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 ®

July 2016
Volume 34, Issue 7
To subscribe, visit
www.firefighternation.com

e a tu r e s
F
50

38
34 The Design of the High-Rise Handline
Here are guidelines for selecting the right size handline for effective
water delivery at high-rise fire operations.
By Paul Shapiro

38 Philosophy and Fact

If the fire service hopes to eliminate the bad events caused by bad habits
or questionable practices, it must implement change and initiate a culture
modification process.
By J. Scott Thompson

43 Roll-Down Security Gates, Part 2

The author takes a look at a few of the more common external locking
mechanisms used with roll-down security gates to help you force entry faster
and more efficiently.
By Paul DeBartolomeo

47 The Black Tom Explosion

A look at this historic fire that engulfed barges carrying dynamite and TNT
and threatened the Statue of Liberty.
By Paul Hashagen

50 Should You Stay Home?

Rresearch shows that people who come to work when they should be home
recovering from mental or physical illness can potentially have a negative
impact on the workplace.
By Nicola Davies

2 F ire r escue M agazine July 2016 F ireFighterNatioN .com

1607fr_2 2 6/21/16 4:43 PM

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 ®

a r t me nts
Dep 18

6 From the Editor 18 Wildland Urban Interface 33 Thermal Imaging

Communicate a plan that mirrors your department Organizational analysis of WUI capabilities. Training with your camera at the firehouse.
SOPs and mission. By Alex Rivera By Carl Nix
By Erich Roden
24 Fire Attack 53 Company Officer Development
8 ToolsNewsTechniques Tips for handling laboratory incidents safely. How “Stop, Drop, and Roll” can save
Succession planning must be a priority. By Greg Jakubowski firefighters in a collapse.
By Aaron Jacobs By Stephen Marsar
28 Hump Day S.O.S.
12 Nozzlehead How to manage your time and delegate tasks. 55 Community Risk Reduction
The threat that cancer poses to the fire service. By David Rhodes Improving data reporting to improve
By Billy Goldfeder planning efforts.
30 Distant Fires By Jim Crawford
16 Apparatus Ideas Fires of note from July 1916.
Greater Naples (FL) takes delivery By Paul Hashagen 57 New Deliveries
of a Pierce Ascendant.
By Bob Vaccaro 32 From the Chief’s Desk 57 New Products
The concept of lifelong learning.
By Ronny J. Coleman 58 Classifieds
59 Ad Index

COVER: A Riverside (NJ) Fire Department truck company operates at a large big-box commercial structure 60 The Backstep
fire as an exterior slab wall collapses. Big-box commercial buildings are usually prefabricated structures that are Keeping your boss informed without overdoing it.
By Matthew Tobia
assembled on site. Although their structural members are well built with excellent quality control measures, they are
prone to collapse based on their connections and behavior under fire conditions. As with any residential or commercial
building, you must establish, maintain, and continually review a collapse zone in terms of hazards to operating
personnel and defensive firefighting operational positions. As companies transition to an exterior attack, the incident
commander must size up the structure again and keep in mind the time it takes to reposition apparatus and personnel.
This is not always a quick change in strategy, position, and operations, and the potential for collapse is even greater
the longer it takes to make the switch. Ensure that you monitor and cordon off the collapse zone with barrier tape to
prevent a catastrophic outcome from poor planning. (Photo by Dave Hernandez.)

4 F ire r escue M agazine July 2016 F ireFighterNatioN .com

1607fr_4 4 6/21/16 4:43 PM


M A G A Z I N E
VICE PRESIDENT/GROUP PUBLISHER
Eric Schlett - erics@pennwell.com
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
Bobby Halton - roberth@pennwell.com
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Erich Roden - erichr@pennwell.com
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Diane Rothschild - dianer@pennwell.com
SENIOR EDITOR
Kindra Sclar - kindras@pennwell.com
ONLINE NEWS/BLOG MANAGER
Bill Carey - billc@pennwell.com
EDITORIAL ADVISORS AND CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS
Les Baker, Jim Crawford, Billy Goldfeder,
Todd Harms, Angela Hughes, Greg Jakubowski,
Rhoda Mae Kerr, Joseph Knitter, Tom Lakamp,
Stephen Marsar, Jordan Ponder, Forest Reeder,
Homer Robertson, Tiger Schmittendorf,
Peter Silva Jr., Matt Tobia,
Bob Vaccaro, Becki White
ART DIRECTOR
Josh Troutman - josht@pennwell.com
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR
Rae Lynn Cooper - raec@pennwell.com
VICE PRESIDENT, PENNWELL MARKETING SERVICES
Paul Andrews
marketingservices@pennwell.com; 240-595-2352
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Brandon Rowland - brandonr@pennwell.com
DIRECTOR OF EPRODUCTS
Scott Nelson - scottn@pennwell.com
DIGITAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN COORDINATOR
Erin Northrop - erinn@pennwell.com
www.pennwell.com
FireRescue
4180 La Jolla Village Dr., Suite 260
La Jolla, CA 92037-9142
Phone 800-266-5367 or 973-251-5077
Fax 858-638-2601
www.firefighternation.com
FireFighterNatioN .com
1607fr_5 5
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ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT
NATIONAL SALES MANAGER
Ted Billick; tedb@pennwell.com; 801-262-1871
MEDIA SALES CONSULTANT, WESTERN REGION
Erin Moriarty; emoriarty@pennwell.com; 208-309-2747
MEDIA SALES CONSULTANT, NORTHEAST
Anthony Maglionico; anthonym@pennwell.com; 973-251-5073
MEDIA SALES CONSULTANT, EAST & MIDWEST
Ted Billick; tedb@pennwell.com; 801-262-1871
MEDIA SALES CONSULTANT, SOUTHEAST
Tim Tolton; ttolton@pennwell.com; 678-974-2472
FOR ASSISTANCE WITH MARKETING STRATEGY
OR AD CREATION, PLEASE CONTACT
PENNWELL MARKETING SOLUTIONS
Vice President Paul Andrews
(240) 595-2352; pandrews@pennwell.com
CHAIRMAN
Robert F. Biolchini
VICE CHAIRMAN
Frank T. Lauinger
PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Mark C. Wilmoth
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT,
CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT AND STRATEGY
Jayne A. Gilsinger
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, FINANCE
AND CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER
Brian Conway
FOUNDING PUBLISHER
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SUBSCRIPTION DEPARTMENT
Phone 847-763-9540 / fr@halldata.com
REPRINTS, EPRINTS & LICENSING
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J uly 2016 F ire r escue M agazine 5
6/21/16 4:43 PM
 From the Editor
Wants and Expectations
Communicating the plan
hen I was a company officer, I had a
W senior battalion chief who had this thing
By Erich Roden
about radioing the first-arriving company
officer for a full update the very second he arrived
on scene—regardless of whether the first-arriving
engine or truck officer got there seconds earlier and
was working on getting to his position. I remember
thinking that I should just say, “I’ve got heavy fire
in this place and I’m trying to get the first hoseline
started; what do you think I have going on?!?”
In all seriousness, it seemed aggravating at the time
because we had very specific policies for fireground
operations that dictated what the entire assignment
was supposed to be doing. Furthermore, everyone
expects the first-arriving companies to head to and
be where they’re supposed to according to the plan
(standard operating guidelines). Hence, I would
always take a deep breath and simply relay my com-
pany’s intended operation and tasks to him. Later, as
I became a chief officer, I realized that he was simply
ensuring that the first-arriving units were positioning
themselves according to the plan we were supposed to
be following; he wanted to actually hear it from the
people who would make or break the overall operation
(the first-arriving company) to determine if he was
going to support, or not support, what we were doing.
This month’s theme is communications. Commu-
nications transcend fireground transmissions to every
aspect of the organization. Believe it or not, everyone
wants the same outcome: successful emergency opera-
tions with clear expectations of how to actually make
that happen. But therein also lies the tricky part: clearly
communicating these wants and expectations in writ-
ten and verbal form so that everyone knows how the
outcome will come to be. As organizations find their
members promoting and moving throughout, these
expectations dynamically change with regard to how
one now imparts and enforces them on subordinates
and peers. This involves accepting more responsibility
and, at the same time, relinquishing it to those who are
actually accountable for it. And the higher up one goes
in the organization, the greater the number of people
Connect with Erich! you are accountable to, and for. So how do we tackle
Stay in touch with communications within our departments to realize
Erich Roden successful outcomes?
Facebook:
First, read David Rhodes’ “Hump Day SOS”
www.facebook.com/ about discovering the time in your career where
ErichRodenFRM you can’t do it all by yourself. Rhodes posits how
6 F ire r escue M agazine July 2016
1607fr_6 6
command and control quickly become command
and out-of-control if you let them. Just because you
are ascending the hierarchy of the organization, you
don’t have to take everything with you. Let those
you’ve trained, led, and left impressions on carry
some of the weight. That’s where your presence will
always be felt.
Dr. Nicola Davies writes on presenteeism and
why it’s not always best to show up to work. Davies
questions the logic of praising the employee with
loyal accolades who always shows up to work, even
while ill or carrying emotional problems. What kind
of message are you communicating when you’re
the one obstructing productivity by portraying the
wrong approach to managing personal and physical
problems in the workplace?
How you manage your presence in the firehouse
also translates into your viewed presence on the fire-
ground. This includes understanding what’s present
in your first-due areas. Paul DeBartolomeo from the
FDNY shows us ways to defeat security gates if pres-
ent in your area. You can always show up to work
on time and ready to go, but if you can’t defeat the
buildings you respond to, you’re not part of a pro-
ductive culture in your fire department. Culture is
what encompasses presence and capability, and being
a productive part of it is what makes us professionals,
whether volunteer or career.
Finally, successful tours in any firehouse are a prod-
uct of the overall culture of the fire department. Creat-
ing cultural modification so that a fire department’s
culture can shed discovered or endemic hazards,
conditions, or questionable practices is crucial. Scott
Thompson teaches us the way to create a culture for
success and survival by asking the fire service to finally
take action instead of talking about modifying the cul-
ture of the fire department. He further discusses ways
to overcome reluctance to change so that modification
is the norm rather than the consequence.
Remember that communicating your wants and
expectations should mirror those of the organizations
policies, standard operating guidelines, and mission.
If the department truly does understand a collective
outcome, then understanding how to communicate
this based on your station in the department’s
hierarchy needs continual reflection. Once we lose
clarity of any part of the plan, we start to cloud
outcomes and expectations.
FireF ighterNatioN .com
6/21/16 4:43 PM
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1607fr_7 7 6/22/16 10:18 AM

 Tools News Techniques
Equipment
Succession planning should
include recognizing and
training respective members
who show the potential for,
or the interest in, learning a
particular skillset for a needed
position. [Photos by the Loud-
oun County (VA) Department
of Fire, Rescue and Emergency
Management.]
8 F ire r escue M agazine July 2016
1607fr_8 8
How To Training People
Before They
Walk Out
the Door
Succession planning has
to be a priority to avoid
organizational illiteracy
By Aaron Jacobs
I
f your department is like most, you have a member
in a position that requires a unique set of knowl-
edge, skills, and abilities to perform. His involvement
is usually unmatched by any other, and if this person
were to leave, it would be detrimental, as there has
been no one else trained to fulfill the role in a similar
capacity. Subsequently, when this individual eventu-
ally does leave, out of necessity someone steps up to
the challenge, is designated to fulfill the position, or
is brought in from the outside. Regardless of the cir-
cumstances, there is a learning curve that results in a
loss of proprietary knowledge, continued growth, as
well as productivity—all of which has the potential
of being avoided through the concept of succession
planning.
RECOGNIZE AND TRAIN
Succession planning has the potential to be
viewed in different fashions, but overall there is a
basic concept that can be applied to the fire service.
In general, the thought is to simply recognize and
train respective members who show the potential
News Web & Media Events
For most organizations, the officer of a specialty unit would be
on a truck, heavy rescue, hazardous material, or swift water
unit and is deemed “special” because of the advanced training,
knowledge, skills, and abilities needed.
for, or the interest in, learning a particular skill-
set for a needed position. To start, the position
in question will need to be identified. In some
departments, this may be a chief; in others, it might
be an officer for a specialty unit or the driver of a
particular piece of apparatus. Each department will
have its own respective set of circumstances that
dictate the need.
Next, departmental members will need to be
recognized for their interest. For quantity, everyone
can be solicited though applicable means. This may,
in fact, yield the largest pool of candidates to choose
from; however, it also offers the opportunity for those
with alternative interests to apply. For quality, solicit
and reach out to individuals. By speaking directly
to members or working though recommendations,
there is the potential for a much smaller but dedi-
cated pool of candidates; this option is preferred for
succession planning to be the most effective.
Finally, the selected person will need to receive
the pertinent and applicable training to allow for a
base level of competency and skill. This in turn will
require the assistance of a dedicated instructor or
mentor to accomplish. The mentorship program’s
importance cannot be overstated, for it is here
that the organizational success and the future of a
department will be ensured. The end results will
be an individual or pool of candidates available to
seamlessly transition into a critical position without
any departmental losses.
FireF ighterNatioN .com
6/21/16 4:43 PM
 FIND IT @

Arrive Alive By Bob Vaccaro

Using prudent judgment when responding to, operating
at, and returning from alarms is imperative. But no matter
how often fire service safety advocates preach it, it seems
that we are still having serious accidents. Remember: The
officer in charge in that right seat is responsible for the
safe and prudent operations of the emergency vehicle and
for the safety of all firefighters in the vehicle. Bob Vaccaro
shares advice from FEMA and the USFA on how to keep
yourself and others safe when responding to emergency
calls. Check out the tips and more here.
www.firefighternation.com/author/bob-vaccaro

Photo of the Month Humpday Hangout Quarterly

Every Wednesday, various
MyFFN member Brian Gettemeier
fire service personalities
posted photos of the St. Louis (MO)
and leaders speak with
Metro Urban Search and Rescue
members of the FireRescue
System conducting an operational
and Fire Engineering teams
readiness exercise at Babler State
on topics and informa-
Park. In this photo, the recon team
tion that influence and
is inputting the GPS coordinates of
impact the way you and
the victim’s cell phone. Do you have
your department operate.
shots of your department conducting
Participants also take attendee questions and comments
operational readiness exercises and
into the discussions on our social media pages with #FETalk.
using technology to assist in those training exercises? Remem-
Hangout discussion cover topics including high-rise fire
ber, FirefighterNation.com is the place to share your fire service
operations, occupational safety and risk assessments, leader-
photos and videos with more than 60,000 members!
ship, and building relationships with your neighbors. Speak-
ers include Steve Pegram, Rick Lasky, Ray McCormack,
FireRescue’s own Erich Roden, and many more. Check out
the conversations from the first three months of 2016.
www.firefighternation.com/article/training-0/
humpday-hangout-quarterly.

It’s Easy to Share!

Featured Blog: The Fire Officer Did you know that all FireRescue
Christopher Naum and Douglas Cline collectively bring more than articles are available online? You
85 years of comprehensive fire service leadership and operational can access the complete issue each
experience in the areas of field operations, training, command, and month online. Bookmark your favorite
management. They now find themselves in the position to give back authors, share articles with your
to the fire service and serve the needs of the current and future gen- firefighters, or enjoy reading on your
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FireFighterNatioN .com July 2016 F ire r escue M agazine 9

1607fr_9 9 6/21/16 4:43 PM

 SPECIALTY UNIT
As an example, let’s look at a previously men-
tioned position, the officer of a specialty unit. For
most organizations, this position would be on a
truck, heavy rescue, hazardous material, or swift
water unit and is deemed “special” because of the
advanced training, knowledge, skills, and abilities
needed to proficiently work on the apparatus and
supervise the crew. When a vacancy occurs, because
of a retirement, promotion, or transfer, the ideal
scenario would be to have an individual already
fully prepared to take over—ensuring the continu-
ity of operations. To ensure that this is what occurs,
take the following necessary steps:
• As a department, accept and understand that
not everyone is suited to fill the role of an officer on
a specialty piece without preparation.
• Identify interested members through solicitation.
• Provide the training and fully prepare the
selected officer candidates for the specialized role.
This may entail bringing instructors in, send-
ing personnel out, or establishing a self-certifying
process.
• Provide a mentor who is a subject matter expert
and is able to fine tune particular skillsets and pro-
vide clarification when needed. Mentorship should
be ongoing with no definitive ending.
EFFORT EVALUATION
So how do you evaluate your efforts, the success
of your endeavors, and the return on the invest-
10 F ire r escue M agazine July 2016
1607fr_10 10
ment? The answers are twofold, with the first being
effort and comfort. When the time arrives to fill a
position, there should be minimal strife in selecting
the appropriate person. If you are apprehensive
about the choices, the process was not effective.
The second is department specific and value
based. An organization that sees the benefit of its
personnel receiving additional training and creating
working relationships, regardless of selection, will
view the process as a success even if some partici-
pants do not progress in rank or fill a position.
Others, however, will only consider advancements
or promotions as a guide for measurement.
In short, succession planning has its place in
every department or division and can be used to
ensure an uninterrupted exchange of information
and the promotion of continued growth and
development. This is accomplished through the
identification of key positions, selection of suitable
applicants, the provision of training, and the direct
guidance from an assigned mentor.
Aaron Jacobs is a 21-year veteran of the fire service and is a
battalion chief with the Loudoun County (VA) Department of Fire,
Rescue and Emergency Management, where he has been for
13 years. He is assigned to the operations division. In the past,
Jacobs has been with the divisions of operations training, recruit
training, and communications and support services. He has an
M.B.A. in public administration, a B.S. in fire science technology,
and Chief Fire Officer (CFO) designation. Jacobs can be contacted
at aaron.jacobs@loudoun.gov.
F ireFighterNatioN .com
6/21/16 4:43 PM
 firerescue.hotims.com

