04 | From the editor
10 | Tools of the trade
Groundwork training tips
18 | Dispatches
Surface-level communications
21 | Fit for duty
How to improve your mobility
22 | Well being Hit the greens this summer
28 | Between alarms
Removing turnout gear DEPARTMENTS
06 | In the news Team from Ontario competing in France
08 | Extrication tips
Challenges test skills of firefighters
19 | Tim-bits
How to check for children in a house fire
25 | Back to basics
Four types of
LEN GARIS
By Grant Cameron
The courageous men and women who do battle with wildfires in B.C. each and every summer are routinely exposed to conditions that threaten their physical as well as mental well-being.
They fight these blazes under difficult and very treacherous conditions, in inhospitable environments, in technically-challenging and life-threatening situations.
The work they do is incredibly tough and taxing, but critically important to the safety of communities. It often involves exposure to daunting conditions.
The impact can be severe. The job can, and most certainly does, take its toll.
It seems only fitting, then, that these firefighters be given access to proper job-related compensation for any issues that might result.
If they get sick, have physical or mental health problems, or develop a disorder as a result of their occupation, they shouldn’t have to prove that their obvious diagnosis is work-related.
Thankfully, that is happening. The government of B.C. recently stepped up and did the right thing by wildland firefighters.
Amendments to the Workers Compensation Act will enable wildland firefighters, fire investigators and firefighters working for First Nations and other Indigenous organizations to have easier access to compensation and support.
In a nutshell, the amendments will extend occupational disease and mental-health benefits to those in the fire service, paid and volunteer, who work around wildfires.
They will expand the cancer, heart disease and mental-health disorder presumptions to include wildfire and Indigenous firefighters, as well as fire investigators.
The bottom line, however, is that these firefighters will no longer have to prove their diagnosis is work-related.
Presumptive illnesses faced by wildland firefighters will now be recognized as condi-
“These changes are great news for B.C.’s wildland firefighters. They’re also overdue.”
tions caused by the nature of their work.
This is a progressive and very necessary step by the government.
It eliminates barriers that prevent these wildland firefighters from rightly being covered under legislation. It provides them with easier access to the supports they need for work-related physical and mental-health injuries.
The move has received rave reviews.
Gord Ditchburn, president of the B.C. Professional Fire Fighters Association, said the organization is grateful to the provincial government for its belief and support of firefighters.
As he noted, being able to receive timely support is in-
credibly important and critical to keep those who battle wildland fires healthy, both physically and mentally.
The fact of the matter is that before 2018, presumptive conditions were limited in scope, just covering specific cancers and heart diseases suffered by some groups of firefighters.
The B.C. government expanded the presumptive conditions in spring 2018 to include mental-health disorders for police officers, paramedics, sheriffs and correctional officers, and most urban firefighters.
Now, it’s taken the coverage one step further.
B.C. Labour Minister Harry Bains said the changes are all about fairness and support for firefighters, regardless of where they work.
In my opinion, these changes are great news for B.C.’s wildland firefighters. They’re also overdue.
Wildland firefighters put their lives on the line each and every time they don their gear and head into the unknown to save lives and property. Their job is equally important to that done by their urban counterparts.
This change is true recognition of that fact.
The government, in my opinion, has done right by these firefighters.
July 2019 Vol. 42, No. 3 cdnfirefighter.com
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Red Deer Emergency Services (RDES) in Alberta is now the only department in the world with four accreditations in fire and medical services. The department was recognized for receiving the Emergency Fire Dispatch Accredited Centre of Excellence accreditation at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., on April 24. The accreditation acknowledges the exceptional performance and professional service to both residents and first responders by the Red Deer 911 Emergency Communications Centre. “Our citizens are getting world-class service when they call into our 911 centre,” RDES Chief/Manager Ken McMullen said in a statement. “Not only are our operators providing the caller with exceptional care, but they are getting the best possible information and support to our crews as they respond to the situation.”
In addition to the recent award, RDES has achieved the following accreditations:
• Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI): 2016 – 2020
• Emergency Medical Dispatch Centre of Excellence: 2017 – 2020
• Accreditation Canada – Accredited with Exemplary Standing 2018 –2021
CBC News reported David Bernhardt, volunteer firefighter from Inuvik, N.W.T., was awarded the Canadian Volunteer Fire Services Municipal Long Service award at this year’s firefighters’ ball, which recognizes achievements of long-serving volunteer firefighters in communities across the nation. Bernhardt received his award for serving for more than 39 years. He has served various roles: firefighter, lieutenant, captain, and deputy fire chief.
There are about 24,000 house fires each year in Canada, resulting in an average of 377 deaths and 3,048 injuries per year.
The Oakville Fire Department auto extrication team in Ontario has been selected by the Transportation Emergency Rescue Committee to represent Canada and the U.S. at the World Rescue Organization Challenge in La Rochelle, France, in September.
bring back to their department and community.
• The team is comprised of six members. A captain, medic and four rescuers.
Cooking equipment is the leading cause of home structure fires and home fire injuries.
The team is comprised of professional firefighters who develop their skills, represent their department and educate the community on their own personal free time.
The team was started in 2003 and strives to contribute to the community, and skill development within the fire department.
Team members will be able to gain some new knowledge by competing and learning from other departments all over the world and some of the leading experts in the field of extrication.
While a learning experience for the team members, the experience will also be something they can
• The team travels across North America to compete in auto extrication against other departments from around the world. There are two 20-minute events and one 10-minute event. These events are Unlimited Pit (all tools permitted), Limited Pit (no powered hydraulics permitted. i.e. Jaws of Life) and the Rapid Pit (10-minute event to simulate a patient crashing and needing immediate removal).
• Main Awards - first, second and third for all the pits, Overall award, Best Medic and Best Incident Commander.
• Approximately 20 teams compete from all over North America and Europe.
By Chad Roberts
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.
Remember when you were first hired? Think back to that feeling where you were once full of bright optimism and a youthful mind-sponge ready for anything fire-related thrown at you during your recruit class.
With the highest hopes that this would always be the way our 20-to30-plus years in the fire service would remain, some of us may find that it dwindled after the first few years.
While this is hopefully not the case, it may be for many of us in the modern-day fire service where hands-on training time is at a premium.
To combat this, sometimes we need to branch out from our usual department-mandated training and grasp onto something that stimulates our fire-service minds. Step into the world of the auto extrication challenge.
A little more than eight years ago, I was introduced to our department’s auto extrication team and haven’t looked back since.
From cutting apart cars two to three times a month to learning about proper stabilization and how it applies to auto extrication and many other areas in the fire service, this team was a no-brainer for myself and many others that have come and gone over the years. The ability to obtain first-hand tool knowledge, new technology and patient care were also huge advantages of this program. And let’s not forget about that comradery thing. With constantly-expanding departments, longer shifts and greater commute times, the auto extrication world has provided a much-needed jolt to our culture that allows team members from all shifts and departments all over the world to get together and
While getting a patient out under the allowed time is a great achievement, it’s much more important to do it properly.
3
Competitors are judged on three scenarios in competitions: unlimited pit, limited pit and rapid pit.
bring us back to those earlier times I just mentioned.
The Transportation Emergency Response Committee (TERC) Canada and TERC USA hold regular auto extrication challenges. TERC was founded back in 1987. TERC Canada is chaired by Ken Niceliu and TERC USA is chaired by Carl Fargione.
