE EFFORT WITH THE INDIANAPOLIS FD

A primary goal of the project was to investigate the physical rigor of real fire scene work. Fire scene work tasks may differ widely with respect to their cardiovascular and respiratory stress. Therefore, the project sought to illustrate normative data for multiple fire ground tasks including fire attack, search & rescue, exterior ventilation, and overhaul activities.

The presence of an independent observer (scientist) on the fire ground provided opportunity to describe the fire scene environment under which firefighter physiology data was being collected. Subsequent analysis allowed the identification of the fire scene factors having the greatest impact on firefighter physiology. Further, these factors were also prioritized with respect to their relative importance.

The full access to firefighters provided by the study also allowed some investigation into the psychological aspects of answering emergency call. Specifically, a comparison of emotional stress and anxiety between on and off duty life may provide some insight in to a source of firefighter risk for development of heart disease.

Accomplishing the goals of this project required the cooperation of many organizations. A research consortium was established among the primary organizations involved. However, the ultimate responsibility for success or failure of the project lay with the individual firefighters invited to participate. It was the role of the following institutions to provide support for participating firefighters.

Indiana University Firefighter Health & Safety Research

The Firefighter Health & Safety Research program is component of Indiana University’s Harold H. Morris Human Performance Laboratory. It is governed by the Department of Kinesiology and the School of Health, Physical Education & Recreation.

The program was organized to specifically to support faculty research interests in the health and safety of First Responder populations.

The mission of Indianapolis Fire Department

Indianapolis is a rapidly growing, outstanding community that is recognized as a great place to work and live. Hailed as the 12th largest city in America and home to a diverse population, the city attracts millions of visitors annually. Indianapolis is proud to offer its citizens a world class Fire Department. IFD, with over 150 years of proud tradition, is made up of men and women with diverse cultural backgrounds, each who have taken the oath to protect and serve the citizens of Indianapolis.

Indianapolis Firefighters work closely with the residents and businesses through fire prevention and safety education programs to make their city as safe as possible. The Indianapolis Fire Department is made up of over 940 sworn members and a 50- member civilian support team. The IFD fire service district covers 198 square miles of downtown Indianapolis and surrounding areas.

With a strong history of being progressive thinking forward in areas of firefighter health and safety, IFD provided an ideal organization to participate in the study. Health status and work capacity of IFD firefighters are regularly tested. This provided a population of highly trained, medically supervised career professional firefighters.

Indianapolis Metropolitan Professional Firefighters Association

The International Association of Fire Fighters granted Indianapolis Firefighters their Charter in October of 1934. Today, Indianapolis (Marion County) and its citizens are served by 17 different fire departments are represented by Local 416. Currently Local 416 membership includes over 2,300 firefighters, paramedics, dispatchers and retirees. Local 416 fosters and encourages a high degree of skill, and efficiency, the cultivation of friendship among its members and the support of moral, intellectual and economic development of its membership. Endorsement of the project by Local 416 leadership facilitated the recruitment of firefighters for the research project. A union representative accompanied the scientific team to fire stations during recruitment. Their presence put potential subjects at ease and helped remove any suspicions or concerns the firefighters had. In addition, Local 416 worked closely with the research team to provide support

Embedded

A unique aspect of the study was the need for continuous scientific observation of on-duty firefighters. IFD rotates three shifts of firefighters on a 24-hour on / 48-hour off duty cycle. To accomplish continuous monitoring, a scientist was assigned to each IFD shift. The scientist lived in the fire station and accompanied firefighters on all fire runs.

Scientists were trained in fire station etiquette and fire ground safety procedures. Scientists worked under the command of the station’s shift officer and Incident Commander at the station and on fire scenes respectively. Scientists were uniformed for identification both in the fire station and on the fire ground. Scientist uniforms distinguished them from IFD personnel but made them easily recognizable as fire ground qualified.

The study is bound by the architectural and geographical character of Indianapolis, Indiana. In order to obtain sufficient fire scene data, a highfire- volume region of the city of Indianapolis was chosen for the study site. Architecturally, this area of the city is populated by single and double wood framed residences.

Typically, these structures are less than 2000 ft2. From a geographical stand point, Indianapolis enjoys a fairly moderate climate. Accordingly, Indianapolis does not provide exposure to extremes of weather, hot or cold. The study was conducted during the winter months in order to avoid the complication of atmospheric heat stress. The goal of the study was to assess, as much as possible, the physical aspects of firefighting work. The avoidance of added heat stress provides a more focused examination on that factor. This will allow us to identify firefighter and fire scene variables impacting the physiological responses of firefighters.

Unfortunately, these delimiting factors may limit the applicability of the findings to areas outside Indianapolis or central Indiana. In order to address the impact of weather and other atmospheric extremes (elevation), a future study is planned to assess the same physiological stress on firefighters in areas of the country that will provide access to these weather extremes. In addition, US cities providing access to other architectural character will also be utilized in that future study.

Finally, the study represents physiological responses of a firefighting corps that is known to be well trained technically and monitored by a medical program adhering to NFPA standards. This group of firefighters was chosen because it may be used as a model corps. Other, less fit firefighters should not expect to respond in a similar manner.

This document reports the physiological aspects of structural firefighting and the psychological impact of answering emergency call as outlined in the associated application for funding. The use of continuous physiological monitoring to capture data required the report resulted in the capture of much information not associated with fire scenes. Every heartbeat, breath, and footstep is captured throughout the duty shift. As a result, many other aspects of firefighter physiology were captured and should be evaluated despite being outside the scope of the original project proposal. This report is limited to reporting the goals of the original funded protocol.

Other physiological issues identified during the course of the study will be pursued in subsequent peer-reviewed scientific publications. These subsequent reports will cover such topics as sleep dysfunction,

Heart rate variability analysis for determination of sympathetic / parasympathetic balance, respiratory mechanics associated with positive pressure SCBA systems, and a comparison of physical activity levels on and off duty.

CONCLUSIONS

It is no surprise that heart rates, minute ventilation and blood pressures are elevated during firefighting activity. The physical work demand and the emotionally charged environment require these responses. However, prior to this study, the magnitude and duration of these responses were unclear.

Annual reports of firefighter deaths generally list the cause of on-duty heart attack deaths as “overexertion”.

However, overexertion is a relative term. Levels of work that produce overexertion in one individual might not do so in another, more fit individual. Therefore, several factors must be considered to put the data presented in to context.

When we report means or averages of heart rates (70% of predicted HRmax) and levels of minute ventilation (50 L/min), some of the work does not seem all that strenuous.

However, firefighters studied here were highly trained, medically supervised, healthy and relatively fit individuals. The same work in a less well trained and less fit group of firefighters would result in much higher levels of cardiovascular stress.

In fact, work here that pushed studied firefighters to 100% of their maximum cardiovascular capacity could not be accomplished by some unhealthy and unfit firefighters.

Even within this group, individuals with higher levels of body fat not being able to work as hard as their leaner peers.

Another factor to consider is the fires themselves. The principle components analysis, the size of the structure and amount of fire involved have significant impact on the firefighter’s response. Indeed, the average structure studied was a relatively small (2500 ft2) residential structure.

As structures grow larger and more complex, the physical response grows. Yet, even some of these small structures pushed firefighters to their maximal abilities. Lastly, we must consider the weather conditions.

The study was conducted in the absence of ambient environmental heat stress. Unfortunately, firefighters must fight fire in all weather conditions, including hot humid weather that imposes extreme heat stress conditions on the fire scene. The process of thermoregulation can impart severe cardiovascular stress on firefighters before they set foot on the fire ground. During a 2005 study of training related physiology, a study conducted at the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute saw many firefighters reporting for duty in a dehydrated state. Dehydration exacerbates the cardiovascular stress associated with thermoregulation and can debilitate even the most fit firefighter.

FIRE SCENE AS A TRIGGER FOR HEART ATTACKS

So, how does the information presented here shed light on the extraordinary number of firefighter line of duty heart attacks? The answer lies in the magnitude of the physiological responses. Recently, a comprehensive examination of the LODD due to heart attack was completed by a group at Harvard University .

The researchers found the primary cause of heart attack deaths associated with firefighting was overexertion in firefighters with existing cardiovascular disease.

A 2006 review of research on cardiac deaths indicated that high levels of physical exertion as well as severe emotional stress are triggers for a heart attack. In the case of firefighters, both physical and emotional triggers are present.

These researchers also concluded that periods of high physical or emotional stress essentially accelerate an inevitable cardiac event in persons with cardiovascular disease. This is an extremely important point with respect to fire fighters.

One of the most alarming facts with respect to on-duty firefighter heart attack fatality is the average age at the time of death is in the early 4th decade of life.

If you are a person with cardiovascular disease, death due to heart attack or stroke is probably inevitable.

However, if you are a firefighter with cardiovascular disease, that death due to heart attack or stroke is likely to come much sooner.

Another question asked about firefighter line of duty heart attack deaths is why so many occur after leaving the fire scene.

As discussed earlier, there is an essential physical recovery period following any physical activity.

The duration of the recovery period is determined by the duration and magnitude of the physical activity combined with the individual’s level of aerobic fitness (all recovery is aerobic).

This is because physical activity raises body temperature and causes the release of many hormones that enable us to do high levels of work. One of these hormones, adrenaline, is also released in response to emotional stimuli. Adrenaline raises the heart rate, blood pressure and increases minute ventilation. The higher the physical demand or emotional stress, the greater the rise in temperature as well as the amount of hormone released. These factors do not simply disappear with the cessation of physical activity or the removal of an emotional stimulus.

Substantial time is required to metabolize hormones and to dissipate heat. As a result, stress effects tend to linger.

One incident captured by the study involved the rescue of children entrapped on the second floor of a fully involved residence. The incident resulted in severe physical and emotional stress on the firefighters driving heart rates to levels in excess of 100% of their predicted maximum.

Two hours after returning to station (some three hours following the completion of rescue operations), heart rates of individuals involved in the rescue remained in excess of 100 beats per minute. Essentially, the physical and emotional triggers for heart attack stay with the firefighter for some time after an incident. High levels of stress present long after an incident, is a potential trigger for cardiovascular events, especially in individuals with underlying cardiovascular disease.

REDUCING FIREFIGHTER DEATHS DUE TO HEART ATTACK

Unfortunately, many firefighters in the US are not only unfit for fire scene work but are generally unhealthy individuals. The discrepancy between the physical preparedness of firefighters and the high physical demand of firefighting stands at the center of fire service line of duty deaths. Simply to expect to survive fire ground operations, a firefighter needs, as a minimum, to be healthy (including the absence of cardiovascular disease).

The goal of this research is to support a service wide effort to reduce the number of firefighter line of duty deaths. Because heart attacks account for nearly half of these deaths, much attention is focused on elucidating and eliminating the cause of these events. Unfortunately, no substantial improvements in firefighter health have occurred in the last 25 or so years.

As a result, firefighter death statistics (as a result of heart attack) remains virtually unchanged. With improved research funding we are beginning to better understand the etiology of these events and to develop plans that will change the death statistics.

Currently, there appear to be two primary approaches to the problem. Some researchers are working on the development of physiology monitoring systems in hope of detecting severely elevated cardiovascular or respiratory responses during fire ground operations.

This in turn would allow affected firefighters to be relieved before a catastrophic event is triggered.

