First Responders Fitness Festival
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Comment
By Brittani Schroeder
A new year and a new editor
Iam so honoured to bring you the January 2023 edition of Canadian Firefighter as its new editor. Before we can begin this new chapter, it’s only right to say thank you to Laura Aiken, Canadian Firefighter’s previous editor, for bringing members of the fire service a wealth of information for the past five years. You can still find her as the editor of our sister brand, Fire Fighting in Canada.
As we move forward, I feel that this is a good time to share a little about myself. I stepped into this new editorial role at the beginning of November and have quickly been learning about the fire service world and all that it entails. I am also the editor of Blue Line, a magazine aimed at members of law enforcement. With the addition of Canadian Firefighter to my portfolio, I am honoured and excited to see this side of first responders and the world of public safety.
Having worked in the first responder realm for a while, I know that Hollywood movies and television shows only provide a glimpse into the world of firefighters and everything you do. As we move forward together, I am eager to bring you the most relevant information as you dedicate your time to protecting and helping others.
With that being said, I am excited to share this month’s edition of Canadian Firefighter, which includes columns and features from a variety of fire service experts. I think this
edition has something for everyone.
The health and safety of firefighters is of the utmost importance. Health, of course, can also be broken down into physical and mental health. The inaugural YXE First Responders Fitness Festival, held in Saskatoon in October 2022, focused on first responder health and donated all the proceeds from the event to a charity that focuses on first responder mental health. The event brought together members of the fire service, law enforcement and paramedics for a weekend full of athletic events that required months of training and preparation. You can read the full story and learn from members of the event’s organizing committee on page 10.
I am eager to bring you the most relevant information as you dedicate your time to protecting and helping others.
Firefighters also face risks of developing a variety of health conerns and diseases from the work they do. In a recent newsletter from the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF), it was stated that occupational cancer is now the leading cause of death among firefighters, surpassing heart disease. Therefore, January has been dedicated as firefighter cancer awareness month.
In December, I had a con-
@fireincanada facebook.com/canadianfirefighter www.firehall.com
versation with Lexi Bowman, daughter of firefighter Craig Bowman, from Welland, Ont. We discussed her father’s stage four cancer diagnosis after spending over two decades in the fire service. Since the diagnosis, she has done extensive research and has created a lecture to share at fire halls. Her goal is to educate firefighters, like her father, on the increased health risks they may not know about, and the screening they can do for regular check-ups. You can read the full story on page 18.
As I begin this new journey with Canadian Firefighter , I invite you to pitch me your ideas, send me your latest news and accomplishments, or connect with me just to have a conversation. You can reach me at bschroeder@ annexbusinessmedia.com.
I am looking forward to meeting more of you in the coming year at industry events and fire halls. I am very excited to bring you new content in Canadian Firefighter as we start off 2023 and beyond. Together, we will bring to the forefront interesting and new insights to the fire service.
Until next time, happy reading and be well.
January 2023
Vol. 46, No. 1 cdnfirefighter.com
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Introduction to Emergency Management in Canada
Item # 1772556780 $95.00
This essential guide takes readers through the pillars of emergency management—prevention, mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery—while covering a range of important topics for both students and professionals, including risks and hazards, crowd management, communication, business continuity, resilience, and incident command systems.
Mental Health Awareness for First Responders, 2nd Edition
Item # 1774620847 $63.00
This new edition offers a Canadian perspective that uses relevant examples and real-life case studies on the challenges first responders face in identifying and interacting with individuals living with mental health issues. An essential resource for current or aspiring professionals emergency management, fire services, EMS, search and rescue, dispatchers, and other front-line workers.
Firefighter Emotional Wellness
Item # 1593705725 $79.00
A training exercise for your heart and mind. This book is an excellent, evidence-based self-help book with boots on the ground sharing interviews with firefighters and how they adapt. This book covers a broad range of topics including PTSD, suicide, stress and trauma, resiliency, and treatment.
CAFC census finds fire and emergency services face a precarious future
A survey released by the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs (CAFC) details the realities Canada’s 3,200 fire departments are facing. Diminishing numbers of career and volunteer firefighters, increased emergency call volumes, mounting training and equipment costs and the reclassification of firefighting into the top tier of carcinogenic professions are challenging Canada’s fire, all-hazard and emergency response capacity.
In 2016, there were a reported 156,000 firefighters; in 2022 this number fell to 126,000 (of this, 90,000 are volunteers).
Of the $5.6 billion in fire department expenditures, only 15 per cent is attributed to the more than 2,000 fire departments that are volunteer. Of the two million calls responded to over a 12-month period: 50 per cent were for medical emergency, and only 10 per cent for fire suppression.
The CAFC is posing recommendations to the Federal government in three key areas: protecting and retaining Canada’s supply of firefighters, reducing community risk and improving the government’s ability to address these problems. Among their calls for action:
• Reinstate the Joint Emergency Preparedness Program’s to buy 600 new fire trucks, refurbish 800 fire stations and modernize 600 communication systems
• Increase the volunteer firefighter tax credit from $3,000 to $10,000
• Support Bill C-224 to develop a firefighter cancer framework and maintain federal commitments to first responder mental health
• Consider formalizing the role of fire departments in the health system
• Ensure that consideration is given to the recommendations of the National Indigenous Fire Safety Council
5,449
fires have been recorded nationally in 2022, burning a total of 1,610,216 hectares, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre National Fire Summary.
National adaptation strategy commits funds to fight climate change
A national climate adaptation strategy released Nov. 24, 2022, included $1.6 billion in new spending to help communities faced with risks ranging from deadly heat waves and wildfires to floods and storms.
5% of Canada’s firefighters are women. – P-SEC (PsychoSocial Ethnography of the Commonplace).
The federal funding mostly tops up existing programs and won’t cover the costs of major projects.
However, the plan does add $489 million to the federal disaster mitigation and adaptation fund over 10 years, helping with smaller projects.
There is also $284 million over five years to strengthen wildfire management.
