12 Signs You're Dating a Lady Firefighter

1. Every time she meets a kid her first question is “Do you know your families fire escape plan”

2. Her favorite movie is “Always”
3. When entering a hotel room she immediately checks the fire escape diagram, and looks out the window to note any complications to a window rescue.
4. She hints that a few days in Indianapolis in April sounds great.
5. The new issue of Fire Engineering arrived and you automatically plan a night out with the guys.
6. She thinks its sweet that you downloaded a fire engine ringtone so you know its her when she calls.
7. You've gotten used to her immediately noticing if every home you enter has fire sprinklers.
8. Pink isn't her favorite color, but she wears it often and proudly in support of Breast Cancer Research.
9. Candles in restaurants that have paper napkins and place mats make her nervous.
10. When there's smoke in the distance she tells you what town its in and if its a woods or structure fire.
11. The smell of smoke and two-stroke engines don't bother her.
12. Every once in a while she turns her pager off, just for you.

Dad, Can I Have a Pony?

It was a routine visit to see my dad. The bright sun streamed through his window, and the vibrant pink rhododendron blossoms were swaying in the brisk breeze. I chatted about what a perfect hay-drying day it was; how the crew would be happy with the 500 bales coming in that afternoon, and if the weather held we’d have another thousand in by the end of the week. Dad was known for his workingman’s handshake, so it was no surprise when he squeezed my hand really hard. It was a surprise when he didn’t let go for a few minutes, and when it did let go it was forever. 

I thought about not going to work the next day, but there was a project depending on me being there. I remembered dad always said, “If you say you’re going to do something, do it,” and, “There’s no excuse for not getting a job done unless you’re dead or in the hospital.”

So, I went to work promising myself after that one task I would take a week off. My co-workers arrived as usual, “Hi, how’s the coffee this morning?” and a variety of other greetings as they walked past. One friend, Mark, chatted a little longer that morning, “Hey Vicki, I want you to know you were right. We bought our daughter a horse and it’s the best thing we ever did.” He went on to talk about his daughter’s good grades in school and how she helped around the barn, but I didn’t hear much. I was lost in memories of my dad, the farm I grew up on and a long forgotten pony. Someday, when I can compose myself properly, he will know how much those words meant to me.

As a kid, I can’t remember not wanting a horse. We had cattle, but to me they were just odd shaped horses. I’d sit on the backs of the tamer cows and steers when they were tied in their stalls, and I remember trying to weave their short manes into braids like fancy show horses. One morning my dad was rototilling the garden and I was walking behind him picking worms and putting them into a can of dirt so we could go fishing later on. When he shut off the rototiller I asked if I could have a pony. He said, “Maybe someday.”

I ran into the house all excited and told mom, “Dad’s getting me a pony on Sunday.” Needless to say, the next few minutes were mass confusion, and by the end of the day I had learned my first lesson in disappointment: There is a big difference between “someday” and “Sunday.” That afternoon I lead a weanling calf into the barn, saddled it with a rug and a piece of rope, determined I was going to ride. A neighbor standing beside my dad and talking cattle commented, “You really need to buy her a pony.”

That week dad traded some work towards an old saddle he’d found in a friend’s barn and brought it home to me. I cleaned it up and thought I’d struck gold. The calves weren’t impressed, and the girth wasn’t long enough to go around the cows, but it was a saddle, and for some reason it didn’t bother me that I didn’t have a real horse to put it on. Sunday morning came and I woke to the cattle dealer’s truck grinding gears as it came into the barnyard to pick up calves. The sound of a whinnying horse bolted me out of bed and crashing down the stairs. There, standing in the pasture was not one, but two of the most beautiful ponies in the world.

For the next few days I brushed and braided their manes, cleaned water buckets and stalls, saddled the ponies and struggled to bridle them. I was too short, but eventually I got the job done. Within a couple of weeks I could actually climb up onto the smaller pony, named Dynamite, all by myself. Dynamite lived up to his name. Not only did I learn to ride on that pony, I also learned how to fall off, land on my feet and get back on. I learned that scrapes, bumps and bruises all hurt, but all eventually heal. Some leave scars, but even those fade with time. I also learned that just because you are nice to something doesn’t always mean it’s going to be nice to you. 