1607fr_11 11 6/21/16 4:43 PM


The Warriors ... By the Thousands
By Billy Goldfeder
Got a fire service
question or complaint?
Let Nozzlehead hear all about it.
He’ll answer you with 2,000 psi
of free-flowing opinion.
Send your letters to:
Nozzlehead, c/o FireRescue
PennWell Corp.
21-00 Route 208 South
Fair Lawn, NJ 07410
Attn: Diane Rothschild
(dianer@pennwell.com)
12 F ire r escue M agazine July 2016
1607fr_12 12
Nozzlehead
The threat cancer poses to the fire service
here is no specific letter to Nozzlehead this
T month; instead, I am compiling several let-
ters into a response in this month’s column.
Several people have written in the past year asking
about firefighting cancer: cancer presumption,
prevention, firefighters fighting the battle, wearing
self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), wash-
ing your hoods and gear—all the cancer stuff.
This morning (May 5, 2016), a friend died
from cancer. “Another” firefighter died
from cancer ... what perfect yet horrible
timing.
My editors are having a fit right now because I
am supposed to address issues on a schedule. In
other words, about 90 days out they know what
issues I am going to write about, and they like it
that way—it keeps things organized.
STAY ORGANIZED
It reminds me of when I was a young firefighter
in the early ’70s and my Dad would join us at the
table. Suddenly, the tones would go off and we
would go running. He was not a firefighter (but
always a huge supporter), and he would say, “Where
are you going? You guys didn’t finish eating! What’s
going on?” and then he would give an aggravated
Archie Bunker-style wave ... with attitude.
Before my Dad could even process what was going
on, we were out the door, putting on our black duck/
canvas coats, fireball gloves, rubber pull-up boots
(that we rarely pulled up), SCBAs in boxes (only
when needed), with exhaust filling the firehouse. I
always thought it was funny back then as my Dad
was a very organized man. Things were always in
order. Things were in control. Even as a man who
was shot, a Purple Heart WW II United States Army
sergeant who served on the battlefield, things had to
always be in ORDER! But for whatever reason, he
never grasped the suddenness of a fire call.
ON STANDBY
A fire call. It generally means someone is, or
could be, in trouble and needs our help five min-
utes ago. We prepare. We train. We prepare and
train again. And we continue to train and prepare
awaiting the fire call.
We make sure we size up our communities, our
first-due areas, our people, our equipment, and all
of our stuff as we await the fire call.
As firefighters, our lives are on that constant
standby.
THE CALL
It is safe and equally sad to say that there are
none among us who don’t know a brother or sister
firefighter/EMT or paramedic who is fighting or
has fought cancer. Cancer is by far the #1 killer
of active career and volunteer firefighters—bar
none. Cancer also claims the lives of more retired
firefighters above and beyond anything else.
As I am looking at age 61, it seems for a number
of years I have subconsciously (and sometimes con-
sciously) waited for that cancer call. It’s on my mind
a bit. I’m not obsessed by it, but it’s out there. Many
firefighters, some close friends, have answered that
call; some have won and some have lost.
I was discussing cancer with some firefighters the
other day and it’s odd that some firefighters who
operated at the same runs, the same fires, don’t get
sick. Some do. Who knows how this stuff works.
Sometimes everyone gets hit; read about the New
York Telephone company fire in 1975.
UNDERSTANDING THE THREAT
It’s only in recent years that we are really starting
to genuinely understand how nasty that stuff is and
not accepting it as part of the job—at least in some
places.
Someone sent me a video the other day of
firefighters attacking a car fire, and the video has a
company officer loudly yelling to a firefighter to get
his mask on. It sounded like this:
Fire officer: Larry.
Fire officer: Larry!
Fire officer: Put your mask on!
Firefighter Larry: Aw, come on dude; stop.
Fire officer: Put your mask on!
Firefighter Larry: I’m not wearing it.
Fire officer: I’m not going to tell you again. Put
your mask on! I’m not going to tell you again. Put
your mask on!
Firefighter Larry put his mask on.
F ireFighterNatioN .com
6/21/16 4:43 PM
 In some places, Firefighter
Larry would be dealing with
some serious issues after that
fire. Maybe being yelled at?
Maybe being written up?
Maybe being suspended? In
some places, Firefighter Larry
wouldn’t think of operating
without a mask. The discipline
already exists. It’s in the culture.
It’s the flavor of the fire depart-
ment: a disciplined and well-led
fire department that gets it,
with a focus on the need to take
risks—but not stupid ones.
A needed risk: Searching a
dwelling because it’s on fire and
people expect us to get them out.
An unneeded risk: Moe, Curly, or Larry operat-
ing without a mask at a car fire. A car fire that one
of those California helicopters could easily handle.
Poof. Now you see it, now you don’t. Pure magic.
Kind of like a good day. As a firefighter, you are
having a really good day. Lots of runs. Good crew.
Good training. Good meal. The next day is your
kid’s ball game, a daughter’s wedding, all good stuff.
And then suddenly you pee blood. And it hap-
pens again. And then the doctor tells you that you
firerescue.hotims.com
1607fr_13 13
The Jameson family.
(Photos courtesy of the Jameson Family.)
are unable to have a good day
because of a diagnosis. An old
friend, Brooklyn (NY) Fire Cap-
tain Angelo Puleo, told me they
called it the big C. Cancer. And
about your good day? Poof. Now
you see it ... now you don’t.
THE FIGHT
While I want to focus on one
specific firefighter who is in his
early 30s, he is representative
of the thousands of firefight-
ers in North America who are
fighting cancer as I write and
you read this. You’ll read he has a little kid, just like
thousands of others. He has a spouse, the love of
his life, just like thousands of others. He was fully
determined to beat this thing, just like thousands of
others. He never expected this diagnosis at such a
young age, just like thousands of others.
This brother I am writing about has fought a truly
heroic battle but succumbed to cancer—just like
thousands of others. He is the father of a toddler, a
little boy named Liam, and the husband of Christine.
BIG-10
Rubber Lined Attack Hose
10 Year Warranty
6/21/16 4:43 PM

Nozzlehead
Kyle Jameson at the fire
station with his son.
He is a pipe band member and a career firefighter-
paramedic with Hampton (NH) Fire/Rescue.
As Hampton Fire/Rescue wrote: “It is with the
most profound sadness that Hampton Fire/Rescue
announces the passing of our own hero, Firefighter/
Paramedic Kyle Jameson. Kyle waged an epic battle
against insurmountable odds and did so with grace
and class, as a true Warrior. We are deeply saddened
by his loss, but we have been made infinitely better
by having had the chance to know such a wonderful
human being. His humor and his generosity of spirit
will light our lives forever. We ask that his family,
firerescue.hotims.com
14 F ire r escue M agazine July 2016
1607fr_14 14
Christine, Liam, and all of #teamjameson, remain in
your thoughts and prayers.” From Chief Jameson R.
Ayotte, Hampton F/R.
A message that we have all read so many times
before. Thousands of times.
ALL HANDS ON DECK
I had a chance to visit with Kyle just after he
arrived in New York City, on the battleground
known as Sloan Kettering, a “World Series/Super
Bowl” location where those fighting cancer are
given the best chances and they fight the absolute
toughest battles. While he was there, people like
Joe Downey and the Fire Department of New York
(FDNY) Special Operations Command firefighters
looked after the family, starting with picking them
up at the airport the day they arrived with about an
hour’s notice. An hour’s notice for firefighters?
Piece of cake; that gives us 59 minutes and 59
seconds lead time.
Brooklyn Rescue 2 and Captain Liam Flaherty
(for whom little Liam is named, not because Kyle
knew him but because he inspired him way up in
New Hampshire) were there, and the family spent
time with them visiting as well. There were plans
for Kyle to play with the FDNY Pipes and Drums
... but the best laid plans ....
FDNY’s Mike Dugan, New Hampshire Fools’
F ireFighterNatioN .com
6/21/16 4:43 PM
 Andy “Sippy” Biron (and his young son, Joey), and
I spent a few hours with Kyle, Christine, Liam,
and Kyle’s mom back in February where there was
nothing but hope and spirit to kick the enemy. And
fight, kick, and battle he did. He did it at a place
in New York City where, if there was a chance,
it was there with them. Between the doctors, the
nurses, the family, the friends, and Kyle’s spirit and
attitude, there was a definite will; but in the end,
there was not a way.
By the time you read this, they’ve had a funeral
and memorial service for Kyle where laughter and
tears consumed the family and friends. By the time
you read this, with faith and love, Christine and
Liam (supported by family, friends, and Hampton
Fire/Rescue) are hopefully starting to see just a little
light, always with the love and memories
of Kyle shining down on them. Clearly it
has been and will be their time to think
and determine where they go, how they go,
what they do, and to pray for the strength
to do it.
Chiefs: Make it dead clear that unnecessary smoke
exposure on the fireground is over.
• Masks on with air.
• No exposed skin.
• Wipe the toxins off when done.
• Zero tolerance with clear consequences from
reprimand to cancer.
You know the drill.
Company officers, see above.
Firefighters, see above. Or better yet, just don’t
force the bosses to do their jobs. Respect the brothers
and sisters who have gone before you because of
firefighting cancer. There is absolutely no better way
to never forget than to minimize a repeated loss.
RIP Firefighter/Paramedic/Warrior Kyle Jameson.
RIP.

DO SOMETHING
For us, we are lucky to still be here with
some precious time to think and do some-
thing in Kyle’s memory. Out of respect to
Christine and Liam? Out of respect and in
the memory of someone you know? Think
and do something:
• About getting that physical now. Don’t
waste time. It’s like a fire: The quicker
it’s discovered, the quicker it can be
attacked. If we ignore the fire, no good
can come from it.
• About educating your members on the
YOU ARE DRIVEN TO

LEAD
insanely high levels of risks we have
related to getting cancer and how they
can minimize it.
• About educating your elected officials
on why presumption is so critical for
our profession.
• About refusing to accept BS on the
fireground when it comes to breath-
ing—full personal protective equip-
ment, SCBA, and no exposed skin.
WE ARE DRIVEN TO HELP YOU GET THERE.
• About supporting groups, such as the
Firefighter Cancer Support Network At American Military University, we understand where you’ve been, what you’ve done
and others, waging the battle against and what you’d like your team to achieve. Choose from more than 90 career-relevant
firefighter cancer. online degrees—which can help your personnel advance their careers while serving
There’s not much cynicism in this month’s their community. Your team will join 100,000 professionals gaining relevant skills that
column. Sorry to disappoint. While we try can be put into practice the same day. Take the next step, and learn from the leader.
to address many serious issues, this is as
serious as it gets, and there is little room for Visit us at www.PublicSafetyatAMU.com/FIRE-RESCUE
cynical humor. We are halfway into 2016,
and 2017 will be here before we know it.
Wake up, and do everything you can to
minimize the cancer exposure.

firerescue.hotims.com
FireFighterNatioN .com

1607fr_15 15 6/21/16 4:43 PM


Enhancing Operations
By Bob Vaccaro
To read more
from Bob Vaccaro,
visit www.firefighternation.
com/author/bob-vaccaro.
16 F ire r escue M agazine July 2016
1607fr_16 16
Apparatus Ideas
Greater Naples (FL) takes a chance
on Pierce’s Ascendant aerial
A
s if creating a brand new fire district by com-
bining two districts in Collier County, East
Naples, Golden Gate, and Isles of Capri back
in 2014 wasn’t enough, the Greater Naples (FL)
Fire District embarked on designing a new quint
for its operations. The fire district is the second
largest in the state of Florida as far as land mass, at
1,200 square miles.
“Apparatus selection is something we don’t take
lightly,” says Deputy Chief of Logistics Rob Low.
“For this new purchase, our command staff and
planning chief just went through a planning process
to determine our future needs in our enlarged fire
district. They performed an accurate assessment Above: Pierce Ascendant ladder delivered to Greater Naples Fire
of the current fleet to see what our costs were Department on an Enforcer chassis.
presently and how new purchases would affect our Below: Driver’s side compartments showing engine company
financial status, now and in the future.” and ladder company fittings and tools.
APPARATUS REPLACEMENT
The apparatus replacement program consists
of reviewing maintenance records and associated
costs, age of the apparatus, and mileage put on the
vehicles. The team determined that a new aerial
that could also act as an engine would enhance
operations.
The department was looking to replace a 2003
85-foot tower ladder that had significant mileage
on the apparatus and was having some maintenance
issues as well. This particular ladder ran a signifi-
cant amount of runs throughout the fire district,
and the team made a choice to replace at the cur- vehicle but weren’t able to see it or operate it
rent time. until at the local dealer during a demo tour,”
The choice would be a smaller, quicker appara- Low says. “After operating the vehicle and seeing
tus that could be operated more efficiently at all it perform, we were sold. We would purchase the
fireground operations. “What is nice about our vehicle as a quint. It was small, and maneuver-
arrangement in apparatus purchases is that as long ability around our district was great. It also had
as a certain manufacturer is on the State of Florida a 107-foot ladder on a short wheelbase chassis
Buying Program, we don’t have to go out for with a single rear axle.”
competitive bidding,” Low says. “We chose to go Dealing with Pierce during the process was great.
with Pierce for this purchase because we are familiar The service after the sale with the local dealer was
with their apparatus. We have six in our inventory also positive. What saved the department a great
presently and the local dealer, Ten-Eight, has given deal of time was that the dealer also mounted all of
us great service in the past.” their tools and equipment before they took delivery.
Another reason the team went with Pierce is The plan is to have it respond as an engine from
that last year it introduced the new Ascendant one of the stations in the North Battalion. It would
107-foot aerial. “We had heard about the new also respond as a truck in other instances.
F ireFighterNatioN .com
6/21/16 4:43 PM

Above: Officer’s side compartments showing fans and
additional tools.
Below: The rear of the vehicle showing easy access to ladder
and controls.
VEHICLE SPECS
“As with all of our engines,” Low says, “it has a full
complement of Hurst rescue tools.” The vehicle was
designed to carry a 6-kW Harrison hydraulic genera-
tor, cord reels, electrical outlets, a Hurst combination
tool, and LED lighting. The vehicle also carries a full
complement of truck company tools.
“The complement of hose that we carry on the
rig would be 1,000 feet of five-inch large-diameter
hose, 600 feet of three-inch, two 1¾-inch cross-
lays, 300 feet of 2½-inch in a crosslay, and on the
extended front bumper 150 feet of 1¾-inch,” Low
adds.
The apparatus gives personnel a great deal of
versatility in their operations. The aerial delivers a
full 107-foot vertical reach and a 100-foot hori-
zontal reach with a below grade operation of -10
degrees. Its 100-foot horizontal reach is a big plus
for operations.
The single rear axle will enable the department
to get into tighter spaces such as narrow driveways
and other areas of concern. And the aerial can be
put into operation with a single operator on the
fireground.
“From what we understand, this is the first Pierce
Ascendant in the state of Florida,” Low says. “We
gave Ten-Eight permission to show our new vehicle
around the state for a few weeks.”
Taking a proactive approach to designing and
purchasing was what the Greater Naples Fire Dis-
trict did with this new addition to the fleet. They
identified a cost factor in fleet replacement as far as
FireFighterNatioN .com
1607fr_17 17
Greater Naples Fire District
• 1,200 square miles. Covers parts of the Florida Everglades and WUI.
• 60-percent rural area also has strip malls, hotels, schools, tourist
areas, and residential areas.
• 1,500 firefighters, 100 percent paid.
• 11 fire stations.
• 10 engines, four paramedic engines, six brush trucks, three water tank-
ers, one 75-foot quint, one 107-foot quint.
Ascendant Specs
• Pierce Enforcer chassis.
• Cummins ISL9 450-hp engine, Allison EVS 3000 transmission.
• 500-gallon water tank.
• Waterous 1,500-gpm pump.
• Harrison Hydraulic 6-kW generator.
• Whelen LED light package.
maintenance and age of apparatus was concerned
and also designed for operation and maneuverabil-
ity of this new quint in their response district. Hav-
ing a 107-foot ladder on a single rear-axle chassis
was a plus for them.
RISK AND REWARD
While some may say that purchasing a new design
from any manufacturer may be a risky endeavor,
Greater Naples chose Pierce because of its record in
the past. According to Pierce, the vehicle also had
extensive testing before it was released.
The Ascendant aerial passed all National Fire
Protection Association structural and stability test-
ing requirements prior to its launch and, since that
time, Pierce’s research and development team suc-
cessfully completed three phases of a fatigue test that
demonstrate the equivalent of 20 years of service
life. Phase one included lifting a 750-pound tip load
weight, plus the equivalent of 100 pounds of equip-
ment, off the floor 60,000 times at full horizontal
extension. Phase two repeated all steps in phase
one for another 60,000 cycles, which substantiated
there are no fatigue issues in the design. A third
phase included 10,000 additional cycles with the
load increased to 1,125 pounds plus the equivalent
of 100 pounds of equipment. To put the 130,000
cycles into perspective, that’s simulating 17 uses at
rated tip load per day, every day, for 20 years.
So far, Pierce has 60 orders for the new aerial
since its introduction at last year’s Fire Department
Instructors Conference International. Not too
shabby, if you ask me.
Bob Vaccaro has more than 40 years of fire service experience.
He is a former chief of the Deer Park (NY) Fire Department.
Vaccaro has also worked for the Insurance Services Office, the
New York Fire Patrol, and several major commercial insurance
companies as a senior loss-control consultant. He is a life
member of the IAFC.
July 2016 F ire r escue M agazine 17
6/21/16 4:43 PM
 Wildland Urban Interface
Traditional Fire
Organizations and
WUI Firefighting
An organizational analysis of WUI capabilities
n my short 17-year fire career, I have had the
I experience of operating on many wildland/
By Alex Rivera
urban interface (WUI) incidents that have tested
the most seasoned of firefighter and taxed person-
nel and resources to their breaking points. These
experiences have brought out the best in me and
many firefighters and have proven our ability to
be resilient, adaptive, and steadfast even when all
seems lost or impossible.
The vast majority of firefighters across the coun-
try work in traditional fire departments that do not
spend a whole lot of time, money, and resources
on WUI firefighting and prevention efforts. Most
of their focus is on a common set of core services
predominantly in the areas of structural firefight-
ing, emergency medical services, technical rescue,
and hazardous materials response. Traditionally,
the United States Forest Service, the Bureau of
Land Management, and other federal and state fire
agencies have been responsible for managing fire
suppression and prevention activities in wildland
areas; but, as more people have congregated and
settled in and around forests, grasslands, and other
natural areas, the actualization of WUI incidents
becoming commonplace is now a reality and one
that traditional fire organizations must face head
on, realizing their roles and responsibilities in WUI
fire efforts.
18 F ire r escue M agazine July 2016
1607fr_18 18
WUI firefighting and
prevention must become a
core service for traditional
fire departments with
current or future existing
WUI in their jurisdictions.
(Photo by Steve White.)
WUI FIREFIGHTING AND PREVENTION
With more than 30 percent of the United States’
population living in WUI areas and rapidly grow-
ing,1 WUI firefighting and prevention must become
a core service for traditional fire departments with
current or future existing WUI in their jurisdic-
tions. First, attempt to understand WUI. Next,
create a comprehensive analysis that surveys, identi-
fies, and describes the WUI areas in your jurisdic-
tion and the risks and threats to life, property, and
environment associated with each WUI. Once
this process is completed, complete a strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT)
or similar capabilities and needs analysis that
focuses on the department’s capabilities to combat
the identified threat—in this instance, WUI. The
combination of the two analyses will now allow the
organization to establish a preplan that establishes
strategy, direction, and guidance.
The intent of this article is to define WUI
in the context that traditional fire depart-
ments must understand to effectively plan for a
WUI fire incident and outline several basic yet
foundational factors that should be identified
and answered in your WUI risk and capabilities
analysis prior to establishing the organization’s
strategic and tactical objectives for WUI preven-
tion and mitigation.
F ireFighterNatioN .com
6/21/16 4:43 PM
 DEFINING AND UNDERSTANDING WUI ignition, growth, and spread. Fire behavior factors the
There are several definitions that describe WUI, rate of a fire’s spread and its intensity (flame lengths
differing slightly in verbiage, but all more similar and heat generation). Once a fire ignites in vegeta-
than not. Simply put, WUI has commonly been tion, its behavior depends on the three factors that
defined as an area where urban infrastructure and drastically affect the fire behavior triangle: weather
wild natural areas converge. Fire departments have conditions, the amount and arrangement of vegeta-
to identify these areas within their jurisdiction and tion, and the topography. The fire behavior triangle is
must understand the threats and risk factors associ- not to be confused with the fire triangle. The fire tri-
ated with WUI. angle represents the three elements necessary to have
The greatest threat WUI poses is damage to a fire whereas the fire behavior triangle describes the
infrastructure. Without infrastructure, WUI doesn’t three elements that will determine a fire’s behavior.3
exist; it’s just open grass, brush, or forest land. So Weather: Weather influences vegetation in many
as a traditional fire department, the priority must ways. Weather determines vegetation moisture
be to protect the infrastructure from the threat that content and determines the time frame in which
the wildland vegetation poses. To do this
effectively, fire departments must under-
stand why wildland vegetation is a threat.
Low Level Strainer Now Includes
VEGETATION THREATS
There are two major factors that make Floating Option at NO CHARGE ...
the vegetation in the WUI a threat:
lightning strikes and human activity. Lava
flow is another, less frequent, cause.2 Most
wildland fires are caused by human activi-
ties. From 2001 through 2011, on average
85 percent of wildland fires in the United
States were caused by human activity. This
accounted for 717,527 human-caused
fires compared to 121,849 fires caused by
lightning in that same time span. (1)
In WUI areas, human activity is
everywhere. These human-caused fires are
a result of several negligent actions that
include unattended campfires, improperly
discarded cigarettes, and arson. Other
human, nonnegligent causes include down
...REALLY!
power lines, ruptured gas lines, and vehicle Flotation device allows TFT high volume low-level strainer
to collect clean water from ponds, lakes and rivers. The
fires. Lightning strikes are not constant
strainer inlet, made of hard anodized and powder-coated WATER LEVEL
and may not occur very often in every aluminum, hangs 18î below water level to avoid sucking
jurisdiction’s WUI areas; however, if they surface air and bottom debris. Capable of supporting up to
30 ft of hose, the strainer extends well beyond safety ledges 18"
do, all lightning strikes have the potential
of residential ponds.
to start a fire. In 2008, my department
The clog-resistant stainless steel filter has over twice as
responded to two major lightning-caused much flow area as a 6î hose keeping friction loss down to
WUI incidents simultaneously. In June 0.5 psi (1î Hg) at 1500 gpm and reducing the potential for
2008, we responded to both the Klamath air vortexes. Oversized sealed ball pivot allows 45∞ range
Theatre Incident in Siskiyou County (CA) of hose angle without constricting the flow path. Rugged polyethylene float is yellow for high
and to the Basin Complex (CA), which visibility and nests compactly over the strainer for
minimal storage space. Float removal is not
was in our own backyard. Both incidents ï Available With or Without Jet Siphon necessary for low level use, although a tethered
became two of the largest fires in state ï Supports Up to 30 Feet of Hose latching hinge pin allows the float to be removed or
history and in all destroyed 58 structures installed instantly if desired.
ï Clog-resistant Stainless Steel Filter Keeps
and took two lives. Unlike human activity,
Friction Loss to 0.5 psi (1î Hg) at 1500 gpm
lightning cannot be tamed and is a major
threat to start fires. ï Sealed Ball Pivot Allows 45∞ Range of Hose Angle
ï Rugged High Visibility Polyethylene Float Nests Compactly Over Strainer
FIRE BEHAVIOR ï Tethered Latching Hinge Pin Allows Float to Be Removed or Installed Instantly
If and when a WUI fire starts, it’s impor-
tant for the fire department to identify Æ

the factors that will contribute to the fire’s facebook.com/taskforcetips www.tft.com

youtube.com/taskforcetips 800 348-2686
firerescue.hotims.com
FireFighterNatioN .com