Unfortunately, the data presented here suggest this approach would not be successful. It is apparent that, in some cases, extreme physiological responses are appropriate on the fire ground.

Simply removing a firefighter because his or her heart rate is extremely high would stand in the way of getting the job done.

It is much more important that firefighters be healthy and fit enough to turn the output of their cardiac pumps up (increase heart rate) enough to do what they are expected to do and not experience adverse effects because of it. This seems to negate the utility of a monitoring device that simply alerts to extreme level of heart rate or ventilation.

Programs such as the Wellness/Fitness initiative undertaken by IAFF and IAFC, and the US

Fire Administration’s Life Safety Summit has recognized the need for improving the health of firefighters as a preventative measure. The national fire prevention association has issued guidelines for oversight of firefighter health programs. These programs set the stage for improvement in firefighter health. If successful, they will certainly result in a reduction in firefighter deaths due to heart attack. It is important however, that firefighters take advantage of such programs, either voluntarily or as a requirement for service.

Although there remain unknown factors on the fire ground that may increase a firefighter’s risk of developing heart disease, we know now that the vast majority of heart attack deaths occur in unhealthy, unfit firefighters. This study clearly demonstrates the magnitude of cardiovascular stress placed on working firefighters and indicates firefighting activity can be a trigger for a cardiac event. Essentially, firefighting is triggering a cardiac death that is inevitable in persons with cardiovascular disease.

So how do we stem the tide of heart attack deaths in working firefighters? We must improve firefighter health and reduce their risk factors for heart disease. Whether the responsibility for that improvement lies with the firefighter, their department or their labor organizations is for the fire service to decide.

The fire service is still asking why are firefighters dying of heart attacks and what can we do about it. Academic researchers have been demonstrating since the mid-seventies that firefighting is a substantial trigger for heart attack and preventative physical training should be required of firefighters.

IMPLICATIONS FOR FIREFIGHTER PHYSICAL TRAINING

Development of an effective physical training program begins with the identification of demand levels a job or event presents. Several studies have attempted to quantify the physical demand of firefighting by observation of training or simulated firefighting activity.

Unfortunately, laboratory measures tell us little about the physiology of real world structural firefighting. This was a primary reason the current study was undertaken. Adequate funding, appropriate technology, and an embedded relationship with a large metropolitan fire department enabled us to examine the physiology of real-world firefighting.

With information about the cardiovascular and respiratory demands of structural firefighting, we are now able to make statements about how firefighters should be trained. First, it is important to define what we refer to as physical fitness. The terms healthy and physically fit are not synonymous. Healthy refers to a state of well being and includes both physical and emotional aspects of life. Physical health includes not only the absence of disease but several functional physiological capabilities commonly referred to as health-related components of physical fitness.

These components include aerobic capacity, body composition, muscular strength, muscular endurance and flexibility. Sound physical training programs designed for the general population address all of these components. Programs designed for individuals who regularly endure high levels of physical stress go beyond these health-related components and include some performance-related components of physical fitness. In addition, the goals for health-related components are substantially different for these individuals compared to the general public. Athletes and firefighters fall into this higher-demand category. Sometimes you will even hear firefighters referred to as occupational athletes.

The cardiac and respiratory stress data, in combination with the inferred blood pressure responses described by this study, elucidate the firefighter’s need for a healthy cardiovascular system. The firefighter cardiovascular system will be stressed significantly, sometimes under high ambient heat stress conditions. In addition, the need to exert and maintain large muscular forces, usually from an awkward body position, indicates the need for significant muscular strength, muscular endurance, and joint flexibility compared to civilian counterparts.

Accordingly, standardized guidelines for physical training NFPA 1583, address these components for developing the firefighter’s physical fitness. As fire scene work begins, firefighters typically carry 60-70 pounds of protective clothing, breathing apparatus, and tools. As a result, little of the work executed on the fire ground could be described as having a large aerobic component. Instead, the high levels of power output required on the fire ground places emphasis on non-oxidative (anaerobic) metabolic processes. This anaerobic capacity is not considered a health-related but a performance- related component of physical fitness. An improved anaerobic capacity can significantly reduce cardiovascular stress in individuals executing anaerobic work.

Accordingly, firefighters would benefit from training that improves glycolytic and creatine phosphate metabolic system capacities. Other performance-related components of physical fitness also play a role on the fire ground. Studies conducted by Dr. Denise Smith have shown the effects of firefighting activity on the balance and coordination of firefighters. Training protocols that include agility training would also benefit the firefighter and alleviate some of the risk of trips and falls on the fire ground, a substantial origin of firefighter injury.

Lastly, it is important (from a physiological standpoint) to recognize the wide range in numbers of fires worked between fire service organizations and the effect is has firefighter physical demand.

The physiological demand required to fight a structural fire is primarily determined by the structure. Essentially, the structure sets the demand level without regard to who is coming to fight the fire (career professional, volunteer, paid volunteer etc.). As such, achieving similar goals on the fire ground places the similar physical stresses on all firefighters. However, a firefighter working in a busy company of a large metropolitan department may be required to fight multiple fires in a single shift. This lies in sharp contrast to the rural unpaid volunteer who may only work a handful of structural fires in a year.

As observed in this study, the physical stress placed on the firefighter does not simply disappear when they leave the fire scene. Significant cardiovascular stress may be present for some time following an incident. Unfortunately, this places a substantial burden on firefighters who fight large numbers of fires. These firefighters do need to be held to a higher standard of physical preparedness in order for them to recover quickly and be able to meet the demands of the next incident. Achieving a level of physical preparedness that enables the firefighter to survive and function appropriately on a fire scene should be the starting point for firefighter physical training, not the goal!

As always, the healthier and more physically fit any firefighter is, the better. However, at a minimum, the firefighter needs to a healthy and physically fit citizen. With increasing physical stress (as determined by the number and character of fires they fight), higher fitness goals need to be set to ensure the firefighter is physically prepared. This would include increased levels of all health-related fitness components and the incorporation of performance- related components into physical training programs.

In conclusion, it appears that firefighting activity presents significant cardiovascular and respiratory stress.

Recent evidence suggests that a majority of the cardiovascular-related line of duty deaths are caused by underlying heart disease.

It is clear from the data collected here that fire scene work exposes the firefighter to a substantial potential for triggering cardiovascular events. Therefore, firefighters with pre-existing cardiovascular disease exposed to the physical and emotional stress of afire scene are in extreme risk of a experiencing a myocardial infarction, stroke or other cardiovascular system collapse.

The fire scene is alive with many potential complicating exposure factors (toxic gases, particulates etc.) and it is certainly possible that working on a fire scene may contribute to the progression of the disease state. However, the best defense against the progression of the disease is a health monitoring plan coupled with a sound physical training program, and adequate operating procedures to lessen exposures.

The National Fire Protection Association has issued guidelines for such programs and, in the case of physical training program, suggests they be made mandatory.

Although this guideline meets with resistance from every faction of the fire service, departments, unions, and firefighters alike, it is a simple fact that sound physical training programs are the only way line of duty deaths due to heart attacks are going to be reduced.

Download the Indy Physiology Study – Final Report

Video Gallery

You may view or download the below videos for your personal use. Videos can be played on computers using QuickTime and on iPods. Click videos to play in a new Web browser window. Note that the videos may take time open.

Click here to download the entire video. Please note that all downloads and online playing will take time.

To download parts of the entire video, click on the individual links below. Files will play in QuickTime. If you do not have QuickTime, scroll to the bottom of the page for the QuickTime link. Also for instructions on how to download, scroll to the bottom of the page.

To watch the video from this Web page, click on the image below.

Study Video – This video shows how to assess fitness and design a training program. Videos below are listed in screen size, smallest to largest.

Study-240×180

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Study-640-480

Fitness Assessment – Use this video to assess fitness level. Videos below are listed in screen size, smallest to largest.

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Level Specific Workouts – Exercise videos for three different fitness levels. Videos below are listed in screen size, smallest to largest.

Level 1

Level1-240×180

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Level1-480-360

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Level 2

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Level 3

Level3-240×180

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Flexibility Training – Exercise video to increase flexibility. Videos below are listed in screen size, smallest to largest.

Flexibility-240×180

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Download instructions:

To download the video files for personal use, do the following:

Right-click on the file link. For example, if downloading Flexibility-240×180, your mouse pointer should be over the link and the hand should be showing.

Click Save Target As…

The Save As window for the computer will open.

Select a folder. My Videos is a good choice.

Click the Save button in the Save As window.

Wait for the video to download and save to the computer.

The videos will play in the software QuickTime, a free program. To download QuickTime click here: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/

Posted by Christopher Naum on May 14, 2011 • Filed under: "firefighter safety", "health and safety", fire suppression, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, line-of-duty, LODD • Tagged: "firefighter safety", and overhaul activities., buildingsonfire.com, Chris Naum, Christopher Naum, commandsafety.com, exterior ventilation, fire attack, firefighter injury data, firefighter physiology, firefighting and the psychological impact, heart attack deaths associated with firefighting, Indiana University Firefighter Health & Safety Research, Indianapolis FD, Indianapolis Fire Department, Indianapolis Fire Department Study, LODD, physiological aspects of structural firefighting, Physiological Stress, REDUCING FIREFIGHTER DEATHS DUE TO HEART ATTACK, research consortium, Search & Rescue

2011 Focus: Surviving the Fire Ground – Fire Fighter, Fire Officer & Command Preparedness

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June 19-25, 2011

Theme: Surviving the Fire Ground – Fire Fighter, Fire Officer & Command Preparedness

Fire Fighter Survival

2011 Focus: Surviving the Fire Ground –

Fire Fighter, Fire Officer & Command Preparedness

Planning and Resource Aide for Training Deliveries to support Safety Week 2011 from the IAFC

2011 Planning and Resource Aid for Training Deliveries (pdf, 1.8 mb)

IAFC Safety Week , Direct Link, HERE

Preventing the Mayday

Construction-Related Considerations

UL Structural Stability of Engineered Lumber in Fire Conditions

Reading Smoke

Being Ready for the Mayday

Radio Communications Training

Self-Survival Procedures

First, transmit a distress signal while they still have the capability and sufficient air.
Next, manually activate their PASS device. To conserve air while waiting to be rescued, try to stay calm and avoid unnecessary physical activity.
If not in immediate danger, remain in one place to help rescuers locate them.
Survey their surroundings to get their bearings and determine potential escape routes.
Stay in radio contact with the IC and other rescuers.
Attract attention by maximizing the sound of their PASS device (e.g., by pointing it in an open direction); pointing their flashlight toward the ceiling or moving it around; and using a tool to make tapping noises on the floor or wall.

Self-Survival Skills

FGS Online Program Chapter 4

Disentanglement Maneuvers

NIOSH Alert: Preventing Injuries and Deaths of Fire Fighters

Fire Fighter Expectations of Command

National Fire Fighter Near-Miss Reporting System
This program aims to turn near-miss experiences into lessons learned.

2011 Safety Week Near-Miss Resources

Rules of Engagement for Structural Firefighting (pdf)

Risk Management

General Order: Two-In, Two-Out Compliance, Rapid Intervention Team, and Firefighter Survival

Emergency Evacuation
This policy identifies a standard system for the emergency evacuation of personnel at an emergency incident or training exercise.