In addition, Ottawa will spend $164 million over five years on flood mapping and work with provinces and territories to expand a system that identifies areas at high risk of flooding.
There is also $60 million over five years to update standards for new infrastructure and $95 million over five years to provide climate tool kits for citizens and local governments.
The plan includes $30 million over five years to expand Health Canada programs helping people protect themselves from extreme heat, and $13 million over five years to expand health programs tied to climate change.
By 2030, the federal government says, extreme weather could cause $15 billion a year in damage, while the Insurance Bureau of Canada and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities have estimated that the three levels of government will need to spend about $5.3 billion annually.
– This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 24, 2022.
Front Seat
By Jason Clark
in the front seat. Contact Jason at jaceclark71@gmail.com or @jacejclark.
Incident commander inside
As a team leader or captain of your truck, you often must act as the eyes and ears for your incident commander (IC) when you are inside a structure fire working on bringing the scene under control.
The scene might not be yours to command or to change the incident action plan, but your decisions can control how that scene can unfold.
One of the best outcomes when communication played a strong factor in the result, with me as a captain, happened a couple winters ago. It was a midnight-reported two-story residential structure fire about 10 minutes from our station. It was a windy night, a balloon frame construction house with no immediate water supply. It sounded like the cards were stacked against us before we even left the station.
I found myself on the second due apparatus, where I grabbed some tools and re -
ported to the IC who was standing in the front yard. He had a crew in there already making a move on a fire that started in the chimney and was now in the walls. He asked me to go in with them and help. I took a quick look at the outside walls and noticed heavy smoke coming from the eaves just under the secondstory roof.
The fire was in the front room (A/D Corner) and when I linked up with the senior firefighter, the smoke was thick and the heat was low. They had knocked the main body of the fire down, but I knew we needed to get to the second floor. The entire chimney area and the studded walls were compromised with smoke and fire.
I’m a fan of using the Conditions, Actions, Needs (CAN) report for those quick radio transmissions. I will provide a quick size up to my chief on what I’m seeing, what I’m doing and if I need anything to get my objective done. This is
where my IC and I seemed to have a direct line for communication.
I called for a second crew to come in and get to the second floor directly above us so we could start opening the walls to stop this fire from completely extending into the attic. A crew came in and found a set of stairs. We found the stairs as well and redeployed the hose line to the second floor.
The other team’s captain and I met on the second floor and realized we had two different staircases. Once this was communicated out to IC, we were able to get additional equipment—such as a second hose, attic ladders and extra thermal imagining cameras— and the crews to do it to make sure we had the fire out.
We determined that the fire was working its way up after pulling open the wall and putting out the hot spots, and it didn’t travel up to the roof of the structure. We stopped it, and that felt like a huge win. What I learned from that
fire was that my IC needs to know what I am doing and what is going on inside where they can’t see my every move. I don’t need to broadcast everything, but I need to keep them informed on the progress of their scene, and do it in a very concise manor.
I have a great working relationship with my chiefs, and I am always open for opportunities to better myself in how I work with them when they are in the IC role. This was one of those fires where we had everything wrong going for us that was out of our control. What we had in our control were our resources on scene. We used those. We had the ability to communicate between the teams and the leadership. We had a common goal to get this fire put out and it worked. While I was inside, the IC was staging their resources and pushing them inside to me when I asked for them. These weren’t resources reporting to me—this was a move saying we needed help to get this job done.
The outcome from the fire and the amount of the property saved was impressive. The fire was working its way to the roof and without intervening, the house would have been unsalvageable.
The teams did a great job, and they were told they did a great job. We, as leaders, need to be letting our crews know when they did a good job. We wouldn’t be afraid of telling one of our crew members when they made a mistake, so we need to make sure it goes both ways.
Jason Clark has been a volunteer firefighter in southwestern Ontario since 2007. Having made the transition from firefighter to captain, Jason shares perspective on roles in the fire service and riding
By Sherry Dean
Creating your own path
Cardiovascular emergencies and deaths continue to plague the fire service. There is no question that your work is difficult. Being prepared and Fit For Duty is a responsibility we all need to take seriously. Not everyone has easy or proper access to a coach or programming, and building a custom workout or program can be a daunting task. Understanding the elements can remove some of the mystery from the process. It may not be the answer or solution for everyone, but for times when you don’t have a fitness coach handy, it can be helpful to know how to break down the steps.
Before your start building a program or single workout you must know your goal(s). It is
important to be honest about your current state of fitness, and realistic with what you can achieve in an appropriate amount of time. If you don’t currently do strength training or go running regularly, it won’t be realistic to expect to squat double your body weight or run a half marathon in 30 days. Being realistic will ensure you are able to make progress.
Ask yourself: how much time do I have? Remember to be honest and realistic. You do not need to work out for two hours every day for decent fitness. Even if you can’t manage to find 30 consecutive minutes, maybe three 10-minute slots will work better for you. Remember, effort in equals results out. You also may have to juggle your priorities. If you are not as fit as you should be for your job
How much time do you have? Remember to be honest and realistic.
on the fire ground, the result can lead to injury.
With regard to strength training, your full body can be broken down into four basic areas: legs, push, pull and core. This is oversimplification. Legs can further be split down into push/pull with quads and hamstrings. That would create five overall groups. Pushing exercises will work your chest, shoulders and triceps. Pulling exercises work your back and biceps. Your core is always stabilizing you in every exercise, but you should target your core as a body group that needs to be worked.
The number of reps you
complete can be structured like this:
• 12 or more reps means endurance training. Reps can go much higher, but anything over 12 reps will force you to use less weight (or lower intensity) in order to work through lactic acid build up.
• Six to 12 reps will build strength and muscle size.
• One to six reps means strictly strength gain, and this is not the best fitness approach.
Focus on reps of between eight and 15. Stay on the higher end of reps to improve your overall endurance.
The exercises you choose will be based on the equipment that is available to you. If you don’t have a full set of weights, don’t worry. Body weight exercises can be very effective. If you are training at home with mostly bodyweight exercises, try to use the equipment available in the station to add resistance when you can work out in the fire hall.
