Restaurant Building Fires Report

New report From USFA and FEMA  - Where does your NFIRS information go, here is one example.

Restaurant Building Fires Emmitsburg, MD – The Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) United States Fire Administration (USFA) issued a special report today examining the characteristics of restaurant building fires. The report, Restaurant Building Fires, was developed by USFA's National Fire Data Center and is based on 2007 to 2009 data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS).

Apr 12: This new report from USFA examines the characteristics of restaurant building fires from 2007 to 2009, during which an estimated 5,900 fires occurred annually causing $172 million in property loss.

According to the report:

• An estimated 5,900 restaurant building fires occur annually in the United States, resulting in an estimated average of 75 injuries and $172 million in property loss.
• The leading cause of all restaurant building fires is cooking at 59 percent and nearly all of these cooking fires (91 percent) are small, confined fires with limited damage.
• While cooking is the leading cause of all restaurant building fires as well as the smaller, confined restaurant building fires, electrical malfunction is the leading cause of the larger, nonconfined restaurant building fires.
• Nonconfined restaurant building fires most often start in cooking areas and kitchens (41 percent).
• Deep fryers (9 percent), ranges (7 percent), and miscellaneous kitchen and cooking equipment (5 percent) are the leading types of equipment involved in ignition in nonconfined restaurant building fires.
• Smoke alarms were reported as present in 44 percent of nonconfined restaurant building fires. In addition, full or partial automatic extinguishment systems, mainly sprinklers, were present in 47 percent of nonconfined restaurant building fires.

Download HERE

• Restaurant Building Fires (PDF, 829 Kb)

Another Resource rewind - Abandoned Buildings

This has been out for a while. This information is available for you to read and use if it is related to your area of response. The Abandoned Building Project Toolbox from interFIRE

Abandoned Building Project Toolbox - interFIRE, A site dedicated ...

Links from Inter Fire’s Web site

Presentations
Background Paper- PDF, Word
Evaluation Field Manual- PDF, Word, Board Up Specifications
Evaluation Form- PDF

Background Materials
Building Evaluation- PowerPoint
Building Evaluation Lesson Plan- PDF, Word
Building Security- PowerPoint, PDF, Word
Community Group Talk- PowerPoint, PDF, Word
Community Group Leader- PowerPoint, PDF, Word
Fire Department Operations- PowerPoint, PDF, Word

Speakers Notes
Building Evaluation- PDF
Building Security- PDF
Community Group Talk- PDF
Community Group Leader- PDF
Fire Department Operations- PDF

Support Materials
Abandoned Building Support- PDF
Firefighter Fatality Investigation Report 2005-09- PDF
Houston NIOSH Report- PDF
NIOSH Report Worcester- PDF
US Park Service Preservation Brief- PDF
Sample Floor Plan- PDF
Worcester Task Force Report- PDF

Online Presentation- Vacant and Abandoned Properties
Media Produced by The Public Safety Education Network

More

Watch This Presentation - Public Safety Education Network

USFA

• Coffee Break Training: Abandoned Buildings (PDF, 178 Kb)

• Abandoned Building Project Toolbox

Rewind–Art of Reading Smoke

Those of you that haven’t seen, taken the course or even aware of it. This is must take class to take, video below is recent fire that shows a good example of what the class can provide you in the way of knowing the conditions that surround the fire scene. Learn when to commit! This stuff is basic fire science use it. Are you part of the solution or part of the problem?

LINKS:

Art of Reading Smoke PowerPoint Art of Reading Smoke PowerPoint. Share · Tweet. Tuesday, April 27, 2010 Thanks to Dave Dodson for providing this download to FirefighterCloseCalls.com

Art of Reading Smoke - Fire Training On Youtube 2 min - Jun 20, 2007 - Uploaded by FireEngineering. Dave Dodson shows how us how to "read" the smoke that fire fighters encounter on the fire scene. From Fire Engineering.

Dave Dodson - Reading Smoke 10 min - Sep 17, 2009 - Uploaded by CTBS2010
Firefighter Life Safety

Dave Dotsons Web Site: Response Solutions - Your home for "Reading Smoke" & Firefighter ... The ART of Reading Smoke is a new decision-making approach to rapid size-up at structural fires. This course was developed and refined by Dave Dodson www.readingsmoke.com/

Springfield, VA on Fire

New USFA Report

USFA Releases Attic Fires in Residential Buildings Report

The Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) issued a special report today examining the characteristics of Attic Fires in Residential Buildings. Developed by USFA's National Fire Data Center, the report is based on 2006 to 2008 data from the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS).

