FREDERICK, Md. (AP) -- When Frederick County reopens its firefighter academy Monday, more than two years after the heatstroke death of a recruit, instructors aim to keep the trainees cooler.
The county has made numerous changes since Andrew Waybright's death to correct problems identified by occupational safety regulators and a local board of inquiry. Chief among them is a better way of measuring the heat-stress danger level, communicated to students by color-coded flags flown from a pole near the entrance to the complex southeast of Frederick.
The academy also has added a full-time safety officer and a wellness administrator who will monitor the 27 recruits' health individually throughout the 17-week program.
Each recruit will be issued a half-gallon water backpack. A water-toting vehicle will follow them on fitness runs through a nearby county park.
Should a student become ill or injured, an emergency action plan requires all training to stop while supervisors are notified, emergency equipment is summoned and 911 is called.
``What happened in the past was past practice, and where we're headed from here is down a new road, and I think the safety and welfare of our employees is the first rule,'' said Richard Himes, chief of training for the Frederick County Fire Emergency Division.
The academy had no emergency action plan when Waybright, 23, of Gettysburg, Pa., collapsed in July 2002, in humid, 84-degree heat near the end of an hour-long morning workout without water. The instructor, thinking Waybright was just tired out, refused help from two passers-by who offered to call 911, according to the board of inquiry's report.
Waybright's parents, James and Shirley Waybright, have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Frederick County, which denies any negligence.
The Maryland Occupational Safety and Health Administration found that the heat that morning exceeded the recommended level for heavy work under the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature Index, a measurement widely used for industrial worker safety. The readings are produced by a machine that factors in air temperature, humidity and heat absorption.
When firefighting classes begin Monday, academy staffers will use such a machine to determine whether a white, yellow, green, red or black flag will fly from the pole.
Himes said the new safeguards won't compromise the academy's ability to produce graduates who meet National Fire Protection Association standards for firefighting knowledge and skill.
``We train people to intervene in emergency, unstable situations, to go into buildings that everybody else is running out of, to use specialized equipment - and we can't do that without incurring some additional stress on those people,'' he said. ``I think the real key is that we need to make sure that they're physically fit and that we don't do anything to harm them.''
