Unit Hour Utilization

Budgets have played a major role in fire departments all over the world. In the past couple of years, fire department budgets have been in the headlines quite frequently. This is especially true in Florida, where there has been much controversy in the proposal and passing of Amendment 1, in January 2008. The passing of this amendment has left many counties and cities in Florida having to cut budgets across the board, which includes the fire and EMS departments. Many departments are facing a substantial loss in their fiscal year budget which could translate

To better understand the background of the contrasting views, we must look at how the fire service has developed around

Inherently the fire service operates in high-risk environments to facilitate the role of preserving life safety and property conservation. How these incidents are managed and safeguarded by our administration

There are many areas in the fire service where potential lawsuits and liability can arise; some of these areas include, but are most definitely not limited to negligence, hazing, and not following the fire department’s SOPs/SOGs. As our society has changed, so has its expectations of those in emergency services—while many in the community may think of firefighters as the pinnacle of what an upstanding citizen must look like, there are countless moral and ethical pitfalls that firefighters can fall prey to and diminish the reputation of the fire service.

According the agency of the Department of Homeland Security states that motor vehicles crashes are the leading cause of death for an on-line duty fireman. Other significant causes of death are: caught/trapped (10%), fall (5%), collapse (3%), and other (7%). Intentions of firefighters are to make the community safe as possible, but we the people need to think twice before we do anything else when dealing with fire. The other things that it 's a national problem for firefighters is not wearing their seat belts when driving out to an emergency. They are so focused on saving our lives when first it 's supposed to be the opposite, their safety is first, but firemen put their lives at risk.

The importance of accountability in the fire service is paramount. Whether it is being on time to school or handing my accountability tag to the officer at the front of a burning building, the imprint that the fire academy made on me with regards to accountability is prodigious. I do my best every day to be accountable for myself because I know that if I cannot hold myself accountable I cannot be a leader in the classroom, on the athletic field, or in my community. Although I have not been in the fire service for a long time, it is abundantly clear that helping my community and helping people are not always invigorating experiences. Even though the majority of calls are false alarms or routine incidents, it is importance that the community feels safe. Being a part of the fire department allows me to instill a sense of security in people because they know that even on the worst day of their life someone will be there to help them. Even on the worst day of someone’s life he or she can smile because of a simple action of either saving pictures or helping them cover valuable items when water is being sprayed into their home. I have learned that simple acts of kindness can completely change someone’s mood and I have implemented this

Having adequate resources, including personnel, equipment, and water is essential to a successful operation. Improper implementation of the ICS system, as well as not having accountability for the firefighters involved in a fire as large as the Pawtucket event, are serious safety issues that could have proved disastrous for the firefighters in this incident. Safety is the first rule in firefighting with the end goal that everyone goes

In 2012, Insurance Services Office (ISO) conducted a review of the fire suppression capabilities of the Council Bluffs (IA) Fire Department (CBFD). The resulting Public Protection Classification (PPC) was a Class 2. This classification puts the CBFD into the top 1% of the approximately 49,000 fire departments ISO reviews. In an effort to maintain the highest level of service to the public, the current fire administration has established an organizational goal of achieving a Class 1 designation.

Over the past couple of years, our small city of Granbury has seen a drastic spike in population. This recent growth has not only caused an unemployment crisis, but it also has influenced a greater risk of devastating fires for both homes and businesses. However, if the city of Granbury were to adopt full time fire departments, all citizens and businesses would benefit in numerous aspects. By adopting these full time departments, it is clear that our cities proficiency, productivity, and safety will increase greatly. There is a little over 400 volunteer firefighters at seven departments spread across Granbury. This not only means that these hard working heros do not receive a paycheck for their excruciating efforts, but it also reveals that these 400 firefighters are not stationed at their departments which indicates they must travel to the station to be able to then respond to a call causing a slow response time; opposed to career departments that always have their stations manned which is proven to generate a quicker response time. Not only do these full time departments ensure proper response times to emergencies, but they will also correspond with companies insurance codes which allow their franchises to be opened in cities only with these career departments. Many companies such as Target, Academy, Olive Garden, Main Event, etc… all require professional fire departments for their stores to be built in that city. Also, the lack of recreational opportunities prevent social

For years if not decades, firefighters have responded to a reported structure fire that turned out to be a fully involved single room. This fire scenario requires a core set of fire tactics and skills to control and extinguished the fire, but is it this simple? Perhaps twenty years it may have been, but new dangers are lurking in every scenario and may have detrimental outcomes for unsuspecting and unaware firefighters and victims. The National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) agency along with the Underwriters Laboratory (UL) have been conducting research to understand fire behavior and fire dynamics. This research is providing firefighters with new information about how and why

While dangerous work like firefighting often requires decisive and quick action against one of nature’s most destructive elements, do the inherent risks of firefighting justify risky decision-making by officials? In this dangerous and often daring line of work, when is the line between protecting the public and protecting public employees crossed – and who is responsible when that line is crossed?

In the article, “Undulation Training for Development of Hierarchical Fitness and Improved Firefighter Job Performance,” a research was conducted when a critical problem emerged from the extraordinary job risks of firefighting. In this article, it was recognized that firefighting was a high risk occupation in which many activities were life threatening. Yearly incidences brought on from these life-threatening activities and conditions included cardiovascular disease from the inhalation of smoke as well as musculoskeletal injuries from the physical demands of the job. The problem was lying in the fact most fire departments were failing to adequately prepare the firefighters in terms of health and physical fitness to take on the

One thing I would like to know, how many fire department responding to a structure fire take the time to evaluate the size of the building, length and number of hoses to be used then calculate the rate of flow (ROF), delivery rate (DR) and pump pressure

Assessment, Evaluation and Improvement – had to adopt a systematic approach to evaluating their successes and failures. They conducted real time evaluations to assess and influence emergency response. These exercises provided vital information about the effectiveness of their response and allowed them to make crucial adjustments to their process.

Another quality I have gained while being a fire captain is initiative. I have found that while enforcing policies and procedures, that these items sometimes get outdated. I will recognize this and request from my senior officers that policies be modified to meet current and future needs of the department. I am proactive and usually