From that pony, my mom and dad and the land, I learned a few other valuable lessons as well:

Other beings will often help you find your way. The few times I explored trails and didn’t know where I was, my pony found the way back to a place I knew. He also taught me that sometimes it’s better to listen to his language and cross the brook further downstream. The waters may look calm, but sometimes others know what lies beneath is not safe. 

Make sure every being that touches your life has a warm and safe place to rest. Whether it’s a high spot of dry ground, the shade under a big tree, a softly bedded stall for your livestock or sharing your couch or spare room with a friend you haven’t met yet, humans and horses both do best with a good night’s sleep and an occasional nap. 

Share drinks with friends whenever you can. Morning coffee, afternoon tea or a cold beer after a hard day’s work all go better with friends. And, never ask your horse to drink out of a bucket or trough you wouldn’t drink out of as well. 

It’s OK to not forget, but do forgive and pay attention next time. Sometimes years pass before a lesson learned is realized. Life’s bumpy rides, broken bones, bruises and bucks are often caused by things out of our control at the time. The way horses and people are raised sometimes makes them want to kick you. Don’t take it personally, learn to read the signs and dodge the kick. Above all else, never kick back.

A $50 pony is the best therapy for a kid. If your kid wants a pony and it’s not an option at the time, find one they can visit, brush and help care for: because there is nothing like the nuzzle of a pony to complement the love of a parent.

Written in memory of my dad, who never understood why I wanted horses, and in memory of my mom, who always did. Vicki Schmidt, Troika Drafts, Hebron ME http://www.troikadrafts.com

Training with the Times

High-Tech Training Tools for Firefighters

Research & high-tech training tools help firefighters prepare for the modern firegroundBy Vicki Schmidt Published Monday, September 30, 2013 firefighternation.com

Chief training officers with any degree of awareness cannot ignore the writings of groups such as Compartment Fire Behavior Training (CFTB-US), UL, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the NYU-Poly Fire Research Group. These organizations, and many others, are offering some of the best online training for tactics for modern fires. These resources feature quick links to videos and are complemented with questions and testing to help ensure that the knowledge is entrenched and retained in viewers. Further, the programs are designed to meet the needs of both career and volunteer firefighters.

There’s no doubt we live in a technology-driven era. Fire research and the resulting recommendations are addressing the dramatic changes in tactics that have been driven by the building and construction industries. As chief commanders, instructors and training officers, we need to review our current curriculums and update our skill drills and our quality indicators (the criteria instructors use to measure and ensure a skill drill is done properly). We need to work with other officers to ensure that our standard operating procedures (SOPs) match the recommended tactics and direct the tasks that produce the safest, most effective outcomes.

Instituting the knowledge and implementing the recommendations from recent research does not mean abandoning what we know. Progressive instructors will use the technologies and recommendations to expand and enhance existing skills. As Steve Kerber from UL often states in his lectures, “As a whole, the fire service knows very well how to ventilate, but we do not know the what, where, when and why.” Fortunately, online training resources offer training officers the opportunity to present the “what, where, when and why” to their company officers and grassroots firefighters.

For those who have reviewed the recent reports from the UL ventilation studies, the most overt take-home message is this: Everything we do on the fireground has an impact on the flow path. While the phenomenon itself is nothing new, our level of knowledge about it certainly is. The synergistic effect of modern construction with a modern fuel load often leads to very dramatic and hostile fire dynamics. Air movement has always been one of the more abstract elements of the fireground. We rarely notice or detect changes in pressurization and interior air currents, or the impact of air movement, until we see or physically feel the result of the changes. Visual changes in smoke characteristics (volume, velocity, density, color) or a rapid rise in temperature felt through our protective fire gear signal the impending consequence of hostile conditions.

