Morning Lineup – March 18

Earlier this week, on Monday we carried a report (HERE) on two separate multi-vehicle pileups in Germany.  While looking over all the photographs that were available from those crash scenes, I noticed that in both instances the fire departments had set up tents like you usually see for firefighter decon. and triage shelters.  That seems like such a good idea to me.

I was impressed that these two incidents were a couple of hundred miles apart, therefore it might be a wide-spread practice in the country.  At least in those departments that cover the freeways which are famous for their news-making wrecks.  The weather was definitely a factor in these incidents because you had literally hundreds of other motorists caught in the traffic backup for hours at a time, stranded in the middle of nowhere with very cold temperatures.   The Red Cross and the police saw to it that there were hot beverages and snacks available inside the shelters to provide relief for the stranded travelers.

While on the surface it looks like an excessive expense and effort to do that, I would argue that it is like preventive medicine in that they are preventing potential exposure emergencies, etc., from occurring and then complicating the ongoing emergency.  Off-hand, I don’t know of anybody in the U.S. who does this as a matter of routine.  This type of event is rare here and unlikely to involve the same fire/rescue deparments repeatedly.  But it is a good item to file away in your mind’s data-bank as something to consider when you have your own incident to handle.  First thing you do is review what units (usually haz-mat squads) carry triage shelters.  What do you think?  Do any of our readers already practice this added response to remote incidents?

*  *  *  *  *

At our Lineup on February 21 (HERE) we mentioned the cellphone providers upcoming move  to their 4G networks, while most of us are still placing calls at 2G speeds.  There have been a couple of announcements this week that I wish to pass along, keeping in mind that I don’t have a firm grasp on this phone-tech stuff, I only repeat it.

The Wall Street Journal filed a report yesterday saying that Sprint will be the first network to offer a 4G phone and they will introduce it next week.  All of the major carriers are building out their networks now, but they have generally been operating on having them functional and commonly available early next year.  This surprise announcement may just force the others to accelerate their schedules.  I still don’t know what’s so important about having a phone that sends data 10X faster than it does now, but I suppose there are a few people who are really keen about downloading movies while they are stuck in an airport waiting lounge.

Seriously though, I think it has more to do with the phone companies being able to handle the increased traffic load that is building up on the current networks.  Much like a congested 4-lane highway being widened to 10 lanes suddenly and giving instant relief to the traffic problem.  Anyway, Digital Trends has a concise explanation of what’s going on and just what the devil 4G is (HERE), if you would like to learn more.

All right, we’d better get back to our 1G check-sheets and get this equipment checked out.  I’m going over to the 2G Bunn-o-Matic and get some more coffee going.   See you in the day room in a little while.

Also on FireGeezer…

• Morning Lineup – February 21 – February 21, 2010