Robotic fire fighting
Remote-controlled vehicle protects personnel in high-risk incidents P.16
DEPARTMENTS
06 | In the news Ontario captain named training officer of the
Keep track of your firefighting tools
28 | Back to
Recognize negative
Stay
04 | From the editor 08 | Tools of the trade
Build a firefighter
tool kit 10 | Fit for duty
Preparing for physical testing 12 | Between alarms Spring clean to boost efficiency
| Dispatches
How learning can change us 30 | Front seat
Promoting forward 38 | From the floor
Winning the lottery?
By Laura King
Growing firefighters
It’s our mandate to keep you informed about innovations –robotic technology, for example, that’s useful in certain dangerous firefighting or hazmat situations (see page 16).
But it’s also our mandate to help firefighters grow – as mentors and leaders.
Which is why we constantly seek writers and columnists who can provide new perspectives, fresh insight and even unconventional viewpoints.
Jason Clark is a volunteer firefighter in Central Elgin, Ont. I met Jason – sort of – at the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs conference in May 2015; we sat at the same table at lunch, with his chief, Don Crocker (a favourite tablemate at conferences – he brings chocolate treats!) and several other chief officers.
Clark was opposite me at a large, round table, and with conversations going on and only a brief lunch break, we were never formally introduced – often at these conferences everyone assumes everyone knows everyone else.
Months later, Clark emailed asking about potentially contributing to the magazine and told me we’d been lunchmates but he hadn’t interrupted the conversation to introduce himself (nor had I). Admittedly, Clark said, he had been intimi-
dated by the white shirts and stripes around him (figuratively, as everyone was dressed in business casual for the conference), although he’d been anxious to ask about writing.
A couple of phone conversations and lots of emails later, Clark’s first Front Seat column, on page 30, chronicles his transition to captain and the roller coaster of emotions –and litany of questions – that comes with the new position and responsibilities.
Clark will write regularly
We know, now, the importance of good mental and physical
health on performance . . .
for Canadian Firefighter, offering advice to those who aspire to leadership roles in volunteer and career departments.
We know the significance of good leadership in fire halls –career and volunteer. Clark’s column will provide a newly acquired view from the front seat; his frankness is sure to both entertain and intrigue.
Sean Kingswell is a career firefighter in London, Ont., and, like so many full-timers, he’s an entrepreneur on the side. Kingswell’s sideline is firefighter health and wellness – a whole-body-and-mind ap -
proach to firefighter safety.
Kingswell’s offerings will complement longtime contributor Sherry Dean’s Fit for Duty column, delving deeper into areas that affect every firefighter – issues such as sleep, recovery, injury prevention, cancer prevention, goal setting, hydration, and medical diligence.
We know, now, the importance of good mental and physical health on performance – we know physical health affects mental health, and, vice versa, and we’re expanding our coverage of those key areas with the addition of Kingswell’s column (page 8).
We think you’ll find valuable information in these new columns – Front Seat and Tools of the trade – that will make you think about your lifestyle, your work-life balance and your goals and aspirations.
After all, robots – like the Argo J5 Responder remote-controlled fire vehicle featured in our cover story –can accomplish only what smart, healthy humans program them to do.
April 2016 Vol. 39, No. 2 cdnfirefighter.com
EDITOR
Laura King lking@annexweb.com 289-259-8077
ASSISTANT EDITOR Maria Church mchurch@annexweb.com 519-429-5184
NATIONAL SALES MANAGER Adam Szpakowski aszpakowski@annexweb.com 289-221-6605
SALES ASSISTANT Barb Comer bcomer@annexweb.com 519-429-5176 or 888-599-2228 ext 235
MEDIA DESIGNER Brooke Shaw
GROUP PUBLISHER Martin McAnulty fire@annexweb.com
PRESIDENT Mike Fredericks mfredericks@annexweb.com
MAILING ADDRESS
P.O. Box 530, 105 Donly Dr. S., Simcoe, ON N3Y 4N5
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
For a 1 year subscription (4 issues: January, April, July and October): Canada — $12.95 ($14.63 with HST/QST; $13.60 with GST; GST # 867172652RT0001) USA — $22.95 USD
CIRCULATION
subscribe@firefightingincanada.com 866-790-6070 ext. 206 Fax: 877-624-1940
P.O. Box 530, Simcoe, ON N3Y 4N5
ISSN 1488 0865 PM 40065710
Occasionally, Canadian Firefighter will mail information on behalf of industry-related groups whose products and services we believe may be of interest to you. If you prefer not to receive this information, please contact our circulation department in any of the four ways listed above.
Low Profile, High Volume, Low Loss...
• Compact Lightweight Design Fits Easily Into Tight Pump Panel Configurations
• 5 Year Warranty Against Corrosion
• Integrated Adjustable Pressure Relief Valve Provides Fast Reacting High Volume Protection from Water Hammers in the Hose lines
• Individually Serialized for Tracking and Continued Service and Technical Support
• Highly Visible Valve Position Indicator and Slow Close Operation Exceeds All Standards Requirements
• Flow Efficient Waterway Has Less Than 5 psi Loss at the Rated 1250gpm Flow
Model ABD3ST-NX
Department educates about cancer risks
The Surrey Fire Service in British Columbia has created a brochure to teach firefighters what they can do to reduce their risks for cancer. The brochure was developed to illustrate a report on firefighters and cancer co-authored by Surrey Fire Chief Len Garis for the University of the Fraser Valley.
“The risks (of cancer) are higher,” Garis said, “but we also know that there are things you can do to alleviate the risks as well.”
The department released the brochure internally in February, but Garis said the goal is for other departments to use it as well. Access the brochure online at cjr.ufv.ca/ firefighters-cancer — MARIA CHURCH
Firefighters receive extrication equipment
South Raleigh Fire Department in Ontario has $5,500 to spend on emergency rescue equipment thanks to a funding initiative from DuPont Pioneer. The money, according to a news release, will go toward an air lifting bag system. Acting Station Chief Scott Russell said in the release firefighters will be better prepared to respond to emergencies with the bag system, which can be inserted into narrow openings during extrications. — MC
Globe to donate gear
A partnership among Globe, DuPont Protection Technologies and the United-States-based National Volunteer Fire Council is once again giving away gear to 13 North American departments. For the fifth year running, a total of 52 sets of Globe turnout gear will be donated to mostly volunteer departments that serve populations of 25,000 or less. Applications are accepted until June 1. Learn more at www.nvfc.org/ globe-gear-donation. — MC
9 PER CENT
higher chance that firefighters will get cancer compared to the general public.
Veteran Ontario captain named training officer of the year
John Uptegrove, captain and training officer for Puslinch Fire and Rescue Services in Ontario, was named the 2015 Ontario Training Officer of the Year on Jan. 6.
Giveaway
Thirteen volunteer departments in North America will receive four free sets of Globe gear this year as part of the fifth annual Globe Gear Giveaway.
Not long after the Uptegrove received the recognition, he served as incident commander for a devastating barn fire in Puslinch that killed 43 racehorses. The barn’s owners and the horses were well known to members of the fire department, who trained with them on large-animal rescues in 2015.
The barn was fully engulfed when crews arrived, which made rescuing the horses impossible, Uptegrove explained.
“Emotionally, because we’d been in those barns and walked through them, it was hard to know they’d lost those horses,” Uptegrove said. “The guys all felt sorry for the owners and trainers. It’s such a big loss.”
Uptegrove has been a firefighter
for Puslinch for 29 years, and said he enjoys training new firefighters. His advice for new trainers is to get educated and informed about the challenges in the fire service and the unique needs of each department.
“Training is near and dear to my heart,” he said. “I want to make sure everyone goes home at night.”
Uptegrove was awarded his distinction by the Ontario Association of Fire Training Officers during the annual conference in September, and was recognized by his township in January.
Puslinch Fire Chief Steven Goode said in an email Uptegrove is integral to the success and safety of his department, and surrounding departments as well.
“John does not underestimate the value of training and ensures that our staff practice and maintain their basic skills,” Goode said. — MC
Puslinch, Ont., Capt. John Uptegrove, centre, is recognized for his dedication to training by Fire Chief Steven Goode and Mayor Dennis Lever on Jan. 6.
Tools of the trade
By Sean Kingswell
Build a firefighter wellness tool kit
Astructure fire. Adrenaline-filled fire crews work the irons and power tools as their SCBAs supply much-needed air. Hand lamps provide a dim glow as the light reflects off the blinding, acrid smoke. Over deafening noises, radios attempt to keep crews in constant contact. A centrifugal pump whines as it pushes water through a hoseline and out the open nozzle. Diligent personnel and their important tools work in unison until their properly applied extinguishing agent attains the benchmark, “loss stopped.”