Fireground commanders with instilled wisdom or firefighters reacting on “gut instinct” may predict and react swiftly to dramatic changes and prevent a tragedy. But the changes can be rapid, volatile and deadly, especially to inexperienced or distracted commanders and firefighters. A moment’s missed action due to a change in smoke conditions or a change in temperature may lead to firefighters being caught in a flashover or a global collapse of the structure.

P.J. Norwood, the training officer and deputy chief at East Haven (Conn.) Fire Department, sees the new research as supporting tactics we already know, but tactics we rarely incorporate into our standard fireground strategies. “We all know and teach VES, but how many of us actually have it in our SOPs or consider it as a regular tactic?” he asks. More recent literature accentuates VES with isolation (VEIS) and closing the door, but this has always been a part of VES. “Recent research brings to light the added importance of isolation,” he adds.

While we often hear the phrase another “tool in the toolbox,” we need to realize that the fire service has a lot of tools—blitz attack, VEIS, foam and CAFS, to name a few. But like most craftsmen, we only use the tools we prefer. We have skills and tactics with which we are most comfortable and therefore use routinely. We utilize these skills because they have served us well in the past, but does that ensure they will serve us well in the modern fire environment? Again, the available online training can provide a fundamental foundation that allows your training officers to complement modern training technologies with field-based, hands-on training activities.

As a chief training officer, ask yourself, “Are there tactics we have that we’re not using due to skill level or comfort? Can we bring them to the forefront? Practice them? And see how they work to complement the new research?” Tools and skills that sit idle may fail to serve us when we need them. Rarely do we reach for every tool equally. But the new research suggests those “tools at the back of our toolbox” might merit the grasp, the perfecting of advanced techniques, and their incorporation into our SOPs

One indisputable fact is that the research from NIST, UL and many others is driven 100% by questions from fire departments, fireground commanders and firefighters who have an insatiable appetite for answers about the what, where, when and why related to their fallen brothers and sisters. The research was designed and conducted byfirefighters for firefighters. Furthermore, these years of research were funded, and continue to be funded, in part by the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program, along with support from administrators at UL and NIST who believe in their staff.

Whether old school, new school or no school, as a chief training officer, make it your duty to bring attention to the new training opportunities. Bring that attention with honor and gratitude and on behalf of those who brought us answers when firefighters asked the questions “why?”

Suggested Links
Polytechnic Institute of NYU
www.poly.edu/fire/

Underwriters Laboratory, Research and Training information
www.ul.com/global/eng/pages/newscience/firesafety

Compartment Fire Behavior Training, resource pages
www.cfbt-us.com/resources.html

County of Los Angeles, Training Service Section
www.lacofdturnout.com/

National Institute of Standards and Technology
www.nist.gov/fire/training.cfm

By the Light of the Full Moon

There's a kinda cute guy I've know awhile. He finally calls and asks if I'd like to do something Saturday night. He's a nice guy, sorta of citified, but says he thinks he'd like the country life. So I say “sure, what sounds good”. He says “its going to be a nice cool crisp evening with the light of a full moon”, then he asks, what sounds good to me. 

I think for a moment and reply, “Well, I have a swarm of honey bees I really need to move to a new area. That would be the perfect weather and amount of light. Would you like to help?”

Click.

Did I say something wrong?

Mother's Things

Mother's Things

Mothers are amazing. I always knew that about my mom, who has been gone for six years now . A few weeks ago I found the courage to start going through some of the boxes of her things. They were stashed in an unused upstairs bedroom in my home soon after she passed away.

One box was tagged “Vicki's stuff”. I never knew it was my stuff, I just thought it was an old box that had been at the house. Some of her clothes were in that box and after all these years, they still smelled of the laundry soap she used. It was like she was there with me somehow. At the bottom of the box were piles of papers. Documents I'd written in college, report cards from grade school, lots of letters I'd written to her over the years, and a July 1982 issue of Firehouse magazine.

I suspect I left the magazine at their home on one of my visits. My mom was a nurse and told me several times how she thought she would have enjoyed being a medevac nurse. Mom enjoyed hearing about my activities as a volunteer EMT, and my dreams of being a firefighter too someday. The magazine was something she'd enjoy reading through as well. And she knew I'd be back to read it someday.