1607fr_19 19 6/21/16 4:43 PM

 the vegetation dries out, making it more suscep-
Wildland
tible to ignition. Some parts of the country, such as
Urban the Southeast, have higher humidity levels, which
Interface saturate the atmosphere with high-moisture content.
The more moisture, the less likely it is for vegeta-
tion to ignite and burn. Low humidity levels, which
are common in the western, desert regions of the
United States, leave vegetation dry and vulnerable
to fire. Extensive periods of drought and high winds
consume vegetation moisture quickly, leaving the
vegetation dry.
Wind has a major impact on fire behavior. Wind
plays a major role in fire spread, pushing embers
and convected heat to unburned areas, causing
new fires. Wind direction, speed, and pattern are
not always predictable and are greatly impacted by
topographical features such as canyons, saddles, and
ridges.
Understanding high- and low-pressure systems
is important as well. High-pressure systems bring
warm, dry conditions with little to no precipita-
tion, and low-pressure is associated with cloudy,
rainy, and overcast weather conditions.4 Constant
high-pressure weather patterns create the condi-
tions for vegetation to burn. The fire department
should become familiar with area weather pat-
terns, particularly wind shifts and the times of day
this usually occurs. In some places, a declaration
is made at the local and state levels announcing
the start of wildland season; be informed on this
declaration and the factors used to determine the
start of the season.
Vegetation Types (Fuel): Knowing the types of
vegetation in the WUI will help in projecting how
a particular fuel type will react when exposed to
heat. Certain fuels, based on their size, moisture,
and chemical content, will have a lower ignition
temperature and burn hotter, faster, and with more
intensity. Determine the fuel types in your WUI.
Identifying whether these fuels are predominantly
surface or crown fuels or a combination of both
will help in predicting fire behavior. Surface vegeta-
tion consists of your grasses, shrubs, and bushes,
while crown or aerial vegetation consists of the
canopies of leaves and branches that sit atop trees.
Overgrown grass, taller shrubs, and low-hanging
branches are categorized as ladder vegetation
because of their ability to spread the fire from
the ground surface into the aerial vegetation. The
amount of fuel and the arrangement will also give a
good indication of fire spread. The fire department
should be aware of vegetation in WUI areas that
has not burned for several decades, since these areas
are the most vulnerable to burn.
Topography: Areas with a large, high-sloping
topography, to include mountainous and hill ter-
rain, will tend to influence faster upslope spread
(from bottom to top) than downslope spread (top
20 F ire r escue M agazine July 2016
1607fr_20 20
Review your apparatus types and capabilities. Determine each
of your apparatus’s pump capabilities and tank sizes. (Photo by
Ramon Rivera.)
to bottom). Slope has an affect that increases heat
transfer between the flame and fuel ahead of it.5
The addition of wind greatly increases the transfer
of heat on an upslope into the vegetation above
the fire, creating perfect conditions for fast-moving
fire spread. This concept is greatly increased when
fire is located in a box canyon or intersecting
drainages.
Fires in a box canyon can have an upward draft
like a fire in a fireplace. This dangerous condition
occurs when unstable air conditions at the surface
cause a convection current through the canyon; air
is drawn in at the base of the canyon to support
the convection currents, and fuels are available to
support a rapid burnout in the head of the canyon.
Fires burning at the bottom of narrow canyons can
also have a fireplace-like or chimney effect. This is
because of the fire burning or smoldering, creating
superheated air that is being carried by convection
upward in the canyon, drying out vegetation at
the top. Flying embers from the fire below carry
into the dry vegetation and create a fire. This is
especially dangerous to firefighters working above
the fire and for infrastructure at the top of the hill
or mountain.
Topography can determine the extent in which
weather affects vegetation. Vegetation in higher
elevations tends to carry more moisture because
of higher levels of precipitation than vegetation
in lower elevations, which more commonly have
higher temperatures and drought conditions.
CAPABILITIES ANALYSIS
When the risks and threats associated with WUI
areas in your jurisdiction have been identified and
understood, a capabilities and needs assessment
of the department’s ability to prevent and combat
WUI fires should be conducted.
Labor and Incident Command System (ICS)
Capabilities: WUI fires are very often extremely
labor intensive, requiring an exceptional amount
of staffing to effectively mitigate the incident,
particularly when faced with extreme weather
patterns, rugged topography and terrains, over-
F ireFighterNatioN .com
6/21/16 4:43 PM
 grown and dry fuels, and urban interface that threatens large
numbers of people and infrastructure. The labor intensity and
staffing effort are based on the strategies and tactics employed.
For example, staffing needs and labor efforts will be more
greatly expanded for firefighters attempting to access a fire on
a 20-degree slope through thick brush and rugged terrain than
they would be flanking a grass fire on flat terrain.
Traditional fire organizations must identify their staffing
needs for every possible WUI fire scenario that can threaten
their jurisdiction. Daily firefighter staffing, which includes
operations and command staff level personnel, must be identi-
fied and the numbers compared against possible WUI scenarios.
Travel distance and time, district backfill coverage, duty recall
(paid and/or volunteer), and mutual/auto aid must be factored
when realistically determining staffing capabilities. Not all
departments will have a large command staff contingency to
establish early incident command and disseminate responsibili-
ties through proper span of control measures. WUI incidents
will likely involve several operational periods and go beyond
local-level jurisdiction capabilities.

Daily firefighter staffing,

which includes operations
and command staff level
personnel, must be
identified and the numbers firerescue.hotims.com

compared against possible

WUI scenarios.
Operational periods can range from 12-hour periods to
24-hour periods in length, but this mostly pertains to opera- Firefighters’ #1 Choice for
tional personnel. Command personnel can remain in place for PORTABLE WATER TANKS
several days at a time. This must be understood preincident,
and a contingency must be in place with state-level incident
management system teams to respond immediately on request.
This capability is essential to ensure that, as the incident
grows, the incident commander is able to focus on macro level
objectives while using division/sector and group supervisors to
oversee the completion of the tactical-level objectives.
For the incident commander, a good rule of thumb for span
of control is three to seven divisions/sectors or groups under his
“Dewey Fire Department uses Husky® products,
control, with five being optimum. This same rule applies to the which are great for our department.”
division/sector and group supervisors for company assignments. −Chief Dale Little, Dewey Fire Dept.
This is paramount to the success of a WUI fire being mitigated
as safely and effectively as possible. For departments that do not All Husky® Folding Frame Tanks/Liners come STANDARD
have an adequate number of command-level officers, ensure with our patented EASY LIFT HANDLES.
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mutual/auto-aid agreements are in place to supplement and
properly prepare your company officers through mentorship Husky® would like to express our sincere thanks to all the
and training to be prepared to operate in this capacity. dedicated firefighters who put their lives on the line to help protect
the people, land and property of this nation.
Tools and Equipment: WUI fires require firefighters to be prop-
erly equipped with appropriate tools and equipment to perform a Folding Frame Tanks • PRO500® (patent pending)
variety of functions from cutting line to progressing hose; falling Skinny® Tank • Self-Supporting Tanks
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1607fr_21 21 6/21/16 4:43 PM

 on burning vegetation and for structure protection
Wildland
and extinguishment. Some may question 1½-inch
Urban hose for structural applications, especially if one is
Interface not familiar with WUI tactics. When dealing with
structures during a WUI incident, it is most com-
mon that several structures will be threatened or
on fire at one time, and it is very likely that a single
resource will be responsible for a cluster of structures
singlehandedly. With this all-too-common scenario,
the single resource must assume a defensive posture
and treat the situation as a triage operation. This
WUI fires require firefighters to be properly equipped with will require the ability to move the single resource
appropriate tools and equipment to perform a variety of func-
quickly from structure to structure with handlines
tions. (Photo by Ramon Rivera.)
deployed, ready to defend. One and a half-inch hose
extinguishing, and overhauling structures. Tools is lightweight and easy to pack up to move as needed
should include both hand and power tools. Chain- while at the same time providing enough water to
saws with enough power and the right blades and attempt a defensive exterior fire attack.
bar lengths should be readily available. (Remember: Apparatus: Review your apparatus types and capa-
This is WUI; a wildland saw blade is not always the bilities. Determine each of your apparatus’s pump
best choice on the roof of a house.) Hand tools come capabilities and tank sizes. Ascertain whether your
in all shapes, sizes, and purposes. Choose hand tools apparatus have off-road capabilities, pump-and-roll
that will positively affect your operations. For wild- capabilities, and an auxiliary pump. A good refer-
land duties, there are always safe choices, and there ence is the National Wildfire Coordinating Group’s
is an assortment of tools available on the market that (NWCG) “Incident Response Pocket Guide,”
can meet your expectations. which categorizes apparatus by type, operational
Proper wildland personal protective equipment capabilities, and equipment inventory.
(PPE), to include wildland-rated boots, should be For example, structure engines are identified as
issued to each individual firefighter. There are many either type 1 or type 2 apparatus. Some factors that
organizations that outfit an apparatus with wildland determine their type include tank capacity, mini-
PPE of differing sizes instead of personally issuing mum pump flow, rated pump pressure, maximum
equipment to each individual. While I understand gross vehicle weight, and staffing. Generally, type 1
that budgetary constraints may be the reason, avoid and 2 apparatus are assigned to structure protec-
this practice if at all possible. This is not a practice tion duties because of their pump capacities, water
for structural PPE and should not be practiced with tank size, and equipment. Wildland apparatus are
wildland PPE for the same reasons. At a mini- typed from 3 through 7, with the type 3 appara-
mum, PPE should include a jacket, pants, gloves, tus providing the most capabilities to your type
a helmet, boots, eye protection, and a fire shield. 7s, which provide the least amount of capability.
Structural gear is too heavy and These apparatus are assigned to
thick, holding in heat and causing direct or indirect wildland attack
extensive amounts of perfusion. or may be assigned to support a
This works in a structural setting progressive hoselay. Conduct road
where your amount of activity is tests on steep up-slope roads to
in shorter durations, but it is not ensure that your apparatus have
conducive to an outdoor, WUI the power to make it to the top
setting where you are working for with little effort, and then test the
longer durations and moving lon- brakes on steep down-slope roads.
ger distances while being exposed Review how each apparatus is
to nature’s elements. Wildland PPE equipped. Is each equipped simi-
is lightweight, which allows it to larly, or are they all different? This
breath, keeping personnel cooler may seem like a tedious and taxing
and more comfortable. endeavor, but it is a necessary one
I am going to include hose in that ensures operational readiness.
this section because it is a tool but Training: Fire departments must
more significantly because proper ensure that all of their personnel are
hose selection is important during a trained in both wildland and WUI
WUI incident. One and a half-inch Proper wildland PPE, to include operations. A thorough inspection
wildland-rated boots, should be
hose is a great all-purpose hose that issued to each individual firefighter. of all department personnel’s train-
can be used for both direct attack (Photo by Ramon Rivera.) ing records should be completed to

22 F ire r escue M agazine July 2016 F ireFighterNatioN .com

1607fr_22 22 6/21/16 4:43 PM

 gauge familiarity with wildland and WUI opera- 4. ABC Science, “How do high and low weather systems
work?” Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/science/
tions. More importantly, a review of the department’s
articles/2013/01/31/3679358.htm.
wildland and WUI experience should be performed
by reaching out to your personnel through the best
means of communication for your organization. For Alex Rivera is a 17-year veteran of the fire service and a captain
large organizations, this may be a survey or question- with the Fort Jackson (SC) Fire Department. He previously served
naire; for smaller departments, face-to-face communi- as a certified fire and incident safety officer with the Presidio of
cation with each shift may work. Whatever the means Monterey (CA) Fire Department and Camp Parks (CA) Fire Depart-
for gathering this information, understand that it is ment and is a veteran of the United States Air Force. Rivera has
important and gives you a good starting point for a bachelor’s degree in fire science and is completing his MPA.
establishing or improving your training program. He is a first year Executive Fire Officer (EFO) student through the
ICS training along with operations-level training National Fire Academy and is completing his Chief Fire Officer
must set the foundation. The NWCG provides a list and Chief Training Officer credentialing through the Center for
of courses that are position- and level-specific and are Public Safety Excellence.
an excellent source for training information
and certification coursework. When pos-
sible, incorporate mutual/auto-aid partners
into the training plan. Schedule weekly
and monthly training drills and classes
centered on wildland and WUI operations,
ICS, and communications at agreed-on
locations. A combination of classroom and
practical application for each session is a
good way to disseminate and practice all
pertinent information.
All parties involved have to speak the
same fire language and operate in a similar
fashion. This can only be accomplished
through consistent practice and interac-
tion. WUI incidents are labor intensive and
require lots of bodies. Whether you know it
yet or not, WUI incidents will require aid.
Get everyone on board preincident and get
on the same page. There is nothing more
dangerous than firefighters in the same fight
playing from a different playbook.

WUI FOUNDATION
The information provided in this article
explains some of the basic foundational
factors that must be included in deter-
mining your department’s WUI capabili-
ties. Although basic, they are important
in jump starting a comprehensive analysis
that is a necessary part in preparing your
department for WUI.

REFERENCES
1. United States Department of Agriculture,
“Wildfire, Wildlands, and People: Understanding
and Preparing for Wildfire in the Wildland-Urban
Interface,” January 2013, General Technical
Report RMRS-GTR-299. Retrieved from www.
fs.fed.us/openspace/fote/reports/GTR-299.pdf.
2. National Park Service, “Wildfire causes.” Retrieved
from www.nps.gov/fire/wildland-fire/learning-
center/fire-in-depth/wildfire-causes.cfm.
3. National Park Service, “The science of fire.”
Retrieved from www.na.fs.fed.us/fire_poster/sci-
ence_of_fire.htm.

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1607fr_23 23 6/21/16 4:44 PM