Lost or Trapped Firefighters
This policy identifies the required actions for the search and rescue of lost or trapped firefighter(s).

Safety – Rapid Intervention Team (RIT)
This policy establishes the department’s criteria and procedures for Rapid Intervention Teams.

NFPA Fire Investigation Report of 1995 Pittsburgh Fire
This report describes the investigation of a fire which killed three firefighters in 1995.

NIOSH LOD Report
This report recounts a residential basement fire that claimed the life of a career lieutenant in Pennsylvania.

Technical Rescue resources

Analysis of Structural Firefighter Fatality Database (pdf)

Hazelton Firefighter caught in Flashover
PowerPoint presentation

Firefighter Survival Training

Rapid Intervention Crew Standard Operating Guidelines
Provided by the Town of Menasha Fire Department

Standardized Actions of a Lost/Disoriented Firefighter

Understanding Fireground LODDS
A fresh perspective on an old problem.

Observing Firefighter Performance (pdf)

Emergency Radio Protocol

“Everybody Goes Home” Campaign: Sticker use memo

EveryoneGoesHome.com
Several applicable resources to assist you in your Stand Down planning.

50 Ways to Save Your Brother (or Sister)
Provided by the South Milwaukee Fire Department.

Fire Chief Magazine article – “No more maydays”
Disorientation Prevention Article

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
This web page provides access to NIOSH investigation reports and other firefighter safety resources.

The Incident Commander’s Response to a “May-Day” Lost Firefighter Incident
A check list of items to consider when handling a may-day incident, provided by Chief Gary Morris, Scottsdale, AZ.

USFA – Firefighter Fatality Retrospective Study (1990-2000)
This report identifies trends in mortality and examines relationships among data elements on firefighter fatalites between 1990-2000.

Posted by Christopher Naum on May 1, 2011 • Filed under: "firefighter safety", "health and safety", "Safety Week", Building Construction for the Fire Srvice, buildings, buildingsonfire.com, Christopher Naum • Tagged: 2011 Focus: Surviving the Fire Ground – Fire Fighter, 2011 Planning and Resource Aid for Training Deliveries, 2011 Safety Health and Survival Week, Building Construction for the Fire Service, Buildingsonfire, Buildingsonfre.com, Chris Naum, Christopher Naum, Fire Officer & Command Preparedness, Fireground Operations, IAFC, IAFF, Mayday, Mayday Training, mayday-prevention program, Nation Fire Fighter Near Miss Reporting Systems, NIOSH, NIOSH Reports, NMR, Preventing the Mayday, RIT, RIT Training, Safety Health and Survival Section, Surviving the Fire Ground – Fire Fighter Fire Officer and Command Preparedness

Analytical Study Reveals Patterns in U.S Firefighter Fatalities

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While the number of structural fires in the United States continues to decline, firefighter line of duty deaths (LODD) do not exhibit the same rate of proportion decline. A review of both NFPA and USFA Firefighter LODD annual reports, statistics and retrospective studies and analysis suggest a noted change in the adverse trends noted for a number of previous years, but we are lagging in achieving the goals established by the NFFF’s Everyone Goes Home Program and initiatives.

A recently published study and research conducted at the University of Georgia may provide insights and help explain why.

Researchers in the UGA College of Public Health found that cultural factors in the work environment that promote getting the job done as quickly as possible with whatever resources available lead to an increase in line-of-duty firefighter fatalities.

“Firefighting is always going to be a hazardous activity, but there’s a general consensus among firefighting organizations and among scientific organizations that it can be safer than it is, “according to study co-author David DeJoy, of the Workplace Health Group in the College of Public Health.

The research, published in the May edition of the journal Accident Analysis and Prevention, examined data gathered from 189 firefighter fatality investigations conducted by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health between 2004 and 2009.

Each NIOSH investigation gives recommendations directed at preventing future firefighter injuries and deaths. The researchers looked at the high-frequency recommendations and linked them to important causal and contributing factors of the fatalities.

The following is the Abstract from the Line of duty deaths among U.S. Firefighters: An analysis of fatality investigations, published by Kumar Kunadharaju, Todd D. Smith and David M. Dejoy.

Inadequate preparation for/anticipation of adverse events during operations,

Abstract

More than 100 firefighters die in the line-of-duty in the U.S. each year and over 80,000 are injured. This study examined all firefighter fatality investigations (N=189) completed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) for fatalities occurring between 2004 and 2009.

These investigations produced a total of 1167 recommendations for corrective actions.
Thirty-five high frequency recommendations were derived from the total set: six related to medical fatalities and 29 to injury-related fatalities.
These high frequency recommendations were mapped onto the major operational components of firefighting using a fishbone or cause-effect diagram.
Over 70% of the 30 non-external recommendations were categorized within the personnel and incident command components of the fishbone diagram.

Root cause techniques suggested four higher order causes:

under-resourcing,
inadequate preparation for/anticipation of adverse events during operations,
incomplete adoption of incident command procedures, and
sub-optimal personnel readiness.

Excerpt from the study introduction

The United States depends on about 1.1 million career and volunteer firefighters to protect its citizens and property from losses caused by fire. Firefighting is considered to be one of the most stressful and dangerous occupations. Each year more than 100 firefighters die in the line of duty and over 80,000 are injured (Karter and Molis, 2009; United States Fire Administration, 2009). The fatality rate for firefighters is three times worse than for the general working population (International Association of Firefighters, 2001).

Advances in technology, personal protective equipment, engineering controls, environmental management, medical care, and safety legislation produced substantial reductions in fatalities during the 1970s and 1980s; however, these numbers have not improved during the past 25 years and have been trending upward for the past decade. Without question, firefighting is high hazard work, but it is unique beyond this. In most high hazard work situations, the goal is hazard avoidance. In contrast, for firefighting, the principal work activity is hazard engagement, which is usually further complicated by extreme time pressure.

High hazard work situations

The customary safety strategy in many high hazard work situations is to implement multiple safety measures, or what is sometimes referred to as: “defenses in depth” (Rasmussen, 1997; Reason, 1997). That is, several layers of precautions are put in place to protect the workers and the integrity of the overall system, even when components fail or errors occur. There is little protective redundancy in firefighting, and risks to personnel must continually be assessed and reassessed as the fire situation develops and changes, often with little predictability or advanced warning. Most efforts to protect firefighters fall into two general categories: preparative measures and operational measures.

Preparative measures encompass actions that prepare the firefighters to do their work in as safe a manner as possible. This would include personnel selection and placement, training, professional socialization, as well as the provision of personal protective equipment (PPE) and other safety devices. Operational measures focus on maintaining an adequate margin of safety during actual firefighting activities. This would include adherence to various standard operating procedures (SOPs), continued monitoring of risk–benefit ratios, communications, staffing, and other command and control activities.

As part of the effort to reduce firefighter line-of-duty fatalities, the United States Fire Administration (USFA) collects and evaluates information regarding line-of-duty (LODD) firefighter fatalities and publishes the data in the annual firefighter fatality reports (e.g., United States Fire Administration, 2009)

In 1998, Congress appropriated funding to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to conduct independent, onsite investigations of firefighter line-of-duty (LOD) deaths (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 2009). The investigations conducted as part of the NIOSH Firefighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program (FFFIPP) are voluntary and not all fatalities are investigated. Cases are selected for investigation using a decision algorithm (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 2009), with the primary goal not to find fault or assign blame, but rather to learn from these events and to formulate recommendations directed at preventing future firefighter injuries and deaths.

Since the program’s inception, NIOSH has completed over 470 fatality investigations. There have been several prior efforts to compile and analyze various portions of this accumulated database. Hodous and colleagues (Hodous et al., 2004) reviewed firefighter fatalities from 1998 to 2001 and synthesized NIOSH recommendations for cases involving structural firefighting activities.

Risk and Culture

These researchers identified eight frequently occurring recommendations that highlighted three general areas of concern:

(1) use and enforcement of standard operating procedures (SOPs) related to structural firefighting techniques and strategies;

(2) adequate staffing and adherence to contemporary incident command practices, and

(3) increased attention to communications and personnel accountability and rescue.

Peterson and colleagues (Peterson et al., 2006) examined recommendations from the first five years of fatality investigations (1999–2003).
Their analysis identified 31 “key” recommendations, 22 involving traumatic injury fatalities and 9 involving cardiovascular fatalities.
These were further reduced to 17 sentinel recommendations involving training, standard operating procedures, safety practices, and the safety environment of fire departments.
More recently, Ridenour and associates (Ridenour et al., 2008) reviewed all investigations completed between 1998 and 2005.
This analysis highlighted ten categories of recommendations, two focusing on medical cases and the other eight focusing on traumatic injuries.

The clear majority of medically-related fatalities involve cardiovascular events and these have produced two predominant recommendations: the need for improvements in medical screening, and the need for wider adoption of fitness/wellness programming for firefighters.

These are both preparative measures designed to identify and address cardiovascular risk in operational personnel. Trauma cases, on the other hand, have yielded a much more diverse array of recommendations and a less clear picture of high priority needs. These recommendations address both preparative and operational measures, and cover a broad territory that includes command and control functions, operations and tactics, and equipment and resources.

The present study continues this line of inquiry but expands it in several ways.
The first objective was to determine the extent to which the incidents investigated by NIOSH are representative of all firefighter LOD fatalities.
NIOSH investigations are voluntary on the part of the fallen firefighter’s organization and NIOSH does not have sufficient resources to investigate all fatalities.
This issue has potentially important implications for the generalizability of any key recommendations extracted from the accumulated database of reports.
The second objective was to better describe the procedures used to derive key or sentinel recommendations.

In the analyses described above, only limited procedural details were provided on how the high frequency recommendations were actually determined.

The Fire Service Culture

For example, it would be useful to know how frequent the high frequency recommendations were, not only in absolute terms but also relative to other recommendations. Since most investigations contain several recommendations, it would be useful to know how similar recommendations were handled within and across investigations. The third objective involved the issue of causation.

The recommendations contained in these reports speak primarily to the “what” – that is, what needs to be done, not done, done better, or done differently in the future to reduce risk.

These recommendations almost always draw upon contemporary knowledge and accepted best practices in the firefighting and emergency response professional communities. Logically, it should be possible to link high frequency recommendations to causal factors or clusters of causal factors. Therefore, we were interested in determining whether insights into important causal factors could be extracted from these reports.

Identification of such factors is a requisite step in the development of effective prevention strategies (Higgins et al., 2001). With these objectives forming the organizing framework, the present research sought to examine NIOSH investigations for the years 2004–2009. This time period was chosen to complement the previous analyses and to provide a current perspective.

The study analyzed the investigations in terms of the core culture of the firefighting profession. Firefighting culture should not be construed as one of negligence, said DeJoy, but one based on a long-standing tradition of acceptance of risk. A job that relies on extreme individual efforts and has too few resources leads to the chronic condition of doing too much with too little, he said.

“If you get used to taking risks, it’s easy to take a little more risk,” DeJoy said.
“Most of the time when we take risks, like walking across the street or driving a car, nothing bad happens.
This level of risk gets ratcheted up and becomes part of normal activity.” Acceptance of risk becomes extremely perilous in a situation in which adverse events can happen at any time and margins of safety are very thin, he added.