Putting it together
You can easily get started on your fitness journey by choosing one exercise from each of the four groups. Your options in putting a workout together with just four exercises can still provide variety. We will start with basic exercises.
• Exercise 1 – Body weight squat
• Exercise 2 – Push up
• Exercise 3 – Pull up
• Exercise 4 – Crunches Option 1 : Complete five sets of eight to 12 reps of each exercise. Do a total of 20 sets.
Sherry Dean is a career firefighter/engineer with Halifax Regional Fire & Emergency Service. She has more than 20 years of experience in fitness and training. deansherry@bellaliant.net.
PHOTO: NEW AFRICA / ADOBE STOCK
Body weight workout
50 reps of each exercise. Work for 30 seconds rest for 15.
Take yourself out of cruise mode and complete these exercises as quickly as possible.
• Burpees with high jump, minimum of 12 inches.
• Decline push ups – you choose the degree, but it needs to be a challenge.
• Strict pull ups – Add a weight belt if you can easily complete pull ups.
• Superman/Banana – no hands used on the transition.
Option 2: Run through one set of eight to 12 reps each exercise and then move to the next exercise. Repeat four times. Do a total of 20 sets.
Option 3: Complete each exercise one time for 30 to 45 seconds with a 15 second rest. You can stay at the same station four times or move through the exercises before repeating.
Option 4: Complete a Tabata – a type of high intensity interval training – of the four exercises. Each movement for 20 seconds with high intensity followed by a 10 second break. Each exercise is completed twice during a fourminute Tabata. Repeat the Tabata four times with a two-minute rest in between. You can also complete a Tabata on one exercise and then move to the second exercise
after a two-minute rest.
To add variety, you can choose two, three or four exercises of each body group. You may simply adapt the frequency of the sets and still stay within the same time frame and the same total number of sets.
There are some fundamen tals to remember. You should always start your workout with a warmup. Warmups can be a five-minute cardio exer cise or a series of dynamic movements like inchworms, high knee steps, etc. This gradually gets your blood flowing, increases the warmth of your muscles, and gets protective fluids ‘oiling’ your joints.
You should also cool down after every workout. Similar types of exercises can be used to cool down, but the focus is to slowly lower your heart rate, cool the blood flow and re-lubricate your system. Keep your specific focus on your specific target. If your goal is to improve your upper body strength, do more upper body exercises than lower and vice versa. You should overall work your entire body, but that doesn’t mean there can’t be a targeted effort.
The options and variety are endless in creating a workout. You can keep your workout fresh and inspired by con sistently changing the exer cises and the sets/reps. Your body responds best to con stant change. Keeping change a consistent part of your exer cise regime will reduce re petitive injuries and impart overall body balance.
Now, I’m leaving you today with a very simple workout. Enjoy and be safe!
FOUR TOOLS. ONE MOUNT.
MODEL QM-MEH-1
• Secure up to four extrication tools in less space with this easy-to-use rotating platform
• Adjustable brackets accommodate most makes and models of cutter, spreader, and combination tool, both hydraulic and battery-powered
• Press down on the yellow paddle to disengage the lock, then rotate the turntable to access the tool you need
First Responders Fitness Festival
Inaugural event unites firefighters, police, paramedics and the community.
By Brittani Schroeder
What do you get when members of the fire service, paramedics and law enforcement come together? You get a new event that unites the community and raises awareness and money for first responder physical and mental health.
So how did it all start?
The idea
Chris Harris has worked for the Saskatoon Police Service for 17 years. In 2020, fellow officer Angela McEwen was watching The Spartan Games series with Harris on YouTube. “This event brought together 12 men and 12 women from across a number of different racing backgrounds and pitted them against each other in a four-day, multi-event competition,” says Harris.
As Harris and McEwen watched the event, they wondered, “What if the event was police versus firefighters versus paramedics?” From there, the pair were off and running.
There were many challenges to overcome. To start, Harris and McEwen had no credibility or formula to go off of. Questions they needed to answer included: what events are we going to do, how many events and how hard should it be?
Next, they needed to find a venue. The two officers talked about logistics and finally decided on an indoor
space, because October in Saskatchewan “can be too unpredictable.” Then, another challenge came in the form of finding the equipment for the obstacles and getting them to the venue.
How were Harris and McEwen going to get athletes to buy into this new event? “We were such an unknown product, and we didn’t want to reveal too much about what the athletes would be doing because we felt it may scare them off or intimidate them,” says Harris. “We were at a point where we almost had to shelve the idea for a year and try it again later, because we didn’t think we could get the numbers or the buy-in we needed.”
They needed money. They needed community support. They needed prizes, sponsors and donations. Essentially, Harris and McEwen needed everything.
How were they going to pull it off?
The committee
The YXE First Responders Fitness Festival (YXE FRFF) was Harris’s and McEwen’s baby, but they knew they couldn’t do it on their own. “We knew we needed people at the table from each profession,” Harris says.
Enter Amy Buettner, a firefighter, who was approached and took on the principal role for the fire service.
Buettner is originally from Saskatoon, and after her time at university, she pursued her dream of a career in emergency services. She worked as a ground and medivac medic for several years before becoming a full-time
Fire service members compete in the YXE First Responders Fitness Festival.
PHOTO: KIM ASCHIM
firefighter. She’s motivated by serving her community, the adrenaline and ever-changing day-to-day duties, and the brotherhood among the first responders.
Buettner was immediately drawn to both the cause and the concept of the event. “I got an internal work email looking for volunteers, and I was intrigued. When I showed up to the first meeting, it was very clear that the event was in its incipient phase, so I stepped right up as the fire liaison within the committee. It was amazing to see how well the fire, police and EMS reps worked together,” she says.
McEwen knew paramedics Beaumont Sinclair and Nathan Rollack from her CrossFit gym, and when they were approached with the idea, they jumped on board, as competitors and as committee members.
The charity
The committee recognized the importance of having a charitable component to the event.