 Fire Attack
Science at Its Worst
Handling laboratory emergencies
L
aboratory fires and spills can present sig-
By Greg Jakubowski
nificant challenges to firefighters. There are a
wide variety of laboratories including research
laboratories for any variety of products or materials,
quality laboratories that test/validate the quality of a
product and raw materials that go into that product,
and healthcare laboratories that perform testing on
specimens to help make diagnoses or provide other
information on patient samples. There are other
types of laboratories as well. In particular, research
laboratories can present a wealth of unknown or
slightly known hazards because the work they
perform is “bleeding edge.” In this work, risks can be
high, but the rewards can be high as well. Scale-up
labs take small experimental processes and turn them
into small- to medium-scale products, but in this
environment the process is still being tinkered with
and subject to things going wrong.
I’ve worked with labs that perform drug discovery
work, and some of the experiments they work on can
last for three years, and potentially at the end of that
time a product may be developed that could bring in
more than $1 billion in revenue per year. Any inter-
ruption to that research could result in their restart-
ing at day one, with very high potential revenue
losses that cannot be insured. On the other hand,
knocking a quality or validation lab out of service can
also cause a production facility to grind to a halt until
it is able to get that capability back online.
24 F ire r escue M agazine July 2016
1607fr_24 24
LABORATORY HAZARDS
Many types of hazards may be present, depend-
ing on the science that is being performed in the
laboratory; this may include chemical, biological,
radioactive, and others. Understanding what is in
the lab to start with will go a long way toward fos-
tering a safe and effective response and protecting
people and the vital work that occurs in the lab,
while an uninformed response may result in unnec-
essary hazards to firefighters and lab occupants as
well as damage or loss of critical research. Where
are the labs in your coverage area? What type of
work do they do, and what hazards does this work
present when an incident occurs? What safety
precautions must be taken to handle an incident in
these facilities? If something occurs in these labs, is
it even necessary to take an “offensive” approach to
an incident, or is an isolate-and-deny-entry strategy
more appropriate until the situation stabilizes?
These are all questions that should be known and
studied in advance to provide the best possible
service to these facilities.
Depending on their function, laboratories can have
a wide range of hazards present. Research may work
on developing new chemicals or new and improved
products related to whatever the company does,
working with blood or other body fluids, or using
radioactive isotopes. Some research may not involve
chemicals but may work with lasers or other sophisti-
cated electronic equipment.
Corrosive and flammable
liquids may be common,
and some labs manage
them well while others
have lots of containers out
in the open. Although
chemicals often come in
four-liter sizes (a bit more
than a gallon), it may not
be unusual to see some labs
Knowing what you may be facing
will be one of the most important
things a fire department can
do to prepare for lab incidents.
(Photo by Creative Commons.)
F ireFighterNatioN .com
6/21/16 4:44 PM
 using chemicals in 55-gallon drums. Metal containers
known as pressurized liquid dispensing containers,
which resemble a beer keg, may be used and come in
various sizes up to almost 55 gallons. These contain-
ers are pressured with a nitrogen blanket, which
allows the contents to be dispensed on demand.
The containers are metal and robust but present an
unusual fire load in a laboratory.
CHEMICALS
Lab environments can contain a wide variety of
flammable, corrosive, and toxic materials. Various
gases may be present, with less hazardous gases such
as nitrogen, helium, and natural gas being among the
most common, with the possibility of more exotic
gases such as hydrogen chloride and cyanide also
present. Cylinders can be a variety of different sizes,
from tank sizes we are used to seeing that can be four
feet tall down to “lecture bottle” sized containers that
aren’t much larger than an aerosol can. These smaller
size cylinders can often contain more exotic/hazardous
gases. If the call is for one of these cylinders leaking,
there is a good likelihood that the leak will be finished
before first responders even arrive. There may also be
larger “dewars” of nitrogen or other cryogenic gases.1
Hydrogenation areas may be present using
hydrogen gas, which is very difficult to see when
it is burning and is one of only a few flammable
gases that are lighter than air. Lab chemical/gas
storage areas can present multiple hazards provid-
ing significant challenges during a response. It will
be important to quickly gain as much information
as possible about the area prior to initiating a fire
attack, and the use of gas meters and thermal imag-
ers as part of size-up will be crucial.
Labs may also contain biohazards, and often labs
working with chemicals will be separate from bio-
hazard labs, although this may not always be true.
Biohazards are often designed to be worked on in
containment areas but if released many biohazards
do not live long in general environments. This is
particularly true if sprinklers have discharged, as
many dangerous biologic agents cannot survive
without specific temperature and other environ-
mental conditions. However, remember that labs
are doing research often on newly discovered things
for which safety information may not even be
determined yet. In a fire situation, protect yourself
with full turnout gear and self-contained breathing
apparatus (SCBA) as well as the same fluid precau-
tions you would take on an emergency medical ser-
vices call. If no victims are in the hot zone, it may
be best to isolate the area until the Planning Section
can provide more details on an action plan.
EQUIPMENT AND TOOLS
Equipment that presents high magnetic fields,
such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and
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1607fr_25 25
nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), may be pres-
ent in labs. The magnetic field extends around the
equipment including over it and potentially extend-
ing above the roof. Any ferrous metal equipment
can be drawn to this equipment with great—even
dangerous—force. Think about all of the metal
tools and equipment that you carry and use. NMR
equipment utilizes both liquid helium and liquid
nitrogen to supercool the equipment. In a quench
situation involving this equipment, the liquid nitro-
gen may relieve into the room, resulting in a rapid
cloud of condensation that not only creates vision
problems but reduces the oxygen concentration in
the room. A sudden change in the magnetic field,
such as an ax carried by a firefighter who enters the
field, can result in the ax being pulled into and then
causing the unit to quench. Be on the lookout for
signage indicating “Magnetic Field” or “No Metal
Objects in This Room.”
Lab equipment continues to become more
sophisticated and expensive. Robotic equipment
may be used that is designed to handle delicate,
repetitive, and/or very hazardous research. The
robotic equipment may turn on and begin to
work at any time and often may be monitored and
controlled by scientists remotely. This equipment
is usually highly susceptible to water damage and
should be covered or otherwise protected against
firefighting water.
To help firefighters plan and respond to lab
incidents, there are a variety of tools available. First
and foremost, information is supposed to be readily
available at the lab facility about the chemicals/bio-
hazards that are present. This includes safety data
sheets (SDSs) or biological safety data sheets, which
are similar to SDSs but are applicable to biological
agents. These sheets will provide some information
about the hazards present, but often there will be
many chemicals present in a laboratory and it isn’t
easy to quickly understand what is going on when
multiple chemicals are involved in the incident.
Chemicals that are being developed may have
limited to no safety information available about
them as the separate testing needed to develop
that safety information hasn’t been performed yet.
They may be able to be generally classified as to
what hazards the chemical may have but detailed
information has yet to be developed. For estab-
lished chemicals, there are plenty of reference tools
available both in hard copy and in smart-device
apps such as the WISER tool. Check for warning
and information signage at the entrance to the lab,
but unfortunately some labs do not maintain these
hazard warnings up-to-date.
ANIMALS
Animals may be found in some lab environments.
They may include anything from fish to frogs, rats
July 2016 F ire r escue M agazine 25
6/21/16 4:44 PM
 or mice, and primates. These are likely not tame,
Fire Attack domesticated pets and should be treated as such. Labs
may perform surgery on animals, and tactics for these
areas would be similar to tactics for hospital operat-
ing rooms. Beware of oxygen, flammable anesthetic
gas, and other hazards. You may need to secure and
ventilate these areas quickly to allow animal handlers
access to the sedated animal. These areas normally
have numerous security measures in place to contain
the animals. Be sure you are aware of where these
areas are, how the security works, and what firefight-
ers should do when responding to these areas.
FIRE SUPPRESSION
Many labs have fire suppression systems that can
contain or extinguish fires, controlling damage to
the lab and protecting adjacent areas. Firefighters
must understand how the systems work and ways
Knowing what you may be facing will be one
of the most important things your fire
department can do to prepare for lab incidents.
that they can help the systems to function opti-
mally when needed. Commonly, but not always,
laboratories are provided with sprinkler protection.
Often it may be a wet pipe system, but preaction
sprinkler systems may also be used.2 Understand
how to shut the sprinkler valves down and drain the
system once the fire is extinguished so that you can
reduce collateral water damage.
Some labs may be protected by specialty suppres-
sion systems such as gaseous clean agent systems,
dry chemical systems, water mist systems, or others.
Each is intended to flood a specific area with a
suppression agent, be it gas, dry chemical, or water.
They may protect an entire room or be limited to
protect specific hazards in the room, such as the
inside of fume hoods. In each case, it is important
to know how the system is supposed to work and
allow the system to do its job. For example, gas sys-
tems usually require the protected space to remain
closed up for a period of time (often 10 minutes)
to allow the extinguishing agent to provide an
environment where it can snuff out the fire. Open-
ing a door to the room prematurely can disturb
the protection and allow the fire to grow. When
entering areas protected by these types of systems
during an incident, the use of breathing apparatus
is paramount until the atmosphere has been tested
to verify that it is safe to breathe. Figure out where
the systems are and how they work before they
activate at an incident.
In spill or release situations, the lab may have its
26 F ire r escue M agazine July 2016
1607fr_26 26
own response personnel or you will need to have haz-
ardous materials response resources rolling to assist
you. Depending on the incident and the lab, the
best tactic might be simply to ensure that the doors
to the lab stay closed, size up the situation through
windows to the lab, isolate the area, and stand by on
the perimeter until more information is available and
additional planning can be done to understand the
hazards and implement a strategic attack.
EXTINGUISHMENT
Firefighters must be ready to stretch lines into a
lab building to extinguish a fire where appropri-
ate. Some labs have long hallways and can be two
to three stories without standpipes; 200-foot-long
preconnect handlines may not be long enough. Be
sure to set up your apparatus to allow extending
handlines for longer stretches. Foam capability can
be quite useful in labs where significant amounts of
flammable liquids are in use, and foam/compressed
air foam systems can help with a rapid knockdown
of lab fires. Initial entry teams conducting recon into
a lab building with a smoke condition should, at the
very least, either carry extinguishers in with them
or know where to access them in the building. Use
extinguishers no smaller than a 2½-gallon water/
foam unit or a 15- to 20-pound ABC dry-chemical
or carbon dioxide/clean agent unit.
LADDER OPERATIONS AND VENTILATION
Ladder company operations at lab incidents may
be facilitated by building design features. Stairways
or access ladders, sometimes on the exterior of the
building, may provide easy access to roofs. Many
laboratories have chemical fume or biological hoods
that exhaust at the roof level of the building. You
may be able to use them to ventilate individual labs.
There may also be hoods that exhaust from radio-
logical operations or other high-hazard operations.
These hoods may have high-efficiency particulate air
filters to contain the hazard prior to the discharge.
Firefighters operating on lab roofs need to remember
that these exhausts may be discharging a variety of
chemical fumes; they should be wearing SCBA when
on the roof, especially near these exhausts. Some
labs may be designed to have the heating, ventilat-
ing, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems placed
in full exhaust mode to ventilate the room. In many
cases, the HVAC system will be designed to have the
F ireFighterNatioN .com
6/21/16 4:44 PM
 hallways positively pressured to the labs. Understand Buildings,” FireRescue, September 2013, www.firefight-
how this works in advance so that you can take ernation.com/article/strategy-and-tactics/firefighting-
advantage of these capabilities during an incident. sprinklered-buildings.

PROPERTY CONSERVATION Greg Jakubowski, a fire protection engineer and certified safety
Life safety is the primary objective at any incident professional, started his fire service career in 1978. He is a
but, as has been mentioned, protecting the equip- Pennsylvania state fire instructor and a former chief of the
ment and work of a laboratory can keep a company Lingohocken (PA) Fire Company. Jakubowski is also a member of
in business and ensure its future growth. Laboratory the IAFC and a principal in Fire Planning Associates, a company
equipment can be very expensive, and a few strategi- dedicated to helping fire departments, municipalities, and busi-
cally placed salvage covers can save hundreds of nesses with preemergency planning.
thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment as well as
possibly months or years of research work. Although To read more from Greg Jakubowski, visit www.
forcible entry may be necessary, firefighters need to firefighternation.com/author/greg-jakubowski.
respect labs with high levels of security;
there may be a good reason for this because
of the presence of unusual hazards.
If a lab has an airlock at the entrance
(a door into an entrance vestibule then
another interlocked door leading into the
lab), it is likely that some type of biologi-
cal or other unusual hazard is present. Ask
before you enter if any special precautions
are needed to access the lab, and be sure you
are wearing full personal protective equip-
ment. Understanding how to safely ventilate
smoke can also reduce collateral damage.

LABORATORY KNOWLEDGE
Knowing what you may be facing will
be one of the most important things your
fire department can do to prepare for lab
incidents. A lab may not be “just a lab.”
Know what is being done in the labs,
what the hazards are, and what resources
are available on site to deal with antici-
pated incidents. Be sure that the scientist
or other individuals knowledgeable about
the science are present to help guide your
response. Think about what can go wrong
and how to advance extinguishing
equipment and hoselines to all the areas
in the building. If all occupants are
Be SAFER & More EFFICIENT
removed from the building, approach Drain & Roll ALL HOSE
with caution and keep the problem
isolated until a more detailed action plan Customized for YOUR NEEDS
can be developed.
Put a Power Roller on your crew
Note: The author is also an alternate
member to the NFPA 45 Technical Com-
mittee on Fire Protection for Laboratories
Using Chemicals.

RESOURCES
1. Cryogenic Storage Dewars from Cole-Parmer,
www.coleparmer.com/Category/Cryogenic_Stor-
age_Dewars/2642.
2. Jakubowski, Greg. “Firefighting in Sprinklered
262.363.2030
262 363 2030 email:
il info@rollnrack.com
i f @ ll k
rollnrack.com
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1607fr_27 27 6/21/16 4:44 PM

 Hump Day S.O.S.
In Command and Out of Control
Managing time and delegating tasks
s you move up in rank, you reach a certain
A point in your career when you can no longer
By David Rhodes
do everything yourself. Many of our best
firefighters have promoted up only to crash and burn
after a short while. They become miserable in their
new position. This uncomfortable transition works
against the grain of our go-getters and doers. These
outstanding members are respected and very success-
ful based on their ability to work a saw; force a door;
read a situation; and know where to go, what to do,
and how to do it. In the company officer ranks, there
is still enough hands-on work and limited demands
on time that people can still do most things them-
selves. They often do some delegating, but the scope
is so small within the station that both approaches
can yield results, and to the outside the end result is
all that is often looked at.
INCREASING RESPONSIBILITIES
When you make the move to battalion chief, things
change and your responsibilities, tasks, and time
become more of a balancing act. The higher in any
organization you go, the more removed you are from
the sharp end of the organization work (delivering
service on the streets to the citizens), but there are
more issues and tasks that you are responsible for.
Many great firefighters and company officers are
successful based on their ability to do things well and,
when faced with an increased responsibility, tend to
work longer hours and work harder to make sure they
accomplish all the things they are tasked with. Most
of us consider ourselves hands-on people and often
fall into the trap of thinking it will take too long to
show someone how to do something so we just do it
ourselves.
This do-it-yourself approach most often ends in
disaster. At first, you work hard to keep up with all the
due dates, goals, and deadlines. Soon, you lose track of
several tasks and time and you miss a deadline. Some
look at you shocked at your lack of attention to detail.
You have never been a slacker before. Your reputation
carries the day, and this oversight is overlooked for
now. Soon after, it happens again; you overcommit
and fail to meet an expectation. Your bosses start to
see a new you. Your members start to question if you
can really do all things you used to do. You are in a
tailspin, finishing a little of each task but never com-
pleting anything. You are working longer, harder than
28 F ire r escue M agazine July 2016
1607fr_28 28
ever, and you begin to blame it on the promotion.
You are now at a level in the organization where you
can no longer do things yourself. Now your focus has
to be on establishing intent, building teams, delegating,
and serving more as a project manager than a hands-on
doer. You can look at it the same way as an incident. If
you are the incident commander, you can’t be expected
to drive all the trucks, make all the hookups, stretch
all the lines, and search all the compartments of the
building on fire. This is not to say you are not working.
Managing projects, assembling information, conducting
briefings, making plans, and communicating intent are
all work. Just like a coach, you are not playing the game
but you are calling the plays. You need assistants who
specialize in training others on certain functions and
those who complete components of the overall objective.
This is a tough time in your career and a very hard les-
son to learn for us Type A overachievers, because no one
can do it as good as we can!
ACCEPTING 70 PERCENT FROM MANY
Assume that if you did something yourself, it
would be done 100 percent right (in your mind,
anyway). In many cases, you have to learn to accept
70 percent of what you would do to get momentum
and results (finishing the project). Suppose you are
tasked with writing a policy that would take a couple
weeks of research and a day or two of writing and
editing. At the end of two and half weeks, you would
have 100 percent of what you wanted. But you
would not have accomplished anything else.
You delegate the intent of the policy and the task to
a person with expertise in the subject, and this person
submits a draft policy to you. You spend one hour
reviewing it and making changes that you feel finish
the policy. You have just accomplished the task with
a couple of quick conversations, choosing the right
person for the job and doing a little cleanup. You can
manage 10 or 15 things using this method vs. doing
the one project yourself. Seventy percent doesn’t sound
that great on the surface, but if you are only capable
of 100 percent on one project in a given time and
you accept 70 percent from 10 people on 10 different
projects in the same timeframe, you can complete and
accomplish what was going to be lost, forgotten, and
missed. If you were a coach and one of your players
was batting .700 in baseball, you would have the most
productive hitter in the game!
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6/21/16 4:44 PM
 OUT OF CONTROL
At a certain point, when this process is running as
efficiently as possible, you realize how smart some
of your members are. You also learn that some you
thought were rock stars are suffering from the same
problems that you had to overcome. The others are
so good that they are taking care of problems before
you even know they existed. People ask you ques-
tions because you are in charge, and suddenly you
don’t know the answer without calling someone
to ask. This is absolutely terrifying, because you
suddenly feel out of control. You are scared to death
at the lack of control, but your members seem ener-
gized and new-found freedom and creativity take
shape. The organization is solving problems that
months earlier it couldn’t even see were problems.
At this point, your work is supporting and main-
taining a team that can manage the organization
based on a mission and vision, no different than an
incident.
TIME TO THINK
Having the rock star team assembled to man-
age the organization or project, depending on your
position, allows time for you to think, analyze, and
identify opportunities to improve. The same holds
true for your team members. You cannot overextend
your team so that all they are doing is grinding out
deadline after deadline. I have found that nearly
80 percent of all crisis management, deadlines, and
1607fr_29 29
panic modes in most fire departments are self-
inflicted. This is a tell-tale sign of no clear direction,
vision, or mission-driven thinking. This “thinking”
time must be protected, and you have to learn to
say no and accept no from your team. Don’t get to a
point where you never have time to do things right
but you always have time to do them over!
Being in command of an organization, project, or
team must be looked at in the context of “the long
haul.” Demanding immediate results and quick
completion of tasks leads everyone, including you,
on a burnout path. Before assigning projects and
tasks, ask yourself if the work that is about to take
up your team members’ valuable time has anything
to do with your organization accomplishing its
mission. If the answer is no, then don’t take it
on—even if it means saying no.
David Rhodes is a 30-year fire service veteran and a battalion chief
in an urban fire department in Georgia. He is a chief elder for the
Georgia Smoke Diver Program, a member of the Fire Department
Instructors Conference (FDIC) Executive Advisory Board, a hands-on
training coordinator for FDIC, an editorial advisor for Fire Engineer-
ing and the UL Fire Safety Research Institute, and an adjunct
instructor for the Georgia Fire Academy. He is a Type III incident
commander for the Georgia Emergency Management-Metro Atlanta
All Hazards Incident Management Team and is a task force leader
for the Georgia Search and Rescue Team. He is president of Rhodes
Consultants, Inc., which provides public safety training, consulting,
and promotional assessment centers.
firerescue.hotims.com
6/21/16 4:44 PM
 Distant Fires

July 1916 Fires

A look at fires that made history

I
n this month’s column, I present historic fires dollars per day but only one day off in five. Cin-
By Paul Hashagen

or significant events in the fire service from July cinnati and Cleveland firefighters were paid four
1916. A reminder: Readers are encouraged to dollars per day, and Youngstown, Akron, Toledo,
share information from their departments. Lynn, Wheeling, and several others were paid
July 1, 1916: Emporium, Pennsylvania: Eleven three dollars. The Wheeling West Virginia Fire-
men were killed by an explosion at the Aetna men’s Protective Association, which was lobbying
Powder Works. The blast took place at 2:45 p.m. the city council for better hours and pay, provided
while workers were trying to rush through some the list. Its members were working 24 hours a day
large orders. Apparently, 75,000 pounds of smoke- for 11¼ cents per hour with one day off in seven.
less powder, not yet sufficiently They were hoping for a better deal.
dried, exploded. Six men were
killed instantly. The remaining
five were seriously injured and
trapped inside the building.
The badly damaged, one-story
building was a mass of flames
within seconds. The fire spread
to several nearby buildings, but
arriving fire units were able
control the exposure prob-
lem quickly. A difficult and
dangerous extrication from
the burning structure was
accomplished, but all five of
the remaining men later died
in the hospital.
July 4, 1916: Columbus,
Ohio: An overheated oven
touched off a fire that destroyed the Columbus An FDNY fireboat operates dec
k guns pier side at the Black
Bread Company. Hundreds of sacks of flour Island explosion. (Photo from Tom
the Paul Hashagen collection.)
were consumed in the fire, and one firefighter
was injured. The company was under contract to July 20, 1916:
furnish 10,000 loaves of bread a day to the Ohio Newhall, Iowa: An exploding gas stove ignited a
National Guard at Camp Willis. Since other nearby wind-driven fire that tore through this small town,
bakery plants were not equipped to handle such a burning 17 buildings to the ground. The town,
large contract, part of the camp’s bread supply had near Cedar Rapids, was built mostly of wood.
to be shipped in from other cities. Within seconds, the explosion sent flames into the
July 19, 1916: The July 19 issue of Fire and buildings on either side. In two hours, the entire
Water Engineering ran a short article listing the business district was in ruins. The wind had pro-
hours worked and pay scale earned by many of tected the residential section of town, but with all
the nation’s largest fire departments. To put things the stores destroyed, there was only the food left in
in historical perspective, even the highest paid each home’s pantry.
firefighters were only receiving 29 cents per hour July 23, 1916: Austin, Texas: A 12:55 p.m., a
while working 24 hours a day. Chicago firefighters gasoline explosion tore through the first floor of a
led the pack with seven dollars per day with one three-story, 26- × 160-foot structure known as the
day off in three. New York was second with six Kreisle Building. The building was constructed of

30 F ire r escue M agazine July 2016 F ireFighterNatioN .com

1607fr_30 30 6/21/16 4:44 PM

 bricks with wooden partition walls on the first floor. People
were unable to reach the nearby telephone booth because of
the tremendous radiant heat, thus delaying notification to the
fire department. When the alarm was finally received, Chief
Woodward and his companies found fire on every floor of
the commercial building. As his units rolled in, Woodward
directed the placement of the Seagrave motor ladder truck,
two combination chemical and hose wagons, and six hose
wagons.
Despite not having pumping engines, deluge sets, or water
towers, the chief and his 30 firefighters aggressively used
high-pressure hydrants as a water source. These hydrants were

Call it your crown,

Apparently, 75,000 pounds
of smokeless powder,
your dome,
not yet sufficiently dried, your cranium,
exploded. Six men were or your coconut.
killed instantly. The But when it comes
remaining five were to protecting it,
seriously injured and there is only
trapped inside the building.
one choice—
spaced 100 to 300 feet apart. Firefighters stretched more than
4,000 feet of cotton rubber-lined hose. In all, 12 lines were
placed in operation.
At the height of the fire, a hose stream was operated from a
wooden ground ladder. The lead firefighter was about to open
his nozzle when he was knocked unconscious by a falling brick.
His backup man caught him, stopped his fall, and helped the
unconscious man to the street.
Shortly afterward, the walls of the three-story building
collapsed onto the adjoining two-story S.W. Telegraph and
Telephone Building. This destroyed the building and the tele-
phone switchboard inside, valued at $1,000. It also caused the
collapse of the two-story wall onto another adjoining one-story
building.
Amazingly, the only fire damage was to the original fire
building. All the damage resulted from the collapses. In all, six
You work in an industry where climates and conditions change in an
firefighters were injured battling the fire.
nanosecond. PMI, the official U.S. distributor of the Buff® professional
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1607fr_31 31 6/21/16 4:44 PM