While being the overall governing body for these auto extrication competitions, TERC is also in charge
of co-ordinating the events, setting up with host towns and departments, and the judging involved in the various competitions.
These competitions are essentially broken down into three scenarios – the first being the “unlimited scenarios,” which allow 20 minutes for each team to remove a patient safely and efficiently from a pre-determined wreck involving multiple vehicles and props.
While being allowed to use any
allotment of tools in the unlimited scenario, the next scenario is the exact opposite. The time limit and scenarios are the same, however this “limited pit” allows only the use of non-hydraulic tools such as Sawzall or air chisel to safely remove the patient.
Finally, the last pit of the competition is the “rapid pit.” This pit involves all tools like the unlimited pit, but can be much more challenging, as each team is presented with a patient whose condition will suddenly deteriorate dramatically and they will only have 10 minutes to complete the extrication.
Even though all of the scenarios are timed, the judges are looking at many areas to garner points. While getting a patient out under the allowed time is a great achievement, it’s much more important to do it properly.
Displaying team efficiency, safety, tool knowledge and proper patient care will ultimately score the highest marks.
All of these scenarios provide a great challenge to the preparation, knowledge and teamwork. However, the real objective and biggest takeaway for the teams is the learning. Being able to watch different teams from all parts of Canada, the U.S. and sometimes internationally perform similar scenarios in completely different manners allows for a great amount of knowledge to be shared.
And that’s what these competitions and teams involved are all about. No matter what tool or what trick of the trade is used, all teams and members are always more than willing to share their knowledge in the ultimate hopes that these techniques will one day help save lives in the real world.
Throughout all of my experiences and involvement in the fire service, the world of auto extrication from a competition standpoint has been, by
far, one of my most rewarding and continues to progress every year.
The family atmosphere, teamwork and leadership lessons are just a sliver of the behind-thescenes accomplishments of these competitions.
Long-time Canadian teams such as Oakville, Burlington, Mississauga and Ottawa have continually and proudly placed very high at all levels of TERC events and with newcomers to the scene in depart-
ments such as Hamilton, TERC Canada and USA hope to continue the growth of these great events.
Anyone who is interested in more information on this great opportunity, please don’t hesitate to contact TERC Canada or TERC USA about starting a team for your own department or to just get involved.
I decided to challenge myself over eight years ago and have no intention of stopping.
By Sean Kingswell
We don’t suggest that firefighters solely plan fitness around their job, however a certain amount of relevance makes sense. We need to include some occupational-specific elements to ensure that we have the performance and effectiveness required to execute at a high level.
I have mentioned the concept in other articles, as specificity is an important part of any fitness plan. The concept states that if you want to get better at a certain task or achieve a certain goal, you partake in activities that will lead to those specific improvements. Athletes of today are trained with this concept in mind as their sports are specific and different from one another.
One skill that pertains highly to fire fighting and can easily be neglected is working from the ground. We can improve our abilities in ground management within our fitness routine.
A focus in firefighter fitness is often on strength, but different kinds of strength exist. Relative strength is an important part and involves our ability to move our bodies, especially when we are weighed down.
The ground is our most common and most dangerous position/location as it is where we are required to work during fires of any real heat. We crawl in varying positions, and crawling is oddly a perishable skill. The ones among us best at crawling are, of course babies, and it becomes less natural once we walk and age.
A baby crawl, or crawling on your hands and knees, is ideally done
Crawling effectively is a learned behaviour and it needs to be done well and be done quickly at times.
4Putting your hand on your head and pushing gently against it is a good form of isometric work to strengthen the neck muscles. Firefighters should do this exercise on all four sides of the head.
Sean Kingswell is an experienced professional firefighter, personal trainer, fitness coach and the creator of the FIRESAFECADETS program. Contact Sean at firesafecadets@gmail.com.
with good biomechanics when possible. We want our neck in alignment with our spine, weight evenly distributed side to side, a neutral spine (lower back), our core braced, shoulders less superior than often placed, and weight equal between hands and knees.
Crawling effectively is a learned behaviour and it needs to be done well and be done quickly at times.
Practice crawling backwards rapidly as it requires co-ordination and could be a life-saver if flashover conditions present in a room and an exit out the original entrance is attempted. In the gym, simply practice occasionally crawling backwards swiftly and add a 90-degree turn to get behind a would-be wall.
We can also do other movements that help to improve our ability on the ground. A bear crawl is walking on hands and feet with the backside raised while a table top crawl is on hands and feet with the torso parallel to the ground and knees bent further.
A crab walk involves walking on your hands and feet in the supine position. Think gym class when you were a kid. Anyone who has done quality training in self-rescue knows the endless variety of positions and movements your body can go through, and how these movements are relevant.
Push-ups are, of course, on the ground, as are mountain climbers. Mountain climbers are holding yourself at the top of the push-up and then having your legs simulate walking, though you remain stationary.
A bridge is one of the best exercises for the glutes and is done from the ground. For a bridge, lay on
your back with hands at your sides and lift your rear-end up and place it back on the mat. Do 15 reps. Lying on your side with your legs straight and stacked is a great abduction exercise. Though it may seem like a slightly 80s exercise video, just raise the top leg to about 45 degrees. Movements such as this support joints and, although they don’t affect mirror muscles, they will aid in their development.
Different core exercises can be done on the ground, including simple flexion and extension work. If you are doing any flexion, which is where your knees and your chest get closer to one another, make sure you know how to imprint your core as well as engage your pelvic floor and transverse abdominis muscle.
If doing extensions, where your chest and lower body get farther away, be very careful not to over-extend. A dart can be a great start and involves lying on your stomach with your hands at your side. You then simply lift your shoulders slightly off the mat (along with your head as your neck maintains good alignment), and your feet remain on the ground. This is a basic extension movement, but a good one. Though it is not done on the ground, strengthening the neck can be an effective practice to help with groundwork. A helmet weighs half as much as a head so wearing it in compromising positions can be a test for the neck. Gross neck movements with high weight attached to head harnesses is not advisable. A simple start is to perform isometric work by putting your hand on your head on all four sides and pushing gently against that hand.
It is great to do a lot of typical exercises that you enjoy when in the gym, but consider some of these ideas to increase your ability while working from the ground.
THIS YEAR’S SYMPOSIUM WILL FEATURE
AUTO EXTRICATION with Jason Defosse
FIRE DYNAMICS with Cheryl Hunt
IN-CLASS SESSIONS such as RESILIENCE IN ACTION with Ali Rothrock
CRUSHING IMPOSTER SYNDROME with Denise Ray
ADDITIONAL IN CLASS SESSIONS AND HANDS ON TRAINING WILL INCLUDE: forcible entry, chainsaw workshops, search & rescue, fire investigations, & so much more!
KEYNOTE SPEAKER Dany Cotton, London Fire Brigade Commissioner HOSTED BY
CLASSES WILL FILL UP QUICKLY SO DON’T WAIT TO REGISTER!
Merely tracking that a firefighter is present on scene is not enough
By Scott Wilkinson
Hot zone accountability: myth or reality?
Did I get your attention?
Good, because this is important.
