Tag Archives: fire department management

Sound rather harsh? Sound unrealistic? So does closing fire stations and laying off firefighters. So does continuing to expose firefighters to increasing levels of risk of injury or death because of negligence on the part of building occupants, developers, and builders. So does continuing to increase the fiscal burden to local taxpayers to pay for an antiquated fire protection model that is reactive rather than proactive.

In contrast, nearly 95 percent of the firefighters who have attended the class have made personal behavioral changes in their tactical approaches to fireground operations. While it’s a great feat to see individual firefighters taking note of the education, it’s disappointing that the majority of departments are not immediately taking action to protect the lives of their firefighters.

I'm confident that the issue of fire prevention has been discussed at length as it should be: if no fire occurs or it's extinguished by an installed fire sprinkler no firefighter need be injured or killed in the line-of-duty. So here's my blog repost for your and those folks at Tampa 2 on "get away day", Children Don’t Cause Fires, Adults Do

This brings to question, are fireground officers and today’s firefighters receiving adequate training? The question remains, are proper size-ups being conducted to allow for a decision regarding whether it is an offensive or defensive fire attack [situation]? It all comes down to decision making capability and fire ground safety. We simply need to focus on the basic fundamentals of fire fighting.

We focus on the young likely because its easy. But, what we Fire Prevention Demoprovide in education is often lost in an overriding effort to entertain them. Further, without reinforcement of the fire safe/prevention message in their home environment, any value is soon lost to the parent's daily example/attitudes towards fire safety.

Fire department leaders owe it to their members and their communities to OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAensure that the department’s physical facilities have the appropriate installed fire protection, e.g., fire sprinkler systems, undergo the same inspections for potential fire hazards that they expect from the public they serve.

The behaviors of adults in the USA account for 78 percent of the preventable residential fires. So why do the vast majority of fire prevention educations that Fire and EMS departments deliver each year target children? If we’re looking to significantly reduce the following types of fires, why don’t our programs focus on adult behaviors?

From the volunteer fire company perspective, they were getting people in and getting those folks the required training, but then they were not able to actively participate in service delivery. There was a broad-based feeling (revealed when we conducted focus groups with volunteers) that all they ever got to do was “be the backups”.

In the end, firefighters contract disease, illness and death through inhalation, ingestion or absorption. To prevent exposure means wearing air and USING it, clean bodies and clean PPE. While the prescription for prevention is simple, the process is complex.

If you are a fire service leader who's REALLY interested in attaining zero firefighter deaths and injuries, you must take 32+ minutes to watch this video that was produced by Dr. Burt Clark. (Dr. Clark has served the American Fire Service for 40+ years and is one of the "founding fathers" of the Executive Fire Officer Program at the National Fire Academy, along with the now-retired Charles "Chuck" Burkell).