I know mom's going to be a medevac nurse on a helicopter in her next life time. I want to fly helicopters, so maybe I'll be her pilot. But either way, thirty one years later, we finally finished reading the magazine. Together. Thanks Mom.

Does Anyone Here Speak Fire?

My Chief is very old school. When I brought out the NFPA certified pink camo helmet I’d won at a weekend fire school he just about went over the edge. Gruff words followed “There will be no pink worn on this Department”. Having learned long ago how to dodge a chief’s bullet, I just smiled and quickly turned the subject to other things I’d learned that weekend. Knowing full well that after a few weeks of seeing the helmet sitting by my gear he’d say; “it’s probably OK to wear it”. He’s is a great firefighter, a wonderful big brother, and a very good chief. I’ve been his Training Officer for several years and I’ve come to realize. Chiefs are very much like my other fire students – give them the “why” to the lesson and the desired shift in attitude, skill, or behavior, often follows. 

The pink helmet stirred much less attention than a question from one of our Junior firefighters later in the evening “when is our next training on fire behavior?” I casually mentioned sometime soon, and went onto explain that from now on we’ll call it “fire dynamics”. There’s a big difference. Fire behavior has inherent limits to its definition, but fire dynamics involves the fire’s reaction to all the actions of every firefighter and every happening on the fire ground. My chief stopped dead in his tracks, turned and looked at me and said “when are they going to stop?”

In all honesty, I wanted to answer - hopefully never, but I knew what he meant. Today’s changes are a lot to absorb, especially for Chiefs and chief officers. Not only do they have a calamity of endless paperwork, regulations, codes, and political issues to deal with; research and science seems to be changing all the definitions, training needs, and tactics at the same time. I sensed my chief’s growing frustration with the challenges and told him not worry; we’ve got it under control. We have the science, we have the technology, and we have fire fighters excited to learn. (What more could a training officer ask for?) And one more shining star: our Department’s internet service is now up to speed and can serve our rural western Maine town with ease. YouTube video’s and webcasts are broadcast without interruption. It will take time to adapt to the knowledge but we can do it. We can now talk fire. We can bring it all right to our little department. We can address the challenges, explain the science, expand our skills, and practice a variety of tactics. I sincerely believe, there is no greater time than now to be a training officer and an instructor.

But all this said, I think I’ll wait until next month, after my Chief says it’s OK to wear my new helmet to break the news: someday soon we’re going to have a class on flow path control. “You know Chief, all stuff that we used to just call ventilation but now we know there’s more to it. We have to help them understand the difference between flow path control and tactical ventilation?” Once again, he’ll almost be over the edge, but along with being a great Chief he’s a great firefighter as well. He’ll adapt and overcome and in that gruff voice he’ll eventually say, “OK, I trust you know what you’re doing”. Did I mention what a great Chief he is?

Maine Fire Incident Reporting (MEFIRS) by County

This series of maps shows the Maine Fire Incident Reporting for fire departments 2009-2011. This is a draft project with ArcGIS Online and presented via Arc Explorer. Feedback and comments much appreciated. . .
View Larger Map

Learning Arc GIS Online - 1982 Maine Rivers Study

This is a bit of a test. Working at learning ArcGIS Online. . This is a map project for the 1982 Maine Rivers Study. We'll see how it goes : ) Comments and feedback appreciated.
View Larger Map

Commanding The Box

Arriving home safe from a structure fire demands every firefighter fully understands knowing where they are located at all times relative to alpha, bravo, charlie, delta. Knowing the sides of the box, especially when that box is a residential home, is paramount for a firefighter to excel at situational awareness. But as important as it is for a firefighter to know the sides of the box, key leadership must also know the value of the other two sides, the inside and the outside. This combined knowledge sets the stage for reducing fire fighter injuries and fatalities.

