Editorial: Instant Notification & Access

I was in my firehouse the other day when I received a phone call to turn on the TV and watch "CNN Headline News." The upper floors and roof of the Monte Carlo Resort & Casino on the Strip in Las Vegas were on fire. I have watched many of these breaking events broadcast live around the world — the wildland fires that ravaged parts of California last fall, the World Trade Center terrorism attack on 9/11, the rescue of a construction crane operator from the top of his sky crane during a fire in a mill under renovation in Atlanta.

Through the use of a pager with "breaking news" from around my area, cell phones, fax machines, the Internet and other technological devices we didn't have years ago, we hear about these incidents almost as they happen. From the Pony Express and the telegraph, we have advanced to GPS systems to help us respond and use satellite phones and radios to communicate from difficult locations. Through the use of YouTube and other modes of communications, we can watch incidents for training purposes we never dreamed of seeing and watch someone else, whether they are doing it right or wrong. Nothing is sacred anymore. The use of video surveillance equipment that captures events as they happen is helping to document specific incidents like the hijacked jet that crashed into the Pentagon. These video cameras can help see what occurred, and a word to the wise — they also have the ability to greatly embarrass if you do something that you shouldn't be doing.

The second fire I ever responded to, in 1975, occurred in a wooden bowstring-truss supermarket. I was ordered into our elevating platform, waiting for water for an exterior attack. The fire vented through the roof and eventually a section of the large wooden bowstring collapsed. Minutes later, another truss collapsed, then another. Each time a truss let go, additional heavy fire vented skyward. I wish I could have had a video camera in the platform. Every firefighter would watch the dangers of a truss roof collapse up close and personal from a bird's-eye view. Those lessons learned in 1975 could have educated firefighters to these significant dangers. Maybe firefighters' lives could have been saved at later incidents where tragedies occurred.

One of the many special programs we are going to present in Baltimore at the 25th Anniversary of the Firehouse Expo, which takes place July 22-27, is a look at the Hackensack, NJ, Fire Department, which lost five firefighters in a wooden bowstring-truss roof collapse at a car dealership in 1988. The devastation the fire brought to the department and families and the training, resources and progress the department has made in the past 20 years will be discussed. The facts surrounding last year's sofa-store fire in Charleston, SC, and the progress the fire department is making since that tragedy, a look back at the 1999 Worcester, MA, cold-storage warehouse fire that killed six firefighters, and the events surrounding the rescue, coordination and multi-agency response to the 2007 Minneapolis Interstate 35 bridge collapse also will be examined. You can check the latest details and new programs as they become available at www.firehouseexpo.com.

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