Editorial: Changing for the Better
We just returned from the Firehouse Expo in Baltimore. This year's Expo, the 22nd we have produced, had the largest crowd to date. Thank you to those who attended. We continue to grow and work to make the training and education better each year. The hands-on training was intense, just like the 100-degree temperature. We have already been working on the Expo program for 2006 for some time.
Our next event is the Firehouse World Show in San Diego, Feb. 19-23, 2006. Go to www.FirehouseWorld.com and check out the preliminary program. For those who want to submit a program for either show, e-mail me at [email protected] to be considered. A title and paragraph for each class is required, along with a biography and complete contact information. If you have more than one idea, please send in all the information.
The day before I traveled to Baltimore for Firehouse Expo, I responded as the rapid intervention team truck company officer. We arrived at the scene of a fire in a 2.5-story private dwelling that was going good. Brown smoke was pushing out the windows and through the roof. The fire turned really ugly after we arrived as additional holes were cut in the roof. It looked like there was a locomotive in the attic. A long-time friend from the first-due engine came out after almost being caught when flames blew out of a knee wall as he was crawling down a narrow hallway. After he came out on his own, the troops were evacuated from the building and regrouped before the fire was extinguished. We were standing by in case something happened. Nothing did.
After I returned from the Firehouse Expo, my department responded to an early-morning fire in a vacant house. There was a heavy volume of fire on arrival. A defensive attack with handlines protecting the occupied exposure and a truck-mounted deck gun were used. As the fire was knocked down, I looked in the front windows. The fire had burned away the second floor and beams in the front room. Anyone entering a second-floor window via portable ladder without checking the floor would have gone for a ride. But with the vacant building worth zero, it wasn't worth the life of a firefighter. We just took our time, extinguished the fire and waited for the arson squad. Maybe in the past some would have liked to march right in, but we operated slowly and cautiously when we did enter for overhaul. Everyone went home OK.
Back to the Firehouse Expo, two comments I heard from instructors are worth a mention. Ron Moore, in his University of Extrication hands-on classes, stated the cars were some of the best he ever had to work on. Many of the models had airbags and were of such a recent vintage that the training resembled current-day extrication. Mike Wilbur, discussing fire apparatus accidents, showed a photo of a fire truck wreck from a nearby community. A person in the audience stood up and said he was the driver of the apparatus. He further explained what took place to the extent that the audience asked if it was all right for them to ask questions. The class took on a higher level than even Mike imagined. We may be on the right road to firefighter safety, but still have a long way to go.
Kudos to five of our contributing Firehouse photographers. Engineer Keith Cullom from Santa Barbara County, CA, takes on a new role as public information officer. Photographer Bill Noonan celebrated 34 years on the Boston Fire Department and has a new photo book out. Firehouse photographers who were acknowledged in the 2005 International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Media Awards News Photo Awards included Gene Blevins, first place for a wildland shot taken at a fire in Los Angeles County; honorable mention to John Cetrino for his April 2004 Firehouse cover shot from Buffalo, NY; and second place to Glen E. Ellman for a photo titled "Melted" that was published in our February 2004 issue.