The momentum of knowledge streaming in from research by the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) and Underwriters Laboratory, (UL) combined with such agencies as the International Society of Fire Services Instructors (ISFSI) needs no introduction. Firefighters and commanding officers everywhere have experienced what high-level technical research can now prove to us; the buildings reaction to fire in the modern box is different from that experienced by generations before us. Echo the words of one undeniably passionate instructor, Peter Van Dorpe, Chief of Training at the Chicago Fire Academy, “everything about the built environment has changed”.

A decade ago few could have envisioned the new wave of fire terminology that changes in building construction would bring to fire sciences. Words such as flow path, heat release, ventilated limited, and “the spike” were rarely heard. And, as is still the case today, were not included in the commercial fire curriculums used by most fire training academies. Modern firefighting demands everyone involved understand the knowledge behind the new terminology, and more importantly that everything that happens on every side of the box has a direct and immediate impact on the flow path and in turn - fire behavior inside the box.

As a fire commander, when you pull onto a reported fire scene and see little or nothing showing always ask yourself “at what stage of the fire are we arriving”. Know the time it takes from the moment the air brakes are set to the time your crew will have water ready to attack the fire. You might arrive post initial growth and the report of “little smoke showing” is masking a ventilation limited fire. Enter into the box of a residential fire, whether VES without immediate isolation or an aggressive attack through the front door and the result will often spawn an immediate secondary growth of a ventilation limited fire; termed by many as “the spike”. The spike occurs when a secure and ventilation limited “box”, the residential home your crew is about to enter, is violated. The air fed to the fire due to the violation, causes the ventilation limited area to flashover. Temperatures during the ventilation limited flashover caused by this second growth phase will often spike to over 1000 degrees in less than ninety seconds.

Modern commanders need to know how their commanding actions outside the box are going to impact the flow path and resulting fire conditions inside the box. Commanders must be prepared for an immediate change in fire behavior and conditions. If your crew reports “its getting extremely hot in here” order an immediate evacuation. Those words are a red flag that your crew has entered a ventilation limited area and the area will spike. Additionally, the high degree of heat release is negatively impacting the structural components of the building and global failure, usually a ceiling or floor collapse, is imminent. Study research noted by Dan Madrzykowski of NIST and Steve Kerber of UL and you’ll understand the impact of our tactics on ventilation limited fires: how to better recognize them and how to prevent firefighter death and injury due to them.

Change happens, whether a decade of research and a few definitions, or a few seconds of fire attack and a resulting flashover. Know where you and your crews are at all times, both inside and outside the box. Additionally, know at all times how you and your crews actions, both inside and outside the box, will impact the flow path, heat release rates, ventilation, and the resulting building behavior. 

View on FireChief Mutual Aid with video links:

http://firechief.com/blog/determining-fire-behavior-modern-construction-furnishings-related-video

The Enemy Environment

Spend just the minimum of hours teaching building construction to a classroom of new firefighter recruits and you'll most likely state the words: The building is your enemy; know your enemy. The late Francis L. Brannigan, coined the phrase in his 1971 book “Building Construction for the Fire Service” and a devote following of fire instructors have echoed it for decades.

Near the start of the next class you instruct on structural fire attack ask your students; “How many of you are hunters?” With luck, most of the hands will go up. Bless your lucky stars as delivering your message just got easier. While the building is still the enemy, the modern firefight takes this enemy territory one step further. The modern firefight is about the prey and the predator. The prey is you and your firefighters, the predator is the fire.

Survival of the prey depends on the ability of the prey to expertly respond to changes in its environment. The keener the prey the sooner it learns and responds to the changes. Ideally, the prey learns to adapt before the predator takes advantage of the changes to help confuse, trap, and kill, the prey.

Fight and flight are survival skills inherited by the best of prey. Fight the fire at its source, but know when its time for flight. Flight is a valuable life saving skill practiced by the most skilled of prey. Flight is never quitting or giving up. It’s a viable conclusion based on a split second summary of knowledge, training, and experience. It is an instinctive reaction that launches a survival based action. Reacting with instinctive flight avoids major injury or death; ignore the warning and fall prey to the expert predator.