In the modern fire service, everyone should have an accountability system and be using it. Yet, reports from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) routinely indicate a lack of accountability in the top five causes of firefighter line-of-duty deaths (LODDs).
Does your system provide true accountability for your members?
The NFPA 1500 Standard on Fire Department Occupational Safety, Health and Wellness Program and the 1561 Standard on Emergency Services Incident Management System and Command Safety provide the basis on which departments must create, document and implement their accountability systems. But the system must be one that efficiently protects those operating in high-risk environments and not just one that ticks the boxes in the standards so you can say you have a compliant program.
Overall, incident resource tracking and accountability is one level of this and can be accomplished in a number of ways. These can include passports, tags, electronic systems, written tracking, or any combination of the above.
However, the crucial area for your firefighters is that of hot zone accountability. Merely tracking that someone is “present” on a scene is not enough.
Those tags I mentioned can be an important part of identifying the names of all those attending the scene, but this is merely a “roster” and is not accountability.
According to an article in Fire Rescue written by Raul Angulo of the Seattle Fire Department, entitled The Importance of Accountability, Fire Rescue, “Which-
ever accountability system your department uses, firefighters and companies must be tracked when the tactical assignments are made – not after the fact. If you can’t tell me where every firefighter and company is on the fire ground at any given time, you don’t have accountability – you have a roster. If you can’t tell me where every firefighter is when a mayday is transmitted or a sudden catastrophic event happens, then you don’t have accountability – you have a roster.”
Does a tag on a board tell you where to send the rapid intervention team (RIT) to extricate a trapped member if you don’t take it a step further with tracking on a tactical worksheet?
At the other end of the spectrum is all the newest technology. These range from detailed boards and tablets to self-contained-breathing-apparatus-based systems and GPS tracking of all on-scene personnel.
These are great tools to assist the incident commander (IC) and/or accountability officer, but they are just that – tools. What happens when this technology fails? Software glitches occur and power supplies fail and it still takes people to monitor and react to systems and warnings.
In his article, Angelo says that turning to technology to fix this problem is like handing out calculators to every kid when they enter grade school to solve math problems without ever teaching them how to solve the problems in their head.
So what do you do?
Accountability is a process that must be rooted in those tactical assignments and actively updated throughout the incident as those assignments evolve or crews change location.
That means that the IC or the operations chief, whomever is developing and implementing the incident action plan, owns the accountability as well.
This means a written tactical or command work-
sheet that manages not only your priorities, strategies and tactics, but your tasking, crew assignments, number and location as well.
“Too hard,” you say, or, “I have too many things going on to manage that?” or, “I do it in my head. I don’t need to write it down?”
If that is your answer, I will respectfully call bull.
If you have not heard the radio traffic or been present for a mayday call, let me paint the picture. Panic, confusion and chaos will reign no matter how well you prepare. Only a functional program and well-trained, practiced incident commander can possibly hope to manage the scene while communicating with firefighters and deploying resources for rescue.
What if the only words your firefighter gets out over the radio are, “Mayday, collapse,” and nothing more? Will you instantly be able to identify who is working in the hot zone, where they are, and where to send the RIT?
Not a chance without a written tracking of the tactics, crew assignments, number of personnel and location.
I am senior academy officer in the training academy at the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service. Time and time again in our officer training programs we initiate maydays during command simulations and scenarios when the student is found to not be keeping up on their accountability. The result is panic and chaos, resulting in significant delays in rescue or no rescue at all.
Remember NFPA 1561? It states that, “The incident commander shall initiate an accountability system that includes functional and geographic assignments at the beginning ... is very important for the first on-scene supervisor to initiate an accountability system ... .”
And, NFPA 1500 says, “The incident commander shall maintain an awareness of the location and function of all companies or crews at the scene of the incident.”
That’s not simply a tag on a board or an electronic tracking system. They can be part of the system, but are useless without the accompanying written tasking and tracking of your personnel, what they are doing, who and how many they are, and where they are.
NFPA 1500
This standard says that the incident commander shall maintain an awareness of the location and function of all companies or crews at the scene of an incident.
And what about the part that says it must be initiated “at the beginning of operations ... by the first on-scene supervisor?”
Some departments assign a later-arriving officer, chief officer or even a whole crew for personnel accountability. How easy will it be for this individual to catch up with the resource assignments, tactical deployment and management of all incoming crews?
Accountability must start at the beginning and that means with the first-arriving officer or member assuming command. This is the individual doing the size-up and risk assessment, identifying problems and priorities, establishing strategies and tactics and initially
deploying personnel to accomplish those tasks. Are not these members’ lives as important as those coming later?
Maydays don’t just occur after the accountability officer and the RIT are in place. In fact, according to Don Abbot’s Project Mayday, a study of mayday responses, incidents and prevention, the first unit on-scene is involved in a mayday 57 per cent of the time.
Our service has gone through many years of innovation and experimentation with regards to accountability. We had the tags, then the passports and even electronic tracking, but these were all difficult to manage and even harder to enforce.
I was “that guy” with the nice board and tons of tags or Velcro patches in tow with no idea of who was actually where or doing what. The only thing I could have done was report the names of those missing after the event. A roster of the deceased is not accountability.
Okay, I’m getting tired of standing on my soap box so here’s the wrap-up.
If you are tracking who is on your scene, great. If you are using technology to assist your program, even better. If that is attached to a good, tactical worksheet, awesome. But remember that the only
true hot zone accountability lies with those doing the tasking and continually updating the what, who and where of their fire ground. If nothing else, let this rant be a prompt to look at your program, assess it and ensure you actually have an accountability system to help keep your people safe, not just identify them after the fact.
Len Garis is the fire chief for the City of Surrey, B.C., an adjunct professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice & Associate to the Centre for Social Research at the University of the Fraser Valley (UFV). Contact him at Len.Garis@ufv.ca.
By Len Garis
Cancer is still the top killer of firefighters in Canada while mental health is an increasing concern, according to nationwide insurance claims data.
A 2019 analysis of new claims data from the Association Workers’ Compensation Boards of Canada (AWCBC) has revealed a notable change in what is killing and harming Canadian firefighters after just two years.
The analysis compared a more recent 10-year period of Canadian fatality and time-loss claims data with the results of a study of 2006-2015 AWCBC and WorkSafe BC data and additional research, reported in Determinants of Injury and Death in Canadian Firefighters: A Case for a National Firefighter Wellness Surveillance System. That February 2018 study, conducted by the University of the Fraser Valley and the British Columbia Injury Research and Prevention Unit, reflected more than a year of work by a team of Canadian health professionals, researchers, academics and fire service leaders: Rachel Ramsden, Jennifer Smith, Kate Turcotte, Len Garis, Dr. Kenneth Kunz, Dr. Paul Maxim, Larry Thomas and Dr. Ian Pike.
The new analysis, conducted by Surrey Fire Services in British Columbia, compared the 2006-2015 results (Cohort 1) with updated data from 2008-2017 (Cohort 2).
When it comes to firefighter fatalities, the following changes were observed:
• A 21-per-cent increase in overall on-duty firefighter fatalities between Cohort 1 (568 fatalities) and Cohort 2 (687 fatalities).
• A three-per-cent increase in the per-
centage of cancer deaths between Cohort 1 (85 per cent) and Cohort 2 (88 per cent), equating to a 24-per-cent increase in the rate per 100,000 firefighters from Cohort 1 (49.5) to Cohort 2 (61.5).
