Seventh Annual Event

EARLIER THIS MONTH ON MAY 12 the seventh edition of Grimpday was held.  It is a competition for high-angle rescue teams from throughout Europe, representing fire, police and specialized teams.  This year's meeting saw 30 teams from 12 different countries competing in the primarily-rope rescue challenges and was held in Namur, Belgium.

*  *  *

Each team has to complete six designated rescues and they are judged on swiftness, safety for the team members, as well as the security and comfort of the victim.  Timing of the evolution stops when the victim is safely inside the ambulance.

*  *  *

The First Place winner was the team representing the Fire Brigade of Venice (Italy).  Second place was grabbed by the Alpine Caving team from Neuchatel, Switzerland.

The Vigili del Fuoco (Italian National Fire Service) has posted the story and photos HERE.
El Periodic (Spain) has MORE.
All unattributed photos via Vigili del Fuoco.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

Safe-Driving Display Gains Unwanted Realism

YOU HAVE ALL PARTICIPATED in one of those mock car accidents designed to teach teenagers about the dangers of careless or drunk driving.  That is what was going on in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, Friday morning when the town's fire department and police department were staging a crash with injuries along with the safety lectures, plus the extrication and first aid demonstration by the firefighters, for the Detroit Lakes High School students.

WDAY-TV

With the entire student body of 400 gathered on portable bleachers, the demonstration began with a police officer giving the lecture and a few students and community volunteers acting as trapped, injured victims.  Without warning, the unmanned fire engine started rolling and it was aimed right for the "crash" scene.  It struck the two wrecked cars at a low speed (less than 5 mph) causing some minor injuries to the police officer, an EMT and two of the student actors.

The demo became real as the FD had to perform genuine extrications and ambulances were called for real-blood injuries.  Six people were transported, but all were treated and released for minor cuts and bruises.  It hasn't been determined yet for sure why the pumper started rolling.  At the time it was believed that the parking brake had been applied, but that has to be determined yet.

WDAY-TV has the story and more photos HERE.

Firegeezer notes:  This is why all departments must have a firm policy of always using a wheel chock whenever the operator is out of the cab, whether the motor is running or not (outside of the equipment bays, of course).

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

… in Twitter format

Chief Van Dorpe (Chicago Fire Training)

The three essentials: Fire Behavior, Building Construction and Tools/Equipment

@fossilmedic

Mike "FossilMedic" Ward

Crumbling Economy Leaving Fire-Rescue Destitute

BRITAIN'S NATIONAL FIRE SERVICE is running out of money, as are all the governmental entities in the once-great nation.  As funds shrink, the fire service departments have been undergoing schemes like consolidation and further consolidation of the consolidated departments.  Just recently it was announced that the already-combined fire-rescue departments in Scotland will be bunched into one national fire department.

Dispatch centers have been "centralized" with the result of calls for service coming from 50 or more miles away and the dispatch going to the wrong location.  The London Fire Brigade – one of the world's largest fire departments – cannot afford to buy fire engines and is leasing 500 firetrucks from a private company, AssetCo.  Now AssetCo is more than £8 million behind in its taxes and is facing liquidation as its stock price has dropped to 3 p. and other debts pile up.

Now it's the National Fire Service College that is adrift and broke.  The 500-acre campus with extensive training facitlities for every type of emergency is unable to maintain its facility and the buildings are starting to fall apart.  Aiding its deterioration was a decision several years ago permitting fire departments to utilize privately-run training programs at their discretion, removing the monopolistic franchise of the national academy.

National Fire Service College campus

Earlier this month the Communities Minister of the government, who oversees the Fire-Rescue Service, announced that the College will be sold to the highest bidder for the property.  This has brought outrage from all corners of the public, especially the union representing the 70 employees of the college.  BBC News is reporting today:

A report last year showed the government-owned site was "beset by debt and financial issues". Communities Minister Bob Neill said "disposal as a going concern" was the best option.

Philippa Childs, from Prospect, said: "The college is based in the middle of the Cotswolds, with training facilities considered to be the best in the world, but it's falling to bits. Government spending constraints have meant that no money could be spent on the infrastructure or recruitment, and staff have also faced a pay freeze."

