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By Laura Aiken
Science on fire
Summer is here in all its warm and sunny glory…and floods and wildfires. And campfire caution. And lightening. Spring and summer bring their own unique weather and activity circumstances each year, and with it the ongoing dialogue on preparing for extreme climate events, drought dangers and fire safety messaging for the outdoor season. In a country that truly experiences four seasons, the temperature outside is as Canadian a conversation as hockey and beer.
For me, this particular writing member of the Canadian public, the onset of summer and July will signify the birth of the third child into our family and the start of a oneyear maternity leave. I will be back at the editorial helm of Canadian Firefighter in July 2019. In the interim, associate editor Jayson Koblun will be the initial point of contact for assistance in the transition. You can expect great content, written by and for firefighters, to continue and I look forward
Scientific understanding is some of the best leverage humanity has to prepare for and mitigate nature’s wrath, whether it’s modern day house fires or volatile weather.
to re-joining the team at Canadian Firefighter.
For the rest of the Canadian public, pregnant or otherwise, heat and temperature will be quantified via sweat on the brow and an increased inclin ation to bask. Firefighters are part of a select group where understanding the science behind heat and temperature translates into safety on the job. In this edition’s cover story, expert instructor Lance Bushie breaks down the molecular action of heat and temperature, how PPE relates and at what states fire becomes its most dangerous to the professional seeking its extin guishment. It’s a fascinating and worthwhile read that
Rescue training regs
Oshawa MPP Jennifer French held a press conference in May to introduce her private member’s bill, 58: The Brunt and Kendall Act (Ensuring Safe Firefighter and Trainee Rescue Training), 2018. The bill implements recommendations from the coroner’s inquest jury following the deaths of firefighter trainee, Adam Brunt and volunteer firefighter Gary Kendall, who both lost their lives during private safety training exercises. If passed, The Brunt and Kendall Act creates a framework for regulating and licensing private trainers.
New TV series Hellfire Heroes
Discovery’s latest original Canadian TV eight-part series Hellfire Heroes follows a group of firefighters who risk their lives to protect residents in rural Alberta.
The show aired on May 22 and runs on Tuesdays at 10:00 pm EST/7:00 pm PST.
The program follows the Lesser Slave Lake Regional Fire Service and Yellowhead County Fire Department.
The departments serve a combined area spanning more than 30,000 sq. km. Discovery subscribers can access live streaming of the new series through the Discovery GO app and Discovery.ca.
Chief forced to retire
A long-serving fire chief in eastern Ontario says he is challenging a new policy that forces all fire department employees in Renfrew, Ont., to retire by age 60.
Guy Longtin was forced to retire as fire chief after town council passed a motion for the policy. He says he has hired an employment lawyer to challenge the legality of his termination. Longtin says in a statement to The Canadian Press that he wants to hold the town and its decision-makers “fully accountable” for their actions.
Renfrew Reeve Peter Emon says the Ontario government passed legislation in 2011 forcing front-line firefighters to retire at age 60, partly because of the hazards of the job.
A study from NFPA found there were local firefighters in Canada from 2014 to 2016.
152,650
Grandfathering supports new training regulations
A report into the 2017 wildfires and floods across B.C. provided the province with 108 recommendations to be better prepared for emergencies.
New Ontario regulations on mandatory training and certification will come into effect over the next two years. Regulations pertain to the certification of firefighters, community risk assessments and public reporting on fire departments response times.
The Office of the Fire Marshal and Emergency Management (OFMEM) has re-opened a previous grandfathering program to support the new mandatory training requirements that were made law by the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services (MCSCS).
The re-opening of the grandfathering program was approved by the International Fire Service Accreditation Congress (IFSAC) and ProBoard, the two organizations responsible for accrediting other bodies to administer firefighting certifications related to NFPA standards and will include departments that had not previously
taken advantage of the initial opportunity in 2013 and 2014, until Sept. 30.
The program will use the same requirements as the previous program and all documentation related to the applications should be provided to the OFMEM in one submission per fire department by the deadline.
Grandfathering means firefighters would be allowed to achieve alternative compliance with specific NFPA standards based on existing knowledge and experience.
If someone has been grandfathered prior to the regulation coming into force, and moves to another department, their grandfathering is still valid. Grandfathering is assigned to the individual, so it remains with he or she.
The Ontario Association of Fire Chiefs (OAFC) described in a statement on their website how to apply for the grandfathering program.
Fire dynamics
Understanding heat from a firefighter’s perspective
By Lance Bushie
Firefighters must understand what heat is and different heat phenomenon like heat flux and heat release rates to understand how to stay safe. In the past five years, new research has changed how firefighters think about fire growth, spread and extinguishment. Fire behaviour has changed in the past 30 years and our tactics have not kept up with the changes in fuels and building construction. Today’s fires are far more dangerous and can exceed the limitations of our PPE. These conditions necessitate that all firefighters gain a deeper understanding of fire dynamics — how fires start, spread and develop.
First, we must understand heat and how it interacts with our structural fire fighting ensemble. We begin by understanding that all objects are in motion. The amount of motion or the vibration of the molecules colliding is energy. Heat is not temperature. Temperature is the measure of the energy contained in the object representing the speed or vibration of particles. A thermometer represents a scale of how fast those molecules are moving. The measurement on the thermometer is the equilibrium of the surrounding vibrating particles and the fluid in the glass tube. Heat is the transfer of energy from one object of high energy to an object of lower energy. The transfer of heat occurs in three ways: radiation, conduction and convection.
Radiation is electromagnetic energy emitted from the heated gases (smoke layer) and heated surfaces (walls and furniture) in all directions at the speed of light to the point of absorption. Our protective ensemble absorbs the radiation, causing the molecules in the material to vibrate faster.
Conduction is the transfer of energy from molecule to molecule by direct contact. The warmer or faster vibrating molecules cause the cooler, slower molecules to speed up and vibrate faster. As an example, impingement of a flame on a pipe transfers the energy through the pipe from hot to cold and
Heat Flux Radiant Heat
Re ected Thermal Energy
Outer Shell Moisture Barrier
heats up the materials on the other side of the wall where the pipe exits the wall, causing a fire in the adjoining room. Your glove, for example, makes contact with a hot wall and the higher energy (heat) in the wall is in directly transmitted to the lower energy (cooler) material of your glove. If your glove continues to absorb energy, the glove material will become a higher energy than your skin inside the glove, resulting in the energy transferring again now from the glove to your skin.
Convection is the transfer of energy through liquid or air. As the gases in a fire gain energy and warm up, they expand and become less dense as compared to the cooler room air. Currents form as the superheated gases rise, creating a positive pressure and the fire, like a pump on an engine, creates a low pressure sucking in cool dense air from the room or outside the room. Convection occurs, and the moving gas layers create what’s known as a flow path. A flow path allows fresh air to feed the fire, possibly from an open
Our bunker gear is tested to keep heat from reaching our skin, but what’s not taught is that heat is much like nuclear energy. We must think in terms of time, distance and shielding.