• A 23-per-cent decrease in the percentage of traumatic injury deaths, the second top killer of firefighters, from Cohort 1 (six per cent) to Cohort 2 (4.6 per cent). This equated to an 8.6-percent decrease in the rate per 100,000 firefighters from Cohort 1 (3.5) to Cohort 2 (3.3).
• A 14-per-cent decrease in cardiovascular disease deaths, the third top killer of on-duty firefighters, from Cohort 1 (4.9 per cent ) to Cohort 2 (4.2 per cent). This equated to a 3.6-per-cent increase in the rate per 100,000 firefighters from Cohort 1 (2.8) to Cohort 2 (3.9).
“The new data confirms that not only are more Canadian firefighters dying during their careers, but cancer is still the leading cause of fatalities – and rising,” noted Chris Biantoro, the strategic planning analyst at Surrey Fire Services who conducted the analysis. “We can also detect a rising incidence of mental-health issues among firefighters, leading to more
time off from work.”
In terms of time-loss claims – reflecting injuries and other issues that prevent firefighters from working – these changes were noted:
• A 3.8-per-cent decrease in overall firefighter time-loss claims.
• A 1.7-per-cent decrease in traumatic injuries, still the top cause of time-loss claims, from Cohort 1 (89.9 per cent) to Cohort 2 (88.3 per cent).
• An 81-per-cent increase in mental-health claims, now the second top cause of time-loss claims, from Cohort 1 (1.6 per cent) to Cohort 2 (2.9 per cent).
• An 8.7-per-cent decrease in musculoskeletal system and connective tissue injuries, the third top cause of time-loss claims, from Cohort 1 (2.3 per cent) to Cohort 2 (2.1 per cent).
It should be noted that the data used for the analysis was limited to show the aggregate number of claims not less than four, to protect the confidentiality of claimants, and random allocation was then applied to the suppressed numbers. For that reason, the actual numbers presented in the analysis may not reflect the actual numbers from the data or the previous analysis.
Even so, the new analysis reflects the trends identified in the 2018 study, including rising incidences of cancer and mental-health issues, and decreasing incidences of cardiovascular disease, which was once the leading cause of firefighter death.
As noted in the earlier study, firefighters die of cancer at two to three times the rate of the general population (depending on age) –even though firefighters tend to lead healthier lifestyles as a requirement of their work. This additional risk comes from their exposure to concentrated carcinogens in the air, soot and tar at a fire ground. Even after using personal protective gear, many firefighters report smelling like smoke or burning plastic for days after a fire.
Mental-health issues – such as
anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression – were also pointed out as a rising concern in the earlier data, and that is borne out by the updated figures.
Building on the earlier research, the new analysis has implications for the 100,000-plus volunteer and career firefighters across Canada, as well as those abroad, including approximately 1.2 million in the United States.
Bolstered by the newer data, the 2018 study’s recommendations still hold true. In particular, it had called for a national firefighter wellness surveillance system to address the escalating cancer and other identified risks.
Although existing workplace claims systems collect considerable data and information, they lack the
details and specifics that would allow the development of targeted surveillance, prevention, wellness and ongoing research programs. The study recommended development of a dedicated firefighter health surveillance model to monitor health trends and patterns and provide the information necessary to support future research, and develop timely and responsive interventions that will lead to healthier and longer lives for Canadian firefighters.
At the local level, the study also recommended that fire departments take proactive steps to address the highest risks to firefighter health, including mental health issues.
The study was funded by the 2017 Motorola Solutions Foundation grant program and can be downloaded for free at https://cjr.ufv.ca/.
By Jennifer Grigg
If tough conversations were easy, we’d be having them all the time. We are mostly interacting on the surface level, often unwilling or uninterested to peel back the layers to see what’s hidden beneath.
If we have a question, we shoot a quick text or an email. When we’re having phone conversations, we’re usually doing something else while we’re talking. Whether we’re driving, watching television, working on our computer or surfing social media, rarely are we ever fully listening to the person on the other end of the line.
On the occasion that we’re engaged in face-to-face dialogue, we’re either doing the same as above or we’re focused on other things requiring our attention and missing out on not only what’s being said, but more importantly, what isn’t.
Conversations are often done in passing and we may or may not give them another thought. In many situations this is perfectly normal. However, in other situations it’s a missed opportunity to be the friend that someone needed.
Some might argue that this is just the world we live in, but I beg to differ. The world – our world – is what we make it. We are the ones who ultimately decide whether our conversations and interactions will be surface-level (think texting and myriad ways that a message can be misinterpreted, misconstrued, or missed altogether), or whether we’ll take or make the time and effort to dig a little deeper.
Phone calls, which may at least give you the benefit of hearing someone’s voice and can cue you to underlying concerns via their pitch, tone or cadence, are also the easiest
form of communication in which to lie because there’s no paper trail and people can’t see the other person’s face if you miss those vocal cues.
Even email can convey intention and tone (either negatively or positively) but can also leave plenty of room for confusion because you lack the face-to-face interaction and personal connection.
To be clear, I’m not suggesting that every one of our conversations needs to be deeper than surface-level or that we should be pouring our heart out to the cashier at Home Depot when you’re paying for your purchase. What I am saying is that when someone shows up at the fire hall or on a call, and they’re being snippy, or reacting in a way that seems odd/excessive/confusing or downright bizarre for the situation, dig a little deeper when the opportunity exists.
We all, and I mean all, have stuff going on behind the scenes and underneath the surface that we carry with us. Not necessarily all the time for everyone, but certainly at least on one occasion or another, and for some it may be a lot more stuff and a lot more often than others.
Rather than getting your back up, look at it from a larger perspective. Take your ego out of the way and look at the facts.
• This person is a member of your fire hall or department and a member of your team. Even if you’re not the best of friends, you are in the business of helping others. You owe it to that other person, and to yourself, to dig a little deeper.
• People are not jerks by nature. If someone is being a jerk (or difficult, or defiant, or whatever the case may be) he or she definitely
has something else going on.
• When the behaviour doesn’t fit the situation, that’s your cue. They might not want to talk to anyone about it, but you can at least extend the olive branch.
• You don’t have to make a huge effort and you don’t have to fix anything for them. All you have to do is ask if they’re ok or see if they want to grab a coffee.
Conversations are often done in passing and we may or may not give them another thought.
There are so many missed opportunities to effectively communicate with others – so many missed opportunities to make things even just a little bit better for anyone and everyone you come in contact with during your day.
If you’re one of those people who is pretty much always happy and good-natured, offering up a smile and a kind gesture to friends and strangers alike, thank you for being you.
If you’re like most of us who go through our day on autopilot, I just ask that you pause for a second at some point during your future interactions – whether it be via text, email, phone or face-to-face – and ask yourself, “Is this a surface level conversation or is it an opportunity to dig a little deeper?”
Even if it is with the cashier at Home Depot.
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 facilities. Contact Tim at llewellyn.fire@gmail.com.
Shortly after 2 a.m. the first-due truck company rounded the bend into the dimly-lit neighbourhood.
