| The Archives: September 1998 |
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--> Article Forum Send your views, reactions and observations to: Forum, Firehouse Magazine®, 445 Broad Hollow Road, Melville, NY 11747 or e-mail them to forum@firehouse.com. Because of the great volume of letters received on certa in subjects, Firehouse® is limited to printing a representative sampling of readers' letters. Additionally, letters may be edited for space and clarity. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the undersigned and do not represent editorial end orsement by Firehouse Magazine®. Lesson From Lightning The Deerfield, WI, Volunteer Fire Department responded to an unusual "tree fire" the evening of July 20, 1998. The call was received at 7:45 P.M. for a tree struck by lightning in front of a home. Upon arrival, flames were seen licking up the tree, which stood close to the attached garage of the residence. The flames were extinguished quickly, using a small amount of water from the brush truck. Shortly after extinguishment, an odor of natural gas was noticed near the tree. The utility company, notified of the natural gas leak, dispatched personnel and equipment to the scene. Several homes in the area were evacuated until the leak could be controlled. Upon the arrival of utility company personnel, the leak was located in the service lateral supplying the h ome. It appears lightning struck the tree and traveled into the ground, rupturing the gas line. This was a unique call for our department. What appears to be a routine fire call at first can have the potential to be much more serious. In discussions following this incident, it was noted that the flame color was more indicative of gas, not of a tree burning. It was also mentioned that the flames were difficult to extinguish and would keep re-igniting. The flames were burning up the side of the tree, but the tre e itself did not burn. This is a lesson for our department. On future lightning strikes, we will immediately consider underground utilities and objects that may have been affected by the lightning.
Assistant Chief Eric Dahl Mental Well-Being Re "How To Rate Your Fire Department" (May 1998): I noticed with great dismay that nowhere does it state to the officers of the fire department on how to deal with your personnel's mental well-being, i.e., do you have a plan for critical incident stress m anagement? Shouldn't we be prepared and teaching our officers (and all members for that matter) about CISM? After all, it is mentioned in NFPA 1500, isn't it? It costs quite a bit of money and time to train us, so why not CISM and try to keep us around for awhile, not to mention healthy. We seem to worry about everything else in this business but the people, and in my opinion the people are our most important a sset.
Firefighter Roland Kandle Author John A. Granito responds: Firefighter Kandle is correct in that a department's greatest asset is its people. The best departments have the best people, and keeping them that way is especially important. CISM, employee-assistance programs, a menu of useful benefits and all-around respect are essential components of a healthy organization. |
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