The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has issued a safety advisory regarding the set-up of aerial ladders with a locking waterway. NIOSH is currently investigating an April 8, 2008, fire fighter line-of-duty-death involving an aerial ladder with a locking waterway. This incident highlights the importance of following the manufacturer’s recommendations for aerial ladder operations to ensure the safety of IAFF members.
Ensure that Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and/or Guidelines (SOGs) on setting up multi-positionwaterways include steps to properly position the waterway and to inspect and verify that the locking mechanism (anchoring pin(s), lever, clamps, etc.) are properly installed and functioning as designed before pressurizing the waterway.
Properly train and practice the correct method of securing waterways and verifying they are secured (per manufacturer’s recommendations)
Circumstances of incident under investigation by NIOSH
On April 8, 2008, a volunteer Deputy Fire Chief (the Incident Commander), was killed when struck by a motorized water monitor and 30 feet of aluminum pipe that was “launched†off an elevated aerial ladder at a fire at an industrial manufacturing plant in Pennsylvania. The truck was normally transported in the “rescue mode†with the monitor pinned to the second section of ladder so that the waterway would not be in the way if the ladder was set up for rescue operations. At the incident scene, when the waterway was pressurized, the monitor and its support bracket, along with the last 30-foot section of pipe were “launched†off the aerial ladder by the force of the water pressure in the pipe. The monitor flew approximately 75 feet and fell, striking the Incident Commander on the head, killing him instantly.
After the incident, the anchor pin was found on the ground, in front of the truck’s cab. The waterway did not include any secondary mechanical stops to prevent the separation of the water monitor in the event the anchoring pin was not properly seated. The NIOSH Fire Fighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program is currently investigating this incident and a full report will be available at a later date.
NIOSH would like to bring this information to the attention of all U.S. fire departments and fire fighters who operate or work around aerial ladder trucks with locking (pin-anchored, lever actuated, clamped) waterways so that future occurrences of waterway monitor “launches†or the unexpected movement of the waterway monitor can be prevented. If secondary mechanical stops are present, the unexpected impact of the waterway monitor against the mechanical stop could cause structural damage to the aerial ladder and jeopardize the safety of any fire fighter standing on the aerial ladder. While not a contributing factor in the fatal incident, NIOSH reminds fire departments to comply with relevant federal regulations and NFPA standards for fire apparatus inspections and certification.
In addition, all fire apparatus, including fire department aerial devices, should be inspected on an annual basis as required by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). In 1910.156 it specifically states that the “employer shall maintain and inspect, at least annually, fire fighting equipment to assure the safe operational condition of the equipment. Fire fighting equipment that is in damaged or unserviceable condition shall be removed from service and replaced.â€
Further, NFPA 1911 Standard for the Inspection, Maintenance, Testing, and Retirement of In-Service Automotive Fire Apparatus requires the annual inspection and testing of all fire apparatus, including the aerial device. The complete NIOSH User Notice is available online. http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/fire/SafetyAdvisory05052008.html
Orange County’s Emergency Operations Center, its nerve center during such disasters as October’s wildfires, needs renovation or it may find itself a victim of a disaster, according to a grand jury report released Tuesday.
Backup power is inadequate, the sewer system can be overloaded, and smoke wafted in during the fires, prompting people to wear breathing masks, the report said.
The grand jury recommended that the county sheriff install an air filtration system before the 2009 fire season and seek additional funding from the Board of Supervisors for sewer improvements.
Assistant Sheriff J.B. Davis, who is in charge of the facility, said the department was reviewing the report.
“Public safety and the health of our employees and staff who man the Emergency Operations Center is our highest priority,” Davis said in a prepared statement. “We are confident that neither public safety nor the health of our staff is in jeopardy at this time.”
Davis said the department would reply to the findings. , — as is required by law.
– and that the response would be made public after a review by the presiding judge.
According to the report, the facility is deficient “in infrastructure, including the access road, sanitary sewer system and fire protection system,” and its heating, ventilation and air conditioning are also deficient.
A sheriff’s assessment found no known issues with the facility’s air filtration system. But the grand jury learned that during the Santiago Canyon fire, staff members had to wear breathing masks for four to six hours because of smoke in the building.
