By: Robert Avsec, Executive Fire Officer Did you know? Half of residential fire deaths result from fires reported between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m., yet only one in five residential fires (20%) were reported during these hours [1]. Those hours are also when many firefighters may not be on their “A-Game.” Why not? Because of sleep deprivation. Or because they’ve ...
Read More »Firefighter Safety
How will technology change tomorrow’s firefighting PPE?
One of the experts I spoke with says the future of PPE development will be driven by how the fire service perceives its mission. As we decide which tasks we’ll do and not do and how we’ll get those tasks done will be key to the type of PPE manufactures bring to market.
Read More »Firefighter Rehab and CO Poisoning
By: Robert Avsec, Executive Fire Officer CO poisoning is a significant health risk for firefighters who are exposed to smoke during fire suppression operations. Fire departments must increase their efforts to identify the early on-set of CO poisoning through aggressive assessment of all firefighters post exposure. And that needs to happen in firefighter rehab. In 2015, the National Fire Protection ...
Read More »EVO Program: Regulating Your Fire Department’s Driving Risks
By: Robert Avsec, Executive Fire Officer Several years ago, at a fire service conference, I attended a session on reducing risk in fire departments. The presenter, whose name escapes me, make a statement that really stuck with me, “You cannot manage or eliminate risk in this business, but you can regulate it.” He went on to explain that regulating meant ...
Read More »Getting Ready for Hot Weather Training
Training and drilling are opportunities to “sharpen the saw”, that is, work on the full range of firefighting and rescue skills necessary to do the job and make sure that everyone is still doing them safely and correctly. It's important to do that training in all weather conditions, yet it's equally important to do so safely, effectively and efficiently, especially during hot weather training.
Read More »When Should You Don Your SCBA Facepiece?
Currently our department doesn't have an SOP/SOG on file in regards to whether or not to mask up prior to arriving on scene to a fire. As it currently stands, we've had one person injured (newer to the department,) from being told to do this prior to exiting the fire apparatus. Some feel that it should be done, while others feel that it is a matter of safety to actually mask up just after exiting the fire apparatus once on scene.
Read More »Firefighter Health: Less talk and more action is required
I’ve always believed that the most important aspect of better firefighter health and safety is the person who uses the equipment: the firefighter. The personal behaviors of the individual firefighter will always have the greatest influence on firefighter health and safety.
Read More »Why are We Cell Phone Hypocrites?
If it’s good enough for the employees of Exxon-Mobil—pay attention to driving and don’t talk on your cell phone—it’s certainly good enough for those of us in public safety—the people who have to deal with the aftermath of poor decisions that people make on a daily basis. Let’s all “get on the stick”: Hang up and drive!
Read More »4 Steps for Better Portable Radio Communications
Good radio communications are critical for safe, efficient and effective operations on the emergency scene. How many times has poor incident communications been cited as a significant factor in NIOSH investigations of firefighter fatalities on the fireground?
Read More »Obstruction of Suppression (Or Any Fire Department Operation)
Firefighter Jones was caught off-guard by this aggressive action (physical assault) on the part of the homeowner. After shoving Firefighter Jones to the ground, the assailant (homeowner) moved away from the scene and was subsequently detained by local law enforcement.
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