Firefighters attend safety class
Bob Miller wears a black rubber bracelet around his wrist to remind him of the home every firefighter should return to after battling a blaze. Miller, Luzerne Township Emergency Services director, recently instructed “Introduction to Safety and the Training System,” a course offering “basic information on the scope and nature of the health and safety problems affecting today’s fire service,” at Hiller Volunteer Fire Co.
Miller has also taught the black-bracelet course “Everybody Comes Home.” The United States Fire Association (USFA) program is “designed to promote awareness to the public as well as provide training to the fire response community to practice safety in responding to emergency situations,” according to the Federal Interagency Committee on Emergency Medical Services (FICEMS).
“We’re killing too many firefighters each year in this country,” Miller, who has been a Hiller volunteer firefighter for more than 30 years, said. “Everybody Comes Homes” brings home the idea that we’re not taking care of ourselves.”
On average, 100 to 110 Pennsylvania firefighters die each year in the line of duty, Miller said, adding that the state lost 18 firefighters last year and four this year. Pennsylvania in years past has “killed more firefighters than any other state,” he said.
Inadequate training, maintenance and standards were included among contributing causes of death among firefighters.
Stress is “the biggest killer,” according to Miller. Physical conditioning reduces stress, he said, adding that, “the average person in this country is not physically fit.”
Requiring annual physicals among volunteer firefighters might cut into an already dwindling pool of recruits, Luke Burley, a Smithfield firefighter, said.
“We’d lose 30 percent of the firefighters at Smithfield,” he said.
Hiller VFC firefighter John Dolan said the Self-Contained Breathing (SCB) apparatus firefighters wear contains approximately 45 minutes of airtime, but on “fat guys” that time is cut in half.
“We just don’t take care of ourselves,” Miller said, adding that peer reporting systems that catalog injuries among firefighters help them come up with new techniques.
New techniques, equipment and teamwork help prevent injuries and deaths.
Firefighters are outfitted with a Personal Alert Safety System (PASS) device, which flashes red and emits a noise when a firefighter “goes down in a fire,” Dolan said.
An accountability board is posted in the Hiller VFC fire engine to keep track of the firefighters who enter a burning building in teams of two, also in hopes of preventing injuries and deaths.
To the same end, Miller wants to establish a Rapid Intervention Team (RITC) at Hiller VFC. He said the team “eliminates confusion” and helps to keep a flow going during an already-chaotic emergency situation. Hiller VFC is scheduled to host a RITC program Wednesday, Dec. 7. The program prepares fire department personnel to create a stand-by rescue team to respond at structure fires and other hazardous incidents.
During the IST class, Miller showed a PowerPoint presentation. To drive home the seriousness of the course, the presentation offered scenes from the National Fallen Firefighters Monument in Emmitsburg, Md., where names of fallen firefighters are etched on plaques.
“You don’t want your name on those plaques down there,” Miller told the class. “Those are the ones that didn’t make it home.”