Firefighters respect the tools they use on the job. The incorrect use of any of the tools in the above scenario has the potential to prevent overall success and safety. Firefighter health and wellness requires its own set of tools.
Welcome to Tools of the trade. These columns will offer a comprehensive tool kit of firefighter wellness. This column is a form of outcome-based wellness coaching in which there is no place for facilitator judgment, shaming or negativity. Successful wellness coaching looks to inspire and motivate while requiring honesty, transparency and respect toward those you are trying to reach. Some concepts may ask you to challenge current habits, preconceived notions or antiquated practices. Though change is fundamentally the definition of stress, if that change brings about improved health and wellness, I encourage you to see it for what it can be: eustress (good stress). Knowledge and acceptance of wellness practices have progressed dramatically and firefighters deserve to be at the forefront.
We often think of the word healthy as a descriptive of physical and mental condition. Although the World Health Organization has long warned against it, we may use the absence of disease as a positive assumption. Not being sick does not equal healthy. Health and wellness are cousins and both are multifaceted. For the sake of
simplicity, consider health as your overall condition, whereas wellness is about recognizing the different elements, acknowledging their importance and choosing to effectively enact them towards optimum health. Enjoying what life has to offer, and wellness, are not mutually exclusive. Wellness is about living life to the fullest and, quite simply, a balance in both overall wellness and its individual elements. Wellness is not about an excessively rigid life, or perfection, merely responsible, overall lifestyle choices and successful habit formation with a simplified plan for long-term adherence.
As with the tool kit on your fire truck, the wellness tool kit has a range of implements. The more common tools are usually resistance training, cardiovascular training, flexibility, nutrition and stress management. As we dig deeper we can see that there are more tools, including sleep, recovery, injury prevention, cancer prevention, healthy body composition, goal setting, adherence strategies, hydration, auditory health, smoking cessation, foam rolling, core strength, medical diligence and more.
Each tool in the kit is ideally implemented with firefighter specificity in mind. As with a hoseline, nozzle and pump, wellness tools must work together for each one to succeed.
Why truly pay attention to wellness? First of all, firefighters are occupational athletes. The demands of fire fighting can be overwhelming to both the cardio respiratory and musculoskeletal systems. Dangers include physical harm from the nature of fire fighting, and exposure to toxins. Body composition, heart health, flexibility, core strength, endurance and smoking cessation all have implications on performance and injury prevention. Sleep patterns affect stress, and are affected by stress. Food and hydration have a direct impact on how we are fuelled, with fire fighting drawing from all three metabolic pathways.
Personal wellness choices affect more than just the individual firefighter. Negligence puts a firefighter’s family at risk of a lost or injured loved one. Staying well for the crew can also be one of the many motivators toward wellness.
Keep in mind there is a difference between information and buy-in. Information is a form of knowledge while buy-in involves acknowledging the significance of that knowledge. Buy-in is a huge part of wellness. I often teach buy-in as a series of steps. First, have an honest look at how a particular piece of information, or in this case, a particular wellness concept is applicable to you. This involves true introspection and honesty. Secondly, consider the risks of failing to effectively incorporate that knowledge. Neglecting any elements from cardio and resistance training to sleep and stress management can have significant acute and chronic negative effects on firefighters. Finally, educate yourself on the benefits of putting that knowledge into action.
The buy-in process is the first action step in this series. Please examine the different elements of wellness we have discussed and candidly assess whether you are responsibly implementing each. If you are not, ask yourself why. In upcoming columns you will learn strategies for the different buy-in elements.
We have the tools at our disposal to take a responsible and educated stance on firefighter wellness.
Sean Kingswell is an experienced professional firefighter, personal trainer, fitness coach and the creator of the FIRESAFECADETS program. firesafecadets@gmail.com @firesafecadets
FEATURING THE SC 757E2 COMBI TOOL
IN THE RACE AGAINST TIME, TO SAVE LIVES EMERGENCY RESPONDERS REQUIRE UNRELENTING POWER AND SPEED. WITH THE LARGEST SPREAD AND SUPERIOR CUT RATING, THE SC 757E2 COMBI TOOL BY HURST JAWS OF LIFE IS THE SINGLE MOST POWERFUL COMBI TOOL ON THE RESCUE MARKET. B ATTERY-POWERED AND LIGHTNING FAST, START EVERY RESCUE WITH THE UNSTOPPABLE.
UNSTOPPABLE POWER
Fit for duty
By Sherry Dean
Sherry Dean is a career firefighter/engineer with Halifax Regional Fire & Emergency. She has more than 20 years of experience in fitness and training. deansherry@bellaliant.net
Preparing for physical testing
All firefighters should be physically ready for duty. Most departments, career and volunteer, require recruits to pass a physical test. This column is directed at those who are preparing for recruitment, but the content also applies to firefighters who wish to remain prepared for the physical demands of their jobs.
Halifax Regional Fire & Emergency held its first career recruitment in more than eight years in January and received more than 2,100 applications. A physical test was part of the process for the top 150 candidates who passed the aptitude test. There are generally two facets to a physical test: cardiovascular and strength/endurance.
How you prepare for testing depends on your current level of fitness and experience handling the testing equipment. Every department or agency, such as Ontario’s standardized candidate testing service, clearly outlines the testing process in its recruitment information package or online, and there are many other resources available. A candidate’s success largely depends on his or her preparation.
Cardiovascular testing
The VO2 max is a measure of the maximum volume of oxygen a person uses. Some departments use a technical process in which applicants walk/run on a treadmill while their cardiac outputs and oxygen consumptions are monitored; other departments use the beep tests/shuttle runs or even timed runs. Cardiovascular fitness testing rarely factors in age or gender, but rather the physical
needs of fire fighting.
To prepare for a VO2 or cardio test, understand what is involved in the test and your current cardio conditioning. These tests can be daunting if you don’t do some form of cardio training. We see a lot of people come through testing ill prepared. You have to train. You can’t just show up.
Treadmill testing includes adjusted speeds and slopes to increase demand. Incorporate into your training some kind of hill or grade running/jogging. If the test is done with weighted gear, mimic the conditions by wearing a weighted vest or practise in gear. If the shuttle run/beep test is part of the process, get used to the cadence and the turn-around. Do not condition yourself by running a straight line if you are being tested on running back and forth. Many people find the timing of shuttles difficult and tend to over run, while others struggle with the agility required to change direction. The best way to prepare is to practise this test, not just once, but over an over.
Interval training, such as 30/30 and Tabata, is an excellent way to improve cardio, but also incorporate some kind of short-distance running. If your testing is expected to last eight to 10 minutes at 10 kilometres per hour, you must duplicate that in training. Information on timing and speed for each type of testing is available on the Internet, and downloading fitness apps can help you practice.
Strength/endurance testing
The strength and endurance portion of physical testing varies and can include the Candidate Physical Abilities Test (CPAT), Gledhill Fitness Protocol or York University
Cardiovascular fitness testing rarely factors in age or gender, but rather the physical needs of fire fighting.
Firefighter Fitness Assessment. All tests determine a candidate’s ability to perform specific firefighting tasks and require a good base level of fitness. Most tests require the candidate to wear weighted vests or firefighting equipment weighing up to 34 kilograms (75 pounds) while performing activities such as pulling a sled, dragging a dummy, hoisting, forcible entry and climbing. The test activities are not supposed to be easy, but they are absolutely achievable with preparation. Most tests clearly outline each skill you will need to perform, the weight of the equipment, distance to travel and times needed to complete each event. However, if a department or agency is ranking performances, candidates should aim to perform better than their competitors. Technique, overall strength and endurance all play important roles. If you don’t have access to the actual test, mimic each skill as closely as possible and ask those who have already done testing to help you.
Technique is often the key to forcible entry and rope pulls, so make sure you work on the small skills such as grip strength. Unless you have great upper-body strength, core conditioning and lower-body utilization are important for pulling and swinging skills. Add rotational training to your workout so you can activate your whole body while performing these skills.
Don’t forget to warm up before you are tested. Calming your nerves will help you prepare your body and put you in the right frame of mind. If you have put the time and effort into preparing for these types of tests you will be successful. Train hard, work hard and give everything you have on the test floor. Good luck and be safe.
Candidates are encouraged to mimic the physical testing as closely as possible and thoroughly train well in advance of the test date.
