MAY/JUNE 2013 A PUBLICATION OF THE MOBILE FIRE-RESCUE DEPARTMENT- ESTABLISHED 1888 INSIDE FEATURES Residential Changing Perceptions Sprinklers on Safety USCG Sleep Happy Presentation Training Hot ShotsPhotos Firefighter Safety: Mayday Communication "Quality Professional Services Delivered with Compassion"
An official publication of the Mobile Fire-Rescue Department. Stephen A. Dean, Fire Chief Editor & Publisher Steve Huffman The Trumpet welcomes your questions and/or comments. To submit photos, articles or comments call (251) 208-2857 or e-mail: huffman@cityofmobile.org The Trumpet is published by the Mobile Fire-Rescue Department. Copyright 2013 by Mobile Fire-Rescue Department. All rights reserved. Our Mission The Mission of the Mobile Fire - Rescue Department is to identify and respond to community needs in order to deliver an effective and efficient system of service which minimize risk to life, health, and property from fire, trauma, acute illness, and hazardous conditions. On the Cover Firefighters were dispatched to a vacant building fire on Peary Road early March 21, 2013. The building once served as a hardware store. Cover Photo By: Steve Huffman Visit Our Website: http://www.cityofmobile.org/fire/ Changing Perceptions on Safety! There are probably a number of differences in departments and philosophies on firefighting realizing that there are many different perceptions of the word safety and what it means to different people and different organizations. What does safety mean to you? To some folk s safety means staying safe and wearing the right PPE, in other cases safety might be viewed with less enthusiasm, for example the firefighter who associates the word safety with the all too common safety Nazi (health and safety officer), this firefighter might view safety as something that prevents firefighters from entering buildings or in some cases even saving citizens. How about you? Has the word safety been used so much that you have come to resent the word as if it means that we as firefighters no longer help or save people? A common question that is currently circulating in many circles within the fire service arena is who s safety is more important a firefighter or a citizens? Although controversial this question stir s some valid debates with some obvious questions about what side of the safety line you stand on? A safety officer might think this debate sheds crucial light on the perspectives of the individual fire fighters and their perceptions of the word safety. For clarification the word safety is a noun that is defined in the American Heritage dictionary as the condition of being safe, conversely safeties reciprocal is risk (2009). Some would argue that risk is a key component of the safety debate because after all fire fighters are most likely never in a perfect state of safety, but rather are people working in a profession of risk reduction. Our very jobs are based on the occupation of reducing risks to save citizens from danger. Putting out fire is the act of reducing risk both to other firefighters and citizens. The next question that might arise then, is that if these terms are so easily defined why is there still such a debate? Popular discourse would suggest that 2 the debate surrounds the issue of where you draw the line between safe and unsafe actions. In other words is it safe to enter a burning building to save a citizen? The simple answer is NO. No, unfortunately it is not safe to enter a burning building to save a citizen, however the critical component of this argument is not if it is ever safe to enter a burning building, but rather is the risk low enough to make entering the building a viable option. In other words from a safety perspective the safety officer wants you as the firefighter to be able to evaluate a burning building for what it is and make entry without the building falling on your head. For those who have not tried it, the simple answer is that you do not save anyone once the building has fallen on your head. The goal of a safety officer and safety messages is not to keep you from entering burning buildings, but rather to teach you what buildings are the least safe, what conditions will hurt you the fastest, and what to do if you can t make safe entry. The final message to leave you with on this topic is that the safety officer is not trying to keep you from encountering unsafe situations, but rather to educate you on how to recognize less safe situations and make sound educated judgments on how to rescue citizens without getting hurt and ultimately avoid having buildings falling on your head. The role of the firefighter is one of service. The public trusts that on their worst day you will be at your best. Stay disciplined.