Lance Bushie is the
Air Gaps
Thermal Liner Skin Layers
T-shirt/Pants
door to the outside air. The fire also needs an exhaust for the super-heated fire gases to escape. This can occur in the same opening, like a door, creating a bidirectional flow path. If firefighters are advancing on the fire through this bidirectional flow path, hot gases will be passing overhead. If the superheated gases are in contact with structural firefighting ensemble, energy will be transferred very efficiently way from the gases to the firefighter’s PPE. This is also referred to as heat flux expressed in area of surface and time of exposure. A hot day with no humidly is equivalent to 1 kW/m2 of heat flux. At 5kw/m2 of heat flux, pain to the skin occurs in seconds. Twenty kW/ m2 of heat flux is experienced at floor level during rollover. Eighty-four kW/m2 is the Thermal Protective Test as per NFPA 1971. Heat flux of 60-200 kW/m2 is a flame front across a surface or flashover. A heat flux of 20 kW/m2 can be encountered in super-heated gases within the exhaust flow path and a pretext to flashover. In simple terms, stay low and do not expose yourself to the flow path of gases exiting the structure. Also, cool as you advance.
Next, we must understand the amount of energy
released from the fuels involved in the fire. Heat Release Rate (HRR) is the single most important variable in a fire. HRR is the rate at which the energy is generated by burning and the power (energy over time) released by fire, which is expressed as joules per second or watts. To simplify, it is the speed at which energy stored in an object is released under burning conditions. Take one candle burning at a temperature of 1500 F/816 C and 80 watts of energy. Combine 10 candles and the temperature remains constant but the amount of energy released multiplies by 10 to equal 800 watts. As an example, burn the same volume of wood as compared to styrene (styrofoam cup). Styrene is a good example of the furniture, flooring and wall coverings in modern buildings. Most modern furniture is comprised of petroleum or natural gas-based materials; your couch is a 45-gallon drum of gasoline. Apply a flame to both the styrene and the wood and record the time it takes to completely burn. Also note the amount of smoke and soot generated by each. Spoiler alert: do this experiment outside as the styrene will burn fast and the amount of smoke is much greater compared to the wood. What you’ll have observed is the difference in heat release rates. The wood takes more energy to begin to pyrolyze, or generate the amount of heat required to turn the solid wood to a gas. Wood will also release the gases (fuel) slower than the styrene. The styrene’s HRR is much higher than the wood. This starts to explain why today’s room contents are far more dangerous to firefighters. The amount of energy from an upholstered chair has enough stored energy at 2 megawatts (2 MW) to flashover a room and the chair will burn far more rapidly than the legacy solid wood and cotton fibres because of its high HRR.
Try this experiment
Apply a flame to styrene (like a styrofoam cup) and a piece of wood outside and record the time it takes for each to burn. This will show you the different heat release rates of wood and styrene.
So, how does this relate to our superhuman suit? Here are some benchmarks to remember for bunker gear: Ordinary conditions like overhaul are done in 68F/20C to 158F/70C with a heat flux of 1 to 2 kW/ m2. Routine conditions like interior fire attack are 158F/70C to 200C with a heat flux of 2 to 15 kW/m2. Emergency conditions are those that are encountered in rapid and dangerous fire behaviours and have temperatures of 392F/200C and above with 15 to 200 kW/m2 of heat flux.
Our bunker gear is tested to keep heat from reaching our skin, but what’s not taught is that heat is much like nuclear energy. We must think in terms of time, distance and shielding. Our PPE can only withstand a finite amount of thermal energy transfer in terms of time. With greater amounts of heat flux, the time it takes the energy to penetrate and saturate
the layers of your PPE decreases. In relation to flashover temperatures (1100F/593C and above), we have seconds. At 600F/316C we have approximately 15 seconds. At 500F/260C with moderate heat flux values of 5 to 10 kw/m2 we have 10 to 15 minutes. In terms of distance, the further from the heat we are, the less transfer of energy occurs. Using the reach of our fire streams to cool surroundings and maximize the distance between ourselves and the heat will increase the time we have to operate in the fire environment. Shielding is the next defense from heat. When approaching the fire room use the walls to limit exposure to you and your gear. Use any natural barriers between you and the fire.
This brings us to the construction of our bunker gear, or your shield, our main line of defence from thermal energy. It is comprised of three layers: the outer shell, the moisture barrier and the thermal liner. Between each layer is an air gap. Include the station wear or shirt and pants and we have four layers with four air gaps. Heat acts on the outer shell by conduction. Once the heat has absorbed through the outer shell it slows and the air gap begins to warm via convection. Then the air gap conducts heat to the moisture barrier. This process repeats through the thermal liner and your shirt till the heat is now acting on your skin and you feel uncomfortable or you begin to feel “bee stings”. This process can be sped up if your gear is incorrectly fitted and the air gaps are limited. When bending knees, elbows or the air pack is compressing the air gaps, the heat transfer occurs five times faster as the layers are compressed, and conduction is more efficient without the air gaps. Don’t slap your buddy on the shoulder as a job well done — it can burn. Wearing coveralls in an addition to the above can give you more time by providing an extra layer for conduction and convection. It might be the difference of first or second degree burns or provide that few extra seconds from incapacitating heat and making it to the exit.
As bunker gear is designed to absorb heat, once you notice the heat coming through the gear to your skin you don’t have much time left to react. Flashover temperatures and heat flux rates rise faster than you can react. If your gear has absorbed significant amount of thermal energy during the entry and cooling of the environment has not occurred, the amount of protection your gear can provide becomes limited as it has absorbed all that it can. Constantly cool your environment, use the flow path to your advantage and be aware of the signs of flashover — free burning fire, heavy dense smoke, high heat and rollover.
As bunker gear is designed to absorb heat, once you notice the heat coming through the gear to your skin you don’t have much time left to react.
NFPA 1971 requires bunker gear to pass a test exposing the ensemble layers to 84 kW/m2. Bunker gear is one piece of the ensemble of PPE we wear. The lens on our SCBA masks doesn’t require the same level of testing as our bunker gear. Polycarbonate lenses absorb certain wavelengths of light warming them above the heat encountered. Radiant heat can damage the lenses at low temperatures. Heat flux of 20 kW/m2 and a temp of 500F/260C for 2.5 min has resulted in catastrophic failure of SCBA masks. Note that those are temperatures and heat flux ranges that your bunker gear is designed to protect you from for longer than five minutes. Also recognize these are temperatures and heat flux rates that can occur in the exhaust flow path. Only since the 2013 edition of NFPA 1981 SCBA, has a radiative flux test been added of 15 kW/m2 for five minutes for the masks.
Even more prone to failure is the radios that we employ on the fireground. Testing by National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) has shown that radios can shut down, degrade performance or fail at
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temperatures as low as 212F/100C to 500F/260C. Mic cords have melted at 300F/149C and expose wires that will short and act as if the transmit button was depressed. This has occurred on fire scenes locking up the frequency. Imagine calling a mayday but the incident command is paralyzed as the channel is locked up and unable to quickly organize a response. Wear a radio harness to under the bunker jacket with just the mic exposed. This protects the weakest part of the radio and allows for better transmission of radio waves.