According to the report:

• An estimated 10,000 attic fires in residential buildings occur annually in the United States, resulting in an
• estimated average of 30 deaths, 125 injuries, and $477 million in property damage.
• The leading cause of all attic fires is electrical malfunction (43 percent).
• The most common heat source is electrical arcing (37 percent).
• Almost all residential building attic fires are nonconfined (99 percent) and a third of all residential building attic fires spread to involve the entire building.
• Ninety percent of residential attic fires occur in one- and two-family residential buildings.
• Residential building attic fires are most prevalent in December (12 percent) and January (11 percent) and peak between the hours of 4 and 8 p.m.

Interesting

Here is a video of a house fire from Regentville, Australia. Interesting watching the fires behavior from the changes of the progression of the fire. From the initial smoke colors and movement, the rollover, and the changes to the direction of the flames as the fire finally goes thought the roof and self vents. Surprise as to how long the front windows stay in. Good TRAINING TOOL.

Haz Mat resource

National Hazardous Materials Fusion Center is a responder-driven data collection, analysis and education Web site. It was set up between the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) and the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC). The site is a free, voluntary, confidential, and secure Web-based resource that serves as a data and information network for hazmat teams; first responders; federal, state and local agencies; and the private sector.

http://www.hazmatfc.com/Pages/Home.aspx

Resources on the WEB

I haven’t posted any resource links for a while. Here is an updated list of resources that are FREE.  Also been seeing some ICS software out there that cost $. Why I do not want to put down supply and demand, here are some government resources and others that you already paid for, why not use them? Information fro the EPA web site below!

EPA CAMEO MARPLOT, ALOHA Good software for hazardous materials, there are other programs here and databases of information.

• MARPLOT version 4.1.2 (for Windows) released (September 29, 2010)
• MARPLOT version 3.3.3.1 (for Macs) released (December 2009)
• CAMEOfm version 2.1 is released (November 2009)
• Tier2 Submit 2009 is released (November 2009)
• ALOHA version 5.4.1.2 is released (April 2009)
• CAMEOfm Training Schedule
• CAMEO Companion tutorial (PDF, 12.6MB)

Visit their Downloadable Programs page to download software and other electronic files, including the Chemical Reactivity Worksheet, an ArcView Extension for ALOHA (allows ALOHA threat zones to be displayed in ArcView), and various technical explanations of the CAMEO software suite.

ERG (Emergency Response Guide) From The D.O.T.

Internet interactive ERG2008 English version

Internet interactive GRE2008 Spanish version

Powerpoint training presentation on the ERG 2008 English and Spanish version

ERGO2008 free downloadable database in three languages

ICS FORMS  - FEMA NIMS compliant ICS forms HERE

USFA Publications USFA provides information resources in many formats, including books, pamphlets and DVD's,free of charge. Customers can use our online catalog to order from over 400 publications and other information products. You do not need to register to download products in this catalog.

Fire Instructor resources here at: 

NFA TRADE Repository- LSU FETI

TRADE's Virtual TRADEing Post. You can browse the CDs by clicking on its name. You can search by topic. The search result will locate the CD location of the topic you are searching for.

NIOSH Alert: Preventing Deaths and Injuries of Fire Fighters using Risk Management Principles at Structure Fires

NIOSH Publication No. 2010-153: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2010-153/

NIOSH Alert: Preventing Deaths and Injuries of Fire Fighters using Risk Management Principles at Structure Fires

Fire fighters are often killed or injured when fighting fires in abandoned, vacant, and unoccupied structures. These structures pose additional and sometimes unique risks due to the potential for fire fighters to encounter unexpected and unsafe building conditions such as dilapidation, decay, damage from previous fires and vandals, and other factors such as uncertain occupancy status. Risk management principles must be applied at all structure fires to ensure the appropriate strategy and tactics are used based on the fire ground conditions encountered.

Entire Document
2010-153.pdf
(2.27 MB; 32 pages)

The free Adobe Acrobat Reader is needed to view these files.
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2010-153/

Instant Information about Water Conditions:

Ask the River to Text You a Water Alert

Sign up at http://water.usgs.gov/wateralert.

Now you can receive instant, customized updates about water conditions by subscribing to WaterAlert, a new service from the U.S. Geological Survey. Whether you are watching for floods, interested in recreational activities or concerned about the quality of water in your well, WaterAlert allows you to receive daily or hourly updates about current conditions in rivers, lakes and groundwater when they match conditions of concern to you. 