Firefighter deaths dropped in the 1970s and 1980s, largely due to improvements in protective clothing, breathing equipment and radio communication, explained DeJoy. In the last decades, fatality numbers actually edged upward while the number of fires has gone down, he said.

On average, more than 100 firefighters die on the job in the U.S. each year, which is three times higher than the fatality rate for the general working population. The number one cause of death identified in the study was not smoke inhalation or traumatic injury, but cardiovascular events.

Eighty-seven of the 213 deaths examined in the study were cardiac-related.
Deaths from cardiovascular events resulted in two predominant recommendations from the researchers: the need for improvements in medical screening and the need for wider adoption of mandatory fitness/wellness programming.

Many of the recommendations can be traced to a lack of finances the report states. Not only does under-resourcing affect the ability of a fire department to acquire innovative technology, it can lead to a shortage of personnel at a fire, compromising rapid intervention and the ability to maintain command and control functions during operations, according to the authors.

The authors also acknowledged that there is a certain amount of subjective interpretation that goes into analyzing incident investigations. In addition, NIOSH investigations are not mandatory and can be refused by a fire department. NIOSH also mostly investigates deaths involving career, or paid, firefighters, although a majority of firefighters in the U.S. are volunteers and a majority of line-of-duty deaths involve volunteers. The authors further stated they hoped NIOSH will do more investigations of volunteer firefighter fatalities, as those organizations may have the greatest need for evaluation and technical assistance.

The entire report is available at a nominal fee, HERE;

Journal Reference:

Kumar Kunadharaju, Todd D. Smith, David M. DeJoy. Line-of-duty deaths among U.S. firefighters: An analysis of fatality investigations. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 2011; 43 (3): 1171 DOI: 10.1016/j.aap.2010.12.030

Science Daily Article HERE
University of Georgia (2011, April 14). Comprehensive study reveals patterns in firefighter fatalities. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 16, 2011, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2011/04/110412171208.htm

Other Report Links of Interest

Reducing Firefighter Deaths and Injuries: Changes in Concept, Policy, and Practice Contributing Factors in Firefighter Line-of-Duty Deaths in the United States. HERE
Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program: Leading Recommendations for Preventing Fire Fighter Fatalities, 1998–2005
DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2009-100
This document is a synthesis of the 1,286 individual recommendations from the 335 FFFIPP investigations conducted from 1998 to 2005.
Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program Evaluation NIOSH report of findings from its national survey of U.S. fire departments.
2011 Fatality Summary Statistics (PDF, 14 Kb)
2010 Fatality Summary Statistics (PDF, 11 Kb)
Fire-Related Firefighter Injuries Reported to NFIRS (PDF, 945 Kb, Volume 11, Issue 7 – February 2011)
Firefighter Fatalities in 2000 (PDF, 110 Kb, Volume 1, Issue 20 – December 2001)
Firefighter Injuries (PDF, 119 Kb, Volume 2, Issue 1 – March 2002)
Firefighter Injuries in Structures (PDF, 95 Kb, Volume 2, Issue 2 – March 2002)
Fire-Related Firefighter Injuries in 2004 (PDF, 2.4 Mb – February 2008)

Posted by Christopher Naum on April 16, 2011 • Filed under: "firefighter safety", "health and safety", buildingsonfire.com, Christopher Naum, Combat Fire Engagement, courage to be safe, Fire Service Tradition, fire suppression, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations • Tagged: 16 Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives, building construction, buildingsonfire.com, Chris Naum, Christopher Naum, commandsafety.com, David DeJoy, Everyone Goes Home, Everyone Goes Home Program, Fire fighter health andwellness, Fire Fighter sub-optimal personnel readiness, Fire Service Culture, Fire Service inadequate preparation for/anticipation of adverse events during operations, Fire Service incomplete adoption of incident command procedures, Fire Service Tradition, Fire Service under-resourcing, firefighter line of duty deaths, Firefighter LODD annual reports, firefighter safety and health, Firefighting hazards, Firefighting principles, firefighting principles and practices, hazard avoidance, Kumar Kunadharaju, Line of duty deaths among U.S. Firefighters: An analysis of fatality investigations, LODD, National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, NFFF, NFPA, NIOSH, NIOSH Fire Fighter Fatality Investigative Reports, statistics, Strategy and tactics, Todd D. Smith, University of Georgia, USFA

Stakeholder Comments Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program

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Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program

Stakeholder Comment on the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program (FFFIPP) Progress and Future Direction

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program is seeking stakeholder input on the progress and future directions of the NIOSH FFFIPP to ensure that the program is meeting the needs and expectations of the U.S. fire service, and to identify ways in which the program can be improved to increase its impact on the safety and health of fire fighters across the United States.

NIOSH will compile and consider all comments received and use them in making decisions on how to proceed with the FFFIPP.

An overview of the FFFIPP, associated reports and publications can be viewed by going to the NIOSH FFFIPP Web site.

Public Comment Period
Written comments on the document will be accepted through April 29, 2011 in accordance with the instructions below. All material submitted to NIOSH should reference Docket Number NIOSH-063-B. All electronic comments should be formatted as Microsoft Word and make reference to docket number NIOSH-063-B.

Comments will be accepted until 5:00 p.m. EDT on April 29, 2011

To submit comments, please use one of these options:

Send NIOSH comments using this online form
Send comments by email.
Fax comments to the NIOSH Docket Office: 513-533-8285
Send by Mail to:
NIOSH Mailstop: C-34
Robert A. Taft Lab.
4676 Columbia Parkway
Cincinnati, Ohio 45226
All information received in response to this notice will be available for public examination and copying at the …
NIOSH Docket Office
4676 Columbia Parkway, Room 111
Cincinnati, Ohio 45226.

A complete electronic docket containing all comments submitted will be available on the NIOSH docket home page, and comments will be available in writing by request. NIOSH includes all comments received without change in the docket, including any personal information provided.

Contact persons for technical information
Paul Moore, Chief, Trauma Investigations Team
NIOSH/CDC
1095 Willowdale Road
Mailstop H-1808
Morgantown, WV 26505
304/285-6016

Related Dockets

Fire Fighter Program Video

Video summary of FFFIPP Program recorded live by Fire Department Network News TV (FDNNTV) at the 50th IAFF Fire Fighter Convention in San Diego, CA on August 23, 2010.

Recently Released Reports

Posted by Christopher Naum on March 2, 2011 • Filed under: "firefighter safety", "health and safety", Building Construction for the Fire Service, buildingsonfire.com, Christopher Naum, line-of-duty, LODD, NIOSH • Tagged: "firefighter safety", (NIOSH) Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program (FFFIPP), buildingsonfire.com, Chris Naum, Christopher Naum, commandsafety.com, Docket Number NIOSH-063-B, Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation, Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program, Firefighter LODD, firefighter safety and health, NIOSH FFFIPP, NIOSH Fire Reports, public comments, The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

Three UK Fire Service Managers charged in LODD incident

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Three fire service managers in charge of the operation at a south Warwickshire vegetable packing warehouse in which four firefighters died are to face prosecution for manslaughter.

The Crown Prosecution Service has decided that that Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service managers Paul Simmons, Adrian Ashley and Timothy Woodward will face charges of manslaughter by gross negligence for the deaths at Atherstone-on-Stour in November 2007.

In addition, Warwickshire County Council will face a charge of failing to ensure the health and safety at work of its employees, under section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

John Averis, 27, of Tredington near Shipston, Darren Yates-Bradley, 24, of Alcester, Ashley Stephens, 20, from Alcester and Ian Reid, 44, from Stratford, all died while fighteing the fire on November 2, 2007.

Four UK Firefighters Died in the Line of Duty

Darren had married his sweetheart Fay Beesley from Chipping Campden only a month before he died.

Michael Gregory, reviewing lawyer in the CPS Special Crime Division, said: “Following a thorough investigation by Warwickshire Police and the Health and Safety Executive, I have reviewed the evidence in this case very carefully and I have decided that there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest to charge Paul Simmons, Adrian Ashley and Timothy Woodward with gross negligence manslaughter.

“Mr Simmons and Mr Ashley were Watch Managers and Mr Woodward was a Station Manager at the time of the fire, but they all acted as incident commanders before, during and after their colleagues were sent into the burning building. In that role they were responsible for making the operational decisions while their colleagues tried to put out the fire.

“I have also decided that there is sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction against Warwickshire County Council for failing to protect the health and safety of its employees and that it is in the public interest to prosecute.

“I send my sincere condolences to the families of these four men who died in such terrible circumstances.”

Nine other people investigated by Warwickshire Police in connection with the incident have been told there was insufficient evidence to take any action against them.

Daily Mail: Brigade Bosses Charged With Manslaughter Over Deaths
The Sun: Three Chiefs To Go On Trial
FireGeezer Coverage, HERE and HERE
More Firegeezer coverage of the tragedy HERE and HERE.
UK: Bosses Charged Over Firefighter Deaths: HERE

Surviving the Fire Ground – Fire Fighter, Fire Officer and Command Preparedness

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: Safety Week 2011

The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) and the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) are pleased to announce the 2011 Fire/EMS Safety, Health and Survival Week (also known as Safety Week) to be held the week of June 19-25, 2011.

The message this year is: Surviving the Fire Ground – Fire Fighter, Fire Officer and Command Preparedness

This year’s Safety Week will focus on delivering the online IAFF Fire Ground Survival (FGS) awareness training course to all fire departments. The program is the most comprehensive survival skills and MAYDAY prevention program currently available and is open to all members of the fire service. Additional planning tools and resources will be available on the Safety Week website.

For links to the IAFF Fire Ground Survival Program, HERE and HERE

The program will provide participating fire departments with the skills they need to improve situational awareness and prevent a mayday. Topics covered include:

Preventing the Mayday: situational awareness, planning, size up, air management, fitness for survival, defensive operations.
Being Ready for the Mayday: personal safety equipment, communications, accountability systems.
Self-Survival Procedures: avoiding panic, mnemonic learning aid “GRAB LIVES”— actions a fire fighter must take to improve survivability, emergency breathing.
Self-Survival Skills: SCBA familiarization, emergency procedures, disentanglement, upper floor escape techniques.
Fire Fighter Expectations of Command: command-level mayday training, pre-mayday, mayday and rescue, post-rescue, expanding the incident-command system, communications.

Keep watching the website and the IAFC’s Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn pages for continuing updates to this year’s program and planning resources.

Remember to visit the SHS Section’s website for more information on health and safety issues and the IAFF’s Health, Safety and Medicine’s website for more information on health, wellness and safety programs.

Additionally, look for a comprehensive series of articles, activities, insights, downloads, podcasts, video clips and resources that will be posted each day of Safety, Health and Survival Week here on Commandsafety.com, Thecompanyofficer.com and Buildingsonfire.com.

Announcements and campaign materials will begin posting in Mid-May.

We will be offering a special series of live shows nightly on Taking it to the Streets on Firefighternetcast.com and blogtalkradio during the week of June 19-25, 2011 addressing key issues with a stellar line-up of fire service leaders.

This will be an exceptional opportunity to listen in, call in and participate actively in the week’ theme of Surviving the Fire Ground – Fire Fighter, Fire Officer and Command Preparedness.

These shows will be mission critical. Stay Tuned for more upcoming information.

Start making your plans for Safety, Health and Survival Week 2011…..

