January Issues

Fire Service Leaders Urge All Residents to Install, Test Home Smoke Alarms – Today!
Jan 8: Yesterday, Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers, Baltimore Fire Chief James Clack, Washington, D.C. Fire Chief Dennis Rubin, and other fire organization leaders joined U.S. Fire Administrator Greg Cade to ask all residents of this nation to install, maintain, and test their smoke alarms. This national effort is a result of one of the deadliest holiday seasons in recent memory and several significant fires in the first days of 2009. More »

Focus on Fire Safety: Smoke Alarms
The death rate per 100 reported fires is twice as high in homes without working smoke alarms as homes with working smoke alarms.
In the event of a fire, a properly installed and maintained smoke alarm can save your life and those of your loved ones. Smoke alarms are a very important means of preventing home fire fatalities by providing an early warning signal so you and your family can escape. More »

USFA Releases Provisional 2008 Firefighter Fatality Statistics
Jan 7: USFA announced today there were 114 on-duty firefighter fatalities in the United States as a result of incidents that occurred in 2008. During this period, firefighters were lost from 34 states and one from the Virgin Islands. More »

Enough is enough. Buckle up.
Dallas Fire Chief Eddie Burns, Sr. successfully led a department-wide effort to secure the 100% support of seatbelt usage by the members of the Dallas Fire Department. Over 1,700 employees of the Dallas Fire Department have taken the simple and straight forward national seatbelt pledge to ensure that each and every member of the Dallas Fire Department is safely secured to moving fire apparatus. My sincere congratulations to the members of the Dallas Fire Department and to Chief Burns for this achievement.
Frederick County, Maryland has also achieved their 100% seatbelt pledge commitment. They join the growing ranks of departments that have achieved 100%. Given the recent actions of the Dallas Fire Department, Frederick County Fire Department, and others including the IAFC Board of Directors, the staff here at the USFA has taken the pledge as well. We do not have fire apparatus here at USFA; we do however have a dedicated staff traveling back and forth from Washington, DC in official vehicles and involved with national response efforts of FEMA. Just as important, a significant number of USFA staff also volunteer in local fire and EMS departments.
I am pleased to announce that the Canadian Fire Services have also joined this effort.
When I heard the news of these and so many other departments now taking the pledge, I knew immediately there was no department in this nation — or Canada — that could not take this simple step to improve firefighter safety.
As many of you already know, and many others should know, firefighter Christopher Brian Hunton, age 27, was a member of the Amarillo Texas Fire Department for one year. On April 23, 2005 he fell out of his fire truck responding to an alarm; he died two days later from his injuries. Brian was not wearing his seat belt. It is in his name — and in the names of others who suffered a similar fate — that we continue to work to ensure all firefighters buckle up. It requires such little effort to ensure all firefighters go home at the end of the day and not become victims of this preventable death.
Yet people keep dying, in part due to their not wearing a seat belt. Each and every one of these deaths is preventable. Why is this act is looked upon with disdain by firefighters. Explain why they feel putting their lives, their fellow firefighters, and family at risk is a part of their job. They continue to get line of duty death notifications where firefighters have made the conscious decision to risk everything and not wear their seatbelt.
Buckle up and take an extra moment to make sure your fellow firefighters are also.