Firehouse
September 2009
Firefighters from Finderne and South Bound Brook assisted the Bound Brook, NJ, Fire Department at an attic fire in a semi-attached private dwelling. The fire occurred on August 24, 2008.
Dedication: This month's Firehouse is dedicated to Captain James Harlow, 50, and Probationary Firefighter Damion Hobbs, 29, of Houston, TX, Fire Department; Chief Charles Fletcher Clough Jr., 41, of the Sudlersville, MD, Volunteer Fire Company; and Station Chief/Firefighter Dennis M. Simmons, 63, of the St. John, KS, Fire Department, who died in the line of duty, April 2009.
Cover by: Cover Photo by Jack Calderone
Past installments of this series introduced the strategic classification of building construction. Ordered strategically, based on perceived fire resistance, the five basic types of building construction were listed as follows: Type I — Fire Resistive...
On Sunday, Nov. 2, 2008, a five-alarm fire destroyed a historic railroad roundhouse in White River Junction, VT, that was being used by several businesses. The 150-by-150-foot, heavy-timber-and-brick structure was built in 1929 by the Central Vermont...
Part 4 For the 28th year, the career fire service takes to the pages of Firehouse® Magazine to share and compare statistics about company and department activity levels, funding, staffing and pay. A total of 270 fire departments took part in this...
A new day has dawned for the American fire service. It did not happen instantly, but gradually. Over time, astute and aware fire service professionals have been monitoring the changes in building construction techniques and materials, the changes in how...
W. Craig Fugate began serving as administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in May 2009. Prior to coming to FEMA, he was director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM), which coordinated disaster response, recovery...
On Friday, March 20, 2009, fire swept through multiple horizontal void spaces at the Empress Casino in Joliet, IL, quickly outpacing fire department resources during the initial stages of the fire. The fire burned within horizontal void spaces, running...
"More with less" has been the battle cry of the fire service for quite some time now. It doesn't seem to matter how well a fire department performs its duties, how tightly it manages its finances, how well it trains or how many fire prevention...
This is the fourth column in an in-depth series devoted to the number-one killer of firefighters each year: heart attacks. Previous columns have established that medical exams targeted at assessing cardiac risk factors could identify the firefighters at...
SUBJECT: Advanced Steel TOPIC: Extrication Challenges of Advanced Steel in Vehicles: Part 5 OBJECTIVE: The rescuer will understand optional techniques to consider when confronted with a person trapped in a crash-damaged vehicle with an advanced steel...
All too often, I hear from people outside the fire service that, "the fire service is just doing EMS to justify their jobs." These people are implying that there are fewer fires and the fire service needs to justify budgets.
What can go wrong at a single-family-dwelling fire? Last month, we began a report on a fire that occurred in Sacramento, CA, on Oct. 7, 2008, involving a two-story, wood-frame, single-family dwelling. Four firefighters nearly lost their lives after...
Fire chiefs and labor officials are telling anyone who will listen that the current economic times are presenting some of the most difficult operational and political challenges they have faced in their careers. Budgets are being slashed in our cities and...
PITTSBURGH, PA: SEPT. 1, 1909 — Five firemen were injured, one seriously, and damage estimated at a half-million dollars resulted after a fire in the transfer and storage houses of J.A. Blanck in the East End section. Flames spread rapidly to a number...
For many years, I have been working to create an understanding of master planning in the fire service. To that end, I am devoting this column and the next couple of editions to this critical topic. Far too many leaders fail to understand that their...
"It would give us a great sense of accomplishment if we have been able to communicate to the technical community what you need to do to save our lives." That is how Ric Plummer, an engineer and member of the Berlin, MA, Fire Department, summed up his...
This is the second of two parts discussing the issue of the fire-rescue service and commercial driver's licenses (CDLs). Part one, in the July 2009 issue, presented information from the federal Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act. Information for this...
Sources of wildland firefighting information such as the FireLine Handbook (FLHB), Incident Response Pocket Guide (IRPG), S-215 Wildland Urban Interface Workbook (S-215) and Suppression Tactics Reference Guide, all publications of National Wildfire...
I am fortunate to be able visit a few different fire-EMS departments each year and check out how they operate. From departments on New York's Long Island to the West Coast, it is difficult for me not to stop in and say hello and, if the opportunity...
As emergency response agencies realize the efficiencies of the Incident Management System (IMS), more emphasis is being placed on the tools required to effectively manage. Emergency operations centers (EOCs) are nothing new; in fact, they date back to the...
Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2008, had been a quiet day without activity for the 34 paid-on-call members of the Paris, ME, Fire Department. The temperature was in the high 20s with relatively clear skies and the county had yet been spared a significant snow storm.
How big is a firefighter? While that sounds like a fairly simple and straightforward question, the answer turns out to be complicated and leads to many more questions. The American fire service is now being examined, measured and documented in a manner...
Recently, a small plane and a sightseeing helicopter collided over the Hudson River between New York and New Jersey. Nine people were killed. The accident occurred only a short distance down river from where the "miracle on the Hudson" took place...
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