PHOTO: LAURA KING
(An actual quote made during a evaluation)
WESTERN CANADA
WFR Wholesale Fire & Rescue Ltd
Calgary AB - Ph 403-279-0400
1-800-561-0400
Web: www.wfrfire com
QUEBEC
Areo-Fire
5205 J-Armand Bombardier
Longueuil QC, J3Z 1G4
1-800-469-1963
E-Mail: info@areo-feu com
Micmac Fire & Safety Source 518 St. Mary's Street, Unit 1 Fredericton, NB E3A 8H5
1-800-561-1995 or (506) 453-1995
E-Mail: r.henderson@mmfss.ca NEWFOUNDLAND Medical West Supplies 13 Rowsell St , Corner Brook, NF
709-632-7852
E-Mail: jkenny@nf.sympatico.ca
E-Mail: kylej@cumings ca Web: www cumings ca
Between alarms
By Arjuna George
George is the acting fire chief of operations on Salt Spring Island, B.C., and has served on the department since 1997. ageorge@saltspringfire.com @AJGeorgefire
Spring clean to boost efficiency
Every once in a while a good spring cleaning is needed to tidy up and declutter our environments. For fire departments, spring cleaning is more than just sweeping and dusting; while it’s important to clean off the shelves, the real purpose of spring cleaning is much more valuable.
A spring-cleaning session helps firefighters familiarize themselves with the equipment and gets their hands on the tools. Quite often, some tools are tucked deeply inside a cabinet. Firefighters’ jobs often involve improvising with what we have, and more often than not we can do the job with simple, basic tools. Spring cleaning re-familiarizes firefighters with the equipment and starts their brains working to find more efficient means of preparing for battle.
Once a year, work with your crew to select an apparatus to clean. At Salt Spring Island Fire Rescue, we have turned this idea into a Truck of the Month; each month a scheduled apparatus gets a full strip down and a thorough cleaning.
When spring cleaning an apparatus, start with a 360 size-up much as you would at a house fire. Strip the hose, strip the exterior tools, and expose all the accessories; doing so provides an opportunity to educate the junior members about the tools and how they are best used. Take a moment to discuss and re-evaluate the purpose of each tool. Does the tool still do the job for which it was intended? Is there a better way? Can you do something to make the tool more effective?
Cleaning the truck also provides an opportunity to talk with the crew about hose storage and hose lays. Allow firefighters to brainstorm and discuss best practices
Get to know your equipment, put hands on it and brainstorm as a team to find ways it can be maximized.
and areas that need attention.
The re-evaluation process can bring forward some great ideas for life hacking your tools and equipment. Life hacking is the process of finding ways to use the tools we have to their fullest potentials. Be sure to foster a team approach and allow for ideas to flow.
Once the 360 is complete, begin cleaning in the cab and work your way around the rig. Look at everything with a fresh eye. Challenge the status quo. Over the years our goal has been to reduce the volume of equipment that moves around from cabinet to cabinet. Our continued challenge is to balance the need to keep the cabinets as similar as possible while incorporating new tools and enhancing the storage.
As with every spring clean, give everything a good once over to ensure they are free of dirt, oil and water. When all the tools are out and cleaned, it is a perfect time to pre-rig or life hack your tools. Once again, challenge the status quo and see if there are ways to make your tools more efficient. Seize any opportunity to pre-rig or colour code tools, or make a kit – being well-organized will increase efficiency during those 3 a.m. calls.
Today’s fire service is an all-risk service, which means more tools and equipment are required and have been added to our already packed cabinets. When your team looks at each tool, ask these questions: is this tool still a requirement on this truck? Can it be used more effectively somewhere else? Do we even need the tool anymore? Has the tool been superseded by a better tool – or an all-in-one?
Once you have re-evaluated and possibly culled your tools, find more efficient ways to store those you choose to keep. Take advantage of storage bins, mounting brackets and, of course, labelling. Adding labels helps firefighters quickly locate tools and place them back into service at the end of the call. Oversized labels are highly visible and create a clean professional look. At SSIFR, we are creating graphic icons instead of words to make tool recognition even simpler. Incorporate QR codes into your labels to link directly to a website URL, such as a how-to YouTube video or an online document. We have QR codes on our apparatus cabinets that link to video demonstrations of our department hose bundle and the steps involved in repacking our forestry hose packs.
Once all the tools are cleaned, organized and ready for service, take a digital photo of the cabinet. This photo can be used as a reference to help your members stay on top of the vast number of specialized tools. We also have laminated photo cards hanging inside our cabinets. Spring cleaning is a training drill just as much as it is a regular maintenance task. The exercise is a great refresher for everyone from the most junior recruits to the fire chief. Get to know your equipment, put hands on it and brainstorm as a team to find ways it can be maximized. It is our job to be prepared when calls come in; this process helps us be even more response ready.
Arjuna
Add QR codes on equipment labels to link directly to a website URL, such as a how-to YouTube video or instructions document.
PHOTO: ARJUNA GEORGE
•
•
•
•
•
•
Dispatches
By Jennifer Grigg
How learning can change us
In early February I took the Road to Mental Readiness (R2MR) trainthe-trainer course in Mississauga, Ont., and it changed me, challenged me, and at the same time gave me hope. My own experiences with mental-health issues were precisely what attracted me to the course, and I was glad to have been chosen as one of the first 40 fire-service members in Ontario to be accepted into the program.
R2MR was originally developed for the Department of National Defence, and then modified for the police service by the Mental Health Commission of Canada and the Calgary Police Service. The program was subsequently modified and adapted by the Calgary and Cornwall fire departments, and brought to the Ontario fire service by the Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs.
R2MR provides practical knowledge and skills to address mental health and mental illness in firefighting organizations; in other words, to save our brothers and sisters.
As of March 3, at least one firefighter, six paramedics and four police officers had killed themselves in Canada this year. And those are just the ones we know about. Three deaths occurred within a five-day period, according to Global News.
We talked extensively in the course about the stigma surrounding mental illness. Regardless of whether it is depression, anxiety, substance abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder, or any other mental illness, our fear of ridicule makes us afraid to come forward.
We ask ourselves: what will people think? Will they think I’m weak? Does it mean I’m damaged goods? (A favourite label I have used on myself for years.) Is it a life sentence?
We in emergency services are quite comfortable in our role of responding to the needs of others, but asking for help is an entirely different situation. Not only is it difficult to reach out for assistance, we
We have to look out for our fire-service brothers and sisters, just as we do our family members.
are not always aware when we are experiencing mental-health issues.
We may feel that whatever symptoms we are experiencing will go away, or we convince ourselves that we have got a handle on whatever we are feeling and keep on keeping on. We tell ourselves that we are just having a bad day. Before we know it, the bad days are outnumbering the good and most, if not all, areas of our lives suffer. Mental health, physical health, performance at work, relationships with friends and family and passion for life, all suffer the consequences of mental illness.
That’s where the mental health continuum model comes into play. The model is a colour-coded chart that determines a person’s mental health status within four categories: green (healthy), yellow (reactive), orange (injured) and red (ill). The chart allows individuals to identify indicators of declining or poor
mental health in themselves and others, and also teaches the appropriate actions to take at each point along the continuum.
The continuum model makes getting help easier, to say the least, by laying out benchmarks for symptoms according to where a person falls in the continuum, and also providing everyone with one word for help. This one word, when spoken, speaks volumes. Even if all a person can do is mutter “orange” or “red”, we all understand. We know what we need to do.
Raising awareness about mental-health issues in the fire service (and all emergency services – police, EMS, communications, corrections and so on), reducing the stigma surrounding mental illness and educating firefighters in Ontario as well as Alberta through the R2MR program are the new three lines of defence. (The original three lines of defence are public fire-safety education, fire-safety standards and enforcement, and emergency response.)
We have to look out for our fire-service brothers and sisters, just as we do our family members. Take the time to talk to the guys and gals in your hall. Check in with them after a tough call and see how they are doing. It doesn’t have to be a long talk (unless that’s what they need, in which case definitely give them your full attention). Ask them how their spouses and children are doing, suggest going for a coffee after a call, or meet them for breakfast on the weekends.
Encourage respect and cohesiveness in the fire hall and create a positive environment. Let your colleagues know you are there for them, regardless of your rank. Be generous with the “good job” or the “way to go” after a call; it doesn’t matter whether it was a simple medical or an exhausting structure fire. We are all leaving our families, our homes and our jobs and putting our lives on hold to go out and help others, and we need to reinforce acknowledgement and appreciation, and the idea that we are all part of a team.
Jennifer Grigg has been a volunteer with the Township of Georgian Bay Fire Department in Ontario since 1997. jhook0312@yahoo.ca @georgianbayjen
GLOVES
Highly dexterous, durable protective barrier remains intact after repeated exposure to high heat.