 From the Chief’s Desk
Moving the Line
The concept of lifelong learning
H
ow do you know when you have learned
By Ronny J. Coleman
everything? Or better yet, is it even possible
for you to know everything? In reality, the
body of knowledge in the fire service is so complex
that it is impossible for any one person to know
everything. But that doesn’t keep us from trying.
In the field of training and education, we have
established multiple stepping stones and building
blocks that help us define what we know. In the
field of education, we have degrees. In the field of
training, we have certificates. These are essential.
At one time, it was considered to be satisfactory to
achieve one of those plateaus to be considered an
expert—but no longer. What has replaced it is a
new concept called “lifelong learning.”
LIFELONG LEARNING
Lifelong learning means that, throughout a per-
son’s life, it is necessary to foster an attitude of con-
tinuous improvement of knowledge and skills. In
many ways, this sounds a little bit like the concept
of experience. However, lifelong learning imposes
a requirement on a person to be open to new con-
cepts, skills, and behaviors to deal with the future.
It refutes one of society’s older clichés that you can’t
teach an old dog a new trick. It means continuously
moving the finish line for your training and educa-
tion; you will not be done until you are through.
This also requires us to take a look at our personal
profiles and draw a distinction between the informal
and formal aspects of all of our learning. Obtaining a
certificate or degree is a stepping stone, but essen-
tially it only verifies what you learned from the past.
Many other occupations have adopted the continuing
education unit (CEU) concept as a means of reducing
a candidate’s obsolescence over time. All of this sug-
gests that lifelong learning requires a certain amount
of discipline and concern for continued relevancy.
It promotes learning beyond traditional degrees
and certificates and falls into a category of personal
self-improvement.
FOUR PILLARS
In the academic world, there has been an
increased recognition of the importance of con-
tinued educational improvement. The education
world has adopted what is called “the four pillars of
education.” 1 These four pillars ar learning to know,
32 F ire r escue M agazine July 2016
1607fr_32 32
learning to do, learning to live together, and learn-
ing to be. The education world points to the fact
that the concept of learning throughout life is one
of the keys to 21st century competency.
Learning to know is the mastery of learning tools
rather than the acquisition of specific knowledge. It
means opening yourself up to new types of input.
For example, use of a computer in the future will not
be an option; it is likely to be mandatory. Failure to
monitor the newer learning tools creates a new form
of technological obsolescence.
Learning to do focuses on the future of innovation
and adaptation. It is equipping people for new types
of work as a result of a broader knowledge base.
Learning to live together is focused on team build-
ing and group dynamics. It is discovering new ways
of interaction in the social setting. It focuses on the
development of self-understanding and appreciating
diversity and awareness in society.
Lastly, learning to be is education that continues
to contribute to a person’s complete development. It
focuses on the total person.
All four of these pillars are commonly classified as
learning how to learn.
TODAY VS. YESTERDAY
The fire service faces many challenges in the
future. Focusing on the concept of lifelong learning
is a survival skill for the profession. Abraham
Lincoln once said, “I do not think much of a man
who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.” This
would seem to be sound advice for leaders in the
fire service with respect to training and education.
We can paraphrase Lincoln by saying, “I do not
think much of a person who is not better trained
and educated today than he was yesterday.”
REFERENCE
1. Nan-Zhao, Zhou, “Four ‘Pillars of Learning’ for the Reorienta-
tion and Reorganization of Curriculum: Reflections and
Discussions, http://www.ibe.unesco.org/cops/Competencies/
PillarsLearningZhou.pdf.
Ronny J. Coleman is a retired state fire marshal for the State of
California. He has achieved chief officer designation at both the
state and national levels. Coleman has a master of arts degree
in vocational education, a bachelor of science degree in political
science, and an associate of arts degree in fire science. He is
president of Fireforceone, a consulting firm in California.
F ireFighterNatioN .com
6/21/16 4:44 PM
 Thermal Imaging
Train with Your TIC at the Firehouse
T
raining with a thermal imaging camera (TIC)
at the firehouse is possible and has many
benefits. It’s true that nothing can replace
real smoke, dangerous heat, and the intensity and
adrenaline of entering a burning building. There is
really no way to simulate the conditions of a real fire
at a firehouse, but there are many ways to train with
a TIC that don’t involve a live fire or smoke condi-
tions. Help your firefighters become proficient with a
TIC so they stay safe when responding to a live fire.
INSIDE SCENARIOS
You can use your apparatus room or day room
by closing all the doors, putting tin foil over the
windows, and turning off the lights to make the area
as dark as possible. Have your firefighters gain famil-
iarity with thermal imagery and its basic functions by
scanning the room with the TIC in this dark setting.
Expand your training environment to areas such as
the kitchen, closet, bathroom, and bunkroom, which
all closely mirror what you might encounter in a
fire. Try building a house layout by setting up tables,
chairs, couches, and other household items. Your
team can begin navigating around the room and
becoming comfortable moving from room to room.
Once your firefighters have become proficient in
using the TIC to navigate in the dark rooms you have
created, have them put on their turnout gear including
their self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA). Now
you have replicated the conditions your firefighters
will encounter when using a TIC in a real fire event.
You can take this training one step further by placing
a firefighter (a victim) in one of the rooms in your
station and challenging your team to find the victim.
You can time your team with and without the aid of a
TIC to show how beneficial a TIC can be in quickly
clearing rooms and identifying victims.
Find a space heater at your fire station, and place
it on the other side of a closed door. Give the door
several minutes to warm up. Have your firefighters
conduct a search and see if they recognize the heat pat-
tern prior to opening the door. Whether they notice it
or not, you can use this opportunity to talk about the
benefit of recognizing smaller heat sources. If you have
both solid core and hollow core doors in your station,
you can set up several space heaters to show the differ-
ence between these door construction types.
Ask several firefighters to sit or lie down on the
furniture at the firehouse and assume different posi-
tions. Let them stay there for several minutes and
FireFighterNatioN .com
1607fr_33 33
then tell them to get up. What you will see on the
TIC is the amount of body heat that the furniture
absorbed and is now reemitting. This latent thermal
By Carl Nix
effect can be used to show that a firefighter, during
search and rescue, may see signs of victims before
actually locating the victims. There might be latent
thermal images on furniture or beds, which can be
indications that victims are present.
OUTSIDE SCENARIOS
Have a few firefighters sit in vehicles, varying the
number of occupants in each vehicle. Have them exit
and then have other team members scan the vehicle
seats with the TIC to see if they can determine how
many people were in the vehicle. This can be benefi-
cial when at a motor vehicle accident to determine if
there are occupant ejections.
Have your firefighters scan the exterior of the fire-
house with the TIC. Your TIC will show shades of
grayscale imagery, which will appear in different loca-
tions at different times of the day or night (because
of heat from the sun or heating/cooling units, for
example). This gives firefighters an idea of what they
may or may not see when they arrive at a house fire
call with no fire showing.
Practice using the TIC for outdoor search and
rescue. Send a few firefighters into the woods or
any outdoor area, and have other members try to
find them using the TIC. Be sure to practice this at
different times of the day and night and in different
weather because the imagery on the TIC will vary
based on changing environmental conditions.
Many fire departments have containers of all types
around the firehouse containing propane, diesel fuel,
and gas, to name a few. Have your firefighters look
at the different containers and practice determining
liquid levels. Verify your findings by opening the
container or simply looking at the gauge.
Firefighters don’t always have access to live fire
training facilities to become proficient using a TIC.
Being able to replicate, as closely as possible, actual fire
conditions is a huge benefit for firefighters when using
TICs.
Carl Nix is a 30-year veteran of the fire service and a retired bat-
talion chief of the Grapevine (TX) Fire Department. He serves as an
adjunct instructor for North Central Texas College and a thermal
imaging instructor for Bullard. Nix has a bachelor of science degree
in fire administration and is a guest instructor for Texas A&M Engi-
neering Extension Service’s (TEEX) annual fire training in Texas.
July 2016 F ire r escue M agazine 33
6/21/16 4:44 PM
 Selecting the right
size handline
BY PAUL SHAPIRO
H
ave you heard the saying that there is more than one
way to skin a cat? This statement holds true for a lot
of things in general as well as with the fire service.
Yes, our main goal is to fight fire; however, there
are so many different ways to do it while still reaching the final
outcome. Going one step further: What about high-rise firefight-
ing, mainly the handlines that are used? I have been teaching water
delivery in the fire service for about 30 years now, and the topic
of high-rise handlines has been in the picture the whole time. I’ve
seen a lot of changes, and most seem to work. Some tactics and
equipment contradict each other, but again the final outcome is
that the fire gets extinguished. I have put together some sound
handline water delivery operations along with the proper equip-
ment that I feel gets the job done. This article is based on informa-
tion gathered from others as well as myself. Keep in mind that the
contents of this article are based on water delivery only.
My goal is to provide information that will help firefighters
make a decision on what size handline to deploy in a high-rise
fire. There are four basic components for a high-rise handline
operation. They are the hose, the nozzle, a 2½-inch × 2½-inch
gated wye, and an inline pressure gauge.
34 F ire r escue M agazine July 2016
1607fr_REV_34 34
NFPA 14
Choosing the proper hose and nozzle combination needs to be
based on delivering the required flow for fire attack using low sys-
tem operating pressures. The reason for this is simple: High-rise
fire protection systems are limited in operating pressures because
of elevation; friction loss in plumbing; pressure reducing devices;
and, probably the most concerning issue, system pressures estab-
lished by National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 14, Stan-
dard for the Installation of Standpipe and Hose Systems, which is the
code that high-rise fire protection systems are designed from.
There are two basic sets of standards that have been put in place
by the NFPA that can affect water delivery. The first standard was
in place until 1993 and the second standard, which is still in place,
started in 1993. Please note that structures with the pre-1993 stan-
dards were not required to upgrade to the post-1993 standards.
Pre-1993: The minimum requirement for water delivery is 500 gal-
lons per minutes (gpm) at 65 pounds per square inch (psi) standpipe
outlet residual pressure using two outlets to achieve this flow at the
highest point in the system, or what the NFPA refers to as the hydrau-
lically farthest outlets from the building pump. The pressure regulat-
ing device at the standpipe outlet has a maximum pressure setting at
F ire Fighter NatioN .com
6/23/16 10:32 AM
 Choosing the proper hose and
nozzle combination needs to be
based on delivering the required
flow for fire attack using low sys-
tem operating pressures. (Photo by
Clark County Fire Department.)

High-Rise Fire Protection System Handline Flow Tests

8/24/15: Riviera Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada
System Specifications: 500 gpm @ 65 psi SORP

the standpipe outlet of 100 psi under static and residual pressures. COMBAT READY
1.88-in. hose × 150 ft.
Post-1993: The current code requires the same 500-gpm flow
but the minimum standpipe outlet residual pressure was increased SORP 85 GPM 165 TIP 7⁄8 in. NP 54
to 100 psi and the pressure regulating device at the standpipe SORP 85 GPM 185 TIP 15⁄16 in. NP 50
outlet was increased to have a maximum setting of 175 psi under SORP 85 GPM 210 TIP 1 in. NP 50
static and residual pressures. SORP 85 GPM 218 TIP 1 ⁄8 in.
1
NP 34
ECO 10
PRESSURE ISSUES 2-in. hose × 150 ft. with 2-½-in. couplings
Because of the above-mentioned pressure issues in fire protection SORP 85 GPM 177 TIP 7⁄8 in. NP 62
systems, most fire departments have opted to exclusively use 2½-inch
SORP 85 GPM 201 TIP ⁄16 in.
15
NP 60
handlines with smooth bore nozzles for all fire scenarios, big and
SORP 85 GPM 217 TIP 1 in. NP 54
small. The fact is that the 2½-inch handline will provide the most
water every time. However, along with the positive flow capabilities SORP 80 GPM 248 TIP 1 ⁄8 in.
1
NP 44
of this line, there are also negative deployment and kinking issues BIG 10
that have to be dealt with because of the size of the hose itself. 2½-in. hose × 150 ft.
The low standpipe outlet pressures mentioned above have been SORP 80 GPM 265 TIP 11⁄8 in. NP 50
misleading, causing firefighters to assume that smaller handlines SORP 75 GPM 345 TIP 11⁄4 in. NP 56
such as 1¾-inch and two-inch could not be used because of the SORP: standpipe outlet residual pressure
higher friction loss these lines have as compared to the 2½-inch. GPM: gallons per minute NP: nozzle pressure
Let’s analyze the true pressures that can be expected in a high-rise NOTE: Tests were done from the hydraulically farthest standpipe outlet from the
fire protection system. building pump.

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1607fr_35 35 6/21/16 4:44 PM

 THE DESIGN
OF THE
HIGH-RISE
HANDLINE
Right: A 2½-inch × 2 ½-inch
gated wye connected to the end
of the short section of hose lead-
ing from the standpipe allows
two handlines to be connected
from one standpipe outlet.
(Photo by author.) Far right: Task
Force Tips inline 2½-inch pressure gauge at the standpipe outlet. Note that the
elbow at the outlet of the gauge has an adjustable angle. (Photo by author.)
FLOW TESTS
Again, fire protection systems are based on a 500-gpm flow capa-
bility, and after flowing 500 gpm the standpipe outlet residual pres-
sure will need to be either 65 psi or 100 psi, depending on when
the system was built. The fact is that if 500 gpm is not flowing,
which more than likely it would not be with the initial handline
deployment, the standpipe outlet residual pressure will actually be
higher (as can been seen in the handline flow tests image).
Actual flow tests were conducted at the 25-story Riviera Hotel in
Las Vegas, Nevada, using 1.88-inch, two-inch with 2½-inch cou-
plings, and 2½-inch hose—all at 150 feet in length. All hose was
provided by Key Hose. We used smooth bore nozzles with 7⁄8-inch,
15
⁄16-inch, one-inch, 11⁄8-inch, and 1¼-inch tips to deliver the water.
The flow tests were done on the roof to show a worst-case scenario
of what the pressures and flows would be. The system was rated at
500 gpm with a 65 psi standpipe outlet residual pressure.
As you can see, the standpipe residual pressures increased signifi-
cantly from the rated 65 psi pressure. Furthermore, all flows exceeded
150 gpm, which is well within the standard for interior attack lines.
Keep in mind that the 65 psi system we tested these lines on is a
worst-case scenario with regard to NFPA codes and restrictions.
Any structure built after 1993 will have the 100-psi standpipe outlet
pressure, which in turn means that the handlines will flow even more
water. As a side note of interest, the authority having jurisdiction in
Clark County, Nevada, has increased the required residual pressure at
the standpipe to 125 psi after flowing the required 500 gpm.
The size of the hose to be used should reflect the requirements
of the fire and the system pressure. The gpm needs to match the
British thermal units, and the diameter of the hose needs to be
able to overcome the system low pressure issues. Note: To have
the luxury of an easy-to-deploy 1¾-inch or two-inch handline,
it is imperative that a 2½-inch hose pack be brought into the
structure just in case its use is warranted.
Low-pressure nozzles are a must in a high-rise operation even
with the higher residual pressures, which were indicated in the
chart. Remember, system pressures are going to be low, so lower-
ing the nozzle pressure from the standard 100 psi to a much
lower pressure in the range of 40 psi to about 60 psi greatly
improves water delivery capabilities.
It’s important to understand that these flows were taken at the
roof, which is a worst-case scenario for pressure loss in the system.
The lower you go in the building, the higher the flow and nozzle
pressure will be.
36 F ire r escue M agazine July 2016
1607fr_36 36
STANDPIPE CONNECTIONS
Not all standpipe outlets are user-friendly with regard to con-
necting hose and gated wye appliances to them. Because of this, a
short 15-foot section of either 2½- or three-inch hose should be
used to connect the high-rise pack to the standpipe outlet.
A 2½-inch × 2½-inch gated wye: This should be connected to
the end of the short section of hose leading from the standpipe to
allow two handlines to be connected from one standpipe outlet.
Flow tests at the same structure gave us a flow of 238 gpm each
from two 2½-inch handlines 150 feet long with 11⁄8-inch smooth
bore tips.
A 2½-inch inline pressure gauge: This is connected between the
gated wye and the short section of hose leading off the standpipe
outlet. Its purpose is twofold: Part of the high-rise deployment
procedure requires a flow test of the handline before commencing
with the fire attack to determine if the required handline pressures
can be met from the system, which in turn will help decide what size
line can be used. It also helps to dial in the required pressures for
the handline.
For example, let’s say you’re using Combat Ready 1¾-inch hose
and the required pressure for that line to flow 185 gpm with the
15
⁄16-inch smooth bore is 105 psi. This can be noted with a label
on the side of the gauge body so if an adjustment is needed at the
standpipe a firefighter simply adjusts the standpipe outlet valve to
the required pressure.
BEST DECISIONS
I hope this information has been helpful in providing a better
understanding of what is involved with water delivery in a
high-rise fire protection system. Basic decisions in the size-up on
the fire floor are crucial in making the correct choice for the
handline to be used. Remember: There is more than one way to
skin a cat, so if you agree with the information provided but feel a
need to tweak it for your department’s operations, then by all
means make the changes so you will have a system that works best
for you.
Paul Shapiro has been involved with the fire service since 1981 and served as an
engineer with the Las Vegas (NV) Fire & Rescue for 28 years until his retirement. He
is a certified fire instructor III for Nevada and has served on the faculty of many fire
academies throughout the United States. Shapiro authored Layin’ The Big Lines, a
book on large-flow water delivery. He specializes in the research, development, and
training on large-flow water delivery systems and fire stream management. His
extensive research on large-diameter hose, both as supply and discharge lines, has
been published frequently in fire service trade magazines.
F ireFighterNatioN .com
6/21/16 4:44 PM
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 Philosophy
and
Fact
If the fire service ever hopes to
eliminate toxic, deadly cultures,
there must be a commitment at the
local level to a chosen culture, and
leadership must have the courage
to drive the culture modification
process. (Photo by John Cetrino.)