At another event, McEwen had raised money for OSI-CAN, an operational stress injury/post-traumatic stress support initiative whose mission is to inspire hope and contribute to the continuous well-being and recovery process of veterans and front line protectors. “We were creating a first responders’ event, and first responder mental health is such an important and prominent issue in today’s climate,” says Harris.
The team reached an agreement with OSI-CAN that, although the charity is national, the money that was raised—which reached over $25,000—would stay in Saskatchewan and go toward programming there.
Health and training
Skills training is of the utmost importance for a firefighter, but the physical and mental health side of things are arguably just as key.
The outcomes
This event was a success in a variety of ways.
First, the event boosted morale within the first responder services because it brought people together for a common goal—people who otherwise may not have come together or gotten to know each other.
The event featured 20 people from each service who participated in group workouts, motivating each other, and helping each other out with equipment, diet, concerns, advice and more. “Twenty brother and sister firefighters from our department came together, from all battalions, that maybe wouldn’t have had the opportunity to spend that much time together. We really showed up as a team,” says Buettner. “Hearing the feedback from coworkers, superiors and management about how we can only improve for next year is a treat. When you can inspire even one person to make a change, just simply from attending an event, that’s a real success.”
The YXE FRFF boosted pride in the participants’ jobs, because they knew they were representing their respective services. “We had so many athletes coming up to us and thanking us for letting them be a part of it. I know for me, when I was sitting around on the Sunday night after it was over, eating and drinking with a bunch of participants from all three organizations, it made me really proud to be a first responder. I know others felt the same,” says Harris.
By hosting this event, firefighters, paramedics and police got to show how athletic they are, and how athletic they need to be to work in the three professions. But it also showed the community that they are just regular people. “Many people just see the uniform first and the person second, and I think this helped to change that,” says Harris.
Similarly, the event showed each first responder the human side of their colleagues. “When we go to calls and see each other in the field, it’s always business first, or a horrible circumstance. By seeing each other in this environment, you get to know people for who they are rather than what they do. The next time you come across them, there’s a sense of familiarity, and it makes the interaction more positive overall,” Harris says.
Promoting health
In the fire service, the phrase “Train as if your life depends on it, because it does” is quite familiar. Skills training is of the utmost importance for a firefighter, but the physical and mental health side of things are arguably just as key. “Going into this event, we trained twice a week as a team to prepare for any weaknesses, bond as a team and mentally prepare for the multiple events we were going to see over the competition weekend,” says Buettner.
The Saskatoon fire union, department and staff are all on board for next year’s event, with many members saying they’re interested and going to train for next year in hopes of getting a spot on the team.
“The positive fallout regarding the continuation of training has been great too, with a lot of us increasing our training loads at our sponsor gym in the city. We’ve even seen some non-athletes joining in to better themselves after experiencing the fitness festival,” she says.
The community support
To pull it all together, over 65 local businesses sponsored the event in some way. Donations ranged from equipment to money, prizes and time. “From having nothing at the beginning to seeing the support the community threw behind the event was awe inspiring,” says Harris. The committee offered each sponsor a
booth to promote their product or services. There were massage and physio clinics offering free treatment for the athletes in between events. Food companies also donated meals for volunteers.
The event also aided in changing the community’s perceptions of first responders. “While the Saskatoon firefighters, police and paramedics know we work closely together, the public may not realize the amount that we interact daily. This event gave the public a chance to see the three services together, working towards a common goal and charity while participating in some intense competition. Showing the public that the emergency services family who respond to the incidents in the city are ready to work mentally, physically and as a team was top of mind for this event, and I think the YXE FRFF captured that over the course of the weekend,” says Buettner.
Parting advice
Harris had some words of advice for others who may be interested in creating a similar event. “Be organized. Be professional. Be committed,” says Harris. This became another full-time job for the committee members, and they put hundreds of hours of their own time into this event. Harris would recommend not doing anything second rate.
When the event was over, the team stood back and looked at each other in disbelief at what they had accomplished, says Harris. “Our agencies needed something like this. The chiefs of all three agencies basically demanded that we do it again, which is ultimately the plan. The sense of wellness it promoted, both mental and physical, was also felt so intensely, we think every major city in Canada would benefit from an event like this.”
Extrication Tips
By Chad Roberts
The finer things
In the last couple articles, we covered many different things in regard to heavy lifting and stabilizing. We talked about different strut capabilities, lifting vs. stabilizing and hydraulic vs. pneumatic. Knowing these differences are important when we are dealing with extreme loads that have the capability of crushing victims or rescuers if calculated improperly.
To wrap up this lifting topic, I thought I’d spend a little more time on some of the finer details and tips that will help keep you out of trouble when it comes to your next lifting call.
Make sure you have packed enough punch to handle the weight capacities you are going up against. Just like operations in rope rescue, heavy rescue and strut work must build in safety factors. This is something that your department or authority will ultimately decide on, but for a lot of rescue systems, a 4:1 safety factor is generally an acceptable practice. Be sure to double check your equipment as some manufacturers have already built that safety factor into their equipment.
If using struts for your lift, keep in mind the weak points of these systems. Generally, this weak point is where and how your strut is attached to either the load or another strut. When it comes to lifting heavy loads, your webbing ratchet straps will be no match for these weights. A good place to start is by using a grade 80 chain or higher to safely meet the ratings you’ll need.
If the situation you are dealing with requires air bags instead of struts, make sure you aim for the highest rated bag you have in your cache. As your lift height increases and less of the bag is contacting the load, your lifting capacity will decrease. Although there are many new options on the market that have a plate sewn into the bag to help reduce this potential “power curve” issue, there are two ways you can try to lessen this problem. The first way is to make sure you always try and lift with two bags, one on top of the other so they can cradle each other for
Chad Roberts is a firefighter in Oakville, Ont. He is a member of the Oakville extrication team and competes and trains across North America. Contact Chad at chadroberts12@gmail.com.