TURNOUT GEAR
Gore moisture barriers and liner systems manage heat stress better because they are the most breathable across multiple environments.
BOOTS
Leather boots that include a protective barrier provide better footing and decon more effectively than rubber.
It’s essential to understand what materials go into your gear and how they perform and hold up.
To increase your safety and improve gear performance, Gore continues to push the technical capabilities of personal protective equipment. Knowledge is powerful, and the more you know the safer you are.
Robotic fire fighting
Remote-controlled vehicle protects personnel in high-risk incidents.
By Laura King
Training officer Gary Mosburger’s job is to make sure everyone goes home, and that means keeping up with technology that can potentially save firefighter lives.
Mosburger is not only aware of the latest risk-reduction technology, he and his firefighters at the Wilmot Fire Department in Ontario are also contributing to it.
For more than two years, Mosburger and other department members worked with local manufacturer Argo to help the company incorporate robotics technology into its new firefighting vehicles.
The merger of the robust, go-anywhere, amphibious vehicles and remote-controlled fire fighting has the potential to prevent accidents, reduce injuries and protect lives, Mosburger says.
“We’ve been teamed up in developing some technology to make it easier to do our jobs, as well as potentially not having to put firefighters into risky areas where they don’t necessarily need to be.
“Not that we’re trying to reduce our [numbers of ] firefighters by any means, but reducing risk is big.”
Hazmat calls. Train derailments. Wildfires. Wilderness rescues. Commercial structure fires. Industrial incidents. Mosburger says the application for robotics technology is extensive.
“We’ve had a lot of consultation with Argo about how we do our jobs, how they perceive us doing our jobs; there has been a lot of conversations about how to do things better.
“One of the primary uses for us would be for hazardous-materials responses,” Mosburger said. “For example, being able to drive a robotic Argo into an area, dragging the hoselines with it, and putting water onto a rail car that could be on fire, reducing the potential of a BLEVE [boiling-liquid, expanding-vapour explosion].”
Many Canadian fire departments and search-andrescue teams use Argos or similar vehicles – Polaris, Kubota, Kawasaki, Arctic Cat, John Deere, Bombardier – that hold stretchers and other equipment for wildland fire fighting, off-road incidents or disasters such
as floods or snow and ice storms. All Argo utility vehicles are amphibious, and the company says it is out front with its robotic units.
Argo had solicited feedback from a volunteer searchand-rescue team about details such as optimum placement of tools and equipment. Now it’s refining firefighting vehicles.
Argo president Enoch Stiff says after consulting with Mosburger, designers better understand the broader potential for fire operations and the need for maximum firefighter safety. Argo’s goal, Stiff said, is to create robotic vehicles that fire departments can afford.
Argo is a unit of Ontario Drive & Gear in New Hamburg, Ont. Essentially, Argo builds a basic, all-terrain/ amphibious platform then adds firefighting equipment specified by the department. Wildland units include a CET pump; the robotic J5 Responder is equipped with
The Canadian-made Argo J5 Responder Unmanned Firefighting System is remote controlled and can be sent into situations too dangerous for firefighters.
PHOTO: LAURA KING
either a Task Force Tips or Akron Brass monitor.
Stiff says he knows that to crack the fire market the company has to demonstrate the safety and effectiveness of its vehicles to chiefs.
“The way we used to go to market is we sold a platform . . . the problem is that gets sort of a blank stare and we realize that’s not overly effective,” Stiff said. “And when we did sell [a vehicle and add firefighting equipment], it was a long process. Then we learned that if we can come up with a line of fire fighting equipment, that would be better for the industry. ”
Argo launched its line of firefighting vehicles at its headquarters in August. Mosburger and a crew from the Wilmot Fire Department helped to demonstrate a robotic firefighting Argo. TFT’s Brian Podsiadlik handled the remote-controlled monitor.
“You can now send an Argo into a lake for a boat fire, or send it through water to fight a large lakefront cottage fire that may be unreachable with a regular fire truck, or
Unified command
The J5 and the Task Force Tips monitor were originally operated by separate remote-control systems, but the companies worked together to merge the technology into a single unit.
send it into the bush for wildland support,” Podsiadlik said in an interview.
“You can connect hoses and advance this portable vehicle from a fire truck or from the fire pump to the hazard zone or the fire, whatever you’re trying to mitigate, so it’s useful for both municipal and industrial fire brigades.”
Essentially, Podsiadlik said, fire personnel connect a supply hose or high-volume hose to a manifold; water then flows into the monitor – the same type of monitor found on top of fire trucks. Nozzle selection depends on the incident and fire-department preferences.
“Personally I think it has a lot of potential,” Podsiadlik said. “I see more potential on the industrial side or for municipal departments that cover industrial facilities, just because you’re able to send this unmanned vehicle into what may be a hazard area where there’s unknown or bad stuff in the air without having to worry about the high risks to your crew, and still mitigate the hazard.”
Fire-industry supplier AJ Stone Company Ltd. is the Ontario rep for Argo. Dan Stone says the robotic unit, which retails for about $55,000, is ideal for airports, industrial departments, or big cities with lots of industry.
Argo’s robotics guru Jason Scheib says that ideally, fire departments will continue to provide feedback to Argo so the company can refine the firefighting line of vehicles. (A new section of the
Argo website – www.argoutv.com – focusing on fire was to be up and running in March.)
“Our focus is to have a real feasible unit,” Scheib says of the robotic Argo, “so that’s why we have the size of the unit we have; it can handle extreme terrain, it’s completely amphibious, and I can deploy it from the back of a pick-up truck.
“The conversations that I’ve had so far with firefighters is why would I send my guys first into the fire when I have this type of equipment. I can attach my hoses and drag them out to the scene very quickly, and charge up the lines very fast without having to send guys close to the fire first.”
Argos can be equipped with sensors controlled remotely through cameras in a command area, and an infrared camera can direct the nozzle stream toward hot spots.
“If you had to go into a building and it’s very dark and full of smoke, that’s not an ideal place to send a firefighter,” Scheib says, “but you can send in the robot and let it to do the really dangerous work, especially if you don’t know what’s in the building – it could be gasoline or plastics or other toxic stuff. You can send the unit in ahead, hit all the hot spots and then send in the firefighters in behind to clean up the mess.
Argo’s president says the company will continue to tweak designs as it works with more fire departments. It has already worked with TFT to create a single device that controls both the vehicle and the monitor.
“We know the product has to be refined,” Stiff said, “but we’re very close. We certainly have a lot of experiences that say it has been used in some pretty radical situations and has done a great job.
“You put the right equipment on it and you can do some serious fire fighting, without putting the responder at risk.”
Stiff acknowledges that $55,000 is a fair chunk of change for volunteer operations and is looking for options – sponsorships and regional purchases, for example.
“I know a lot of fire brigades share resources; when something happens and they know a piece of equipment is available, everybody’s happy to make sure that it’s available for whatever crisis is going on.”
So that everybody goes home.
Training Officer Gary Mosburger of the Wilmot Fire Department and TFT’s Podsiadlik prep the Argo J5 for a demo; the robotic unit retails for about $55,000.
Brian Podsiadlik of Task Force Tips controls the monitor on the Argo J5 Responder during a demonstration in New Hamburg, Ont.
PHOTOS: LAURA KING
LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR LIVE FIRE TRAINING SYSTEMS AT WWW.DRAEGER.COM/FIRETRAINING STAY ONE STEP AHEAD OF EVERY FIRE WITH OUR LIVE FIRE TRAINING SYSTEMS.
Dräger can help you build the confidence and skills you need to fight fires safely and effectively. That’s because we offer a full range of Class A (wood-fueled) and Class B (propane-fueled) live fire training systems: from the Swede Survival system that teaches the warning signs of flashover, to portable systems that make live fire training convenient and affordable. Essential tools for essential training.
Tim-bits
By Tim Llewellyn
Tim Llewellyn is a firefighter for the Allegheny County Airport Authority in Pittsburgh, Pa., and an instructor for a number of fire academies and training faculties. llewellyn.fire@gmail.com
Keep track of your firefighting tools
The following situation is probably familiar: it was a good structure fire; all of the teams performed as expected; few mistakes were made overall; a lot of property was saved; and, most importantly, nobody was hurt. Now, it’s time to clean up. Two firefighters are assigned to walk around and through the scene one last time to check for any equipment that might have been left behind. When the firefighters complete their search, several axes, Halligan bars, pike poles and hooks lay on the ground waiting for their proper owners to claim them. A group of firefighters assembles and begins the sorting process. The firefighters closely examine each tool, looking for the little stickers or other markings or engravings that identify them as belonging to a specific truck. Another group of firefighters is examining the ladders –trying to determine which ladders go with which trucks. This frustrating sorting process occurs all too often, but it doesn’t have to be so difficult.