The apparatus fire radio crackled with an arrival report from the first-arriving engine: “We’re on scene with a two-storey, single-family dwelling, obvious fire from the garage on division 1, side alpha, smoke showing throughout. There are two cars in the driveway and no occupants appear to have evacuated. We have our own water supply from a hydrant across the street, and we’ll be stretching a 1.75-inch handline for fire control from side alpha. First-due truck, prepare for primary search of division two.”
Depending on the time of the day, one of the most important areas to search in residential structures are bedrooms. As the scenario above described, there was a fire in what was most likely an occupied home at night. The initial-arriving officer stated that there were two cars in the driveway and there appeared to be no evacuation from the occupants, so there was a high probability that people were still inside.
The initial-arriving officer from the engine used good, basic search profiling techniques to estimate the potential for victims such as: time of day – night; type of structure – residential; occupied status – cars in the driveway. When combined, these factors indicated an increased
probability that there was someone in there.
In such a situation, when the truck company arrives and prepares to go to work doing primary searches, the crew can look for additional search-profiling cues to further estimate victim potential.
Children’s toys and athletic equipment in and around the yard are signs that children potentially inhabit the residence. Parents will often place stick-figure family decals on the rear window or trunk lids of automobiles. There is usually one appropriately sized or attired stick figure present for each member of the family. Looking out for these will give search crews a good estimate of how many adults and children to anticipate inside a single-family structure.
The noise and flashing lights from fire apparatus and emergency responders arriving and going to work late at night will typically alert
neighbours and bring them out to the street. A subsequently-arriving firefighter can quickly ask bystanders how many adults and children live in the affected residence to alert search crews as well as the incident commander.
Searching for known or suspected trapped children is an emotionally charged event. The result of the search – either positive or negative – is likely to produce a significant emotional response from those involved, at some point.
While we always remain hopeful that the search turns up negative (everyone made it out safely prior, or they weren’t even in there at all), we need to ensure that our best effort was spent trying to find them. This best effort will help to reduce the destructive second-guessing that is sure to come about after the call ends.
This edition of Tim-bits is devoted to helping firefighters perform better and more
complete searches inside the bedrooms of children.
As with all searches, a fast and orderly search of a child’s bedroom is essential. Upon locating the entry door to the bedroom, a left- or righthanded search should be determined and communicated to the other search crew members.
Once the room is entered, it may be advisable to fully or partially close the door to limit the spread of smoke and heat into the room. Past experiences from firefighters who routinely perform searches offer that children may tend to hide in closets, toyboxes and under beds when confronted with a home fire.
A thorough primary search of a child’s bedroom includes a quick look into these areas as well as the other more common search areas such as open floor spaces, at windows, on beds or in cribs, etc. As always, firefighters should search with their hands, not with tools or tool handles. Leave the tools at the door to the room. A firefighter’s hands find victims, tools do not.
Two of the above-mentioned common search areas, beds and cribs, deserve special attention due to some lesser-known construction methods and search techniques for them. Out of necessity, children often share bedrooms. To make it work for the family, bunk beds or triple-decker bunk beds can be used.
A quick Internet search for
these types of beds shows various configurations and bed stacking methods. Some stacked beds feature a larger, fullsized bed on the bottom with one or more smaller single beds stacked on top at various offset angles.
Upon encountering a bed in any bedroom, it should be searched fully for victims. Once the surface of the lowest bed is cleared, the firefighter should quickly raise his or her hands up, high overhead, out to the front and out to the
sides to check for the presence of a bunk bed above. If one is found, again, after searching it, raise the hands up high and out to check for the presence of an additional bed above.
To save space, some beds are constructed as loft beds that are placed on tall legs over the top of desks or other functional areas.
If no bed is found at the normal ground level, physically checking the overhead areas on top of desks, toyboxes or dressers may reveal an overlooked sleeping surface.
Similar to bunk beds, manufactured cribs can be stacked as well in order to save space. Again, a quick search of the Internet reveals photos of double-height stacked cribs. The technique for identifying stacked cribs is the same as bunk beds. After searching the bottom crib, raise a hand high overhead to check for a stacked crib on top. Just like beds, cribs must be thoroughly searched, and the contents identified, as there may be numerous blankets, stuffed animals and/ or dolls present.
A method of victim removal that can be employed if an occupied, single-height crib is found is to tilt the crib on two legs along its longer side down towards the ground. This can not be done to doubleheight cribs as they will likely be secured to a wall. Tilting the single height crib will cause the occupant to slide towards the rescuer and will prevent the sensitive victim from being raised over the crib wall at heights where the heat and smoke may be more severe.
This is not a complete guide to primary searches inside residential structures. There is no substitute for repetitive and realistic training on these and other fire-service techniques. The concepts identified in this article will aid the firefighter in giving a “best effort,” in the hope of the best outcome for searches involving children.
Now, get out there and practice primary searches – and when you find a sleeping surface, remember, raise your hands up high and out to check for another one above.
By Sherry Dean
What exactly is mobility and why should athletes engage in practising it? Mobility is stretching and flexibility, right? Not quite, but they do overlap. Mobility refers to movement in a full range-of-motion (ROM), including soft tissue, connective tissue and joint capsules. Good mobility means your joint moves in the way it is designed to with no restriction. Genetics, inactivity, injury and poor motor function all lead to reduced mobility. Over time our joints can deteriorate and the connective tissue is reduced causing the joint to change its movement pattern. Consistent reduced or inadequate ROM also leads to a reduction in mobility. If you stop moving within a plane, your body assumes it no longer needs to do it.
The good news is mobility can be improved. There are limits, depending on the reasons you have become less mobile, and for most people who have never engaged in mobility training it can be very uncomfortable. However, the improvement in immobility will reduce injury, reduce body tension and stress and increase your power output and strength. So, it is well worth the effort.
There are a number of different approaches to improving mobility, including myofascial release, active release therapy, fascial stretch therapy and yoga, to name a few. Rollers, lacrosse balls, voodoo bands and canes have all become commonplace in most athletic clubs and performance centres. All of these
approaches have strengths in improving your range of motion, but it ultimately will depend on how much time and/or money you invest.
A lot of medical professionals are using mobility techniques to improve health, but it can be costly. If you are suffering from a debilitating condition reducing your ROM, you should see a professional, but you can absolutely improve your ROM on your own. Most of the equipment noted here is relatively inexpensive and it can be as easy as a tennis ball or baseball.
You can use almost any round surface to help release soft tissue and remodel scar tissue. Self-massage is a common term used to describe techniques that help get the knots out of soft tissue. One of the largest factors in really helping release the tension and stretching the muscle fibre is moving the muscle tissue across the surface of the ball or roller rather than moving the ball or roller across the tissue.
Try the following techniques for comparison. Do only one leg and take note of the difference between your quads when you have completed these three techniques. You should notice a huge difference in how intense each of these steps are from each other and you will definitely notice the difference in how the quad you rolled feels.
• Lay face down with a roller (a rolling pin in a tea towel works great) on your quad (single not both) just above the knee and move your body toward your feet allowing the roller to roll up your quad to your hip crease. Repeat five to 10 times.
• Same as above, but slow down. Really, really, slow. Move one inch at a time, allowing the
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. Contact Sherry at deansherry@bellaliant.net.
Here is a quick, intense workout. It’s only 12 minutes long, but warm up first (that means do some mobility) and cool down afterward (yep, more mobility). Rotate through these exercises to complete as many rounds/reps as possible in your 12 minutes. Keep your breaks to a minimum. It’s over quickly.