A temporary filtering solution was expected to be installed last month, but the Sheriff’s Department could not confirm Tuesday that it had been done.
It was not the first time a grand jury has examined the operations center. In 2001, a panel found that dispatchers handling emergency calls in the sheriff’s patrol areas suffered from fatigue and stress, often because they skipped mandated work breaks to keep up with the large volume of calls.
Other grand juries have focused on the facility’s ability to withstand an earthquake.
During a disaster, the center is the hub for county emergency communications. It is a critical function and “must not fail,” the grand jury said.
The operations center was examined after discussions with current grand jury members and sheriff’s managers raised questions about the center during a prolonged emergency activation, the report said.
The center opened in 1993 and was designed to house a small staff. But as the department grew, so did the facility. In September, it had 135 full- and part-time employees. In an emergency, that number can grow by 100.
WestCoast 911 story source: LA Times
The following video is excellent example of a modern EOC. Hopefully the Orange County EOC and others in our region will be improved and update.
May 4, 2008 – IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger issued the following statement about the long delay of the Sofa Super Store investigative report announced by Mayor Joe Riley late May 2.
“If Mayor Joe Riley is serious about keeping the fire fighters he is responsible for safe on the job, he needs to release the investigative report by the panel of experts immediately. The report is finished and all stakeholders — Charleston fire fighters, families of the fallen Nine, citizens — want it out now.
“The expert panel that produced the report said they discussed and used information from federal investigations, so that fake excuse used by Mayor Riley to attempt to indefinitely delay and bury it has been exposed as a fraudulent tactic.
“The reality is the report is said to detail flaws in the practices of the Department’s command. Any delay in releasing the report is another day the Mayor is irresponsibly risking the lives of the men and women who serve the city under the most dangerous of circumstances.
“The report is not the property of the Mayor. The report is the property of the citizens of Charleston, reflecting their own civic responsibility to their fire fighters, and releasing it now is the Mayor’s special obligation to the Nine.
“The panel should formally turn the report over to the Mayor and the citizens of Charleston without delay this Tuesday, as originally planned.
“My job is to protect the men and women of IAFF Local 61, and I have already authorized the strongest legal, political and public pressure campaign we can muster to reverse this dangerous, malicious delay.
“We will appeal directly to the citizens and ask them to express their outrage. We will appeal to the media to make sure the Mayor’s negligence regarding fire fighter safety is exposed. We will appeal to the City Council. Beginning this Tuesday, we will appeal to federal and state officials and elected leaders in South Carolina to bring pressure on Mayor Riley, and to the courts if appropriate.”
The lax safety culture of the Federal Aviation Administration extends beyond aircraft
maintenance to the outdated 20-year-old FAA standards for fire and rescue operations that jeopardize ives in the event of an aircraft incident at an airport, the International Association of Fire Fighters charged today.
“The FAA has resisted modernizing its safety standards since 1988, even while air travel, the size of aircraft and the amount of fuel they carry have grown dramatically,†said IAFF President Harold Schaitberger. “As Congress reviews the FAA’s inadequate response to aircraft maintenance issues, it should also investigate the dangerous FAA fire and rescue standards at the nation’s airports.â€
A bill under consideration by the Senate this week eliminates House-passed language requiring the FAA to improve its Airport Fire and Rescue Standards. The FAA already is under fire for improper aircraft inspection, which over the past several weeks has resulted in the grounding of hundreds of planes, cancelling thousands of flights, for re-inspection at four different carriers.
Airport fire fighters say the FAA’s archaic standards should at least be brought up to date with voluntary national consensus standards for response time and deployment and staffing. “We feel like we are being restricted from doing our jobs while the flying public is being placed in danger,†said Joe Conner, a fire captain who works out of Boston’s Logan Airport.
The FAA does not even require airport fire departments to rescue passengers or extinguish fires inside an aircraft on the ground, leaving that job to airline flight crews, the IAFF said. Fire fighters are only to provide a safe path for exit from the aircraft. FAA requirements to get fire equipment to a scene within 3 to 4 minutes is too slow, considering FAA’s own tests showing the fuselage of a downed plane can become deadly by that time.
