By Alex Ronallo

For KSFY- ABC

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Very well, according to Ken Willette in a post for Fire Service Today:

In this video, you can see how the Fire Department of New York attacks an apartment fire on the 4th floor of a six story building that occurred in Brooklyn on Feb. 7, 2012.

Some observations for you to consider as you watch this:

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By Ryan Hagen
For the San Bernardino Sun

SAN BERNARDINO – Seconds after the fire truck screeched to a stop, Leon Montoya bounded out.

He stood six feet away as firefighters and paramedics helped a man who had collapsed onto a patch of grass and couldn’t get up, taking mental note of the way they kept the fallen man calm.

He nodded thoughtfully as Capt. Jason Serrano quickly confirmed from bystanders that the two calls from the street – one for a “man down” and another for a seizure – were about the same person, and he wondered aloud about the handheld computer Serrano typed everything into as he worked.

Once paramedics put the man in an ambulance and rushed him to St. Bernardine Medical Center, 17-year-old Leon asked his first question since leaving the station:

“Do you need any help?”

Then he quickly returned a bag of emergency supplies to the truck, climbed in and continued soaking up everything he could from the crew of San Bernardino Fire Department Station 224. The firefighters were letting him spend the day, but both they and Leon were hoping it was an introduction to a life as a firefighter.

Read the full article on the San Bernardino Sun.

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The Educational Messages Advisory Committee meets annually to review NFPA’s fire safety education messages and to provide recommendations to NFPA public education staff for updating and revising the messages. The messages are used throughout NFPA’s educational programs, curricula, and handouts and provide fire and life safety educators with accurate and consistent language for use when offering safety information to the public. Each topic area is self-contained, written so that all the information needed on a certain subject is provided within that category. As a result, some messaging may be repeated thorughout topic areas.

NFPA’s Lisa Braxton explains the purpose of NFPA’s Educational messages document and describes the process:

Submit a comment for updating or revising the NFPA Educational Messages document. The deadline is May 11, 2012.

• Form for comments on NFPA educational messages document (PDF, 213 KB)
• 2011 Educational Messages document. (PDF, 708 KB)
• 2011 Educational Messages Report on Proposals (PDF, 194 KB)

You can read more about the Educational Messages Advisory Committee on NFPA.org.

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By Robert Stewart
For The Advocate

The St. George Fire Protection District will soon have a fancy new simulator to train its firefighters on how to drive fire trucks in emergency situations.

The district, which includes Highland Road, Perkins Road, Siegen Lane, Bluebonnet Boulevard and Coursey Boulevard, will purchase a driver’s training simulator that can replicate the instrumentation, controls and field of vision of an actual St. George fire truck, said Boyd Westbrook, St. George’s chief of operations.

The simulator, which will be purchased with a $196,000 grant awarded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Assistance to Firefighter Grant Program, generates three-dimensional motion for a greater sense of realism, Westbrook said.

“These simulators, you can make it to where you’re driving in slick weather or at night,” Westbrook said.

Click here for the full article.

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I have been in some interesting discussions, as of late, on whether to lay your own supply line when arriving at a structural fire. I don’t believe you could find more opinions if you paid someone for them. I’ve heard everything from “what if no one shows up” to “maybe the second due breaks down.”

Take a moment and set the department policy aside. What is your preference to this question?
Keep in mind that I have seen a few fires in my day. But, I am currently not the decision maker on my engine, which is still the best job. Let’s review some pro’s and con’s:

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By Linda Willing
For FireRescue1.com

You are a company officer who has been given the choice between two firefighters as new members of your crew.

The only thing you know about the two is that Terry recently rescued a child from a second floor bedroom during a big fire, and Lee recently hit a citizen’s car when driving the fire truck. Who will you choose to be on your crew?

Realistically, with just this information to go on, no one would choose Lee over Terry. Those officers who say that it made no difference to them which of these firefighters would be assigned to them are probably not being completely honest with themselves either.

It is human nature to believe that success will be predicted by prior success. This is true even if that success is based on nothing more than a single incident or pure chance, which could certainly be the case in this example.

It is possible that Terry’s success in finding the fire victim was a result of luck — just randomly being assigned to search the room that had an occupant versus all the other rooms that did not.

In a more extreme case, Terry might have disobeyed orders and been freelancing when making the big save. On the other hand, Lee’s accident may have been the result of quick thinking that averted larger damage or bodily harm.