20 – 180 touchdowns (jump squats with a 180 rotation and ground touch)
5 – man makers
15 – butterfly or straight-leg situps
10 – burpees over a high-rise pack (burpee on one side, hop sideways over the pack repeat)
10 – pushups or high-rise pack presses (use the straps to overhead press the pack)
Enjoy. Work hard. Be safe.
muscle to adapt to the roller before moving up the next inch. Repeat a few times.
• Same as above, but now in each one-inch spot, bend your knee and pull the muscle fibre across the roller. Once your knee is bent, floss the muscle fibre from side to side by allowing the foot to fall to the right and then the left like a windshield wiper. Make sure you hit the inside and outside of your quad at each point. You may only need to do this once from above the knee to the hip crease.
You can run through a series of mobility exercises specific to your workout, you can approach a wholebody approach and do a mobility class, or you can work on a target area that really needs attention. The amount of time you spend should depend on your need, but there are two general rules when you are doing mobility:
• Don’t go beyond an eight on a scale of one to 10 in intensity. It should never be painful although it is almost always uncomfortable.
• Always breathe. Never hold your breath when you are rolling or stretching. If you find yourself making that “huh” sound (you will know what that means when it happens) back off on the intensity and let your body adjust to being uncomfortable before continuing. Sounds awesome right?
The more tension in your muscle fibre and the more restricted your mobility is, the more discomforting it will be. Mobility may be particularly difficult the day after intense exercise or following injury recovery. Expect one side of your body to feel different than the other and various muscle groups to react differently. Practice it regularly. You should do some mobility before and after each exercise session.
By Elias Markou
If you have been hiding under a rock the last six months, you may have missed the newest craze to hit the health world, celery juice. Yes, you heard correctly. Cold, pressed celery juice, 16 ounces on an empty stomach, has been deemed to be the cure-all for many complex diseases.
The celery-juice craze is hitting mainstream and the online world with a vengeance. Made famous about a year ago by Anthony Williams, best known as the Medical Medium, only now has it gained enough momentum to be classified as 2019’s “New Health Trend.”
This prompted me to take a step back and look at other potentially trendy, green vegetables and leafy greens that may someday become all the craze. Leafy greens should be a staple in every firefighter’s diet. They are high in minerals, fibre, water, phytonutrients, and they taste very good. Leafy green vegetables are chock-full with anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties every firefighter should consume.
A February 2018 study in the Journal of Neurology indicated that a group of people who ate an average of 1.3 servings of leafy green vegetables per day had a lower rate of mental decline than those who didn’t eat any leafy green vegetables. A more recent study in the British Medical Journal suggested increasing your serving of leafy greens to 1.5 servings daily would lower your risk of Type 2 diabetes by 14 per cent.
Following are my top seven green leafy vegetables that should be a staple in the fire hall:
Spinach is well-known as the leafy
green used to increase iron, but many don’t know that, among the leafy green vegetables, spinach has the most folate of all vegetables. This dark, leafy green has important properties that help skin, hair and bones to be healthy.
Arugula is a brassica family vegetable along with broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage. Arugula is known for its peppery flavour and is called the “elixir that gives flavour to life.” It is a great source for calcium and vitamin K, two well-known bone-building vitamins. Research has shown that higher intake of cruciferous vegetables like arugula can reduce the risk of lung cancer in non-smokers. Arugula and its family of vegetables can also reduce the risk of prostate cancer in men.
This leafy green lettuce is by far the most popular green in any salad. I am sure many firefighters have enjoyed romaine lettuce in a classic Caesar salad over the years. This unassuming lettuce is a very good source of fibre, magnesium, copper, iron, biotin, vitamin C and vitamin B1. Romaine lettuce is also packed with beta carotene, a powerful antioxidant that is known to be connected to lowering the risk of bladder cancer in women and men.
Collard greens belong to the vegetable family which includes spring greens and kale. Collards are packed with vitamin K, vitamin C, beta carotene, water, dietary fibre and protein. Many studies have shown high-fibre diets can help to ward off renal and breast cancer. You can
Dr. Elias Markou is in private practice in Mississauga, Ont., and is the chief medical officer for the Halton Hills Fire Department. Dr. Markou was a firefighter for six years. He is a firefighter health expert and blogger. Contact him at drmarkou@mypurebalance.ca.
often find collards in a vegan restaurant used as a wrap, a great replacement for a grain-based wrap.
The last five years have been good to kale. Kale has received a great resurgence in the culinary world. Kale is a cruciferous vegetable like broccoli, brussel sprouts and cauliflower. Kale has lutein. It is also considered a great antioxidant that can help cancer patients with breast, liver and colon cancer. Kale is famous for sneaking itself into many morning juices and smoothies. Firefighters should make kale a staple in every fire hall.
Well-known around Mediterranean countries and their cooking, parsley is a phenomenal source of folate, vitamin A, vitamin C and vitamin K. All these vitamins help with boosting the immune system and reducing the risk of many cancesr. In many countries, parsley is well-known as a leafy green vegetable that helps with kidney conditions.
This highly-nutritious, leafy vegetable can provide a high level of vitamin K to the body. Swiss chard can be eaten and enjoyed either cooked or raw. The word “chard” comes from the Latin word “carduus,” meaning artichoke thistle. Swiss chard is a leafy vegetable that has a spring harvest. The reddish and yellow stems have been known to lower risks for people with heart disease. Swiss chard is often used as an alternative to a burger bun, or can be added to an omelette.
A healthy balance of the leafy green vegetables mentioned here should be part of a firefighter’s balanced diet.
All firefighters, men and women, can benefit greatly from this group of natural immune boosters.
The celeryjuice craze is hitting mainstream and the online world with a vengeance.
There are seven green leafy vegetables that should be a staple in the fire hall. They are spinach, arugula, romaine lettuce, collards, kale, parsley and swiss chard.
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Glenn Zolnierczyk is president and CEO of ESI Elevator Solution Inc. and ESI Elevator Rescue. He is a certified elevator inspector and member of the B.C. Fire Training Officers Association. Contact Glenn at glenn@elevatorrescue.ca.
It is important to practice using FEO elevators under various conditions
By Glenn Zolnierczyk
Acommon question I get asked during my elevator rescue training seminars is, “Can we, as firefighters or first responders, use the elevator(s) under a fire condition?”
We are told from a very young age to never use an elevator if the building alarm bells are ringing.
It’s also hard to ignore the plaques located in most elevator lobbies that read, “In case of fire do not use the elevator. Use stairways.”
Wow. Have times, and codes, changed.
The elevator Firefighters’ Emergency Operation (FEO) was first introduced in 1973. It supplemented the earlier A17.1 –1971 elevator code and, since that time, has gone through many code revisions. The main objective was to keep first responders safe when elevators are used during firefighting and evacuation situations.
FEO can be separated into two operational phases:
• Phase 1 – Emergency Recall which exists to protect the occupants of a building. If people are in an elevator when a Fire Alarm Initiating Device (FAID) activates, the elevator will automatically move to a safe floor, away from the fire, and shut down with the doors open. The elevator will then remain unavailable for normal use until it is reset. Under Phase I recall, elevators are recalled manually or automatically.