Photos By BEN MCKENNA Thanks to the generosity of the Mattress Firm store and Cheryl Buchel (Wife of Firefighter Brandon Buchel) the crews assigned to Engines 2 and 11 at Willett Station will be "Sleeping Happier" each night. Mattress Firm donated and delivered ten brand new sets of mattresses to the station on April 10. Everyone there is thankful for the gift in fact according to one happy recipient "they are very nice". Mattress Firm is located at 3683 Airport Blvd. Memorial Day May 27 3
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Vacant Building Fire Peary Road March 21, 2013 Trumpet 5
RETIREMENTS MARCH - Kevin Battisle - Firefighter, EA28 APRIL - Gabe Sewell - Firefighter, EA11 District Chief Martin Stanley 33 Years Service Retired 03/31/2013 District 4, Shift C Firefighter J.R. Watkins 33 Years Service Retired 03/31/2013 Truck 10, Shift A Firefighter Karl Ladnier 24 Years Service Retired 04/30/2013 Truck 4, Shift A Fire Inspector Nick Boren Over 22 Years Service Retired 03/22/2013 Bureau of Fire Prevention Firefighter-Driver Stan Nations 24 Years Service Retired 04/30/2013 Engine 19, Shift A Firefighter-Driver Bobby Pounds 24 Years Service Retired 04/08/2013 Bates, Shift C We wish you the best of luck upon your retirement and future endeavors! Fire Inspector Gary Smith Over 38 Years Service Retired 04/30/2013 Homeland Security National Doughnut Day June 7 Chris Turner - Captain Rufus Watkins - Captain Reshawn Cameron - Public Safety Dispatcher II Tyrone Sewell - Public Safety Dispatcher II Congratulations to you who have been promoted. The hard work, patience and studying paid off. Make the best of your new roles in the Mobile Fire-Rescue Department. 6
Firefighter Safety Communication By Jim Grady III Grady is chief of the Frankfort (Ill.) Fire Protection District where he has worked for 36 years. His department was the first recipient of the National Fire Fighter Near-Miss Reporting System Safety Leadership Award in 2006. Grady has a master s degree in public administration and is a frequent instructor on a variety of fire and emergency service related topics. He is also an active member of the Illinois Fire Chief Association and the International Association of Fire Chiefs. Effective communication at the emergency scene is essential to a safe and successful operation. Communication s importance is reinforced through training, experience and knowledge acquisition as our responsibilities increase. As recruits, we are taught to look, listen and develop an awareness of what is going to happen or what is taking place around us. Much of that awareness evolves through communication. One way to improve communication is to understand how it can affect fireground operations. We can find more than 400 examples of incidents caused by problematic communication in the Near-Miss Reporting System. Contributing causes range from too much radio traffic blocking essential messages to critical messages not being passed through the incident scene. Report #06-342 provides one example: Just prior to exiting the room, the floor boards burned from under me and I fell into the floor joists A company officer from the host town asked why we weren t relayed the message about the rear room being in unmanageable conditions. He was told politely that his command and operations officer directed us there and they had not received his message. He was the last unit working in that room and declared it uninhabitable approximately 15 minutes prior to our entering. Messages were never relayed Away from the incident scene, have we been effective in telling members what we want to accomplish and how we are going to get the mission accomplished? Starting a shift with daily expectations is the best way to hit the ground running. Once we lay out expectations, do we as leaders listen to our members and ensure the whole communication loop is complete: send the message, give time for discussion, answer questions and think before we answer? When we don t employ the complete loop, we end up with situations like Report #05-495: Due to a miscommunication from earlier in the morning, the firefighter operating the pump panel mistakenly thought that the starting pressure for the operation was to be 225 psi The firefighter on the pump panel thought that the truck crew had stated they were ready for water Within five seconds, a loud pop was heard the 4" hose failed at the coupling on the truck s waterway intake gate the (unisex) Trumpet coupling flew off the hose narrowly missed striking the engine captain who was standing nearby The crucial role communication plays in every element of the fire and emergency service plays out in every report. Even when communication is not listed as a contributing factor, the perceptive reader can find communication elements. Report #11-212 provides us with one example: I was on the entry team during a training fire in our burn trailer I had to do many entries that day and had a lot of fun. While driving home I felt a little sick and had a severe headache. I got home and my wife said, You look terrible, and she was right. I ended up going to the hospital later One critical component of communication is listening. The solid voice of experience or the officer who is always calm in the midst of change are those we should make a habit of listening to when it comes to learning about what is happening and how we are progressing. Listening at home, at meetings and listening to the troops helps us not only understand others concerns and/or point of view, but it also contributes to how well we work with and among our fellow firefighters and families. A good friend of the fire service, Chief Benny Crane (retired from the Chicago Fire Department), who passed away a short time ago, preached, Issues and attitudes are a shifting percentage of importance, but what is a common link is communications what is said, how it is said. And did I listen. Stay safe, listen up and remember: Everyone must go home! 7
Dates to Remember May 1 - Mother Goose Day May 4 - Star Wars Day May 5 - Cinco de Mayo May 6 - National Teacher's Day May 6 - National Nurses Day May 12 - Mother's Day May 18 - Armed Forces Day May 27 - Memorial Day June 4 - Hug Your Cat Day June 6 - D Day June 7 - National Doughnut Day June 10 - Iced Tea Day June 14 - Flag Day June 16 - Father's Day June 23 - Take Your Dog to Work Day June 29 - Waffle Iron Day MOBILE FIRE-RESCUE 701 Saint Francis Street Mobile, Alabama 36602 8