The Consciences Observer or Activist
The operative question going forward will be this: What will you personally commit to for Safety, Health and Survival week, or your department chose to do; participate in, contribute, join in, share, lead, promote, instruct, present, facilitate, help, assist, aid, or neglect, disregard, undermine, abuse, challenge, demoralize, undercut, damage, torpedo, circumvent, or avoid?

Posted by Christopher Naum on February 25, 2011 • Filed under: "firefighter safety", "health and safety", "Safety Week", building construction, Building Construction for the Fire Service, buildingsonfire.com, Christopher Naum, firefighter-safety-health • Tagged: "firefighter safety", Building Knowledge=Firefighter Safety, buildingsonfire.com, Chris Naum, Christopher Naum, command management, commandsafety.com, Fire Officer and Command Preparedness, Firefighter comprehensive survival-skills, Firefighter Netcast.com, firefighter safety and health, IAFC SH&S Section, IAFF Fire Ground Survival (FGS) awareness training course to, mayday-prevention program, Safety Health and Survival Week 2011, Surviving the Fire Ground – Fire Fighter, Surviving the Fire Ground – Fire Fighter Fire Officer and Command Preparedness, Taking it to the Streets with Christopher Naum, thecompanyofficer.com

2011 FDNY Symposium

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Schedule/Topics

Tuesday March 15

08:30 – 8:45 Welcome and Introduction by FDNY Commissioner and Chief of Department.

08:45 – 10:00 The latest building trends in construction and technology including ‘Green Buildings” and how they impact on firefighting operations -Assistant Chief Ronald Spadafora

10:00 – 12:00 FDNY Firefighting Procedures and the different tactics used for Residential versus Commercial high rise fires. Case study of recent multiple alarm. Specialty units unique assignments at high rise fires.- Deputy Chief James Daly and Lieutenant Chris Flatley

12:00 – 13:00 Lunch

13:00 – 14:00 Managing building systems. How Building Personnel and Fire Department members work together in protecting life using the building systems and Fire Safety/Emergency Action Plans. -Captain Joseph Evangelista and Mr. John C. Santora, President & CEO Americas, Cushman & Wakefield, Inc.

14:00 – 15:00 Firefighting operations, focusing on Command procedures. Importance of effective training from a candid discussion of a difficult fire. Lessons Learned: Importance of situational, reality based training.
Fire Departments can evaluate their own strategies, tactics and training methods from a Chief Officers point of view.-Deputy Assistant Chief Jack Mooney

15:00 – 16:30 New Terrorist trends, extreme fires as a weapon and their implications for safety and incident management. Plus technology and command procedures that are improving firefighting accountability.16:30 – Assistant Chief Joseph Pfeifer

17:00 A guided tour of the FDNY Training Academy

Wednesday March 16

08:30 – 10:00 High Angle Rescue Operations. All the tactics, equipment and Command procedures required to perform life saving operations on the upper floors of buildings- Battalion Chief Joseph Downey

10:00 – 11:00 Command and control at major emergencies and a critique of the Times Square terrorist event. The presentation will identify Command methods for First Responders under your immediate control and the public. Street Management, Staging areas, Sharing information, Unified Command following Federal NIMS standards will be defined. -Deputy Chief James Hodgens

11:00 – 12:00 Overcoming Water supply problems. Learn Standpipe and Sprinkler systems capabilities and understand how to use these systems effectively when problems occur. -Battalion Chief Thomas Meara

12:00 – 13:00 Lunch

13:00 – 14:00 Medical triage Operations defining Command and control at multi-causality events. Medical operations at the Times Square Bombing will be reviewed.- EMS Division Chief James Booth

14:00 – 15:00. New tools on how to overcome intense fires in buildings. Learn how the FDNY has adapted to maintain effective procedures using these new tools and innovations: Fire blanket, high-rise nozzle, Fire curtain.-Division Commander James DiDomenico , Battalion Chief George Healy and Lieutenant John Ceriello

15:00 – 16:30 Controlling Mayday situations. Newest Safety initiatives in protecting Firefighters when Mayday messages are transmitted. Programs to increase Safety while responding into and operating at the scene of fires and emergencies. -Chief of Safety Stephen Raynis , Battalion Chief Thomas Riley , Lieutenant Michael Wilbur and Lieutenant Thomas Woska

16:30 – 17:00 A guided tour of the FDNY Training Academy

Posted by Christopher Naum on February 20, 2011 • Filed under: "firefighter safety", "health and safety", buildingsonfire.com, Christopher Naum, compentencies, FDNY, symposium, training-development • Tagged: "firefighter safety", 2011 FDNY Symposium, buildingsonfire.com, Christopher Naum, commandsafety.com, FDNY, FDNY Command procedures, FDNY Controlling Mayday situations, FDNY Firefighting operations, FDNY Firefighting Procedures, FDNY Green Buildings, FDNY High Angle Rescue Operations, FDNY Medical triage Operations, FDNY New Terrorist trends, FDNY Times Square terrorist event, Managing building systems, New York City, Residential versus Commercial high rise fires, training

FIREFIGHTER EXPOSURE TO SMOKE PARTICULATES

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Firefighter Exposure to Smoke Particulates

Under a U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistance to Firefighter Grant, Underwriters Laboratories in collaboration with the Chicago Fire Department and the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, recently completed a sixteen month study on the smoke and gas exposure firefighters confront during firefighting operations and subsequent contact exposure resulting from residual contamination of personal protective equipment.

The project included investigations on three fire scales: (1) fires in the Chicago metropolitan area, (2) residential room content and automobile fires, and (3) material-level fire tests. Detected effluent gases, airborne chemicals and smoke particulates were assessed by the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine for their potential adverse health effects to fire service personnel.

The potential for firefighters to experience acute and/or chronic respiratory health effects related to exposures during firefighting activities has long been recognized. Specific exposures of concern for firefighters, because of their potential respiratory toxicity, include:

Asphyxiants (such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide),
irritants (such as ammonia, hydrogen chloride, particulates, nitrogen oxides, phenol and sulfur dioxide),
allergens, and
carcinogens (such as asbestos, benzene, styrene, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and certain heavy metals).

An additional cardiovascular risk factor that is receiving increasing attention is exposure to respirable particles in the ultrafine range (particles less than 0.1 micron in diameter), which have been detected in smoke. Exposure to these gaseous and particulate agents has been linked to acute and chronic effects resulting in increased fire fighter mortality and morbidity (higher risk of specific cancers and cardiovascular disease).

Currently gaps exist in the knowledge concerning the size distribution of smoke particles generated in fires and the nature of the chemicals absorbed on the particles’ surfaces. Some gaseous effluents may also condense on protective equipment and exposed skin, leaving an oily residue or film. These chemicals can pose a significant threat to firefighter health directly (via the skin and eyes, or by inhalation) or following dermal absorption. This fire research study fills gaps identified in previous studies on fire fighters’ exposure to combustion products. The study focuses on gaseous effluents and smoke particulates generated during residential structure and automobile fires and subsequent contact exposure resulting from residual contamination of personal protective equipment.

The information developed from this research will provide a valuable background for interpreting fire hazards and can be used by:

the medical community for advancing their understanding of the epidemiological effects of smoke exposure;
first responders for developing situational assessment guidelines for self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) usage, personal protection equipment cleaning regimen and identifying the importance of personal hygiene following fire effluent exposure;
organizations such as NIOSH and NFPA for developing new test method standards and performance criteria for respirators used by first responders and the care and maintenance of personal protection equipment.

This study investigated and analyzed the combustion gases and particulates generated from three scales of fires: residential structure and automobile fires, simulated real-scale fire tests, and material based small-scale fire tests. Material-level tests were conducted to investigate the combustion of forty-three commonly used residential building construction materials, residential room contents and furnishings, and automobile components under consistent, well-controlled radiant heating conditions. In these tests, material based combustion properties including weight loss rate, heat and smoke release rates, smoke particle size and count distribution, and effluent gas and smoke composition were characterized for a variety of natural, synthetic, and multi-component materials under flaming. The results from these tests were used to assess the smoke contribution of individual materials.

Nine real-scale fire tests representing individual room fires, an attic fire, deck and automobile fires were conducted at UL’s large-scale fire test laboratory to collect and analyze the gas effluents, smoke particulates, and condensed residues produced during fire growth, suppression and overhaul under controlled, reproducible laboratory conditions. During overhaul, firefighter personal atmospheres were sampled and analyzed for gases and smoke particles. Smoke particle analysis included mass and size distributions, and inorganic elemental composition. These tests also served as a platform for developing and refining the condensed residue sampling techniques for field usage.

Over a period of four months Chicago Fire Department designated personnel conducted personal gas monitoring and collected personal aerosol smoke samples at residential fires (knock-down, ventilation and overhaul). Replaceable personal protective components (gloves and hoods) used by the firefighters during this time period were analyzed to identify the chemical composition of accumulated smoke residue.

Collected data was forwarded to University of Cincinnati College of Medicine to assess the potential adverse health effects of the observed gaseous effluents and smoke particles on fire service personnel.

KEY FINDINGS

The key findings of the research were as follows:

General

Concentrations of combustion products were found to vary tremendously from fire to fire depending upon the size, the chemistry of materials involved, and the ventilation conditions of the fire.

Material-Scale Tests

The type and quantity of combustion products (smoke particles and gases) generated depended on the chemistry and physical form of the materials being burned.
Synthetic materials produced more smoke than natural materials.
The most prolific smoke production was observed for styrene based materials commonly found in residential households and automobiles. These materials may be used in commodity form (e.g. disposable plastic glasses and dishes), expanded form for insulation, impact modified form such as HIPS (e.g. appliances and electronics housing), copolymerized with other plastics such as ABS (e.g. toys), or copolymerized with elastomers such as styrene-butadiene rubber (e.g. tires).
Vinyl polymers also produced considerable amounts of smoke. Again these materials are used in commodity form (e.g. PVC pipe) or plasticized form (e.g. wiring, siding, resin Chairs and tables).
As the fraction of synthetic compound was increased in a wood product (either in the form of adhesive or mixture such as for wood-plastic composites), smoke production increased.
Average particle sizes ranged from 0.04 to 0.15 microns with wood and insulation generating the smallest particles.
For a given particle size, synthetic materials will generate approximately 12.5X more particles per mass of consumed material than wood based materials.
Combustion of the materials generated asphyxiants, irritants, and airborne carcinogenic species that could be potentially debilitating. The combination and concentrations of gases produced depended on the base chemistry of the material:
All of the materials formed water, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide.
Styrene based materials formed benzene, phenols, and styrene.
Vinyl compounds formed acid gases (HCl and HCN) and benzene.
Wood based products formed formaldehyde, formic acid, HCN, and phenols.
Roofing materials formed sulfur gas compounds such as sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide.