“Real-time water data are essential to those making daily decisions about water-related activities, whether for resource management, business operations, flood response or recreation,” said Matt Larsen, USGS Associate Director for Water. “WaterAlert continues USGS efforts to make data immediately available and relevant to every user.”

WaterAlert allows users to receive updates about river flows, groundwater levels, water temperatures, rainfall and water quality at any of more than 9,500 sites where USGS collects real-time water information. This information is crucial for managing water resources, including during floods, droughts and chemical spills. 

“This is fantastic,” said Jim Cantore, Weather Channel field meteorologist. “The new WaterAlert system from the USGS provides the latest river information to people in harm's way. This could be the first alert to a developing flood and can even help out during drought periods.”

WaterAlert also allows kayakers, rafters and boaters to better understand when conditions are optimal and safe for recreational activities.

“The WaterAlert service is a fantastic resource for boaters of all abilities and disciplines,” said Wade Blackwood, executive director of the American Canoe Association. “During rain events, water levels on some rivers can rise quickly. This service will be useful as a warning system and will keep paddlers aware of water conditions in order to paddle safely.”   

WaterAlert users start at http://water.usgs.gov/wateralert and select a specific site. Users then select the preferred delivery method (email or text), whether they want hourly or daily notifications, which data parameter they are interested in, and the threshold for those parameters. Users can set the system to alert them when conditions are above a value, below a value, and between or outside of a range.

For example, emergency managers may be interested in setting up alerts when thresholds are exceeded, such as in the case of a flood. Water-supply managers could set an alert for times when groundwater well levels are low enough to require shutdown of supply pumps. Recreational rafters may find it useful to set a threshold that lets them know when the water levels are high enough to pass over rocks but not so high as to be unsafe. There is no limit to the number of subscriptions per user at a single site or multiple sites. 

The USGS operates an extensive, real-time water information network, involving 9,081 continuous and partial record streamgages, as well as 369 lake, 1,278 well and 3,632 precipitation gages throughout the United States. USGS Water Science Centers in each state can provide more detailed information on water conditions and USGS response to local events.

USGS provides science for a changing world. Visit USGS.gov, and follow us on Twitter @USGS and our other social media channels.

Links of the day – Interesting links on the WEB 3/9/2010

Man dies after crashing into ambulance, 3 vehicles, and attached garage - WNDU-TV

Get a Police Scanner on Your iPhone - iPhone-Codes

Cochran calls for greater firefighter safety at summit - U.S. Fire ...
EMMITSBURG, Md. US Fire Administrator Kelvin Cochran welcomed last year's reduction in LODDs but stressed the need for greater efforts to improve.

A step backwards in Tennessee? -

House Approves Letting Some Rural Firefighters Go Untrained ...

Over some objections, the Tennessee House Monday night voted 65-25 to exempt volunteer firefighters in Grainger and Claiborne counties from training requirements that apply to most other firemen

 

Firefighter Spot - Home of The Best Firefighting Video: FDNY ...
FDNY firefighters went to work on a 2nd Alarm fire in the Bedford Section of the Bronx on Decatur Street. Early reports place, "Heavy fire 1st & 2nd floors into the cockloft. We have 2 – lines stretched, 2 – lines in operation. ...

No excusing domestic terrorism

Dubuque Telegraph Herald - Heaven help our democracy when members of Congress try to explain away acts of domestic terrorism. The ends do not justify the means. ...

Close Calls Caught On Tape From Fire link
Awareness is a firefighter's #1 tool when it comes to saving a life. Check out this collection of close calls and ask yourself what you would have done in these situations.
Watch Close Calls >>

Software on the Cheap

from Lifehacker

Windows/Mac/Linux: The latest version of OpenOffice.org, the free and open-source office suite, improves startup times by over 40 percent (by some tests), improves importing and support for password-protected and 2007 office files, and improves many areas of the Calc spreadsheet.

You can check out the full feature list at OpenOffice.org, but the majority is nitty-gritty stuff. That said, the Calc tool seems to have picked up quite a few improvements and compatibility features, including support for "complex" (multi-row or column) copy and paste, pivot table importing, cell sorting and merging, and much more.

Importing Office 2007-formatted files seems to have gotten lots of attention in this release as well, and password-protected files can successfully be loaded, provided you've got the password. If you're an OpenOffice.org fan and see something new and great, share it in the comments.