Nature does not reason or rationalize, nor can it apply research. The ability to take research and apply reason and rational decision making to its conclusions is an ability unique to humans. As firefighters, company officers, administrators, and instructors, we need to take today's research and apply it not only in the classroom, but to our fire ground command, tactics, and strategies as well.

Study and learn to instantly recognize and react to the signs and signals of the modern fire environment. Beat the predator at the game by making inspection holes above and below immediately upon entry to any building that could harbor lightweight construction (LWC). Look at more than just the surface temperatures noted on your thermal imaging camera; learn to recognize the thermal signatures and clues of LWC and probable compromise of structural materials that will lead to global collapse of the structure.

And most importantly, know your lead out time complete with a command 360 of the building. Make it the first due engines immediate priority to get sufficient suppression water between any possible victims and the fire. Suffice to say “get water on the fire”. Beat the predator in the new enemy environment, and live to fight another day.

Science to the Streets and a Message to Moms

Science to the Streets and a Message for Moms

Fire prevention week has come and gone. We've changed our clocks back for daylight savings time, and we all completed our fire safe duty and changed the batteries in our smoke detectors. Before long we'll be baking holiday goodies, burning yuletide candles, and decorating with mistletoe and fir boughs. Every night we'll snuggle in with little concern of how or if our home may burn.

As a mother it may be hard to realize that your home, especially if it was built within the last decade and is filled with modern furnishing, is built to burn. Your home is not only built to burn, it is built to burn extremely fast, and extremely hot, and in a ferocious manner that within minutes can consume everything within it; you, your family, your belongings.

Another fact to realize, is that no matter how hard we try, firefighters can not keep you safe; especially from a fire in a home built with modern materials. Safe is the total elimination of risk. Firefighters and other first responders can only work to keep you safer. We need your help, especially in rural areas or areas where fire response services have been eliminated or sharply curtailed. I ask that you take a few minutes to read what follows, take the information seriously, help spread the word, and please follow the recommendations to help keep your home and neighborhood as fire safe as possible.

As a volunteer firefighter in a small town in Western Maine, and a Fire Services Instructor for the Maine Community College System, one of my favorite classes to teach is fire behavior, and particularly fire behavior in modern construction. Modern building materials and construction methods have removed the heavier wood and other sturdier mechanisms that comprised homes built decades ago. In addition, modern insulation and furnishings, made primarily from plastic and petroleum based materials, burn with a significantly higher heat release rate. When these two facts of the modern home meet fire, the result is an immediate and violent growth of fire. This type of fire results in a consuming and complete loss of the home and everything within it. 
 

In many ways, the threat of fire and its consuming consequences for modern homes has been a tough one for the fire service to deal with. It has only been in the last few years that research, sponsored in part by funding from the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program, has scientifically and visually proven what firefighters have suspected for years: fires in homes built with modern lightweight construction and filled with modern furnishing made of plastics and foams, burn with a significantly higher heat release rate than homes built and furnished with legacy materials such as heavier wood, ceramics, glass, wools, and cottons.

Research that shows firefighters the extreme rate at which fire burns in modern homes is often termed “bringing science to the streets”. The fire service is taking this research to our firefighters through conferences, workshops, and trainings. We are learning to adjust our tactics and strategies to fight fire in modern homes with greater safety and efficiency. Our goal is not only to keep ourselves and our fellow firefighters safer but to help keep our towns and families more safe as well. This is the reason for the message to moms. We need your help from inside the home. As a mother and homeowner there are several actions you can take to make your home and family more safe from fire related death and injury. 
 

Choose products and home furnishings that are made with natural fibers such as wool, linen, or cotton. Consider heavier wood furnishings and non-combustible materials over plastic or polyester whenever possible.

Design and establish a fire safe plan for your home. Along with sprinklers, install smoke alarms and CO detectors. Design fire drills with your family and practice them three to four times a year to fully establish them as emergency exit pathways.

Close the bedroom and other doors in your home. Research has shown highly improved survivability rates for occupants in rooms when doors are closed. Firefighters also use a tactic known as Vent Enter Search (VES) that compliments search and rescue efforts when bedroom doors are closed.