“This is like an Indy 500 pit stop, in terms of how we have to respond,†Conner said. “We have to have access, more aerial equipment to get us up high enough to put out the flames, get people out of there –all in a period of 3 minutes. The FAA standards work against us getting the job done.â€
The National Transportation Safety Board has cited inadequate staffing and access standards in several investigations of aircraft accidents, including the 1999 American Airlines crash overrunning the runway at Little Rock (Ark.) National Airport that killed 11 people and injured 110. At least one of the dead could have been saved if the airport fire department was better staffed and had access to the plane.
Airport fire departments are not required to maintain a minimum staffing level, other than the minimum number of personnel necessary to operate vehicles and meet the response times and minimum discharge rates, i.e., one or two fire fighters per vehicle. Standards set by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) require a minimum of four fire fighters on every piece of apparatus.
“We have 3,400 responses a year to aircraft emergencies,†Conner said. “A lot of them are routine and some are serious fires. The next one could be catastrophic. The FAA standards need to be fixed now before another preventable death or injury occurs.â€
Also problematic is FAA standards that permit airport operators to rely on local government to provide the primary response to hazardous materials and WMD incidents at airports, the IAFF said. At most airports, the response times of mutual aid units are significantly slower than the response times of airport fire departments. Additionally, many communities lack proper equipment and training to conduct a specialized hazardous materials response.
Under federal law, the FAA should have already updated and strengthened current airport safety standards. The National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995, Public Law 104-113, requires federal agencies to comply with national voluntary consensus standards. Current FAA airport standards fail to do so. Schaitberger pointed out that the FAA and airport organizations and the airlines helped write the national consensus standard for airport fire fighting and worked to ensure that it is reasonable and effective. “The FAA should adopt the very minimal requirements of the NFPA national consensus standards,†he said. “The safety of the flying public depends on it.â€
Airport fire fighters are available to discuss the safety standards and why the FAA’s 10-year hiatus from the real world puts commercial passengers in jeopardy.
EMMITSBURG, MD. – The United States Fire Administration (USFA) announces the release of the Interstate 35W (I-35W) Bridge Collapse and ResponseTechnical Report. The report examines the area’s emergency preparedness for, and response to, the August 1, 2007 bridge collapse in Minneapolis, Minnesota that killed 13 people and injured 121 others.
“To the nation’s firefighters, collapse of structure is something for which they all plan and prepare. The uniqueness of this bridge collapse, and the challenges faced by firefighters and their command staffs, offers an opportunity for firefighters across this nation to learn from the Minnesota response to this event. As a result, firefighters continue their efforts to prepare for any and all emergencies nationwide,” said United States Fire Administrator Greg Cade.
Just after 6 p.m. on the evening of August 1, 2007, the 40-year old bridge collapsed into the river and its banks without warning. At the time, there were approxi¬mately 120 vehicles carrying 160 people on the bridge. The impact of the fall broke the span into multiple planes of broken steel and crushed concrete. Cars, buses, and trucks – all resting precariously along guardrails or suddenly unprotected edges – crashed into other vehicles, partially embedded in the muddy river bank, or dropped precipitously into the river.
The local response to the bridge disaster — and the coordination with metro, State, and Federal partners — demonstrated the extraordinary value of comprehensive disaster planning and training. The city’s ability to respond had evolved over several years of investing heavily and widely in all the elements that make a crucial difference when disaster strikes. Their investment covered widespread training on the National Incident Management System (NIMS) that extended beyond city department heads and into all employee levels. Over half of the city’s 4,000 employees have received NIMS training.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has issued a user notice for CBRN APR respirators with the use of suits qualified under the NFPA 1994 standard. The NFPA 1994-2007 certification of the Indutex JetGuard Plus Class 3 Ensemble specifies that the Millennium@ CBRN APR is to be used as part of this ensemble.
This suit is designed with a pass-through hole and gasket on the visor that is interposed between the Millennium@ mask and canister. Therefore, the fit of the respirator may be compromised when used as part of this Class 3 Ensemble.
