A few years ago, a hose fell off the back of a fire truck while turning a corner, killing a pedestrian. What seemed like an isolated incident was quickly followed by a second fatality caused by a falling hose. These incidents prompted the NFPA Standards Council to pass a temporary interim amendment. Beginning Nov. 18, all manufacturers of new apparatus are required to provide a secure means to keep all hose securely in place on the unit.

Basically, this means that any hose stored on a fire apparatus must be restrained to prevent the potential of falling off the vehicle. But whether the hose is secured with canvas belts, a cover or other device, it's the fire department's responsibility to check and secure existing apparatus and to work with fire apparatus manufacturers to ensure new apparatus has a preventive means to safely secure the hose.

What's interesting is how quickly the NFPA Standards Council created this TIA after the fatalities occurred. Why is it that some rules are so quickly enforced and others ignored?

Recently, we heard about yet another a firefighter falling from an apparatus when a door opened during a response. Firefighters don't fall from rigs when they are wearing seatbelts!

It seems like a small thing and it is -- just a 2.5-inch piece of strapping -- but seatbelts save lives.

Over the past seven months, Rosenbauer America has distributed more than 31,000 bright-red seatbelt wraps with the "Everyone Goes Home" message, a small reminder to buckle up. While the latest NFPA 1901 stipulates red seatbelts on all new apparatus, the free red seatbelt wrap can be quickly affixed to any existing seatbelt.

When we first mentioned our idea of the seatbelt wrap to Harold Boer, a fire chief and president of Rosenbauer's Central Division, he liked the simple idea of encouraging the use of seatbelts.

Have the seatbelt wraps made a difference? We don't know, but I'd bet they have somewhere, sometime.

Janet Wilmoth, Editorial Director
janet@firechief.com