There are ways to simplify tool accountability and recognition; implementing these practices can also increase fireground efficiency and create a sense of pride for the members of your organization.
Most fire departments put small, rectangular, metallic stickers printed with the organization’s name to identify their tools. These stickers are great – they stick well and last a long time – but the printing does wear off over time and the small size makes the stickers difficult to see from a distance.
One very easy and inexpensive way that our department marks our hand tools is by colouring a section of the tools with spray paint. The first step is to select a colour that will be applied to each of your trucks’ tools. We chose basic colours: the tools on E1 are red, E2’s tools are orange, E3’s are yellow, the rescue’s are blue, the tower ladder’s are green and tools from the chief vehicles are white. We place
colour stripes on the shaft of each tool in a band about four-inches wide; this provides enough visibility so that the tools can be identified from a distance and avoids the action surfaces of the tools, which are prone to heavy abrasion. We prefer enamel spray paint because it can be easily touched up or redone after incidents or trainings.
We do the same with our ladders; the coloured markings go on the tips according to the assigned colour of the truck’s tools. The addition of colour not only identifies the ladders as belonging to particular trucks, but the contrast of the colour on the tip also increases visibility in low-light situations. With better visibility, crews are more easily able to place ladders correctly to windowsills or above roof edges. One of our captains even went so far as to replace the halyards on each of the extension ladders with 9.5-millimetre (3/8-inch) life safety rope in each respective colour. Our firefighters have commented that the coloured halyards not only look good, but also provide for an easier and firmer grasp when extending and retracting the ladders, especially in wet conditions, when compared to the manufacturer-standard nylon or manila halyards.
Another good idea from our team is to
use a stencil and the same paint colour to mark the apparatus number on the balance point of each one- and two-section ladders. These markings further identify where the ladders came from, and help firefighters find the balance point on the ladder beam for a single-firefighter carry and raise.
Our department’s process of marking tools and ladders has turned out to be a source of great pride for members. We regularly hold tool-cleaning days that have resulted in a significant improvement in morale and esprit de corps for our organization. During the tool cleaning process, members strip the old paint and rust off of the tools with a wire wheel and give them new, fresh markings. The ladders are scrubbed and touched up as needed. The edges of the axes and Halligan bars are honed and rubbed with a light coating of tool oil. These simple activities bring everyone together to work toward a source of pride – clean tools. If you’ve found yourself trying to figure out which tools are yours after a fire, consider using this simple colour-coding method for identification; it makes recognition a snap. Markings also make it easier for firefighters to spot which company’s ladders were thrown when the fire makes the evening news!
Bright red paint on the tips of the ladder and the tools in the firefighter’s hand make it easy to tell that both came from the same truck.
Green markings on the ladders and bright green halyards indicate that the equipment belong to the tower ladder truck.
Firefighter preplan
Knowing what to do if a crew member is injured on the job
By Maria Church
On Feb. 4, 2007, Winnipeg firefighter Lionel Crowther experienced what no firefighter ever wants to experience – he was badly burned.
It was Super Bowl Sunday and Crowther, then 33, was called in to Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service’s station 1 for the night shift. Outside it was -48 C with the windchill.
Crowther arrived at the station around 6 p.m. and was assigned to engine 101. He and the rest of the crew gathered in the break room to catch the game. At 7:30 p.m., the first call came in for a house fire, followed shortly by a second call. Engine 101 was tasked as rescue.
The garage of the house was fully involved when Crowther’s truck arrived third in; he and his buddy, Scott (Scotty) Atchison, gear checked and made entry.
Crowther recalls that the door was open, the lights and the TV were on, and there was light smoke and a little heat. Fire investigators later determined that the garage door into the house was left slightly ajar. Crowther and Atchison had just climbed the stairs to the bedrooms when a radio call came in to evacuate.
“We didn’t feel it was urgent at first,” Crowther said of the call. But when thick black smoke appeared,
he turned to make it down the stairs and was met with a fireball.
“It came up the stairs at us,” he said, “we were in the flow path.”
Crowther turned around to head back into the bedrooms when he was knocked down (later thought to be by one of the other firefighters).
“I got up and everything was hot,” he said. “My fingers were tingling.”
That’s when he started to panic. With his SCBA face piece blackened from the heat, Crowther fumbled his way to a window and began banging with his first.
“It felt like concrete. It felt like a wall,” he said. Crowther’s fist finally broke the glass, creating a new flow path for the flames. “My knees were burning, my hands were burning; it felt like I was in the middle of the fire, but I couldn’t see anything.”
By this time the rapid intervention team (RIT) members were making their way into the house with a 2 1/2-inch hoseline. Team members made it to the stairs where they retrieved one downed firefighter, Edward Wiebe. Atchison was able to smash through a window in another room and make it out onto the roof.
Meanwhile, Crowther managed to widen the window opening, and bumped into another firefighter, Capt. Harold Lessard, who was on his knees in bad shape. Crowther leaned down to grab Lessard and get him out the window. As Crowther did so, the super-heated gases in his PPE compressed onto his own skin, and he screamed out in pain.
Crowther continued struggling to lift Lessard, and eventually boosted him to standing position. Crowther then twisted himself out the window
and fell five metres. Finally, he felt nothing.
“All of the pain was gone,” Crowther said. “Not sure if it was because it was so cold outside or if I was in shock.”
Two RIT members climbed a ladder to retrieve Lessard; working slowly, they were able to lift him up and out of the window. Crowther, Lessard, Atchison, and firefighter Darcy Funk were all taken to the hospital. Lessard and Capt. Thomas Nichols, another member who was caught in the flashover, did not survive. Within 23 minutes, the Winnipeg department lost two members and had four others with severe burns.
What happened following the incident was perhaps even harder for Crowther, he said.
“Operationally it affected the department, but for my family and myself, we were not prepared for it,” he said. “I thought I would never get burned. I know it seems silly, but I thought it would never happen.”
At the Winnipeg Health Sciences Centre, doctors determined Crowther had burned 70 per cent of his body and required skin grafts to 20 per cent. He was expected to lose three fingers and to spend months in the hospital recovering.
But Crowther was lucky, or blessed, he said. The firefighter spent just 17 days in hospital, retained all fingers, and today appears unscarred. He went back to work 10 months later.
Looking back, Crowther said he wishes he could have prevented some of the stress his family went through during all stages of his injury
Winnipeg firefighter Lionel Crowther was burned in 2005. He says the lack of an organized system for contacting family and dealing with paperwork added to an already stressful situation.
Canadian burn co-ordinators
MICHAEL BRACKENREED Alberta British Columbia Northwest Territories Yukon Saskatchewan 6thdistrictburnfoundation@iaff.org
LIONEL CROWTHER Manitoba Ontario 13thdistrictburnfoundation@iaff.org
and recovery. Ideally, he said, there would have been a plan in place for how his family learned about his condition.
“All those things like who is going to contact my family, who is going to take care of them, all those things that could have been preplanned, if I was unconscious, it never would have been done,” Crowther said.
“We can learn from incidents like this,” he said. “These are the things that we want to preplan for.”
Creating a plan
Toronto fire captain and union executive officer Geoff Boisseau is one of the primary organizers of the annual Canadian Burn Symposium for first responders. Crowther shared his story at the 2015 symposium in Toronto, the second annual.
An overarching goal that has grown out of discussions at the burn symposium is to create a protocol for
firefighter-emergency situations, including burns. The idea is to have information packages available to all firefighters on staff that include contact information for next of kin/ spouses, workers’ compensation paperwork and contacts and medical records of the firefighter to submit to doctors and nurses.
“It’s a way to protect the injured worker,” Boisseau said. “There would be everything to make sure the paperwork is done, and make sure that they are protected and they understand their rights.”
The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) has a comprehensive burn program that includes burn-fund assistance. Applications must be submitted through the IAFF member’s local affiliate president within 14 days from the date of burn. But, especially in the case of a bad burn or emergency such as Crowther’s, the family won’t likely be
thinking about paperwork, Boisseau said. Workers compensation requirements, too, involve complicated protocols and particular deadlines.
After working on the project for close to a year, Boisseau, along with Toronto firefighter Ken Webb, created a firefighter incident envelope that will be available to all Toronto Fire Services’ chiefs officers in the event of an emergency. The package includes forms for workers’ compensation, modified duties, suspected exposure, critical injury, burn-injury notification protocols and Mandatory Blood Testing Act (steps to take in the event of possible cross-contamination of blood). A straightforward checklist in the package identifies what needs to take place when, to make sure all of the bases are covered.