There have also been a number of helmets fail in fires. A good telltale indicator is your face shield lens. It has the lowest melting point of your ensemble. If you have the shield down over your SCBA mask it will absorb the thermal energy and provide some protection to your mask lens. It will also be a visual indicator you’re absorbing too much thermal energy and it’s time to leave. European fire fighting helmets have a higher heat resistance. I use Dräger helmets while teaching in the flashover chamber. When I first started teaching the flashover training as the lead instructor, we used our issued fire helmets and found that they only were able to last a couple burns in the
chamber before they deformed from the amount of radiant thermal energy the instructor absorbs over a 25 min burn. We switched to the European style and have been using the same helmets for years with no thermal degradation. It you want to take the protection a level higher you can order the gold coated face shield that will reflect almost all the radiated energy. The Dräger face shield will actually cover the entire mask lens.
Be situationally aware of your surroundings. Use the tools we have available like a thermal imaging camera. This can be a great tool or be very misleading in relation to thermal temperatures. To fully understand thermal imagining takes much training and each manufacturer has a different processor resulting in different readings. I recommend basic training and using the thermal imaging cameras (TIC) as a tool that indicates changes. Use the TIC to see if your environment is being cooled effectively. Track the thermal energy changes and use the TIC to lead the attack team to the seat of the fire for extinguishment. How do we defend ourselves from thermal energy? Time, distance, shielding and a greater understanding of fire dynamics.
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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
Be prepared for anything
It was a brisk morning in early spring when a conscientious jogger happened to run past a home where the smoke alarm was sounding. Through the early morning mist, he could hear the telltale beeping that signalled trouble. He glanced from window to window, not seeing any movement from occupants on the inside, but also not seeing any signs of smoke or fire. Feeling compelled to investigate further, he ran around to the rear of the structure and instantly noticed a haze coming from the roof line above the second floor. The sight of the mist struck him as odd. Was it steam from the dew coming off the roof? Was it a vent pipe from the furnace or a bathroom? The wind shifted and brought the mist down to him – it smelled like smoke from a campfire! A quick call to 911 brought the first due engine and truck from the local volunteer fire department that had just cleared an accidental fire alarm across town minutes earlier. Before the rest of the mutual aid first alarm working fire assignment had even answered the call, the engine and truck were on the scene with conditions found as they were dispatched. The excitement of light smoke showing meant that some good work was about to unfold. That excitement was quickly dowsed as it only took a second for each member on scene to realize that this house belonged to a brother firefighter that they knew had just left for vacation.
Simultaneously, as the truck captain dismounted the cab, the ‘irons’ firefighter was setting up to force entry, the engine crew was stretching their attack line, and the truck chauffer was setting the tower-ladder bucket down to the ground in case a crew needed to access the roof. When the ‘irons’ had control of the front door, just before going in, the truck captain reminded all the firefighters in earshot that this home belonged to one of their own: “Let’s do this right!” The interior revealed light smoke on the second division with some scorched drywall and
a few burn holes visible on a drywall seam on the ceiling of the master bedroom – it was an obvious contained attic fire. Primary search was negative. When the nozzle made it to the second floor, the truck captain said, “Remember, this house belongs to one of ours, not a drop of water flows until we get this place tarped!” Salvage covers from both the engine and truck quickly arrived and all hands scurried to work, securing the property and preventing further damage to the belongings. Once that was done, the fire was quickly brought under control and extinguished. The ceilings and upper walls in three rooms and a hallway had to be pulled during overhaul. Because of the salvage covers, it was done with minimal damage to the remainder of the home’s contents.
The story above is one of my favourites to relate when I’m instructing a fire class on truck company operations. I was the truck captain who made sure that property and belongings were preserved before we made a mess of the place by putting the fire out. We did salvage before we put the fire out. I wanted to make sure we did our best to do good for a brother firefighter. After that fire, my eyes were opened
wide by my own actions and statements – why don’t we extend the same consideration to every property owner at every fire? I think the answer is because it isn’t much fun to do salvage.
Almost every firefighter has heard of salvage; it often happens with overhaul. Overhaul is fun; we get to break things! The topics of salvage and overhaul are taught alongside one another in recruit fire academies. Overhaul is the opening up of walls, ceilings, furniture and fixtures after a fire is knocked down in order to look for and extinguish hot spots and fire extension. It is done after the bulk of the fire has been extinguished. Salvage is securing or removing property to prevent initial or further damage from the effects of fire and smoke, or from firefighters doing their jobs. It can happen at any point at which it is safe to do so. In reality though, oftentimes as we are overhauling, if we notice something valuable that can be saved, we’ll take it out or cover it to prevent further damage. We can do better than that.
For me, my attitude on salvage was changed in the days and weeks following the fire in that firefighter’s house. Hearing the family’s stories of how little of their belongings were damaged due to the fire really did it for me. Their house was moderately damaged; they required alternate housing for five months while repairs and restorations were made. But they were able to do it with their stuff. None of their ‘irreplaceables’ were damaged or destroyed. Baby pictures, wedding albums, scrapbooks – all were intact. That felt good.
Salvage won’t happen by itself. It has to be a mindset from the top down in the organization. I am in no way advocating or promoting that salvage should take precedence over a safe and co-ordinated aggressive interior fire attack or search and rescue efforts. Water always wins! But when we can, and when it is safe to do so, consider protecting what isn’t yet damaged. Cover it up!
Efforts at protecting valuables before opening walls and ceilings will pay dividends for the fire victims in the long run.
Recipe rescue
By Patrick Mathieu
Summer bounty
Summer is an exceptional time of year to be a cook. Markets and gardens are bursting with gorgeous fruits and vegetables in their prime. Here is my comprehensive guide on how to buy, store and prepare Canadian produce.
Berries: Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries are in season from late spring through the height of summer. Strawberries arrive first, with a season that lasts from April through September, depending on the part of the country, and blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries show up at the markets after. Versatile and sweet, berries make a bright addition to an abundance of cooked dishes such as cobblers and pancakes, but their peak flavour is perhaps best enjoyed eaten out of hand. When you’re looking for a special topping for ice cream, cheesecake or any dessert really, try my summer berry compote by mixing four cups of any berry with a quarter cup of sugar, a half cup of Grand Marnier and a couple tablespoons of fresh lemon juice for a super special adult treat! To get the most of your berries store unwashed in a moisture-proof container in the fridge. Hardy berries, like blueberries, will keep for up to five days; more delicate varieties, like raspberries, are best used within two or three.