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1607fr_38 38 6/21/16 4:44 PM

 C
ulture is an influential part of every organization. The
nature of the fire service, and the firehouse environ-
ment, presents some unique challenges when it comes to
culture modification. Combine this with the fire service’s
reluctance to change, and you have perfect conditions for the
development of toxic cultures. Many questionable practices and
behaviors that exist in the modern fire service exist because the
culture allows their existence.
Cultures exist either by design or by chance. Unfortunately, in
the American fire service, the latter is the norm. If we ever hope
to eliminate the bad events that are caused by bad habits, or by
questionable accepted practices, we must implement change
and initiate a culture modification process. If the fire service
ever hopes to eliminate toxic, deadly cultures, there must be a
Creating a culture for success
and survival in the fire service
BY J. SCOTT THOMPSON
commitment at the local level to a chosen culture, and leadership
must have the courage to drive the culture modification process.
The lack of established standards and expectations, account-
ability, courageous leadership, and effective supervision must be
remedied if we ever hope to accomplish all that we continually
talk about. We know the problems, we know the causes, and we
know many of the solutions.
MOTIVATION FOR CULTURAL CHANGE
Failure to meet basic performance and safety standards has been
an ongoing problem in the American fire service. Realized in
individual fire departments big and small, career and volunteer,
rural and urban, finding solutions to basic problems continues to
challenge fire service leaders. While the focus always seems to be
on specific areas of concern, when looking at the big picture it is
easy to draw a parallel between the problems and the organiza-
tion’s culture. Many of the internal challenges facing fire depart-
ments have a root cause that is culture related. The beliefs, values,
accepted practices, level of accountability, and leadership philoso-
phy are each a byproduct of the fire department’s culture.
There is not a practice, belief, lesson, tradition, or decision that
occurs within a fire department that is not in some way governed
or impacted by the existing culture. The culture represents all
that has been learned and shared among the current members of
the organization and all that has been passed down by previous
generations. Beliefs, assumptions, norms, and practices exist
because each is allowed to exist. Most importantly, the values of
the organization—formal or informal—that are communicated
in the form of rules and regulations, general orders, stories, or
disciplinary actions, good or bad, usually live within the culture
and remain until a more influential force intervenes to initiate
cultural change.
Declaring that the culture needs to be changed is, in reality, say-
ing that every belief, every assumption, every practice, and every
FireFighterNatioN .com
1607fr_39 39
rationalization for future decisions needs to be examined and pos-
sibly modified. Choosing a sustainable culture is about discovery
and commitment.
FIRE SERVICE CULTURE AND IMPACT
Fire department cultures develop one of two ways. First and
most commonly is through evolution and over generations, by
what is and what is not valued by the members. In addition, it
develops by what is allowed, tolerated, or encouraged in daily
activities and decisions. And finally, it develops by the emphasis
that is placed on what is and what is not viewed as important.
The second way, and certainly the most uncommon, the culture
develops by design and intention. Chosen sustained cultures exist
because of vision, observable core values, established standards,
identified best practices, accountability at all levels, courageous
leadership, and the daily management of the desired culture by
influential members.
In 2008, I began researching the subject of culture and its impact
on fire service organizations—specifically the impact of training
and mentoring and the development of learning cultures. The
original focus of the research was on fire departments in general,
but what I quickly realized was that, when it comes to culture and
culture management, not all fire departments can be viewed as
equal. To better quantify the impact of culture on fire department
organizations, it was necessary to categorize departments based on
size, maturity, resources, and a change factor.
Department size: Department size is important because cul-
ture modification involves change—and often breakthrough
Culture modification process.
(Image by author.)
Vision
Effective
Purpose
Supervision
Chosen
Culture
Courageous
Core Values
Leadership
July 2016 F ire r escue M agazine 39
6/21/16 4:44 PM
 PHILOSOPHY AND FACT
change. The size of an organization determines
how quickly change is likely to occur. For the Toxic vs. health culture.
purpose of the research, it was important to Signs of a Chosen and Healthy Culture Symptoms of Toxic Culture
determine if change was likely to occur within Two-way trust Us against them
one generation of leadership, such as in smaller, Commitment to learning Lack of training and mentoring
more agile departments, or slower as is likely in Mentoring Hazing
larger, more established departments in which Accountability Finger pointing
sustained change would likely require two or
Team members Employees
more generations of leadership to implement and
People want to belong People want to leave
then sustain. Implementing change without a
plan for sustainability is a common oversight in A sense of purpose A sense of self
the change management process that many fire Involvement Avoidance
departments follow. Effective supervisors Manipulators
Department maturity: The maturity of the Officers interact with their crew Officers stay in their office
department is the next most important factor
Members are positioned for success and survival Members are allowed to drift toward failure
that relates to both culture and change. As with
PPE and seat belts are worn The officer determines what rules to follow
so many things in the fire service, the things that
are passed on from one generation to the next Expectations are met Shortcuts are taken
certainly have an influential impact. Mature Outcomes are based on knowledge and skills Outcomes are the result of luck
departments (several generations of members) Prepared physically, mentally, mechanically, procedurally No expectations for preparedness
are more set in their ways because the way things Open to change Have always done it this way
get done has been passed on by respected senior Commitment to continual improvement Why fix it if it ain’t broken?
members. This ritual is viewed with high regard
Training occurs because it is valued Training occurs because it is required
in the American fire service, and the change
Worried about being good Worried about looking good
process can expect to meet resistance. The larger
and the more mature the department, the more Problems are solved using sensible aggression Problems are solved with reckless aggression
difficult culture modification becomes—not The culture is managed daily The culture is neglected
impossible, just more difficult and more time (Image by author.)
consuming.
Department resources: The availability of resources is not a major gressive, old school, modern, or traditional, but by any definition
factor but is a factor nonetheless. Departments that are struggling they have a history of being successful in carrying out the mission
to survive are focused on maintaining and surviving, not culture of protecting lives and property. Most of the average American
management. Departments with limited resources believe there departments evaluated experienced an influx of new members at
are more important things to worry about than whether or not some point in the past 30 to 40 years and are now seeing those
their culture is healthy. members retire. Therefore, they are typically led by those who are
Department change factor: The change factor is a combination younger, often educated, and not as experienced by traditional
of subjective and objective criteria. This takes into consideration standards as officers of the past. Although these departments may
such things as geographical location, progressiveness, commit- seem to be set in their ways, culture modification can occur with
ment to excellence, commitment to training and professional strong, knowledgeable, experienced, and committed leadership.
development, hiring and promotional processes, labor relations, These departments have experienced some change and are less
trust, and leadership philosophy. likely to resist change than are larger departments. The need for
change is generally voiced by newer members. During periods
DEPARTMENT CATEGORIES of change, there is likely to be a disconnect between younger
The following is a breakdown of the four categories of fire members and senior members who must decide between chang-
departments and their likely receptiveness to change and culture ing and retiring. Patience is often needed to effectively create a
modification. chosen culture. Chiefs who are brought in from outside of the
The biggest fire departments: In fire departments with more than organization typically have more success implementing change
500 members, based on research and observation, cultural modi- and culture modification, good or bad, is almost always recogniz-
fication is likely to be more difficult and require two or more able in the first 18 to 36 months. The sustainability of change
generations of leadership to initiate change and sustain culture and culture modification varies greatly and depends heavily on
modifications. Departments with more than 500 members are the ownership by the members of the organization.
not considered viable for cultural modification using the theory Rapid-growth fire departments: Fire departments that have
and the model outlined here. experienced rapid growth at some point between the mid-1980s
The average American fire departments: Career or volunteer and 2015 are best positioned for cultural change. These depart-
departments with 500 or fewer members can be described as pro- ments have been forced to embrace so much change to survive

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 Continually look for ways to reinforce the desired culture. (Photo by author.)
that valuing change is commonly a part of their culture. Because
of the lack of maturity of rapid-growth organizations, the culture
existence is not easily recognizable either from the outside or
within. These departments, by definition, are viewed as success-
ful and progressive but all too often because of their curb appeal.
Because everything appears new and modern, it’s often assumed
that they must be governed by a healthy culture. Because these
departments have been driven by growth, most efforts are focused
on hiring, promoting, buying, and building. To meet service
demands, leadership is often forced to focus on growth manage-
ment—not culture management. As a result, as these organiza-
tions mature, they are often left with many cultural challenges
that prevent these organizations from reaching full potential and
issues associated with low morale.
Note: On a side note, the results of a simple survey revealed that
a surprisingly low number of departments in this category had
in place any form of structured fire training that focused on the
basics or operational coordination, consistency, and continuity
between shifts and stations. The use of mentors for new hires and
newly promoted was almost nonexistent, and there was a lack of
formal professional development criteria for current and future
officers. It also revealed that often the commitment to training for
the organization reported by administrative staff was significantly
more than the actual commitment by operations personnel.
This indicates a misalignment between training expectations and
training reality. The commitment to training, or the lack thereof,
highlights many cultural issues. Departments in this category are
primed for cultural modification and would benefit the most long
term from a deliberate culture modification effort.
Struggling-to-survive fire departments: The focus of these depart-
ments is maintaining or surviving. They are often poorly funded
and poorly led. Departments that are struggling to provide the
basic necessities for service delivery are not considered viable for
cultural modification within the parameters outlined here.
FireFighterNatioN .com
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PERFORMANCE AND SAFETY PROBLEMS
Assuming good people are brought into the organization
and effective supervisors are placed into supervisory positions,
performance and safety problems commonly occur for two
reasons: lack of standards or lack of accountability for meeting
standards. Agree or not, the fact is expectations have not been
clearly defined, and/or chief officers, captains, lieutenants, senior
members, or anyone else who could have stopped an unaccept-
able behavior or practice from occurring did not.
The fire service has gotten very creative with the cause and
effect of bad occurrences to draw the attention away from the
lack of standards and accountability. If we ever hope to improve
the culture, we must first be honest and identify the chain of
causation that led up to the bad event. Standards or acceptable
best practices must come from the top. Adherence to established
standards or best practices is everyone’s responsibility. Supervisors
who condone unacceptable acts or behaviors own those acts or
behaviors and must be prepared to deal with the consequences in
the future.
DEPARTMENTWIDE INVESTMENT
Cultural modification requires breakthrough change. Culture
modification must start at the top. Cultural modification requires
a long-term commitment and must be viewed as a journey and
not a destination. It requires courage and real leadership. To
achieve a chosen and sustainable culture requires daily manage-
ment of the culture.
The very first step to any change process is commitment. For
culture modification to occur, the leadership team must commit
to a process and to accountability. There must be an organized
effort to prevent detours and maintain momentum. Selling
change is every bit as important as managing the change process.
The chief of department must be all in and be viewed as the head
cheerleader for the process. Without support from the leadership
July 2016 F ire r escue M agazine 41
6/21/16 4:44 PM
 PHILOSOPHY AND FACT
Make training a priority. Focus on learning
and confidence building. Strive for quality
and not quantity. (Photo by author.)
team and the chief delivering horsepower to the process, a chosen
culture is impossible. Change may occur, but sustainability will
be questionable.
CULTURE MODIFICATION PROCESS
Create and communicate a vision: A chosen culture starts with
vision. The chief must be able to clearly define what he would
like the culture to look like and then package the vision into
words and phrases that can be clearly communicated by leaders
and supervisors and clearly understood by the newest members.
The vision is the target for which all change and culture modifi-
cation efforts are aimed.
Purpose: Hopefully the culture focuses on the organization’s
purpose or fulfilling a mission. Too many fire departments have
strayed from the core purpose or mission in an attempt to look
progressive and, in turn, have caused conflict in the organization
and damage to the culture. Everybody needs a purpose that they
can understand and fulfill if committed.
Core values: Core values and core value action steps are the
foundation of the culture. In the absence of core values, the
culture will lack a soul—a compass for checks and balances. Core
values also serve as an excellent leadership and decision making
tool.
Courageous leadership: Courageous leadership is an absolute
necessity for success in the fire service. Without it, the culture
will become toxic. The leaders of the organization are the change
agents. In the absence of leaders who display courage by not
being afraid to do the right thing, the culture is left to chance or
will be determined by the most influential members. Effective
leadership takes courage. Change and culture modification must
involve courageous leadership.
Effective supervision: Not every supervisor is a leader. However,
every person with supervisor responsibilities must be effective
in that role. Ideally, effective supervision is an expectation that
comes from the top. A supervisor who allows shortcuts, accepts
mediocrity, fails to prepare his people, or neglects the responsi-
bility of the position owns the problem and must deal with the
consequences. Additionally, any person over that supervisor who
allows ineffective supervision owns the outcome twofold … he
has the authority, the rank, and the obligation and has accepted
the responsibility and yet has allowed substandard performance.
He owns the toxic culture.
42 F ire r escue M agazine July 2016
1607fr_42 42
FIXING LEADERSHIP ISSUES
Lack of courageous leadership and lack of effective supervision
are the two biggest links in the chain of causation for bad events
and a toxic culture. In addition, I have yet to find a department
in which lack of accountability, lack of commitment to purpose-
ful training, lack of officer development, and lack of trust haven’t
been brought up as cultural issues. The culture modification
process must include the following:
Commit to a culture of accountability: Provide supervisors
with well-thought-out and realistic expectations that reinforce
standards, leadership philosophy, core values, purpose, and the
chief ’s vision. Have monthly mentoring sessions to hold supervi-
sors accountable and to build momentum by providing construc-
tive feedback, encouragement, praise when earned, and timely
redirection when needed.
Commit to a learning culture: Make training a priority. Focus
on learning and confidence building. Strive for quality and not
quantity. Make training realistic and relevant but, most impor-
tant, make training happen. Make training personal by using
mentors for the newly hired and newly promoted. Look for
mentoring opportunities.
Commit to a culture that values leadership and effective supervi-
sion: Prepare and position officers for success in the firehouse
and survival on the fireground. Start the professional develop-
ment process by building knowledge, confidence, and trust, and
watch what happens. To the contrary, put incompetent people in
responsible positions and watch the toxin spread.
Commit to a culture of trust: Start by eliminating any per-
ceptions that may cause mistrust. Commit to transparency,
meaningful communication, and owning mistakes. Finally, get
out and listen to personnel. A cup of coffee casually shared at
the kitchen table without an agenda is a great chosen culture
cultivator.
As you visit, remember the following three things:
(1) Your job is to see to the success and survival of your people.
(2) They can do it without you, but you can’t do it without
them.
(3) Your crew is a reflection of your commitment to them.
In the absence of standards, leadership, and accountability
exists a culture of chaos.
J. Scott Thompson is a 35-year veteran of the fire service and chief of The
Colony (TX) Fire Department. During his career, he has been a member of
volunteer departments as well as worked for some of the fastest growing and
most progressive departments in Texas. Thompson has been in a leadership role
for the past 21 years and has committed himself to training, mentoring, and
enhancing professional development in the fire service. He has been a classroom
presenter and hands-on instructor at the Fire Department Instructors Conference
International since 2002.
F ireFighterNatioN .com
6/21/16 4:44 PM
 Part 2

Common securit
y features 1
BY PAUL DeBA
RTOLOMEO

n the second installment of this three-part series, I am

going to discuss a few of the more common external 1: A ½-inch steel
locking mechanisms used in conjunction with locking pin. (Photos
roll-down security gates. When a business owner by author.)
invests thousands of dollars to install a roll-down security
gate, he typically doesn’t skimp on the locks used to secure the
2
gate during nonbusiness hours. A roll-down gate secured with
inferior locks defeats the overall purpose of the system.
Bearing that in mind, most store owners will spend the extra
money and invest in high-security padlocks of one form or
2: A ½-inch hole
another. The combination of a roll-down gate secured with
in the gate channel
multiple high-security locks can pose a significant entry and gate slat.
problem for responding firefighters. Having a general
knowledge of the locks being used and how best to defeat
them will improve your ability to make entry in an efficient
and a timely manner.

LOCKING PIN
3
Manual and mechanical gates use a locking pin and a high-
security padlock to secure the gate in the down and locked
position during nonbusiness hours. Electronic gates usually
do not have external locking mechanisms because they are
secured in the down and locked position when the gear in 3: A metal staple/ring
the electric motor is engaged. The lack of any external lock- welded to a channel rail.
ing mechanism is, in fact, a great indicator of an electronic
gate. Electric gates may have a high-security padlock securing
the box, which contains the electric key switch that must be
removed to open the gate electronically.
The locking pin used on manual and mechanical gates is a
½-inch steel pin that passes through the gate channel rail and
4
a gate slat (photo 1). A ½-inch hole is drilled in the chan-
4: A lock attached
nel rail and the corresponding slat, allowing the pin to enter to the staple and
(photo 2). A metal staple or ring is welded to the channel rail engaged on a lock.
adjacent to the hole, allowing a padlock to attach to the gate
assembly and engage the locking pin (photos 3 and 4). The
number and types of locks can vary on any given gate from
two hardened padlocks up to and in excess of six to eight
shielded hockey puck locks, depending on the size of the gate,
security issues in the area, and the merchandise being secured.

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 7
6
5

in contrast to standard locks.

of high-security locks 8
5: A comparison photo rity dlock.
pa
core on a high-secu
6: A screw retained
7: An American
Series 700 padlock.
HIGH-SECURITY LOCKS
Locks are classified as high security based on their character- 8: A metal cutting saw
istics and inherent features. High-security locks are typically with the blade
larger than ordinary padlocks, are made with case-hardened horizontally across
both legs of the shackle.
steel, are equipped with a heel and toe shackle mechanism,
and have a guarded key way with a screw retained core (photo 9: An American
5). Series 2000
Case hardening is a process done to metal where additional “hockey puck.”
carbon is infused into the case to harden the outer surface.
9
This process significantly hardens the locks’ outer surface,
making them impenetrable using traditional means such as a
bolt cutter. The heel and toe shackle mechanism is a feature
common to high-security padlocks where the shackle locks
at both the heel and the toe. This prevents the lock from
rotating if one leg of the shackle is severed. The shackle on
a heel-and-toe-equipped padlock must therefore be cut on
both sides to remove the lock. The key way on these locks is
guarded with a bolted shield, which passes through the lock to
retain the core, making removing the key way and jimmying
the lock nearly impossible (photo 6).
The most common high-security padlock in use today is
the American Series 700 padlock. This lock has all of the
aforementioned features, making it a formidable security
device that is challenging to defeat (photo 7). When you (photo 10). On the back of the lock there is a cavity that
encounter this lock on a roll-down gate, the quickest and allows the lock to slide over the staple on the gate and engage
most reliable way to defeat it is to cut the shackle with a the locking pin (photo 11). It is quite common to see these
rotary saw equipped with an aluminum oxide (metal) blade. locks affixed to a shield for added security. The shield is also
Because of the heel-and-toe locking feature, both legs of constructed of case-hardened steel and is equipped with a
the shackle must be cut to remove the lock. When starting three-inch × ½-inch rod that passes through the channel rail
your cut, place the blade horizontally across both legs of the and the slat on the gate (photo 12).
shackle and slowly increase the saw’s revolutions per minute The quickest and most reliable way to defeat this lock is to
(rpm) (photo 8). As the blade begins to cut a groove into the cut it with a rotary saw equipped with an aluminum oxide
material, you can increase the speed of the saw to full rpm. blade. The procedure for cutting the hockey puck is the same
Once the shackle has been severed, you can remove the pin regardless of whether a shield is present or not. If the lock is
and raise the gate. equipped with a shield, you simply cut the shield as you cut
Another very common high-security lock is the American the lock. You first want to identify the location of the key
Series 2000 “hockey puck” lock (photo 9). The Series 2000 way at the base of the lock. The location of the key way is
is a case-hardened, 27⁄8-inch-diameter, solid steel lock that going to depend on the position of the staple attached to the
has a hardened pin that passes through the body of the lock rail on the gate. If the staple is in the horizontal position, the

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 12
11
10

v-
ck lock. 11: A ca
pi n on th e ba ck of a hockey pu e st ap le an d
10: A hardened th
that slides over
of a hockey puck ck shield with a
three-
ity on the back A st an da rd ho ck ey pu
n. 12 :
engages the pi
13 inch × ½-inch
pin.

key way will likely be located at the six o’clock posi-

tion. If the staple is in the vertical position, the key
saw
13: A metal cutting way would be found at either the three or nine o’clock
ds of the wa y up
two-thir position.
e lock is
from the key way (th Place the blade of the saw on the face of the lock
a ho riz ontal sta ple).
set on
two-thirds of the way up from the key way to start
your cut (photos 13 and 14). At this position, as the
blade cuts through the face of the lock, it will enter
the cavity and sever the locking pin. Slowly increase
14 your rpm until you create a groove on the face of
the lock, then increase to full rpm to completely cut
the lock and sever the pin. Once the lock has been
completely severed, you can remove the pin and raise
saw
14: A metal cutting the gate.
the wa y in
two-thirds of Some other common locks with interesting features
the ke y wa y (th e lock is
from
l sta ple ). are the discus lock and the American Series 747. The
set on a vertica
discus lock is a 2¾-inch shrouded disc padlock with
an octagonal boron-carbide shackle (photo 15). The
American Series 747 is a 2½-inch solid steel padlock
with a 7⁄16-inch boron shrouded shackle (photo 16).
The shrouding makes these locks extremely difficult
15 to cut in a traditional manner because only a small
portion of the boron shackle is accessible when the
lock is engaged on a gate.
The quickest and most reliable way to cut these
locks is to make a single cut that passes through the
ached
15: A discus lock att lock body and severs the shackle. Place your saw blade
te ho w the
to a gate (no about one-third of the way down from the top of the
its
shrouded feature lim lock and begin your cut (photos 17 and 18). Begin
sh ac kle ).
access to the
slowly and increase your rpm as the blade cuts into
the lock. Bring the saw to full rpm and completely
sever the lock and shackle. Once cut, remove the
remaining piece of the shackle from the pin and staple
16 and raise the gate.

RESPONSE DISTRICT EDUCATION

rie s 747
16: An American Se These are but a few of the numerous locking
shrouded pa dlo ck.
devices commercially available and in use on roll-
down security gates. There are literally hundreds of

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 locks made by various manufacturers that you may
encounter in your area. The majority of these locks
17 can be classified as high security, each with specific
nuances unique to their design, which make them
more challenging to force using conventional
methods.
It is imperative that firefighters are aware of the
challenges that exist in their response districts. Con-
ducting a field survey to identify the various locks in
with a dotted use on commercial occupancies, understanding their
17: A discus lock
th ird from the top design features and how they function, and develop-
line one-
icatin g wh ere to cut. ing a plan on how to defeat them will lead to effective
ind
entry in a timely manner.
The next installment will cover attacking the gate
18 on commercial occupancies. I will explain the
determining factors associated with this operation and
explain the various techniques used to cut the
ng saw with
18: A metal cutti different style gates.
of the way
a blade one-third
m th e top on a discus
down fro
Paul DeBartolomeo has been a member of the fire service for more
lock.
than 20 years in both the career and volunteer ranks. He is an
18-year veteran of the Fire Department of New York (FDNY), where
he is assigned to Ladder Company 28 in Harlem. DeBartolomeo is a
nationally certified Pro-Board instructor and an adjunct instructor
for the Connecticut Fire Academy and provides lectures and hands-
on training nationwide. He was a lead instructor for an F.D.I.C.
H.O.T. evolution as well as a classroom presenter.