Make sure you have packed enough punch to handle the weight capacities you are going up against.
better stability. Secondly, if you need to increase your lifting capacity, try using another bag with the same lifting capabilities side by side. This will essentially double your lifting capacity. Be sure to use the same weight rated bags, as with any lifting operation with air bags, your overall lifting ability is dictated by your lowest rating in the system.
If you’re using a pneumatic strut to stabilize your load, make sure you know its specified rating and safety factor. If you’re limited to wood cribbing, make sure you fully understand its weight rating and their capacities.
If box cribbing is your choice, remember the following finer details. Box cribs get their rating by contact points, with most having four points. Four-by-four contact points are rated at 6,000 lbs. each, so if your entire crib stack is supporting the load, your capacity is at 24,000 lbs.
If this is not enough for your operation there are a few ways to bump this up. Start off by going to a larger dimensional 6x6 box crib. This will bump up your contact rating to 15,000 lbs. per point for your entire crib stack. If upgrading your box crib isn’t an option, add more cribbing to each level of your 4x4 box crib. Most operations utilize two 4x4’s per level, so try adding in a third, which will give you five more contact points and another 30,000 lbs.Time and proper consideration must be given to this, as with almost all lifting operations, the bulk of the weight of your lift will be resting on your cribbing once the appropriate lift height is achieved. One final tip: when you only have two struts and are dealing with the stabilization of a side resting vehicle that requires struts on both sides, you may have to split your struts. This can be successfully accomplished by putting the strut in the middle of the side resting car and run the strap from one attachment point, through the base of the strut and to your last attachment point. This will give you a stable option for a situation that may usually call for three to four struts, and your truck is only carrying two.
All in all, the world of heavy lifting is ever changing. Without understanding these finer details, we will surely be putting our patients and rescuers in a dangerous situation.
Keep training, take your time and lift safely.
Always try and lift with two bags, one on top of the other so they can cradle each other for better stability.
Box cribs get their rating by contact points, with most having 4 points(if their all contacting the load).
Psychological PPE
By James Rychard
In addition to being a firefighter and R2MR instructor from the city of Burlington, Ont., James Rychard is an advocate for mental and behavioural health in the fire service, sitting on multiple association committees. He can be reached at jaymzr007@hotmail.com.
Protecting personal relationships
After 20 years working for two fire departments, I have heard all the stories. Firefighters whom I interacted with were on their first, second and sometimes third marriages. It didn’t seem to make a difference whether they were from career, combination or volunteer systems; the pendulum seemed to swing farther over to the divorced side than the married one.
For some reason, the fire service industry has a pervasive divorce rate. Sitting down with a friend over coffee, I was told a story that I feel sums up the topic of marriages, firefighters and the fire service in general.
My friend recalled the first day he joined the fire department in 1980. As part of his new employee duties, he was instructed to see the administrative co-ordinator to provide employment record information, such as date of birth, address and social insurance number. He laughed as he remembered the conversation surrounding his marital status. After proudly stating he was married, the coordinator mumbled from the corner of his mouth – “that’ll change!” Forty-two years later my friend is still happily married, but this unfortunately isn’t true for many of his colleagues. For the emergency services it is more troubling. Emergency service workers such as firefighters, on average, have a three times higher rate of divorce than the general public.
Being witness to its crippling effects, I saw how divorce seemed to make some of my colleagues appear deflated, unhappy and stressed. Some didn’t even know how to cope and subsequently resorted to negative coping strategies. Curious, I wanted to better understand the whys. I started to write a book, not as a subject matter expert, but as a vehicle for subject matter expertise.
While compiling information, I stumbled on Canadian research that identified the general public’s divorce rate to be 50 per cent. This seemed accurate and not surprising; more and more couples are divorced these days. Yet, when I read further, the frequency of second and third divorces caught my attention. Research identified second and third divorces were 62 and 74 per cent, respectively. Although the divorce rate for first marriages declined over the years, the rates for second and third divorces remained the same.
Interestingly, the Vanier Institute of the Family released
Similar to a plant that requires care to grow and thrive, our relationships require the same.
“By the Numbers” that estimated 41 per cent of marriages in Canada will end by the 30th year of marriage (2008 estimate). On average, firefighters retire by their 30th year on the job. Putting the two together, it’s not very optimistic. I am not aware of many firefighters who yearn to enter their retirement alone and exist on half a pension.
The Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale (SRRS), lists 43 possible life events someone can face along with its corresponding impact (measured in units/ points). According to the scale, divorce is the second highest impactful event at 73 points; number one is death of a spouse at 100 points. The scale identifies how important it is to monitor and manage life stressors. At 300 or more points, a person has an 80 per
cent chance of developing a stress-related illness in the next 24 months. Doing the math, a divorce increases the likelihood of ill health by 25 per cent. Being married makes sense from a health perspective, but being married and being happily married are not always synonymous.
Relationship expert and University of Washington psychology professor Dr. John Gottman has been passionately involved in marriage and divorce research for nearly four decades. Gottman says couples often ignore each other’s emotional needs out of mindlessness, not malice, and taking one for granted can eventually take someone down the road to divorce. Avoiding that road, in large part, comes from what and how we choose to respond to our partners inside our relationships/marriages.
At the university, Gottman has a “Love Lab” where he measures physiological responses and objectively observes couples interacting. His work/research is based on science. Hooking up electrodes to couples, Gottman and his researchers study and measure responses such as heart rate, blood pressure and saliva (which indicates cortisol levels). By measuring a couple’s individual responses, he gains an accurate assessment of what is occurring in the moment, specifically how their responses are affecting them physiologically. Gottman claims he can predict whether a marriage is destined for success or failure with 91 per cent accuracy.
However, communication alone cannot be the only factor in the marriage and divorce dilemma—a firefighter’s habits and practices can help them prevent a trajectory towards divorce.
Similar to a plant that requires elements such as sunlight, water and rich soil, to grow and thrive, our spouses need ingredients for healthy and happy relationships/marriages. Suggestions such as investing in date nights, small surprises and gestures, and sitting down and being a listening ear can move mountains. Sounds simple? It is! Happy marriages are based on a deep friendship, and acts like these are ones we do for our friends. Being a friend is about wanting to, not having to. According to Gottman, the quality of a couple’s friendship is 70 per cent of the determining factor when it comes to respect, sex, romance and passion.