Corn: I don’t know about you, but I associate fresh corn with the height of summer. It’s wonderful in soups, salads like succotash, breads and other baked goods, done sous vide, or simply grilled and eaten with a smear of butter and a sprinkle of salt. One of my all-time favourite varieties is my Mexican Street Corn recipe featured in my cookbook FireHouse Chef. Buy corn that’s as fresh as possible. As soon as it’s been picked the sugars begin converting to starch, which lessens its sweetness. Choose ears with plump kernels and bright, tightly closed husks. Cook and serve corn the day you buy it if
Patrick Mathieu is an acting captain at Waterloo Fire Rescue in Ontario and author of Firehouse Chef: Favourite Recipes from Canada’s Firefighters stationhousecateringco@yahoo.ca
Classic Caprese Salad
INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 best-quality ripe tomatoes, mixed sizes, at room temperature 8 to 12 ounces best-quality fresh mozzarella cheese, torn into bite-size chunks
Best-quality extra-virgin olive oil
Coarse sea salt, such as Maldon or fleur de sel and coarsely ground fresh black pepper
6 to 8 fresh basil leaves
1 Cut tomatoes into an assortment of slices and chunks and spread over a large plate in a single, slightly overlapping layer. Tuck chunks of mozzarella into the tomato pieces. Drizzle generously with extra-virgin olive oil. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt and black pepper. Tear basil leaves into small pieces with your fingertips and spread them on top. Serve immediately. Enjoy!
possible but you can also refrigerate it for a day or two if necessary. Do not remove husks until you’re ready to cook.
Stone fruit: Available from late May to early October, peaches, plums, apricots, and nectarines are awesome to eat out of hand, but also delicious in many sweet and savoury recipes such as pies, cobblers, salsas, simply grilled and in sangria of course. I love stone fruit as part of my Wedge Salad with Blue Cheese recipe. Leave your stone fruits out at room temperature to ripen and they’re ready when slightly tender to the touch. Once ripe, stone fruits will keep in the refrigerator in the crisper drawer uncovered and unwashed, for up to five days.
Watermelon: We all know the bright red inside is super sweet and delicious but did you know the entire fruit is edible?! The seeds, much like pumpkin can be roasted and eaten as a snack and the rind can be added to your favourite pickling
Mexican Grilled Corn
INGREDIENTS
4 ears fresh corn, husks and silks removed 1/4 cup mayonnaise
Coarse sea salt Lime wedges, for serving Cilantro, chopped
1 Prepare a high gas or charcoal grill fire. Grill the corn, turning frequently with tongs, until charred in spots, 6 to 8 minutes.
2 In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise, chili powder, and lime zest. Put the Cotija or Queso Fresco on a small plate. Spread each ear of corn with 1 Tbs. of the mayonnaise and then roll in the cheese to coat. Sprinkle with kosher salt and cilantro and serve with lime wedges for squeezing over the corn. Enjoy!
recipe. Watermelons are at their peak from mid-June to late August. Look for smooth, symmetrical melons with no flat sides, bruises, cuts, or dents. A dull, hollow sound when you tap the melon signals that it’s ripe and ready to eat. Try throwing big thick chunks of watermelon on a hot grill for a few minutes per side to really bring out its natural sweetness.
Tomato: There are thousands of known tomato varieties and they all differ in shape, size, texture and sweetness. Some are made for hearty pasta dishes (small), some produce an excellent sauce, and sweet little cherry ones add pop and brightness to salads. The true glory though of this vegetable shines through in my Classic Caprese Salad which uses a variety of tomatoes, basil and fresh hand torn mozzarella to create nature’s most simple and perfectly balanced dish! Look for firm, plump tomatoes with an aromatic
Wedge Salad with Peaches and Blue Cheese Dressing
DRESSING INGREDIENTS
1 1/3 cups crumbled blue cheese (about 6 ounces), divided
1/2 cup sour cream
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2 tblsp olive oil
SALAD INGREDIENTS
8 strips thick cut bacon, cut into lardons
1 large head iceberg lettuce
4 ripe peaches, pitted and quartered
1 tblsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 small red onion, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick rounds and separated into rings
1 Place 4 salad plates in the refrigerator to chill.
2 Mash 1/2 of the blue cheese with the back of a fork in a medium bowl until mostly smooth. Add the sour cream, mayonnaise, oil, lemon juice, mustard, salt, and black pepper, and mix thoroughly until completely combined.
3 Add half the remaining cheese and mix gently, leaving clumps of cheese here and there. Cover and refrigerate while you prepare the salad.
4 Cook the bacon in a large frying pan over high heat, stirring occasionally until crisp and deeply browned. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate and set aside.
5 Core the lettuce and cut it into quarters through where the core was. Place a wedge on each of the chilled salad plates. Divide the red onion rings and peach quarters evenly among the plates. Spoon about 3 tablespoons of the dressing over each wedge. Scatter the remaining cheese evenly over them. Crumble the reserved bacon and sprinkle it evenly over the salads. Serve immediately and enjoy!
earthy fragrance and a rich colour. Avoid overripe ones with blemishes, soft spots, or growth cracks. Ripe tomatoes will keep for about a week if stored upside down at room temperature, out of direct sunlight. Never refrigerate. This will deaden the
flavor and give the tomato a mealy texture. I could really go on and on about the amazing Canadian summer produce and this list barely touches on it. Enjoy one of the best parts of our amazing Canadian summers. Stay safe and happy eating!
Dawson City Fire
Inside a thriving volunteer crew in Yukon.
By Jayson Koblun
The Dawson City fire department, led by Fire Chief Jim Regimbal, is a great example of how an all-volunteer department can work well, be efficient and do its best to keep its community members safe.
The department, stationed in the Yukon territory, has been in service for more than 115 years, and operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days per year. Regimbal has been on the team as fire chief since 2005 and has been a part of the fire service for more than 30 years.
“Most of my career was in the military. I also owned a small coffee shop for a few years elsewhere and then worked in Saskatoon and also Kelowna, B.C.,” said Regimbal. “A chief position opened up here in Dawson City. The timing was right for me back then so I came here to do one full year and see what it was like. I fell in love with the community and the people and I’ve been here ever since.”
The City of Dawson, commonly known as Dawson City or Dawson, is widely connected to the Klondike gold Rush and had a population of 1,375 in the 2016 census. The fire department has room for 32 firefighters and currently has one deputy chief, five senior captains and all members are firefighters totalling around 28. Regimbal is the only full-time staff at the department.
“I’m the only full-time team member here right now but we could definitely use one more full-time staff member,” said Regimbal. “It’s a small department but when you consider everything that needs to be done on a day-to-day basis — things like staying on top of NFPA standards and training — an extra body would make a
huge difference.”
The department definitely is busy considering the population, but that’s because Regimbal and his team of firefighters also serve neighbouring municipalities, such as the Klondike Valley Fire Department.
“Dawson’s area includes the municipal boundaries as well as a mutual aid agreement with Yukon Government to provide fire service coverage to our neighbouring fire department in Klondike Valley,” said Regimbal.
Volunteering in Dawson
In many departments, the team of volunteers will receive payment for mandatory training and answering calls. In Dawson, technically, the volunteers also receive pay, but none of them take any of that money home with them.
“No one takes money home with them here at our department,” said Regimbal.
“The members get paid for training and callouts, but they take all that money and put it right back into the association.”
The community has a firefighter museum and some of the money going back into the association helps with the costs of keeping up the museum, as well as other ways the department can invest into the community such as, vehicle restoration projects and helping out department members.
“About three years ago we sent an 1898/1899 horsedrawn steam engine to Ontario to be restored. We got it back last year and the whole project cost around $250,000. The members had been saving their remuneration pay for probably 30 years for it and what was really encouraging to see was that young and old, anybody and everybody a part of the team at the time, was ecstatic to see the money going towards that project.”
