For the Record 11/18

Editorial Changes Prepare Firehouse for the Future

Firehouse has announced the appointment of Peter Matthews to conference director and acting editor-in-chief of Firehouse, and the promotion of Janelle Foskett to editorial director of Firehouse Magazine and Firehouse.com.

“The positive response to these moves, both internally at Firehouse, and among our many speakers, contributors and instructors, has been incredible,” said Greg Toritto, vice president/group publisher, public safety, Endeavor Business Media. “Both Peter and Janelle possess the necessary tools and leadership skills to ensure Firehouse’s continued growth and success, and to accomplish its mission to best serve our audience, customers and partners. The fire service has always been about teamwork, and we are excited to name two true team players to these important Firehouse posts.”

Matthews started with Firehouse in 1999 and has served in multiple leadership and management roles throughout his career, most recently serving as the executive editor and editor-in-chief of Firehouse.com.

Foskett joined the Firehouse team as executive editor in 2015, running the print operations for Firehouse Magazine, including special projects and custom supplements, and working closely with the web team and conference group to build the Firehouse brand.

IFSI and UL FSRI Offering Free Online Training Program on Firefighter Health Issues

The Illinois Fire Service Institute (IFSI) and the UL Firefighter Safety Research Institute (FSRI) have released a new online course entitled “Evidence Based Approaches to Reduce Your Cardiovascular & Chemical Exposure Risks.” The course, available at no cost to firefighters and fire service professionals, is based on a large-scale comprehensive research study and is designed to help students better understand the health issues associated with fireground activities.

The project purpose is to help fire service professionals better understand how operating in today’s fire service is related to the two leading health issues facing firefighters—cardiovascular events (heart attacks) and chemical exposure related to carcinogenic risks (cancer). The conclusions are based off of the large-scale study conducted by partners from IFSI Research, UL FSRI, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Skidmore College, and the University of Illinois Chicago.

“We hope this program can provide actionable insights into findings from this complex project in order to allow firefighters to under understand how this data can apply to their specific operations,” said IFSI Director of Research Dr. Gavin Horn.

Steve Kerber, director of UL FSRI, added: “We are excited to get this important science to the streets in a way that will increase the knowledge of the fire service. The course includes many takeaways that can be implemented by the fire service immediately. There is much more research to be done and this multi-agency team is working hard every day to answer the fire service’s evolving challenges and questions.”

The online classroom and can be accessed at tinyurl.com/ya2beor3.

The project is supported by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency's Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program awarded to the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. Additional support is from the CDC Foundation and the National Toxicology Program.

For more information, visit ULFirefighterSafety.org.

FDSOA, FIRST Receive $1.5 Million AFG Grant

The Fire Department Safety Officers Association (FDSOA) and the Firefighter Injury Research and Safety Trends (FIRST) of the Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University are have received a $1.5 million grant from the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program (AFG) run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

“Working together, Drexel University and the FDSOA have made great progress in improving the safety of firefighters,” said Chief Richard Marinucci, executive director of the FDSOA. “We look forward to continuing this relationship so we can make a difference to improve the health and safety of firefighters.”

This continuing collaboration responds to FEMA’s national prevention priorities on firefighter safety projects “designed to measurably change firefighter behavior and decision-making.” The Firefighter Organizational Culture of Safety (FOCUS) survey, developed by Dr. Jennifer Taylor and her team in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health of the Dornsife School under a FEMA FP&S R&D grant, created the first fire service-specific safety culture assessment tool. Safety culture is a robust predictor of occupational injuries and organizational outcomes such as burnout, job satisfaction, and engagement.

This partnership will take “science to the streets” by widely disseminating the FOCUS survey, which promotes the use of objective data to understand, maintain, or change the culture that creates safety. “Creating a FOCUS on Safety Culture through Fire Service Assessment and Training” will serve 1,000 fire departments from across the country with FOCUS survey administration and customized analysis. Through this new funding, it is anticipated that as many as 120,000 firefighters will be included.

The FSDOA/FIRST research-to-practice partnership will also train 200 fire department and IAFF union representatives through FOCUS Culture Camp trainings. The trainings will be offered in basic and advanced formats. The basic course will cover the theory of safety climate, how to gather safety culture data using FOCUS, and how to analyze and interpret the data. The advanced course will be open only to graduates of the basic course, focusing on enhanced data presentation competencies and designing evaluations for fire service-generated interventions. The advanced course will be available to departments and their unions that stand ready to effectuate change.

For more information on the Fire Department Safety Officers Association, visit fdsoa.org.

Line-of-Duty Deaths

5 U.S. firefighters recently died in the line of duty. Three deaths were health related, one firefighter died in a motor vehicle accident and one firefighters was killed in an explosion on the fireground. This edition of Firehouse is dedicated to these firefighters.

ASSISTANT FIRE CHIEF DANIEL “DANNY” LISTER, 34, of the Queen Anne-Hillsboro, MD, Volunteer Fire Company, died on Sept. 1. Lister was operating at the scene of a motor vehicle accident with multiple medical patients and suffered a medical emergency. Resuscitation efforts on scene were unsuccessful and Lister passed away at the University of Maryland Shore Regional Health at Easton.

FIREFIGHTER II ERIC CHRISTOPHER AARSETH, 20, of Miller Timber Services in Philomath, OR, died on Sept. 4. Aarseth worked the Horns Mountain Fire in Washington on Aug. 27 and was released at 6:00 p.m. On Aug. 28, Aarseth was found unresponsive at his home in Oregon. Reports indicate that he developed pneumonia, which became septic. Aarseth was treated at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Springfield, OR, but was taken off life support on Sept. 3 after suffering irreversible damage to his organs. He passed away early the following morning.

ASSISTANT FIRE CHIEF DAVID FISCHER, 43, of the Sturgis, SD, Volunteer Fire Department, died on Sept. 7. Fischer responded to a single-family home that was fully involved. The intense fire ignited several outbuildings on the property and threatened nearby propane tanks. As firefighters fought the fire and attempted to locate a missing resident, a nearby propane tank experienced a catastrophic failure causing a boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion (BLEVE), which instantly killed Fischer.

FIREFIGHTER ROBERT JAMES PHILLIPS II, 62, of the Memphis, MI, Fire Department, died on Sept. 23. Phillips responded to two emergency incidents, the last one being a motor vehicle accident at approximately 11:30 a.m. The next morning, Phillips was found unresponsive by his wife at his residence. She called 9-1-1 and the Memphis Fire Department responded, but Phillips was pronounced dead at the scene. The nature and cause of fatal injury are still to be reported.

FIREFIGHTER RUSSELL HAYES, 62, of the El Dorado Springs, MO, Volunteer Fire Department, died on Oct. 4. Hayes was driving a department truck to have its pump inspected for annual certification. He lost control of the vehicle, veered to the right side of the road, then overcorrected as he tried to get back, causing it to travel off the left side of the road and overturn. Hayes was air lifted to the Mercy Hospital in Springfield, MO, where he later died from injuries sustained in the accident.