• Phase II – Emergency In-car Operation which allows firefighters to use an elevator during fire operations by maintaining control from inside the elevator car.
An FAID is usually a smoke detector, heat
detector or manual red pull station. Under new code requirements, alarm devices which are triggered, but not in proximity to an elevator, will not cause the emergency recall to initiate.
Proper elevator operation during recall:
• An elevator in motion will stop and travel directly to the designated recall level.
• An elevator which is designated “attendant operation” will remain so (code blue, hospital service) until the elevator is removed from “attendant operation.”
• The audible indicator should remain ON until the elevator reaches the designated level.
• The visual indicator will remain on (or blinking) until the elevator is reset.
Proper elevator operation during Phase II operation
• This is when the firefighter takes control of the elevator from inside the car. Things to check to ensure proper operation:
• Any security systems built into the elevator shall be overridden by Phase II operation.
• When arriving at a landing, the doors should NOT automatically open.
• Operation of the elevators doors is by
the DOOR OPEN and DOOR CLOSE buttons.
When finished using the elevator(s) under a fire or emergency condition and you want to turn the elevator(s) back to normal building operation, turn the Phase II key back to the “OFF” position.
• The elevator will automatically return to the designated level.
To remove the elevator(s) from Phase I Recall Operation:
• All FAIDS must be cleared.
• The auxiliary Phase I key switch (if previously activated) must be in the OFF position.
• The Phase I key switch must be turned momentarily to the RESET position and to the OFF positions.
Since the introduction of these operational phases into elevator fire emergency operations, much has changed. It is important to practice using FEO elevators under various conditions.
You’ll be surprised how easy they are to use. Proper use of an elevator can allow your team to effortlessly move heavy equipment to the upper floors of a building, leaving your team with more energy to handle a stressful call.
By Mark van der Feyst
Mark van der Feyst has been in the fire service since 1999 and is currently a full-time firefighter with the WFD. Mark is an international instructor. He can be contacted at Mark@FireStarTraining.com.
As we continue our study into firefighter survival and self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) emergencies, we arrive at the last section – which is equipment failures.
Within this last section, we have four distinct areas that involve equipment failures: straps, buckles and harness; facepiece; hose; and other failures.
We will start with the area that is the least detrimental to the firefighter with his or her SCBA – straps, buckles and harness. On every SCBA we are going to find different styles and variations of straps, buckles and harnesses used to hold the SCBA to the user. Regardless of the style and look, they all must be able to withstand the rigors of our work environment. This will include using Kevlar for heat and cut resistance on the straps and harnesses and metal buckles or high temperature resistant plastic buckles.
With regards to the buckles and straps – there are two main areas that we are going to use these, and they are shoulder straps and waist belt.
If we were to experience a shoulder-strap failure and the SCBA was to be limping off one side, it is not an immediate danger to life situation. Nor would it be if the buckles of the waist belt were to come apart, or if the strap of the waist belt disappeared. These items are important, but do not contribute to the immediate threat to life. What it can lead to are more serious problems if not addressed right away – this will be dictated by the situation and the user and his or her comfort level with the situation.
With the harness, we can have a significant event if the SCBA backplate was to come apart from the harness. This would cause the SCBA cylinder and backplate to fall off the firefighter’s back with the possibility of pulling on the low-pressure hose that feeds the facepiece. This would require immediate
If the lens of the mask either melts or breaks, this is going to be a very serious issue to deal with.
attention and evacuation by the user as well as a mayday call. The firefighter can hold his or her cylinder and backplate assembly in his or her hands while he or she makes his or her way out.
The second area of concern is the facepiece. With this piece of equipment,
any failure of any kind is life-threatening and requires immediate action. The possibilities are the straps of the mask breaking or coming apart from the mask, or the lens of the mask breaking or melting. If either of these were to occur, the facepiece would be compromised and will not protect the firefighter on its own.
If the straps break, the firefighter will need to hold the mask to his or her face while he or she makes his or her way out. The seal of the mask can be maintained in order to have air exchange without
compromise from outside contaminates. A mayday will certainly need to be called, but the firefighter can exit the structure on his or her own if he or she is not physically impaired.
If the lens of the mask either melts or breaks, this is going to be a very serious issue to deal with. A lens that melts means that we have extreme temperatures and possibly have experienced a rapid-fire development situation. The firefighter will certainly be exposed to the high heat and will most likely have inhaled a breath or two of the superheated gases.
The firefighter will need to cover his or her face with the hands if possible, call for a mayday and try to make his or her way out. This may involve getting on his or her belly and pushing along the wall with his or her feet so that the hands can keep the mask covered.
A broken lens may be the result of contact with an object that fell on the firefighter. This will also expose the firefighter to the environment that will be around him or her, which
may be superheated or not so superheated. Either way, the firefighter will inhale a few breaths of contaminated air.
The firefighter will have to cover his or her facepiece with the hands and call a mayday. If the individual can exit the area and building, he or she should do so or wait for the rapid intervention team to come or another crew that can assist.
With a low-pressure hose compromised, a firefighter will need to exit the area immediately.
The third area involves hose failures. These fall into two categories – low-pressure and high-pressure hoses. With the low-pressure hoses, you will not notice the leak or failure right away, unless the low-pressure hose has been cut in half. With a low-pressure hose compromised, a firefighter will need to exit the area immediately. The way to know that there is a leak is by watching your air supply on the shoulder gauge or by hearing it if it is audible enough.
With the high-pressure hose, this will be noticeable right away – it will be leaking air and making a noise that can be heard by the firefighter or by the other crew members. When this happens, it may require a firefighter to control the flow of air by turning off and on his or her cylinder. This will allow the firefighter to conserve air while he or she exits the structure. A mayday call will certainly be required.
The last area is dealing with any other failures like being out of air or if the regulator stops working. If the regulator stops working, a firefighter will need to operate the bypass valve to open and close it. This will be done intermittently, allowing the firefighter to take a breath, hold it, then exhale it ready for another one. The bypass valve will be opened to take the breath in.
When a firefighter is out of air, this is an immediate life-threatening situation. He or she needs to get some air or else the individual won’t live. The reasons for why firefighters are out of air are not going to be discussed, but if this
were to occur the firefighter would need to take some evasive action. This may include getting to a window so that the firefighter can take off his or her mask and breathe the outside air or buddy breathe with a partner.
Buddy breathing can either be done by one firefighter taking the regulator out from his or her mask, covering the opening of the mask with a hand, passing it to the other firefighter so that he or she can put it into his or her mask, take a breath, then pass it back to the original firefighter while covering his or her opening with a hand. This operation is very evasive and unorthodox, but it will allow a firefighter to have some air to get him or her out of a building.
The other method involves using the emergency breathing support system (EBSS). This system offers a couple of options for the firefighter to use: connect both EBSS systems together or connect the one regulator to the EBSS. This will allow both firefighters to exit the structure while breathing off one cylinder.
By Arjuna George
What we are about to share with you is a novel technique to efficiently doff turnout gear and a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) from an unresponsive firefighter. Take a few minutes to learn this simple system, and share it with your fire department. It could save your life.
The resuscitation of patients experiencing out-of-hospital cardiac arrest from both medical and traumatic causes is well-defined and enjoys widespread attention. Less attention is paid to the special circumstances surrounding the resuscitation of firefighters who experience sudden cardiac arrest while wearing protective turnout gear and SCBA.