When firefighters’ habits and practices are nurturing and caring, significant progressions are made away from a divorce, and more towards solid ground. Simultaneously, deposits go into a proverbial bank account—an emotional one. Emotional bank accounts are great because they work similarly to a real bank account; they accrue in value as regular deposits are made.
Gottman states “it is a way a couple builds up emotional savings, serves as a cushion when times get rough, when they’re faced with a major life stress or conflict.” That means when firefighters want their partners/spouses (and vise versa) to be patient, more understanding and even forgiving, especially when life gets stressful; building up emotional currency serves as a great practice, be it metaphorically or actually.
The International Association of Fire Chief’s (IAFC) Volunteer Combination and Officers Section lists Gottman’s book, The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work, in its updated Yellow Ribbon Report, “Best Practices in Behavioural Wellness for Emergency Responders”.
Without a doubt, firefighters work in a world of unpredictability; they deal
with all kinds of stress. Firefighting can be draining and stressful, for both the firefighter and their spouse. Since divorce is higher for emergency service workers, and because divorce is regarded as a life-altering event, strengthening our re -
lationships/marriages helps firefighters be healthier and happier. Resources exist for firefighters – they just need to access them, put the suggestions and recommendations into place, and live a happy and healthy life, literally.
Recipe rescue
By Patrick Mathieu
Patrick Mathieu is an acting captain at Waterloo Fire Rescue in Ontario. He was recently featured on Food Network’s Chopped Canada. stationhousecateringco@ yahoo.ca @StationHouseCCo.
Why we should say goodbye to non-stick
We’ve all seen that veteran, well-seasoned cookware kicking around the firehouse kitchen, or in our home, that begs to have the question asked, “What happened to this pan?” It’s gone on my entire 23-year career at Waterloo Fire Rescue, watching pots and pans come and go at an alarming rate due to misuse. I asked my crew this question as I pulled a non-stick skillet from the kitchen drawer. It had seen better days, with every inch of its Teflon skin scratched and flaking.
Firefighters are tough on cookware—there is no doubt about that—with it being used 365 days a year consistently day in and day out.
There seems to be a grave misunderstanding among many home cooks about the role of non-stick cookware in the kitchen. The mere existence of cookware sets in which the inside of every piece is coated in Teflon is enough to prove the point. I’m not here to try to convince you that your non-stick pans are going to kill you, though, based on some research, I wouldn’t assume they’re totally safe, either. There are very good reasons why we should all limit the number of non-stick pans we own and the frequency with which we use them.
First, there are lingering questions about what effects non-stick chemicals have on our health and that of the environment. I won’t dwell on those for long, though they are a concern. Surely we have all heard of Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) by now; it’s not only the fluoropolymer used to create Teflon coatings, it’s also in our bunker gear to make it waterproof. Some of the chemicals used to manufacture
Firefighters are tough on cookware— there is no doubt about that—with it being used 365 days a year.
Pan-roasted chicken breasts with bourbon-mustard pan sauce recipe
INGREDIENTS
2 bone in, skin on chicken breasts (6 to 8 ounces each)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon canola oil
3/4 cup homemade or store-bought low sodium chicken stock
1 1/2 teaspoons powdered gelatin
1 small shallot, minced (about 1 tablespoon)
1/4 cup bourbon
2 tablespoons whole grain mustard
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon fresh juice from 1 lemon
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley leaves
Adjust oven rack to center position and preheat oven to 450°F. Pat chicken breasts dry and season generously with salt and pepper. Heat oil in an oven-safe medium stainless steel skillet over high heat until just starting to smoke. Carefully lay chicken breasts into hot skillet skin side down. Cook without moving until skin is deep golden brown and very crisp, about 6 minutes. Carefully flip chicken breasts and transfer skillet to the oven.
While chicken roasts, add stock to a liquid measuring cup and sprinkle gelatin over the top. Set aside.
Cook chicken until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the chicken breasts registers 150°F, about 7 to 12 minutes. Remove skillet from oven and transfer chicken to a cutting board. Set aside to rest while you make the pan sauce.
Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of fat from the skillet and place over high heat. Add shallots and cook, stirring, until softened and fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add bourbon and cook, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon, until reduced by half, about 1 minute. Add the mustard and the stock/gelatin mixture and cook on high heat until sauce is reduced by about two-thirds, 5 to 8 minutes. Stir in butter, soy sauce, and lemon juice and cook at a hard boil until emulsified, about 30 seconds. Remove from heat and set aside.
Slice chicken breasts into three pieces on a sharp bias and transfer to individual serving plates. Stir parsley into the pan sauce. Taste sauce and season with salt and pepper. Spoon sauce over the chicken and serve immediately. Enjoy!
it have been linked with certain types of cancer, infertility and other negative health outcomes. Fire departments are working really hard to get bunker gear that doesn’t contain it, and we can do our own part to avoid PTFEs in the kitchen. This doesn’t mean cooking in non-stick pans is necessarily a direct threat to you or your family’s health. It’s probably safe to say that non-stick coatings have improved
over time and are less risky than they used to be, though one should not assume all dangers have been eradicated.
Beyond those health questions, the main point I want to make is that non-stick cookware is rarely your best choice from a culinary perspective. Most of the time, your food will come out better if you don’t cook it in a non-stick pan.
Why is that? Because sticking isn’t inherently bad. Often, it’s exactly what we want, at least to a limited degree. Food that fuses to a pan and won’t budge is a problem, but food that sticks just enough is often a good thing.
Take skin-on chicken breast for instance: it adheres better to a stainless steel skillet than a non-stick one, leading to more complete browning. I did a side-by-side comparison and the first thing I noticed is that chicken in the stainless steel pan adhered to the pan. Once it was nicely crisped and a deep golden color, it detached without trouble. The result: a pan-roasted chicken breast with perfectly crispy skin all over. Exactly what every cook would want to achieve.
