Fire Service Today

December Podcast - NFPA 1600

Want to know more about NFPA 1600, Standard on Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity?

In this month's podcast, NFPA talks with Don Schmidt, Chair of the Technical Committee on Emergency Management and Business Continuity about the development of NFPA 1600, federal initiatives, and efforts to ensure that this important standard remains an integral part of the nation's preparedness plans.

Dave Trebisacci

Apparatus Specification & Vehicle Maintenance Symposium

The Fire Department Safety Officers Association is having their 2010 Apparatus Specification & Vehicle Maintenance Symposium January 17-20, 2010 at the Rosen Plaza Hotel in Orlando, FL.

Click here for the 2010 Symposium Announcement

Click here for a electronic online registration

Click here for a 2010 Preliminary Program

For more information about the symposium, visit the FDSOA website

Larry Stewart

IAFC HazMat Conference - Call for Proposals

The 2010 International Hazmat Response Teams Conference will be held next May 19-23 in Baltimore.

Planning to attend and want to do a presentation?

The deadline for submitting proposals is this Friday, November 27 - here's the link: 

http://s36.a2zinc.net/clients/IAFC/hazmat10/Public/MainHall.aspx?ID=343&sortMenu=101000

 

Dave Trebisacci

Proposal Closing Date for NFPA 414 and NFPA 1081

Today is the proposal closing date for NFPA 414 and NFPA 1081, which means that today is that last day to submit proposed changes to either of these two documents. If you would like to submit a proposal please use this Download NFPAProposalForm and submit it to the address on the form. This would need to be done by the end of the day today.

If you have any questions feel free to contact me.

Ken Holland

Assessing Wildfire Hazards in the Home Ignition Zone Wkshop offered

The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) and the National Fire Protection Association's (NFPA) Firewise Program are offering the popular training program, Assessing Wildfire Hazards in the Home Ignition Zone" prior to the IAFC's 2010 Wildland/Urban Interface Conference. The workshop dates are March 28-29 at the Grand Sierra Resort & Casino in Reno, NV. This 2-day workshop covers many of the misconceptions of Wildland/urban interface fire, the history and context of WUI fire disasters, sequential elements of a WUI fire disaster, research and case studies, risk factors in the HIZ, information needed to conduct a home assessment, inspecting the HIZ and much more. For additional information or to register for the workshop and/or conference go to: www.iafc.org/wui.

Fire Service Performance Measures New Report Available

NFPA has released a new report on Fire Service Performance Measures. This report identifies and presents potential performance measures as they relate to the core functions of the fire department. A comprehensive literature review was performed to gather and highlight key measures that have already been identified. n addition to presenting key measures by fire department function, this report discusses the cautions associated with each measure.

The report presents twenty performance measures by major response type-fire, medical aid, hazmat, and other calls. Each measure includes a discussion about what the measure tells you and cautions that should be considered when using the measure. Each measure also contains information about a corresponding NFPA standard or recommendation and suggestions for how to use NFIRS to evaluate performance, where applicable. 

Notes from the 2009 Isman Educational Grant Winner

The 2009 Warren E. Isman Education Grant was awarded to the Champaign (IL) Fire Department. The award enabled 5 members of their hazmat team to attend the annual Midwest HazMat Response Conference in Northbrook, IL last May.

Following the conference, the team expressed its appreciation for the award to NFPA, and noted that many hours of training and drilling are needed to prepare them for Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS) responses. The award went a long way to providing further training and ensure that team members are ready to answer the call, and contribute to the MABAS system when requested.

At the conference, team members attended courses on Training in the 21st Century, Risk Assessment for WMD, Hazmat by the Numbers, Hazmat Team Safety Officer, Learning Hazmat in 90 Minutes and several others. Everyone attending the courses came away with useful knowledge, contacts, and training tools that can be used in their department.

 

Attending the conference were team members Tyler D. Funk, David Tomlinson, Todd Hitt, William Albin and William Painter.

 

For more information on the annual Isman award, please contact Christine Ellisat NFPA.

 

Watch the Fire Service Today blog for the announcement of the 2010 award winner.

 

Dave Trebisacci

 

Podcast on Firefighting Hazards of Solar Panels

In the November Fire Service Today podcast, Curt Varone interviews Fire Captain Matt Paiss, of the San Jose, California, Fire Department. Matt is a leading authority on the hazards of solar panels, and has a YouTube video series aimed at educating firefighters about the dangers associated with solar energy. Listen as they discuss what firefighters need to know, and watch Matt's videos.

YouTube Video #1

YouTube Video #2

Curt Varone

OSHA Releases EMS Best Practices Document

OSHA has released its Best Practices for Protecting EMS Responders during Treatment and Transport of Victims of Hazardous Substances Releases.

In 2005, OSHA published its Best Practices for Hospital-Based First Receivers document, which provides guidance for those health care facilities that receive and treat victims of hazardous substances releases. At the request of stakeholders that participated in the development of that guide, OSHA has developed a similar guide for EMS responders who provide medical assistance during an incident involving a hazardous materials release. This guide is intended for employers of EMS responders and discusses the measures employers need to take to keep their EMS responders from becoming victims themselves.

In this guide, the term EMS responder refers to all levels of emergency medical personnel who are involved with incident response (i.e., EMTs, paramedics). While many EMS responders are cross-trained (for example, EMT and fire fighter), the guide applies to these workers only when they are functioning as EMS responders.

Download OSHA3370-Protecting-EMS Responders SM

Dave Trebisacci

TC Application Deadlines

Here are some important dates to keep in mind for anyone who is interested in submitting an application to any of the NFPA Technical Committees.

December 7, 2009 - Deadline for accepting Technical Committee Membership applications to be considered for the March 2-3, 2010 Standards Council Meeting.

May 3, 2010 - Deadline for accepting Technical Committee Membership applications to be considered for the August 3-5, 2010 Standards Council Meeting.

Also here is a link to Download TC App 2-09 or you can visit www.nfpa.org for the application as well.

Ken Holland