Recent LODD’s From USFA

Notice of Firefighter Fatality: Marshall, MO

Randall Scott Davenport of the Marshall Fire Department in Marshall, MO has died as the result of an on-duty incident that occurred on 2010-10-24

Notice of Firefighter Fatality: Ghent, NY

William Akin, Jr. of the Ghent Volunteer Fire Company in Ghent, NY has died as the result of an on-duty incident that occurred on 2010-10-19

Notice of Firefighter Fatality: Sacramento, CA

Jim Saunders of the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District in Sacramento, CA has died as the result of an on-duty incident that occurred on 2010-10-03

Notice of Firefighter Fatality: Hindsboro, IL

Thomas Innes of the Hindsboro Community Fire Protection District in Hindsboro, IL has died as the result of an on-duty incident that occurred on 2010-10-02

NIST Releases Residential Fire Study

WASHINGTON D.C.--A landmark study issued today by the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) shows that the size of firefighting crews has a substantial effect on the fire service's ability to protect lives and property in residential fires. LINK HERE

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.

Notice of LODD’s

Notice of Firefighter Fatality: Lynchburg, OH

Robert Hall of the Lynchburg Area Joint Fire & Ambulance District in Lynchburg, OH has died as the result of an on-duty incident that occurred on 2010-09-27

Notice of Firefighter Fatality: Lynn, IN

Ronald W. Stephan of the Lynn Volunteer Fire Department in Lynn, IN has died as the result of an on-duty incident that occurred on 2010-09-24

Notice of Firefighter Fatality: Atlantic, VA

William Harold "Hal" Clark of the Atlantic Volunteer Fire & Rescue Company in Atlantic, VA has died as the result of an on-duty incident that occurred on 2010-09-24

Notice of Firefighter Fatality: McArthur, OH

Ryan Neil Seitz of the McArthur Fire Department in McArthur, OH has died as the result of an on-duty incident that occurred on 2010-09-24

Notice of Firefighter Fatality: Morgan, TX

Edward Mosely of the Steele Creek Acres Volunteer Fire Department in Morgan, TX has died as the result of an on-duty incident that occurred on 2010-09-14

FEMA Announces Adoption Of New Standard For Emergency Alerts

Common Alerting Protocol Key in Developing America's Next Emergency Alert and Warning Network

Release Date: September 30, 2010
Release Number: HQ-10-192

WASHINGTON,D.C.-- The Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) today announced the adoption of a new digital message format for the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS), the nation's next generation emergency alert and warning network.  The goal of IPAWS is to expand upon the traditional Emergency Alert System by allowing emergency management officials to reach as many people as possible over as many communications devices as possible, such as radio, television, mobile phones, personal computers and other communications devices.  The current Emergency Alert System relies largely on radio and television to communicate to people.

The new digital message format being adopted by FEMA is the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) v1.2 Standard.  This open standard will enable alert messages to be easily composed by emergency management officials for communication with citizens using a much broader set of devices to reach as many people as possible.

"The Integrated Public Alert and Warning System will allow federal, state, territorial, tribal and local officials to get critical and timely information to the public that can protect communities and save lives," said FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate.  "People get their news and information from a wider variety of sources today than ever before, and it's important that emergency management officials are able to reach members of the public no matter what medium they may be using.  The Common Alerting Protocol gives us the opportunity to send one message over all IPAWS alert systems at the same time."

Under Executive Order, FEMA is responsible for establishing the protocols and standards for an integrated emergency alert system that can reach Americans over a variety of media in a timely manner.  The Federal Communications Commission is the lead agency responsible for adopting and enforcing the requirements to ensure that communications service providers have the capability to receive and transmit emergency alerts to the public.

Rear Admiral (ret.) James Arden Barnett, Jr., Chief of the Federal Communications Commission's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau said, "The adoption of the new CAP standard will ultimately transform America's emergency alert and warning capabilities and better enable Americans to receive these potentially life-saving alerts over  television and radio broadcast stations, via the Internet, and on their cell phones.  The ability to receive alerts over multiple platforms will dramatically increase the likelihood that Americans are receiving this critical information timely and are better informed to take actions that will help protect themselves and their families during emergencies."