Compare that with the same skin on chicken breast cooked in the non-stick skillet. Even if I pressed down while cooking it, as soon as I released the pressure, the chicken would spring back up, leaving only a small portion of the skin in direct contact with the pan. This resulted in a pan-roasted breast that could not be evenly browned. Even where the non-stick skillet did brown the chicken skin, it wasn’t as crispy all over as the stainless-cooked sample was.
You know what else you don’t get by using non-stick cookware? It’s called the “fond”. That’s the fancy French term for the layer of browned stuff that builds up on the bottom of a pan when you’re roasting meats and vegetables, and what it amounts to is big time flavor. The fond is a necessary component for delicious pan sauces, stews, braises and more, and non-stick cookware makes it virtually impossible to develop.
So, when should you use non-stick? I reserve mine almost exclusively for eggs, in particular dishes that require the eggs to be beaten first. I wouldn’t fault anyone for using non-stick to cook fish, especially delicate fish, like thin fillets of sole or flounder. If you’re still not convinced, let me give you just one more reason to limit your use of non-stick cookware: your wallet. Unlike cast iron, carbon steel, stainless steel and copper cookware, which can all last more than a lifetime if cared for properly, non-stick cookware is inherently disposable. Sure, there’s a lot of budget non-stick cookware out there that may be appealing, but once that coating wears out—which will happen eventually, no matter how careful you are—the pan is garbage, forcing you to buy a replacement. Why would you build your cookware collection around a product like that? If it isn’t meant to be on our bodies to protect us during firefighting operations then I certainly don’t want to be cooking my food in it!
Try my recipe for pan roasted chicken and see the results for yourself. As always, eat well and stay safe.
Educating to save a life
Creating a fire hall lecture to talk about a firefighter’s health risks
By Brittani Schroeder
In the spring of 2022, Craig Bowman’s life changed forever when he was diagnosed with stage four esophageal cancer after working in the fire service for over two decades. His 19-year-old daughter, Lexi, has since created a lecture and is attending fire halls to talk to firefighters about their increased risk of getting cancer. Editor Brittani Schroeder was able to speak with her about her journey.
Can you tell us about your family and what happened in 2022?
My dad is 47 years old and has been a professional firefighter for over 22 years. He was a captain acting platoon chief in Welland, Ont. My dad was healthy and our family had no history of cancer.
In May, he called my mom and said he was experiencing some back pain. An hour later, he called back and said after taking some pain meds, he was fine and could continue working.
The back pain was worse the next day, so he booked a doctor’s appointment. He thought maybe he had a kidney stone, and his doctor also thought that was the case. When he had bloodwork done, it came back looking like the pain was something cellular. After his doctor fast-tracked a lot of tests, we got the diagnosis that he had stage four esophageal cancer. This was less than two weeks after his symptoms started. If my dad had waited a week longer before seeing his doctor, he possibly wouldn’t be alive today.
My dad’s cancer was esophageal that had spread to his liver and lymph nodes. The tumor on his liver was four centimeters in size, with two other smaller tumors alongside it.
He was given chemotherapy right away. During the first round of chemo, he had bad side effects and so he was switched to a different chemotherapy. When that one didn’t work, he was switched back to the first chemo, but then that one stopped working. My dad went into liver failure. He was eventually told that he was unable to have any more treatment because the chemo stopped working and his liver enzymes had shot up. His doctor decided to do one more round of bloodwork, and somehow over the course of a few days his liver enzymes dropped. This allowed him to try more treatment. The new drug he’s on now is working really well.
Can you tell us about the research you’ve done since the diagnosis? I started my research because I needed to understand why this was happening to my dad. I quickly learned that cancer is now the leading occupational illness for fire -
fighters. According to the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), over two thirds of Canadian firefighters will get cancer. Firefighters also have a 9 per cent higher risk of being diagnosed with cancer and a 14 per cent higher risk of dying from cancer than the general population.
Through Fire Fighting in Canada, I learned about medical oncologist Dr. Kenneth Kunz, who does exensive research into firefighters and their cancer risks. I was able to reach out to him, and he was nice enough to sit down and talk with me on the phone for over three hours about what my role can be in getting stuff done and spreading awareness.
Through his mentorship, I created a lecture to present at fire halls. I came from this state of being so angry that the science is out there, and now I’m in a place where I want to contribute to raising awareness and be part of that larger movement.
My dad keeps photos of my brother and I in his helmet as a reminder that he needs to make it home after each call. He told me he never imagined that cancer would be the reason he wouldn’t come home. If he
Craig Bowman, 47, pictured here in the red helmet, #404.
Back to basics
By Mark van der Feyst
Mark van der Feyst has been in the fire service since 1999 and is currently a firefighter with the FGFD. Mark is an international instructor teaching in Canada, the United States, FDIC and India. He is the lead Author of Fire Engineering’s Residential Fire Rescue & Tactical Firefighter books. He can be contacted at Mark@FireStarTraining.com.
Desensitizing firefighters
As we begin a new year, we’re going to begin a new series of articles focusing on the topic of desensitizing firefighters. This has been the topic of many lectures I’ve delivered, and the focus of this topic is to explore the different contributing factors and the common items that a firefighter becomes numb or desensitized to over the course of their career.
So, what is ‘desensitized’ in terms of our study? This is where the repeated actions of a firefighter occur without any consequences. These are consistent actions that are done all the time, which then become a bad habit for that individual, and it does so because they have not experienced any bad outcomes while doing them. After a period of time, their particular actions become the “norm” for them.
These “norms”, or bad habits as I like to refer to them as, are a detriment to the individuals that are working alongside that particular firefighter—not to mention the firefighter themselves. When we remind ourselves of the three fire ground priorities, life safety is at the top of the list; this includes firefighters as well, not just the public or person who called for help. Bad habits can add stressors to the life safety priority, which must be maintained by the incident commander.
The firefighter’s actions or bad habits can also affect the public or persons they are trying to help. Remember, all actions have a reaction or consequence.
