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  • May 2023

    • May 2023

    The May issue of Firehouse Magazine includes feature articles on the six elements of ordinary construction that require a firefighter's attention and how message boards on apparatus a leading to enhanced firefighter safety on roadways. Plus, a must-read Station Design supplement!
    Cfsi Logo
    Firehouse Staff
    May 8, 2023
    The Colorado Springs, CO, Fire Department is the 2023 Excellence in Fire Service-Based EMS Award recipient.
    Photo courtesy of Norristown, PA, Fire Department
    Working with manufacturers to specify what your department requires leads to the development of a better vehicle.
    Andrew McIntyre
    May 8, 2023
    Andrew McIntyre and Joe Gribbins dive into the questions that swirl about specifying special trucks for use to rescue victims during flooding and the training that should be mandated...
    New Peter Matthews 631f372505726
    Peter Matthews
    May 8, 2023
    Peter Matthews is unequivocal regarding the need for fire departments to do anything and everything that they can in the realm of fire prevention and community outreach.
    001 Fir
    May 8, 2023
    The 2023 Station Design supplement includes feature articles covering tornado/hurricane shelters in stations, turnout gear equipment cleaning, and more.
    Courtesy of Command Light
    Directional arrows are the most visible at long distances, perhaps as far as 1,000 feet.
    Peter Matthews
    May 8, 2023
    Peter Matthews learns the ins and outs of the installation of a message board on a tender and a retrofit on a pumper directly from a department chief.

    More content from May 2023

    Photos by Kmiecik Imagery. All rights reserved.
    The cost and use of prime space for a single-user toilet/shower that’s located off of the apparatus bay can be offset by the capability that’s afforded to reduce the number of Cold Zone toilets/showers.
    Mark Bushhouse
    May 8, 2023
    Mark Bushhouse explains why enhancement to design and equipment and improvement of protocols and procedures are necessary to build upon bottom-line efforts to reduce carcinogens...
    Photos courtesy of Mitchell Architects
    May 23 Station Design Supplement Gear Eqpt Cleaning Update Pic 1
    Robert Mitchell
    May 8, 2023
    Robert Mitchell provides a tidy explanation of how departments must set up the facilities for ridding carcinogens and toxins from turnout gear, equipment and clothing before members...
    This figure is a copyrighted material excerpted from the ICC/NSSA Standard for the Design and Construction of Storm Shelters—2020 (ICC 500-2020). Copyright © 2020. International Code Council, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduced with permission. www.ICCSAFE.org.
    Figure 304.2(1). Values are nominal three-second gust wind speeds in miles per hour at 33 feet above ground for Exposure Category C. (Multiply miles per hour by 0.477 to obtain meters per second.) Location-specific storm shelter design wind speeds shall be permitted to be determined using the ATC Hazards by Location website (hazards.atcouncil.org).
    Stephen Hilt
    May 8, 2023
    Stephen Hilt, Ray Holliday and Dianne Jones provide details relating to the construction of a tornado shelter or hurricane shelter that give a department quite the leg up on incorporati...
    Joh Salka
    John J. Salka Jr.
    May 8, 2023
    John J. Salka Jr. is perplexed about how some departments that respond to incidents together nevertheless use different accountability systems. The confusing nature of this specific...
    Photo by Lewis Unger
    May 23 First Due Pic 1
    Rodney Kwiatkowski
    May 8, 2023
    Rodney Kwiatkowski urges fire departments to be mindful of how vacation rentals growth can be outpacing department's capability to help to ensure the safety of the public and ...
    Photos by Frank Leeb
    Sunscreen dispensers at the FDNY Fire Academy. Sunscreen dispensers also are one of the initiatives now implemented at the Fort Worth, TX, Fire Department (FWFD).
    Frank Leeb
    May 8, 2023
    Frank Leeb explains what many firefighters likely don't know about their susceptibility to skin cancer and how they can minimize their risk.
    Photos by Paul Barrett
    The small, usually heavy-duty or glass block windows of residential basements can restrict access to a fire in the basement and cause a ventilation problem, which can produce limited or zero visibility.
    Sean Eagen
    May 8, 2023
    Sean Eagen covers the difficulties to responding to a basement fire, including the fact that exterior size-up clues can indicate a situation other than fire below grade.
    All photos by Stewart-Cooper-Newell Architects except where noted otherwise
    Large windows make the lobby-museum of the Sumter, SC, Fire Department headquarters station highly visible and inviting to the community.
    Ken Newell
    May 8, 2023
    Ken Newell provided ways that a department's history can be incorporated into a renovated or new firehouse and to explain how that serves the community and current and retired...
    Brett Ellis
    Dr. Brett Ellis
    May 8, 2023
    Dr. Brett Ellis explains how staying connected, constant and curious allows company officers to be the leader who their crew needs.
    Jason Coleman-Cobb
    Jason Coleman Cobb 12 29 22 Middle Paxton Twp, Pa Garage Fire Pic 3
    Firehouse Staff
    May 8, 2023
    First-arriving crews of the Dauphin-Middle Paxton, PA, Fire Company responded to a garage fire in a nonhydranted area and found heavy fire showing from a two-story garage.
    Rick Bossert
    Richard Bossert
    May 8, 2023
    Richard Bossert is convinced that first responders suffer more than is appropriate, because they don't avail themselves of the ways that grieving and coping can be accessed.
    Curt Varone
    Curt Varone
    May 8, 2023
    Curt Varone explains why the failure of two recent legal challenges to department clean-shaven policies only leaves firefighters the option of asking OSHA to reevaluate its regulations...
    Photo by Lee Calderio
    The cockloft is the void space that’s located above the ceiling of top floor and below the roof deck of an ordinary construction building. Cocklofts that are vented can provide a visible cue as to their size; otherwise the location of scuppers on the roof below the parapet might provide an estimate as to the size of the cockloft and the parapet.
    Robert Moran
    May 8, 2023
    Robert Moran and John J. Lewis hit upon six elements of buildings of ordinary construction that require firefighters' keen attention to help to avoid catastrophe on the fireground...