Support building codes that encourage sprinklers and fire safe homes. Educated yourself on such things as passive and active fire protection systems.

Support local leaders and political activities that support and endorse sprinklers, fire safe homes, and fire wise neighborhoods.

When shopping for a home, ask your realtor for listings that have sprinklers. Fire sprinklers are the next best thing to having on-duty firefighter at your home at all times. In addition, shop and dine at small businesses that have sprinklers installed.

Residential home fires are the leading cause of fire related death and injury in the United States. An estimated 374,900 residential building fires are reported to U.S. fire departments each year. These fires cause approximately 2,630 deaths, along with 13,075 injuries and 7.6 billion in property loss. Firefighters fully agree and support the position of the United State Fire Administration in that the most effective fire prevention and reduction activity a homeowner can take is the installation and maintenance of fire sprinklers. Fire sprinklers offer the highest level of fire safety because they control the fire immediately and help prevent deadly flashover. Home sprinklers react automatically to a fire and often extinguish the fire before the fire department arrives.

For more information and to help others understand the danger of fires in homes constructed with modern materials and furnishing please take time to watch the following video from Underwriter Laboratory.

UL’s three-minute video (www.ul.com/global/eng/pages/offerings/industries/buildingmaterials/fire/fireservice/ventilation/) . This video shows what happens to a modern room and a “legacy” room, when a lit candle is placed on each sofa. The fire in the legacy room takes 29 minutes, 25 seconds to reach flashover; the fire in the modern room takes just 3 minutes and 40 seconds. This is the message firefighters are adapting their tactics and strategies when it comes to fighting fire in modern construction.

References and Additional Readings:

Residential Building Fires (2007–2009)

United States Fire Administration

http://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/statistics/v12i10.pdf

Residential Fire Statistics

Urban Fire Protection

http://www.urbanfire.com/firestatistics.htm

Fire Death & Injuries

Center for Disease Control

http://www.cdc.gov/homeandrecreationalsafety/fire-prevention/fires-factsheet.html

Vicki Schmidt

Hebron ME

207-890-4590

November 2012

Considerations for Fire Prevention Week

Since 1922 Fire Prevention Week has been observed to honor the victims and survivors of the Great Peshitgo and Chicago Fires. While Maine's fire history is only a shadow of the Great historic fires of this week, here in Maine fire departments all across the state work to keep the public informed about the importance of fire prevention and safety. 

Just over 140 years ago, two Great fires, The Peshitgo Fire and the Chicago Fire both started on the evening of October 8th, 1871. The Great Peshitgo Fire consumed 2,400 square miles (1.5 million acres), killed over a thousand people, and continued to burn until it reached the waters of Green Bay and it met the fall rains. The Great Chicago Fire burned for two days; destroying over 3 square miles of the city, leaving over 100,000 homeless, and killing hundreds more. 

 

Closer to home in Maine, and sixty five years ago this week, a few small woods fires were reported to the Maine Fire Service. By the middle of the month over 20 large fires were burning all across Maine. The fires consumed 175,000 acres of timberland and destroyed over a thousand homes. Sixteen citizens were killed and over 10,000 citizens were injured by the fires. Finally, cooler fall weather assisted with bringing the fires under control. 

 

Fires happen every day and whether they consume thousands of acres of forestland, a major business, or a single family home, the greatest tragedy is when they take a life. Residential home fires are still the leading cause of fire related death and injury in the United States. Annually, fire departments respond to nearly 365,000 residential fires. These fires cause over 7 billion in direct losses, and sadly, kill more than 2600 family members. Our annual residential fire deaths are equal to the number that would die if 7 jumbo jets crashed ever year in the United States: killing all on board.

Please take some time this week to consider what a fire in your home would do to your family and your life. If possible, visit the National Fire Protection Association's Fire Prevention Week home page. Spend some time reviewing ways you and your family can prevent, and survive, a fire in your home. Note that two-thirds of reported home fire deaths occur in homes with no working fire alarm, and that something as simple as a working alarm cuts your risk of dying in a home fire in half.

