PAGE 38
December, 2016
1ST Responder Newspaper - SE
International Firefighter Safety Chief Talks to Commissioners
TENNESSEE
Deputy Chief Brian Osgood.
PROVIDED
Blount County Rescue Squad Deputy Chief Wins State Achievement Award Alcoa, TN - Blount County Rescue Squad Deputy Chief Brian Osgood was awarded the 2016 Costo McGhee Award at the Tennessee Association of Rescue Squad’s 61st Annual Convention held on October 10th in Pigeon Forge. This prestigious award is given to a rescue squad member who has been both an outstanding squadsman and has been an asset to the citizens of their community through civic work outside their rescue squad. “Deputy Chief Osgood devotes countless hours of his time to the upbuilding of our squad, while at the same time building and maintaining relationships with other volunteer and civic organizations within the community,” said BCRS Chief Keith Sartin. He continues, “Brian’s love for others and his heart to serve drives him to constantly seek out ways to make a difference in the community.” Osgood, also a member of the Blount Special Operations Team (BSORT), is a certified Divemaster and works with the team on rescue and recovery missions. He is passionate about diving and enjoys teaching others to become skilled divers and support members. A nationally-certified emergency medical responder, Osgood is a Neyland Stadium venue supervisor for the American Red Cross First Aid Station Team (F.A.S.T.). His role is to supervise and administer
JUMP TO FILE #101216113 medical care at the University of Tennessee home football games. He has been a member of the F.A.S.T. team since 2009. Osgood served as Past-President of the Optimist Club of West Knoxville and spearheaded many community projects for the club, including the “Plug Into Your Community” event that created thousands of dollars for local nonprofits and saved over 200 tons of electronics recycling waste from ending up in local landfills every year. He served as chairman of the event for five years. Deputy Chief Osgood has been a member of the Blount County Rescue Squad since 2011. He was promoted to Assistant Chief after the untimely passing of then Assistant Chief John Yu, and ultimately promoted to Deputy Chief in 2014. The mission of the Blount County Rescue Squad is to provide public education, prevention and excellence in pre-hospital emergency care and specialty rescue/support services to the citizens and visitors of Blount County and surrounding counties, when called upon by local and state emergency response partners. - LIEUTENANT LAURA OSGOOD
At the Association of Fire Districts of NY annual Fall Conference in Saratoga Springs, NY, internationally acclaimed Fire Chief Billy Goldfeder gave the keynote address to approxi- JUMP TO FILE# mately 370 Fire 101416107 District Commissioners from all over New York state. C h i e f Goldfeder brings decades of firefighting experience to his presentations and the address on October 14th was no different. Goldfeder has been in the fire service since 1973 and his career continues today. In addition to currently serving as Deputy Fire Chief for the Loveland-Symmes Fire Department in Loveland, Ohio, he serves as the International Director for the Safety, Health and Survival section of the International Association of Fire Chiefs. The 1993 graduate of of the National Fire Academy's Executive Fire Officer program serves as an Associate/Contributing Editor for many fire service publications, co-hosts a website solely dedicated to the safety and survival of firefighters and in 2001, was appointed Honorary Battalion Chief of the FDNY. Chief Goldfeder came to the conference to stress the need for communication between commissioners and their chiefs. He stressed the need for people who put the fires out to understand the role of the commissioner and the need for commissioners to be involved in the day-to-day operations of the department, without becoming a micro-manager. The speaker continued by telling everyone in attendance that the commissioners and every person involved in the fire department needs to protect three separate, but equally important customer bases; the district taxpayers, the district's firefighters, and the families of the firefighters. By keeping those three groups in mind at every decision, the district will be better served. With regard to safety, the chief called on his own experience and expertise to state that most line-of-duty deaths are preventable. He went further by saying that the departments with the most stringent rules and drills have higher call turnout and better safety records. He advanced the idea that departments hold frequent drills and firefighters that miss them are not permitted to respond to calls until the drill requirement is met. Equipment purchasing was also mentioned during the three hour event. Chief Goldfeder stressed the importance of buying
TODD BENDER
Staatsburg Fire District Commissioner/1st Responder News Correspondent Todd Bender and Chief Goldfeder.
equipment such as thermal imaging devices, that will benefit the three customer bases previously mentioned. He argued that equipment that can save lives and property would not be objectionable to the taxpayer, would give the firefighters one more tool to aid in safety, and the families of the firefighters would have some peace of mind. Chief did say that when equipment is asked for and subsequently purchased, that the commissioners demand that the chief draw up a policy for utilizing the equipment. The theory is that the best tools on the market only work when you take them off of the apparatus and actually use them. He also said that department officers should be responsible for making sure the policies are observed by the members of the department. On policies themselves, Goldfeder said that three things need to happen before a policy is enforceable;
classroom session on the policy, hands on training, and testing on the material covered in the classroom and hands on exercise. Cancer, the ever-growing problem in the fire industry, was also mentioned. Chief Goldfeder stressed the need for policies that keep firefighters away from fires unless they are wearing their SCBA equipment. There is enough validated research that shows the correlation between toxic fumes at fires to the diagnosis of cancer among firefighters and commissioners should demand that the appropriate breathing equipment be used at all times. Goldfeder also encouraged the older members in attendance to get periodic cancer screenings due to previous exposure and the benefit of early diagnosis. - TODD BENDER