One reason for these bad habits forming is complacency on behalf of the firefighter. Complacency is the result of laziness and/or a lack of calls to respond to while on shift.
Doing the right thing alleviates any dominoes that may be starting to line up on the fire ground.
In the context of laziness, it is not doing the right thing, the right way, all the time. Doing the right thing, the right way, all the time, alleviates any dominoes that may be starting to line up on the fire ground.
Having a lack of calls to respond to breeds complacency. Because of the lack of calls, it leads to the absence of practice time and opportunities to perform the actions that
need to be repeated in order to create good habits.
Another factor of complacency is within the fire department itself. The culture of a desensitized department is that of a laissez-faire approach, ignoring or turning a blind eye to the actions of complacent firefighters. This may be from the company officer, the chief officers and even the fire chief them-
When we think about bad habits, they effect the firefighters working on the fire ground and add stressors to the life safety priority.
A lack of training will lead to bad habits forming.
selves. The breeding of a bad culture within will only expedite the desensitizing of the entire department.
Not being situationally aware is yet another factor leading to becoming desensitized. Not being aware of your surroundings, in terms of what is going on or what you are doing, is dangerous. Seeing or listening to what is going on is crucial for the fire ground and our size up. Sounds are clues and they are telling us something, but only if we are listening to them.
Having a bad attitude in the fire service is ultimately going to lead into becoming desensitized or numb. The effective domain of the firefighter’s learning ability is severely handicapped by the ob -
structive bad attitude. This blocker will prevent any change in the actions that need to take place in the firefighter who practices like this. Their attitude completely blinds them from seeing the impact they are having on the organization, the training ground, the fire ground, and the culture of the whole department.
In combination with this is the 30 and two rule – being a firefighter for only two years but behaving like a firefighter who has been one for 30 years. This gives a bad name to the 30-year firefighter. The truth is that many of the 30-year veterans have become 30-year veterans because they have incorporated good habits into their daily routines of work. A lack of training will lead to
Duo-Safety Ladder Corp.
bad habits forming.
The purpose of training is to practice skill sets to form good habits. When this is done on a regular basis, it tends to produce good results overall. It removes and reduces the dominoes that may line up on the fire ground. It also fosters a culture that promotes good habits and makes every firefighter responsible for their actions. There is accountability being enforced from every direction, from the top and from the bottom.
Becoming a desensitized firefighter is not the goal that is set out by each person when they become a firefighter, but they may fall into this category based upon the reasons listed above. The question is – are you one these firefighters?
From Hire to Retire
By Arjuna George
The most crucial plan to make
If you aren’t considering how your organization will function after key talent leaves, then you may be putting the organization at risk. Succession planning is the critical process of identifying, preparing and developing internal candidates to fill key positions. Succession planning is not just about replacing people; it’s about filling gaps in knowledge, skills and competencies across an organization by transferring knowledge from one person to another. The goal of succession planning isn’t simply to get someone ready for a specific role but rather to help develop leaders who can take on future positions as they rise in the ranks.
Succession planning helps fire services avoid “holes” in leadership or talent due to unforeseen circumstances. This type of planning ensures that talented people always wait in line for opportunities within an organization, regardless of whether they’re needed immediately or not.
A succession plan can help with the following:
• Vacations: when key talent goes on vacation, it provides an opportunity for senior staff to gain valuable first-hand experience. Having the chance to “act up” provides an excellent opportunity to experience the position’s duties.
• Sudden Resignations: are you prepared for an emergency replacement? A sudden resignation or retirement can cripple an organization if it’s not well-prepared. Succession planning allows for temporary solutions for operational continuity.
• Retirement: successful organizations help groom their next leaders, not so they are all the same and like-minded, but more to continue the vision.
• Recruitment and Retention: we are in the people business. We don’t manufacture products, we provide a professional service. We fail the public if we are not adequately equipped to provide our number one asset (our people). Succes-
The goal of succession planning isn’t simply to get someone ready for a specific role but rather to help develop leaders who can take on future positions as they rise in the ranks.
sion planning helps prospects see their future growth and opportunities.
It’s not just about replacing people but also about developing them to prepare them for their next role within the department. When succession planning is done correctly, it can help ensure that there is no gap between the retirement of one generation of leaders and the arrival of another.
There are five key steps to a successful success plan
1. Identify the critical positions, those that would disrupt operations if left vacant.
2. Identify who are the high-potential people to fill those key roles.
3. Decide when or if they will be ready to fill the position.
4. Decide what they need for support to be successful (training, cross-training, mentoring etc.).
5. Finally, what ongoing support and professional development do they require to excel?
Who benefits from succession planning? The answer is everyone.
Outgoing person
• The outgoing person often feels less pressure to stay longer than they want.
• It relieves a lot of stress (not having to worry about your organization because you know it is in good hands).
• It can be a good feeling to know that the one to fill your boots will do a great job, and you can enjoy your next chapter without worrying.
• It can also allow for your legacy to continue through the next leadership.
Incoming person
• It allows time to be prepared, learn and be mentored by the outgoing person.
• It provides a less stressful environment, knowing that a plan is in place.
• It provides opportunities to trial the work before being in the position.
• It provides clarity on your future within the organization.
Overall organization
• It provides clarity to all members on the vision long term.
• It provides stability within the ranks and knowledge of the potential future.
• It provides continuity of plans, legacy projects and strategic goals.
• It provides a smooth transition at all ranks.
So how do you select prospects for those key positions? It’s as basic as knowing your people. It’s also vital to consider a diverse makeup of candidates. The overall aim is to deliver a continuous service with minimal disruptions. And to do that, we need leaders with different viewpoints, strengths and backgrounds. We are all replaceable; embrace it. This means our job is to set up the next leadership to excel and leave the organization better than we found it.
Arjuna George retired as a fire chief in November of 2021 after serving the department in Salt Spring Island, B.C., since 1997. He is now a fire service coach and consultant. Visit silverarrowco.com or email arjuna@silverarrowco.com.
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