Mark Gray Falkenhan had dedicated his life to serving others. He perished in the line of duty on January 19, 2011 while performing search and rescue operations at a multi-alarm apartment fire in Hillendale, Baltimore County (Maryland). He was 43 years old. On Wednesday, January 19, 2011, a fire occurred in an apartment building [...]
The Baltimore County (MD) Fire Department published the Line of Duty Death Investgation Report of the 30 Dowling Circle Fire recently. The report was written by a Line of Duty Death Investigation Team comprised of departmental members, including representatives of the local firefighters’ union and the Baltimore County Volunteer Firemen’s Association. An overview and [...]
Here’s a promo for the program; “Adaptive Fireground Management for Company and Command Officers”: that will be presented at the Fire Department Instructors Conference- FDIC on Thursday April 19, 2012 10:30 am in Wabash 2. If you’re attending FDIC this year, plan to mark this program down as one of your stops. I look forward [...]
USFA Releases Civilian Fire Fatalities in Residential Buildings (2008-2010) Report “Other unintentionally set, careless” actions and “smoking” are the leading causes The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) United States Fire Administration (USFA) issued a special report today examining the characteristics of civilian fire fatalities in residential buildings. The report, Civilian Fire Fatalities in Residential Buildings [...]
Residential Fire in Prince George’s County (MD) Injures Seven Firefighters: Wind Driven Conditions Suspected Apparent wind driven condition contributed to rapidly escalating fire conditions resulting in extreme fire behavior during initial fire suppression operations being coordinated at a single family residential dwelling (SFD) fire Friday night February 24th in Riverdale, MD. At 9:11 p.m. [...]
The Chief of the Department directed the Department Safety Officer to conduct a Safety Investigation of this incident. The primary purpose of the investigation was to identify and analyze the contributing factors that led to the incident as well as to create situational awareness to prevent future occurrences. The main objective of the [...]
Here’s a promo for the program; “Adaptive Fireground Management for Company and Command Officers”: that will be presented at the Fire Department Instructors Conference- FDIC on Thursday April 19, 2012 10:30 am in Wabash 2. If you’re attending FDIC this year, plan to mark this program down as one of your stops. I look forward [...]
The Fireground; Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow It will always still be about….. The Brotherhood Honor Courage Protection Fortitude Duty We have assumed that the routiness or successes of past operations and incident responses equates with predictability and diminished risk to our firefighting personnel Our current generation of buildings, construction and occupancies are not as predictable [...]
Remembering Brackenridge, Pennsylvania December 20, 1991: Four Firefighters Killed, Trapped by Floor Collapse Four volunteer firefighters died when they were trapped by a partial floor collapse during a structure fire in Brackenridge, Pennsylvania, on the morning of December 20, 1991. All four were members of a mutual aid truck company that had responded to the [...]
Buffalo Box 191 North Division & Grosvenor Streets; December 27, 1983 Buffalo Box 191 As Buffalo (NY) firefighters arrived at the scene of a reported propane leak in a three-story radiator warehouse (Type III Ordinary and Type IV Heavy Timber construction), a massive explosion occurred, killing five firefighters instantly and injuring nine others, three of [...]
A massive fire ripped through a condominium complex under construction in Rahway N.J., early Tuesday. The four-alarm fire started around 1:30 a.m. at the vacant multi-story building along Route 27. Rahway Fire Chief Bill Young said five area engine companies were called to help combat the surging flames. Given the intensity of the fire, the [...]
Squatters rescued from one fire, tenants from a second. From Bill Carey’s Backstepfirefighter.com web site January 2, 2011, a must read and link to…. On Friday, 31 December, Chicago firefighters rescued two squatters during the still-and-box alarm at 4322 West Jackson Boulevard. Firefighters found the two on the second floor of the vacant building and [...]