SOME CALL THEM HEROES.

WE CALL THEM
ALUMNI.
Vera
a Morrison
2015 Graduate
D
DeKalb (Ga.) Fire Rescue
Battalion chief

TTEXTBOOKS
TE
IN
INCLUDED

Learn more about our online fire degrees, workshops and CEUs.
ColumbiaSouthern.edu/FR or call 877.314.2814
FESHE Gainful employment information available at ColumbiaSouthern.edu/Disclosure.
RECOGNIZED

firerescue.hotims.com

46 F ire r escue M agazine July 2016 F ireFighterNatioN .com

1607fr_46 46 6/21/16 4:44 PM

 Jersey City firefighters struggle to contain spreading fires after several major
explosions. (Photo by Liberty State Park.)

Looking back 100 years

at this historic event
BY PAUL HASHAGEN

A horse-drawn Jersey City rig stands by after devastating explosions and fire
on Black Tom Island. (Photo by the National Archives.)

B
efore he even heard the blast, Fire Chief Roger Boyle
felt himself lifted into the air, blown right out of his
boots and up into a sky the color of pitch. He knew
he was in midair, propelled by an apparent explosion.
He was not surprised. The bad feelings had started a
half hour earlier, when he’d received a call from Battalion Chief
Gagely informing him of a fire on Black Tom Island (NY).
Gagely stated he was having trouble getting the units close to the
fire area. Boyle responded to the scene. Together with Gagely,
they led the Jersey City (NJ) fire companies onto the nearly one-
mile-long promontory.

VOLATILE ENVIRONMENT Firefighters operating a hoseline amidst the wreckage on Black Tom Island.
The chiefs’ cars, a new gasoline-powered hook and ladder truck, (Photo by Liberty State Park.)
and the horse-drawn pumpers made their way toward Pier 7
of the National Storage Company. The pier jutted out into the
Upper Bay almost directly behind the Statue of Liberty. The fire,
blazing around some railroad freight cars, had obviously been
burning for some time and was rapidly consuming the wooden
railcars and eating through the stout planks, the flames angrily
licking their way closer to the volatile contents. Despite the fact
that the fire was well advanced and that approaching it would be
difficult, Boyle knew immediate action was needed.
He knew this place well. The green marsh filled with the birds
and fish of his youth was gone, replaced with this time bomb.
The gap between the former island and the shore, about 150 feet
wide, had been filled to accommodate train tracks and a road.
Shortly after the war began in Europe, it had all changed. Large Fireboats attack the blast site and burning barges still filled with high explo-
warehouses, a huge grain elevator, a network of train tracks, and sives. (Photo by Liberty State Park.)

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 800 feet of piers soon made Black Tom the most important point
in America for the transfer of munitions and supplies to Allied
vessels bound for Europe. The loaded freight cars ran up the
northern side of the terminal, and the ammunition and explo-
sive projectiles were then stored or moved onto barges to await
incoming steamers. Safety rules were bent or broken daily. There
was a war on, and there was big money to be made.
UP IN THE AIR
The detonation wave, traveling at more than 24,000 feet per
second, tore the chief and his men from their position close to the
burning railcars, tossing them into the summer sky. Boyle struck
the ground with a teeth-rattling, lung-emptying impact. Around
him, a dry rain of dirt fell quick and steady like an unexpected
thundershower.
A hoseline whipped about unmanned. Firefighters, tossed like
leaves in a strong autumn breeze, struggled to regain their senses.
Their faces were blackened and singed from the blast. Torn, tat-
tered, and smoldering rubber fire coats hung from shoulders still
shuddering. More than 30 yards from the chief ’s empty boots,
the firefighters staggered unsteadily to their feet, the once firm
ground now a shifting landscape of debris and rubble. Their
bloodied ears rang with the resounding force of the tremendous
explosion, each enveloped in a noise-filled silence, unable to dis-
tinguish the cries and moans of those trapped within the piles of
smoking destruction and the shattered remains of barges, build-
ings, and train cars. The salty harbor air was thickly laced with
the biting odor of gunpowder; a mountainous cloud of wood
smoke mixed with suspended dust and dirt hung like a pall over
the devastated blast site.
German Destroying Agents of WW I
Captain Franz von Rintelen was a German Naval Intelligence
officer and a master spy. After his arrival in the United States
on April 3, 1915, he operated independently of other German
agents and only answered to Berlin. His mission was simple:
sabotage ships, American and others, carrying supplies and
munitions to the Allies. He traveled to New York City posing as
a businessman. Using a forged Swiss passport and speaking
fluent English, von Rintelen set up a fake company to buy and
then destroy as much black powder as he could, hoping to
create a shortage.
Working with a German-born chemist in New Jersey, von
Rintelen created time-delayed incendiary devices known as
“pencil bombs.” Under his direction, workers placed these
devices in the holds of various merchant ships loading in New
York harbor. While at sea, the devices would activate, caus-
ing fires or explosions in the holds of these England-bound
vessels. During his relatively short time in America, he spent
a half a million dollars on his espionage efforts and a wild
scheme of trying to convince Mexico to go to war with the
United States.
Fulfilling a promise made to German High Command at the
beginning of the war, von Rintelen prepared to return home.
Before leaving for the United States, he’d told Admiral von Tir-
pitz in Berlin, “I’ll buy what I can and blow up what I can’t.”
In May 1915, things took a dramatic change with the
48 F ire r escue M agazine July 2016
1607fr_48 48
The chief wobbled to his feet, then reached down to pick up his
helmet. The shower of flaming splinters of wood, brick shards,
and other debris continued raining down. A staccato cadence of
exploding three-inch shells provided a muffled background to the
hail of red-hot shrapnel that tore through the air like a swarm of
angry bees. No amount of training could have prepared Boyle for
this night. He was nearly surrounded by water, yet the meager
amount supplied by the hydrant system would prove to be pain-
fully inadequate. There was a tremendous quantity of flammable
materials crammed into a small area. Limited access would make
stretching hoselines difficult. The chief ’s real problem was the
vast amount of high explosives still encircling him, his personnel,
and his equipment.
Hidden from Chief Boyle’s view behind the burning freight
cars, another fire blazed two barges away—only a few hundred
feet from where the firefighters were again frantically work-
ing their hoseline. Both barges were filled with high explosives
including dynamite and TNT that have extreme shattering
power, and the decks of these barges were burning furiously.
LIFE AND PROPERTY LOSS
So began a night that saw the Jersey City (NJ) Fire Depart-
ment respond to a reported “rubbish fire.” The fire, believed
to have been started by German “destroying agents,” and the
subsequent explosions would take the lives of seven people
including James Doherty, a Jersey City police officer; Corne-
lius Leyden, the Lehigh Valley Railroad chief of police; Arthur
Tosson, a 10-week-old infant; and a barge captain. The blasts
shattered windows as far as 25 miles away, including thousands
of windows in lower Manhattan and Times Square. Amazingly,
sinking of the British liner Lusitania by a German U-boat off
the coast of Ireland. The killing of 128 Americans onboard
changed public opinion in the United States and angered
President Wilson. The president then directed the Secret
Service (until now only protecting the president and hunting
counterfeiters) to investigate German diplomats. They were
able to snatch a briefcase containing valuable information on
the German spy ring from a German operative who was travel-
ling on a New York City streetcar.
Von Rintelen was recalled to Berlin for consultations. He
made a hasty exit from New York on a Dutch ocean liner
under an assumed name. The British later arrested him on
August 13, 1915, as he entered their waters. By January 13,
he was in American hands and spent three years in a prison in
Atlanta, Georgia. He returned to Germany in 1920. His book,
The Dark Invader: Wartime Reminiscences of a German Naval
Intelligence Officer, was published in 1933.
Years after the explosion, Michael Kristoff, a Slovak im-
migrant was linked to the explosion. He admitted to working
with German agents in 1915 and 1916. He also stated two of
the guards at Black Tom were German agents—Von Rintelen’s
network ran deep. Their continuing work in America was
rather successful. In New York Harbor alone, there were 70
pier fires in 1916, 139 fires onboard ships, and of course the
fire and explosion on Black Tom Island.
F ireFighterNatioN .com
6/21/16 4:44 PM
 the Statue of Liberty only suffered minor
surface damage and popped rivets primarily
on the statue’s extended right arm. However,
the entire statue along with the rest of Bedloe’s
Island was closed for the next 10 days.
Fireboats from New York City raced across the
river and drove their powerful streams of water
into the blazing wreckage. Every firefighter in
Jersey City was at the scene trying to control
the explosive flames. Reports would later state the fire might have
been burning for an hour before the fire department was called.
This coupled with the lack of adequate water supplies left the
firefighters in a very dangerous position. Still, they manned their
lines and fought the flames.
It is estimated the worst of the explosions on Black Tom Island
that night would have measured 5.5 on the Richter scale (the
World Trade Center’s north tower registered a 2.3 when it col-
lapsed in 2001). The first major explosion was on Johnson Barge
No. 17, which was packed with 50 tons of TNT and 417 cases of
detonating fuses. Other blasts followed throughout the night as
the flames ignited the stored munitions. Shrapnel rained down on
Manhattan and the Jersey communities along the riverfront.
TERROR ATTACK
As the sun rose the next morning, the extent of the devasta-
tion became clear. An area of blackened, twisted, and smoldering
debris covered an area several city blocks wide. The Black Tom
THE BEST
JUST KEEPS
GETTING
BETTER.
The classic Indian Fedco
&'(()
(
pier and most of the island that held it were
gone. Deep-seated fires continued to burn
beneath the remains of mangled buildings,
barges, and train cars. It would take several days
to fully extinguish the hidden pockets of fire.
The fires and explosions destroyed property
valued at more than $20 million. The supply
of munitions bound for the war in Europe was
temporarily halted. It took years for investiga-
tors to determine operatives working for Germany were to
blame. Despite America’s claim of neutrality in World War I, it
was no secret where the munitions being used against Germany
were coming from. So, rubbish fires, ignited on a relatively
unguarded pier in New Jersey, would develop into what many
historians believe was the first major terrorist attack on
American soil by a foreign power. A high priority target: a pier
filled with high explosives that detonated on the night of July
30, 1916.
Paul Hashagen is a 40-year veteran of the fire service. He retired from the Fire
Department of New York (FDNY) after 25 years of service, with 20 of those years in
Rescue Company 1. Hashagen is a former chief of the Freeport (NY) Fire Depart-
ment and is still a member of Truck Company 1. He has written several books and
numerous stories on the history of the fire service including Fire Department City of
New York: The Bravest; An Illustrated History 1865-2002; and One Hundred Years of
Valor: Rescue Company 1 New York City Fire Department Rescue 1915-2015. Visit
his Facebook page at Paul Hashagen-author.
 

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FireFighterNatioN .com July 2016 F ire r escue M agazine 49

1607fr_49 49 6/21/16 4:44 PM

 The problem
eism
with presente
AVIES
BY NICOLA D
Dr. Nicola Davies discusses the phenomenon of presenteeism, a
topic gaining much academic interest at the recent British Psychologi-
cal Society’s Division of Occupational Psychology Conference.
nly fairly recently has the problem of presenteeism,
as opposed to absenteeism, become a focus of
academic research. It is often taken for granted that
a loyal employee who comes to work regardless of
physical illness or emotional problems is to be praised. However,
research has shown that people who come to work when they
really should be recovering at home can potentially have a
negative impact on the workplace.
COST VS. BENEFIT
Gary Johns, author of “Presenteeism in the workplace: A review
and research agenda,” says, “Organizational policies concerning
pay, sick pay, attendance control, downsizing, and permanency
of employment have all been suggested to foster presenteeism.”
Nowhere is this more dangerous than in occupations where the
50 F ire r escue M agazine July 2016
1607fr_50 50
lives of others are dependent on the decisions an employee makes,
often under the pressure of time constraints and in dangerous
situations; this would put firefighters at the top of the list along
with lifesavers and search and rescue teams.
In the United States, Dr. Walter Stewart of AdvancePCS Center
for Work and Health in Hunt Valley, Maryland, showed that the
costs of lost productivity because of presenteeism could be up
to three times the cost of absence-related productivity loss. In
the case of firefighting, presenteeism can lead to slower response
rates, irrational decisions, and even physical complications such as
shakiness or fatigue—all of which could have fatal results.
RISKING YOUR LIFE AND THE LIVES OF OTHERS
Coming into work when not fully recovered from an illness
can pose multiple problems including a lack of concentration, a
tendency to make erroneous judgments, an inability to correctly
assess personal fitness levels, and slower response time in danger-
ous situations. Dr. Dan Dodd, director of the Exercise Physiology
Laboratory at Illinois State University and a certified strength and
F ireFighterNatioN .com
6/21/16 4:44 PM
 sufficiently prepared
Firefighters need to be
ysically to cope with
both mentally and ph
vok ing situations.
live-fire, anxiety-pro
Tod Su dm eie r.)
(Photo by
conditioning specialist (NCSA), is particularly concerned about
reduction in reaction time because of presenteeism: “Response
time is paramount in firefighting and is critical to the job. The
effect that presenteeism can have on response time can be sig-
nificant, but it can largely come down to the extent to which the
illness/stressor is affecting that specific individual.”
This is something that needs to be communicated between
the firefighter and fellow crew members so they are aware of any
diminished capabilities that may be present. “However, I would
also argue,” says Dodd, “that the extent of presenteeism can also
come down to the level of preparation at the station, mental-
ity on approach to a call, and of course the physical and mental
readiness on location. Just like any situation (presenteeism or
not), underprepared firefighters may increase risk for themselves
or others.”
BEING PHYSICALLY BELOW PAR
In firefighting, physical and mental strength are vitally impor-
tant. If a firefighter returns to work too soon after a respiratory
FireFighterNatioN .com
1607fr_51 51
infection, for example, his reaction to temperature levels and
respiratory distress in a live-fire situation could be problematic.
Dodd explains, “It is difficult to establish what specific reac-
tion would occur as each individual has varying responses to the
stimuli. However, my research looking at physiological effects
such as heart rate, blood pressure, and body temperature, as well
as psychological changes (anxiety, respiratory distress, and thermal
sensation) in firefighters during on-duty tasks showed that all
firefighters exhibited significant increases immediately prior to
and during the task.”
Dodd’s research also indicates that those with inherent high
levels of trait anxiety (i.e., related to personality) show more sig-
nificant physical and psychological changes after a stressful event.
This supports other published research showing that high levels
of trait anxiety, as opposed to situational anxiety, have greater
physiological and psychological responses to stressful stimuli,
particularly in high adrenaline tasks such as firefighting where
elevated heart rate and respiration are often observed in response
to the job.
MANAGEMENT IS VITAL
A good team leader knows his team well and should be able
to pick up cases of presenteeism. Responses from a presentee
firefighter would be similar in nature to those of a fatigued fire-
fighter. A deconditioned individual (in this case, through illness)
would have exacerbated responses to the stimuli, particularly in
active tasks (search and rescue, labor-intensive tasks).
In addition, according to Dodd, “The response would be highly
correlated to the intensity. Would this affect job performance?
Possibly, but it would also depend on how the individual is
managed or manages himself. Managing time on task, practicing
breathing control, and including periods of rest during each call
would be ways that individuals could perform the job without
possible repercussions.”
RESPONSE TO STRESS A KEY FACTOR
While presenteeism is mainly an issue for those working when
they aren’t fully recovered from an illness, emotional distress (i.e.,
returning to work after a bereavement or relationship crisis) could
also affect performance. “Personal responses to similar stressors
can be very different,” explains Dodd. “It is hard to pinpoint
exactly how a firefighter has been affected. One firefighter may be
more motivated, show more concentration and commitment to
the tasks at hand vs. another who may have completely the oppo-
site response.” He adds, “It would largely depend on the level to
which the stressor impacts the individual.”
An assessment of anxiety levels can go a long way in establish-
ing whether an individual is in fact able to carry out demanding
firefighting duties when he reports for duty after an absence. If
anxiety levels are too high, this could lead to poor decision making,
and then it is the team leader who is responsible for redeploying a
presentee firefighter to a task without risk to the self or others or at
least making sure that the individual has someone as backup who is
aware of his presenteeism and is ready to assist if necessary.
July 2016 F ire r escue M agazine 51
6/21/16 4:44 PM
 A MULTIDIMENSIONAL APPROACH TO TRAINING

ISFI
So, how can we negate the effects of presenteeism among
firefighters? Dodd says, “First, I believe that further action
toward improved fitness levels and the incorporation of a mul-
tidimensional approach to training that includes attention to

2016
muscular strength, power, and endurance, in conjunction with
cardiorespiratory improvement, is paramount. Improvement in
fitness and maintenance of higher levels of fitness may provide
a buffering effect to any response that may occur because of
presenteeism.” In other words, by addressing the key areas to

September performing on-duty tasks with relative ease, it may provide bet-
ter adjustment to the tasks, quicker recovery, and overall better

12-14 efficiency, even if under some duress.