Large-Scale Tests

The same asphyxiants, irritants, and airborne carcinogenic species were observed as in material-level tests supporting the premise that gases generated in large-complex fires arise from individual component material contributions.
Ventilation was found to have an inverse relationship with smoke and gas production such that considerably higher levels of smoke particulates and gases were observed in contained fires than uncontained fires, and the smoke and gas levels were greater inside of contained structures than outside.
Recommended exposure levels (IDLH, STEL, TWA) were exceeded during fire growth and overhaul stages for various agents (carbon monoxide, benzene, formaldehyde, hydrogen cyanide) and arsenic.
Smoke and gas levels were quickly reduced by suppression activity however they remained an order of magnitude greater than background levels during overhaul.
99+ % of smoke particles collected during overhaul were less than 1 micron in diameter. Of these 97+ % were too small to be visible by the naked eye suggesting that “clean” air was not really that clean.
While not the focus of this research, it should be noted that the ion alarm activated sooner than the photoelectric alarm in every room fire scenario (living rooms, bedroom, kitchen). This is consistent with results reported in the Smoke Characterization Report for model flaming fire tests conducted in the smoke alarm fire test room. Carbon monoxide alarm activation lagged behind both ion and photoelectric alarms, furthermore.

Field Events & Controlled Field Tests

Concentrations of certain toxic gases were monitored at field events during the course of normal firefighter duties. These results were analyzed to determine:
Average gas concentrations and exposures calculated for the field events, which may be useful for estimating total exposure from repeated exposures during a firefighter’s career.
Potential gas concentration and exposures calculated for the field events, which may be useful for planning firefighter preparedness.
Gas exposures in excess of NIOSH IDLH, STEL, and OSHA TWA. These were repeatedly observed at the monitored field events. Carbon monoxide concentrations most often exceeded recommended exposure limits; however instances were observed where Firefighter Exposure to Smoke Particulates other gases other than carbon monoxide exceeded recommended exposure limits yet carbon monoxide did not.
Collected smoke particulates contained multiple heavy metals including arsenic, cobalt, chromium, lead, and phosphorous.
The NIOSH STEL concentration for arsenic was exceeded at one fire and possibly at a second. Gas monitors would not provide warning for arsenic exposure.
Chemical composition of the smoke deposited and soot accumulated on firefighter gloves and hoods was virtually the same except concentrations on the gloves were 100X greater than the hoods.
Deposits contained lead, mercury, phthalates and PAHs.
Carbon monoxide monitoring may provide a first line of gas exposure defense strategy but does not provide warning for fires in which carbon monoxide does not exceed recommended limits but other gases and chemicals do.
The OP-FTIR was difficult to successfully implement in the field and even for the controlled field events in passive mode.
While the OP-FTIR could be set-up in less than 2 minutes, it typically took as long as 5 to 10 minutes to start data collection. This time frame is too long when compared to the aggressive time frames of fire suppression.
Poor thermal contrast led to insufficient signal-to-noise ratios.

Health Implications

Multiple asphyxiants (e.g. carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide), irritants (e.g. ammonia, hydrogen chloride, nitrogen oxides, phenol and sulfur dioxide), allergens (e.g. isocyanates), and chemicals carcinogenic for various tissues (e.g. benzene, chromium, formaldehyde and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) were found in smoke during both suppression and overhaul phases. Carcinogenic chemicals may act topically, following inhalation, or following dermal absorption, including from contaminated gear.
Concentrations of several of these toxicants exceeded OSHA regulatory exposure limits and/or recommended exposure limits from NIOSH or ACGIH.
Exposures to specific toxicants can produce acute respiratory effects that may result in chronic respiratory disease.
High levels of ultrafine particles (relative to background levels) were found during both suppression and overhaul phases.
Exposure to particulate matter has been found to show a positive correlation with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality for general population studies.
The high efficiency of ultrafine particle deposition deep into the lung tissue can result in release of inflammatory mediators into the circulation, causing toxic effects on internal tissues such as the heart. Airborne toxics, such as metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, can also be carried by the particles to the pulmonary interstitium, vasculature, and potentially subsequently to other body tissues, including the cardiovascular and nervous systems and liver.
Interactions between individual exposure agents could lead to additive or synergistic effects exacerbating adverse health effects.
Long-term repeated exposure may accelerate cardiovascular mortality and the initiation/progression of atherosclerosis.

FUTURE CONSIDERATIONS Based upon the results of this investigation, the following areas were identified for further research:

Greater in depth analysis of the obtained results in relation to previous studies such as those of Jankowic et al on firefighter exposure, LeMasters et al on firefighter cancer epidemiologies, and the first responders at the World Trade Center collapse.
Characterization of potential fire scene exposures including:
1. asphyxiants,
2. irritants,
3. allergens, and
4. carcinogens.
5. Better definition of the potential long-term respiratory, cancer and cardiovascular health impacts of varied and complex mixes of exposures such as those identified in this report. Such information could help guide decisions on the selection and utilization of respiratory protection, especially during overhaul activities.
6. Determination of the relative contribution of respiratory and dermal absorption routes to exposure and adverse health risks of firefighters to combustion products.
7. Factors determining coronary heart disease risk among firefighters. Such studies could help elucidate the mechanistic link between ultrafine particle exposure and coronary heart disease morbidity and mortality and identify measures to decrease its impact on this population.
8. Characterization of contaminants accumulated on firefighter protective equipment and the subsequent potential for firefighter exposures to these contaminants and resulting health effects.
9. Usage and industrial hygiene practices related to firefighter protective equipment, including cleaning patterns, length of use and storage practices.

References:

UL Final Report Project Number: 08CA31673 April 1, 2010 Firefighter Exposure to Smoke Particulates Report, HERE

Underwriters Laboratories Inc., HERE

The Voice of Reason with special guest Shawn Longerich, Executive Director for the Cyanide Poisoning Treatment Coalition (CPTC) Podcast, HERE

The Cyanide Poisoning Treatment Coalition (CPTC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit comprised of firefighters and medical personnel. The mission of the CPTC is to increase awareness about the risk of fire smoke cyanide exposure as it relates to Awareness, Prevention, Protection, Detection, Diagnosis and Treatment. Web Site HERE

Posted by Christopher Naum on November 9, 2010 • Filed under: "firefighter safety", "health and safety", building construction, Christopher Naum, Codes, construction, dynamics, fire behavior, Fire Protection Engineering, firefighter-safety-health, fires, health, Recommendations, Reports, research, UL • Tagged: "firefighter safety", and airborne carcinogenic species, Asphyxiants, chemical composition of accumulated smoke residue, Chicago Fire Department, Christopher Naum, commandsafety.com, epidemiological effects of smoke exposure, Firefighter Exposure, Firefighter Exposure to Smoke Particulates, Firefighter PPE, Firefighter PPE Contamination, Firefighter safety & health, heat and smoke release rates, irritants, real-scale fire tests, SCBA, Smoke and gas levels, smoke particle size, smoke particles, smoke particles and gases, Smoke Particulates, smoke particulates generated during residential structure, Toxic gases, UL, UL’s large-scale fire test laboratory

Tactical Renaissance and the Rules of Engagement

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: Taking it to the Streets with Christopher Naum

For a Rockin’ Hot Time, Tune in this coming Wednesday night to FireFighter NetCast.com and Taking it to the Streets for; “Tactical Renaissance and the Rules of Engagement”.

Joining Christopher Naum will be Chief Gary Morris (ret) Phoenix (AZ) Fire Department, Deputy Chief John Sullivan, Worcester (MA) Fire Department, along with Dr. Burt Clark from the NFA. We will be discussing the emerging Tactical Renaissance of Combat Fire Suppression Operations and the new Rules of Engagement. Don’t miss out for what will certainly be an insightful look at what the fire ground is transitioning to in 2010 and beyond. Join the live broadcast on Wednesday night September 22nd at 9:00pm ET, or download the post production podcast from Firefighter NetCast.com.

In the weeks ahead we’ll be publishing a six month schedule of upcoming guests and topics along within integrating post production podcast resources, training aides and supplemental reference links to make both the live broadcast program and downloads value added.

Taking it to the Streets is hosted by Christopher Naum and is a Buildingsonfire.com Series and Fire Fighter NetCast.com Production.

Check out the IAFC Safety Health & Survival Section HERE and the newly published Rules of Engagement
For additional Taking it to the Streets programming, HERE
Firefighter NetCast.com HERE
Taking it to the Streets for; “Tactical Renaissance and the Rules of Engagement” Show Link, HERE

The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) is committed to reducing firefighter fatalities and injuries. As part of that effort the Safety, Health and Survival Section has developed “Rules of Engagement of Structural Firefighting” to provide guidance to individual firefighters, and incident commanders, regarding risk and safety issues when operating on the fireground. These rules are available in a poster which can be downloaded or ordered from http://fireservicebooks.com

Posted by Christopher Naum on September 18, 2010 • Filed under: "firefighter safety", "health and safety", building construction, Building Construction for the Fire Service, buildingsonfire.com, Christopher Naum, Combat Fire Engagement, courage to be safe, Deployment, Fire Service Tradition, fire suppression, firefighting-operations, NFA, risk-based assessment, Risk-preferring, Safety Culture, size-up, strategies, structure fires, Taking it to the Streets • Tagged: "firefighter safety", Blogtalkradio, buildingsonfire.com, Chief Gary Morris, Christopher Naum, Combat Fire Suppression Operations, commandsafety.com, Deputy Chief John Sullivan, Dr. Burt Clark, fire suppression, FireFighter Netcast, firefighting, Health and Survival Section, IAFC Safety, International Association of Fire Chiefs, National Fire Academy, NFA, Rules of Engagement of Structural Firefighting

International Society of Fire Service Instructors; “Modern Construction Considerations for Company Officers.”

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The International Society of Fire Service Instructors is proud to announce the release of “Modern Construction Considerations for Company Officers.” The program is a train-the trainer package that combines the latest research on light weight building construction from National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST), Underwriters Laboratories(UL), Michigan State University, The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), and the Chicago Fire Department into a single resource tailored for company-level instruction.

The program was made possible through a Prevention & Research Grant from the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program and the Department of Homeland Security. The ISFSI partnered with Eastern Kentucky University’s Fire & Safety Engineering Technology Program to analyze line of duty deaths between 1997 and 2009 to study the impact that lightweight construction has had on firefighters and firefighting operations.

The DVD included in the program package contains all of the instructional resources necessary to provide quality training on this important topic. A wide variety of support materials are included to provide the user a deep understanding of the challenges with modern building construction techniques. Instructors can tailor the program to meet the needs of their audience, including a 2-hour brief up to a week-long program.

The program will be distributed to all members of the ISFSI as a free member benefit. The ISFSI has also partnered with the Safety & Health Section of the IAFC to provide a copy to each of its members. ISFSI President, Eddie Buchanan, was on hand at the Safety & Health Section Meeting at FRI to personally deliver Chief Billy Goldfeder his copy as chair of the section. All members should expect their copy to arrive in their mailboxes over the next week.

“I would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to the ISFSI members and staff who worked so hard to bring this product to firefighters across America and the globe. It is truly a lifesaving program and a fantastic use of grant funds. It is critical that this package get into the hands of every instructor and fire officer to ensure they are educated and prepared to handle the real risk that looms out there on the next call,” said President Buchanan.

Check out the International Society of Fire Service Instructor’s (ISFSI) web site HERE.

Not a member? Take the time to sign up and get connected.