Firefighters line Western Avenue on Tuesday after the funeral of Edward Stringer. (E. Jason Wambsgans, Chicago Tribune / December 29, 2010) Originally Posted by Ron Grossman, Chicago Tribune December 29, 2010 Whatever the date on the birth certificate, in psychological years a firefighter never gets beyond adolescence. Like Edward Stringer, who was buried Tuesday, and [...]
Recognizing the need to do more to prevent line-of-duty deaths and injuries, the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation has launched a national initiative to bring prevention to the forefront. In March 2004, the Firefighter Life Safety Summit was held in Tampa, Florida to address the need for change within the fire and emergency services. Through this [...]
Mark Gray Falkenhan had dedicated his life to serving others. He perished in the line of duty on January 19, 2011 while performing search and rescue operations at a multi-alarm apartment fire in Hillendale, Baltimore County (Maryland). He was 43 years old. On Wednesday, January 19, 2011, a fire occurred in an apartment building [...]
Fires Below the Residential First Floor FireEngineering.com 03/01/2012 Direc t Link for Full Article HERE BY DANNY STRATTON A fire originating below the first floor of a residential structure is very vulnerable. It is important that fire control measures are executed to stop the extension of combustion, which can overtake occupants and the structure more [...]
Residential Fire in Prince George’s County (MD) Injures Seven Firefighters: Wind Driven Conditions Suspected Apparent wind driven condition contributed to rapidly escalating fire conditions resulting in extreme fire behavior during initial fire suppression operations being coordinated at a single family residential dwelling (SFD) fire Friday night February 24th in Riverdale, MD. At 9:11 p.m. [...]
The Chief of the Department directed the Department Safety Officer to conduct a Safety Investigation of this incident. The primary purpose of the investigation was to identify and analyze the contributing factors that led to the incident as well as to create situational awareness to prevent future occurrences. The main objective of the [...]
The Baltimore County (MD) Fire Department published the Line of Duty Death Investgation Report of the 30 Dowling Circle Fire recently. The report was written by a Line of Duty Death Investigation Team comprised of departmental members, including representatives of the local firefighters’ union and the Baltimore County Volunteer Firemen’s Association. An overview and [...]
Parapet Walls – Firefighter Killers Jason Poremba Firefighterspot.com Firefighters are faced with many dangers when on the job. If we study past fatal firefighter incidents, history will tell us parapet walls are proven killers during fireground operations. A few basic concepts can protect firefighters from future parapet-related fatalities. Most importantly, fire departments should establish and [...]
In case you missed these are or are first to see these now, informative information on Structural Collapse previously issued by NIST. This supplements the continuing research and effort by UL, NIST and numerous other academic and research institutions. From Fire.gov. http://www.nist.gov/fire/collapse.cfm Structural Collapse Fire Tests: Single Story, Wood Frame Structures A series [...]
Smoke Management in High-Rise Structures BY JOSEPH CHACON AND STEVE KERBER Excerpt from Fire Engineering.com Most modern building codes define a high-rise structure as a building greater than 75 feet in height from the lowest level of fire department vehicle access to the highest occupiable floor. When fires occur in high-rise structures, the responding firefighters [...]
The New Rules of Combat Fire Engagement: How do You Measure Your Effectiveness on the Fireground? What are Your Rules of Engagement Based upon? Are Your Operations SOP Driven? Are they Aggressive or Measured? What is Employed in your Size-up? How is Risk Assessed, Monitored, Adjusted? Do Company Officers Manage Tactical Objectives? Is Tactical Entertainment [...]
Computer-Based Fire Fighter Training Project Through this project, the Fire Research Division at NIST is developing a computer based fire fighting training tool to improve training opportunities while lowering the cost and risk of death and injury. Two methods are being used to create a training tool. The first and simpler method is to use FDS and Smokeview to create animations of fire scenarios. [...]
Wind Driven Fires Wind blowing into the broken window of a room on fire can turn a “routine room and contents fire” into a floor-to-ceiling firestorm. Historically, this has led to a significant number of firefighter fatalities and injuries, particularly in high-rise buildings where the fire must be fought from the interior of the structure. [...]