Read the full article on FireRescue1.com.

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From NFPA.org:

Let’s celebrate fire and life safety educators! Educators are key to the success of NFPA’s programs. That’s why NFPA’s “Educator of the Year” Award is so important. It gives educators the recognition they deserve for playing the lead role in making their communities safer.

Apply for the 2012 NFPA Fire and Life Safety Educator of the Year Award (PDF, 615 KB). Deadline is February 24, 2012.

We are looking for fire and life safety educators who:

• work for a local fire department.
• use NFPA’s  Risk Watch®,  Learn Not to Burn®,  Remembering When^TM or Fire Prevention Week materials.
• use NFPA materials in a consistent and creative way.
• demonstrate excellence and innovation, reaching out to the community with NFPA materials.
• view NFPA as the source for safety information.

(more…)

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Richard Marinucci
For Fire Apparatus

Part of any system involving firefighter safety improvement must include adjustments to training programs. Firefighters must learn the proper way to use the equipment, how to wear it, and how it may affect their tactics. The mere fact of having the equipment will not change outcomes. It begins with the simple premise that when a department issues new equipment, there must be a lesson on proper use and maintenance of it. How often do you and your organization distribute new equipment to firefighters without taking the time to review its features or the manufacturer’s recommendations? For example, a helmet may be issued. Often, all the manufacturer’s instruction and warnings are immediately discarded without any review. The firefighters continue to use the equipment just as they had previously, even if there are added features.

(more…)

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As a world leader in personal protective equipment for first responders, LION is excited to announce that BullEx Digital Safety and HAAGEN Fire Training Products, global leaders in fire and safety training systems and centers, are joining the LION organization. Together the Albany, New York-based BullEx and The Netherlands-based HAAGEN companies form the world’s largest provider of fire training systems and centers as a new division within the LION organization called the LION Training Resources Group. This group will benefit from the strong synergy within the LION organization, especially with the LION Safety Resources Group, which develops and manufacturers PPE for fire, military and police personnel. Together LION, BullEx and HAAGEN now offer the most complete array of highly differentiated products and services to ensure that first responders are truly ready for action.

“LION has a legacy of offering first responders unprecedented innovations critical to preparing them to do what their jobs require because they are safer, healthier, more comfortable and more functional”, said LION CEO Steve Schwartz. “With BullEx and HAAGEN as part of the LION group, we offer another critical aspect of readiness — effective training equipment to make sure first responders are more knowledgeable, more proficient and more prepared to do their jobs.”

BullEx and HAAGEN offer Smart Tools for Real Training. The companies’ product lines include fire, safety and hazmat training tools, systems and centers which are used by fire departments, corporations and governments worldwide. BullEx fire extinguisher training systems have become the industry standard and have been used by thousands of organizations to train millions of people how to properly use a fire extinguisher. BullEx now offers a total solutions product line for firefighter training, fire prevention public education and corporate safety training. HAAGEN has built some of the largest and most advanced fire training facilities around the world including the Safety Center Holland, Dortmund, Germany Fire Training Facility, the Saudi Arabia Civil Defense Training Facility and the SDIS 74 Fire Training Complex in Tours, France. Projects currently being constructed include the SDIS 95 Fire Training Facility in Val-d’Oise, France, The Strathclyde Fire and Rescue Training Center in Glasgow, Scotland and the Shanghai Fire Training Center in China.

“The addition of BullEx and HAAGEN to the LION group of companies is a natural fit,” said BullEx CEO Ryan O’Donnell. “Not only do the companies share a culture of innovation, but they have a commitment to enhancing first responder readiness. The LION organization provides BullEx and HAAGEN with a tremendous foundation which will enhance our ability to develop, market, manufacture and service cutting-edge training systems and centers for our global customer base. Becoming a part of the world leader in PPE will also give our organization valuable insight into and understanding of this critical element of firefighter safety, which will undoubtedly enhance our ability to build world-class training equipment.”

Check out this short YouTube video that demonstrates the LION/BullEx/HAAGEN synergy in action:

You can read the full press release here.

For more information about LION, BullEx or HAAGEN, contact Hayley Fudge, LION marketing director, at 937.415.2808 or hfudge@lionprotects.com.

Visit LION online at www.lionprotects.com, or stay in touch with LION on its Facebook fanpage at www.facebook.com/lionconnects.

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