Posted by Christopher Naum on September 3, 2010 • Filed under: "firefighter safety", "health and safety", "pre-fire planning", assemblies, behaviors, building construction, Building Construction for the Fire Service, buildingsonfire.com, Christopher Naum, Collapse, construction, dynamics, Engineered Structural Systems, failures, Fatalities, fire suppression, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, History Repeating Event, IAFC, NIST, occupancies, Safety Culture, size-up, statistics, strategies • Tagged: "firefighter safety", building construction, Christopher Naum, Collapse, commandsafety.com, engineered systems, fire instructor, Firefighter LODD, Firefighters Grant Program, ISFSI, lightweight construction, National Institute of Standards & Technology, odern Construction Considerations for Company Officers, The International Society of Fire Service Instructors, training, UL, Underwriters Laboratories

Rules of Engagement 2010

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IAFC Rules of Engagement

Rules of Engagement Project; Increasing Firefighter Survival

Developed by the Safety, Health and Survival Section International Association of Fire Chiefs

The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) is committed to reducing firefighter fatalities and injuries. As part of that effort the nearly 1,000 member Safety, Health and Survival Section of the IAFC has developed the recently approved “Rules of Engagement of Structural Firefighting” to provide guidance to individual firefighters, and incident commanders, regarding risk and safety issues when operating on the fireground. The intent is to provide a set of “model procedures” for Rules of Engagement for Structural Firefighting to be made available by the IAFC to fire departments as a guide for their own standard operating procedure development.

In August, 2008, following a year of discussion, the Section moved to develop a set of “Rules of Engagement for Structure Firefighting”. A project team was created consisting of Section members and representatives of other several other interested fire service organizations. These included the Fire Department Safety Officer Association (FDSOA), the National Fallen Firefighter Foundation (NFFF), and the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC), the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and other organizations. All draft material has also been shared with representatives of the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) who developed a joint IAFF/IAFC “Fire Ground Survival Project”. Three Section members also participated in the IAFF project. The direction provided the project team by the Section leadership was to develop rules of engagement with the following conceptual points;

Rules should be a short, specific set of bullets
Rules should be easily taught and remembered
Rules should define critical risk issues
Rules should define “go” or “no‐go” situations
A companion lesson plan/explanation section should be provided

Early in development the Rules of Engagement, it was recognized that two separate rules were needed one set for the firefighter, and another set for the incident commander. Thus, the two sets of Rules of Engagement described in the attached document. The ROE were also inserted in the August issue of FireRescue magazine. Each set has several commonly shared bullets and objectives, but the explanations are described somewhat differently based on the level of responsibility (firefighter vs. incident commander).

The attached and linked PDF document reflects nearly two years of public comment and feedback from several presentations at fire service conferences, including the National Fallen Fire Fighters Safety Summit held at the National Fire Academy this past March. The “Rules” were formally adopted by the IAFC Health, Safety and Survival Section at the Fire Rescue International Conference held last week in Chicago.

The development of the rules integrated several nationally recognized programs and principles. They included risk assessment principles from NFPA Standards 1500 and 1561. Also included where concepts and principles from Crew Resource Management (available from iafc.org) and data and lessons from the National Near‐Miss Reporting System (firefighternearmiss.com). The development process also included review of lessons learned from numerous firefighter fatality investigations conducted by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program.

It’s incumbent that the fire chief and the Departments management team insure the safety of all firefighters working at structural fires. All command organization officers are responsible for their own safety and the safety of all personnel working with them. All officers and members are responsible are responsible for continually identifying and reporting unsafe conditions or practices. The Rules of Engagement allows both the firefighter and the incident commander to apply and process these principles.

One principle applied in the Rules of Engagement is firefighters and the company officers are the members at most risk for injury or death. The Rules integrate the firefighter into the risk assessment decision making process. These members should be the ultimate decision maker as to whether it’s safe to proceed with assigned objectives. The “Rules” allow a process for that decision to be made while still maintain command unity and discipline. It is well known that firefighting is hazardous with varying levels of risk to the firefighter. However, firefighting is not a military campaign where lives are lost to establish a beach head. No firefighter’s life is a building that eventually will be rebuilt. Keep all members safe so “Everyone Goes Home”!

Rules of Engagement for Firefighter Survival

Size‐Up Your Tactical Area of Operation.
Determine the Occupant Survival Profile.
DO NOT Risk Your Life for Lives or Property That Can Not Be Saved.
Extend LIMITED Risk to Protect SAVABLE Property.
Extend Vigilant and Measured Risk to Protect and Rescue SAVABLE Lives.
Go in Together, Stay Together, Come Out Together
Maintain Continuous Awareness of Your Air Supply, Situation, Location and Fire Conditions.
Constantly Monitor Fireground Communications for Critical Radio Reports.
You Are Required to Report Unsafe Practices or Conditions That Can Harm You. Stop, Evaluate and Decide.
You Are Required to Abandon Your Position and Retreat Before Deteriorating Conditions Can Harm You.
Declare a May Day As Soon As You THINK You Are in Danger.

The Incident Commanders Rules of Engagement for Firefighter Safety

Rapidly Conduct, or Obtain, a 360 Degree Size‐Up of the Incident.
Determine the Occupant Survival Profile.
Conduct an Initial Risk Assessment and Implement a SAFE ACTION PLAN.
If You Do Not Have The Resources to Safely Support and Protect Firefighters – Seriously Consider a Defensive Strategy.
DO NOT Risk Firefighter Lives for Lives or Property That Can Not Be Saved – Seriously Consider a Defensive Strategy.
Extend LIMITED Risk to Protect SAVABLE Property.
Extend Vigilant and Measured Risk to Protect and Rescue SAVABLE Lives.
Act Upon Reported Unsafe Practices and Conditions That Can Harm Firefighters. Stop, Evaluate and Decide.
Maintain Frequent Two‐Way Communications and Keep Interior Crews Informed of Changing Conditions.
Obtain Frequent Progress Reports and Revise the Action Plan.
Ensure Accurate Accountability of All Firefighter Location and Status.
If, After Completing the Primary Search, Little or No Progress Towards Fire Control Has Been Achieved ‐ Seriously Consider a Defensive Strategy.
Always Have a Rapid Intervention Team in Place at All Working Fires
Always Have Firefighter Rehab Services in Place at All Working Fires

Rules of Engagement Poster, PDF File ROE 2010

Link to the IAFC Section Page and ROE Concept Paper

Posted by Christopher Naum on September 1, 2010 • Filed under: "firefighter safety", "health and safety", Christopher Naum, Combat Fire Engagement, command presence, command-leadership, compentencies, courage to be safe, decision-making, decisions, fire service, fire suppression, IAFC • Tagged: "firefighter safety", Christopher Naum, command, Command operations, commandsafety.com, IAFC, IAFC FRI, IAFC SH&S Section, Operational Safety, ROE, Rules of Engagement, Rules of Engagement 2010, Safety

Transmitting the Box for an Alarm of Fire…Taking it to the Streets

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Premiering Wednesday July 21st 9:00pm ET

Live on Firefighter Netcast.com

Premiering “What’s on YOUR Radar Screen”?

Check out what’s on of off your radar screen on CommandSafety.com

If you’ve never listened to a FirefighterNetcast, visit the site now, sign up for a new user account for BlogTalkRadio, and be prepared to join in the conversation Wednesday night.

Listen in via the Internet, listen and/or participate by calling in, and join in the live chat that takes place amongst listeners while the show is going on. In case you miss the live show, you can even download the recording after the fact on FirefighterNetcast and iTunes too. It’s free, it’s fun and it’s easy.

Taking it to the Streets is a Buildingsonfire.com Series and Fire Fighter Netcast.com Production

Check out Buildingsonfire on Facebook and Twitter

Posted by Christopher Naum on July 20, 2010 • Filed under: "firefighter safety", "health and safety", building construction, Building Construction for the Fire Service, buildingsonfire.com, Christopher Naum, Combat Fire Engagement, command-leadership, courage to be safe, decision-making, Deployment, development, education, Fire Service Tradition, fire-rescue-topics, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, Generations, History Repeating Event, professional development, research, Safety Culture, Taking it to the Streets, tradition, training, training-development • Tagged: "firefighter safety", Blog Talk Radio, Building Construction for the Fire Service, Building Knowledge=Firefighter Safety, buildingsonfire.com, Christopher Naum, Command Safety, Commandsafet.com, fire service, Fire Service Training, Firedaily.com, Firefighter Netcast.com, firefighting, John Mitchell, Rhett Fleitz, Risk Management, Safety, Taking it to the Streets, thecompanyofficer.com, TheFireCritic.com

Newest NIOSH Alert: Preventing Deaths and Injuries of Fire Fighters at Structure Fires

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NIOSH released it’s latest Alert on Firefighter Risk Reduction. Fire fighters are often killed or injured when fighting fires in abandoned, vacant, and unoccupied structures. These structures pose additional and sometimes unique risks due to the potential for fire fighters to encounter unexpected and unsafe building conditions such as dilapidation, decay, damage from previous fires and vandals, and other factors such as uncertain occupancy status. Risk management principles must be applied at all structure fires to ensure the appropriate strategy and tactics are used based on the fireground conditions encountered.

Fire fighters should take the following steps to minimize their risk of death and injury while fighting structure fires:

Report conditions and hazards encountered to your officer, incident commander, or incident safety officers
Recognize that maintaining your safety is a shared responsibility
Comply with your department’s standard operating procedures (SOPs) / standard operating guidelines (SOGs) and safety rules.
Be constantly aware of your surroundings and changing conditions.

Fire departments (chief officers, company officers and policy makers) should take the following steps to protect fire fighters:

Develop and enforce risk management plans, policies, and standard operating procedures and guide-lines (SOPs/SOGs) for risk management.
Train incident commanders, incident safety officers, and fire fighters in the fire department risk management plans and SOPs/SOGs for risk management.

Develop and implement fire department policies and SOPs/SOGs for emergency response and fire-fighting activities in and around abandoned, vacant, or unoccupied structures.

A thorough size-up and risk analysis should be performed before conducting operations in any burning structure.
Fire-fighting operations should be limited to defensive (exterior) strategy if the structure is judged to be unsafe and in any situation where the risks to fire fighter safety are excessive.
Offensive (interior attack) operations should only be considered when sufficient resources are on scene to conduct offensive operations with a reasonable degree of safety, including the ability to perform essential support functions (i.e., water supply, ventilation, lighting, utility control, accountability, rapid intervention teams).
Additional size-ups and risk analyses should be performed before changing strategies, including any decision to conduct interior overhaul operations following a defensive fire attack.
Have adequate resources available on scene to per-form rapid intervention team (RIT) duties anytime personnel are operating at any structure fire.
Inspect and preplan buildings within your jurisdiction. Note the type of construction, materials used, presence of trusses and/or lightweight construction in the roof and floor, type of occupancy, fuel load, exit routes, and other distinguishing characteristics.
Enter preplan information into the dispatch computer so that when a fire is reported at a preplanned location, the critical information is provided to all responding units. Adopt and enforce a standard system of marking dangerous abandoned, derelict, and vacant buildings, based on a prefire assessment of their structural conditions and other risk factors, in cooperation with municipal agencies and local authorities such as local housing authorities.
Train fire fighters and officers to recognize the marking system and incorporate the information into their size-up considerations. Additionally, local authorities should ensure programs are in place that provide for the demolition and removal of structures deemed unsafe by code enforcement.
- Make sure that the incident commander conducts an initial size-up of critical fireground factors before beginning fire fighting efforts and continuously re-views and reevaluates these factors during all fire-ground operations. A 360-degree size-up should be conducted for all abandoned, vacant, or unoccupied structures.
- Ensure those in charge of fire incidents (e.g., incident commanders, chief officers, safety officers) are fully trained to fulfill their responsibilities and obligations in the execution of their duties.
- Educate the public on the need to have home fire drills and designated meeting places in the event of an emergency. The location of designated meeting
- places should be communicated to the fire department as a way to help confirm and verify building occupancy status.