NIOSH cautions that when a negative pressure APR is used with a Class 3 or 4 suit the face seal of the APR may be compromised, resulting in reduced respiratory protection.
Look closely at the photograph, and you’ll see where the sprinkler service technician left this wet-pipe sprinkler system in a condition where a waterflow alarm could not be transmitted.
The plumbing arrangement in the picture, called “trim,†is connected to a wet-pipe alarm check valve. The small diameter pipe allows water to flow automatically from the alarm check valve to the black retard chamber before contacting the water pressure flow alarm that is mounted on the top of the retard chamber. The trim also provides a means to manually test the water flow alarm.
The yellow quarter turn valve on the left is the “alarm shutoff†valve; the one on the right is the “alarm test†valve. According
to the sprinkler manufacturer, the alarm shutoff valve normally should be in the “open†position, and the alarm test valve normally
should be in the “closed†position: entirely opposite of what is pictured here. (The vertical pipe between the two valves is the
retard chamber drain.)
The result of this configuration is that if one or more sprinklers open due to a fire or accident, water cannot reach the retard
chamber and pressure switch on top of it. Water will flow undetected from the sprinkler systemThe quarter-turn alarm line valves have been left in the “out-of-service†position on this wet-pipe
Note also that these valves should be equipped with permanent signs indicating their function.
For additional information, refer to NFPA 1, Uniform Fire Codeâ„¢, Chapter 13;
International Fire Code®, Chapter 9; or NFPA 13, Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler
Systems, Chapters 7 and 8.
Also, visit one or more automatic sprinkler company manufacturer’s Web sites, and you can download drawing files that explain the correct position for valves, gauges, and related equipment.
Paramedics revel in the city’s mix of patients - from nightclub hoppers to the elderly, the rich and poor of all ethnicities, tourists and street people. But it’s also a gut-wrenching menu of car crashes, heart attacks, heroin overdoses, drive-by shootings and assaults.
Medics are cast in the role of diplomats, invited into strangers’ homes to rescue patients and lend comfort to friends and loved ones.
“It’s the longest B-rated movie that you never have to pay for,”‘ said paramedic Dylan Hawhee, describing her gritty work on the graveyard shift. “Some of what we see, you just couldn’t make it up.”
But they are also overwhelmed, providing basic health care to legions of uninsured and low-income patients, and serving as a free taxi service for hundreds of “frequent fliers” who would otherwise have trouble getting to hospitals and clinics.
Handling aggressive street people and drug addicts are hazards of the job. Some medics have been punched or spat on with blood.
Paramedic Jennifer Stow said the repeated callers “need help, too… You can’t just disregard them because they’ve called multiple times ….”
The misery express
Paramedics were dispatched to a Tenderloin residential hotel to help rescue a woman with burns on her face and forearms from a fire that ignited while she was smoking crack in her bathtub. As the half-naked woman was wheeled in a stretcher to an elevator, she begged, “Please help me!”
She was being treated minutes later by the burn unit at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital. “Help me!” she said repeatedly until a shot of morphine eased her pain.
Hours later, paramedics tried unsuccessfully to revive a 65-year-old man who had gone into cardiac arrest. Defibrillation with electric shocks produced an electrical rhythm, but no heart beat. The patient’s 91-year-old mother, who had moved to San Francisco so her son could care for her, asked: “Why couldn’t it have been me?”
The city’s weekend party scene produces its own wreckage.
At 1:30 a.m., firefighters and paramedics respond to a 911 call to help a woman who is “vomiting and unresponsive” at a waterfront club, where medics find her lying on a cot. They determine that she is intoxicated, but exhibiting no sign of an overdose on party drugs such as GHB or ecstasy. Although blacked out, she is responsive enough to resist the tug of her arm. She is placed on a stretcher and taken to the hospital.
A paramedic’s bag
Medics dispense life-savings drugs such as dextrose for diabetics, nebulizers for asthmatics and Narcan for heroin addicts. They assess the extent of fractures and bullet wounds, chest pains and seizures, wheezing and shortness of breath. They take blood sugar, blood pressure and electrocardiogram readings, and listen to tired lungs with a stethoscope.
“Best job in the world,” said paramedic Garth Gilmer.
For victims involved in car and bicycle accidents, they examine the “kill zones” of head, chest, pelvis and femurs before moving on to the extremities. And they install C-braces to keep the patient’s neck and spine immobilized.
When a patient complains of chest pains, the person is asked to rate his pain on a scale of 1 to 10. If someone with a head wound cannot recall what happened, it’s a sign of a concussion and a potentially more serious injury.
“So much of this job boils down to judgment,” said Paramedic Capt. Mike Whooley.
Frequent false alarms
One night, an ambulance was sent Code 3 to a patient with “severe respiratory distress” at 9th and Mission streets. There, paramedics found a 59-year-old homeless woman eating a slice of pizza. Short of breath from emphysema, the woman had been examined at a hospital hours earlier.
“She’s a regular,” Whooley said, “but I don’t think it hurts the system to deal with people in a humane way.”
The clinics were closed, so the woman was transported without lights and sirens to the hospital. But when she called 911 the next day and medics found no serious problem, they threatened to arrest her for abusing the system.
Paramedic Capt. Niels Tangherlini, the Fire Department’s liaison to the homeless, counsels and transports street people in a van to medical and social-service clinics, hoping these efforts will deter bogus 911 calls. His team, which includes social workers, cannot keep up with its caseload.
Written by Jim Doyle / The San Francisco Chronicle
WASHINGTON D.C. – The Department of Homeland Security’s United States Fire Administration (USFA) has issued three special reports as part of its Topical Fire Report Series, examining the risk of death or injury from fire by various demographic, geographic, and socio-economic characteristics.
“Because of limited cognitive and physical abilities, very young children and older adults face a greater risk of dying in a fire,” said United States Fire Administrator Greg Cade. “The U.S. Fire Administration has developed fire safety campaigns targeted at high risk groups. These campaigns provide awareness to parents and caregivers and aid in reducing the risk of fire death and injury.”
The three reports, Fire Risk in 2004, Fire Risk to Children in 2004, and Fire Risk to Older Adults in 2004, were developed by the National Fire Data Center, part of the U.S. Fire Administration. The reports explore factors that influence risk and are based on 2004 data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS), the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), and the U.S. Census Bureau. These reports are an update of the previous fire risk reports issued in December 2004 (Volume 4, Issues 7, 8, and 9).
These short topical reports are designed to explore facets of the U.S. fire problem as depicted through data collected in NFIRS. Each topical report briefly addresses the nature of the specific fire or fire-related topic, highlights important findings from the data, and may suggest other resources to consider for further information.
Learning objective: The student shall be able to explain the need and method for bonding flammable
liquid vessels.
When volatile Class I flammable liquids are poured or dispensed through air, they accumulate a static charge that—under certain conditions—can ignite the liquid with catastrophic results. This static accumulation is the result of differences in electrical potential between the dispensing and the receiving vessels.
To equalize the electrical potential and remove the risk of static discharge, the two vessels should be bonded together when the liquid is transferred. Generally, this is done with a bonding cable similar to the one in the photograph.
Bonding cables must be durable and of low electrical resistance. Bonding conductor connections must be direct and positive. For portable equipment, uninsulated copper or stainless steel aviation-type flexible cable and single-point clamps like the one pictured should be used. These clamps will make contact with metal surfaces through most paint, rust, and surface contaminants. The single-point clamps are superior to the battery-type and “alligatorâ€-type clamps for making direct contact.
Permanent connections can be made by using solid or braided wires, and must incorporate screw-type clamps, welded connections, or other similar means. Temporary connections should use only braided wires in conjunction with spring clamps, magnetic clamps or other similar methods of maintaining metal-to-metal contact.
Single conductor solid wires should be used only for permanent connections, or those that will not be handled often, because solid wire is not known for its durability. Braided wires consist of several strands of wire wrapped together to provide greater strength and flexibility.
raided wires are recommended for use with temporary connections because of their flexibility and strength.
Some common examples of Class I liquids include alcohol, toluene, acetone, and benzene. Their flashpoints can be found on the product Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) from the manufacturer or distributor.