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leaders need to be
educated about
presenteeism and its
risk to self and others.
“The other addition I feel may assist is to provide sessions
dealing with presenteeism and the impact it may have,” con-
tinues Dodd. More specifically, he recommends sessions to
include nutritional guidance, meditation or respiratory control to
mediate anxiety and distress during on-duty tasks, and recov-
ery opportunities (sleep, rest periods, nutrition, hydration, and
medication if needed).
“I feel it is important to address not only on-duty time but also
off-duty time,” he says. “Overall, it may be impossible to negate
presenteeism, but that may not necessarily be the goal, as much
as it is to minimize the effect to maintain a low risk to oneself
and others.”
PERMISSION TO RECOVER
Firefighters need to be sufficiently prepared both mentally
and physically to cope with live-fire, anxiety-provoking situa-
tions. In addition, team leaders to know their team well enough
to assess whether an individual is feeling below par and take
supportive action, either by sending the team member for an
occupational assessment, checking anxiety levels, or reorganiz-
ing duties so that a presentee firefighter isn’t put into a live-fire
situation requiring peak health.
More importantly, firefighters and team leaders need to be
educated about presenteeism and its risk to self and others.
Ultimately, permission needs to be given for full recovery from
illness and emotional stress.
Dr. Nicola Davies is a psychologist and freelance writer with expertise in

REGISTER AT NAFI.ORG occupational psychology and well-being. You can follow her on Twitter (@
healthpsychuk) or sign up for her free blog (http://healthpsychologyconsultancy.
wordpress.com/).
For more information,
call 877-506-NAFI
firerescue.hotims.com FireFighterNatioN .com

1607fr_52 52 6/21/16 4:44 PM

 Company Officer Development
Stop, Drop, and Roll for Firefighters
Not just a civilian fire prevention lesson
Fire Department of New York (FDNY) engine
company officer slows his decent in the “B”
stairway of the World Trade Center’s South
Tower immediately after the total collapse of the
North Tower on September 11, 2001. One hundred
and seven floors and half a million tons of glass, con-
crete, steel, and debris literally fall on his head, yet
he survives—with a scratch on his nose—along with
13 others and the woman they were rescuing.
An FDNY captain suffers career-ending injuries
inside the “Father’s Day” hardware store explosion
on June 17, 2001, which took the lives of three other
firefighters and injured an additional 33.
A group of firefighters fall through the floor
during a structural collapse. The officer lands in an
almost upright position, but his hands are trapped
on the sides of his body. He is alive, burning, and
unable to raise his hand to his remote microphone to
call for help.
A male civilian survives the West Warwick, Rhode
Island, Station Night Club Fire for more than 90
minutes buried alive under the weight of a five-foot
pile of bodies that helped insulate him from the fire at
the main entrance to the club.
What do these individuals (and at least three other
survivors in the WTC Stairway B) have in common?
REACTIONS TO COLLAPSE
The human reaction to collapse and many other
life-threatening events appears to be to instinctively
and immediately cover one’s face and head. Whether
the threat is from an attacker, an opponent in the box-
ing ring, or a strong gust of wind with driving rain,
our instincts built over thousands of years is to cover
our face. Perhaps the second intuitive reaction—espe-
cially when confronted with a fall or being hit with
an object—is to stretch out our arms and legs in an
attempt to push away the offending danger.
RESISTING OUR INSTINCTS
When it comes to structural collapse survival for
firefighters, perhaps we should fight our innate and
natural instincts. In reviewing videos, near-miss
reports, firefighter survival stories, and survival train-
ing courses, there are some interesting conclusions
that may be taken away to help increase our chances
(and for the company officer, the chances of our
firefighters) to survive.
FireFighterNatioN .com
1607fr_53 53
COMMON THREAD
By Stephen Marsar
Ironically, or perhaps not, the stories that lead off this
article ask the question: What does each of the survivors
have in common? The answer: When confronted with
being caught in a structural collapse, they each reacted
in the same way. Each of the six people above, civilian
and firefighter alike, curled up into the fetal position and
protected their core body and the vital organs contained
therein. Speaking with these survivors over the years
since their near-death experiences, the “tuck and roll”
technique employed by each of them seemed plausible
as a key to their survival and much more than random
luck or divine intervention (although surely each of their
individual stories certainly contains the potential to be
defined as miraculous or just plain lucky).
TUCK AND ROLL TECHNIQUE
One of the firefighter collapse survivors mentioned
above told me that he had heard and been taught that
if he should ever find himself in a structural collapse
to duck and cover, keeping his arms and legs close
to the body, and to keep rolling. That technique is
exactly the one he used as his body was lifted off the
ground during the collapse.
Growing up, I remember one of my neighbors who
was in the construction industry telling me that if you
ever fall off a roof to do the same thing. Putting these
two memories together, I wondered how these pieces of
advice might fit together. I suppose each of the mentors
sharing this information knew people in their respective
fields who fell off a roof or were in a structural collapse
and survived. I imagine that these real-world experi-
ences are passed down from generation to generation as
survival training. And it all makes sense.
PROTECTING THE CORE
The “stop, drop, and roll,” “duck and cover,” and
“tuck and roll” techniques previously described should
probably be added to structural collapse training
scenarios. These techniques all have commonalities
including the following:
a. They make our body surface area smaller and
more compact.
b. They keep our appendages from getting caught,
snagged, trapped, or ripped off and keep our
hands close to our face where we may be able to
gain access to a knife, remote microphone, PASS
alarm, etc.
July 2016 F ire r escue M agazine 53
6/21/16 4:44 PM
 c. They protect our vital organs by putting more
Company bones around them, like an expanded rib cage.
Officer d. They keep us from landing flat on our backs
Development (supine) or on our stomachs (prone), where
our lungs and chest are more susceptible to
crush syndrome, puncture, and the inability to
inflate because of pressure from heavy objects
landing on top of us.
WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM COLLAPSE DEBRIS?
Think of structural collapse pictures, scenarios,
videos, or incidents you’ve witnessed. What shapes
are the debris that travel the farthest and seem to be
more prevalent and easiest to remove from the pile?
In my experience, they’ve been the more compact and
rounded pieces, regardless of material (brick, metal,
mortar, mud, wood, etc.) as compared to the longer,
flatter objects that become stuck, jut out, travel less
distances, or become flattened because of the weight
of what lands on top of them. I presume the human
body reacts the same way. Future research, documen-
tation, and training will need to be done to see if this
concept holds any validity. However, on the surface it
appears to be worth the effort.
THE INFORMED OFFICER
We owe it to ourselves and to our members to
explore every option that may one day save our
lives. With structural collapse remaining as a lead-
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1607fr_54 54
ing cause of line-of-duty deaths each year, anything
we can investigate to reduce those deaths is worth
the effort. Consider this option the next time you
talk, drill, or perform hands-on collapse training.
If you use self-contained breathing apparatus
confidence “box-style” survival training, look at how
you teach and how your firefighters react when you
drop the wires, hung ceiling pieces, and wiring down
on them. Watch and take notes on how the majority
of members end up (usually flat—either supine or
prone) and then change it up with a group trained to
instantly curl up into a ball as a first step to reducing
their entrapment and body profile. Perhaps we can
take one of the most traditional basic fire prevention
tips and adapt it into the “Firefighters’ Stop, Drop,
and Roll” technique.
Stephen Marsar, EFO, MA, is a 25-year veteran and battalion
chief in the Fire Department of New York (FDNY). He is also
a former chief and commissioner of the Bellmore (NY) Fire
Department. He teaches extensively at the FDNY and Nassau
County (NY) Fire and EMS academies, and he’s an adjunct
professor at the Nassau County Community College. Marsar has
a master’s degree in homeland defense and security from the
U.S. Naval Post Graduate School as well as a bachelor’s degree
in fire science and emergency services administration from
SUNY Empire State College. Marsar graduated with honors from
the National Fire Academy’s Executive Fire Officer Program and
is a National Roll of Honor inductee.
6/21/16 4:44 PM
 Community Risk Reduction

Updating NFIRS
The need to improve data reporting
to improve planning efforts

ata collection and analysis for fire report-

D ing in our nation is a huge problem. In the

By Jim Crawford
case of our national fire incident reporting
system (NFIRS), I must admit to not having full
knowledge in this area, but I do know a few things.
NFIRS is widely viewed as needing improve-
ment—perhaps most especially by the leadership of
the United States Fire Administration, which faces
some incredible bureaucratic challenges at getting
anything done, let alone major projects that are
related to data.
So it’s not about blame, but challenges in this
arena are standing in the way of a significant need
we face in managing fire service operations and
planning integrated community risk reduction
(CRR) programs. How do we really know what
is going on unless we’re collecting, analyzing, and
using accurate data to improve our performance;
data that help us pinpoint fire problems so we can
prevent them?

WHERE’S THE DATA?

The topic of getting accurate incident data,
analyzing them, and putting them to use comes up
repeatedly in the circles in which I travel. What,
then, are some of the challenges we face in doing so?
Perhaps the first is that the data we collect now
are not viewed as being highly accurate. Those
who work at managing NFIRS reporting programs
recognize that the quality of information uploaded
for incident reports is very often either not done
(the percentage of departments reporting) or is
being done shoddily. That means “garbage in,
garbage out,” as in someone has discovered if you
enter in “undetermined” for fire cause you can save
time filling out the report and go back to bed. It is
more complicated than that, but I’m sure you get
the picture.
Part of the reason this is true is because fire-
fighters are often not shown the value of accurate
data. Reporting is viewed as another meaningless
bureaucratic activity that has little or no benefit to
their operation. Some are making progress in this
area, like the Kansas State Fire Marshal’s Office,
which has provided training on the value of proper
NFIRS reporting and seen percentages of report-
2003-2009 Hot Spots Fire/EMS.
(Image from Wilmington Fire Department.).
ing drastically increase along with indicators on the
improvement of the quality of the data.
The National Association of State Fire Marshals
(NASFM) recognized this problem and some years
ago, with Assistance to Firefighter Grant funds, cre-
ated a tool kit designed to educate firefighters about
the value of accurate reporting. So there has been
some effort to correct this problem, even though
most would agree that more needs to be done.
These tools are available at the Web site https://
naosfm30.wildapricot.org.
NFIRS AND SMOKE ALARMS
Another challenge facing us is that NFIRS needs
to be updated. I am hardly an expert, but I do know
that some of the information we need for success-
ful prevention planning is either not collected in To read more
NFIRS or is in nonmandatory fields that are nearly from Jim Crawford,
always overlooked. For example, there are fields for visit www.firefighternation.
com/author/jim-crawford.
occupancy type but not one for rental property.

FireFighterNatioN .com July 2016 F ire r escue M agazine 55

1607fr_55 55 6/21/16 4:44 PM

 That’s important when our efforts to
improve smoke alarm performance in one-
and two-family dwellings might differ
significantly between owner-occupied or
rental property.
We also cannot say much about what
type of smoke alarms are failing. Why is
that important? If two-thirds of people are
dying in fires where smoke alarms are either
not present or not operating (NFIRS data),
then how do we know what type of alarm
technology is contributing to that problem?
There is some evidence that nuisance
(unwanted) alarms are a significant factor
in people disabling them. And some in
the smoke-alarm industry and research
circles will readily admit that photoelectric
alarms have a tendency to “false” alert less
frequently than ionization alarms because
of activities like cooking. We have a field
for whether or not the smoke alarm was
working but not what type it is. How will
we make informed decisions about smoke
alarm type and placement without under-
standing more about their performance in
the field?
So NFIRS itself needs some changes,
but there are other challenges as well.
Even when NFIRS is improved, we are
far away from an ideal situation where the
data we collect are actually useful in plan-
ning. Some departments do a really fine
job of converting their NFIRS incident

Æ information into geographic information
system (GIS) databases where maps can
be created that provide visual geo-spatial


  Æ references to the frequency and location
of events—which can help us target our
 

prevention efforts and more effectively
deploy our resources.
A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
Developed for emergency
Making that easy to use requires a lot
evacuation of babies of time and expense. The American Red
from the nursery or other Cross has taken a step in this direction,
locations in hospitals in a which is free for any fire department to
safer manner than anything use by going to http://arc-nhq-gis.maps.
arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html?
available anywhere else. It
webmap=0e6044f83c5d4248bb020f364
  
     e8f8490. It is not fully developed, but it
SKEDCO Hazmat/Hospital can be used for simple risk assessments.
Sked Stretcher. Here again, the people with expertise
in this field tell me much more can and
Æ should be done, and it would be a won-
derful addition to local planning if it were
more robust and free, perhaps through a
Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA) server since FEMA is one of the
firerescue.hotims.com
1607fr_56 56
largest users of ArcGIS (a huge national
geo-spatial database) in the nation.
And then there are some really superb
aspects of ArcGIS we could use to refine
our planning by finding out more about
“who” is involved in incidents, not just
demographics that tell us our high-risk
audiences are typically poor, elderly, or
of certain ethnic origins. We can actu-
ally find out their shopping habits and
compare them in sophisticated ways to
truly pinpoint where the next fire or other
emergency event might occur.
My friend, Chief (Ret.) Charlie Hendry
of Kent, United Kingdom, used this
software to identify about 200 families in
his jurisdiction (out of about five million)
that were accounting for about 80 percent
of the drain on all social services in Kent,
including police, fire, medical, and other
social services.
So where do we go from here? You can
start locally by teaching your firefighters
the value of property data entry and by
making it valuable to them by report-
ing back to them what you have learned
about their first-response area. They are
not dumb; once they see problems, they
will start to see solutions. Then watch out,
because that is the essence of integrated
CRR—getting firefighters and the fire
service to think proactively.
But collectively, we as a nation must
make it a priority to improve NFIRS, to
make it more useful at the local level, and
to take it all to the next level as they do in
the United Kingdom to help us improve
our planning efforts.
Jim Crawford, FIFireE, is project manager for Vision
20/20 and a retired fire marshal and deputy chief of
the Vancouver (WA) Fire Department. He is a member
of the NFPA technical committee on professional
qualifications for fire marshals, a former member
of the Standards Council for the NFPA, a fellow of
the Institution of Fire Engineers, a life member of
the IAFC, and past president of the International
Fire Marshal’s Association. Crawford is the author
of Fire Prevention Organization and Management
and is an editorial board member of FireRescue. He
has received the R. Wayne Powell Excellence in Fire
Prevention Award, the Dr. Anne Phillips award for
leadership in fire and life safety education from the
Congressional Fire Services Institute and the Inter-
national Fire Service Training Association, the “Fire
Protection Person of the Year” from the Society of
Fire Protection Engineers, and the Percy Bugby Award
from the International Fire Marshal’s Association.
FireF ighterNatioN .com
6/21/16 4:44 PM
 New Deliveries New Products
By John M. Malecky

The Woodbridge (CT) Fire Department uses its Rosenbauer XRT PTO Matrix System
tanker/pumper either as an attack unit or for water supply. It has The XRT® PTO Matrix System is
a Commander 4000 70-inch cab and chassis; a 600-hp Cum- a combination of the XRT® PTO
mins ISX 15 diesel engine; a Hale Qmax XS 2,250-gpm pump; Powerhouse System with an addi-
a UPF 2,000-gallon water tank; a hydraulic ladder and portable tional hydraulic pump package that
tank racks; a Smart Power 25-kW generator; and an Amkus tool. is designed to operate a 5.5-kW
hydraulic generator that delivers
simultaneous AC power for electri-
cal support needs and multitool
rescue tool operation. The design
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transmissions with open PTO ports as well as the older Ford
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XRT Power Systems
Rosenbauer America 781-631-3282;
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Bolivar City (MO) operates this Ferrara HD-77 MVP aerial. IMMI SmartDock
Features include a 450-hp Cummins ISL diesel engine; a Hale SmartDock, by IMMI, is a hands-
Qmax 2,000-gpm pump; a UPF 500-gallon water tank; a free SCBA holder for fire appara-
77-foot aerial with an electrical dual-position retractable water- tus. With no annoying straps or
way; a remote-controlled Elkhart monitor; and a Warn 4½-ton levers, SmartDock offers single-
portable winch. It has a black “F” shield protective coating over motion SCBA insertion and hands-
the exposed tread plate. free release when the firefighter
stands up to exit the seat. In the
event of a collision, the top claws clamp down for a secure hold,
preventing the cylinder from becoming a projectile. SmartDock
is engineered so one model fits nearly all SCBAs. With its low
profile, SmartDock can easily retrofit to a wide variety of SCBA
seats. A European model is also available.
IMMI
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800-443-9006; www.ferrarafire.com www.imminet.com
firerescue.hotims.com firerescue.hotims.com

Carteret (NJ) Fire Rescue protects the city with this Pierce indus-
trial foam pumper, as the city has many hazardous occupancies. The
pumper has an Arrow XT chassis with a 500-hp Detroit DD13
diesel engine; a Waterous S100 2,000-gpm pump; a Husky 60
foam system; UPF 750-gallon water and 250-gallon Class “B” foam
tanks; a William six-inch 4,000-gpm monitor; two TFT Monsoon
rear-mounted deck guns; and a Harrison 6-kW generator.
Photo by author
LEADER BATfan
The BATfan by LEADER is a portable bat-
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alone and has a carrying handle and strap.
LEADER
704-662-3377;
Pierce Manufacturing www.leadernorthamerica.com
920-832-3000; www.piercemfg.com firerescue.hotims.com
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FireFighterNatioN .com July 2016 F ire r escue M agazine 57

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FireRescue® (ISSN 1094-0529, USPS 858-060). FireRescue is published 12 times per year, monthly, by PennWell® Corporation, 1421 S. Sheridan, Tulsa, OK 74112. Periodicals post-
age paid at Tulsa, OK 74112 and at additional mailing offices. SUBSCRIPTION PRICES: Send $24 for one year (12 issues) or $44 for two years (24 issues) to FireRescue, P.O. Box 3425,
Northbrook, IL 60065-9912, or call 888-456-5367. Canada: please add $25 per year for postage. All other foreign subscriptions: please add $35 per year for surface and $75 per year for
airmail postage. Send $20 for one year (12 issues) or $35 for two years (24 issues) of digital edition. Single copy: $10.00. POSTMASTER: Send address corrections to FireRescue, P.O. Box
3425, Northbrook, IL 60065-9912. FireRescue is a registered trademark. © PennWell Corporation 2016. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohib-
ited. Permission, however, is granted for employees of corporations licensed under the Annual Authorization Service offered by the Copyright Clearance Center Inc. (CCC), 222 Rosewood
Drive, Danvers, Mass. 01923, or by calling CCC’s Customer Relations Department at 978-750-8400 prior to copying. We make portions of our subscriber list available to carefully screened
companies that offer products and services that may be important for your work. If you do not want to receive those offers and/or information via direct mail, please let us know by contacting
us at List Services FireRescue, 1421 S. Sheridan, Tulsa, OK 74112. Printed in the USA. GST No. 1268113153.

1607fr_59 59 6/21/16 4:45 PM


How Much Is “Too Much”?
By Matthew Tobia
To read more
from Matt Tobia,
visit www.firefighternation.
com/author/matthew-tobia.
60 F ire r escue M agazine July 2016
1607fr_60 60
The Backstep
Keeping your boss in the loop is critical for success
E
-mail is destroying human communication.
Somehow, insidiously, it has replaced face-to-
face conversations as a primary mechanism of
talking to each other and is eclipsed only by that even
darker and more dangerous enemy—the text mes-
sage. How many times have you received an e-mail or
text from the person in the next office, cubicle, room
in the station, or even the same room??? Seriously?
The art of effective communication is being crushed.
Your boss, regardless of rank, has to be in the loop;
and the higher he is in rank, the more critical and
valuable is the information.
ESTABLISHING A RELATIONSHIP
Getting a new boss is hard. You have to break him in,
and that can be challenging to say the least. You have
to learn his entire philosophy, expectations, hot but-
tons, and demeanor. You have to try to mold him, and
yourself, into an effective team. You and your boss have
to figure out how to communicate. That means talk to
each other, not talk at each other, not send e-mails or
text messages and think that covers it. No relationship
that requires people to place their lives in each other’s
hands can possibly be based on emojis.
One of the questions you should ask early on is,
“When do you want me to call?” Your boss may
answer any number of ways, and it’s most critical to
remember that sharing information is an art, not a
science. There will always be absolutes: a line-of-duty
death or serious injury of a member, a fatal apparatus
crash involving civilians, a serious off-duty injury or
death of a member, any incident involving public
dissatisfaction, and the list goes on.
There will also be obvious incidents that can wait:
an alarm system on trouble at the station that does not
impact operations, a minor property damage collision
that does not involve other vehicles (i.e., striking a stop
sign with a mirror). The challenge lies in the middle.
The best advice that I can offer is: Let the boss make
that determination. Over time, the boss will come to
share with you whether the decision to wake him in
the middle of the night or contact him in the middle
of a meeting was warranted. This becomes the basis
for future actions. If he is worth his weight in spam,
your boss will never yell at you for contacting him,
even with a seemingly minor issue. He should always
provide guidance and instruction about the need to
communicate with him.
WHEN TO CALL
When you truly need to speak to your boss, pick
up the phone and call. If he does not answer, leave
a message and ask him to call you back. Do not just
send an e-mail and check a box, thinking that you
have communicated with your boss. You have not. At
a minimum, communication only occurs when there
is a sender, a receiver, a message, a confirmation of
receipt of that message, and an understanding of the
intent of the message.
When your boss provides you guidance with
phrases like, “Call me anytime, day or night,” it’s
because he is trying to ensure that you understand
that he does not mind being woken up. There is
nothing worse than waking up after a great night’s
sleep, only to find out that something extremely bad
happened overnight (like a member being arrested
for drunk driving) and not being aware of it. The
6:00 a.m. news is not the time to learn that one of
your firefighters is in jail. Nothing good will come
from that, and a defense of “I didn’t want to bother
you” is code for “I have no idea what the risks of your
position involve” or “I do not respect your position
enough to ensure that you are fully informed about
something that you are going to get blindsided by.”
Conversely, calling the boss should never be a substi-
tute for making a decision that is clearly at your level
and your expectation to make. You don’t call your boss
when deciding whether to stretch a 1¾- or 2½-inch
hose. Make a decision and go with it, but remember to
ensure that your boss is aware of the decision you made
so he can either support it or alter it as needed.
AN ART
The art of communication is just that—an art.
E-mail and text messages are information sharing
tools, not communication tools. You should trust and
respect your boss enough to allow him to be the judge
of what he does, or does not, need to know. What he
chooses to do with the information you provide is up
to him. Not informing him of something that he
should know robs him of the chance to perform one
of his most important jobs—supporting you.
Matthew Tobia is an assistant chief with the Loudoun County (VA)
Department of Fire, Rescue, and Emergency Management and is
a 27-year veteran of emergency services. He can be reached at
matthew.tobia@loudoun.gov.
F ireFighterNatioN .com
6/21/16 4:45 PM
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1607fr_C4 4 6/21/16 4:45 PM