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  • September 2020

    • September 2020

    The September issue of Firehouse Magazine includes feature stories on extrication techniques for commercial vehicles, community risk reduction plans, PPE purchasing tips, five mistakes to avoid when purchasing an apparatus. There is also a special 2020 Product Showcase and the 2020 Fire Service Health & Safety Report special supplement.
    Sep 20 First Due Author Pic 5f32a66be5ac0
    Marc Aloan
    Sept. 1, 2020
    Marc Aloan reminds us how time in the engine bay feeds pride in the job and reinforces why members joined the fire service.
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    Firehouse Staff
    Sept. 1, 2020
    First Recipients of 2020 Globe Gear Giveaway
    Photo by Dave Kempter
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    Sept. 1, 2020
    Part 4 of the National Run Survey features Pay Scales & Staffing.
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    The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF) presents its 2020 Fire Service Health & Safety Report.
    Peter Matthews
    Peter Matthews
    Sept. 1, 2020
    Peter Matthews tells of how individuals, organizations and, yes, publications, pivot to maintain dedication to the service and to others.

    More content from September 2020

    Photos courtesy of Jeffrey Braun
    Jeffrey Braun (left), who is a firefighter/EMT-B for the Lyons, IL, Fire Department (LFD), with LFD Fire Chief Gordon Nord, Jr., who is holding one of two airport rescue firefighting vehicles (AARF) that Braun built from Lego blocks. Braun is holding the replica that he built of the Alsip, IL, Fire Department’s Engine 2063, which he made for that department’s chief.
    Rich Dzierwa
    Sept. 1, 2020
    Firehouse Magazine Managing Editor Rich Dzierwa found a firefighter in Illinois whose side hustle deepens his love of the fire service and expands his network of firefighting ...
    Photo courtesy Peoria, AZ, Fire-Medical Department
    The lithium-ion battery energy storage system facility Surprise, AZ.
    Firehouse Staff
    Sept. 1, 2020
    UL FSRI Report on Near-Miss Incident
    Curt Varone
    Curt Varone
    Sept. 1, 2020
    Curt Varone's latest foray into the fire service and the law is particularly useful for officers when lawsuits in the realm of misconduct and harassment arise.
    Product Showcase Capture
    Firehouse Staff
    Sept. 1, 2020
    As the COVID-19 pandemic spread and firefighter conferences were canceled, Firehouse worked with manufacturers to ensure that you see products and services that were introduced...
    Photo by Roger Hamilton
    Just as subjecting PPE that’s under consideration for purchase to realistic heat and function evolution is important, so is getting people who wear and use the gear involved in research and selection.
    Jim Reidy
    Sept. 1, 2020
    Jim Reidy stresses the importance of including firefighters in the selection and evaluation of pants, coats, hoods, helmets, boots and gloves.
    Photo by Keith Muratori
    Keith Muratori 7 13 20 Waterbury, Ct Three Story Apt Bldg Pic 1
    Firehouse Staff
    Sept. 1, 2020
    September Hot Shots includes the Waterbury, CT, Fire Department battling a working fire at a three-story apartment building that housed 12 units as well as a grocery store on ...
    Bruce Evans
    Bruce Evans
    Sept. 1, 2020
    Bruce Evans urges first responders not to overlook the susceptibility of injury to their back, shoulders and knees.
    John Salkav3
    John J. Salka Jr.
    Sept. 1, 2020
    John J. Salka, Jr., stresses the importance of the three elements fire service performance that citizens consider absolute.
    Aerial devices that are equipped with waterways and prepiped monitors should be reviewed to confirm horizontal and vertical movements and the rated gpm flow at all angles of operation., Aerial operation, including waterway testing, should be conducted during final inspection to confirm performance requirements.
    Tom Shand
    Sept. 1, 2020
    Tom Shand and Michael Wilbur explain why the "preferred vendor" concept accompanies four other missteps in the specification of a new vehicle.
    Joplin Fire Department’s Rescue 4, which was assigned to the roof of the abandoned hotel to investigate HVAC units and to set up for possible vertical ventilation, heard the mayday via the shouts of the endangered firefighter directly below them—as well as over the radio. The endangered firefighter concluded that, because his radio went into the water, a radioed mayday wouldn’t transmit.
    Billy Goldfeder
    Sept. 1, 2020
    Billy Goldfeder's examination of a close call that involved an abandoned pool reveals the challenges of such an incident that crews should recognize.
    Aaron Zamzow
    Aaron Zamzow
    Sept. 1, 2020
    Aaron Zamzow explains what escapes many: Exercise has a substantial effect on mental health.
    Figure 1. This running, or traveling, snatch block, which is attached directly to the load via a chain, is being used in a 2:1 mechanical advantage system. The pulling effort from the winch comes in on one side, makes a U-turn on the sheave/pulley of the snatch block and returns back to the winch vehicle—hence, two lines to the load.
    Ron Moore
    Sept. 1, 2020
    Ron Moore instructs on how to ensure that the working load limit on a snatch block rigging isn't exceeded.
    Photo courtesy of Gwinnett County, GA, Fire and Emergency Services
    The mitigation of an incident can’t begin until the product, family of chemicals or hazard class is identified. Familiarizing oneself with street chemistry, which narrows the massive realm of chemistry into a manageable, hands-on-useful hazmat toolbox item, expedites that identification process.
    Robert Burke
    Sept. 1, 2020
    Robert Burke explains why a focus on a swath of chemistry takes precedence over the whole of chemistry for the hazmat incident responder.
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    Dr. Brett Ellis
    Sept. 1, 2020
    Dr. Brett Ellis urges company officers to pass along pieces of themselves to others to influence, to inspire, to transform.
    In conjunction with the Fire Safe South Carolina program, which has turned around South Carolina’s fire fatalities situation, members of South Carolina State Fire, local fire departments and members of communities go directly to the homes of citizens to correctly locate and install smoke alarms that are appropriate for the circumstance. At the same time, the opportunity is taken to provide fire and life-safety information.
    Jonathan C. Jones
    Sept. 1, 2020
    Jonathan C. Jones explains how his state's new Fire Safe South Carolina program, which targets fire prevention, is off to a great start.
    Photo by Michael Daley
    Because passenger vehicles are lighter in weight than commercial vehicles and can end up underneath them in the event of a traffic accident, moving or displacing the commercial vehicle might be necessary to remove a victim in a passenger vehicle. This vehicle was stabilized using cribbing, struts and cables in conjunction with heavy-duty wreckers, lifting the load as crews stabilized from the ground up.
    Michael Daley
    Sept. 1, 2020
    Michael Daley provides in exacting detail why accidents that involve commercial vehicles require different extrication and rescue procedures than those that are applicable to ...
    Photos by Jonathan Hall
    The engine company must cool their advance to the seat of the fire. Hoselines must be selected during incident size-up that can deliver the critical flow rate and be rapidly advanced in no more than 100 seconds.
    Jonathan Hall
    Sept. 1, 2020
    Jonathan Hall's discussion about flow rate clears up misconceptions about lower flows.