This causes an access issue, delaying the initiation of effective resuscitation until he or she can be extricated from their gear. We describe a novel technique to efficiently doff turnout gear from an unresponsive firefighter which allows rapid administration of chest compressions and minimizes no-flow time.
Approximately 100 firefighters die in the line of duty each year in North America. The most common cause of firefighter fatalities is sudden cardiac arrest, of which half are due to cardiovascular disease. While training to remove downed firefighters from hazardous situations is common, there is no structured training
available to direct care once they have been brought to awaiting medical personnel. Furthermore, undirected attempts at removing firefighters from their turnout gear is difficult and time-consuming, owing to its unfamiliarity among medical personnel, overall bulk, and the large SCBA bottle.
In this article, we discuss the etiology of firefighter fatalities, physiological effects of fire fighting, and a novel approach to doffing gear from an unresponsive firefighter. Our approach is simple, requires no additional equipment, and can be performed in less than one minute.
Firefighters perform strenuous work in heavy gear while being subjected to extreme environments. The cardiovascular workload encountered is not unlike running a marathon, except in situations
where the ambient temperature may exceed 160 degrees Celsius. This cardiovascular and thermal strain experienced during firefighting alters myocardial function and blood chemistry, placing firefighters at roughly 10 to 100 times the risk of sudden cardiac arrest.
Once fire suppression activities occur, the combination of cardiovascular, heat strain, and psychological stress contributes to increased sympathetic drive and adrenaline release compared with standard exercise alone. Firefighters not only attain maximal heart rate, elevated body temperature and dehydration, they also experience alterations in myocardial function that potentially decreases their tolerance for strenuous activity.
The potential of a sudden cardiac arrest of a firefighter in
full turnout gear with an SCBA is not only likely, but probable. It is well-established that good neurological outcomes are obtainable in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest provided that a bundle of care, including high-quality chest compressions, is initiated early. However, the resuscitation of a downed firefighter presents a special concern because the patient may present to medical providers still in his or her full protective turnout gear and SCBA. Proper treatment is therefore delayed until the protective gear is removed. Undirected attempts at removal of turnout gear is time-consuming and chaotic. Most medical providers that are not cross-trained in fire suppression will have little experience in the cumbersome turnout gear used by fire departments. Even among fire departments, training for the removal of gear is not common, and therefore we have developed a clear and easy approach to reduce noflow time during the doffing of gear.
The Firefighter Down: CPR (FD-CPR) technique is broken down into 10 general steps, focusing on the stabilization of the downed firefighter in full personal protective equipment (PPE), or turnout gear, on their back. After removing the downed firefighter from any hazards, the initial rescuer grasps the shoulder straps of the victim and sits down, dragging the victim along their SCBA in-between the
For information about how to receive free Haz-Mat and CBRNE Training through the IAFF, e-mail canada@iaff.org
Par l’entremise de l’ initiative de formation en matières dangereuses et CBRNE de l’Association internationale des pompiers
Votre ser vice de protection incendie peut recevoir de la formation à un niveau reconnu en matières dangereuses et CBRNE grâce au curriculum de l’Association internationale des pompiers et un financement du gouvernement du Canada
Pour savoir comment recevoir de la formation gratuite en matières dangereuses et CBRNE par l’entremise de l’Association internationale des pompiers, écrivez-nous au canada@iaff.org
2018-05-18 7:07 AM
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rescuer’s legs. Next, a second rescuer removes any obstructions from the chest, opens the top of the turnout coat, and begins chest compressions. Because the victim is resting flat on his or her rigid SCBA back plate, chest compressions can be performed.
The next steps occur concurrently and require at least one additional rescuer. While rescuer 1 removes the victim’s helmet, mask and hood, a third rescuer opens the turnout coat from the bottom up, minimizing interference with chest compressions. If no other rescuers are available, the second rescuer must stop chest compressions to complete the third rescuer’s tasks. After the turnout coat is fully open, rescuer 1 loosens the SCBA shoulder straps if needed, and the victim’s wrists in their turnout coat, working with rescuer 3 to position the victim’s arms above his or her head. At this point, rescuer 1 holds the victim’s arms and turnout coat, preparing for the final maneuver.
The final maneuver in FDCPR is the co-ordinated “pull down” of the victim by the third and possibly fourth rescuer. The victim’s legs are grasped and they are pulled away from their turnout coat and SCBA while the first rescuer holds the victim’s turnout coat arms. This effectively removes the downed firefighter from their turnout coat and SCBA all at once.
From start to finish, the steps of FD-CPR should take no longer than 15 to 30 seconds, and in practice can be done in less time. Once the victim is extricated from his or her gear, EMS personnel can
join in beginning a comprehensive resuscitation bundle. It is the opinion of the authors that pulse checks and the application of an AED or manual defibrillator be delayed until this stage, as during prior steps they may interfere with chest compressions and removal of turnout gear.
We have found through experience and feedback from numerous firefighters that a number of limitations have been identified with this technique. While there is a standard for PPE among firefighters, no two brands of turnout gear or SCBA are the same. During the pull-down step, certain gear may become hung-up on the victim’s wrists due to elastic bands or wristlets. In many cases the victim may only become partially free, which is not optimal, but if his or her shoulder blades are flat on the ground this still allows effective chest compressions.
Other gear has metal clips
on the chest in addition to, or instead of, Velcro and zippers. These metal clips may be quite hot if a firefighter is removed from a working structure fire, requiring heavy gloves to touch them. Manual dexterity is greatly reduced while wearing structural firefighting gloves, complicating the removal of the turnout coat, which will likely be compounded by the loss of fine motor control during the psychological stress of rescuing a fellow firefighter. Because of the variety of gear in use today, FD-CPR can not be an out-of-the-box solution for all fire departments. However, after careful training with their specific equipment, the general process can be adapted for any department’s gear.
We present a novel technique to doff gear from unresponsive firefighters which has not been previously described. This FD-CPR technique focuses on rapidly sta-
bilizing the firefighter on his or her back to enable chest compressions while other rescuers focus on removing the gear. FD-CPR is simple, requires no additional equipment, and can be executed quickly ensuring that chest compressions are initiated early with minimal no-flow times, essential goals for the resuscitation of a firefighter in cardiac arrest.
Don’t wait for a brother or sister to need your help. Practice these simple 10 steps between alarms so you are ready to save one of our own. More in-depth information on FDCPR can be found at www. fd-cpr.com.
Editor’s Note: This article was authored by Arjuna George in conjunction with Michael Herbert, a firefighter/paramedic with Leland Volunteer/Fire Rescue Department in North Carolina, and Christopher Watford, a part-time paramedic with New Hanover Regional EMS, also in North Carolina.
W hen you keep your hands on the pat ient, you i ncrease compression fract ion—a key factor i n successful outcomes1. Wit h c prINSIGHT™ Analysi s Technolog y, the i nnovative LIFEPAK ® t he only AED that analyzes and makes a shock dec i sion w ithout i nterrupt i n g ches t strykeremer gencycare.com/dontstop
1 C hr i stenson J, Andrus iek D, Everson-Stewart S, et al. Chest compress ion fract ion determ i nes Circul at i on 2009;120:1241-1247.