The Badge in Your Pocket

Imagine for a moment that one day in casual passing, the firefighter, Chief, or your favorite instructor: the fire service someone you most admire, tucked a little note into your hand. Wrapped in the note was a fire department badge. The badge they’d worn for decades, and the best part of their career.

Now imagine for a moment, you are the one giving the badge.

There’s considerable talk these days about the photos in your wallet. The visual icons of the spouses, kids, significant others, and even pets, to which we vow to stay safe for and always come home to. Consider in this same fashion, not just the badge you currently wear, but the one you thought about above as it was given to you. Consider too, the badge you'd give someone; and what is it about that person that moves you to give them your most treasured badge?

As we go through our careers we make choices and are chosen. Those we choose to admire, respect, and glean knowledge from will not only mold us into the firefighters we become, they mature us into our fire service career. At the start few of us realize, between the giving and the getting, is an enormous amount of mentoring, leadership, and a variety of roll models.

Mentors give us direction and help us learn and refine valuable skills.

Leaders keep us on track and within boundaries that progress our careers

Roll models possess the complete set of core values, on and off the fire ground, that we aspire to.

The majority of firefighters most likely go through their career never identifying or considering those who influenced the establishment or growth of their career. The mentors, leaders, and roll models who impact us are dynamic. Whether we recognize them or not, they exist. Some grow and stay with us from the start, others come and go.

The challenge we most face is knowing who to watch and learn from, who to follow when and how, and most of all, knowing and honoring when we ourselves are being watched and followed. The answers come a little easier when you know who's badge you'd carry in your pocket, and who you'd be most honored to have carrying yours.

How the Weather Rules the Day

Suffice to say I am a morning person. Approximately 4am you can find me in my chair, enjoying my first cup of coffee, and contemplating the days events for the farm. First check the weather. Will the crew and horses face winds and cold this morning, or will the day be a mild one for chores with "tons" of horses worked in the afternoon. Will the ground stay frozen just enough so the horses keep a grip, or will it soften and be slippery on top? Did little puddles of snow thawed by yesterdays sun refreeze over night causing icy spots? Can we use all the pastures and paddocks? Where will the weanlings go today?

Temperatures in the high 20's, sunshine, and no wind are glorious days here in Maine for working drafts in the winter. There is no wind to chill the sweat against a horses skin, the sunshine warms just enough to dry the hairs. The air doesn't hurt for either horse or driver as we breathe, and the ground is the right consistency of grip for both hooves and boots. A few twitches of fire wood come in to the yard near the wood furnace. And the girls get to ride. 

If I could custom design the winter days here on the farm the vast majority would be just like that. No hay blowing out of the pastures, no wondering if the young or older horses are comfortable with the windy chill. I'm often told I worry too much, that the horses are fine. But I know the difference between a horse basking in the glow of warm sunshine, and bracing their back to the winds. The picture is the same, its the emotion that the are sending that tell me; the weather rules. 

The Calm Before the Storm

The air is fresh and crisp and the sky has breaks of light between the dark clouds. It could fool one into thinking the day is ripe for riding and driving. But reality says its short lived, by noon the sky will cloud in and snowflakes will start falling and the cold sharp winds will begin to howl. The horses will get a few hours outside today while barn is cleaned, and staged with hay to last a few days. The foals seem to know tomorrow will be a day inside, so had best get out all the sprints and bucks and kicks for now.

Snow will fall through the night and tomorrow will dawn with more snow and high winds. The barn will stay snug and warm as its insulated and full of drafts. Water buckets will not be frozen in the least as the 26 "draft furnaces" will keep it a comfortable temperature for both man and beast. Every horse, from weanlings through adults will get a good grooming and a few treats while on the crossties. Its a enjoyable break while their stalls are being cleaned. Only the door to the "nutrient recycling" pit will be open at times, which allows the right amount of needed fresh air.

The horses will munch, and drink and lay content while I concern myself with plowing, the wood furnace that heats the house, and the possibility of loosing electricity, getting the generator started and a host of other "what if's". But the horses are safe and happy, and that is what matters most.