“This way everything is all in one envelope,” Boisseau said. “It’s a
ROBERT MACLEOD New Brunswick Newfoundland and Labrador Nova Scotia P.E.I. and Quebec 15thdistrictburnfoundation@iaff.org
JAMES DANSEREAU All federal firefighters of Canada and the United States 16thdistrictburnfoundation@iaff.org
Toronto Fire Services has formalized the processes that would take place in the event a crew member is severely injured on the job. The preplan includes providing officers with all the necessary paperwork and specific directions about who to notify and how.
sealed envelope. You rip it open when you get [to the hospital], and you know you have everything.”
The forms, according to Toronto Fire Services’ protocol, are handled by a safety designated officer (a designated officer, as required by the Ontario Ministry of Health, with additional safety responsibilities),
who arrives at the hospital with the injured firefighter or shortly thereafter. Webb, who was Toronto’s safety designated officer until last June, said immediate access to all forms would expedite the process.
Many of the required forms are now online, Webb said, “but when you’re in hospital, the online version isn’t overly
Fire Rescue and Safety Training
Approved training for IFSAC and Proboard seals
NorQuest College offers flexible online and face-to-face training for those looking to start or advance a career in fire rescue and safety.
From entry-level firefighter programs to fire officer, rope rescue, industrial, and wildland firefighter training, these courses allow you to learn from anywhere and complete your practical skills requirements in your own community.
helpful because you aren’t able to capture the information you need.”
As a supplement to the incident envelope, Toronto Acting Capt. Ken Dejong, working with assistance from Boisseau, spearheaded a comprehensive next-of-kin notification system for severe injuries.
Directions for something as simple as whom to contact first in the event of an emergency can help prevent emotional damage in the long run, Dejong said. Some firefighters might prefer to have a relative or family friend notified first and have that person directed to tell a spouse to provide emotional support.
Dejong said he first began thinking about next-of-kin notification when he heard Crowther’s story at a conference and wondered what would Toronto Fire Services do for him in that situation. If he was unconscious, who would tell his wife, and how would anyone even know how to reach her?
“I’m trying to put myself, for all scenarios, in the position of the spouse and the family members,” Dejong said.
Many volunteer, composite and career departments have some type of death/injury notification training or system in place, but they vary in complexity. In Ontario, Township of Centre Willington Fire Chief Brad Patton said his department has accident report forms in every station, and sensitive medical and contact information for each firefighter is kept under lock and key. Firefighters with Salt Spring Island Fire Rescue in British Columbia have their information in sealed envelopes that are stored in the duty vehicle at all times.
Dejong, seeking a homegrown way to formalize next-of-kin notification, spoke with officials in his department to find out what protocols were in place, and what was missing. The firefighter then sat down with Boisseau and Toronto Deputy Chief Darrell Reid in early January to create next-of-kin packages for Toronto firefighters.
Step Forward
The optional packages are filled out by each firefighter and contain directions on who to notify in the event of an emergency, appropriate contact methods (for example, work phone, cell, text message), and a custom action plan, which could include everything from directions for transporting the family to the hospital or asking a neighbour to feed the cat. Once filled out, the
24 CANADIAN FIREFIGHTER
documents are placed in sealed envelopes and stored at Toronto Fire Services communications centre to be accessed in the event that a firefighter is unconscious.
“We want the families to be informed as much as possible, and to get there safely to the hospital,” Dejong said, “Once things are settled and they are protected and all of their immediate needs are taken care of, then the rest of it unfolds properly.”
All but the final details of both the incident packages and next-of-kin notification envelopes were approved in late February by the city and firefighters union. Dejong and Boisseau said they hope similar systems are in place, or replicated across the country in volunteer, composite and career departments, and they are more than willing to share the templates.
Support system in place
In career departments, and some unionized volunteer halls, after the first few days of uncertainty following a firefighter injury, the association will take care of almost everything, Dejong said.
The IAFF burn injury assistance program is comprehensive and includes burn co-ordinators across North America who facilitate firefighters participation in burn prevention, fire safety, burn care and survivor support activities.
Phil Tammaro, an IAFF burn co-ordinator from Massachusetts, was at the burn symposium in Toronto and said the network of survivors is possibly the most important aspect of the IAFF’s program.
“Most people don’t understand the full effects of burn injuries – the short-term
impacts and the long-term impacts,” Tammaro said. For firefighters, they must choose whether or not to go back into a profession in which they were harmed, he said.
“There’s a loss of identity if they can’t go back into that job, or if they don’t want to,” Tammaro said.
It was at a burn-survivor event organized by the IAFF that Crowther first found relief from his long-term suffering. He later was invited to give a talk about his experience, along with his wife, Joanna, at the New Brunswick Association of Fire Chiefs conference. The response to their talk, Crowther said, was overwhelming.
“We were pretty honest about how it affected, not just us, but our marriage and our kids,” he said. “A burn is not a temporary injury, it’s a lifelong injury and we had to come to terms with that.”
In Canada, Crowther is a member of the Canadian Burn Survivors Community, which has been active since 2007. After years of participating in and helping out with support programs, Crowther said he is in a good place to help other firefighters who are injured on the job. The firefighter is working with Dejong, Boisseau and officials in his own department to implement a similar firefighter incident package.
“Our chief, John Lane, is from Toronto so hopefully with his contacts in Toronto, with Boisseau and all the guys there, hopefully we can work together to make a really great program that can spread across Canada,” Crowther said.
To learn more about Toronto’s incident packages and next-of-kin notification, contact Boisseau at boisseau@torontofirefighters.org.
Back to basics
By Mark van der Feyst
Mark van der Feyst has been in the fire service since 1999 and is a full-time firefighter in Ontario. He teaches in Canada, the United States and India and is the lead author of Residential Fire Rescue. Mark@FireStarTraining.com
Recognize negative peer pressure
Peer pressure is present in every fire station and can contribute to dangerous situations.
Peer pressure is basically influence by members of a person’s peer group. This influence can be good or bad for firefighters. Positive peer pressure helps firefighters develop good habits such as placing their gear by the trucks in a manner that allows for quick and easy donning.
Unfortunately, the negative influence sometimes outweighs the good and causes firefighters to develop bad habits. Similar to complacency, which we discussed in the January issue of Canadian Firefighter, peer pressure to skirt rules and regulations is a reason why firefighters need to learn and develop survival skills.
Negative peer pressure stems from the oddball factor – the idea that individuals stand out because they follow the rules, and, in order for them to fit in, they adapt to what their peers are doing. Firefighters who choose to follow the rules instead of fit in with the group may be teased, ridiculed or alienated. Peer pressure is the result of people doing their best to make sure individuals conform to their idea of acceptable behaviour.
Peer pressure can have detrimental effects on recruits in the fire service. While seasoned firefighters might stand up against peer pressure, ignore it, overcome it and carry on, rookies might be more inclined to go along with the group. An experienced firefighter may even be able to break the cycle of peer pressure and influence the group to change its ways.
I believe firefighters face the greatest peer pressure over the way they wear PPE. I use the term GQ firefighter to describe and explain this type of peer pressure. GQ firefighters are those who want to look fashionable and stylish so that they can be perceived as being cool or tough. A GQ firefighter wants to look like a model on the front cover of any men’s magazine.
Photo 1 shows an example of one GQ firefighter look: suspenders hanging down
around the waist. As insignificant as this violation may be compared to other fireground issues, it is one domino in a potential series that can result in a bad outcome. Firefighters’ suspenders are designed to hold up their pants. If firefighters are carrying small equipment in their pants pockets (and they should be), there will be considerable weight pulling the pants downwards, which could leave an area of their lower bodies exposed. How is that going to feel inside a burning building?
Another GQ firefighter look is a helmet strap that is either undone or around the back of the helmet. I have seen helmet straps fashioned like this everywhere, even on television shows such as Chicago Fire. In one episode, every time the firefighters were fully dressed in their PPE, the major characters were not wearing their chin straps properly; they all had the GQ look.
How do GQ firefighters contribute to the risk of individuals needing self-rescue? The smaller issues lead to bigger issues. If firefighters are complacent about the small stuff and bow to peer pressure over the small issues, think about how much more complacent and susceptible to peer pressure they will become about the big stuff.
