‘System’ Failure

… The concept of safety systems keeping firefighters on breathing air as long as possible may seem like a great idea, and in a perfect world maybe you can get multiple safety officers, command technicians, accountability officers and resource unit leaders to take an active role in air supply management, but in a lot of departments, where do you find these people? [Ed.: “Try Safety as a System 60 Days, Risk Free, November 2007, is available at www.firechief.com.] My department covers our response area with two engines, one ladder and a battalion chief. There are 12 men on duty, including the battalion chief. If I commit one or two of these men to monitor air supply, that's less men available to do one of 20 different things that need to get done in the first 15 minutes.…

[John] Linstrom cites dozens of case studies of firefighters falling through floors, roofs, attics and stairwells that would have injured the firefighter had they not been on air. This is true, and the guys made the decision based on the conditions. They had their masks on because they felt they needed [them], or the conditions dictated it. The whole point to the “counseling firefighters to walk up three floors to the fire” without masking up was based on the fact that the members observed the fire on the third floor prior to entering the building.

Common sense needs to prevail here; you don't need to breathe bottled air when the atmospheric air is the same quality. This is not to say you don't need to be ready, as was the personal preference fallback to wearing your mask and leaving the regulator unhooked, or having the mask and regulator hooked together and readily deployable. The air is there and ready when you need it. It's also a lot easier to talk up the job and be on the same page, and definitely easier to hear what's going on around you, too.

In another comment, Linstrom [wrote] that “Allowing firefighters who are operating in attack mode to make a choice to respond or ignore an alarm bell based on how the attack is progressing must stop” is a little flawed.… Overall, the incident commander is making the calls based on what his interior crews are reporting and the conditions observed from the exterior. This is where competent company officers and attack team leaders come into play. This is where proper communications between these officers and the incident commander are important.

The company officer and his crew should be aware of their air supply, their level of exertion, and approximately how long it is going to take to get to an area where you can safely remove your mask. They also should have a pretty good idea as to how the overall suppression effort is going. Is the visible fire knocked down, do we have fire extending into every void space we open up? Have we been inside for half a bottle and still not located a fire, and the heat is getting more intense? I feel these firefighters or officers should be able to make these decisions based on the conditions; however it should be coordinated with the incident commander. Overall, the interior officer should be monitoring his crew and should know when he needs to make the call to exit the building.…

The physiological monitoring of heart rate, pulse, rhythm, and body temperature is another extreme here in this article. Who is going to do this? To what level of training is someone going to need to get to know the differences in each member being monitored? Will members go through a stress test and have the results logged as a baseline, and then have their current status compared to the base? What will we consider to be over-exerted? How much will this equipment cost? How long will it take to put it on? Will the incident commander be held accountable if a firefighter has a heart attack inside because he should have seen the signs?

… Firefighters need to stick together and know their limitations. Training is the key. Physical fitness is the key. Heart attacks kill more firefighters each year than anything else. Stupid driving kills more firefighters each year than running out of air and dying of smoke inhalation. Adding more weight and requiring more people to keep track of us and then relying on someone else to tell me when to come out of the building is not the answer. The incident commander has so many things to deal with, and conditions are always changing. Electronics technology has proven to be mediocre, at best. If we have problems getting something simple as a PASS device to work properly in the heat, water, and smoke, imagine what a complex system of wireless physiological monitoring equipment is going to do.

The list of things guys can do to make positive changes and reduce the number of firefighter deaths each year is long. I agree completely with the safer response ideas, reduced speed/no lights responses, all members in seatbelts, etc. We can make changes here and greatly affect the numbers. Getting guys to wear their PPE is another problem. Say it's a command or leadership issue all you want, it ultimately comes down to the individual firefighters discipline. If you take your gloves off and cut your hand during overhaul, is it the incident commander's fault?

Bottom line is this: We work in a thankless, physically demanding job with less than adequate manpower, many of our departments lack proper funding, and each day we are asked to do more with less. Career departments face staffing cuts every day. Volunteer departments are struggling with recruitment and retention, and both are always at the top of the list when the penny pinchers and bean counters are looking for places to cut budgets. We survive on our own and it's largely due to the choices we make.

Know your air supply, know your limitations. Know the limitations of your crew, and stick together. Slow down during your response.… Know your building construction. Don't risk your life to save property. Eat healthy and exercise. Don't smoke. Know your job, don't freelance, never work alone, and don't ignore your body if it's trying to tell you something. There are plenty of things we can do to drop those numbers, many of them involve simple changes in lifestyle and attitude.
— Capt. Steve Quigley