Ms Childs (also) said: "Our members are worried about being transferred out of the public sector, not least because of the potential impact on their pay, pensions and other terms and conditions.

"It is also outrageous that a national resource such as this, which provides vital training to a key emergency service, should be privatised and thus subject to market forces which rely on making a profit in order to function."

Despite the widespread dissatisfaction with the decision, it has apparently been committed.

See also Guardian newspaper report on "London's fire engines may be sold off…"  from last May HERE.
AssetCo WEBSITE.
UK Fire Service College WEBSITE.
Also see Firegeezer postings from 2009:
"Let's Just Sell Off All the Apparatus" HERE.
"11 Fire Engines Burn Up in Britain" HERE, story of $2 million fire at unsprinklered building on Fire College Campus.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

Germany Learning From Experience

IN GERMANY ROUGHLY HALF THE REMAINS of deceased people are cremated and half of them are medically obese, following the trend in much of the western world.  This high rate of cremation is bringing notice to a growing problem as large numbers of crematoriums are experiencing severe damages as burning fat overwhelms the capability of the furnace to contain the process.

Ulf Hanke writes in today's edition of Spiegel:

The crematorium employee in the western German town of Hamelin took a last look at the coffin before pushing it inside the furnace. This was the third coffin he had processed on the morning of January 13, and the body itself weighed over 200 kilograms (440 pounds). Of that, only two kilograms of ashes were supposed to remain after cremation. But, 15 minutes later, flames shot out of the crematorium's 10-meter-high (33-foot-high) stainless-steel chimney, and parts of it began to melt.

Unable to bring the fire under control, the employee called the fire department. Firemen determined that the smoking chimney was glowing at 600 degrees Celsius (1,100 degrees Fahrenheit). They cooled it from the side and used an infrared camera to track the spread of heat through the building. It took four hours to reduce the body in the furnace to ash.

It was determined that the cause of the fire was "extreme heat due to burning a high amount of fat." 

When an event happens and the fire/heat overwhelm the chamber, there is a flap behind the vent that automatically opens and discharges the excess heat and smoke, and the particulates of heavy metals such as dental fillings plus other things that are usually filtered out, directly into the outside air.  This is leading more crematories to restrict their use to bodies under a certain weight.  The industry is establishing guidelines for weight limits based on the size and type of furnace in use.  Hanke continues:

However, that still leaves the issue of what will be done with the bodies of those exceeding such weight limits. Indeed, such measures could force people to scramble around in hearses in search of suitable cremation facilities. In France, for example, several crematoriums refused to accept the body of a 140-kilogram (380-lbs.) woman. The woman's daughter then wrote to the newspaper Le Parisien complaining of post-mortem discrimination against her mother.

Now we have two new, additional problems to learn about and train for, excessive fires in sealed crematory ovens for firefighters, and the ambulance crews have to learn how to avoid post-mortem discrimination.

Read the entire article in Spiegel HERE.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

Fire Department Admits to "Lapses"

"They should have tested the quality of the rope before using it for the mock drill,"

THE BANGALORE, INDIA, FIRE DEPARTMENT is in heavy damage-control this weekend  after a poorly-planned fire drill at a clothing factory resulted with the death of a 25-year-old woman.

The fire department was demonstrating for the 1,200 employees of the Bombay Rayon Fashions factory how to escape a burning building by lowering yourself down a rope.  They convinced Nalina Reddy to climb out of a 3rd-story window and let herself down, but as soon as she got over the ledge, the rope snapped allowing her to plunge to the pavement below where she died immediately from major head trauma.

Cell phone video provided by DNA

The four firefighters in charge of the exercise were suspended while an investigation is begun into the incident.  The fire department has admitted to some "lapses" in the exercise, saying that the rope should have been tested first and that they should have had some cushions strategically placed around the drill site.

IBN tv followes up with this video report:

The fire department has promised that at the next drill they will be providing "cushions" for the hapless factory workers.

The Times of India has more DETAILS HERE.