Regimbal said that having the money go
It’s nice and sunny in the photo but the City of Dawson Fire Department sees -40 C for weeks at a time serving from the Yukon.
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back into the association can also be used to help out department members when needs arise.
“We help out members when they’re down and out,” he said. “Whether they’re out of work for a time or they’ve gone through some hardships at home, our executive will go and help them out financially, and emotionally if needed, and we don’t expect the money back. That’s for them for what they do and the team is encouraged by the good they see from that.”
Regimbal said he has never had anyone tell them they aren’t joining the team because they won’t be getting paid.
“That’s very encouraging,” he said.
Keeping busy
Regimbal said that the department responds to all the common types of calls any department would respond to; house fires, vehicle accidents, chimney fires and so on but every now and then something unique will come their way.
“The other day we had an outhouse fire and a few years ago we had a cave fire. There’s a gentleman across the Yukon River who lives in a cave and there was a fire so we had to deal with a cave fire. If you want to look at the spectrum of what we deal with we go from an outhouse fire to a cave fire and everything in between. It’s a huge variety. Likely it’s the same things any department would face but with a few curveballs thrown our way.”
When the volunteers in Dawson aren’t dousing outhouse and cave fires, they are busy training and teaching the community fire safety.
“We go into schools quite often and share fire tips and safety and we try to encourage students on recruitment at a young age so they can give back to the community they
live in. We definitely are still pushing very hard our smoke alarm in every home program and we also spend a lot of time together training as a department...Every Wednesday night for two hours, sometimes three, we do group training. So that’s 52 weeks a year and also additional specialty training however we can fit it in,” said Regimbal.
Challenges up north
Being one of the farthest north fire departments in Canada brings along its own set of challenges that Regimbal and his department deal with. One of them simply being the cold.
“Serving up here definitely can be unique when you’re looking at what mother nature throws your way with the cold weather,” said Regimbal. “You’re looking at weeks
problems and we all deal with things differently, but we try to find the joy in everything — the good and the bad — that’s what you have to do.”
Regimbal added that everything his team and he do has an impact on the community and the department members, so they do their best to respect one another and care for one another.
“It’s one big family.”
Looking Forward
Regimbal said he has been super fortunate over the years in that he has never had to organize what he called an official “recruitment call” and that volunteers so far have seemed to come to the department on their own.
“I’ve never had to officially seek out new recruits,” he said. “But that’s not to say our team and I aren’t
“Sometimes when you’re doing it solely for the money, you’re missing the mark.” — Fire Chief Jim Regimbal
on end in the high -40 C, so we have that to deal with...A lot of times when you’re doing the training and you’re out in a fire in that kind of weather you have to keep your nozzles cracked open so there is continual water flow because once you stop the flow, within minutes your lines are freezing up on you.”
Other than the sheer cold of the Yukon, Regimbal said other challenges the team faces are just simply what comes naturally when people do life and spend so much time together.
“You have to learn how to take care of yourself and those around you. There’s always challenges, whether it’s from the government, or the citizens, but a lot of our current challenges are internal. We’re real people with real life
talking about recruitment when we are out on a daily basis; at the grocery store, on calls, at businesses around town, I’d say we’re always advocating for new recruits and letting people know what’s available and how they can help out.”
Regimbal is incredibly thankful of the team at the Dawson City Fire Department and all the hard work they do as volunteers.
“I understand just how much we ask of our volunteers and appreciate the team so much. The reason the department is what it is, is because we have a team that genuinely cares for and wants the best for the community. It’s giving back to the community and just wanting to do the right thing. Sometimes when you’re doing it solely for the money, you’re missing the mark.”
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Back to basics
By Mark van der Feyst
Firefighter survival
Whenever a mayday is called, it is for an emergency that requires help. The hope of the caller is that when the message is received by another person, help will be sent or given. In the fire service we use this term as a way for the firefighter to call for help.
In recent columns, we’ve been focusing our attention on the communication aspect of firefighter survival and the mayday call. In our last column, we detailed the need for communication in this process. Now we are going to focus on how we should be calling for a mayday.
When a firefighter realizes that they are in need of help, they need to alert Command. The Incident Commander (IC) is going to be the one person who will be able to send help right away when the call comes in. Alert the IC without delay!
There is a tendency for people to selfdoubt when they are in trouble or make themselves believe that they can get out of trouble without notifying anybody. This can create a delay in calling for a mayday which delays the help that could be coming in the way of the RIT team or another crew that may be nearby. Once the IC has received the call for help, they can put into motion the sequence of events that will help the one or two firefighters who are in trouble.
When a mayday call is made, it needs to be repeated three times so that the IC and others who may be listening to the radio will hear it: “mayday, mayday, mayday.” Once that call has been made, the firefighter needs to wait for the IC to acknowledge it before giving more information. There is a good chance that the mayday call may go unheard and that firefighter has just wasted a few breaths giving lots of information before being acknowledged.
Once the IC has responded to the mayday, the firefighter will need to give critical information such as who they are, what’s the problem and what they need. There is the L.U.N.A.R. acronym (Location, Unit, Name, Assignment and Resources) that is taught in
Mark van der Feyst has been in the fire service since 1999 and is a full-time firefighter with the Woodstock Fire Department, Ont.. Mark has instructed in Canada, the United States, FDIC and India. Mark@FireStarTraining.com
many textbooks, but how many people when faced with life and death will remember all the L.U.N.A.R. points? It is too much information to give and recall.
Once the IC has established a communication link, more information can be requested such as what was their assignment, what was their last known location, what can they see around them, what is the status of their air supply, are they by themselves, are they hurt, do they need medical attention, etc. The initial call for help is designed to be a short call with limited information so that help is dispatched and then more information can be gathered.
Why would the IC ask about their assignment? By asking this question, the IC and the RIT team can ascertain where the downed firefighter may be located. If they were assigned to do a primary search of the first floor, then this will be a good place to start. If they were assigned to ventilate the roof, then the location that they were on the roof may indicate where they may be inside the structure. Along with this question, the IC needs to be concerned with the status of the other crew members. We know that we do not work by ourselves, so if one firefighter has called a mayday, there is a good chance that the other firefighter assigned to the team is also requiring help as well.
There is a tendency for people to self-doubt when they are in trouble or make themselves believe that they can get out of trouble without notifying anybody.
Once the mayday call has been made and acknowledged by the IC, the downed firefighter needs to activate their PASS alarm. The PASS alarm gets activated after the mayday call because it will allow for good communication. If the PASS alarm is going off in the background while trying to call for a mayday, it will hinder communications. Sometimes this may be the case because the firefighter cannot
deactivate the PASS alarm while trying to call for help, but if it can be silenced until afterwards, it will help.
By having the PASS alarm activated, it will alert the RIT team to where the firefighter is located, and it will also alert others on the fire ground. This is the main reason why false activations need to be eliminated. If we hear a PASS alarm, we need to be reactive to it and not complacent. We become complacent because we are used to hearing them go off all the time.
This elimination of false activations begins in training and needs to be enforced from all parties. If we train the way we play then we will react the same way all the time regardless of a training environment or the real environment. Enforcement can vary depending upon who you are dealing with: recruit firefighters can do push-ups or burpees with the SCBA on compared to veteran firefighters who may be tasked with making dinner for the crew.
Many firefighters have perished because they did not call for help and their PASS alarm was not activated. This is what led to the NFPA mandating redundant PASS alarms. They are there to save our lives and need to be treated that way, not just another car alarm going off but rather a life calling for help.
By having the PASS alarm activated, it will alert the RIT team to where the firefighter is located, and it will also alert others on the fire ground.
Extrication tips
By Chad Roberts
Glass safety
This month I’m going to address something that is quietly making a big change in the auto manufacturing industry. While often forgotten about on most scenes, this vehicle component can cause major issues for our patients and the changes that are happening will either help or hamper us depending on how it is dealt with. Tempered glass and laminated glass have long been staples in the vehicles we see on a daily basis, but with auto manufacturers continuing to add safety features to their vehicles, the one change we are going to address is laminated glass and some of the new areas it’s being added.
Before we talk about glass placement, let’s do a quick overview of the two most common types of glass we find on the road today. Tempered glass is the type of glass that is commonly found in side and rear windows. Generally fairly weak, this glass is easily broken with a simple window punch or by striking with a fine point of a tool. While these windows are beneficial for us as rescuers because of their easy access, the thousands of tiny glass shards that result from its breaking can create a hazard to us and our patients. When not controlled while breaking, these glass shards will be nothing but a headache for rescuers. The other type of glass we encounter regularly is laminated glass. Simply stated, laminated glass is two panes of glass that are sandwiched
Chad Roberts is a firefighter in Oakville, Ont., and works on a heavy rescue. He is a member of the Oakville extrication team and competes and trains across North America. chadroberts12@gmail.com
together with an adhesive. The theory here is when the glass is broken the shards are held in place, hence why this type of glass is found in the windshields of all vehicles on the road, providing a safer option in comparison to tempered glass. Although these tend to be safer, their removal can cause issues for us.
This is where we get into the new changes that are coming into effect. Laminated glass is quickly replacing tempered glass in most if not all new windows all around the vehicle. The theory here being there’ll be less glass shards due to the glass being held together by the laminate, less potential for patient ejection, and less potential for foreign objects to enter the vehicle. In a collision, these attributes far outweigh the continued use of tempered. Now while all of this seems straightforward, we as rescuers have to once again
adapt to the changes that have been made.
Laminated glass removal can be accomplished in many different ways and is not new to the fire service. However, with its introduction into more side and rear windows we must find quicker, safer and more efficient ways. The use of new tools like the Ryhno cutter or Beluga cutter are proving to be better options than past tools such as sawzall or glass saw. Use of the first two with the aid of a quick purchase point can quickly get the job done. When removing larger sections of the front or rear windshield, take advantage of previous
Laminated glass is quickly replacing tempered glass in most if not all new windows all around the vehicle.
purchase points made by hydraulic cutters or sawzalls that were used to remove the post of the vehicle. By using these purchase points, we can make a simple cut across the windshield rather than removing the entire windshield. When removing the side laminated windows, instead of removing the entire window, simply make a small purchase point in the bottom corner of the window farthest from your patient’s head. From there make a straight cut along the bottom of the window, then pull the window out and down to remove as the window is not actually attached at the sill. Both of these previous methods do two things. Creating less cuts reduces overall time and less cuts in laminated glass results in less glass dust that can be severely hazardous to our patients and rescuers lungs if inhaled. This being said, if laminated glass is
This image depicts a common marking found in the bottom corner of automotive glass to identify whether it is laminated or tempered.
This photo shows how the opening in the glass made by the hydraulic cutter can be a great starting point for the Rhyno glass cutter.
Here is an up-close look of the Rhyno glass cutter making use of the starting point created by the cutters.
PHOTO: CHAD ROBERTS
being cut, make sure all patients and rescuers are protected with N95 masks or other similar options.
So, how do we know the difference between tempered and laminated glass? Well, because they are both see through and look very similar we must size up the glass just like we do when breaching a door. Looking for markings in the bottom corner of most windows will offer us this information. If we can’t identify the type of window our best bet is to treat these windows as tempered and use such glass adhesives like Packexe, water ice shield, or even duct tape to hold any possible glass shards together in case the window is in fact tempered.
Another thing to keep in mind before we start thinking about removing windows is that sometimes our most effective option is to leave the
glass in all together. Keeping the glass in to protect from environmental elements, or even opening doors before cutting posts if possible are two simple methods. Another option is using previously mentioned window adhesive and leaving the window in place to protect from possible breaking can save us time, as windows that don’t need to be removed to facilitate patient removal will cost us time and create a possible mess and exposure to hazardous glass shards or dust.
While glass removal isn’t exactly the most exciting thing in the extrication world, it’s something we often forget or spend way too much time on completing. By understanding the presence of more laminated glass in vehicles, identifying whether or not the windows need to be removed at all, and identifying which type or window we are dealing with, we can safely and properly mitigate the glass in quick fashion. Removing glass is a process generally sandwiched somewhere in between vehicle stabilization and the actual extrication process, but as always, we must prioritize what’s most important to our patient and their removal from the vehicle. Identify removal, type of glass, and method to remove and move on. Dealing with glass safely can reduce secondary injuries to patients and rescuers and afford us more time on other extrication tasks. Until next time, keep your eyes and ears open and never stop learning.
A Rhyno glass cutter.
Fit for duty
By Sherry Dean
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
Training with good movement
Simply doing a workout isn’t enough. Injury is a fact of life for firefighters. However, some injuries can be prevented with better body mechanics. There are some very important questions around how to train properly. How do we know if we are moving well? Is appropriate movement only important when we exercise? How do we adjust poor movement patterns?
The answers to these questions can vary from firefighter to firefighter, but some are consistent across the board. Poor body position can easily lead to very high shear force on your joints and cause injury. Sometimes these shearing movements can happen over an extended time and cause an injury without heavy resistance or even still, can occur as easily as stepping up on the rig or bending over to pick up a piece of gear. Moving your body outside of good alignment in everyday life can eventually lead to injury. Chronic injury is not only caused by poor movement during workouts.
Anyone who has worked with a trainer or followed an online program will have heard cues like ‘neutral spine’, ‘knees out’ and ‘shoulders down and back’, but that can be difficult to understand while you are working hard. It is easier for us to move well when we slow movements down or if weights are low, but as soon as a movement is sped up or the load is increased movement can break down substantially.
One of the easiest ways to analyze your movement is to record a video of your exercise. We are often unaware of how we move even with a mirror in front of us. Being able to watch an exercise afterward is usually helpful. Comparing your movement to a professional or
someone you know who moves well is a great way to see where you can improve.
Here are some things to watch out for.
From the side
• Spine flexion and extension: Is the curve of your spine the same during the entire exercise as it is when you are standing upright with good posture? Does your back round forward and curve unnaturally? Or, is your lower back overly curved causing you to stick your glutes out backwards? If either of these things are happening your spine is moving out of ‘neutral position’. Concentrate on tightening or firing your core to better support the movement. Allowing spine flexion or extension causes greater compression and shear pressure on the discs and ligaments.
• Anterior shoulder rotation: Do your shoulders round forward when your elbow moves backward? Your shoulder and elbow should move forward and backward together. Rolling your shoulder forward when your elbow moves back can impinge on the rotator cuff muscles. These muscles are small and crucial to good shoulder movement. Injury to this muscle group is common.
From the front
• Knee alignment: Your knee should follow the track from your ankle to your hip in a straight line. If your knees move inward or outward it puts increased pressure on the ligaments of your knee. Coaches often cue clients to track ‘knees out’, but it is a straight line from hip to ankle you should be aiming for. Placing a piece of duct tape on your pants and
A quick easy workout
Seven minutes
You will need a barbell with moderate weight you can press overhead. It does not have to be very heavy. This workout is one continuous movement without pausing to rest the weight at ground level. You may rest while holding the weight at arm’s length, at shoulder height or in the overhead press position. If you put the weight down at any time you have to do five burpees.
Progression
Deadlift, pause at top
Clean the weight to shoulder height and pause
Front squat, pause at top
Press overhead and lower the bar back in front at arm’s length, pause
Touch the weight back to the floor and start again with your deadlift
Repeat for seven minutes.
watching the line as you squat, lift or lunge will help identify any movement right or left of centre. There are many foot positions from narrow to wide, but all of them should have proper knee alignment from ankle to hip.
• Shoulder shrugging: As lifting becomes more difficult you may start to lift your shoulders closer to your ears engaging your trapezius. Although shrugs are a perfectly good exercise, shrugging when you are doing other exercises can cause impingement and lead to rounding of the back as well. Try to maintain good posture by keeping your shoulders pressed downward when lifting.
• Lateral bend: When lifting on the right or left side of the body, we sometimes lean to one side causing a side bend. This takes our spine and hips out of alignment and causes compression and balance issues. Engage or tighten your core to maintain good upright position.
• Spine rotation: Rotating your spine without moving your hips in the same direction causes a twisting of the vertebrae. Moving your hips with your spine will add power to a movement, but only rotating your trunk weakens the force. Any twisting movement should be supported by your core. Twisting is one of the leading causes of back injury. These are not the only poor body movements, but they are some of the most common. If you increase your focus while you are working out, it will help you to maintain good form. Remember, when you increase your tempo or your load you are more susceptible to poor form and poor movement. Watching yourself in the mirror or asking a workout partner film you or cue you to correct these movements will greatly reduce the chance of injury. Be safe and stay fit.
Nick Halmasy is a registered psychotherapist who spent a decade in the fire service. He is the founder of After the Call, an organization that provides first-responders with mental-health information. Contact him at nhalmasy@afterthecall.org.
What do you inherit?
An inquiry into transgenerational trauma
By Nick Halmasy
Full disclaimer: This will start much like another negative article from within the PTSD bubble. But, fear not. For within the “bad” presented below there is a hope; a hope to break free, a hope to break through and perhaps a hope to avoid the bad altogether. In researching the topic of transgenerational trauma, or trauma passed down to our children, it was clear that the both research and conclusions are ambiguous. Should you wish to tread with me through the difficult task at hand, the result will be a more prepared and informed fire service that can work towards shaking its unimodal diagnostic approach and lead to improved mental wellness inclusivity within the fire service.
Trauma is a word that is tossed around frequently enough that we all have at least a preliminary understanding of the meaning. Labelling trauma is more dynamic than we might expect. Some may like to use the label “traumatic” for almost every call we attend. For others, only major calls involving significant injury or death are labelled traumatic. While there may be slivers of truth in each, the answer is likely more nuanced than how we have been using it. There is a significant difference, for instance, between a “disturbing” call and a “traumatic call”. We will see many things that disturb us, but may never develop into a life altering disorder. And, for most of the conversation to date, trauma has been reserved for the person directly impacted. The reason for this is obvious and yet we miss very important pieces with our reactive response to this. We miss important questions like “What about the impact on the family?”
We are beginning to understand that when our spouses, fathers, mothers, brothers or sisters are diagnosed with trauma-related problems, there is a heightened risk for those in the family not diagnosed. The potential impacts on the “unaffected” family members are numerous. They include anxiety, depression, marital issues, and substance use. These are only a few and yet they are almost categorically ignored in our attempt to thwart mental illness challenges that the fire service is currently facing.
But, to get to the crux of our topic today, first I must lead you through a very brief update on the opinion surrounding the fabled nature vs. nurture debate. In the case of human beings and the impact of both experience and genetics, it’s both.
Our understanding of the impact of trauma is growing. We are beginning to understand that the impact transcends from the individual into the household and its meanings are stark and remarkable. Now, much of this will be of little surprise due to the anecdotes we hear of the struggles, the stress, and the hardship that follows within
a family. We know this intuitively. But, the research is fairly novel and if left untreated is potentially catastrophic.
There is a growing body of research looking at large populations that have underwent significant trauma and the impact that it has had intergenerationally. Research analyzing Holocaust survivors and their children has drawn conclusions that should be on all our radars. The severity and intensity of harm to this population is undeniable. It is the potential mechanisms of trauma transmission over generations that should capture our interest.
THE NATURE DEBATE
Amy Lehrner and Rachel Yehuda (2018) found that parents with unresolved or untreated trauma (PTSD) had children that were at an increased risk for PTSD themselves. Children had an increased risk of PTSD, despite having not being exposed to trauma directly. Rachel Dekel and Hadass Goldblatt’s (2008) work echoes this from researching Vietnam vets. They found that the children of those who returned from
In a 2014 research project, Rachel Yehuda and eight of her colleagues found genetic differences in children of parents diagnosed with PTSD.
Vietnam had growing rates for depression and anxiety. The study also found issues with emotional and behavioural concerns in the children. Importantly, these findings did not apply to all Vietnam vets, only those suffering PTSD.
In an earlier research project, Yehuda and eight of her colleagues (2014) found genetic differences in children of parents diagnosed with PTSD. Through blood analysis, they marked different molecular differences between parents with survivor parents versus parents with no exposure. In fact, they found differences in the children depending on which parent (or both) had been diagnosed.
These conclusions are not easy to read –and should give us significant pause. Spouses didn’t go unaffected either.
With enlarged chances for “psychiatric symptoms, impaired social relations, and negative emotions”, Melissa Pearrow and Lisa Cosgrove (2008) concluded that spouses were susceptible to the impact of trauma from their partner. So, it seems, PTSD is not simply an individual struggle. It’s a family affair.
THE NURTURE DEBATE
Patricia East and Shelia Gahagan (2017) found that there was “no direct association” between the trauma experienced by the mothers of their study on the wellness of their offspring. Instead, they offered that it was the “outward expression” of these symptoms that were the impacting factor on their children. We know from behavioural analysis, and from growing up, that this impact exists. Our children, as we did, learned how to cope with situations and events from the way our parents had. As children, after all, we had to learn coping strategies from somewhere. And when these practices are maladaptive they eventually fail us. When these maladaptive
functions fail, that tends to be when people seek out folks like me to engage in therapy. It is difficult to discern, then, whether there are genetic inheritances of trauma that make our children at more risk, or the behavioural inheritances due to what they are exposed to in the home. In fact, it almost undoubtedly will be both. To ensure balance, I stumbled across a meta-analysis (a study of studies) that found limited evidence of the transgenerational effects outside clinical (seeking support for other issues) and no evidence in the non-clinical populations (Marinus van IJzendoor and colleagues, 2003). So, opinions are certainly varied on the topic – however, there are important lessons to take away.
ON TO THE GOOD NEWS
In Lehrner and Yehuda’s work in 2018 we did see some potential mechanisms that may impact us, but their outlook was much more digestible than we would think citing that, “74% reported that they believe that they have unique strengths as a result of being raised by Holocaust survivors… 42%, reported believing that they are more resilient to stress than those their age not raised by Holocaust survivors.” That, dear readers, is what we could call Post Traumatic Growth, or resiliency as the participants themselves labelled it. Despite the hardships of the parents the children were able to grow into stronger individuals because of it.
Dekel and Goldblatt (2008) had similar good news to share. They found that there may be a strengthening of the family in response to trauma. They argued when the parent is home due to their psychological struggles, there is the potential to grow closer with their children as they are more readily available. That is the potential for increased bonding, which is an interesting finding. And, it is a finding that would seem counterproductive, given the significant
Despite the hardships of the parents the children were able to grow into stronger individuals because of it.
psychological battles that are waged among those who suffer trauma impacts.
Post Traumatic Growth moves that way, though. In a responsive, not reactionary, approach, our departments, halls, and our families could be learning to shield from trauma impacts and then boosted into more resilience and becoming emotionally stronger. That is not without its hard work, and of course this requires a lot of hard work. There is also another thread that seemed prevalent within the research.
These impacts were most notable when the trauma was untreated (Lehrner and Yehuda, 2018). And there are ample places for us to inject familial resistance to trauma impacts including family stability, institutional supports, and public recognition (Cindy Sangalang and Cindy Vang, 2017) that such problems exist. We ought to shift our focus. Currently, our view has been unimodal and pathological. If our focus remains on the reactive, we will forever chase those affected and left until their mental languishing becomes such that they need to leave the service.
The research is still in full swing, so we’ll not know the evidence on whether the impact is genetic or behavioural in time to effect real change now. Yet, if we start to take what we are learning and implement it in a preventative way within our departments, we have a strong chance to ensure staff retention, as well as overall staff wellness. And, for those on the frontline, beginning personal programming to ensure your own mental wellness is paramount. Be an active agent in your mental wellness; this is no different than the dentist or the gym. They are both preventative actions to ensure wellness.
I do not believe there is any contradiction with both supporting those who are struggling with mental wellness, or who have been diagnosed with PTSD, while simultaneously working toward implementing a proactive, preventative approach. In other words, we need not demolish our work thus far to implement preventative measures. We take what we have in place, but start to work with what research is beginning to show us. Just like the nature versus nurture ended in realizing it was both, our approaches too need to recognize this truth.
Dispatches
By Jennifer Grigg
Jennifer’s 26 year career encompassed roles as dispatcher, volunteer firefighter, FPO, inspector and instructor. She is now a resilience and empowerment coach and certified body language trainer. jennygrigg312@gmail.com @georgianbayjen | jennifergriggcoaching.com
Life beyond the fire service
Ileft my full-time job as an instructor at the Ontario Fire College in December 2017. After 18 months in what many would describe as a career highlight, I realized that the position just wasn’t “it” for me. I didn’t really know what “it” was, but I instinctively knew that wasn’t “it”.
So, what have I been doing the past five and half months?
The words professional student, knowledge sponge, learn-all-Ican-as-fast-as-I-can all come to mind as apt descriptions of my incubation period.In fact, incubation period may just be the most accurate descriptor.
I learned many important life lessons while at the college but perhaps the most powerful came in the form of the feedback I gleaned from the student evaluations. After every class, I would read the student evaluations (not the actual evaluations as they are submitted directly to the academic manager in a sealed envelope), but a summary of the students’ comments and ratings collated by a tracking system called Class Climate.
What caught my attention were comments that described me as “passionate, engaging and knowledgeable about the subject matter.” Granted, the expectation is that instructors should be all of those things, but as the newest instructor at the college, at times I fought feelings of not measuring up. Another comment that I’d seen repeated was about my ability to make people feel comfortable and create an inclusive
environment.
Although I am very passionate about the fire service and I believed in the power of what I was teaching, whether it was public educator, fire inspector or fire instructor, I knew deep down that there were things that I was more passionate about.
Which led me to question: “How can I impact people in a way that’s more congruent with who I am?”
concepts in their fire prevention and suppression work lives, and home lives too.
I realized that’s what I wanted to do full time. Empower people.
I’m an advocate for mental health awareness and conversations in class often turned to my belief in the power of looking out for each other, in your firehall family and your home family. Everyone in the fire service is connected by a com-
“How can I impact people in a way that’s more congruent with who I am?”
I respect the educational goals of the fire college and fully appreciate the challenges faced meeting its mission. My colleagues at the college are among the most professional, passionate, dedicated people I’ve ever worked with. I knew in my heart, however, that there was something else I was called to do. I wanted to expand upon the trait that allowed me to connect with people the way I had at the college.
My goal was always to empower people. At the college, I did that by teaching the courses in my portfolio to the best of my ability. I may not have been the most knowledgeable person in the room, but I always brought enthusiasm and authenticity to the class. I shared stories of my life to foster connection, made fun of myself on a routine basis and tied the subject matter I was teaching back to relatable
mon thread of wanting to help others. It’s passion that firefighters draw upon time and time again to keep facing what they face day after day.
I took that passion and goal of empowering people and spent the last several months studying coaching. My first program was in Holistic Wellness Coaching, because being healthy can only happen when your mind, body, work and relationships are all in alignment. It’s like the four tires on a car; you can’t get very far with a flat tire and that one flat tire puts stress on the other three.
The second program I enrolled in was Body Language Trainer. As an introvert, I am keenly aware of feeling awkward and less than comfortable in my own skin. I’d discovered that using a couple of body language hacks increased my feelings of confidence and
competence in the classroom as an instructor, so when I stumbled across Vanessa Van Edward’s TedTalk “You Are Contagious” and then her website, I knew I had pinpointed another passion that I could definitely dive into and help others with.
The third program I did was a group coaching program that lasted three months and concluded with a trip to North Carolina and a weekend retreat where I was surrounded by a group of women on the same journey within. It was by far the most empowering thing I’ve ever done.
I decided to leave the fire service after returning to my volunteer department for about two months once I’d left the college. I found that dropping everything and running wasn’t in alignment with the more zen way of life I was now embracing, and it was time to step aside and let a younger generation of passion fueled firefighters carry on. I started in the fire service in 1992 as a dispatcher and although it was bittersweet to step out of my bunkers after 20 plus years, I have a new mission to support from behind the scenes.
One of the hardest things I’ve experienced in my life was asking for help when I needed it; partly because of the stigma around mental health and partly because I was used to responding to calls for help, not reaching out for help.
My new passion is empowering others and helping reignite that spark that we sometimes lose because helpers need help sometimes too.
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