Incident commanders (IC) and incident safety officers (ISO) should do the following:

The IC should conduct an initial size-up of each incident weighing critical fireground factors (i.e., occupancy status; occupant survivability and rescue potential; vacant building markings or indicators; size, construction and use of the building; age and condition of the building; and the location, size, and extent of the fire in the building) against the department’s risk management profile to determine the initial incident strategy (offensive or defensive). The IC should develop an incident action plan before beginning firefighting efforts and continually review and reevaluate the factors and the risk management plan throughout the operation.
The IC should use appropriate risk management criteria to decide whether an offensive or defensive strategy should be employed to attack a fire. The IC should attempt to determine whether the building is occupied or not. Signs to look for include vehicles in garage, driveway, or parked nearby; people at windows of apartment or office buildings calling for help indicates the possibility of other occupants as well; time of day; type of occupancy; and reports from occupants who have escaped the burning structure. Reports from neighbors and bystanders may also provide valuable information.
The IC should consider the number of fire fighters, the amount and type of apparatus and equipment available, and the stage of the fire when determining the type of fire attack.
Follow departmental policies (risk management plans, SOPs/SOGs) for risk management.
Establish, clearly mark, and monitor an exterior collapse zone at structure fires where there is a risk of collapse.
Use effective and universal evacuation signals when command personnel determine that all fire fighters should be evacuated from a burning building, as well as during the initiation of defensive operations and during overhaul and salvage operations.

NIOSH Summary HERE

NIOSH Publication No. 2010-153:

NIOSH Alert: Preventing Deaths and Injuries of Fire Fighters using Risk Management Principles at Structure Fires, HERE

Posted by Christopher Naum on July 16, 2010 • Filed under: "firefighter safety", "health and safety", Alert, building construction, Building Construction for the Fire Service, Christopher Naum, compentencies, decision-making, events, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, History Repeating Event, major-incidents, NIOSH • Tagged: "firefighter safety", Abandoned, Alert, Christopher Naum, Collapse, commandsafety.com, fire department policies, fire suppression, fireground factors, Incident Commanders, incident safety officers, initial size-up, LODD, NIOSH, NIOSH ALERT, or unoccupied structures, Preventing Deaths and Injuries of Fire Fighters at Structure Fires, risk, Rsk Management, Safety, SOG, SOP, Strategy and tactics, vacant

The story of the National Fallen Firefighter Foundation

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There are times in which we need to stop and reflect upon those things that at times seemingly slip by us…Take the time to look over some of the progress, support, initiatives and resources available to support not only the concepts of what we profess here at CommandSafety.com, but all of the multi-facets of the fire service….

The story of the National Fallen Firefighter Foundation. Programs that help Fallen Firefighters families.

The United States Congress created the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation to lead a nationwide effort to remember America’s fallen firefighters. Since 1992, the tax-exempt, nonprofit Foundation has developed and expanded programs to honor our fallen fire heroes and assist their families and coworkers. The Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, located in Emmitsburg, Maryland. It is registered as a corporation in the State of Maryland. The Foundation receives funding through private donations from caring individuals, organizations, corporations, and foundations. A grant from the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance supports programs for survivors of fallen firefighters. The Federal Emergency Management Agency partners with the Foundation to sponsor many of the National Memorial Weekend activities. The National Institute of Standards and Technology supports work on a national research agenda to prevent line-of-duty deaths.

Work to prevent line-of-duty deaths: With the support of fire and life safety organizations, the Foundation has launched a major initiative to reduce firefighter deaths. Our goal is to reduce line-of-duty firefighter deaths by 25 percent in 5 years. The Everyone Goes Home® is a national program by the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation to prevent line-of-duty deaths and injuries. In March 2004, a Firefighter Life Safety Summit was held to address the need for change within the fire service. At this summit, the 16 Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives were created and a program was born to ensure that Everyone Goes Home®.

Create a National Memorial Park: The Foundation is expanding the national memorial site in Emmitsburg, Maryland, to create the first permanent national park honoring all firefighters. The park includes a brick Walk of Honor^® that connects the Memorial Chapel and the official national monument.

If you haven’t look over the National Fallen Firefighter Foundation (NFFF) web site in a while or this is new to you, then check it out HERE.
The Everyone Goes Home® program’s web site and resources is HERE

Taking Care of Our Own ^®; A Fire Chief’s Guide to Preparing for a Line-of-Duty Death, HERE
Firefighter Life Safety Resource Tool Box, HERE
Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives Program Advocates, HERE

Posted by Christopher Naum on April 10, 2010 • Filed under: "firefighter safety", "health and safety", advocate, Firefighter Memorial Weekend, NFFF

Buildingsonfire reaches Milestone

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Buildingsonfire on Face Book reaches 3,000 fan milestone, are you one? Sign up and follow Buildingsonfire on Facebook today

Remember, Building Knowledge=Firefighter Safety

Follow Commandsafety on Twitter, HERE and Buildingsonfire on Twitter, HERE

Posted by Christopher Naum on March 26, 2010 • Filed under: "firefighter safety", "health and safety", advocate, building construction, buildingsonfire.com, Christopher Naum, Combat Fire Engagement, command-leadership, fire-rescue-topics, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, Naum, Safety Culture • Tagged: "firefighter safety", building construction, Building Knowledge=Firefighter Safety, buildingsonfire.com, Christopher Naum, commandsafety.com, Safety, Safety Culture

NIOSH Compilation of Line-of-Duty Injury and Death Investigation Reports and Publications CD

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If you’re looking for a great resource check this out at NIOSH’s Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation Program and Prevention Program. HERE.

NIOSH is offering a Compilation of Line-of-Duty Injury and Death Investigation Reports and Publications CD. This CD-ROM contains a compilation of all NIOSH fire fighter fatality and injury investigation reports completed through August 2009. Since 1998 NIOSH has investigated over 420 incidents involving fire fighter line-of-duty deaths and injuries. This CD-ROM also contains 21 NIOSH publications and 1 Safety Advisory covering a number of topics specific to fire fighter safety and health.

CD ROMs of this publication can be downloaded directly from the web site and a copy created using CD authoring software.

Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program web site HERE

Posted by Christopher Naum on March 18, 2010 • Filed under: "firefighter safety", "health and safety", Fatalities, History Repeating Event, line-of-duty, LODD, major-incidents, NIOSH • Tagged: CDC, Christopher Naum, commandsafety.com, fatality Investigations, Investigations, Line of Duty Deaths, Line of Duty Injuries, LODD, NIOSH, Prevention Programs, Publications, Reports, Safety

Without understanding the building-occupancy relationships and integrating; construction, occupancies, fire dynamics and fire behavior, risk, analysis, the art and science of firefighting, safety conscious work environment concepts and effective and well-informed incident command management, company level supervision and task level competencies…You are derelict and negligent and "not "everyone may be going home". Our current generation of buildings, construction and occupancies are not as predictable as past conventional construction; risk assessment, strategies and tactics must change to address these new rules of structural fire engagement. There is a need to gain the building construction knowledge and insights and to change and adjust operating profiles in order to safe guard companies, personnel and team compositions. It's all about understanding the building-occupancy relationships and the art and science of firefighting, Building Knowledge = Firefighter Safety (Bk=F2S)

Archives for health-and-safety

Taking it to the Streets: Near Miss Reporting and One Captain’s Close Call

Self-Survival Procedures

Self-Survival Skills

Disentanglement Maneuvers

Fire Fighter Expectations of Command

Fire/EMS Safety, Health and Survival Week: Day Three-The New Rules of Engagement

Theme: Surviving the Fire Ground Fire Fighter, Fire Officer & Command Preparedness

Fire/EMS Safety, Health and Survival Week: Day Two- Building Knowledge = Fire Fighter Safety

Know Your World Buildingsonfire.com

Suggested Functional Areas for Alignment with the Theme and Focus during Safety Week;

16 Fire Fighter Life Safety Initiatives

Rule of Engagement

Fire Fighter Near-Miss Learning‘s

Procedures, Policies and Guidelines

Pre-Fire Planning

Building Construction

Structural Systems

Occupancy Risk Profiling

Fire Dynamics & Fire Behavior

Reading Smoke

Survivability Profiling

Risk Management

Crew Resource Management

Situational Awareness

Disorientation Awareness

Structural Collapse & Compromise

Mayday & Rapid Intervention

Fire Ground Survival

Air Resource Management

Tactical Patience

Go to the Planning Resource Guide for Direct Resources, templates and suggested planning and instructional aids. HERE

Suggested considerations include the following, as well as encouraging fire/EMS departments to identify and integrate local issues, needs and identified gaps or enhancements that can contribute towards operational excellence and safety integration.

Understand your Response District

“Building Knowledge = Firefighter Safety”, Know Your District and its Risk

Protect Yourself: Your Safety, Health and Survival Are Your Responsibility.

Within the focus area of Survival and the elements of Structural Size-Up and Situational Awareness, some suggeted key functional components could include the following;

BECOME SAFE Buildingsonfire.com

Take a tour of your local construction sites; You’ll be surprised what you’ll see

It’s a Lot More than just talking about “Light Weight” Construction….

New Materials, New Construction; New Problems

Here’s a series of other important Reference Links that provide some insights on operational safety, incident conditions and factors and the lessons-learned from a number of LODD events;

Just Look Over your Shoulder….

Better Look Over your Shoulder

Remember, the Predictability of Performance and the combat firefighting based upon Occupancy Risk not Occupany Type.

Remember its Occupancy RISK not Occupancy TYPE

Here’s the New Formula for Fire Fighter Safety ; Bk = f2S; Building Knowledge = Firefighter Safety

STOP THE ENTERTAINMENT

Remember one thing…Don’t ever under estimate what you might encounter on any structure fire, or what might change in a second; focus on the Occupancy Risk not the Occupancy Type….. And Know your buildings, your team and your capabilities

Anatomy of a Building and Its Collapse

Buildingsonfire.com Link HERE

Fire/EMS Safety Week: Day One

Download the Planning and Resource Aid for Training Deliveries

2011 Planning and Resource Aid for Training Deliveries (pdf, 1.8 mb)

Preventing the Mayday

Construction-Related Considerations

Reading Smoke

Being Ready for the Mayday

Radio Communications Training

Self-Survival Procedures

Self-Survival Skills

Disentanglement Maneuvers

Fire Fighter Expectations of Command

Keep this week In Perspective

Coming Monday on;

Fire/EMS Safety, Health and Survival Week: Day Two-Building Knowledge = Fire Fighter Safety

Video Gallery

Fire/EMS Safety, Health and Survival Week

June 19-25, 2011

Theme: Surviving the Fire Ground – Fire Fighter, Fire Officer & Command Preparedness

Fire Fighter Survival

2011 Focus: Surviving the Fire Ground –

Fire Fighter, Fire Officer & Command Preparedness

Preventing the Mayday

Construction-Related Considerations

Reading Smoke

Being Ready for the Mayday

Radio Communications Training

Self-Survival Procedures

Self-Survival Skills