Just as gateway drugs lead toward more severe drugs, the small issues on the fire ground and in the station lead to more severe and deadlier issues on the fire ground. Training is one remedy for overcoming peer pressure. If we train as we play we will become accustomed to wearing our PPE the right way, all the time. Firefighters need to develop a strong sense of what the gear feels like when it is on so that they will know when they are missing a component of PPE. Another remedy for eliminating peer pressure is enforcement; this has to come from the top down. Every department has rules and regulations, SOPs or SOGs, policies and whatever else you want to call them: but are they being enforced? Strong enforcement of rules is for the safety and survival of each firefighter. Enforcement of proper PPE practices will quickly stomp out any GQ-firefighter type practices and send a message to others not to follow suit.
Positive peer pressure to develop good habits can overtake the pressure to develop bad habits. If the majority of firefighters lead the way by encouraging safe practices, others will follow; anyone who doesn’t will become the oddball.
Firefighters can face negative peer pressure from colleagues to wear their PPE incorrectly, for example, with suspenders hanging down around the waist, to appear tough or cool while on the job.
Specialized training for a front-line career
With one of the most advanced training facilities in Canada, we challenge you to be the best you can be at our Emergency Training Centre in Vermilion, Alta. From burning buildings to dangerous goods explosions and ambulance transports, with each scenario you work through you develop life-saving skills and gain the confidence you need as an emergency responder.
Choose from:
Emergency Services Technology (diploma) Specialize in medical or firefighter stream
Firefighter (certificate) Select face-to-face or online delivery
CAD Run from Records?
Because having critical info at your fingertips improves response time and safety: Hazmat, PrePlans, and more. Add integrated runtime mapping, routing, status messaging, and being able to configure your display for top efficiency, and you’ve got the best Mobile CAD in the industry. Visit us today to learn more: www.fdmsoft.com
Front seat
By Jason Clark
Promoting forward
Iremember, from when I was young, the deafening sound of the fire-station siren piercing the quiet town’s ambiance. You couldn’t mistake this siren for a train; you knew the firefighters were responding to an emergency. I would watch the green lights from the vehicles from across the creek that ran behind our house; it was so quiet I could hear the car doors slam as one by one the responders would show up to the station and get on the trucks. A few moments later the diesel engines rumbled out to the ramp and I could see the flashing red lights of the trucks making their way onto the street. While watching the convoy of fire trucks I remember saying to myself as a 10-year-old boy, “I’m going to do that.”
So the ball was set in motion from a young age. Fresh from college and pretty much thinking I had the world by the tail, the department was recruiting so I thought I would throw in my application and give back a few years of community service. It was February 2007 when I started as a probationary firefighter at my hometown volunteer station. If you told me as a rookie that I was to be promoted to acting captain and then captain in seven years, I would have laughed and said “I’m not going near the front hot seat.”
My station has 25 personnel assigned to it; I think most of us seem to forget that we were all the newest members of the department at one point or another. Even if you have academy training, or come from another department or station within the municipality, you still are tasked with learning names, truck numbers and where everything is.
I’m here to tell you when you promote up and take a new helmet colour, chances are you are the newest mem-
Clark has been a volunteer firefighter in southwestern Ontario since 2007. Having recently made the transition to captain from firefighter, Jason has had a new perspective on roles in the fire service and riding in the front seat. jaceclark71@gmail.com @jacejclark
ber again but in a whole different world. I promoted up after my wife constantly wanted to know when I was going to apply to become a captain. There were many excuses and many reasons (no good ones, just ask her!) and I talked myself out of the application process. I was comfortable riding in the back, facing backwards and being a worker bee. But deep down I was tempted to take a look at what the front seat had in store.
It was 2014 when the chief notified me that I was officially taking over a vacant posting as an acting captain that I had applied for previously. Many different feelings came over me when I saw this. I knew I was ready for the position, but it felt like stepping into the batter’s box. I needed to put some numbers on the board, so to speak. I wondered how the other firefighters would react to me switching helmets, especially the ones who had more years on the fire department than I had on this Earth (literally).
I honestly can’t say that everyone was shaking my hand and helping me move my gear down to my new locker with the other officers, but I felt that I had earned the respect of most of the firefighters on my
department and to this day I think that’s true. I know I can sit down and shoot the breeze with our oldest member and walk away with something from the conversation. The department you work for has a buffet of knowledge to offer from your various members; try to fill your plate with as much of that as you can. I have members on my department who have been fighting fires for more than 40 years and some for just a few months, but there is a valuable perspective that can be taken from each member.
To the newly promoted officers or even the ones who are thinking about the process of promoting in a volunteer department: your role in the fire service will change. You will probably be judged on your past experience, years of service or even age by your peers. Be prepared for more paperwork. Be prepared to read more and educate yourself on your own time. And if you get the nod to step up to a new, higher rank, tighten up your batter’s gloves, step in the box and get ready to swing away. That front officer’s seat looked like the next step to me from the back of the truck and it wasn’t going to fill itself.
I’m here to tell you when you promote up and take a new helmet colour, chances are you are the newest member again but in a whole different world.
Jason
A firefighter’s role in his or her department will change with an officer promotion.
Extrication tips
By Randy Schmitz
Randy Schmitz is a Calgary firefighter extensively involved in the extrication field. He is the education chair for the Transport Emergency Rescue Committee in Canada. rwschmitz@shaw.ca @firedog7
Stay up to date on side windows
Rescuers should be aware of government rulings that affect the construction of vehicles so that they can adopt new extrication strategies. A ruling in the United States is bringing about changes to side-window safety features.
The 2011 ruling from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) – a branch of the Department of Transportation – on occupant ejection mitigation will be in full swing by fall of 2017. This ruling, officially the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 226 Occupant Ejection Mitigation, affects the construction of new cars that are or will soon be on Canadian roads.
The frequency of occupant ejection from rollover and side-impact collisions remains high despite many proactive initiatives to reduce fatality rates; this ruling by NHTSA is one more step toward safer vehicles.
According to NHTSA’s executive summary, the 2011 ruling established an ejection mitigation standard to “reduce the partial and complete ejection of vehicle occupants through side windows in crashes, particularly rollover crashes.”
To meet the standard, manufacturers must design vehicles with advanced window glazing and larger side-curtain airbags that cover more of the side-window opening or potential ejection portal from the outboard (next to the window) seating positions.
Addressing rollover problems has been, in recent years, one of NHTSA’s priorities. The goal is to prevent crashes, thus reducing rollovers, minimizing ejections
and protecting occupants who remain within the vehicle after a crash. In 2007, NHTSA put forth a ruling to reduce rollover potential by introducing mandatory electronic-stability control that senses an inevitable rollover and applies computerized braking of each wheel, independently. NHTSA estimates that, as a result of this ruling, between 5,300 and 9,600 lives are saved each year. However, rollovers continue to happen for various reasons and research shows that occupants are much more likely to survive if they are not ejected from the vehicle. To prevent occupant ejections, manufacturers must first improve side-curtain airbags. An improved airbag design would cover more of the side-window opening, have a vigorous inflation
Laminated glazing on side windows will impact common rescuer protocols for glass management at a typical motor-vehicle collision.
strength to allow the airbag to stay inflated longer, and also deploy in both side-impact and rollover situations. The strength of the airbag material should also be increased to stop partial or full occupant ejection through the window opening. This improved design should protect occupants from ejection whether the window is up, down, damaged or not intact. The side-curtain airbags will cover the first three rows of side windows. The rear window is not included under mandatory regulation as the fatality rate for rear-window ejection is low.
Second, manufacturers must improve the glazing on side windows. Tests show that current tempered glazing on side windows does not reduce full or
By fall 2017, all vehicle manufacturers in North America will use glass with laminated glazing on side windows as part of a ruling from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to reduce occupant ejections.
Extrication tips
partial occupant ejection. The new standard, therefore, requires advanced glazing, also known as laminated glazing – the same style of glazing that is used on front windshields. This glazing stays intact when broken, thus offering occupants containment in conjunction with side-airbag curtain upgrades.
The four-year phase in period for the NHTSA occupant-ejection mitigation ruling began in 2013. Manufacturers are required to implement the new safety features in 25 per cent of their fleets each year. By Sept. 1, 2017, all vehicle manufacturers will be 100 per cent compliant with the performance upgrades.
Laminated glazing on side windows will impact common rescuer protocols for glass management at a typical motor-vehicle collision. A fairly standard practice is to remove the tempered glass from a window frame prior to using hydraulic tools to remove the vehicle door. Rescuers should control the glass breakage rather than allowing the hydraulic tool to stress the metal to the point at which it shatters
One way rescuers can easily determine if vehicles use tempered (TOP) glass or laminated (ABOVE) glass is by locating small identification stickers or stamps found typically at a bottom corner of side windows.
PHOTOS: MARIA CHURCH
Robotic firefighting
Extrication tips
uncontrollably. By covering the glass with a tarp, back board or plastic film, and striking it with a centre punch or life hammer, rescuers prevent the glass, to the best of our abilities, from coving the patient.
With improved side glazing on vehicles, rescuers do not have to worry about the glass shattering into 1,000 little chunks; it will hold together similar to windshield laminated glass. As well, glazing adds strength to the window frame, which reduces the tearing of the metal when a rescuer begins the purchase point with the tips of the hydraulic tool higher up on the window frame. Crews should take advantage of intact glazing to get the door open faster.
If the side window is the only option for getting inside a vehicle, consider breaching it by using standard laminated-glass removal techniques such as a recip saw, glass master or axe. A window is not an ideal initial entrance or egress point for a medic or rescuer to assess the patient, but it is sometimes the best option. To breach the side window, create a purchase point in the lower corner closest to the doorsill, insert a recip saw blade or glass master and cut along the top of the doorsill from window frame to window frame. Next, slip the blade upward into the cut and pull out just enough to fit in a gloved hand. Grab hold of the glass, bow it out and then pull straight downward; the whole piece should separate from the window frame. If a window breach is not necessary, there is no need to remove the glass, which takes precious time, unless the patient requires ventilation on a hot day. As always, check to see if you can simply roll down the window mechanically or electronically. As per your department standard protocols for glass cutting, always wear an N95 dust mask to prevent inhaling any harmful glass particulate.
There are a few ways to tell if a vehicle’s glass is laminated or tempered. First, most vehicle manufactures put a small window sticker in the lower corner
Three ways to know if a vehicle’s side windows are laminated glass:
1.
Most manufacturers will put a small window sticker or stamp in the lower corner, indicating if the glass is laminated or tempered.
2.
On an undamaged door, roll down the window enough to look straight down at the top ridge of the glass. If the glass is laminated, layers of plastic will appear sandwiched together.
3.
Use a centre punch or other tool to strike the glass (ABOVE). If the glass cracks like a spider web but remains intact, it is laminated. If the glass shatters into many pieces, it is tempered.
indicating if the glass is laminated or tempered (see photos on page 34). Second, on an undamaged door, if possible, roll down the window slightly and look straight down at the top of the glass where it would normally be seated into the frame when closed. If the glass is laminated, layers of plastic will appear sandwiched together. Another telltale sign is to take a centre punch and strike the glass. If the glass cracks like a spider web, it is laminated glazing and can be left intact.
Safety advocates, engineers and manufactures are always looking for ways to improve occupant safety in motor vehicles. It is important rescuers stay abreast of changes in these vehicles so we can learn new strategies to help save lives.
Stay safe.
From the floor
By Jay Shaw
Winning the lottery?
We’ve all said it –we’ve said it to new recruits and to our buddies on the job as we exchange stories and revel in the amazement of a great call: this job is like winning the lottery! The problem is that the reason why we think this job is so amazing has slowly started to change. What the job was once about – fire, and putting it out – is not so anymore. Fighting fire has become so complex, strategic and, frankly, so bureaucratic that I sometimes wonder what lottery we have really won.
Don’t get me wrong, I will never lose faith, but there are times when I question just what is going on, and what it all means. This job is so special and yet so fragile and complicated at the same time. It blows my mind how quickly we can forget that at any given call we could lose a life, save a life, or pay the ultimate price for a lottery ticket that will never pay out exactly what we want it to, at that exact moment in time when we need it most.
Just think of the close calls, the risks, and the dice we have all thrown; a few more seconds and . . . if we only we had done this, and what if we had done that? It’s all just a form of gambling, isn’t it?
If you have followed any of my columns and blogs you know I have a special place in my heart for the FDNY. One of the most incredible interviews I have ever had the privilege of doing was with FDNY firefighter Jeff Cool, who was a part of the often written about Black Sunday fire (www.firefightingincanada.com, under equipment/technology) in which three FDNY firefighters died in the line of duty in two separate incidents on Jan. 23, 2005.
Jay Shaw is a firefighter and primary-care paramedic with the City of Winnipeg, and an independent education and training consultant focusing on leadership, management, emergency preparedness and communication skills. jayshaw@mts.net @firecollege
million
Awarded to families of the fallen firefighters and survivors of Black Sunday
This job, at times, will most certainly have bad odds and high stakes when we respond to others’ needs . . .
Black Sunday has come to the forefront again because a jury recently found that the City of New York (read: the FDNY) is 80 per cent responsible for the deaths of these men, and the owner of the illegally converted apartment building from which Cool and others jumped, is 20 per cent responsible. The families of the deceased and the survivors will be awarded $183 million. Some might say Jeff Cool has just won the lottery again. However, I would question anyone who would suggest that Cool’s share of the winnings is a fair and equitable payment for the events that happened more than 10 years ago. The money will not bring back the lives of his friends or erase the scars and mental torture Cool endured for a decade. The cash won’t stop the flashbacks or raise the children left without a father. The winnings may not seem like winning anything at all.
In my opinion, the blame that has been placed on the city is disturbing on many fronts – the lawsuit focused on failure by the department to equip firefighters with personal safety ropes that would have enabled them to escape. New York City officials are considering appealing; they
say the liability was unfairly apportioned “in view of compelling evidence that established that the landlord’s numerous building code violations were directly responsible for this horrible event.”
If the FDNY can be found responsible, can others expect to share the same fate when the cards don’t go the way we want? It’s as if those who sit in judgment are saying the department erred so badly that those who have suffered shall be awarded an amount that will attempt to replace and or compensate what was lost, and the award will serve as a penalty to deter any future risk or high-stakes games of chance in which you might decide to engage.
When we gamble, there is an inherent risk of losing to the house. In the end, if we do not mitigate the risk through training, proper procedures, and a willingness to go above and beyond in the ways a professional fire service should always strive to do, then, really, are we not just spinning the wheel and betting everything on black? I don’t know what or who is to blame for Black Sunday, but the jury award speaks to fault at many levels, and it leaves more questions than answers.
I fear that the way some define winning the lottery might be the wrong approach to a profession that is continually changing the rules in how the risks of the game are calculated. The strategies and tactics of fighting fire are an everchanging dynamic as we sharpen our knowledge and push the boundaries of research as it applies to fire flow paths, mitigation and rescues techniques. This job, at times, will most certainly have bad odds and high stakes when we respond to others’ needs, but this is what we signed up for. So the next time someone says that old “you’vewon-the-lottery” line, ask yourself which one.
Low Level Strainer Now Includes Floating Option at NO CHARGE ...
Flotation device allows TFT high volume low-level strainer to collect clean water from ponds, lakes and rivers. The strainer inlet, made of hard anodized and powder-coated aluminum, hangs 18” below water level to avoid sucking surface air and bottom debris. Capable of supporting up to 30 ft of hose, the strainer extends well beyond safety ledges of residential ponds.
The clog-resistant stainless steel filter has over twice as much flow area as a 6” hose keeping friction loss down to 0.5 psi (1” Hg) at 1500 gpm and reducing the potential for air vortexes. Oversized sealed ball pivot allows 45° range of hose angle without constricting the flow path.
Rugged polyethylene float is yellow for high visibility and nests compactly over the strainer for minimal storage space. Float removal is not necessary for low level use, although a tethered latching hinge pin allows the float to be removed or installed instantly if desired.
• Available With or Without Jet Siphon
• Supports Up to 30 Feet of Hose
• Clog-resistant Stainless Steel Filter Keeps Friction Loss to 0.5 psi (1” Hg) at 1500 gpm
• Sealed Ball Pivot Allows 45° Range of Hose Angle
• Rugged High Visibility Polyethylene Float Nests Compactly Over Strainer
• Tethered Latching Hinge Pin Allows Float to Be Removed or Installed Instantly
WATER LEVEL
BB- 4® DIESEL
The notorious BB-4® is now available in Diesel! This high-pressure pump pairs a reliable high performance 4-stage centrifugal pump end with a powerful Kubota D902 25 HP Diesel Engine. Compatible with Type 4, Type 5 and Type 6 brush trucks, this pump is strong enough to operate as a source pump for tandem and parallel pumping, it is also optimal for direct attack firefighting, remote watering, sprinkler systems, and slip-on units. The 4-stage pump end on the BB-4® is identical to the pump end on the MARK-3® unit, which greatly reduces your spare parts inventory and improves your ability to respond to unforeseen equipment damage.
From the makers of portable high-pressure fire pumps such as the MARK-3® and the BB-4®, trusted by the wildland firefighting community since the 1920’s. Our pumps are as tested and proven as the men and women who use them every day.