OpenOffice.org 3.2 is a free download for Windows, Mac, and Linux systems.

New Free After-Action Evaluations Program Available

The Firefighters Support Foundation (FSF) has released its newest free program, After-Action Evaluations. 
This approximately 30-minute video program presents two of the most powerful performance-improving techniques in use by the world’s best-managed corporations: root cause analysis and constraint analysis. 
These techniques are at the foundation of the long-term stellar performance of companies such as Toyota and IBM, but to date they have seen little use in the public safety professions despite the fact they are extremely well suited for them. 
This program presents the principles of these techniques as they apply to public safety and takes the viewer through examples. 
After viewing this free program professionals from firefighters to top management will have a clear idea of how to apply these extremely simple, but extremely powerful, management techniques to the continuous improvement of their own or their team’s performance

Like all FSF programs, this program is free to all public safety professionals. 
Simply go to http://www.ffsupport.org to download your copy.

Updates Trade Site

The virtual trading post has been improved, see the below announcement and the link to the site. I have used this site for years for useful training materials.

VIRTUAL TRADING POST

“NEW AND IMPROVED”

The VIRTUAL TRADING POST SYSTEM now allows you to search for material by key word(so).  Check it out!  Go to Louisiana State University Fire and Emergency Training Institute's NAB TRADE page: http://feti.lsu.edu/trade/  and access it there.

NOTICE**********NOTICE*************NOTICE************NOTICE

This is a new web address for the Virtual Trading Post.  If you had it bookmarked, delete your old bookmark, go to this new page and bookmark the new page.

Click here to browse the TRADE CDs

Important Links:

1. *USFA/NFA TRADE Site

2. *Subscribe to TRADENET via an automated email subscription service

3. *Access the TRADE WebBoard

4. *For additional information or to submit questions for the weekly TRADENET: Email Robert.W.Campbell@dhs.gov

ISO is not dead

It always seemed that depending on who you talked to in the insurance area that they may of may not use the ISO rating system, and that it seems that they were not following the ISO rating. The ISO, or Insurance Services Office as it’s commonly called, has started to give some thought to a new era of connection to the fire and emergency services and the communities it serves. They are in the process of completing a much-needed upgrade of its Fire Suppression Rating Schedule. Has it been too many years since the rating system had been revised? Having been though and involved in the testing I say it has, you had to attend a seminar and ask questions just to understand the basic rating schedule.

The new rating system recognizes accredited departments and will include recognition of a science-based standard of cover measuring a department’s operational performance in time-based fractile percentages, where sufficient data exists, or use of the traditional distance-based method of coverage. The system provides points of credit for fire prevention, an updated technology section and many other improvements.

It seems that there may a new level of cooperation with today’s fire and emergency service management. ISO has invited key players to review and provide feedback on the draft of the new rating schedule, they will conduct beta testing to ensure the changes can be practically implemented and are committed to improving and updating the rating system regularly. ISO has also been investigating easy access to fire chiefs’ to the immense ISO database to help the chiefs do their jobs in planning and response.

Seems that the change is finally coming to this sometime underrated system. Hopefully it will not again be fulltime department oriented, and give the consideration to small struggling departments too. Go to their  revisions web page to see Fire Suppression Rating Schedule (FSRS) updates proposals. There is a list of potential modifications and additions to the current FSRS. Good or bad you be the judge? You will be the one dealing with them.

Here's a link - If you haven’t seen it, of cant’ find it from your cable provider

There is a Fox reality channel show on called the The Academy that goes behind the scenes of the 18 week fire academy of the Orange County Fire Authority. You can watch the episodes via the web HERE. looks like a military boot camp for the fire service.

http://www.foxreality.com/theacademy/#/index

It’s that time again

This information has recently been updated and is now available.

Cooking is the leading cause of residential structure fires and injuries. Unattended cooking is the leading factor contributing to cooking-related fires.

For these reasons and many others, the theme for Fire Prevention Week, October 4-10, 2009 is Stay Fire Smart! Don’t Get Burned!  In addition to cooking fires, a special emphasis is placed on burn awareness and prevention and keeping homes fire safe.

For tips you can follow to stay fire smart, visit this month's Focus on Fire Safety on the USFA's Web site.

Over the last several years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control has been working closely with the U. S. Fire Administration (USFA) and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to redevelop and enhance the resources and tools offered to the media and to fire service spokespeople on the FireSafety.gov website. FireSafety.gov is a federally operated website, co-sponsored by these three agencies, that serves as a clearinghouse for fire-related information.

