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December, 2017

1ST Responder Newspaper - NE

CONNECTICUT

DRILLS/TRAINING If you have photos you would like to see in our Drills feature, please upload them on our website www.1stResponderNews.com or email them to Lindsey@1stResponderNews.com.

Norwich, CT - On Monday, 11/6/17 Norwich FD's Platoon 3 performed confined space training. Members had an hour long classroom session discussing permit required confined spaces, hazards and our capabilities. Companies then went down to the sewage plant on Falls Avenue for the practical session. Crews were broken into groups so multiple tasks were performed simultaneously. The first group asked questions about the circumstances leading up to the event and started sizing up the incident from the exterior. After gathering pertinent information, a group en-

tered and began metering while others assembled the equipment. Positive pressure ventilation was set up going down into the space where the rescue was to be performed.

The Arizona Vortex Tripod was set up over the hole while members began rigging a lowering system as well as a belay line. The air cart was also set up to provide the rescue team with clean air. After the rescuers were lowered and made contact with the victim, the lowering system was changed into a haul line to lift them up out of the space. - RYAN FLAHERTY

RYAN FLAHERTY

Firefighters John and Esposito prepare the victim to be hoisted.

RYAN FLAHERTY

Firefighters Johnson and Wollman set up the 3 to 1 Z-Rig to hoist the members from the confined space.

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Cromwell Fire Department Prides Itself on Resourcefulness Cromwell, CT - In the current fiscal and budgetary climate that has been coming from the state capital, taxpayers are going to begin to feel the negative impacts resulting from it. Fire departments need to continue to provide 24/7 protections that their constituencies expect and are entitled to receive, whether there are adequate funds available or not. Resourceful fire departments that recognize these fiscal constraints that are placed on everyone must identify and develop alternative ways to meet their community’s needs in the fiscal aftermath of the current budgetary storm. Cromwell Fire Department considers itself one of those resourceful departments. Resourceful fire departments find new uses for the older equipment that still have a viable service life remaining, and that’s just what the Cromwell Fire Department has done. Pondering on the decision to purchase a new piece of apparatus in the current fiscal climate, and facing the immediate need to replace an unreliable and limited servicable Rescue unit, the department has decided to repurpose another less utilized pumper back to front line status. At the end of their service lives, apparatus are typically moved into reserve status where they will remain in a reserve role for years and are utilized as replacement apparatus when a firstline unit goes in for service or repair. According to the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA), due to the old rescues’ current age of 26 years, the apparatus is well beyond its recommended age for front line or reserve response status. The rescue vehicle also has major mechanical components that have been deemed undependable, thus

JUMP TO FILE #110217104 reducing its reliability. Coupled with the fact that the manufacturer has since gone out of business, rendering the availability of replacement parts scarce, placed the department in an untenable situation. After years of utilization, it becomes cost-prohibitive to maintain older trucks. At that point, there are several options; purchase completely new apparatus at considerable cost, refurbishment of current equipment if it is a viable option, or re-purposing other viable apparatus to assume new additional response duties. The Cromwell Fire District and it’s Fire Department’s mission mandates that we respond to the fire and life safety needs of the community it protects, and the apparatus it utilizes must be equally ready, viable and effective. The decision to reutilize a current piece of apparatus was a no brainer after considering all of the alternatives. The fire department still needed to be able to provide the required services that the community deserves, but also needed to do it safely and efficiently and avoid a costly expenditure during this time of fiscal uncertainty. A plan on replacing the rescue unit with a re-purposed current pumper to fill the role in a dual function capacity that would include a fire pump to provide initial attack firefighting capability in addition to rescue capabilities makes it more efficient was formulated and acted on. The minimum cost to re-purpose the unit and still continue providing services to the community was able to be met in existing budget numbers without simply going for hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy a new piece

of equipment. The Cromwell Fire Department’s plan of reutilizing existing apparatus into a new vocation as a new tactical apparatus has come to fruition. Under the direction of the Fire Chief and with the cooperation of the Executive Director and the Fire Commission, the mechanical division of the department, line officers and key personnel came up with a strategy to implement the plan and accomplished the retrofit of the reserve engine. Much of the equipment from the old rescue was remounted on the existing re-purposed apparatus and has been recommissioned as Tactical unit 4. Additional needed compartment space was provided with the removal of extra fire attack equipment not required to make room for “job boxes” that were installed and permanently mounted to accommodate the additional rescue equipment. The mechanical division performed other repair work that would eventually have needed to be completed so as to render the new tactical unit as operationally effective as possible. The unit will serve as a temporary replacement and will provide additional firefighting capability, thus making the department operate a bit more efficiently at a minimal cost to the tax payers. The new tactical unit is scheduled to go into service by November 1, 2017. The Cromwell Fire Department would also like to remind everyone as we enter the Holiday Season of the importance in preventing fires, and the ensuring of maintaining working smoke detection. The department, through its Fire Marshal’s Office, is always available to answer any questions that any one may have. - MICHAEL TERENZIO