Long-time Firegeezer reader Laurence Delorme publishes a fire-related website in France (http://chezfireball.blogspot.com/ ) and recently interviewed Franck Gaviot-Blanc, a volunteer firefighter from the Vienne Fire Brigade. Vienne is a city of 29,000 on the River Rhone and is located near Lyon. Laurence has very kindly taken the time to translate the interview so that we can share it with you. Thank you, Laurence.
LD: How long have you been in the fire service?
FG: I’m a volunteer firefighter in a combined fire department with 70 career firefighters and 80 volunteer firefighters in the south east of France. I have been in the fire service for 19 years.
Franck Gaviot-Blanc
LD: What are the changes that you have noticed in the fire service, such as PPE, rigs….?
FG: Concerning the tactics and operations,there were important changes in the French fire service. Firefighters now realize that “under ventilated” fires are special fires and bring many questions concerning tactics and operations. Before, for many firefighters, to stop a fire was very easy. You entered a building/house, then you looked for the fire and you put water on it.
The Vienne fire station is undergoing renovation and
will look like this when finished.
In 1991,when you say “backdraft” to French firefighters, they thought about the movie with the same title. But in 2002, backdraft became more “real” for the French firefighters when 5 of us were killed by this “fire gas event” in Paris during a fire. After this tragedy, some changes appeared in the French fire service:
* A national standard operating guideline was written in 2003. It tried to explain what backdraft and flashover are.
*Education and training in the fire service began to change. We now try to understand that smoke burns and we can learn to read it. To cool down smoke is not easy and can be dangerous.
*PPE have changed. Turnout gear made in leather are now made in textile.
*There are enough turnout pants for everyone at the firehouses.
*Firefighters are taught that they have to wear full PPE, gloves, hood, etc.
*Combination nozzles and the use of CAFS appeared in the French fire service after 2003.
*Education and training about nozzles and their uses are more precise now.
*Training in flashover containers are now more common. Before, the firefighters only learned theory but did not train and could not see the different stages of flashover.
The French firefighter begins to understand that to stop a fire,you need to have tactics. Especially if you can not stop the fire from outside a building. We are only beginning to understand some problems related to “under ventilated” fires. Even if it is not very difficult to understand them, they are not well understood. (During certain trainings, there are some mistakes about them in different training centers.) Forcable entry tactics or RIT are not taught during training in the fire service, except in a few FD’s.
Another problem that we can underline, there are not enough communication tools such as radio when firefighters operate on fireground. When firefighters enter a building to stop a fire or do a search, it is very hard for them to talk to the engine man who is outside the building near his pump panel. Many things have changed but the path of important changes has not been reached yet.
(Click on the “continue reading” link to see the rest of this article.)
(more…)
Thoughts of a French Volunteer Firefighter
14 commentsLong-time Firegeezer reader Laurence Delorme publishes a fire-related website in France (http://chezfireball.blogspot.com/ ) and recently interviewed Franck Gaviot-Blanc, a volunteer firefighter from the Vienne Fire Brigade. Vienne is a city of 29,000 on the River Rhone and is located near Lyon. Laurence has very kindly taken the time to translate the interview so that we can share it with you. Thank you, Laurence.
LD: How long have you been in the fire service?
FG: I’m a volunteer firefighter in a combined fire department with 70 career firefighters and 80 volunteer firefighters in the south east of France. I have been in the fire service for 19 years.
Franck Gaviot-Blanc
LD: What are the changes that you have noticed in the fire service, such as PPE, rigs….?
FG: Concerning the tactics and operations,there were important changes in the French fire service. Firefighters now realize that “under ventilated” fires are special fires and bring many questions concerning tactics and operations. Before, for many firefighters, to stop a fire was very easy. You entered a building/house, then you looked for the fire and you put water on it.
The Vienne fire station is undergoing renovation and
will look like this when finished.
In 1991,when you say “backdraft” to French firefighters, they thought about the movie with the same title. But in 2002, backdraft became more “real” for the French firefighters when 5 of us were killed by this “fire gas event” in Paris during a fire. After this tragedy, some changes appeared in the French fire service:
The French firefighter begins to understand that to stop a fire,you need to have tactics. Especially if you can not stop the fire from outside a building. We are only beginning to understand some problems related to “under ventilated” fires. Even if it is not very difficult to understand them, they are not well understood. (During certain trainings, there are some mistakes about them in different training centers.) Forcable entry tactics or RIT are not taught during training in the fire service, except in a few FD’s.
Another problem that we can underline, there are not enough communication tools such as radio when firefighters operate on fireground. When firefighters enter a building to stop a fire or do a search, it is very hard for them to talk to the engine man who is outside the building near his pump panel. Many things have changed but the path of important changes has not been reached yet.
(Click on the “continue reading” link to see the rest of this article.)
(more…)