One of the newest tools on the site is a “Fire Spokesperson’s Pocket Media Guide” that explains how Public Information Officers (PIOs) and other fire spokespeople can maximize the impact of a fire safety message in interviews with local and national news media.  Doing so will help communities take preventive measures to reduce the tragic loss of life and injuries from residential fires.

In observance of Fire Prevention Week, October 4-10, 2009, we are pleased to promote these resources and offer the “Fire Spokesperson’s Pocket Media Guide” for ordering at no cost. We encourage you to share these resources and perhaps include information about them in your own announcements, thereby increasing their reach. All of these resources can be accessed and downloaded from the following Web page: www.cdc.gov/HomeandRecreationalSafety/Fire-Prevention/tools.html

Rules of Engagement for Structural Firefighting

by Christopher J. Naum, at 6/25/2009 11:12:00 AM

Rules of Engagement for Structural Firefighting
The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) is committed to reducing firefighter fatalities and injuries. As part of that effort, the IAFC Safety, Health and Survival (SHS) Section has developed DRAFT “Rules of Engagement for Structural Firefighting” to provide guidance to individual firefighters and incident commanders regarding risk and safety issues when operating on the fireground.
The intent is to provide a set of model procedures to be made available by the IAFC to fire departments as a guide for their own standard operating procedures development.
The direction provided to the project team by the Section leadership was to develop rules of engagement with the following conceptual points:
· Rules should be a short, specific set of bullets
· Rules should be easily taught and remembered
· Rules should define critical risk issues
· Rules should define “go” ‐ “no‐go situations
· A champion lesson plan should be provided

Early in development the rules of engagement, it was recognized that two separate rules were needed –one set for the firefighter, and another set for the incident commander. Thus, the two sets of rules of engagement described in this document. Each set has several commonly stated bullets, but the explanations are described somewhat differently based on the level of responsibility (i.e., firefighter vs. incident commanders).
The draft documents are currently open for public comment until the FRI conference in Dallas (August 25‐29, 2009).

The reader may direct comments to Chief Gary Morris, the project lead, at
mercurymorris@hotmail.com.
The originating IAFC Rules of Structural Engagement, HERE
IAFC Safety, Health and Survival Section Home Page, HERE

New Video Releases, Link Here

CSB Releases Safety Video on Need for Chemical Emergency Preparedness, Based on Findings from a
Decade of CSB Accident Investigations

Federal Agency Offers Free Safety Video on DVD - Targets Fire Fighters and Hazmat Responders

Washington, DC, DATE OF EMAIL 2009 - The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) today released a new safety video showing the need for emergency response agencies, companies, and communities to work closely together to prepare for the kinds of tragic chemical accidents the CSB has investigated over the past decade.
The new video, entitled "Emergency Preparedness: Findings from CSB Accident Investigations," uses computer animations, interviews, and news footage to depict a series of chemical accidents that illustrate the need for effective training, communications, and community planning. In some incidents, firefighters and police were overcome by toxic chemicals and forced to retreat from neighborhoods; in others, firefighters and workers were tragically killed and others injured.

The video is available online at www.csb.gov and on YouTube. It can be ordered free of charge on a new two-DVD set of all CSB safety videos by filling out the request form in the Video Room of  www.csb.gov.     

New tech

This is different. From a web site of a relatively new company a different type of fire equipment. Is this where we are heading. I could imagine the cost would go down as thees types of systems are developed if this takes off.

Here is some information on a small company which develops equipment to save the lives of firefighters. The story is worth hearing.
FireDrakeIndustries is a very small company but has a really big plan. The VP of this company is a member of Firelink and her spouse is Fire Captain in the state of CA. This tiny but mighty 3-man business was started by herself, a retired firefighter and a mechanical engineer. In only 9 months beginning in Oct of 07 their small team started the company from the ground up and created their first piece of life-saving equipment. They intend to create many more if they can make it. Like so many businesses, funding from private investors has dried up due to fear surrounding the economic conditions and are struggling to stay alive long enough to market this incredible tool for firefighters.
http://www.firedrakeindustries.com/

NVFC

About the NVFC

The National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC) is a non-profit membership association representing the interests of the volunteer fire, EMS and rescue services. The NVFC serves as the information source regarding legislation, standards and regulatory issues. The NVFC also provides vital resources and information to the volunteer fire and emergency services.


http://www.nvfc.org/