In order to assist officials in evaluating new alert and warning systems, FEMA is conducting an assessment program to ensure products adhere to the IPAWS CAP profile.  A list of pre-screened products that meet the profile will be published at the FEMA Responders Knowledge Base, to aide federal, state, territorial, tribal and local officials in purchasing emergency alert products that comply with IPAWS CAP.  Vendors can apply for these assessments at www.nimssc.org/ipawsconform.

The three documents defining the FEMA IPAWS technical standards and requirements for CAP and its implementation are:  (1) OASIS CAP Standard v1.2; (2) IPAWS Specification to the CAP Standard (CAP v1.2 IPAWS USA Profile v1.0); and, (3) CAP to EAS Implementation Guide.  Additional information and documentation on CAP technical standards can be found on the OASIS website.  The CAP to EAS Implementation Guide can be found on the website of the EAS-CAP Industry Group (www.eas-cap.org/).

FEMA's mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.

USFA Releases Annual Report on Firefighter Fatalities in the United States

USFA Media Contact: (301) 447-1853

September 29, 2010

Emmitsburg, MD – The United States Fire Administration (USFA) today released the report Firefighter Fatalities in the United States in 2009 (PDF, 2.7 Mb).  The report continues a series of annual studies by the USFA of onduty firefighter fatalities.  The USFA is the single public agency source of information for all onduty firefighter fatalities in the United States each year.

Ninety onduty firefighters from 33 states lost their lives as the result of incidents that occurred in 2009.  Pennsylvania experienced the highest number of fatalities (8).  In addition to Pennsylvania, only New York (7), North Carolina (6), Louisiana (5), and Texas (5), respectively, had five or more firefighter fatalities.  This compares favorably to 2008's firefighter losses where 9 states experienced 5 or more onduty fatalities.  The total number of fatalities in 2009 was one of the lowest totals in more than 30 years of record.

"Over the past ten years alone, the trend shows a 14 percent reduction in onduty firefighter fatalities but we must continue every effort to be sure that when it comes to firefighter health and safety, everyone goes home,” Acting United States Fire Administrator Glenn Gaines said.

The unique and specific objective of Firefighter Fatalities in the United States is to identify all onduty firefighter fatalities that occurred in the United States and its protectorates during the calendar year and to present in summary narrative form the circumstances surrounding each occurrence.

An overview of the 90 firefighters that died while on duty in 2009:

·         The total break down included 47 volunteer, 36 career, and 7 wildland agency firefighters.

·         There were 6 firefighter fatality incidents where 2 or more firefighters were killed, claiming a total of 13 firefighters' lives.

·         16 firefighters died in duties associated with wildland fires, compared to 26 such fatalities in 2008.

·         Activities related to emergency incidents resulted in the deaths of 57 firefighters.

·         30 firefighters died while engaging in activities at the scene of a fire.

·         15 firefighters died while responding to or returning from 13 emergency incidents in 2009.  This compares to 24 responding/returning fatalities in 2008.

·         10 firefighters died while they were engaged in training activities.

·         14 firefighters died after the conclusion of their onduty activity.

·         Heart attacks were the most frequent cause of death with 39 firefighter deaths.

For 33 years, USFA has tracked the number of firefighter fatalities and conducted an annual analysis.  Through the collection of information on the causes of firefighter deaths, the USFA is able to focus on specific problems and direct efforts toward finding solutions to reduce the number of firefighter fatalities in the future.  This information is also used by many organizations to measure the effectiveness of their current efforts directed toward firefighter health and safety.

The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, which worked closely with USFA on this report, also maintains a list of firefighters who die in the line-of-duty and are honored during the annual National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Weekend held each October in Emmitsburg, Maryland.  Visit www.FireHero.org for more information about the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation and their assistance to the families of the firefighters lost in 2009 and beyond.

Year-to-date monthly and annual USFA firefighter fatality reports are posted on the USFA's website.

Uncle Jay Explains - September 19, 2010

UncleJayExplains | September 19, 2010

Halloween and the midterm elections are coming, and we all know which is more frightening. Uncle Jay can't help being nervous, but he's not nearly as nervous as some politicians. They might have to actually start looking for the jobs they haven't created.