GUNTAR has the grisly, graphic video report:

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

Advanced Forestry Tactics in 1949

THIS DOCUMENTARY FILM showing Smoke Jumper training and procedures from the late 1940's is provided by the National Archives and Records Administration.  The video runs for 54 minutes, so grab a cuppa first, then sit back and enjoy:

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

A New Legal Advisor Would Help, Too

THE JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI, FIRE DEPARTMENT has got itself in a pickle after 26 recruits in a class of 28 flunked the State Certification Exam.  It was learned that the final exam was administered in November, but after the massive fail rate the fire department has been trying to get the Minimum Standards Board to permit the city to re-test the recruits themselves.  The recruit schools run for 12 weeks in Jackson's own academy which has recently started another school of 12 recruits. 

WLBT image

The Jackson Clarion-Ledger reports:

Jackson Fire Chief Raymond McNulty would respond to questions from The Clarion-Ledger only in an email through city spokesman Chris Mims. Some of McNulty's responses were not clear or did not appear to directly answer the questions.

The Minimum Standards Board established a committee to inquire into the situation regarding Jackson recruits when the board discussed the matter in November.

The situation with the recruits apparently arises from a discrepancy between what JFD taught and what actually is on the minimum standards test, though the Minimum Standard Board approved Jackson's curriculum.

WLBT-TV posted this video report on the situation:

In the meantime, the 26 FF's that failed have been getting paid while they await the settlement of the problem.  The fire chief says that state law requires them to be certified before they can be allowed to perform as firefighters, so they remain in limbo.

Not true, says Joel Jones, attorney for the Mississippi Fire Personnel Minimum Standards and Certification Board.

"Jackson apparently has an internal policy that they don't actually use guys as firemen until they've passed the course. That's a Jackson policy," Jones said. "State law says after they hire someone they have to be certified in a year. There's no restriction in the state law as to how they use that person, they just can't pay them after a year unless they're certified."

The Clarion-Ledger says that this isn't the first time that Jackson has had learning problems:

An internal affairs report dated Sept. 20, 2005, obtained by The Clarion-Ledger, states that "approximately 80 percent of 2005 recruit class felt that the class was poorly organized and did not receive the quality of training expected."

The report further states: "The class stated that they were given a book for Jackson Fire Department Training Class and later it was determined that this was the wrong book. Instructor (Keith) Simpson told them that they will continue to train from the book. The recruit class felt that improper material affected their academic performance on the Minimum Standard Test."

The report concludes that "The overhaul of (the training) division may be the key to better this department in the future."

Apparently they didn't get a new key.

Read the full article in the Clarion-Ledger HERE.
Jackson Fire Department WEBSITE.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

Amazon's Gold Box Deal of the Day:

Pioneer VSX-521-K5.1 Home Theater Receiver

The receiver will accept and play
wireless input from Blu-Tooth devices

Today – $137.99 (27% off)

CLICK HERE to read all the details and order yours.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

*  *  *

Join Billy D. Hayes on Monday, January 23, 2012 at 9:00 p.m. EST as he hosts a special episode of STOP, DROP, and ROLL With the Punches.

Past episodes have included the Who’s Who in the fire and emergency service, but this one will be the view from the trenches. Billy’s guests include firefighters and company officers on the line to share their thoughts on why fire prevention and firefighter safety may succeed and/or fail.

We often miss the opportunity to listen to those in the trenches, so this episode is sure to be a hit! Join us on Monday, January 23 at 9pm ET for this LIVE internet radio show!

Here's the link to get started listening and the call-in number:  Stop Drop and Roll With the Punches.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

During Training Exercise

A POMPANO BEACH, FLORIDA, FIREFIGHTER died Friday afternoon after falling from an aerial ladder during a training exercise.

Channel 10 News photo

William Elliott, 50, was at the top of the fully-extended ladder, about 90 ft. above the ground, when he inexplicably fell off and plunged to the ground dying instantly.  The fire company was holding an afternoon drill with the aerial and a second firefighter who was midway up the ladder witnessed Elliott's fall.  Firefighter Elliott had been on the job since 1989.

The Broward County Sheriff department is conducting the investigation of the accident.

WSVN-TV posted this video report from the scene:

The Sun Sentinel has the full story and more details HERE.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *